A surprise party that wasn't a surprise...

Good evening friends.  I must once again apologize for my lack of posts.  We have done a good job of staying busy this summer.  

We have enjoyed play dates with friends and countless shopping trips.  We have enjoyed spending lots of time with Nana and even had a few quick roadtrips.

I have to say we have had a great summer so far and since Darbee doesn't head back to school until September, we plan on spending what's  left of it having lots more fun.

One of the things I enjoy the most is getting people together and having a party.  I love finding cute ideas and decorating.  Any excuse for a party is a good excuse.  

Last Sunday night, Kathy called me over to her house and said we needed to talk.  She wanted to plan a party.  I was excited even before I knew who it was for.

Mama and daddy's anniversary was coming up and it was their 40th.  She wanted us to go in together and give them an anniversary party and she wanted it to be a surprise.  I was tickled.  I couldn't wait.  We started planning right away.  Keep in mind this was Sunday evening and their anniversary was the coming Saturday. We had to hurry and get busy quick.

First was finding a place.  We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best and asked hubby to see about renting the company cabin for us.  We knew deep down it was probably booked but hoped it would work out some how.

Monday afternoon, hubby called and let me know he had miraculously got the cabin for Friday night and part of the day Saturday.  I was ecstatic!

Once we knew we had the location, we came up with the story of how we would get them there and how we would try and keep it a secret all week.  We came up with every possible excuse she could give and came up with game plans for everything we could thing of.  We thought so anyway.

On Tuesday, Darbee Rae and I spent the day at Nana's.  I was so nervous Darbee would let it slip, but she didn't.  She did so good.  I managed to get Mama's wedding album out of her house by giving her the excuse that I was going to do a blog post about her anniversary.  I wanted to use the pictures for my blog post.  Ha! It sounded good and she believed me.  

I also loaded up my car with some  a lot of her decor by giving her the excuse I wanted to use it for a get together at our house on Saturday for our town's fireworks. I was on a roll.  She was believing all of it and we were doing good.

I figured out how to create a secret board on Pinterest to pin ideas for the party and Mama couldn't see any of it. Hehe. On Wednesday night, we were sitting there finishing up the favors when the phone rang. On the other end was my very excited mama.  Oh no.  She was so happy.  They were planning a quick getaway vacation for their anniversary.  My heart sank. I was so upset.  We had gone all week and kept the surprise.  Now what were we to do? Kathy and I had to tell her. We had to keep them here! We had already invited nearly 30 people and already bought some of the decor and stuff we needed.

Thursday morning, I came up with the excuse to get her to Kathy's.  I told her Darbee had left her baby doll over there.  She was with us and had a day of shopping planned.  When we got to Kathy's guess what?  She refused to get out of the car!!!  She couldn't understand why we couldn't just run in and get the baby and be on our way.  Kathy had to finally come out to the car and we had to tell her.  We had to crash her vacation.  She was speechless.  There were tears of gratitude and a look of shock.  She had no idea.  She was so happy. There...it was done.  No more secrets.  She and I and Darbee Rae headed out for our day of shopping and I didn't have to hide the decorations I needed to get to finish up. :)

Finally, Friday was here.  The party day.  We headed over to the cabin around lunch time and got busy.  We couldn't wait for the party but we were also excited that our whole family was spending the night at the cabin together.  There was going to be 9 of us all staying together.  What fun.  

I won't bore you with much more writing.  I will share the party with you in pictures.  IT was a big success.  We had so much fun.  The weather was perfect.  There were friends and family there.  The food turned out great.  I was so thankful.

It was a country party.  The tables were covered in brown paper.  There were bandannas in the middle with a center piece and a wedding picture.  On each end of the tables were mason jars with burlap and red ribbon.  They had rocks in the bottom and floating candles. I love how everything turned out.

 

I used my old chicken and filled it with tall branches.  I used clothes pins and pinned small wedding pictures and pictures from early in their marriage on it.  It was a big hit.  It was on the cake table.

The cake table was my favorite.

I found the idea for the favors on Pinterest.  How did we ever live without that site?  I love the cute sayings.  The tags said, "We are still suckers for each other 40 years later."

I also made labels for cookie bags and made cookie favors.

Their stickers said either "Thank You" or "40th Anniversary."

Above the food tables we hung a banner we made that said, "We still do."

I loved that.

The food was simple but oh so yummy.

The menu was hot dogs, chips, 

velveeta sausage dip and tortilla chips

meatballs

potato salad

vegetable tray

baked beans

pickle roll ups

and a fruit bowl.

It was delicious!

The drinks were in my washtub that I found by the road.  Good find huh?  I think so.

I was so proud everyone came.  There were friends of theirs who were a part of their wedding 40 years ago.  It was so neat.

They even cut the cake just as they did at their wedding.  

It was sweet.

As they went up for us to take a picture some silly little girl named Darbee Rae decided to jump in the picture and show her best side. smile...

Their friends were so generous to bring gifts.  They were so grateful.

It was such a good party.

I am so happy to have such a good example before me.

After the party was over and everything was cleaned up, we headed in the cabin for a fun night of together time.  We stayed up waaayyyy to late.  We talked about times past. We planned for the future.  We just enjoyed being together.

There were pallets everywhere but it was so much fun.

Happy Anniversary you two!

Until next time....

Off the beaten path

Good evening friends!

Are you having a good weekend?

I hope each of you are.  We woke up this morning with no plans. Sometimes that is nice.  We spent the morning at home just being lazy.

After lunch, we headed to a nearby town for a small carnival benefiting Children's Miracle Network.  It was nice but oh so hot.

Darbee didn't let that hinder her fun though.  She loved it.

Home Depot had a booth where you could build something.

She built the cutest little heart basket.  

I see an evening with Papa in his workshop in the near future don't you?

That basket must be painted!

There was lots of games too!  Darbee popped balloons and picked up ducks.

That was a neat outing but one I was glad when it was over.  We were scorching!  

We did a little shopping and had a snack and we were off on another adventure.

Several weeks ago, a friend posted a picture on Facebook of the neatest walking trail.  

I immediately asked her where it was and found out it was very close to home.

We found it today and ended up finding a treasure. A place we will certainly visit many more times.

We turned off of a busy highway onto a dirt road that let way back in the woods.  That's a lot of fun sometimes huh?  Going somewhere when you really have no idea where you are going....that was us today.

At the end of the dirt road was a parking lot and an entrance to the walking trail.  Luckily, I brought along my camera.  It was a nice walking trail and we knew we were headed towards a creek.  As we neared the creek, this was what we saw.

Isn't it beautiful?

There were several families there wading and playing out in the water.  Oh how I immediately wish Darbee had worn her swim suit too.  I knew she wanted to wade out in the water so bad. 

She and I waded out a little but we had to be careful. The rocks were VERY slippery. 

After I was done wading, she played a long time.  It was so nice, we stayed quite a while.

I know you can guess what happened right? 

Sure enough...she slipped and fell right down on her bottom.  :)  She was fine but soaking wet.

So....what are we to do?  Just let her go ahead and have fun of course!

I guess we made a memory today huh?  She had a ball and thought it was so neat that she got to get wet in her clothes!

That's what summer is all about right?  Making memories and having fun.

Hehe...Love it!

We had such a fun day and can't wait to go back and head off the beaten path. 

Until next time....

Sending up thanks...

You know you hear people talk about living each day as if it were your last and how your life can change in an instant. You take a second and think about those statements and quickly forget them. You go about your life and that's it. Never another thought given to that until something happens.

I am guilty of the same thing.

Today though of of those "things" happened that made me stop again and say "thank you" to The Lord for sparing me and my family yet again.

We took my MIL to the doctor in Atlanta. That alone is a risk you take getting out and driving in that traffic. Thankfully, we made it back safely.

After we dropped her off back at her house, we stopped to say hi to hubby's brother who lives in another house on the same property. We were out in the yard all standing around talking. Darbee was running around playing.
In a quick moment, we heard tires squealing and all look up. A car had turned in the road way too fast. They lost control, fish tailed and then went on two wheels. They went air borne and off of a bank. They bottomed out in the ditch losing part of their car along with all of the oil from the car. I guess the girl still had her foot on the gas because when she landed, she kept going through the yard, did a donut and finally came to a stop. We heard a lot of screaming and saw teenagers piling out of the car. They were screaming and fussing and yelling at the girl driving to get out of there. She guns the gas and takes off through another ditch. She gets in the road and stops while all of the others run after her. The rest of the oil empties in the road along with clumps of mud and dirt from the ditch. Hubby's brother immediately called 911. When they look up and see him on the phone, they start yelling to get out of there. The girl drives the car off making a horrible racket and the group of teenagers take off running too.
Obviously they were alright but that in itself was a miracle.
What made me shudder was we were less than 20 feet from where the car stopped just a few minutes before. Had they came a few feet further and hit the fence, it could have been one of us or my little girl who was running and laughing with not a care in he world. That quick,our lives could have been changed forever. In an instant. Yes, I stopped immediately and thanked the good Lord we were ok. We were safe.
The cops finally came and seemed aggravated they were called. The people whose yard they landed in and tore up seemed aggravated that the cops bothered them. (They didn't hear it)
An hour or so later, the cops stopped by and laughed it off. "It's just kids" was the deputy's reply. Some police we have huh? After hubby questioned him several times, he did say the driver was going to be ticketed but that was it. It was no big deal. NO BIG DEAL??? Had the neighbors granddaughter been out in the yard playing like I have seen so many times before, it could have been her hit. It could have been us. It could have been us.

Tonight, I will hug my hubby and Darbee a bit tighter and once again say thanks for Him watching over me and my family.

What are you thankful for today?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I am ready

Good evening friends.  I hope all of you are safe from the storms.  It has been a rough few days for many.  Tonight, we got a taste of it but thankfully, nothing too bad.  No tornadoes, just severe thunderstorms.  I am so thankful that was all.  

Earlier in the day, we headed out shopping with Nana.  I needed some supplies for VBS and for our Disney trip.  We met Nana in town and headed out to Hobby Lobby.  I found what I needed and couldn't believe my eyes when I came up on this.

FALL!!!!  

I am so ready!  The heat was terrible today.

It was 99 on my car thermometer when we got in.  Ugh!

I am NOT a hot weather person.  I await fall with open arms!

An early love for reading

Just about as long as Darbee Rae has been able to talk, she has wanted to read.  I remember when she was itty bitty she would constantly ask me "Mommy, what does that say?" 

She has had a strong desire to learn to read.  She has always enjoyed books.  Just about every night before bed, we read her a story.  When she packs a bag of things to do in the car for trips there is always a stack of books.  

I started taking her to the library at a very young age.  We attended laptime and story time there and she was allowed to choose several books to "buy" as she called it.

Now, she is reading like a champ!  It is amazing how much she can read.  Huge words like neighborhood and responsibility.  She is so good at sounding words out.  She is at such a fun stage where she is like a sponge.  The more you give her to learn, the more she wants.  

At bedtime now, she reads a book to us.  She constantly plays school and "teaches a book class." Our lesson today was on lightning.  She read me a science book about lightning and how it forms.  

I thought this afternoon was a good time to do something special.

She and I headed over to our public library and she got her very own library card!

She was so excited.  Look how hard she is concentrating signing her name to her card. So serious!

She was all smiles.  We headed over to the kids section where she then signed up for the summer reading program.  She also looked through all the books and chose quite a few to bring home.

She couldn't wait to get home and start reading.

That is exactly what she has been doing all afternoon.  Reading to me.

I love it.

I am so proud of her.

Until next time...

Chocolate Heaven

Good evening friends.  It has been a dark rainy day here.  Kind of makes you want to be really lazy.  

Don't you just love chocolate?  Who doesn't right?  

Our church had a fish fry last night and the ladies were to bring the deserts.  I had no idea what to make.  So....where do I turn?  Pinterest of course! 

Thanks to Pinterest, I made a delicious new recipe that was a big hit. Chocolate lasagna. I brought home a clean dish!  

I had to share it with all of you.   Yummmyyy!

Here is the picture of mine.

Oh my!  Let me tell you.  It was delicious!

I found the original recipe here.here.

I will share it with you also.

Chocolate Lasagna

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package regular Oreo cookies (Not Double Stuff) – about 36 cookies
• 6 Tablespoon butter, melted
• 1- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cold milk
• 1- 12 ounce tub Cool Whip, divided
• 2 – 3.9 ounce packages Chocolate Instant Pudding.
• 3 1/4 cups cold milk
• 1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Begin by crushing 36 Oreo cookies. I used my food processor for this, but you could also place them in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. When the Oreos have turned into fine crumbs, you are done.
2. Transfer the Oreo crumbs to a large bowl. Stir in 6 tablespoons melted butter and use a fork to incorporate the butter into the cookie crumbs. When the butter is distributed, transfer the mixture to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator while you work on the additional layers.
3. Mix the cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add in 2 Tablespoons of milk, and sugar, and mix well. Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups Cool Whip. Spread this mixture over the crust.
4. In a bowl, combine chocolate instant pudding with 3 and 1/4 cups cold milk. Whisk for several minutes until the pudding starts to thicken. Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the previous cream cheese layer. Allow the dessert to rest for about 5 minutes so that the pudding can firm up further.
5. Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top. Place in the freezer for 1 hour, or the refrigerator for 4 hours before serving.

**I did not use my food processor.  I let Darbee help.  She had a blast crushing them with a  hammer.  I put them in a double zip loc bag and she pounded away!

**I used a 16 oz. cool whip.  I ended up using the entire container.

This turned out so good.  I hope you like it!

I am linking up with Tammy's blog today!

Back to reality

Hello friends. 

It's hard to believe it's already been nearly a week since we left for our beach trip.  We had such a good time.  I enjoyed spending time with my mama and my sweet girl.  We laughed, talked, ate junk food, stayed up way to late, shopped and were just together.  I am so thankful for these trips we get to take and for the special time we spend together.  Such fun memories we always make on each of these trips.

Here are a few photos from our trip.

Darbee couldn't wait to get to the beach.  From about an hour into our car ride, she began asking, "When am I going to see the beach?"  She wanted to dig in the sand.  She is not a big fan of the water and neither am I but she couldn't wait to get there.  

After we checked into our hotel and got settled in, we headed to the beach.  

She had fun digging and playing.  I enjoyed it too.

She dug a giant hole.  She worked so hard.

While she was playing in the sand, I enjoyed watching the seagulls fly and swoop.

I decided to try out my new zoom lens for my camera.  I love it.

The next day was our shopping day.

We headed out on a mission to find the Disney store.

Darbee has no idea but on our Disney trip, I have made her a reservation at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at the castle in Magic Kingdom to have her hair and makeup done like a princess.

This reservation is right before our reservation to dine in the castle with Cinderella and the other princesses which she also has no idea about.

So, she must have a princess costume right?  She knows I am going to let her change into her princess costume at some point but that is all she knows.  I had to tell her that much so she could try on and pick out the right outfit.

So...we headed straight to the Disney outlet store for the perfect costume for my little princess.

She had so much fun trying them on.

We did find the perfect one and also matching shoes.

She was so excited.

I won't show the one she picked. She wants it to be a surprise.

She wouldn't even show hubby when we got home!  She said she want to surprise daddy

when she comes out all dressed up at Disney.  How cute.

We shopped till we nearly dropped.

Darbee was still going strong and wanted to go back to the beach.  

She and I spent the rest of the evening at the beach in the sand.

She was one happy girl.

Many of you know I love taking pictures and that one of my dreams is to be a photographer.

I took my good camera and my lenses and off we went.

I had told Darbee I wanted to take some summer pics. of her and she didn't mind at all.

She loved it.

We changed her into her "beach dress" and headed out.  I told her to run, play and have fun and I would just snap pictures. I love how they turned out.

Here are just a few of the more than 200 I took!  

We were silly at times and got a little tickled....

and sometimes we got a little aggravated. 

(SMILE)

But...all in all I had a blast.

I love this kid so much.

We walked out onto a boat dock and look what we found on the rocks below.

There were probably 50 little hermit crabs playing on the rocks and in the water.

Darbee had so much fun watching them.

We had such a fun trip...

Memories I will cherish forever..

I hope all of you in the path of the tropical storm are safe.

Until next time....