Weekend Fun With Family

It has been a busy and fun weekend with family.  My sister, Kim, who lives in Florida, arrived on Friday.  My daughter, Elisabeth, arrived not long after Kim got here, with Hannah, Ryan and Abby.  After Mark got home, he took the kids to the woods for dune buggying and 4-wheeling.  Ilene came over, too.  We all went to supper with the church group at 5:30 at the Carriage House in Winston.  Brad, my son-in-law, met us there.  Liz and Brad went home from the restaurant.  We went home to wait for my daughter Jessica and family coming from Ohio.  Ilene went home to wait for Jessica and Terry to spend the night.

Jessica and Terry and kids, Chance, Thad and Araya, arrived around 7:30.  We spent the evening visiting and Araya spent the night with us.  I led Jessica and Terry to Ilene's, since a bridge is out on the GPS route, to spend the night since we do not have room here.

Araya stayed up WAY too late helping me fix pretzel salad.  At one point she wanted her mommy.  However, Jessica had already told her that if she stayed, there was no mommy to come and get her.  So, when I reminded her of that, she laid down and went right to sleep.

Saturday, Jessica and Terry and the kids came over around 10 and the woods activities on the dune buggy and 4-wheelers began.   At noon we began to eat sloppy joes, baked beans, potato salad, macaroni salad and cole slaw.  Dessert was brownies and ice cream and pretzel salad.  Ilene came over after she went to some yard sales and ate lunch with us.

After lunch, even the ladies joined the guys and kids out in the woods.  I wanted to get some pictures of the activities.

Supper was left overs, Arby sandwiches and Domino's pizza, and more brownies and ice cream and pretzel salad.  All of the kids went to Ilene's to sleep.

After church today, Jessica and Terry came back to the house with us to eat lunch before heading for home.  It has been a good weekend!

Friday 

Sharon brought a cake to the restaurant

to celebrate Bobby's birthday.

All Abby ate was the green icing.

Enjoying the deck in the evening.

Saturday 

Mark found a pretty good sized black snake 

on the trails in the woods.

Fun on the big boy toys

The only cloud I saw on Saturday.

It was HOT!

Time for some motorcycle rides

Sunday

Kim treated us to supper after church.  Thanks, Kim!

Dear Lord,
Thank You for each and every soldier who has lost their life defending the freedoms of our nation so that I can serve You freely!  Comfort the hearts of every family missing a loved one who died defending my freedoms.  I pray in Jesus' name!

Painting

We had Mark's granddaughter, Kayden, over the weekend and Jaxon came over after school on Monday.  They enjoyed painting in the She Shed......

Our inspiration was found on Pinterest

Kayden painted the canvas black and then splattered with her fingers

Another pinterest inspiration.

Using the leftover paint.

She inverted the paint palette onto the black canvas

and spun the plate to swirl the paint.  Then took a

brayer to spread out the paint.

Jaxon's turn.

Left is a gun trigger; right is a cannon.

I told him he had done some abstract art.

He didn't know what that was!

This is his un-abstract art of his mommy.

Thank You, LORD, for the blessing of sharing my shed with little artists!

Stenciling

I picked up around the house, then I picked Mark up at the shop today and we went to lunch at Real Q for some BBQ.

After I got back, I worked in the craft shed on the serving tray.  I did some stenciling on it.

Here's the finished work.  All I need to do now is seal it for use.  However, it will probably only be displayed somewhere.

The temperatures have been on the cool side this week.....actually, we've had REAL springtime weather!  It has been wonderful!

My next project will be a pedestal to use as a bird bath.  I just have to find an example that I like.  Stay tuned!

Crafting

Well, the shed is organized enough that I can do some crafting finally!  You may remember that I started this project before Tim got so sick.  It was still sitting in the "scrapbook" room at the parsonage until a month or so ago.  "Time to finish it," Mark said when he saw it and I explained what it was.

After the paint drys, I will remove the painter's

tape, seal it, and I think I will be done,

unless I decide to do some stenciling on

the plain sides.  We shall see!

Mark was trimming some brush along the edge of

the property when he uncovered some of these plants.

The leaves are prickly like holly and have these

beautiful blue berries!  

Wikipedia says they are Mahonia aquifolium.

You can read about it HERE.

The berries are beautiful!

Not only the heavens declare the glory and handiwork of God (Psalm 19:1), but the earth does, too! 
Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof"

Thank You, LORD, for making Your glory and handiwork manifest to us day by day!

Mother Daughter Banquet

Elisabeth invited me to attend a Mother Daughter Banquet at her church today.  Thank you, Elisabeth!  I had a great time all day today with you!

The meal was fixed by her pastor!  There were games, a devotion, prizes, a singing special and flute special.  It was a nice time!

With Hannah and Elisabeth

Beautiful decorations

Abby got there just in time for the meal.  She had a soccer game this morning.

But her daddy saw to it she got there, dressed for the occasion!

Hannah and her friends singing a special.

Time for the JOY devotion by a young pastor's wife.

After the banquet, we went back to Elisabeth's house and changed clothes.  Then we (she and I) went to some thrift stores.....rain and all, lol!  We actually got cold!

Then Liz treated us to supper at Cracker Barrel for Mother's Day!  Thank you so much, sweetie!  I pray you have a wonderful Mother's Day, too!

As you are reading this on Mother's Day, I want to wish my forever mother-in-law, Jeanne, a wonderfully blessed Mother's Day!

Also, I want to wish my daughters, Jessica Ann and Elisabeth, and Jessica and Cheryl a wonderful and blessed Mother's Day, too!  I'm so thankful for all of the grandchildren you have given to me!

Also, wishing Mark's daughters a wonderful Mother's Day!

And, I wish every mother who reads my blog a wonderful and blessed Mother's Day!

Love to all!