Belated Birthday Lunch

It's hard to buy presents for people who have practically everything they want. So for Teresa's birthday, I decided to buy her a piggy bank and put $20 in it.

I decorated the acrylic bank with some stickers and the bank is impossible to open without using a hammer to smash it. The purpose of the bank is for Teresa to add $20 to it and give it back to me for my birthday. At Christmas, we'll each add $20 and so on and so on. Whoever is left standing (knock on wood) keeps the bank. Kind of a gruesome yet unique idea. Happy Belated Birthday, Teresa!

Yard Art and Flowers

I've had my spring flowers planted for some time now but it took almost a month to get around to resealing my concrete curbing to make the pictures and yard look better.

My favorite flowers are petunias. They're easy to maintain, smell great and last all summer long...that is if I don't forget to water them during the hottest time of the year. I've cut down on most of my yard art. My favorite is still my bird bath with holes on the side to plant flowers. I'm a little partial to my chairs and bicycle and love the bench Michael and Melissa gave me for Mother's Day many years ago (concrete bench is in the lower picture on the left).

I added a new window box this year for the back deck. I thought it might bring more hummingbirds to the feeder hanging to the left. Hummingbirds are very territorial. There's 2 birds that hang around that feeder and they pretty much chase away any other bird that tries to drink their nectar.

My other new addition is this cute downspout cover. It's hard to tell but it's a bridge with hummingbirds on it. As the stores continue to open up, I may have to add a few more pieces.

Father's Day

If I had to hand pick someone, I couldn't have picked a better person to be the father to my grandchildren.

Happy Father's Day, Jamie. You're the best!

Photo Shoot at the Beach

What's a trip to the beach without a professional photo shoot. While the Taylor's were in Florida, Melissa planned a photo shoot on the beach.

Uniquely individual Violet

QG Lincoln

Baby Hazel

How Melissa put this together in less than her usual 30 day planning is unbelievable but all the pictures turned out perfect!

Michael's Birthday

I can't believe I spent the whole afternoon with Michael and didn't take one picture. We did get together as a family and had Parmesan crusted chicken take-out from Longhorn Steakhouse, one of Michael's favorites.

Happy Birthday, Michael. This is your first year of life and here's to your last year of your 30's!

Taylor's Trip to Florida - Me with the Dogs

The Taylors decided to escape the covid chaos in Missouri and head to Florida for a week which meant I had dog duty. To be honest, I was asked to go with them. I got to thinking...16 hours in a car with 3 kids, a neurotic daughter, a son-in-law with more energy than the 3 kids and the unknown of the virus rules in other states; I chose the dogs.

First I had to "puppy proof" the deck. Khloe is small enough to slip through the slats by the gate so my deck got the "ghetto" look.

I always make special dog food for Khloe and Lola instead of their regular chicken and vegetables. Mine has bacon! Lola was so excited while I was cooking, she spent the entire morning under the table just waiting for dinner time.

In the meantime, the trip to Florida was a success. Hazel was fascinated with the view of the pool from the balcony.

They played miniature golf...

Rode go-karts....

And spent many hours at the beach.

A week is a long time to watch the dogs when you're not used to that much responsibility.  It got to the point where even Lola and Khloe were tired of taking walks around the block. But it was all worth it to see these smiling faces.

Violet's Last Day of First Grade

After several weeks of teachers trying to decide about what to do with the end of the school year, they finally just sent an e-mail and said "we're done".

So Violet's last day of first grade was celebrated with a quick pic in the front yard and no more e-learning. This pandemic is sure creating a lot of mixed emotions for everyone right now. Who knows what the future will bring. But Violet is now officially a second grader. My, she's growing so fast!