I have a very thoughtful son!

Jason told me last week that he wanted to take the Mothers in his life out to eat on Tuesday for Mother's Day.  He took all of us to Les Bourgeoise Winery Bistro.  That is my absolute favorite place to dine.  The view is spectacular.  I was a little nervous about taking all 5 of the grandkids, but they were really good.  Jason had salmon, Rachel had trout, and Mamie, Shea, and I had grilled porkchops with Asiago and chive mashed potatoes.  Laine had pizza and the other kiddos had chicken and mashed potatoes.  It was all delicious.

Jason gave his lemon slice to Jilli............................she ate it!

Shea loves her Daddy!

Jilli, Rachel and Garrett were having a good time.

Laine loved his soda, but hated the camera.....................

Dallas with his favorite girl.

When they brought the hot bread, Garrett loved it.......................especially the butter.

We had such a wonderful evening.  Believe it, or not, no one spilled their drink.  Some people had to have their silverware confiscated because they were making too much noise.  When they got really antsy, we looked around upstairs and also walked down the hill to see the river.  It was such a nice Mother's Day present.  Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, Jason.

Big Sally's friend, Maddie

Do you remember my post about Big Sally?  This is Maddie, whom I made for Shea last Christmas.  I was able to find my Big Sally pattern (I'm so glad I saved  it!), so I made Maddie.  I painted her face and made her beautiful red hair with ribbon...........took a long time, but was worth it.  Shea has her dressed in a flower girl dress that she wore in her uncle's wedding.  She looks pretty good, except her lipstick is smudged (?). I don't think she gets into as much trouble as Sally.................although she may have been playing with Mamie's makeup (Bad Maddie).  One of these days I will make Jilli a big doll.  Wonder what she will name hers?

Shea tells me that Dallas is scared of Maddie......................remember the scarey "Chucky" doll of the 80's movie?  Rachel was frightened to death at a  childhood sleepover when they watched that movie.  She says Maddie scares her too..................Dallas and Rachel.............both scaredy cats!

Smith Thanksgiving

Yesterday Rachel and I had the Smith Thanksgiving meal at Rachel's house.  There were 32 in attendance and we had such a good time----lots of kids and lots of food. 

This is our beloved Mamaw and Papa who are the matriarch and patriarch.  Mamaw and Papa have 

 made us many wonderful meals over the years and it is a delight to host them. 

Rachel set up 2 adult tables downstairs as well as a childrens' table.  The kids were so cute.  I think we used 4 towels at various times to clean up the spills.  Jilli had the worst time---somehow she ended up with mashed potatoes on her chair, which fell to the floor, which she walked in with her shoes, which left potato tracks across the floor............well, you get it, right?  Mamie made her wonderful hot rolls and she had to make a trip upstairs to bring a plate of hot buttered rolls to the kiddos because that was the first thing they ate and were ready for more. From left to right:  Laine , Garrett, Jillian and Dallas.

Laine, Garrett and Jillian.  You notice  they are waiting for more Mamie rolls.

Allyssa and Collin

Jilli and Dallas

Zoe, Allysa, Collin, Laine

Then there was the "big" girls who sat with the adults:  Shea, Emily, and Miranda

Mamie with another plate of buttered rolls for the kiddos.

Chris, Hollie and Jason upstairs with the adults.

Carolyn and her son in law Jim, Papa, and Mamaw.

Joel, Jill and Bob.

Matt getting mashed potatoes while Jilli looks on.  Think of what this group of people looks like from her vantage point.  She was the baby yesterday.  I didn't get photos of everyone, but Rachel, the hostess was there, as well as Tracey and  Max, Justin, Lisa, Mason and Jackson, Robby, Joel's fiance, Debbie, and my Mom, who came over in the afternoon for pie and coffee.  It was a wonderful gathering.  Thank you Rach---we make a great team.  I love you!

Rachel's first quilt ---for Garrett

This is the first quilt that Rachel made.  It is Sock Monkey fabric and was hand quilted by her and a number of ladies in our community and members of her family.  Garrett has it on his bed.  Really a cute first quilt.  She had it completed and displayed it at her baby shower for Garrett.

Please get that song out of my head before I go CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!

photo by Mamie Smith

Again, Thanks, Rachel

If it doesn't have a tail its not a monkey.
If it doesn't have a tail its an ape.
If it doesn't have a .......................................................................................................................................
...............................I'm losing my mind............................................Yeh, I know you already know that.

I can't get it out of my head.

If it doesn't have a tail its not a monkey.  If it doesn't have a tail its an ape. If it doesn't have a tail its not a monkey. If it doesn't have a tail its an ape.                                                    If it doesn't have a tail its not a monkey.  If it doesn't have...........................................................
.........................................................Thanks, Rachel, Thanks

more photos

more photos

The Burns' are back in town

Joe, Rhonda, and Isaac Burns moved to Oklahoma last Spring and they were back here for the weekend and told us to join them for dinner last night.  It was great seeing them, especially Isaac. who is really growing and changing.  He is just so cute.  Rachel and Jillian met me at the interstate and we drove in together. Jason, Mamie, Laine, Shea, and Dallas came too.  We had a great time with old friends ( I watched Joey grow up).  We went to Chevy's and told the staff that Rachel had a birthday Saturday.....................she was so delighted with her birthday sombrero.  The little ones wanted to run around and it was quite wild.  Jilli did not want to sit in her chair, so I put her on my lap and gave her a fork.  She likes to feed herself, but I guess she wasn't hungry because she got to slinging my food around.  Pretty soon Jason asked me, "Do you know you have food in your hair?"  Needless to say, I put her down and let her run around.  Isaac was really good.  He wanted to run around too.  Dallas was wanting to be with his Mommy, Shea was sitting with her Daddy and Laine was devouring enchiladas.  It was fun.

Happy Birthday Rachel

Today is Rachel's birthday.  She is a wonderful daughter.  Love ya, Rach!

Rachel's quilt top for Jillian.

She is going to machine quilt it when she gets a chance to do it.  Jilli will like it.  She made a quilt for Garret before he was born.  I'm so proud of her.

Weekley Wednesday

Yesterday I went to see my daughter, Rachel.  We always have a great day.  We began with picking vegetables from their garden and playing in the dirt and rockbox.  Garrett spent an hour shoveling dirt into his big dumptruck and building a "mountain" in the garden.  Jillian played in the rockbox---well, she mostly spent the time putting her shoes on and off and wiping the tiny pebbles from the bottom of her feet.  We called my Mom and she had lunch  with us on Rachel's deck.  The weather was so beautiful yesterday.  Rachel had her house opened and the breezes blew the curtains around the entire day.  .When the kiddos went down for a nap, I went to the antique mall downtown and looked at all the vintage textiles.  I kept looking at all the crocheted doilies and brainstormed about using them in a quilt some way.  I'm still thinking.  They are quite plentiful, inexpensive and beautiful.  It's a shame no one appreciates them.  Anyone have any ideas?  When I got back to the Weekleys I rested on the couch while Rachel kept an appointment.   When Garrett woke up we made stuffed peppers and when Rachel got back, she shredded  and froze the zuchinni we had picked earlier in the day.  When Matt got up (he was working nights) we had supper.  Later we took the kids to dairy queen to get ice cream.  I just had to laugh at Rachel.  She got this enormous ice cream cone.............she said it was a "medium" cone............and of course, Garrett and Jillian had cones as well.  Jillian had a dipped cone and was licking it and getting nothing, so Rachel quickly ate the shell off it.  Garrent got behind and his cone started dripping, so Rachel  "helped" him out by licking all the melted ice cream for him and soon "had" to do the same for Jillian's cone.  Now I know why mom's with small children gain weight!  Rachel says its from Cortisol-----the stress hormone.  Maybe its a combination of both.  Darn----I was going to put some photos of the kids here but when I turned on my camera......"No memory card".....it was still in my computer.  I guess the joke is really on me.