Goodbye Long Weekend, Hello Countdown to Summer!

Hey Y'all!  Did everybody have a great LONG weekend?  Whew...we sure did!    It was just so CRAZY busy!

Saturday morning we had our last soccer game of the season!  Robbie's team won!
After the soccer game, we drove to the cemetery where my grandparents are buried.  After the storms last week, I wanted to check and make sure the flowers were still on the tombstone.  Of course they were not, but someone at least had put all of the "stray" arrangements in one area and I was able to find theirs!
After that  me and my sister dropped off Big Daddy and Robbie at The Doublewide and headed out to do a little shopping!  Her and Chad (my BIL) are expecting their first baby during late September.  She's finally had to get some maternity clothes and I got to go with her!
THEN...I had to be on the baseball field by 6:00 PM.  I played on a team to help our small town raise money to build a park!  You can go to my Facebook page and look at the tagged pictures of me if you'd like!  It was CRAZY fun!
Sunday morning we had a very nice Memorial Day service at church honoring the fallen soldiers of our country and then that afternoon we had Family Day at church.  We had hot dogs and hamburgers with lots of laughs while we watched folks play corn-hole and other games.  It was SO hot though...ugh

Finally I was able to do some laundry and cleaning yesterday!  We all slept late and worked around the house.  My BIL Chad grilled steaks and we had salads, baked potatoes, zuchinni/squash for supper! 
We have nine school days left counting today.  Having that long weekend spoiled me!  I can't wait for summer break!  

I'll be putting some pics soon of recent happenings!  Have a wonderful day! 

I HEART the Bloom Loom

Hey Y'all!  Hope your day was wonderful yesterday---we had tornado warnings and watches last night!  After soccer practice was over last night, we headed to eat Japanese food with some of our great friends--then headed to Wal-Mart to buy food items that I'm going to be needing to cook at school.  On the way home, we were right in the middle of a horrible storm.  At the Charlotte-Douglas airport, the winds reached 67 miles an hour.  We're not too far from there, so I know it was bad.  There were flying limbs and sticks and it was raining sideways.  When we pulled into our yard, I saw where the winds had blown one of my rocking chairs clean off the porch!  We sat in the van for about 10 minutes and waited it out but finally everything was back to normal.
About a week or so ago, I ended up finding this on Youtube:

BLOOM LOOM VIDEO

 

So, I had to get me a bloom loom!  Ebayed that sucker right to my front door and this morning, I made my first one!
Don't tell Big Daddy that I spent $60 on materials to make more flowers online yesterday, ok?  Thanks!

Here's my first one:

 

And here's the actual Bloom Loom!  Hurry---go buy you one!  You'll LOVE it!

Have a great weekend Y'all!

BLOOM LOOM VIDEO

Broomstick Lace

Where in the world have I been?  I cannot believe that I have never seen, nor heard of, Broomstick Lace.  I'll be 40 in July, and consider myself pretty crafty, but I am in LOVE with it!

Somehow or another, I stumbled upon it and watched some YouTube videos to learn how.  After watching THIS VIDEO, I quickly found that I just HAD to try it!  So....
Here's what I've come up with so far...

You can also go HERE to find MANY free patterns using this method.
I'll leave you with some things that I've found online using Broomstick Lace!
Have a great day!

LINK

LINK

LINK

LINK

 

Y'all see what I mean??!!
I'm in LOVE!

The Last Time We Spoke....

I was a different person. 
We had just completed my sister's birthday weekend and I was looking forward to a Spring Break soon.  I am so embarrassed to say that it's been too long since I've had a minute taken the time to blog.  That's not the WHOLE truth, but I'll stick to it anyway....
Here's a few things that made the 

"We Just Made a MEMORY!"

category:

#1.  The Saturday before Easter we got together with Big Daddy's side of the family for an Easter Egg hunt, games, food, etc.  I didn't really want to miss our church's Easter Egg Hunt, but I'll make sacrifices so that Big Daddy can see his family.  They're from the southwestern corner of Georgia, a town called Nicholls.  We rarely get to see them and some of the others live in the mountains of NC, so whenever we can all get can get together, I enjoy it.

#2.  While at the Easter Egg Hunt, they hid a metal tin that was shaped like an M&M.  It was the "PRIZE" egg and all the kids were told that if they found that egg, there would be a special prize for them.  Robbie found it and ended up with a GIANT Chocolate Easter Bunny (Thank God it was hollow!)
#3.  Our Easter Sunday choir cantata at church was AMAZING!  Many folks have said that it was the BEST one ever--such a wonderful thing--getting to see God's hand moving through the service and doing it through music too!
#4.  After church we ate at my house with my family for Easter---had Spaghetti and salads..LOL  then we packed up the van and headed to see our friends, Freddie and Kay Kay Combs in Tennessee.  While there we laughed, played, sang, ate, shopped, rested, etc.  It was WONDERFUL! 

There are SO many things I'm working on right now.
We only have 13 days of school left, counting today.
This is year #18 in my teaching career.  For the first 3 years I taught 4th grade---the next 4 years I taught 6th grade math and science----the next 8 years I taught 7th grade math and science---the past three years I've taught Life Skills (Home Ec.).
About two weeks ago I got a phone call from my principal because I had stayed at home with Robbie due to strep in May....who gets strep in May??!! 
She called to tell me that our CTE Dept. in our school system has decided to discontinue the Life Skills program in all middle schools in our school system.  That means 11 teachers got "the slip," myself included.  Fortunately for me I am certified in math and science and will hopefully be able to make a smooth transition back to the math/science classroom.  Please say a prayer that this will work out!!!
Even though I have been very worried about this, I know my God is able to take care of everything!

I promise to be back soon!  I have SO SO SO much to tell y'all!!!
Have a great Tuesday!!!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Monday Everyone!
Just wanted to stop in and check on y'all!
Our weekend went by way too fast, but don't they all?
Friday was my little sister's birthday.  We all went out to eat at a local restaurant called Jackson's Cafeteria.  We had a great time together and now I can show you what I made for her.

Thursday night, (I guess I'm going backwards now) was Robbie's soccer practice where he was lying in the grass watching the clouds.  I actually caught an action shot as his little leg is drawn back to kick that invisible ball at his feet---cute thang!

 Here he is at the fence, during water break!

 This is my favorite thing about his soccer league.  They have a Bible story at every practice and/or game.
They were supposed to play their first game this past Saturday morning at 9:00 but it was cancelled due to thunderstorms.  We'll be making up that game tonight at 6:00 PM.

 Saturday night we were invited to Vernon, Beverly and Payton's home for homemade pizzas.  Here's what we dug into!

 Robbie and Payton sat at the island and filled it up!

 My plate....YUMMY!

 Beverly made brownies for dessert and I was being stupid and playing around!  This shot actually made me wet my pants and sent Beverly to the bathroom into her Depends stash!
After supper, we all piled up in the room to watch Coal Miner's Daughter!  I've never seen it and I LOVED it!  We had such a wonderful time and can't wait to do it again!

Happy Birthday Doodah!!

Today, my little sister, Amanda, turns 34.  Oh, the travestry!  I can't stand it!  Seems only yesterday that she was just a little baby, falling asleep in her cereal bowl, while learning to crawl!

All week I've been writing my favorite memories of "us" growing up daily on her Facebook wall.   I have had a fun time doing that.
Unfortunately, I don't have my camera cards with me today so that I could put pictures here. 
So, I'll show a sneak peak to you of her birthday present from me.  She is one of my 3 blog readers, so I don't want to spoil it.

So, what are your plans for the weekend?  Robbie's first soccer game is tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM.  Last night at practice, while his teammates were running around the field and working and learning, I looked and saw him lying on the ground, with his hands behind his head, watching the clouds roll by.

It was GREAT!  I'll try and snap some great pictures tomorrow!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Telling Our Story....

Hey Y'all!
 Happy Friday!

Last night I had the honor of speaking to a group of pretty special people.   Way back in February, I was contacted by a lady at our county's DSS and was asked to speak at their annual Foster Parent Appreciation Dinner.  Of course, I accepted her offer and have been pretty stoked and nervous about speaking to a group of people who have such an important job.
So....the time came for me to arrive at the designated location...When I walked into the lobby of the church, I saw this....
 

I was so shocked to know that you can give your tithe before you ever enter the sanctuary and they'll take MC, Visa, and Discover...whew-wee!

Next, I found the room where we would be meeting for our dinner.  Look at the beautiful tissue paper flower table decor!  Stunning, right?

 We had a wonderful meal and I was excited to be sitting next to the director of the whole she-bang.  He retired from Ohio and has been in our area for 10 years.  An awesome guy!

Here's a close-up of the program for the evening...

and here's me with Misty and Cynthia.  

 

Misty (in the center) was mine and Big Daddy's adoption case worker.  She was the one who did all of our interviews and paperwork when we were in the process of adopting Robbie back in 2007.  She is wonderful and I really love her.  She also introduced me before I spoke last night and she said such wonderful things about us.  I am so thankful that God always seems to put the right people in our lives at the perfect time.  Cynthia (on the right) goes to church with us and was the reason I was asked to speak in the first place.  She pretty much is the stuff! 
Thanks y'all for asking me to speak and I really enjoyed being able to share OUR adoption story and how God moved and worked in our lives by sending us a son to love and raise.
  I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!  We are gonna be BUSY!