Things I've learned or rediscovered :)a prelude to Buttercup and Miss Daisy's Laura Trip :)

AND HERE WE ARE ALL PACKED UP AND READY TO GO! This is how Buttercup's friends think we went :) Aren't we adorab

I did not know that herds of turtles stormed the highways in Ky, Mo and Illinois to "escape" the floods. At least 764 cracked and splattered turtles later perhaps they learned to just ride out the waves!

I did not know there were 83 different views of the Arch in St. Louis. but my Buttercup found them all! :

That there were hundreds of bard quilts in Mo. Ill and Iowa. Of course Buttercup only would stop at about 5, but there WERE that many!

There are very scary things standing by the Mississippi River!

PHOTO OP!!!!

Frightening Storms come up in the mid west. But kinda cool too:)

Have you ever seen anything this cute in your life ;-)

If we saw a sign ANY sign with Nikki, Nicollett, Nicole..etc.

This is only one sign we photographed in many directions if it was even REMOTELY Buttercup's name! One time she turned around 5 times to get just the right shot!

These are called "Pot Holes" up there if they are drained. We have pot holes in our streets!

We drove over a thousand miles to Pepin Wisconsin to see the Little House in the Big Woods and they were having a FISHING TOURNAMENT! We had to go back to Minnesota to find a room!

This is on a Thurs. and we were told they were "practicing".. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

Minnesota's state bird is the GNAT! and 5 katrillion bit hunks out of me!

And Suzy laughed hysterically and rudely at me! I could hear her all the way from Mississippi!

Buttercup made her own corn cob doll. Aren't they just precious!!!!!!??

Yes that temperature is correct. Who knew??????? of course I WANTED to go the end of June when it was cooler, but noooooooooo

Sod houses smell like DIRT! and I'm pretty sure they have worms in them!

How can a town get lost twice. Once by a tornado and once by us :)

There are horses called Missouri Fox trotters and

they live in Missiouri.. How would I know???

I live in Tennessee

There are white Pelicans on fresh water! I thought it was a deformed Swan!

I found the sweetest little bunny by the road but Buttercup said it had rabies so I had to leave it for the hawks to eat

Some people REALLY liked bowling!

That Silo's can be made of brick and have tree's growing out of them!

That pigeons pooped on Laura's HEAD!

How did we get to Hollywood and see King Kong?????

If anyone tells you that you look like a Horses Rear End, this is what you look like!

That flags could have 48 stars :) actually I remember this~

I've seen the aftermath of many tornado's but I've never smelled death,(Joplin)

Someone would actually CHOOSE to drive a car that looks like a SKUNK!

We went where???????

More about Letter boxing then I ever expected!

That my Buttercup would deface "The Kings" wall!

That I would be drug thru Memphis TN when it was 110 degrees!

That we were going to Mississippi!

But with all this I remained with my normal sweet precious disposition :)

But mostly I learned that I have the sweetest niece in the world that took me on the trip of a life time. Not just what we saw but how we saw it and how we shared it. Thank you my Buttercup :)

Graduation BLOWOUT!

Yes indeedy May was a graduation MONTH. I'm guessing nothing happened in April since it's been March since posting :)

First let me present our eldest gifted amazing grandson RILEY!!!!!!!!!!! He is now officially a Jr High boy!. As you can see by the photo he received a bundle of awards and looked SO handsome. We were very disappointed that we were unable to attend his graduation and awards ceremony but it we were in Mississippi :(

We did get to see Riley in his spring band concert and he was just beyond fantastic!

AND as you can see he won the band award.

We wish for him a very successful Jr. High career and hope he has a wonderful time in Beta Club!

Riley Stephens with his armload full of awards!



And then we were off to Mississippi to see the PRINCESS of the family Graduate from High School.

The Famous Garners of Grenada Mississippi with the Shawn Deere Tractor and barn on the mailbox! (Sunshine Farms actually)

18 1/2 years ago this little pink bundle came into our family. 3 whole days old! The very next week her Papa, who thought he had been handed a gift from HEAVEN(he had actually) went to the Credit Union and opened her a College fund. It wasn't going to be a huge amount, I think maybe $5 a week is what we could afford but almost 19 years later it's a nice little nest egg to get started at Mississippi State University! Maybe buy her clothes, her books, some lab stuff or whatever she wants. Anyway this was her getting $1,000 of her money in $100 bills.. It was fun for us and she was very surprised. It took her a while to really see how cool it was!

MONEY MONEY EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!

Papa with the girl who can do NO wrong :)



On Graduation Day we had a party for THE GIRL ~ and I do think all that love her mostest drove a car!

Caroline Mommy's best friend, Carol, brought this all the way from..................... you guessed it..........TEXAS.. It was so good to see Carol again.

Aunt Tina!

Caroline's German Sister Aischa! she's gone home now and we miss her :'(

This would be Carol! from TEXAS :)

The "Fam" watching the present opening!

Caroline and the Daddy she LOVES so much!

Riley, the cousin who thinks Caroline is just TOO cool

Aunt Kat, who Caroline thinks is just TOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOL

Uncle Daniel, who USED to be the baby of the family until Caroline and he was jealous a long time!

And this would be baby cousin Yummy AKA Liam who is in to every one's business :)

And this would Jimmy who loves to say Caroline Caroline Caroline Caroline :)


And then the GRADUATE was off in her MUSTANG!

And our most HONORABLE Honor student marches in!

So glad she got to graduate from here although I for one thought it one of the strangest graduations EVER......

Caroline and the Mama who loves the air she breathes.

Carrie and me Grandmommy!

Big cousin Linda!

Caroline with the best Parents EVER!

AND SAMMY ARRIVED! (a very good friend from Tupelo)

After graduation Caroline and a house full of girl friends arrived back at he house and they held a GIANT uniform burning on a huge bon fire and the girls all crashed for the night and had a blast.

We are very proud of this young lady and everything she does. She's working for the Girl Scouts this summer as a counselor and will be entering Mississippi State University in August studying to be an Orthodontist!

She also has a summer full of barrel racing and her mama and Daddy are trying to move to TN :)

AND THEN THERE WAS YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He "graduated" from Pre K to Kindergarten. Still a bit puzzled by that since they only change rooms BUT we got to see him sing "Kiss My Brain" :) Love that boy!

And he Got his CAP!

And his Diploma!!!!!! Hey he worked hard for that!

AND this boy has LOFTY AMBITIONS!

Some time this summer we ARE going to have a picnic and celebrate Jimmy's finishing Kindergarten! He is home Schooled and kinda got lost in the shuffle of graduations and trips and stuff but we haven't forgot ya boy!

Daylight Savings Time!

Hello people!!!! it's your favorite Canine.........Me.......... Beautiful Penny......... just laying in the sun guarding a daffodil :)Tomorrow is DST.. This is Mom and Dad's favorite time of year!


Today we explored the front yard where Mom and Dad planted a WHOLE bunch of daffodils last fall..WITH MY HELP! If you look really close you can see a WHOLE bunch of them.. Some day they will be everywhere!

We counted 23 and then saw a bunch more that are not blooming yet after we counted. And I HELPED PLANT THEM! oh yes indeedy I did.. They would dig a whole and put the bulb in and I would follow along and 'arrange' the dirt :)
We are on the "cusp" of Spring! Lots of YELLOW! Bradford pears are trying to bloom too but we have so much rain then cold and they don't get going. They have them in Mississippi, which is not fair.. My horsey girl gets to see them though:)



"Annoying" wasn't allowed out without a leash today..heh heh heh.. Poor Lil Bro Spike didn't know we were out till we came in!

EVERYONE ONE THINK SPRING!
>

January has ENDED!!!!!!!!!!

In case someone on this earth doesn't know, I HATE January's!!!! Tennessee is a beautiful state but UGLY in January.. UGLY UGLY UGLY.. no green, just grey and dreary. February can be bad but sometimes we have Daffodils for Valentines day! Sometimes we also have snow for the day :)


On New Years Day we spent the day on the beach in St. Augustine Florida. Probably the only really warm day we had there the entire week. But we did have fun with da boy.





Most of January were medically related. regular doctor, Eye doctor
(follow up from the surgery) and then further dental surgery!!!!!!!!

Then the pain the pain. It wasn't actually surgery it was placing the final screws in but I got some really bad sores in my mouth and since I no longer have pain pills It has been rough.

Riley was the SUPER STAR of the Music Man and I got to see him twice! On his last performance it was his 12Th birthday :) Hard to believe he's been in our family since he was 6 years old, I can't remember life without him.


It snowed most of January. Not sure how many days the kids have missed from school but even Caroline missed some in mid Mississippi! It's so pretty at first then.......Up until Sunday I could still see piles of it around.


I got my new glasses but they are just not working for me. I went back the next week and they changed the script and made the trifocals more to my liking.

We got our Digital TV installed and I LOVE IT. We had to call this really nasty woman in Jackson MS about the box in our living room. She wanted US to fix it. The nice kid did come and change it around!



The President gave an amazing State of the Union Speech! He's so smart and so in control, I know it drives the Pee Farty crazy.
I was very inspired by him!

Liam came on the last day of January and he helped make his JOHN DEERE Cake!!!!!!!! He had fun but he had a fever and has a bad cold. He also helped decorate the cupcakes for his class!



February I'm cleaning my office!!!!!!! and I think we are getting the living room and hall painted!
Brownie's going to scrub down the kitchen.

OUR BABY BOY IS GOING TO BE 5 TOMORROW~~~~~~~~~~~~~~