More Photos

Maggie 3, Austin 6, Thomas 5, Matthew 6

While we were at Olive Garden, Maggie, Austin & Matthew went to church at Immanuel and Aunt Amy brought them home. She started taking them last year on Sunday nights.

Thanks, Thomas, for my pumpkin!

At Olive Garden celebrating Cassie's birthday. Thomas, age 5, sat by me! He liked my phone....we played tic tac toe. He ate cheesy ravioli very well.

Family News

Since we have not been having breakfast on Sat. mornings at Atlanta Bread (which is out of business), my blogging has suffered. Since everyone posts photos on FB and leaves comments there, blogging seems to be on the back burner. However, I like writing to the few that read my blog things I wouldn't want to write on FB. Also, I like keeping this in the way of a journal...something to look back on.

The biggest news our family has celebrated is Jason's engagement to Cassie. I didn't have pictures on my iphone so I didn't post a status update on it. Jason doesn't do FB so I am never sure how much to write there. I do have some photos and I will download a few from my camera. We had supper at Olive Garden last Sunday, Sept. 18th, to celebrate Cassie's birthday (29). After we ate, we went back to Becky's house for cake and icecream. They hadn't seen Bec & Jason's new house so they had a tour there, then we sat out on the deck for dessert.

Thomas sat by me at supper and I enjoyed getting to talk to him. He is so sweet and learning so much. He had good questions & comments. I really liked being with him. He brought each cousin to be a small pumpkin he picked out for them at Evan's Orchard. He told me "I have a special one for Austin, cause he's a special boy". So cute. He actually doesn't like one boy over the other as far as I can see.

The engagement was on Sat. night at a birthday party Cassie's friends at Greens threw for her and one other birthday girl from work (I believe is the way it was). There was a live band and a big smoker with beef brisket. Jason said it was melt in your mouth good. There were lights, dancing, and just a great party. While there, when the band was taking a break, they were dancing to nice music, he dropped to one knee and asked her. Their close friends and cousins were there to help celebrate. All in all, from what they told us, it seemed very well thought out and it was very romantic. Sweet!

Late Summer

My sweet girl!

Too much fun for Maggie Jane!

A good night for all. Becky & Jason in need of a fun night out with old friends. Kay & Don Blevins have been friends since GT college days had them over to dinner tonight. We got the kids! They have watched movies and eaten! Fun night.

I LOVE to sit out back and watch the hummers & butterflies. I don't take my camera, but always have my phone!

A little girl I don't want to forget. Emily Hoover was at Tot's Landing with Austin where they became "fast friends". She has come to the last two birthday parties and he has attended her last two. Then it was my pleasure to have her at CME as a Kindergartener and then first grader. Last week they sold their beautiful home in Copperfield and moved to London. I will miss her!

Too Long

Since starting Face Book a couple of years ago, and the fact my laptop doesn't blog easily (formatting, stopping IE in the middle of blogging, not able to leave comments on other blogs now???) I have just not been a faithful blogger or follower! I do love catching up in the lives of friends and co-workers through blog, but my sanity and peace of mind is more important! Oh well, saying that, I will try yet another entry:)

I do like that in the blog I can jot down more thoughts than I ever would write on FB. I feel that anyone that is interested enough in my life to read my blog, is someone I want to "talk to" through the blog.

Words read sometimes take on a very different meaning than what the writer intends! At least my words do. I want to say how wonderful and blessed I am to have Clyde...then I think that it sounds very "sugary" or too hard to swallow for some. So, I just leave posts about the things he buys me or places he takes me, all the while not saying how very thoughtful he is. He is always trying to please me and make me happy (not that that's where happiness comes from, but you know what I mean). He works so hard in trying to invest our meager funds wisely. He sweats, prays, gets overwrought, and sometimes just plain sick to his stomach when stocks fall.....just decisions that he takes on "himself" for us. Anyway, that is something I don't write about and wanted to say. I am blessed by him.

I will post a few flower garden photos at Arboretum, some of Maggie (haven't taken many of the boys lately) and try to publish this....fingers crossed:)

Late Summer Garden

Hanging basket hay rake tree. Late in summer so some look better than others.
Dark pink Crape Mrytle (spelling?) Beautiful at this time.

My favorite hanging basket. I put this together and added new coconut liner this year. This purple plant took over the other edging plant, but it's been nice and trouble free.

I bought this orchid for a bridal shower early in the year and this is it's second blooming. It was a surprise and treat to me! It is just beautiful at this time.

This picture doesn't show this plant well. The purple sweet potato vine is huge. I sprayed Sevin on it so that there were no "holes" and it has been beautiful.

To the right is a Cleome. I have great luck each year with these volunteer flowers that reseed and bloom the next year. This year, however, this is the only one that came back to full size. It actually is so big and nice, I was OK with adding the red salvia that bloomed all summer and added so much color. However, I am planning to drop the seeds this year so hopefully they will continue to come back.

Jason's Birthday

Bec soaked the whole chicken in a brine and cooked it in a roasting bag. Moist!
Roasted squash, mac n cheese, fresh tomatoes (my yard), green beans, spinach salad:)

My boy

Most of the time Austin was playing, but took a moment to sit beside his Uncle Jason.

Sunday, July 24th, was Jason Allen's 34th birthday. Having a child older than most of the people I work with seems strange. I think of many of them as my "friends" but honestly I have little in common with most of them. Saying that, it's OK! I love the age I am, the freedom to "go" at a moment's notice, having fewer responsibilities at home now that the kids are out (and of course have been for a long time), and love to do those things with the one person that I love being with. So, celebrating my kids birthdays is a celebration of our married life. A milestone for not only Jason (and Becky) but Clyde and I as well.

This year Becky (last year as well) had us over for a nice dinner. She cooked a moist, tasty chicken, great mac n' cheese (her brothers request), spinach tortellini salad, and I brought green beans, roasted vegetables, an appetizer & dessert. We invited mamaw & Kent and enjoyed a time of conversation while the kids were "wild & crazy".....here are a few pics.

All Stars

The boys are on the white team for t-ball. It is both 5 & 6 year olds. They missed the first weekend tournament, plus the coach knew some of the others players already, so they have a lot of making up to do. This weekend, they played in the BG State games. We played at 10:30 this morning and won for the first time! Matthew had trouble b/c he throws the bat out of the white circle. So he didn't get on that first game. He did better batting as the day goes. Austin takes several strikes before he hits a real hard hit sometimes. So, he had several good hits today and one strike out! During the season, you have five or more strikes. Today it was 3 only. I will try to download a video of Austin hitting.