End of the Year Party

With the weather being so wet, cold and dreary lately, I was pleasantly surprised and very happy to see the forecast for yesterday (Friday, May 20th). It was rainfree!!!!! Sunny, warm, perfect weather was what any outdoor party needs to be a great one. We honored several of our teacher/co-worker friends as they head off/on to bigger & better things. For Brenda Nally, we just gave her the respect & love we could as she retires after 33 yrs. of teaching. She is an icon, a wonderful person & friend. She will be sorely missed. Here are a few pics.

Shower for Sarah

Today was the bridal shower for Sarah that Martha and I hosted. Thinking of invitations, making them, decorations with the color to match her wedding bridesmaids dresses, deciding on a menu, all came together this morning for brunch. The color was peacock and the food was egg/sausage casserole, apple biscuits (had many requests for the recipe), country & city ham rolls (thanks Martha...they were so good!), lemon cake (again, yummy Martha), chocolate chip oatmeal muffins, brie wrapped in phyllo dough (it must have been good, it was all eaten), and lots of dippers for a chocolate fountain. We gave away a few door prizes, Sarah opened gifts, and lots of fun and laughter. I would say it was enjoyed by all.

Happy 2011 Mother's Day!

Mom, 84 years old.

These have nothing to do with Mother's Day, but for my friend to see how I used these little "frogs"!

This day has turned out simply beautiful. I am sitting on the patio as I type and listening to the birds chirp makes me SO happy. Little things in life always have meant the most to me. I loved the kids running in at the end of the afternoon, bringing me a gift....yes, Becky shopped at Jared's!!!! I now own a new charm that's a bouquet of flowers. Becky said she didn't know what my yard had/didn't have, so she bought me a Pandora bouquet that will last. That works for me! Maggie said "can I help you open it nana?" So sweet. Love them!!!! The are precious. Austin & MJ have gone to visit Gigi with Clyde and Matthew had tutoring at 7:00 so that worked out for all. He usually takes all of them and they enjoy visiting GiGi.

Our crowd was large today, although we missed Becky & family, Stephanie & Ben, Britni & Cam, Beth's husband, Jimmy, and Kent's boys were with their mom. Everyone else was here. That is amazing! We had a lot of food. Four Italian/Mexican casseroles. Several salads, bread and several desserts. Mom wanted a picture of the four of us with her and we took several. I will post a few photos.

Derby Party

Ready for company....monster cookies and flowers from the yard.
I believe all the girls are in one of these pictures or the other.

Love the look of the faces as the horses get ready to load....

I love having friends that are "closer than a brother". They are the ones that you don't have to "say the right thing" around. Look a certain way to impress (it's not about me:), or do anything other than just open up your home. They come, they bring food:), sit, chat, play yard games, or just do nothing at all. Today with the weather "iffy", we were afraid to set up outside. So we pulled out the table leaf, set up the patio table, and waited to see if rain was coming or not. As it turned out, we were able to sit on the patio (half of us) and the other half sat around the TV in the FR watching pre-race festivities. Then, as they called them to the post, we all converged in the family room/kitchen area and yelled for the horse of our choice. We had a commemorative glass for the winning horse (David G.), a potted red mini rose for second, Susan W., and for third place a box of bourbon balls went to Cheryl B.

For our menu, we had pulled chicken, cole slaw, broccoli salad (Julie's signature dish), pasta salad, baked beans, chips/dip, fresh fruit, dressed eggs, cookies, and two big desserts. Yummo!

Derby Day, Mother's Day Weekend

What a stash! The gifts are so "secondary" to the love I feel when they bring you their gifts! I have been so blessed to be "hooked" up with Mrs. Harrington's 5th grade class each year. They are always just so sweet and I love them! Thanks to each and every one for every note written or gift received. I will miss these kids!

Love my co-worker next door, Beth.

This is April Sowers, with Emily & Lauren Clay. Two of the sweetest, cutest girls you will ever meet! Emily, on the left, is Austin's girlfriend!!! They met at Tots Landing and still remember each other with notes once in awhile! Lauren Clay's mom, Shannon, was actually Becky's KTip (is that the way you spell that?) teacher, mentor, and friend. She was a huge help to Bec when she started teaching Spanish. My friend, April, is so nice and fun at work. Everyone loves her.

Another Saturday rolls around and we are so happy to be eating breakfast, driving with the top down (that means rain is giving us a break!) and that CB got a clean bill of health on Tuesday! Yeah God!!! Thank you.

Today is Derby Day and we are hosting some friends. I know the rain is coming, so we may be eating on the patio or inside. Keeping our fingers crossed for it to hold off for some corn hole and eating on the lawn. We'll see!

Tomorrow my family is coming for Mother's Day. We normally have a family picnic (potluck) for dad in June and celebrate his birthday (June 25) along with Father's Day. This year, we moved it up a month. Some of our kids can't come, which really makes it hard since we do it for us to see everyone and keep in touch. However, that can't be helped. Mother asked me for a double Knock Out pink rose bush, so that is what we got her.

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week and our PTA was again great. We had something special everyday. I will add a few photos. I cried when I read the notes my class brought to me. They were so special and sweet. I have a 5th grade room (that actually "had" me) and so they wrote of what they had learned in the years at CME.

The boys had another game on Wed. and lost. They tied the first one but lost all the others. Austin is playing on third, Matthew at shortstop at this time. They are hitting the ball well, running the bases well, actually fielding pretty good (the grounders) but catching is not going well. We'll see. They need lots of practice catching and throwing.