Good Bye 2015! Hello 2016!

The perfect way to end a year is to bring your granddaughter home with you and that is what we did.  After our big Christmas with family, we packed up and headed home with Amelia in the back seat.  Our first stop was a Cracker Barrel where we all enjoyed a big breakfast.  Amelia is a picky eater, but you can always count on her to clean her plate when she has pancakes and bacon.  Amelia is a great traveler.  She entertains herself with the iPad and doesn't complain about the length of the trip.

When we got home she immediately went back to the bedroom and created a work of art.  Isn't that funny that she walked in and she chose to do an art project first thing?

Appropriately named "Winter Break Buttons"

Every morning Amelia was with us, we had chocolate chip pancakes and bacon except for the day we went to lunch and a movie and that day we had them for supper.  Each day started with a cup of hot chocolate prepared perfectly by Paw-Paw.  Poor Paw-Paw!  He was kept busy bringing me coffee and making hot chocolate for Amelia.

Amelia was anxious to visit our neighbor, Mrs. Patterson, and she prepared her specialty (corn muffins) to take her.  Mrs. Patterson was happy to see Amelia and she admitted that corn muffins were her favorite and proceeded to eat one.  We helped her move from one chair to another and Amelia was so sweet helping her move her walker and her cup of water to another location.

Making muffins

Tuesday we contacted Amelia's Aunt Ashley and made arrangements for cousins, Avery and Madison to come over to play and have a tea party that afternoon.  Amelia and I went to the local dollar store where we found plenty of good tea party food and some pink lemonade for the teapot.  We also located some decorations and tiaras for each girl to wear.

Sweet cousins!

The girls played a little bit and then devoured the dainty party food.  Avery and Madison especially enjoyed the little round peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that I made with a cookie cutter.  Amelia stuck with the little chocolate chip cookies and little squares of cheese.  A lot of pink lemonade was poured from that teapot.  Everyone had a turn serving the "tea".

After the tea party, Amelia wanted her cousins to meet Mrs. Patterson so I called to make sure it was okay and we fixed her a plate of tea party refreshments and walked down for a quick visit.  When we started down the road the girls got excited about taking her flowers.  First they picked from the neighbor directly across from us and as we neared Mrs. Patterson's house they began to pick flowers in her yard.  Of course, I knew that she wouldn't mind.  We had a quick visit and returned home where the girls enjoyed playing together until Ashley arrived to pick them up.

Amelia used Bubba's walking stick to protect us from "snakes"
as we walked down the road.

It should be noted that while Amelia was very excited that we were having a tea party, she was even more excited about the number of lizards living in our porch area.  She chased them down and delighted in holding them.  She wanted to keep them to take home with her.  (I bet Billy would have liked that.)

"Hey, little buddy."

The hunt is on.

Wednesday we skipped our pancakes because we were going to eat an early lunch before going to the movie, The Good Dinosaur.  Amelia chose that one over the chipmunk movie.  She seemed to enjoy the movie, laughing out loud several times as she ate every kernel of her popcorn.  "You have to get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side" was my favorite line from the movie.  As animated films go, it wasn't too bad.  Back home, I fixed Amelia chocolate chip pancakes for supper since we missed them that morning.

Several times Amelia has told me that she wanted to "needle" or "knit".  She uses both terms to indicate sewing.  I had given it some thought and decided that she might be ready to make something simple.  I cut a rectangle out of a piece of flannel and we proceeded to sew.  We were making a "heating pad" similar to one that I have.  It took a couple of hours to complete the project and it held Amelia's interest the whole time.  She was quite proud of herself.  She sewed the different sections using the machine.  (The first time she pressed the foot pedal, she was surprised by how fast it was going.)  She soon caught on to stitching slower.  She proved to be an excellent needle threader and caught on quickly to stitching the openings on each section closed by hand.

Putting rice into the pad.  Then it can be heated in
the microwave and placed on aching muscles.

Nice straight stitches

Pinning the pieces together

Master of the machine!

The next day she wanted to sew again.  This time she made a bookmark.  It had three buttons on it that she sewed on herself.  She took the bookmark home with her, but she wanted Paw-Paw to have the heating pad.  

Sewing on buttons

Nana supervises.

Rise of the Guardians was our movie for New Year's Eve.  We had popcorn, chocolate chip cookie cake, chocolate milk and fudge.  Two years ago Amelia fell asleep before the new year arrived.  This time she made it and was very pleased with herself.  She called her mom at 11:00 to wish her happy new year on Georgia time.

Happy New Year!!

Posing with Paw-Paw

(I was hoping she would choose the cupcakes.)

We were all tired the next day.  Bubba and I were certainly not used to staying up so late and neither was Amelia.  It was a lazy kind of day for us all.  We paid one last visit to Mrs. Patterson.  Amelia hugged and kissed her and rubbed her cheek and told her that she would miss her.  (So sweet!)

The next day we met Amy in Eufaula to return her daughter to her.  Amelia was so excited to see her mom.  We're going to miss her that's for sure.  She is growing so fast.  As usual it was a wonderful visit and we look forward to next time.

Note:  We received an e-mail confirmation this week for our plane tickets for our anniversary trip.  I think it is really going to happen!

Amazing Family Christmas 2015

Finally the day arrived for us to go to Atlanta for our Christmas holiday.  Tuesday before Christmas our car laden with presents, ham, potato salad, turnip greens, corn, and a cheese ball followed the now very familiar route to spend the holiday with Amy, Darryl, and Amelia AND Darryl's brother Dayton and his wife Daphne and older kids Cameron and Savannah AND Darryl's sister Ashley and her little girls Madison and Avery.  (Ashley's husband, Wayne, is pilot on a tug on the Mississippi River and had to work Christmas.)  I have to admit that we were excited and a little nervous.  In the past we have enjoyed a few social occasions with Darryl's family, but to spend several days and nights with all these people was going to be something new for us.  I need to mention that their home has five bedrooms and five bathrooms so it wasn't going to be one of those visits where people are sprawled everywhere trying to sleep.

We arrived fairly early in the afternoon making better time than usual.  Amy and Amelia were attending the Nutcracker at the Fox theater downtown.  Darryl and a friend had flown to Las Vegas for a night.  We brought in presents and food and settled down to rest until Amy and Amelia got home.  Then we went to Burger 21, a new to us burger place, for hamburgers and sweet potato fries.  I love Five Guys, but this one is going to place above them.  The hamburgers were very good and the sweet potato fries were delicious.

Love this picture of Amy and Amelia at the Nutcracker.

Wednesday was spent grocery shopping and making final preparations for the others to arrive.  Bubba put up some towel rods for Amy and Darryl arrived home from his outing.  Late that afternoon Ashley and her girls plus Dayton's daughter arrived after being in horrendous traffic.  Amelia was so excited to have cousins to play with.  We had Bubba's ham with potato salad and fresh turnips for supper.  The girls played and giggled and had such a good time.  At one point I saw a mermaid with a sword, chased by a power ranger with a gun, chased by a nightclub singer with a light saber, who were being chased by two barking dachshunds who, according to Amelia, were going to be married later in the week.

'Twas the night before Christmas

Thursday was rainy and chilly,  Darryl invited allowed Ashley and me to accompany him to Costco.  Darryl is an excellent shopper and doesn't get impatient.  We split up and went in different directions.  I found a couple of things and on impulse, bought a huge chocolate Christmas cake.  I asked if they could write "Happy Birthday, Jesus" on it and they did while I waited.  When we got home, Amy was putting sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator to chill.  Later that afternoon, Darryl's brother and his family arrived.  That night Darryl grilled steaks for our Christmas Eve meal and as usual, they were the best!  Later when we were ready for dessert, Amy put a candle on the chocolate cake and the group sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.  The cake was delicious and I think that impulse was a good one.

I wonder what they are planning.

Amy works frantically making sugar cookies for Santa.  (Hers are soft and mine are crunchy!)

Five Sweet Cousins

We're following Santa on Norad site.

Paw-Paw wishes they had this when he was a boy.

Amelia is calling a leaf mistletoe and wants a kiss.

Christmas morning didn't start terribly early.  Darryl made the girls wait until everyone was ready to see what Santa brought.  Amelia got several Lego sets, a Princess Leila costume and an interactive Yoda.  Bubba and I really racked up.  Bubba got a heated throw, which he is under right now, a belt, steak knives, dark chocolate, a new outfit, and a self-portrait tile and mug from Amelia.  I got a long, warm black sweater, a laptop bag, a cross body purse for our trip, a light rain jacket, a yarn headband and a self portrait mug from Amelia, and the most incredible measuring cups in the world.  (I always say that you can't have too many measuring cups or measuring spoons, but now I have a top of the line set with odd sizes in it like 2/3 cup.)  Amy and her sisters-in-law seemed to appreciate the cookbooks I had made them.

Amelia helps dad open present.

Yes, this is my son-in-law.  Don't you love his festive
Christmas attire?

Amelia and Avery play with Yoda.

Princess Leila and a Power Ranger and Savannah

Darryl's sister, Ashley models some of her Christmas.

This is Amelia's self portrait.  I have it on a coffee mug.
I love it!  I see a little bit of Picasso coming out in her.

Amy always gives Darryl one of these calendars
for Christmas.  I have no idea why.

Amy had prepared breakfast casseroles, biscuits, and sausage for breakfast.  It was so good.  We had a late lunch of Turkey, Dressing, Ham, Sweet Potato Casserole, Creamed Corn and lots of desserts.  At this point, Bubba and I napped.  I don't know what everybody else was doing.  That evening Amy, Ashley, and Daphne had a girls night out and went to the movie.  

Saturday morning, we all got up, got ready, went by Chick-Fil-A for breakfast and went to see the new Star Wars movie (even Bubba).  Amelia is really into Star Wars now, much like her mother was in 1977.

Yes, Amelia wore her Star Wars costume to the movie.
I've heard that the camera adds 10 pounds
and I think excessive sunlight adds 20.

After the movie we went home and snacked on leftovers and everybody headed out shopping.  Bubba and I went on our own because we knew we would get tired sooner than the others and we did.

The next morning (Sunday), we all began packing and getting our things together to head home.  We were the last to leave and were excited to have Amelia coming home with us.  Our first stop coming home was at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

This holiday was an illustration of how much fun you can have if you step outside of your comfort zone.  We thoroughly enjoyed spending the holiday with our family and with Darryl's family.  It ended up being a comfortable fun time for us.  Amy and Darryl were sweet to take us all on and we certainly appreciate their hospitality.

Thank you all for a great holiday!

Tween Thanksgiving and Christmas 2015

With almost a month between being at Joe's for Thanksgiving and Amy's for Christmas, it seemed like we had a lot of time on our hands between our two visits.  Recently I have found that if I write down my "goals" for the week I can get a lot more accomplished.

Bubba had been helping me wash windows which was a big retirement goal and on the Monday after Thanksgiving, we completed the last few windows.  I was so proud that I almost put out a Facebook invitation to come look at my sparkly windows.  In fact Bubba suggested that we get new curtains for the wash room window and the utility room windows since the sparkly windows were making the curtains look drab.

I immediately started to diet again because I definitely threw caution to the wind while in Opp for Thanksgiving.  Bubba grilled steaks for my big birthday meal on the first and then the next day I started determined to stick with it until our Christmas trip.  I lost five pounds that first week and then I stopped.  I just could not resist Carrot Cake, Sugar Cookies, and Lemon Pie.  And NUTS!!!  I love it when WalMart puts out the nuts for Christmas and you can buy them by the pound.  Bubba always picks out Brazil Nuts and Walnuts for me.  This year I had a "bowl" that our friend Charles built for me out of Tupelo wood and it is big and needed lots of nuts.

The decision was made that we did not want to put up a Christmas tree since we were leaving town for Christmas.  I did have several of my mesh wreaths that I wanted to put out along with just a few of my favorite Christmas things and I got that done.

While at Judy's, she showed me her cookbook which she was putting all her favorite recipes in and I really liked it.  Sometimes I can't remember which cookbook has which recipe in it and it would be nice to have favorites all in one place.  Then I started thinking about how we associate certain recipes with certain people and I began to take the cookbook idea one step further.  I used my iPhone to take pictures of a recipe and then I wrote about memories associated with it underneath. I inserted the recipes into page protectors and put them in a binder with dividers.  Naturally the largest number of recipes were for baked goods.  I made one for myself, one for Amy, and one for Darryl's sister Ashley and sister-in-law Daphne, who were going to also be spending Christmas with Amy and Darryl.

They turned out much better than I anticipated.  I would say that, conservatively speaking, I had forty hours in the project so I'm glad I got started early.  I'm going to get an even bigger binder to put mine in and add to it in the future for Amy and Amelia.

Judy and I met in Dothan one day for lunch and some Christmas shopping.  We had a lot of fun and a good lunch.  In fact we had such a good day that I was after dark driving home from Dothan alone.  Let's just say that I prefer to do my travelling in the daytime if at all possible.  I want to document the fact that I bought a rain jacket specifically for our trip to Wyoming in June.  Maybe it will be like the generator we bought for hurricanes and I won't have to use it.

Wrapping presents is a chore that I no longer enjoy, but I decided to do a couple each day until I finished so I had that done much sooner than I would have if I kept dreading it and procrastinating.

Housecleaning was also on my list.  Amelia was coming home with us after Christmas and I wanted to be as dust free as possible to avoid aggravating her allergies.  I hate housework!!

Bubba worked in the yard a LOT and did some things to the camper he had wanted to do like cleaning the awning which required hooking up and pulling it out so that the awning could be extended.  He also decided that we had three trees that needed to come down so he made arrangements to have that done.

Our living room television went out and I made arrangements for a service call from the Geek Squad at Best Buy where we bought the set.  We found out that our tv which was only 18 months old could not be repaired as cheaply as buying another one.  We had not purchased the extended warranty because AARP and other publications say that it is a waste of money.  We found out differently.  We bought the extended warranty for five years for only $90 on our new television.  The service call is $100 just to determine what is wrong.  I think we learned our lesson on this one.  I also recently got a new laptop and turned down the extended warranty.  I'm already regretting that decision.  The Geek Squad guys were very professional and pleasant and we were well pleased with the service call even though it was bad news.

I volunteered to bake Red Velvet cakes for the senior class to auction off after the Christmas parade.  The friend that I did this for brought us mullet and pecans as a thank you so Bubba accomplished one of his goals which was to "eat fish".  

I also spent some time cooking with Mrs. Patterson.  I enjoy being with her and she needs the company.  I made some dressing to take to Amy's and some cookies to send to my brother and nephew.

So that's what we did when we were doing nothing.

Thanksgiving in Opp 2015

Joe and Judy graciously invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them again this year and we were delighted.  We pulled into our favorite campground in Opp on Tuesday around lunch time.  (We are good with that kind of timing.)  After setting up at the park, we went over to their house.  Judy and I went into town to pick up a take out order of hamburgers and fries while Joe and Bubba caught up on the news.

For once I felt like I was really able to help Judy because she had recently sliced open her finger cutting up flounder and it still had a long way to go before she could use it well.  However, her injury didn't slow down her cooking any.  My contribution was helping keep pots and bowls washed for her as she prepared all the dishes for the Thanksgiving meal.

While Judy and I stayed busy in the house, Bubba helped Joe with the construction of an insulated dog house for his Labradoodle, Aubie.  Aubie had grown a lot since the last time we saw him and if he grows into his feet, he is going to be a pretty big dog.  

Thanksgiving Day brought the addition of Jody, Melissa, and John.  Accompanying them were Melissa's parents, Jean and Bill, who spend several months with them each year during the coldest part of the winter in Canada where they live.

The Thanksgiving meal consisted of: Turkey, Ham, Chicken and Dumplings, Dressing, Green Limas, Sweet Potato Casserole, Yeast Rolls, Cranberry Sauce (two kinds), Butternut Cake, Pecan Pie, Italian Cream Cake (my new favorite), Ambrosia, and Apple Pie.  (I probably forgot something.)  The only picture I have from these festivities is a picture of the Apple Pie.  It was beautiful and delicious and probably the first dessert to disappear.

Grandson John stayed with Joe and Judy for the rest of the weekend.  On Friday night, we went out for barbecue to celebrate my birthday which was coming up the next week.  

Saturday morning we slept late and then readied the camper for the return home.  We had such a nice time with family and a lot for which to be thankful.