Funny Stuff

There are a few things lately that just make me laugh.  Every single time.  Even if I am laying on the couch, home alone...I just laugh right out loud.  Does that sounds nutso??  Too bad....I just can't help it.

I love this commercial.  Money does not buy happiness.....but I would really like to be "stupid rich"!!!

This is another commercial I just giggle over.  The French's mustard girl??  How real is she when we get all eat up with jealousy??  A little too real...sometimes!

How funny is this couple??  I know it is an ad for health insurance but seriously, do they not look like they have been married for thirty years?!

Not everything I find funny is a commercial....I also find this little girl hilarious.  She reminds me of my grand daughters when they talk at the same time...nonstop...at extremely loud volumes...all...the...time!!!

Gratitude Check

Last night I got the pleasure of doing a photo shoot of a family.  Mostly just their boy.  His grandmother is a dear friend of my mothers and she wanted some photos of her only grandchild.  Some of him playing, running around her yard and some with her.  You see....his time is short.  He was born seven years ago with devastating birth deformities.  His heart was outside of his body.  He has club feet.  He is very small and elfish in height and appearance.  But after over forty surgeries he is just amazing.  He loves running and swinging and just being a kid.  He cannot go to public or private school because his immune system is very poor.  He has speech issues and he also requires oxygen on occasion due to poor pulmonary function.  But he absolutely lights up his Mam-maws world.  She told me she knew that one day all she would have would be photographs.  To touch and kiss and ponder over.  Now this young, precious baby will one day walk with Jesus....whole.  Healed.  Unbroken.  But for now....he is here.  Broken and in need of healing.  His mom and dad know that their son will never see adulthood.  Never play baseball, football or run track.  He won't get grounded for speeding tickets or wrecking the car or breaking curfew.  He won't get married, give them grandchildren or even have his first date.  No proms, no graduations, no field trips.....no new lunch box every single school year.  His mama told me last night, "I am just so grateful for each day....I just don't worry about tomorrow."  She is a pediatric nurse by career.  She has stopped working to care for her son because his doctors have said they can do all they can do for him.  She knows that and is now the caretaker.  Blood pressure checks.  Medicine routines.  Getting up many times a night for oxygen level checks.  All the like.  Hard stuff, people.  Very hard.  When I got home and started editing his photos.  I smiled.  Here was a little boy in a red Superman cape, hands on hips.....the picture of real bravery.  How grateful I am that my life is not this hard.  I am on my way to watch my grandbaby run up and down a soccer field.  Sure it is cool and kinda rainy today....but so what.  I have a jacket and I will dry.  Gratitude is often taken for granted.  Do I daily voice that I am just grateful that my grandchildren can go for weeks without one single crisis?  That my kids can?  That I can?  Sure, I have problems but in the big picture....they are nothing.  When you watch the struggle of emotions on peoples faces when their life is hard.  And I mean hard, not just a difficult season but a life that is hard.  It is so humbling.  I never kissed my child goodbye and closed the lid on a coffin I never thought I would buy and place that child in the earth.  To hear the ticking of that awful "death watch".  Know I would one day be reunited with that child in heaven would be a comfort but....on this broken world we have broken hearts that ache almost unbearably.  Grace was seen in motion right before my eyes last night.  Watching his parents and mam-maw laugh and cut up with him.  Fuss at him when he got rowdy, grace just flowed to exude a life of normalcy.  Photos of hugs.  Blowing bubbles.  Picking flowers and playing cape crusader.  I am just so grateful.

Cousins...Take Two???

Erica and Brittany had their little ones over today so we tried for a new photo shoot of all the little guys and gals!  Once again the baby wranglers of the world are grossly underpaid!  The weather was pretty and the scenery was good, so with the promise of candy galore we headed outside.  Here is what we got....


Starting off super great!

Kyra!  Look here!  Piper, look here!!  Brooks...spit out the paci...please

What, Mimi!!  I can't hear you.  Well, Kyra can hear you, Savannah!

Brooks...sit up....work with me please.

Piper is pretending to be a baboon and checking Brooks for fleas, I guess.

This was what we got the majority of the time.....Nobody looking!

Oh, Mimi...stop...we are so cute and nobody cares that we don't look at you, or smile, or be still.

You little ones are right....I think y'all are just beautiful just the way you are!

Well, maybe you could sorta glance my way....just a bit.

Whoa there Kyra Rose....stay with us here.

Baby fallout....look out!!!

And when your little brother will not smile no matter what you do....you make him.

My munchkins

 Yay!!!!  We are finished.....now where's the candy!

Spring In The South

I have made it no deep, dark secret that spring is not my favorite season.  Before you slap me...hard....lat me explain.  For the most part spring is windy, cold and damp.  The ground is cold.  The wind is cold.  The air is cold.  When I look out a window and it looks so warm and inviting and then I step outside and am suddenly cold and the wind is so brisk that it hurts my bones, well, I just stay in and whine.  Also, spring can be very stormy.  Now I do love thunder and lightning.  I love to watch it light up the sky and the loud booms just thrill me.  I am wary of all they bring in the picture.  Right now a storm is brewing and our local weather people better have on depends because they are about to wet their pants they are so excited.  My poor dog is already a worried mess.  She follows me everywhere and is so nervous.  So I know a storm is coming.  I had to shut all the bedroom doors because she has already jumped up on the beds and she knows that is a huge no-no for her.


Here are a few pictures I went outside to take.  I didn't edit anything at all.  See how the wind is just whipping my Bradford Pear Trees?

Pardon the power lines.....It's a twister, Dorothy!

Hope it doesn't blow away the last of the Dogwood blossoms.

It has greened up so much these past few days!

See how green and lush everything looks!!?

I just love Dogwood trees.  My pink one died the year before last and I think I may have cried a bit.

The Pin Oaks are getting so full.

More wind just a'whippin....

Can you see it??  This is not a blurry photo just huge gusts of wind.

I love all seasons and just marvel at the wonders that God places in each of them.  My heart just longs for the long days of summer.  Since the spring has been so pretty I am hoping for long, hot and sunny days this summer.  Summer in the south is even more beautiful with the flowers and the sunsets and the fire flys and the sunrises and the birds and I don't even have to put on a coat!

Future Soccer Star???

Today was Piper's very first soccer game.  I thought she did fantastic.  She stayed on the field, did not pick the ball up with her hands, did not cry to quit, watched and listened to her coach and said she had fun.  World Cup....here we come!!  This really is a great activity to build skills for other future things like T-Ball ( my fave!!), softball, basketball, cheerleading and just team things.  Of course I took my camera.....I, you see, am no amateur.


Warming up....Is she not the cutest??

What a stance!  People, she is ready to take on Brazil.

Uh...Mimi, I just want to have fun and then a snack....OK?

My favorite part....praying before the game with the other team and holding hands.  So sweet!!

Ok....I am pumped and ready to play!

Here I go....ready to score some goals!

Did I score, Mimi??  Did I!!??  Not really sweetie, the other team did though!

Well, that's ok....Can I have a snack now??

5 Months Old!!!!

My little grandson, Brooks, is five months old as of yesterday.  I cannot believe it.....he is just growing so fast.  Brooks you are just the sweetest, cuddliest and snuggliest baby ever.  You grin so sweetly and you chew your fists all the time.  You are getting really funny too.  You laugh like an old man and your eyes just sparkle.  You have started eating a few solid foods.  You love avocado, carrots, sweet potatoes and peas.  Bananas and applesauce and pears are favorites too.  You are a good sleeper and a good napper too.  I can't wait until this summer to see how you like the pool because you have always loved a bath.  You are such a laid back little guy that I am sure you are just going to love it.  You are almost sitting up without tipping over but sometimes your bally just gets in the way!  Hey!  It happens!

Awww....Hey Mr. Frog...where ya been??

Well hello there little buddy.  It is good to just sit here and snuggle up with you for a bit.  You sure do chew on your thumbs a bunch...don't ya??

Well...you see Mr. Frog, I'm hungry.  All the time.  I am a hungry, hungry hippo my mommy says.

Uh...Mimi?  what's a hippo??  I heard they taste like chicken.  Do they??

I also heard that frog legs were really good....taste like chicken.  What's chicken anyway??

This frog leg tastes pretty good.  Mighty tasty.  Now if I only had me some teeth.

Mr. Frog, you know I would never, ever really eat you.  You're my friend and friends don't eat friends.  Right?  That's right Brooks...whew!!  You had me kinda worried!

Fooled ya!  Yum, yum, yum

Nah...just kidding..I want gnaw on you anymore

At least....not today!!

Hey Mimi!  Next month maybe Mr. Frog could have an ice cream cone or something for me....you think?

Of course my little sweetie...I think I can arrange that for you.

I just love you, Mimi.  I do too Brooks' Mimi!!  thanks for not telling him that some people really eat frog legs!!  No problem, Mr. Frog....just don't ever cross me....got it??!!

Opposition versus Obstruction

In my Sunday School class we tackle a variety of topics.  Currently we are going through the book of Ezra.  I adore Old Testament studies.  We discussed how opposition befell the Jews rebuilding the walls.  They were just delayed for a time.  And they waited on God.  Waited for several years too.  We discussed the differences in oppositions and obstructions.  You can go around, over, under or maybe through an obstruction.  You can move it out of the way even.  But opposition??  What do we do about that?  For me....I try to totally avoid any thing that opposes me.  I despise confrontations.  I usually get all too emotional, forget what I planned to say and most likely just end up in one emotional state or another.  When something opposes me I just really do not want to deal with it....today.  But sometimes, we must.  There is a bit of opposition going on in my life right now.  I truly do not want to deal with it because honestly it just makes me....tired.  This is some old and ugly opposition that rears its ugly head from time to time.  I just wish it would go away and never resurface.  But today I started thinking what could God have for me in all this.  What lesson?  What benefit?  What delay?  And you know what??  I haven't a clue.  This opposition is purely from a pit of hell.  That is not an exaggeration either.  A big fat pit.  One I do not care to jump in and wrestle around in that miry mud.  So what is a girl to do?  I have prayed.  I have thought and reasoned.  And I have come to the conclusion that all oppositions in our lives should be dealt with by we mere humans.  I am leaving this totally up to the Lord.  Exodus 14:14 tells us he will fight for us....we only need to be still.  So I think I am just going to be still.  Will my opposition get out of my way?  My life??  Probably not.  But my attitude in dealing with it will be different.  Instead of dread and anger and disgust, I am just going to let God take this and let Him do what He wills.  I just need to get out of the way, be still....and wait.  Obstructions I can take care of....this one needs to a battle for the Lord.

Two steps behind

Just for the record....I just got back from zumba class and I am officially the whitest woman on earth.  No rhythm and always two steps behind.  We do cool down to a great song which I love.

I love Maroon 5 and let's face it...Adam Levine is too fine!  Makes my white girl come alive...even two steps behind!!

Life through the eyes of Savannah

I love my grand babies.  I mean I just love them to pieces.  Eat them with a spoon and to the moon and back kind of love.  Even when they need a little swat on the behind....I love them.  Not that they would ever even need a frowny look...they are that sweet all the time!!  When I talk about personality qualities in them I can't describe three more different babies.  Piper is so smart and so sweet and so thoughtful.  She is very social and loves entertaining.  Praise the Lord she has inherited a love of fancy dishes and dresses.  Brooks is the sweetest baby ever.  He is so laid back.  Never fussy.  He is super observant and super solemn.  Getting smiles and giggles takes a lot of work with him.  But he is the most snuggly baby I have ever held.  His little personality is just developing.  Then there is Savannah.  Oh my word.  She is just a delight.  A big bag of emotion.  All.  The.  Time.  Lots of emotion.  Lots, I tell you.  She is either deliriously happy or extremely heartbroken. She can cry for the longest time over ....nothing.  I mean she has no clue.  She will start laughing and giggling over the same.  She comes up with the funniest things to say.  Life is never dull with her around.  She is so passionate about everything.  A day with her is like a roller coaster.  You are never still a dozen ups and downs and you come to a crashing halt. I seldom get a chance to have her cooperate somewhat with my camera but this weekend I did.  With the exception of a family Easter picture she did pretty good.  I lover her silliness and I even love her hurricane of tears.  She holds on to you like she can't allow her feet to touch the ground when she is crying and except for the sheer volume....she is fun to snuggle too!  Here is a selection of photos I took of her this weekend.

Running is one of her favorite things to do.  She loves to sing while she runs.

Savannah loves the sandbox too.  She also does not like pony tails.  Hair in her face is her favorite 'do.

Climbs like a monkey

Drives a mighty ship too!  Always on the lookout for sharks!

What a little beauty.

She likes to watch Penny dig endless holes on her constant quest for moles in my yard.

A rare still moment

Sweet little girl

Am I still sweet, Mimi???

Hunting eggs is a favorite thing.

Candy is her main food  group.

Bubble gum is a new treat.  One I think that hair may regret.

See what I mean....Easter photo at its finest.