After a thorough face-washing, Cosette checks up under his chin. Notice how she flips onto her back to get a better angle. 
"Awww...I just love you, Daddy!" 
Then, because Steve and I didn't get to go out for our anniversary last evening due to him helping his dad remodel a bedroom, we decided to go out tonight. We ate at a delicious restaurant - the steak was so tender you almost didn't need a knife! Then we went to see Wild Hogs, an absolutely hilarious movie, but quite inappropriate for our kiddos. This will definitely NOT be rented for movie night!
Here we are all dressed up and posing in front of "the bush." This is quite a famous azalea bush, as many family events are recorded in front of it - I have many events from Easters to homecoming and graduation nights. This bush is ugly (sorry, Mrs. Faye) except for perhaps two weeks out of the year when it bursts into all it's fuchsia glory. Then it rains and the blooms are gone, and it's destined to be just another ugly bush for another 50 weeks.
I didn't share the story of our courtship yesterday, so I'll do so here. Steve and I both lived our entire lives in the same small town, going to the same school, and never meeting. The year after I graduated high school, I was attending college about 45 minutes away. Steve was working offshore as a commercial diver. One late November day, just a week from my finals, I had this VERY strong urge to visit a teacher-friend of mine. So I skipped my art class, drove the 45 minutes, went to the high school, and when I walked into her room, there was this guy. A cute guy. A very, very cute guy! Mrs. Kathy introduced us and we all started talking. During the course of the conversation, he mentions the house he has just built. I thought he was married. I ask and he says no and that he doesn't plan to marry until he is at least 30.
Well, there were things I wanted to discuss with Mrs. Kathy that weren't for the ears of a stranger. Before I left, I told her that I needed to talk privately with her and asked her to call me. She says, "Oh, I don't have your new phone number," so I write it down for her. Steve pipes up, "I don't have your new phone number, either!" I laughed and said he never had my old one and changed the subject. After a while, he mentions my phone number again. And again I make a joke about it. Then he asks for a third time, saying "Are you going to give me your phone number or not?" I thought he had been simply teasing me and at this point I didn't know what to say, so I turned the question to Mrs. Kathy, "What do you think?" She gives a glowing diatribe of Steve and his many good qualities and says, "I'd give it to him." So I did, thinking I'd never hear from him again.
For some reason, just after meeting this guy, I had an overwhelming urge to start reading my Bible. This was unusual because (1.) I had never read my Bible before and (2.) I belonged to a denomination that placed no emphasis on personal Bible reading. But as I read (with the "let it fall open and just read there" method of Bible study), God revealed to me things I had never been taught or things that seemed contrary to what I had been taught. I was interested and kept reading.
Well, two weeks after the meeting, Steve calls me. He had been offshore on a job and called the minute he got back. We went out the following Friday - he arrives at the door dressed to kill AND with flowers! We went to dinner, a movie, then for beignets and coffee. And talked for hours. That was the start of more dates and many phone calls.
I asked Steve to go to church with me on January 1. He said he'd go with me in the morning if I'd go with him to his church that night. Okay by me. So he went with me that morning. On the way to his church that night, he said, "Umm....my church is a little different from yours" and tries to describe his Assembly of God church to someone who thought the Baptists were "wild and crazy." LOL! I remember a few things from that service - the tambourine that someone in the congregation had brought, the joyous attitude of the congregants, and the overwhelming presence of God like I had never felt before. I went to my church one more time, praying, "God, I don't feel Your presence here like I did at Steve's church. If this is not where You'd have me, let me know beyond the shadow of a doubt." And He did. The following week, the last week in January 1984, I surrendered my life at the foot of the cross and never turned back.
Steve and I married 18 months after our first date. It hasn't always been flowers and romance, and while we have been through trials that have brought me to my knees in both anguish as well as prayer, I have never regretted giving that strange guy my phone number. When I skipped art class that day, not only did I find the love of my life, but I also found the Lover of my soul. What more can a girl ask for?
Hey! There are people on my dirt! And their last names are NOT Connelly! They must be workmen! They are! They are formers/framers and they forming up the house for the concrete slab. Perhaps this is really going to happen after all! These guys are working in my bedroom! 
By the end of the day, they had formed up the front section of the house. They did good work today and there are little strings crisscrossing everywhere over the pad to keep everything level, plumb, square, whatever you call it. The plumbers come Saturday for the roughing in. Or is it roughing out? I'm not sure. 
It was a pretty simple layout using a retired Stampin' Up! Simply Scrappin' Kit called Buttons, Bows, and Twinkletoes. I love the Simply Scrappin' Kits. They come with solid and patterned papers and self-adhesive die cuts and border strips. I stamped and cut out the title and tied on coordinating Stampin' Up! gingham and grosgrain ribbons.
Me and my Dad
My stepmom and me - my children call her "Granny O" - does she LOOK like a Grandmother? She looks like she's maybe 20! I love her so much - she is a wonderful friend and we always laugh and have fun together.
My baby brother is obviously way too cool to smile!
I'll coax a smile out of this handsome guy yet!
Freddie is the same age as Brooke! My youngest brother and middle child - less than three months apart.
Ah ha! I've got you now! A big, wet smooch will teach you to try to be cool around your big sister! Behave or I'll send my blog to all your friends!
Look at this picture? Do I look like I'm pinching the stinkin' cat? Does it look like I'm pulling her tail? NO! I'm rubbing her neck and talking sweetly to her. Look at her "mad ears" turned sideways. Look at her squinty eyed glare. You can't hear it, but she was growling at me. Mean, ungrateful cat. 
Harrumph! A look of utter contentment with an actual SMILE on her fuzzy little face. Unfair. So unfair. ;^)
On another note, our supper for tonight was just a plain one - Pan Sauteed Rosemary Herb Tilapia, Maple Glazed Baby Carrots, and Mukimame (shelled edamame - sweet green soybeans). It was simple, yet very yummy. I even fixed a plate for the manager of our barn for his supper tomorrow night as a "thank you" in advance for feeding our horses so we can go to Mississippi to see my Dad before he heads back to China.
I was awakened this morning with TWO bouquets of flowers! I thought, "hmm...one from the kids and one from Steve?" But the cards were signed IDENTICALLY from two different florists. So I called Steve (who has been working since last Wednesday) and he said, "Umm....that was a mistake!" He evidently was searching different online florists and pulled up two different ones. He, some way or another, ordered two separate bouquets from two different companies using two different local florists. Weird. He didn't even realize it until they were delivered. He had them (thinking it was "it") delivered to his work yesterday. When it didn't come when expected, he called them. They said, "Oh, we called the hospital and they said there was no patient admitted with the name Steve C." He said, "I'M STEVE C AND I'M THE CHARGE NURSE WORKING IN ICU!!! DELIVER MY FLOWERS TO ME SO I CAN GIVE THEM TO MY WIFE TOMORROW!" They said a polite "yes, sir" and brought them over post haste. :^D
Then Brooke wanted to take me out to eat after church. We went with some friends and their children and my friend's DH wouldn't let us pay. What sweet friends! 
....don't shake hands with the porta-potty man! :^D
Yes, folks, today is the momentous occasion of the delivery of our Pot-O-Gold. We are an official construction site. Okay, framers, you're next.
But I love our groomer. She owns standard poodles herself and we always chit-chat about our Perfect Poodles. So here are some before and after pictures of my "girls."
Delilah Before - My Heart - I call her my "Mary Poppins" - She's Practically Perfect in Every Way
Cosette, Delilah, and Abrial After (it's so hard to photograph a black dog indoors). Cosette is such a ham and never meets a stranger. Delilah is definitely a Mama's Girl. Abrial is very sweet, but shy, and is the resident tennis ball hog.
Cosette showing off her "sweetheart cut" - Delilah has a sweetheart cut as well. Abrial is to small for it to look good, so she is in a kennel clip.
What you don't see in these "after" pictures are their bright pink toenails (yes, my choice). I did remove their bows because for some reason she put one bow in the middle of their topknots rather than two bows, one over each ear, and I didn't like the single bow. Their bows were also bright pink to match their toenails, which matches the pink hibiscus flowers in their matching collars (and, yes, we have a matching leash with a triple connector for all three dogs to walk at the same time).
When we first got Delilah, I said I would never do any of the frou-frou nail polish and bow thing on her. Then STEVE brought her to be groomed for the first time. It was purple nail polish, purple bows, purple bandana - all requested by MY HUSBAND! He said he thought Brooke and Morgan would like it. (Yes, dear, whatever you say.) And if I don't have their nails done, the girls will do them! We have a collection of 60-second-dry polishes in colors to match all our collars and leashes! Girls must have accessories, you know!
.....the eager beaks of the chickens! LOL! They had a BALL with all the worms I tossed over! One would pick it up and run, the others would follow, and there would be a rousing game of "dodge chicken." After a while, the chickens just lined up at the fence and watched me work! Actually, they'd lose interest while I'd prune branches and rake, but when I'd start pulling vines, they would pay rapt attention! 
They also have dogs, but there is a building between the chicken yard and the dog kennels. They have outdoor dogs (black and tan coonhounds) and inside dogs (a lab, Yorkies, and a mixed breed). They're more of a zoo than we are! Imagine!
This is just one third of our community choir.
Brooke is second from the right on the back row
The chorus, the group Brooke is in, is a non-audition choir for third through ninth grades. This year, their only foreign language pieces were in Latin (my favorite was A Lyric Adoramus Te), but in the past, they have performed pieces in French, Spanish, Japanese, and Hebrew. This year's crowd favorite, however, was a folk piece called Deaf Old Woman. The boys would sing "old woman, old woman, will you do my washing/ironing/darning" and the old women, um, I mean girls would sing back, "Speak a little louder, dear, I'm very hard of hearing." Finally the boys got together and whispered for a while, then sang very quietly, "old woman, old woman, would you want to marry me?" and the girls would exclaim, "Lord have mercy on my soul, I hear you very clearly!" It was hilarious - especially since the boys really got into their part and used exaggerated motions and facial expressions. A great job!
Our "traveling choir" or chorale is an audition choir through 12th grade and they have won many awards and have sung all over the world. This summer, they will be performing in Austria. And you just can "sing pretty" for this choir - they test you on vocal quality and range,
ability to read rhythmic notation, ability to read melodic patterns in solfege, abitity to follow a musical score, ability to work efficiently in chorus rehearsals, conduct and dependability in chorus, and musical leadership in chorus. You have to be in chorus for at least one semester before you are allowed to audition for chorale.
We are very proud of our community choir. They are pretty impressive, especially coming from a little "hick town" in Louisiana. And we are very proud of our own little songbird. I hope Brooke continues with her singing - in addition to her horseback riding. She is a girl of many talents, for sure!
Next door at my mother-in-law's, there is this pipe sticking up out of the ground about five feet and next to the faucet for the water hose. The girls would go there to turn on the hose and a chickadee would fuss at them from a nearby tree. The girls figured she had a nest around somewhere and so would hide to watch her. She would go down into the pipe! She had laid two eggs in the nest inside the pipe. The girls have kept vigil over the nest and eggs, then over the babies, watching them grow. Because they were quite far down in the pipe, we couldn't get a picture of them at all. But now the babies are growing up and learning to fly. This little guy flew to the top of a window sill. The girls were very excited to see the babies thriving, but are sad that they will be leaving for good. Thus a bittersweet lesson on raising children....
