Celebrating Christmas:Family

 

 

Yep, we had a few outakes during our family picture session. Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

Mike

Mike is a big part of my physical "transformation". He is my biggest fan. He participates in my exercise routine and look at him! He is really fit and trim and very youthful. Here we are in November of this year. It was a beautiful afternoon, just before the wedding of a close friend, and right before a huge thunderstorm. I had all of my family around me and was enjoying the coolness of the weather and the beauty of the lake. I was very happy!

Activities of the Season

I know how busy everyone is this time of year, but I wish you all many peaceful moments as well. Here is a glimpse of my Holiday season so far.

Christmas with my Mom and relatives on my side of the family-so fun.

My daughter has been working on crafts since her college semester has ended.

There was a major malfunction with my oven. I thought it was me, but it was the thermostat!

This is cornbread after 15 minutes!

It was too cold to grill outside, so we tried cooking steaks in the fireplace. We need a little more practice.

My soon to be daughter-in-law has the cutest little niece, and I love being with her.

We decided to turn the Children's Christmas Program at church into a dinner theater-very successful!

We had to use an artificial tree for the first time at church because of the drought. The children made the snowflakes to decorate it, no one minded the "fake" tree and now there is no rush to take it down.

It has been interesting, and challenging, but fun around here.

I hope it is the same for you!

Merry Christmas!

A few things I loved about the Texas Renaissance Festival

My daughter (on the right) and two of her cousins enjoyed these adult sized swings.

I enjoyed the "magic garden" with these unicorn statues.

I loved watching the elephants. Thank you to this family (that we didn't even know) for letting me photograph them.

My daughter and I loved sharing this apple dumpling with ice cream.

Since my family's name is Griffin, I especially loved this majestic statue.

What I loved most of all: being there with my family. Here I am with my baby sister. Such a fun day!

The Official news

My son Lee and his girlfriend Peggi are now officially engaged. Congratulations to you both!

Welcome news

I got to be there when this U-Haul pulled into the drive not far from my own house. He is back! My son, 22 years old, had been living across the state of Texas from me. He had recently completed his 1 year, mandatory training and probation for his job, right there close to the Mexican border. And you know what? He made it just fine and so did his Dad and I. But now he is back in his hometown and hopefully will complete the rest of his career in our County.

It is really good news and I'm thrilled to welcome him back.

Scenes from my country Easter

 I loved my Easter Holiday. We attended the Easter Sunrise Service at church. Butterfly decorations were used in the Sanctuary and live butterflies were released during the service. The weather was beautiful and so was the ceremony.



Roses adorned the cross.

The rest of my weekend was spent at my childhood home. My sisters and I took 2 tours around the property that day. Both were lazy, slow drives and I was able to take lots of pictures.

 We checked on the progress of a camp house my nieces and nephews were building.

We checked on the cows to make sure all of them were where they were supposed to be, and not in the neighbor's pasture.

This butterfly loved my sister.

We startled a deer in the woods and she stood very still, allowing me to take her picture.We also saw a raccoon, 3 armadillos, a hawk, and a very long, fast snake.

As the sun began to set, an airplane caught our attention by reflecting the last of the light.

This was such a nice way to enjoy our time together.

The "Shoe" Challenge

This week's photo challenge was "shoes".  I happened to remember this little red number....from about 50 years ago. You call that "vintage" right? It it a single shoe, a survivor if you will....

 Shows a little wear and tear...

 Look a the stylish details...

Tiny enough to hold in my hand. Tiny enough to fit a 2 year old little girl. Yes, it is mine, or my middle sister's-my mother doesn't exactly remember. To me, it is precious either way. Now, if I only had my little white cowboy boots with the fringe.......


Visit Rebecca again to see more interesting pictures.

Grandpa's table

While we were visiting my son, Lee, we accidentally started a home improvement project. He has my grandpa's table and it had cheap veneer glued to the top. It was so cracked and had chunks flaking off. We were talking about the table and feeling of it when we discovered that we could peel off the veneer fairly easily. What didn't peel off right away could be chiseled off. So we all started working.

Lee

 

Mike

 

The veneer is gone and underneath is a pretty wooden top.

Now, the guys do a lot of sanding-all by hand.

 

Time out for a little horseplay...

Lee and I put on Linseed oil as a fnish, and Peggi photographs us.

 

Mike takes a break.

 

I think Grandpa would like how the finished table looks. I think it looks really pretty.

I remember him, sitting at this table with a cup of coffee, reading and talking or working on something...and talking. I also remember huge, magnificent meals prepared by my Grandmother-covering this entire table. We sat together many times, right around this table. It was a joy to get it refinished a bit. We will remember...and enjoy...for many years to come.

Peggi makes Pickle Chips

My son's girlfriend made us pickle chips on our last visit. Take dill hamburger slices, dip them into a mixture of milk and egg, then in seasoned flour, back into the milk and eggs, coating them finally with seasoned bread crumbs. Deep fry them until golden brown. Yes, they were extremely delicious. Thank you Peggi!

I missed getting a picture of the finished pickle chips. We started eating them right away and I forgot.

Next time, I'll take a picture of them AND the chicken strips she made to go along with them.

My Big Lee and his Big Tucker

I visited my son recently. Early one morning, he "cuddled" with his young puppy. As you can see, this puppy is over 70 lbs. already. Lee is a big guy, and so is Tucker, who is half Great Dane. And....he is only 7 months old.

Tucker is a very gentle, calm puppy. He is going to be awesome when he is grown. Huge....but awesome.
Just like Lee.

Quilted Memories

Mike's parents passed away a couple of years ago. Since then, two of their grandchildren became parents of their own. I am so glad that I kept a few items of Meemaw and Papaw's clothing. That way, I can incorporate some of the fabric into quilts for those great-granchildren they didn't get to see. I have items from my great-grandparents and I treasure them. I like to think of those great-grandbabies lying on quilts that are made of fabric that Meemaw and Papaw actually touched.

I started with strips of a pretty cream colored shirt from Meemaw that had red and brown patterned squares. I then cut strips from Papaw's shirt that had blue, brown and rust colored squares. I filled in with some soft, rust colored, suede type material. I intended to tie the fabric layers together with this ribbon rather than quilt it with stitches. The ribbon turned out to be too thick, so I used rust colored embroidery thread as ties.

My niece opened the gift at her shower and it meant a great deal to her and the family.

My goal is to make one for each of the great-grandchildren-on both sides of my family, as they come.