Eating and More Birthday

Eating is something that happens pretty much non-stop around here. Someone always wants a snack. They all eat lunch. Someone always complains about it. Someone throws part of it on the floor. (for just a moment I missed the dog) Someone always wants more - usually of whatever is already gone. And then thirty minutes later someone is hungry again. Benjamin won't ever try anything new, so I sneak things in his mouth. He opens his mouth up really big and slowly heads his own handful of food toward it and - zip - I beat him to it. He usually ends up liking whatever it is.

Gibson and Haven told Grani and Aunt Christy that they need to open a restaurant. I think they liked the service they were getting.

We had a cake for our birthday party the other day, but we had filled up on watermelon and we didn't have room for cake.

Gibson and Elam picked out the cake. they really liked this one because it had a tractor on it.

We had six candles for Gibson.

And two for Elam.

Here's the crowd cheering for Grani as she lit the candles. I have a picture of Grani lighting the candles, but she doesn't like for me to put her picture on my blog.

Cousin's Camp 08 - Monday

I guess first I should mention the end of Sunday. Elam doesn't always want to go to bed, but he was very tired, so he just laid down by the front door. Maybe he thought someone was going to come rescue him...

We had a big day Monday. We went to the Family Life Center at church and ran and ran and ran! (You can see where we went to lunch here http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2008/07/cousins-camp-08.html )

Last night we went to see Kung Fu Panda. It was a really good movie. Uncle Daniel and Aunt Christy decided not to join us since Benjamin was not in a sitting still mood and since Hannah was showing why twos got their nickname.

Grani thought Elam would sit through a movie. Silly Grani. He did sit through the twenty minutes of previews, but not much after that. Gibson kept wanting to leave. (It was a little scary at times.)

After the movie we played with the rides at Oprymills. Perhaps next time we'll just take the $145 for tickets and popcorn and buy 5 hours of rides.

We had a great day!

Oh! And it's always nice to know there is a super hero near by to keep us safe at night.

Early Birthday Party

Gibson will be 6 in a few weeks. A couple of weeks after that Elam turns 2.

So we had a birthday party.

Of course everyone has to get presents.

This is about the coolest Batman costume I've ever seen!

On Papa's Bridge

I'm sure we'll be looking for many opportunities for group shots.
The concept of smiling for a picture was lost on the little ones this afternoon, but look how cute the five of them look together.
Cousin's Camp has begun! Woohoo!

Just before this picture we were checking the mailboxes on the other side of the creek.

Checking the mailboxes is always wild and crazy - everyone moving and talking and very excited to see what is in each mailbox.

The Fun Begins!

The neighbor's goats got out. Papa walked them home. Haven captured all the excitement.

Reservations????

Grani and Papa travel here and there, now and then. Grani is a very organized person and likes to plan out her days, but when it comes to travel she's a little bit like Papa - spontaneous!. "We don't need to make reservations. We'll just find a place when we get there. Besides, we may drive further or a shorter distance than we think."


Well... That attitude may change! We traveled to Mountain Home, Arkansas yesterday. We hadn't planned on going all the way there in one day, but we did. Mountain Home has lots of hotels. There was a Comfort, Holiday Inn Express, Best Western, Ramada, Days Inn, Executive Inn and more.


Who would have thought that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM would be full on the same night.

(This happened to us in Texarkana once. Had to drive to another city.)

I asked, "Is there something happening in Mt. Home that all of the hotels are full?"

"It's just the 4th I guess," was everyone's answer.


Mr. Patel at Super 8 (I was getting desperate) told us about a hotel just a little ways down the road, the Town and Country Motor Inn.
The lady at Town and Country said, "You have luck. Have one last room. One has canceled earlier." We drove in late and thankfully couldn't really see the place. Here's a view from this morning.


Oh my! I guess the pictures explain it all. "I think it was better than sleeping in the car" was about all Grani could say.

This is as far as the blinds closed.

The pool (thank the Lord - or the health department) wasn't open.

You don't even want to know about the continental breakfast!

Pre-Cousin's Camp

Cousin's Camp is just before Gibson turns 6 and Elam turns 2. The cool thing about Cousin's Camp is that there are also presents the sister of the birthday boys and for the cousins of the birthday boys. How fun is that?

This is a picture of the living room before everyone arrives. We all know it will be much different tomorrow evening!

A Busy Week to Come

Grani and Papa went by Hannah and Benjamin's house yesterday. Benjamin saw a picture of Papa and then started crying because he needed to see Papa.
Every time we go over to their house it is so fun to watch Hannah jump up and down when she sees Grani. She yells, "Grani!" then jumps and jumps!

Today we are driving to Arkansas. Gibson, Haven and Elam are at Omah and Opah's house. We're going to pick them up in the morning and bring them to Tennessee for a week! Christy is planning on spending a lot of time at our house while they are here so we can have a week of Cousin's Camp.

So stop by often next week for pictures of all the fun of Cousin's Camp.

Birthday Fun

What better way to end a birthday than playing with bubbles?

It's nice being the kind of person who finds joy in many things - even the simple things in life.

Birthday Lunch

You may have already read yesterday's post about my birthday supper. Earlier in the day we had lunch a Pizza Hut.

Hannah is blurry in this picture because she never stopped moving!

Joyce and Jewel (the Alpha and Omega sisters - ask them about their Golden Granny Award)and their mom and dad were also there.

They sent dessert! Yummmmmmm! Chocolate bread stick type deals with chocolate syrup to dip them in! You can never go wrong with chocolate.

After lunch we went to the Family Life Center so Christy and Daniel and Great-grandma and Great-grandpa could see it. (Hannah and Benjamin had already been there.)

Birthday Dinner at the Catfish House

Yummmmmm. As you'll see in posts to follow, Great-grandpa and Great-grandma came to Tennessee for Papa's birthday. They live in Oklahoma. Great-grandpa always likes to eat at the Catfish House in Springfield. That is always a great choice for supper!

We saw Jeff Land and Reed when we first got there. It's always good to see them. Reed and Benjamin are just two days apart in age. I wish I had thought to pull out my camera to take a picture of the two of them together. It seems like we usually see them at Lowes, but that's a whole other story.

When our waiter came to take our order he said, "I know you. You want extra butter for your potato." WOW! I was so impressed. It was two or three years ago that Ross was our waiter one night. Every time I went to the Catfish House and ordered a potato with my catfish the waiter or waitress would say, "butter and sour cream?" And every single time I would say, "I'd rather have two butters." Ross was the very first one - after several years - to actually bring me two butters. I carried on about it for quite some time that night, so I guess that is why he remembered. (I know that will surprise you all that I was a little "over the top" in a reaction to something good. Ha!) Anyway, I was so impressed tonight that I took my picture with Ross.

So then, I took my camera over to Sheila to tell her how impressed I was with Ross and she and the other young lady (I'm sorry, I've forgotten her name.) were jealous when they heard Ross got his picture taken so they had me take their picture. (At least that's how I remember it.)

Then - wooohooo - look at this. Birthday boys get a piece of Caramel pie, but they were out so instead I got a piece of chocolate chess pie. OH WOW! I wanted to break out into the Doxology. You definitely need to eat a piece of chocolate chess pie from The Catfish House!

Well, now we're back at home with birthday festivities still going on - after all, it's the longest day of the year - so I'm going to quit writing now. I'll have other birthday news on the blog tomorrow. Oh, the anticipation!

Catfish House
3424 Tom Austin HwySpringfield, TN 37172
(615) 382-1382‎