Yesterday & Today

Today is Matthew's 18th birthday.

AND

This year he will be graduating soon with Honors....from my little Home School.

It seems like yesterday he was standing here so excited having his picture taken.

Now I see him standing tall with his own ideas.

His own interests.

His won dreams of owning a muscadine farm and winery.

Matthew....my Son......it IS my pleasure and honor sharing my live and love with you.

Beauty Tip 101

When applying Lipstick

It is IMPERATIVE to always remember

to fully line the lips.

This prevents feathering and will give ONE a much brighter smile.

WOW! What a SMILE!!!

TADA!

Matthew got his braces off today.

Don't you just LOVE this smile?

Black and White Wednesday & The Sisters

Aunt Ann came down for a visit with two of her daughters....and just like Aunt Ann does SHE started to sing...and my mom started to sing...and then Auntie started to sing and sing and sing and sing.

 

(Aunt Ann, my Mom and Auntie)

AND

Sing they did!

(Margaret, Karen, Me
Peggy and Regina)

There was so much singing going on...we just couldn't get away.

April 18 1953

This day would have marked the 57th year of marriage for my parents. 

A love that will last into eternity.

"To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."

I am so proud to say my parents meant it when they said those words.  They worked hard on the marriage that seemed to come so easy to them.

Even though our dad's body is no longer with us, it seems his strength and his spirit will live forever in our mother and in all of us. 

Hats on for Black and White Wednesday

Mary Elizabeth loves hats. She wears one almost everyday.

The hat she loves the most is Stephen's hat.

She can pretend to be The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman or Lacus McCain's little boy Mark.

She watches these shows with her big brother. Can you tell she they likes Westerns?

Can you tell...She likes her big brother?

I call her our bonus baby. Some days I just can't believe she is with us.

I love watching her grow, watching her imagination take flight.

I love to see what "hat" she will choose to wear each day or who her mood will cause her to be.

Even though  days or a week may go by and I do not post because time will not permit....I look forward to Lisa's Long Road to China's Black and White Wednesdays.  

I find I try very hard to post on Wednesdays. 

Personally I think these black and white posts have enhanced this little blog and most importantly I feel they have enhanced my memories.

 To quote Lisa in her post today:  "It is difficult at times to live in the moment and not look too far ahead, but I think it is important. Life is too short and time can pass by so quickly."

 I am so glad there are days when I truly know this to be true.

Thanks Lisa for starting Black and White Wednesday...and making the effort to keep it up.

I think I am going to have these pictures printed to hang in our back hall to hang on tightly to my memories and our bonus babies imagination.

WhoDunIt???

We had a BIG problem last month when it came to the pool.  I am not saying who caused the problem...I am just saying we had a problem.

BUT!

Someone dumped a load of mud, dirt and  grass into the pool causing a HUGE muddy mess.

 They were busy for a VERY long time.

In order from left to right....Mary Elizabeth, Nana, Eva, Kathryn, Alex and Brian

Like I said before,

I will not tell who did it. I am just sayin....someone did it.

BUT, if you guess, then YOU are a very good guesser. 

Just remember....I will NOT tell! So don't even ask me.

This bit of trouble had us all... shall I say...

perplexed.

We just didn't know how to clean it all up. 

We tried to vacuum the pool. As we did the mud just kept running through the filters and back into the pool again. It was creating even more of a mess....It was a real big muddy problem.

But, like I said before...I will not say "Whodunit".

I am just not going to tell you.

Soooo, Don't ask

I will never tell. 

I am just not like that.

I'm good.

I can keep a secret. 

AND

You are very bad for asking me over and over again when you know I clearly said I wouldn't tell.

Brian, ((I am not at liberty to say.)) and Alex

My only wish is to protect the innocent.

 

Anyway, it took a team of us to empty, clean, acid wash and pressure wash the pool.

We worked for TWO days.

The whole pool looked like this.

It will take ONE week to fill the pool back up.

Maybe it is a good thing we have someone watching the house

AT ALL times.

??? WHAT ???

HONEY IT "BEE" ~ Black and White Wednesday

Oh! I didn't tell you!

The BEES arrived!

last Saturday

They didn't have to fly in either...

Rick and the boys drove them in...

 Ruffo was very interested in what was in the box...UNTIL! she found out the hard way. THEY! hurt.

Matthew, Stephen and Rick spent the day last Saturday putting bees into new homes...

AND

 We are so excited!

Our Little Boys have a "HONEY" of a new Hobby.

Mother Flaherty, the Stranger and Well......

It is April 1st already and I haven't even mentioned the play the kids where in:

Blather, Blarney, and Balderdash

 Kathryn, Alex and Brian were in a play with the Home School  Co-op we are a member March 21st.

As in all good Irish Plays: there were Lepricons, Little People

and a very Bossy Mother...Mother Flaherty, whom Kathryn got to play.

Kathryn enjoyed calling her  daughter's suitor "Boy-O" way to much.

Alex couldn't keep a straight face when he saw a fly that could play a violin and Brian....

Mmmm.....He was not that interested and really didn't see the need to stay on the stage.

Alex couldn't keep his eyes off the fly.....And Kathryn well...

Do you hear her thinking "Amateurs" in this picture?

I'm just sayin.

Black and White Wednesday ~ Liz's Best Friend

This is my, every bodies Liz's Stephen.

He is 15 years old and stands over 6 foot 4 inches. 

His heart is as big as feet. 

If there is water around, he is in it. If there is work to be done, he does it.

If this little girl is around....He will drop everything and do what she asks of him.

This is Mary Elizabeth's big brother...We should all be so lucky.

The Haven

March 19 Kathryn's "Little Flowers" group hosted a garage sale.  They collected things from neighbors, friends and family to sell that early, cool Saturday morning.

All the proceeds this year will go to The Haven in Spartanburg. The girls raised a little over $200..

The Haven is a non-profit organization that helps homeless families stay together. The Haven provides a warm, safe place for a whole family to live and ,most importantly, stay together while the family over comes their terrible hardship.

This year, as you can imagine, the Haven has been very busy.

Through out the year the Little Flowers try to make a difference in the lives of the people around them.

Later this month, the girls and their leader will take the money they have earned and go shopping. They will buy things like: towels, sheets, dishes, shower curtains and other items a family may need to set up a proper home. The girls will take all these items down to the Heaven and just simply... hand them over.  When the time comes for these families to leave the Haven, we hope, they will have what is needed.

The Little Flowers have learned are teaching everyone around them to Walk the Walk. At this young age they know talk is cheap and "The Walk" is what is important. They are putting people and families first.

I tell you, I couldn't be more proud of the woman my Little Flower is becoming.

Black and White Wednesday & A VERY Special 13th Birthday

I sat down to write about Kathryn and her 13^th birthday today and how I can’t believe the time has past. How lucky I feel to have been privileged enough to be not only her mother, but to be her school teacher as well.

I thought I would tell you for her birthday everyone showered her with the most beautiful gifts.

I thought I would tell you about the ring my mother had made for Kathryn out of an old earring. My father had bought a set of earrings for my mother over 50 years ago in Filen's Basement and when my mother lost one earing she held on to the other one saving it for years. I thought I would mention my mother had the remaining earring made into a MOST fabulous ring this year just for Kathryn. I wanted to say just how delighted and truly special this gift is to both Kathryn and me.

I thought I mention how Margaret bought Kathryn a beautiful jewelry box just to put the ring in.

13 for Kathryn this year will be a year to remember.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really have wanted to post all this for the past couple of days but I couldn’t get to it for one reason or another. Tonight I decided this post may be a great post for Black and White Wednesdays.

So now here we are and Kathryn is not only another year older, she is making advances into the cooking world.

Tonight she was trying to boil water for a nice hot cup of peppermint tea before ending her great day and calling it a night. After putting a pan on the stove to boil the water in, she covered the pan with a plastic cover that was way to big for the pan AND she walk away!

Mark and the boys were not home and before I knew what had happened the house was covered in black soot, the stove was on fire and I couldn’t get the fire alarms off…….WHAT A MESS!!!

Uuuuuuu

Soooooo, now I’m just think-en

Maybe we should take a little closer look at Lisa’s cooking posts after debate class for dinner tomorrow night……and then hit a few of my cousin Anne’s Simply Sweeter posts for dessert.

Maybe we should consider tutor. ANNE??? Lisa??? What do you think?