Hair and There!

Remember my Baby Girl? She just graduated from college. Here she is taking Grandgirlee #1 to see Romeo Notice how long her hair is? She had her hair straightened at the Beauty School just for graduation. It took the girl 2 hours!!! That's how much hair she has!

Well, the Wednesday after graduation she went and had her mop lopped off!! For Locks of Love. This is her FOURTH donation and we added up 5 feet!

Here's after:

For her graduation Open House we got a keg,
of Root Beer! From here:

We had root beer straight from the tap and root beer floats. Sweet Hubby filled 2 litre bottles and took 'em to work. We had root beer ALL week. It was a yummy!Well Saturday we had to return the keg. And since it was Sweet Hubby's birthday, we stayed for lunch, dining out on the rooftop. The weather was PERFECT! Mid 70's with a gentle breeze! Usually can't take a photo without him talking through it.
Here he seems to have major hathead. Oh well.

Here Baby Girl is wearing her new doo Au Natural. (We all have curly hair!)And because it was Sweet Hubby's birthday, his perfect day would, of course, include going here:So we did!

Meanwhile up in Columbia, my pretty Daughter-in-Law called me asking how much the Rose Petal Cottage should cost. I was going to buy H one for her birthday but got her a kitchen suite instead. Well ~ apparently their WalMart had one in the box for $15! We couldn't remember how much it was supposed to be but they snapped it up. It rang up $85! But since they had told them $15, they got it for $15!! The girls LOVE it! Both of them.
Here they are playing house:

Even Baby J is into cooking:

And H loves the Dutch door where she stands and sings the song from Enchanted where Princess Giselle calls for all the animals to help her clean the apartment.
Ahhh, lovin' them all!

The Gang's All Here!!!

I forgot to include this family photo of the gang at Incredible Pizza. T's college roommate, Tiff-O, took it for us!!!

If you've never been to Incredible Pizza and there's one in your region, you might wanna check it out. I take my HS students for our end of the year trip every Spring. It is FAR better than Chuck E. Cheese. They have a buffet that is much better than CEC's cardboard pizza. And if the pizza you want is not there, they'll make it for you!!! They have a few little kiddie games and rides but mostly bigger kids' stuff. I think my BIG kids enjoyed it more than the grandgirlees!

http://www.incrediblepizza.com/locations.php

For Sale

Our friends posted this sign on the road by their house after the tornado. They are next door to my friend who was killed. They were in Connecticut when the tornado hit and their son was at home! They returned right away the next day, driving straight through. We laughed at their sense of humor. The sign says:

4 Sale

Open Floor Plan

Great Sun Roof

Air Conditioning Year Round

"Few Repairs?"

I'm sorry the quality of the photo is so poor. I was in the back seat and this was a fly by. Also, I wanted to return and try again with a pic of the house but they have for the most part torn the house down and the sign is gone too.
The sad thing is they are indeed selling. They decided that it's time for a new chapter in their lives. Their youngest graduated from high school on the 17th and they are packing up and leaving for Connecticut next week. Hmmm, packing up? Nothing to pack up. Just checking out of their hotel room and leaving. We'll miss them. They are a fun and hospitable family.
Anyone need a fixer upper?

Graduation Weekend!

My baby girl graduated from college! Biology AND Spanish!!! Oldest daughter came with her Doc and Granddaughter #1 and Son came with his wife and Granddaughters #2 & 3!! We made it a great weekend! She's off to Graduate School for Occupational Therapy in July. This is MY baby girl and she is a joy to us!

Her siblings are proud!

The whole family is proud!!! Baby J wants a better look at that dual degree!

(H was conked out!)

On the way home, this greeted us as we neared our house:

The funeral for the firefighter who was killed in the tornado was going on. We drove on by the church to see all the fire equipment lined up. Very impressive. They really know how to honor one of their own. Daughter-in-law's dad is a fire chief so we were all very interested in what was going on (he would have brought his engine up for the ceremony had he not been on call that weekend.)

When we got home we had a barbecue and partied on the deck,

and played some Wii, even Nana,

played with friends,


the guys fished,

played some more Wii.

Other things we did throughout the weekend included mini golf


and Incredible Pizza in Springfield:

My "kids" rode the bumper cars (even grandgirlee on the far right in the white dress.)

And then they all went home! What great fun!

Today is the beginning of my 78 day Holiday Weekend

In other words... SCHOOL'S OUT for Summer!

I wonder when a school year will not be stressful? Add to the stress the tornados* and the funerals and the excitement of youngest graduating from college last weekend (another post will follow with photos) and eldest with her family coming in from NY and son and his fam for the momentous event and... PHEW! Is it really over? So as we get ready to celebrate this solemn Memorial Day weekend, I can't help but to look at it as the beginning of my 78 day Holiday Weekend! Teacher meetings begin August 11th. THAT seems insanely early, but hey, I have 78 days to ignore it. Until then...

Let's Celebrate!!!!

(*and a blessing is that the HS in Neosho would have been in the middle of their commencement at that time had there not been so many snow days! Praise God for His Divine Hand)

Sad Day (edited)

a news video was added at the bottom 5-12-2008
I loved this man. (click on the photo to see up close)



He was so much like my father, always joking, a big cuddly teddy bear of a man. This photo was taken just 2 weeks ago tomorrow, in front of his basket shoppe. I have probably made 50+ baskets here since I moved to middle America. We were planning a progressive dinner on the 31st to end at their house for a s'mores bonfire.


This is his wife. Isn't she beautiful?

I snapped this photo because her top matched her phlox so perfectly. She is the reason I went on to become a teacher, she encouraged me.
Yesterday his life was taken by a tornado. He was upstairs watching the weather on the tv, insisting everything was fine and she went into a closet downstairs with the Bichon. When the winds calmed down she came out and there was no upstairs. She found him outside.

We have over 13 families in our little country church with from some damage to total loss of their homes. My Sweet Hubby spent the day helping to clear debris and cut limbs so that what valuables and memorabilia that could be found could be retrieved. When I came to help this afternoon, I found the swing that we were sitting on in that photo:



Here is a pic of the shoppe:


















That's all I can say. I will miss him dearly. There so little salvageable. They built this home with their own hands about 25 years ago. Now, 50 years of memories and earthly belongings are strewn about the treetops or broken and twisted into useless debris.

Their "beautiful" home:

You are looking at the fireplace in their dining room and kitchen area. There was a gorgeous plateglass window that looked over the valley, always 25-50 hummingbirds during the summer. The sunroom, 2 car attached garage and total upstairs completely gone. This home was over 2000 sf. Somehow, the bedroom was intact including all clothes in the closet and the bed still made. She was in the bedroom closet with her head under the bottom shelf.

I was rather irritated by the tv news crews that were traipsing from home to home. They seemed to hover and then flit on to the next suffering family, offering no help, just noseyness. (the one at the bottom of this post was sensitive and kind)

Instead, my Sweet Husband said one had commented earlier in the day that we all seemed too upbeat. Sweet Hubby replied that we serve an Awesome God who is All Powerful, we are not destroyed by tragedy, we are bound tighter together with Joy that our dear friend is in a better place. It is we who are sad, but we have Hope. The reporter walked away shaking his head, not understanding the peace. Why do people see bad things in God's power? Instead, I would think there would be reverance and if not that, fear!

I don't know if I will publish the rest of the photos I have, more of these dear friends' home and of across the road, some more dear friends. I think for now this is all I can handle. Please pray for hurting friends and family. There are over 12 lost lives just in our area. Pray for me. Pray for my beautiful friend above and her 2 daughters and granddaughters, one of whose husband lost 4 more family members in a car that was caught in the sudden storm. Or pray to know God's peace.

And now...

... a word from my sponsors:

Well, they do own my heart!

A Lesson Well Taught:

This was an email forward but I think the point is very valid:

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a
social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did
something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the
permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building
supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.
When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were
no desks. Looking around, confused, they asked, 'Ms. Cothren, where are our
desks?'
She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me what you have done to
earn the right to sit at a desk.'
They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.'
'No,' she said.
'Maybe it's our behavior.'
She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior'.
And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third
period. Still no desks in the classroom.
By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.
Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the
desks out of her room.
The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on
the floor of the deskless classroom.
Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me
just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are
ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'
At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and
opened it.
Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that
classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the
school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the
wall.
By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids
started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just
how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.
Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These
heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to
you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good
students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could
have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you read it in English, thank
a soldier.
Yes, it really is a true story...
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!!!