Sam on Vacation....

Sam had a great time on his vacation with Grandma and Grandpa. He loves to feed the rainbow trout and he also loves to get vanilla ice cream as a special treat. We were so proud of his behavior and he really managed not to get too homesick from Wed. through Friday. It was great to have a break in the weather. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the finished patio...but it looks great. It now gives us room to have our table and four chairs and still have room to walk around.
We came home to two sad things....one good friend was diagnosed with cancer and the son of one of Mike's teaching friends, died on a hike in Colorado. The family was all out in Colorado for the youngest girls wedding. It is a heart breaker...he was only 31 and a fantastic chef over on the Plaza. He leaves behind a two year old daughter... the services will be Monday.

Sam the Man...

Sam is going to the camper with us tomorrow morning. He is really excited that we are taking just him. Mom will be working on her classroom and it will really be a great break for her.
I'm not sure how I will handle him driving~that job may just be left to Grandpa.

Our Next Project....

We worked on forming this area for a new concrete patio. The owner is going to pour the concrete sometime this week.

We had fun!

Thought you might enjoy seeing Skip, LouAnn, Jimmy and Katie. The kids really enjoyed driving my golf cart. We really enjoyed our visit together.
I talked Skip out of the original painting of the farm - I think my painting might be up for grabs!

Meeting Skip

Heading to the camper again - yeah! On Saturday, Skip and his family will come down and join us. We are really looking forward to seeing them. Be good while I am gone!

Outragous

This was on our Internet server this morning - I find this unbelievable! I don't even think we have seen the beginning of dirty politics this election year. You all know that he was not my first pick - but this is truly outragous!

Heading Out..

Now that the rains have let up a little, we are heading down to the camper. Hope I get to fish some! Hope you all are doing well!

Yummie....

For the first time in a very long time, Mike and I planted tomatoes. He told me that if I got one before the 4th ...I would be very lucky. Well, today is the 7th and I was able to pick and eat my first tomato. It was a delicious Beefmaster...I think I will try these again next summer.

Tanner is 6

We had a small birthday party for Tanner on his birthday July 1st. His Daddy has been working on the floods in Iowa for almost a month now! Dawn and the two boys are heading up today to Cedar Rapids to spend the weekend with Paul. The boys really miss him alot.

Susie's Grandaughter

Sue sent along this picture today of her grandaughter, Sophie. She is the absolute apple of Paul and Sue's life.
Paul and Sue are working hard to completely remodel their home--inside and out.
Hope you all had a great weekend!

A Day of Celebration......

This afternoon CMSU called Cindy and said that her secondary Teaching Certificate had been approved. I'll not go into detail about the nightmare this has been! Also, with this certification , Cindy has also completed her Master's Degree in Secondary Education.
As you can tell.......I am about to bust my buttons.
Oh Happy Day!!!!

Very sad....

Hillary's speech was great......but, I am very, very sad today!

Lots and lots of rain at Bennett Spring. Our camper is nice size, but the storms were still scary...I am glad we got home last night for the big storm instead of being in the camper.

Sam and Grandpa...

We came home several days early due to storms. It's not much fun to sit in our "tin can" and see, plus feel the rough weather. Sam had a fantastic time helping to drive the golf cart, feeding fish, looking for snakes and trying to avoid the ticks. We all laughed and had a good vacation at the camper.....Cindy really felt like she had a break.
We are all just numb about Hillary!

School is Out Today....

Sam and his family will be joining us at Bennett for a week - we are all looking forward to the break. We are also hoping the rains will stop. This is a picture of the spring and it is putting out twice what it normally does.
I will take Fleta's cell number with me and maybe we will be able to connect down at Springfield- it sure sounds like he has a long road ahead, but that progress is being made. Our conitnued thoughts and prayers for both of them.

Beautiful shoe.....

Well, I did go to the Dr. yesterday morning and I have a small stress fracture in my left foot. So, for a week I will be wearing a beautiful blue shoe/boot that does not bend. I'm looking just wonderful for the meetings I have this week, but it sure doesn't hurt quite as bad. Sure glad I got all that mulch down before this experience.
Now I just do little spurts of housework, then sit down and ice the darn thing. Sure makes for a good excuse not to do too much!

Mulch and More Mulch...

Mike and I have been putting out new mulch all around our house this last week.... at last count, 85 bags. Also, I went on a field trip with Sam on Friday to the KC Zoo. The huge swinging bridge about did me in - I really think I have a stress fracture in my right foot - sure does swell up when I take my shoe off and it really does hurt. Just may have to go to the Dr. if I have a night like I did last night.
Sure thinking about and missing you all!

Bennett Spring.....

This afternoon I am heading down to Bennett with Cindy and her good friend Rhonda. Cindy needs a real break before finishing the last few weeks of school, so this is my Mother's Day gift to her. We always laugh and giggle on these trips~plus do a little shopping at Antique stores and Thrift stores. It should be a fun weekend.
Happy Mother's Day to each and everyone of you - enjoy your special day.

Farm Painting

For right now, this is the best shot I can take of the farm painting Aunt Winnie did in 1977. I have always enjoyed her paintings - for being self-taught, I sure thought she did a great job. This is the 2nd time she painted the farm. I think Barb has the original she painted. Jim always loved it. Mom always thought she put in one extra chicken house. When Aunt Winnie gave me this, she told me the name of the three horses in the field. but the only name I can remember is "Dolly". Hope you enjoy!

Had Trouble

Fleta just could not figure out if this door opened left or right~she was lucky to have me there to open it for her.
It is really wild around here, we did not lose power or have any damage and neither did our children. When you
look at the aftermath of the Stage 3 tornado that hit so close - we say once again how very blessed we are.
Also, I feel so blessed to have once again connected with my cousins - Fleta and George are just the greatest for
inviting me to stay with them. It was great to laugh through our tears.
Patsy - I sure hope your entire day was fantastic and once again, you are so lucky that I didn't sing to you this morning.

Results....

The hearing just ended with these results....
The student will be back in school Monday.
She will be enrolled in an anger management group for 2008-2009.
She will enjoy a "fast pass" to the counselor anytime she feels overwhelmed by anger.
She will not be in Cindy's class next year.

So...here's my take....hit a teacher- then hire a lawyer. If you are black in our district, nothing will happen to you.

We do, however, hope this is the end of the matter. We do hope that she does not sue Cindy, which is what has been said outside of school.

I don't care what age your child is......when they go through something like this, it is really hard to swallow.

April 1, 1883

This is a tribute to the wonderful Grandpa that ties us all together. I can never picture him in my mind without a smile.
Now as a Grandmother, myself, I think of his wonderful example of taking time and loving each of us. Grandpa always had
time for us.........I loved him so very much. In the picture on the left, he has Tommie Lou on his lap and the picture on the right
is Tommie in front and I am in the back. It sure was the simple things in life that made us "giggle" as children. My brain just will not wrap around 125 years old.
To each family member~ I wish you a special day today! To all the rest, I wish you would have known my "Grandpa".

Great experience.....

I'm really glad I went to the District Caucus last night - I now know how to run as a delegate in the future. We elected for Hillary, 1 woman, 2 men and 1 woman alternate. For Obama, they elected 1 woman and 1 man. Somehow this combination is relevant to the number of votes that were cast for each candidate.
If last night is any indication, I am glad that I am not going to Convention in August. I think it will take a miracle to pull the two sides together to defeat McCain.
I'm really glad I went and had this experience....

South Pacific...

I recently watched a movie from my past, and it is called "South Pacific" ~ in High School this was the theme of our Senior Prom and I just loved the movie, so seeing it again brought back many found memories.
I was particularly struck once again by the song, "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" and I really think the words from this song should be listened to by each of us. The theme of the song is that racism is not born in you! Racism happens after you are born!
As much as everyone has tried to make us white folks understand that we don't have a background of oppression, so we are not able to relate to what Pastor Wright is saying, I just don't understand why Obama went to that church for over 20 years. Apparently he was not outraged by what was being said from the pulpit.
However, my biggest objection is that this bigotry towards white people is what the little children in that church today are hearing and being taught......there is no mistake about the words that are being said. Barack took his children to this church Sunday after Sunday. In my way of thinking~ "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" before you are 6, 7 or 8, just like the lyrics to the song say.

The Three Amigos..

These three guys can sure "giggle" together. This was taken last weekend when we were down in St.Louis. It was pretty hard to keep up with these guys~they figured out how to all three ride the exercise bike.
My favorite line of the weekend came from Sam. He absolutely loves fresh blueberries and when he came into the kitchen he wanted me to give him some blueberries. I said, "Sam, you will have to wait a few minutes until we have dinner and I put the blueberries in a fresh fruit salad." His response ~ "Good Grief" ~ and with that he walked out of the kitchen. Sam just has a way of cutting right to it.
Sure hope you all have a wonderful, spring-filled Monday with no "Good Griefs"!

Happy Easter..

What a glorious morning......I wish the blessings of Easter to each and everyone that reads my blog. We all need to center our thoughts and lives on the meaning of Easter and rejoice in this beautiful day!
The absolute worst day in the history of the world was on the Friday before Easter Sunday......and yet, look what a miracle happened just three days later....Jesus arose from the dead and now lives in Heaven to give us each the understanding and blessing of life eternal.
I hope your day is just fantastic!

We Need Spring!

I haven't posted for awhile because we have basically been running an infirmary here at the house. There is a horrible flu that has hit KC, and it turns ugly before you start to feel better.
All the males in our family have had or do have this bronchial stuff ~ Mike started to take a turn for the better last night and this morning. I will certainly be happy to see blue skies ~ like Patsy, I have lost track of the last day I saw the sun. However, I did see a robin yesterday!

What a sigh of relief.....

Finally heard all the election results when I awoke this morning. Went to bed feeling pretty good about Texas, but I sure was glad to see the totals this morning.
Good Morning America is running a line that says Hillary is hinting at a Clinton/Obama ticket. Now that would be an aswer to prayer!
Go Hillary!!!!!!

Holding my breath.....

I can hardly function today......it's hard when you are holding your breath!
All the polls show Hillary in a dead heat.....I just hope and pray she can hold him off in Texas and Ohio. If she does, we have a race that I think she can win.

First Round..

I just got home from our caucus - Hillary actually had twice as many people there for our county caucus.
I threw my hat in the ring to run as an alternate delegate and I will be moving on to the next step which will be March 27th.
At our caucus we elected 11 Women and 11 Men to be delgates for Hillary and 11 alternates, just in case one of our delegates can't attend the next round.
Barack will have 8 Men delegates and 8 Women delegates from our county to go to the next round of selection.
See...all my work paid off in our county......we have more delegates because she carried our county.
After the 27th, then you move to the state level for selection. I will really be ok about not going on, I just love seeing the process and seeing so many people still excited about Hillary.

Congressman Emanuel Clever

Emanuel Clever is a really great fellow here in KC. He is a retired Methodist minister, he was Mayor of KC for two terms and now he is our Congressman from Missouri. He is a black man that is one of Hillary's super delegates.
He had an interesting article in the paper today.....he said that he is receiving a hurricane of emails questioning why he is not backing a black man.
He is a real man of his word and really believes that Hillary is the best candidate and wonders if the other candidate is elected.......will we be wondering what in the world did we do?
He says that people look at Barack and think they see miracles.......Emanuel does not believe he will be able to accomplish miracles. For me......enough said.

Threesome Sleepover...

What a week we have had. We have had snow and ice, our 2nd photography class, field trip with Sam, Valentine Party with Sam and then last night we had a sleepover. This was the first time we tried all three and it went really well. The only problem is....we kept them up until 9:30 and they still got up at 6:30 like they do each morning for school.
My only comment.....I forgot how much little boys could f...t and burp for endless hours and think it is the funniest thing that ever happened.
We will have Sam all day and Dawn is coming to pick up the other two pretty soon.....I'm almost thinking I am too old for sleepovers and I'm sure I will have to take a nap latter this afternoon!

Very late night...

I awoke early this morning after a very, very late night last night. Schools were once again called off because of snow and I'm sure glad it didn't happen yesterday.
The final call for Hillary was that she lost MO last night 48% to 49% and since MO is not a winner take all like the Republicans, she will take almost as many delegates from MO as Obama will.
I had been laying the ground work to be elected as a delegate from MO to the National Convention in August (it falls over my birthday)- after our tough battle, I have changed my mind. I think I would rather watch on TV. I do believe, at this point, that it will go down to the convention before we make a decision.
I was absolutely delighted that Hillary carried all the counties in MO except for 6. She carried my county by a large margin.......but then the St.Louis City vote came in (they have a hard time counting) late last night and then she lost her margin. I thought the other interesting thing about my county was that Romney carried the vote.
In case you all don't know - St.Louis is a very "black" city as well as South Kansas City and they were 3 of the counties that put Barack over the top.
It was exciting to see record numbers of voters for a primary-we will see if they stick with it for the National Election.
If Barack gets the nomination, I will vote for him.....but it is not my plan to work for him. Maybe that is just my tired talking this morning.