Tuesdays with MeMe

Yes, this picture is out of focus. I am having camera problems! It is bad when your iPhone is making better pictures than your good camera! But......I just loved this picture....I caught John Brady during a reflective "little boy moment" and I thought the blurriness kind of represented the way you can just be swept away by a beautiful peaceful day!

After supper the kids starting shooting hoops. It reminded me of afternoons in Berry.....years ago.

Love to see Emma interested in Basketball













she may be shorter than her sister but she found a "sweet spot" and made several baskets





















Brady joined the game

Eight is Enough

Our March book club selection was "Those Who Save Us". Historical fiction.....wow, does it make you think! This book is the story of a German teenage girl and how she survived the Nazi's and how she tried to help the Jews. It is not (or I think) the typical "war story" book. She was in love with a Jew. I don't want to give away the story line.....so, just read the book.

So we don't forget!!!

Mounts

These are a few of the horns and one of John's turkeys that he mounted this year. Next year I am going to remember to take a picture of every one before they leave here.

Just Because

Do You See It?

I was walking outside enjoying the beautiful day when something caught my attention......Do you see it?Do you see it, now?

Do you see it, now?

Now, I bet you see it!!!

Your Goal Is This Way....This Way!!!!

Lawson is playing soccer this year and Courtney and I had to take him to practice during the time I stayed in Birmingham. It was a hoot!!! Here they are, after practice, having a team meeting. That is Lawson in the red shorts and yellow shoes. Courtney bought his shoes at a consignment shop on 280 and all the boys with "new shoes" thought Lawson's shoes were so cool!

Tuesdays With MeMe

Uncle Josh came to visit and the kids wanted to show him how they could ride their Rip Stiks. Not to be outdone.......Uncle Josh decided he wanted to give it a try. He did finally get on and rode it a few feet but I would have to say that it wasn't much to brag about. I doubt he would want his ball players to see his attempt!

Emma is trying to give him some pointers!

Relaxing with Abby Claire!

It's Turkey Season

C3 Ladies Retreat

GETTING CLOSER

Two weeks ago I took off for Smith Lake to spend the weekend with some ladies from church. What a great time we had. We had retreats for several years at Central and then quit. Why did we quit? Our...no, I must say, my.......dear sweet Cathy lost her life, in a car wreck, the Monday before we were to have our retreat on the weekend. Of course, we did not go and we just didn't have the heart to go the next year and so a pattern started. Last year, it hit me how mad Cathy would be about us quitting the retreats. I asked for help to get us started back and we have now had two retreats. Cathy is always mentioned. This year as we were singing, led by Anita Morris and Ruth Burleson, I pictured Cathy singing along with us. She always said when she got to heaven she would request a beautiful singing voice!

I truly believe that these retreats are so beneficial. I always go home uplifted and feel so much closer to all the ladies. We have a bible lesson, sing, eat a lot, make a craft but mostly we have fellowship..........which means we stay up all night ...laughing!!!

Already thinking about our 2013 retreat!

We did not have a car mechanics lesson on our agenda for this weekend but.....we got one. Teresa's Yukon decided not to crank

Oh, this group can handle that. No, really.....back in my younger and very broke days of marriage.....when I couldn't just go get a new battery the same day I found out that I needed one.....I learned how to jump start a battery and did it often!

I wasn't even asked for help.....seems everyone there knew how to jump start a battery. Hmmmm

Okay.......who knew how complicated and tool needing it was to get to the battery of a newer car!

Never underestimate the power of a group of women.......we just found an older car and....TaDa we got "er" cranked!

Four Weeks Old

Lily

Lily is growing like a weed. I can't believe how time is passing so quickly. She is a good baby but she does like to eat regularly! Lily had a hard "little girl day" the last day I was there. You know the kind....where everything is going wrong. I gave her a bath and there was a ring of her beautiful silky black hair left in the sink.......that's enough to upset any little girl, but then........she had her first case of "baby acne".....again, upsetting......and then as I dried her hair we realized that she was getting a little cradle cap on her head....oh my, could it get any worse......yes, it could......her ugly old purple umbilical cord just refuses to drop off!!! I told her that it was a good thing that she was so pretty! Oh, and also, from the look of that nail on her big toe I believe she may need a pedi, soon!

SANTA...please help

The elves really got this wrong!

Way back in December

How it all began.......Courtney always has Santa...aka Walmart.......send packages to my house. She started this years ago when she was working out of state. The packages come to me and I put them in the guest room. She would come to Berry for a weekend and we would have a fun night cooking and wrapping her gifts.

So, Christmas 2011, Courtney is still having her gifts sent to my house. This has always worked wonderfully until............

Courtney had told me that I should expect "Santa" to bring a 16'' little kids bike to my house and to be sure and look for it since the "Law Man" might be visiting at our house! Well, the night I had book club I got home late, the great room lights were out, John was in bed asleep so he didn't tell me that a package had been delivered. The next morning when I went into the great room there was a delivery all right......the box said it was a 40" flat screen TV.....Hmmmm, I thought.....Court did not tell me that she had ordered a TV. I really didn't think much about it.....I wondered who it was for.......couldn't figure out where they would put it (they already have a big screen) or why she would have it sent here.......so it must be a present....but who are they giving this really nice present???

So, I forgot to call or text her to ask about the TV. Court sent me an e-mail asking me a question and I replied back ( it had been about 48 hours since the TV had been delivered) and included one little sentence....."you didn't tell me that you had ordered a big screen TV"!

Five minutes later my phone rang.....it was Courtney.....what are you talking about....I didn't order a TV....the only big thing I ordered was a little boys 16" bicycle. We talked on and it hit me........I bet the bicycle box is inside the TV box. Sooooo, we hung up and I proceeded to open the TV box....well, it wasn't a bicycle, it was indeed a flat screen TV. I called Court back and told her the news. She was upset because she was worried that "Santa" might not get the bicycle delivered by Christmas. I told her I would just go buy one for "Santa" until we got it straightened out...but...... she called "Santa" and he said that he would send the bicycle via Wal Mart, immediately, and send the info to return the TV to "Santa". Great...we have everything worked out. The bicycle arrived in Berry a few days later!

Bet you thought that was the end of the story.......oh, no....not at the Lawson house....things just don't happen without a story behind it!

Well, Wal Mart via instructions from "Santa" sent Court an e-mail, with the shipping label, to return the TV. Courtney forwarded me the shipping label and I printed it off. By this time John and I had moved this big box all over our house trying to keep it out of our way. I told John that we would have to tape the box back up for the pick up and he replied that he bet UPS would tape it back up for shipping. So, I got the shipping label to see if it had a number so I could call UPS and check. It was then that I noticed that the shipping label was for the USPS. Hmmmm....not sure I had ever heard of sending a TV through the USPS. So, I asked my friend, Sue, and she said, yes indeed, they did ship TVs and just about everything else.....but there was a size and weight limit. So, I assumed that Wal Mart knew what they were doing ( let me say right here...I love Wal Mart and spend a lot of money there) and that we were to send it through the USPS. I got John to help me tape the box up and load it into the Yukon since I could not carry the box by myself. The next morning I gladly drove to the PO to mail off the TV. I had to pull to the back and get help unloading it. I noticed that Sue looked doubtful....without weighing the package, she measured it......it was TOO BIG! Ughhhh.....how can this be....this shipping label says to mail it at the PO. THEN.....Sue started looking closely at the shipping label and she noticed......the label was to ship back a 16" BICYCLE. You have got to be kidding! How can things get so mixed up!!! Sue and I loaded the TV back into the Yukon. I took the TV back home..... where it found a place in our downstairs hallway and happily spent Christmas with us.

Courtney called many times and asked Wal Mart to straighten this out. People have kidded her that she had a free TV and she always replies that she wants only what she pays for but her work schedule does not allow for her to spend this much time on the phone trying to get this straight. The one thing that did happen.......she received an e-mail saying that if she did not return the 2nd bicycle that she was going to be charged for it!!!! Well, she was charged for it....... in January. So, she has paid twice for the one bicycle that she has!

Back around the end of January.......Courtney asked us to bring the TV to her house because she didn't think that we should be having to deal with the problem. Well, we did and we put it in her basement. Courtney continued to call to tell them that the TV was now at her house, trying to get the problem worked out and get the charge off her card.

Don't forget......she also had a baby during this time!

Guess what.........February 29th....UPS came after the TV!

The problem......they came to Berry!

Courtney called that day and spent several hours on the phone with Wal Mart. She was trying to get to the right person who would understand the problem and tell them, again, that she now has the TV at her house (the 3rd time she has told them this)!

2 days later.....UPS put another "attempted to pick up" notice on my door!!!

Courtney has now turned this over to her husband, Dave. Dave is really good with people and we assumed that now... something would happen.....we really did!!!

But...as of today......the TV is still in their basement!

SANTA.....we need you to help or just tell us to keep the TV for the price of a 16" bicycle!!!!

*******Here's a funny about all of this......."Santa" decided that Lawson needed to wait until his birthday to get a bicycle....warm weather and all....so.....the bicycle is still in it's box at MeMe and Pop's house!!!!*******

I've been poked in the face

More musings from a 4 year old

Last week Lily made a "smile like" face......I call it that since she isn't actually smiling, yet....... Lawson was sitting on the sofa and Lily was laying in her bassinet in front of him.....Lawson was watching her when she made this smile...he jumped up off the sofa in a panic and said.......somebody poked Lily in the face.....all the grownups....WHAT.... as we ran over to see what in the world could be wrong.......what was it?.......he saw her DIMPLE for the first time! So......I guess he has been wondering, all this time, who keeps poking me in the face!!!

This made me think of something Brady said to me when he was about Lawson's age. Brady was sitting next to me on the sofa when he announces......Mama, I have a nose like yours......I remember thinking "how sweet" .......when he went on and said......You know the kind of nose that you can see straight up!!!!!

Nothing like a child to bring you down to earth!

Lily's 1st trip to the Zoo

Courtney was wanting to get out of the house and she wanted to do something with Lawson. The doctor had warned us about the flu and stomach virus going around and to be careful where we took Lily. Well, we decided that with all the wide open spaces and fresh air that the Zoo would be great. Miss Lily pie was all swaddled up and as happy as a pea in a pod and Lawson was happy to have his Mother with him at the Zoo, It was a great weather day....the kind that makes you look forward to spring without thinking about our scorching summers!
I just had to stop and make a picture of this tree. I love trees. I am not sure why I had not noticed it before...maybe because it had leaves.

Lawson was following the guineas into the cane and we finally had to make him come back before he ended up somewhere he didn't belong.

Oh, and we discovered that morning that all Lawson's shorts were way short. Courtney finally found him some a few days later. He needed them longer only not bigger around!!

This lizard was so interested in Lawson. It looked like a Geico commercial

Everybody was enjoying the pretty day!