Max’s 1st Birthday party

Max and Michelle

Today we are celebrating Max and Wesley’s Birthday.  Max turns 1 and Wesley turns 12.  The party was held at Chucky E. Cheese.

Love this photo of Clifford.  He is such a loving little guy.  He was so glad to see Nana.

Am sure time will fly and he will soon be driving his own motorcycle. Clifford had a great time playing all the games.  I really like how they offer a time limit on games on the play card. I got Kyndall a 60 minute unlimited card for $30.  Trevor, Melissa and Kyndall all used the same card during this time. 

Life isn’t complete till these two are giving us the peace sign.  They have done this as long as I can remember.  Trevor and Kyndall are really being around one another. 

Kyndall giving her daddy some driving instructions. 

Kyndall looks good in this dress that I bought her. So bright and pretty.  Reminds me of Kyndall’s personality.  Love how her momma always makes Kyndall look like a little princess. 

Mellissa and Max against Trevor and Kyndall.  Wonder which team got the most points?  

Today was a fun day. I really enjoyed seeing some of the grandchildren. 

 

Celebrating early Easter

The baskets we put together for Lane and Landon this year.  We are going to go over to Brody and Savannah’s for Easter dinner tonight.  We are giving the boy their baskets as well.  As Easter Sunday will be busy with lots of family and friends.  

Elizabeth and Charles are bringing their baskets for boys as well.  Alisha and Jonathan are coming down from Blanchard Oklahoma as well.  

Cute baskets are from Dollar Tree.  Wish I had bought a few more to put up for next year. 

Lane and Landon

Savannah and Lane.  Tonight was so much fun.  They boys loved everything in their baskets. Although I think they really liked the shiny blue grass.  They had it all throughout the house.

Lane thought his bunny ears was great.  They were a little big for him but that didn’t matter.  I really thought Landon would play with the bunny more than he did.  Might have been because there was so much to look at in the 3 baskets they got tonight.

Our Easter dinner consisted of Ham, potato salad, baked beans.  We took 2 pizzas, breadsticks and chicken Alfredo pasta as well.  Luther knew the boys would like pizza more than the ham.  The ham was very good.  I wish I had made a green bean casserole to take for a side.  I love green bean casserole as a side with ham. 

 

3 month journal

I enjoy working in my journals in my free time.  I’m not as creative as others.  I’m just proud that I am trying to write down memories of each day.  This is a 3 month journal for a swap with Moira.  We hadn’t exchanged in several years.  

 

I really need to work on my personal journals more often.  My memory isn’t as strong as it was back in the day.  I have a journal at work that I use on occasion. Didn’t bring it home during my downtime.  

Egg hunt with Hattie and Brooks

Hattie having fun at daycare hunting Easter eggs.  Am so glad that many places still have this tradition in place.  She really enjoyed finding the eggs.

One Hattie figured out the eggs had her favorite snacks she was done.  She loves her Welch’s gummy’s. 

Brooks loves his rabbit ears.  He remembers how to do this from last year and he goes fast! He did really good this year. 

He got quite a lot for how many children was hunting the eggs. I remember hunting eggs when I was a child.  The excitement at finding the eggs.  Way back then we were hunting for colored hard boiled eggs and then a few plastic eggs was thrown in the mix.  Great memories of my childhood. 

I remember as a young mom making the hard boiled eggs for the egg hunt and not getting the eggs done.  What a messs that was for my boys.  I don’t think I will ever live that mishap down.  Seems just like yesterday when that happened.  Since then I have perfected my boiled eggs. 

 

Max turns 1

Happy Birthday to sweet baby Max.  Can’t believe you’ve been with us for a year already.  You bring so much joy to our lives.  Max is always a happy go lucky little man. 

This little man sure loves his siblings very much.  Love how he lets Angel treat him like her little baby doll.  Am enjoying watching his personality shine thru every month. 

May his birthday be blessed with love and happiness. 

 

Balancing life

This picture spoke volumes to my soul. Life can be a balancing act.  Sometimes I feel like I have lost my priorities.  I’m needing to be more active instead of a couch potato.  I really enjoyed my morning walks then it got too cold.  Now that it is getting Spring time I need to incorporate that back in my daily life.  

I use to be big on having pen pals and I quit writing all but 2 or 3 pals.  So I did take action to get a few more pals. I sent out 6 letters yesterday.  Yea me!  I have had pen pals for most of my life.  I love getting happy mail.  

I also enjoy journaling.  Really want to start journaling several times a week in my personal journal.  I haven’t updated my journal for months.  Doesn’t have to be anything special, just an overview of my day.  

I want to find cute shops and coffee shops here in Oklahoma.  I really don’t have any friends that would go with me.  So I feel like that holds me back.  Farmers markets are a favorite of mine. I think last year I went to one in Chickasha Oklahoma.  The homegrown vegetables has a much better taste to them. 

I need and want to spend more time with grandchildren.  They grow up so fast.  Making memories with them are so important.  I spent lots of time with my grandma Pearl (my mother’s mom.)  Not so much with my dad’s mom.  Feel like I missed out on a lot on that side. 

I also want to get back to cooking more here at the house.  Mr. C. Does the majority of the cooking since he is retired.  If he isn’t able to cook due to his health issues then I pick up fast food.  I get off work early enough I could cook an easy meal.  For several years I said I was going to have some dump and go crockpot meals in freezer.  I haven’t made that a priority.  

I will spend hours on YouTube or Tic Toc.  Why am I wasting so much time when I could be using it for better things?  I don’t have that answer at this point.  What I can tell you I am going to make changes starting this week.  

 

 

Sunset in Oklahoma

What a gorgeous view of Lake Humphrey at sunset.  I would love to have a house near this lake.  The wildlife is plenty out here.  Lots of deer and turkeys roam around freely.  Could go fishing on a whim. Of course you’d need to make sure that you had correct permits before doing any fishing.  The game ranger used to patrol this lake quite often.  No one needs an expensive fishing ticket  for not having your license to fish.  

Am thinking this spring I will buy us our license so we can fish off the pier.  I know Mr. C would prefer being at a private lake but we don’t have that option currently.  I’d like to take a picnic lunch and go spend a few hours at the lake.  There is nothing like embracing spring and finding joy in outside activities. 

I need to look for some new fishing items that are pink and purple.  I enjoy looking at my pretty colorful tackle box.  May look on Amazon later today for plastic bait and such. 

 

 

Early St. Patrick celebration

My favorite cheese tortellini.  It was very good. I would like to go back and try the shepherds pie one of these days.

I was disappointed in them not having the boiled eggs wrapped with sausage then deep fried.  Scotch eggs is the correct name.  Guess I need to do a search for the scotch eggs.  Haven’t had them in years. 

The block party sounds great.  Am sure it will be crazy busy.  Too bad Luther isn’t into crowds.  Would like to plan on doing something for next year.  

Had Dr. appointment with Dr. Nolan at 2 pm. Cherrie drove me up to the city.

 

Trevor home at last!

My heart is full once again.  Trevor has been locked up for wrong choices for 4 1/2 years.  Today we picked him up from prison.  After near daily phone calls and numerous letters and a few video calls, I finally got to see my youngest son face to face.  I haven’t blogged about this as it just was so hard to understand.  I know exactly what happened just wasn’t ready to share such a hard life experience with my readers. 

I hadn’t seen Trevor with this long of hair ever.  He looks so much better than I anticipated.  Kyndall Mae told her daddy not to cut it.  I told him he could put it in a man bun.  Tomorrow his first errand is going to get his hair cut. He wants to look decent for his parole officer.  He checks in at 3 pm.

Kyndall in the toy box at Nana’s house.  She is making sure all “her” toys are accounted for and we didn’t lose any of her favorites.  It’s been way too long since she has been at our house. She was so excited to spend time with her daddy. She showed him her toys. They played outside and had a great time. Trevor has a lot of time to make up while he was detained. 

 

Trevor home

Mellissa, Trevor and Kyndall. 

I may have to enlarge this photo for my living room.  This picture will serve as a reminder to me when I could breathe a little easier.  Every single day I pray for my family and friends.  More importantly that Trevor would be able to walk out of prison.  

Kyndall is enjoying having her daddy wrapped around her finger.  Am proud of Trevor for giving her his undivided attention.  I heard her feeling Trevoryour my favorite.  Of course that means that he hasn’t had to tell her no.  Right now it’s all about interacting with Kyndall.  Love hearing her giggle and her running around like a wild child.  

Mellisa has been raising Kyndall by herself.  I know she plays with her a lot.  I also realize she has to teach Kyndall right from wrong.  So it’s great that Trevor and Kyndall are creating a bond.  I just hope that at some point Trevor will be able to also teach Kyndall about rules and boundaries.  Am sure he doesn’t want to be the bad guy.  Although we all know that isn’t the fun part of being a parent but a necessity. 

It’s so good to have Trevor home! 

 

Outside chore and easy dinner

Easy dinner for us is always a crockpot soup.  We are going to do outside chores today. Luther will be mowing and weed eating our 2 acres.  After I get the soup in crockpot I will be heading outside to work in our rock garden.  

I need to pull some weeds and move several decorations.  I also need to come up with a new vision with different colors and decorations.  Would like to incorporate gnomes, I have been obsessed with gnomes lately.

The soup was kinda a throw vegetables and hamburger meat in crockpot.  I didn’t have diced tomatoes but used rotal and tomato sauce. I added green beans, corn, peas & carrots and whole potatoes.  Was good and incredibly easy.  

I didn’t realize how many different types of soup we eat monthly.  I do like the crockpot and how easy it is to have a meal in 4 to 6 hours.  I have always been a fan of one pot meals.  Casseroles are also favorites of mine.  Do you have a favorite easy meal to share with me? 

 

Daylight savings time

I am not sure why we still have Daylight Savings Time in place. Like it or not it’s that time once again. Time to roll your clocks up a hour this coming Sunday.  All our manual clocks will be set forward before we go to bed Saturday night.  This switch always throws my body routine off for at least a week.  

Do you make any changes to your routine before time springs forward?  I do know there is several things to help compensate for the time change. Such as going to bed 20 minutes early for several nights, avoiding any extra naps before bedtime.  It will also help if your bedroom is dark.  My doctor told me a while back to avoid the use of electronic devices at least 1 hour before bedtime.  Of course I do not do this as I like to read till I am sleepy.  

Take advantage of the later evenings.  This is definitely a perk of DST.  After work it gives me time to pick up the yard, pull weeds or just sit outside around our fire pit.  I know getting outside helps my mental state.  Just knowing that summer will be here soon is great.