After the frigid cold weather last week...

we are getting a few warmer days this week...

Stringbean and I are taking full advantage...

He is officially on Christmas break....

I took him to The Dollar Tree to do his Christmas 

shopping....we made his list...

he made great choices...

then he picked out the wrapping paper and bows...

Today he wrapped the gifts himself...

he did a great job...

 Sweet Ginger has been having seizures...

my son took her in for blood work...

he is now feeding her twice a day not once...

she was doing good until today...

she had another one....

they don't last long but it is scarey...

it's so hard when something is wrong with your pet...

The Inn is quite full here...

we have one dog...Rooster...

two granddogs Ginger and Athena who come dailey...

One Rooster...Dawg...

7 hens...

the brat pack Lucky Fancy and Ace they were the second

group of chicks I got last year...

Dawg is the only one left from the first group..

I have 4 hens that we hatched from eggs...

Magic...Freya...Dixie and Pip ....

Three Rabbits...Buster...Duke and Collaso...

all boys...

One Guinea Pig Ella...

and 2 goldfish 1 minnow 

(Stringbean caught at the pond this summer)

Hatari our other granddog....

will be spending the week with us next week...

 while my daughter and her guy take 

a trip to Florida to see his grandparents...

they are in their mid 90's and this year they 

can't make the trip to Texas...

The last of the roses for the year...

I'm counting down to Spring...

I'm not a winter girl...

that is why Texas is the perfect place for me...

It has been a busy several months...

Thanksgiving was so nice...

the family gathered at my Son and DIL's house...

good food good company...

We had our Thankful Christmas at my Dad and Step Mom's...

celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one....

my Step Mom goes way out with food and gifts...

My niece and her daughter...my 2 nephews..one is married

with a one year old son...last year he was a newborn...

time flies...My Uncle who is younger than me was

there with his sweet wife and two teenage daughters...

my group was there as well as my Mom...

I'm so happy that both my families get along and enjoy

each others company....

 Last weekend one of my highschool friends was

having a baby shower for her youngest daughter...

she is due in February...with a boy...

I took photos of the shower for them...

then I ran home gathered my things...

changed into Christmas attire...

for our annual Fun Girls Christmas party...

we had such a great time...

good food...good friends...

we had a white elephant exchange...

and actually had 2 white elephants exchanged...

there weren't any fights this year...

only a few steals...

our first year...one friend bit another friend for a vase I brought...

my DIL ended up with the vase so it is still in the family...

when I got home I ran to grocery store...

Stringbean spent the night...

we watched Home Alone 2...

my kids both loved the Home Alones...

now Stringbean is a fan....

I got up at the crack of dawn to get my disaster of a house

ready for our Family Christmas with my brother...

his wife and my sweet niece...plus my group...

11 total...

Hubby and I worked hard together...

got the house clean top to bottom...

all the food prepared...

we had Beef Stew.... and sandwiches...

Our six year olds had a blast together...

Stringbean and my niece are both six...

Stringbean will be 6 1/2 on Christmas Eve...

this 1/2 has gone by too fast....

We will go to Christmas Eve service

 at First United Methodist Church...

Christmas day is at our house...

Hubby is cooking a Roast...

I am so Thankful for my Family...

Linda at Linda's Life Journal is not

only a blog pal...but a FB pal and

my friend in real life...

she wrote me a note on FB saying she misses my blog....

you know what...I miss it too...

I plan to write more in 2017....

it helps me keep track of what goes on day to day...

the months are passing too quickly...

It has been a while....

 It has been a while...

Merry Christmas everyone...

It's a hustle and bustle time of the year...

 On November 4th this beautiful lady...

my Mom...turned 70 years young...

we had such a fun day taking her photos...

what a nice way to spend her birthday...

 for her gift...the whole family...

went to the Cabins at Lake Whitney for the weekend...

we had such a great time....especially 

Stringbean and my niece...

the two 6 year olds...

 while I was taking her photos...

I started thinking about all the girls...ladies in my life...

and most including myself...

tend to shy away from the camera...

so I decided...I want to do a photo session...

with each girl/lady in my life....

one on one...just the two of us...

and my camera of course....

 my first friend to accept my invitation...

isn't she beautiful...I wish she saw herself the way we all do...

she was a nervous mess...she said she almost canceled

every other minute even when she got there....

 we has such a great time...

visiting... enjoying the day...

these are a secret though...

for her Hubby for Christmas...

so I haven't been able to post them on my FB page...

 I'm looking forward to time with each and every one...

Fall finally hit Texas....we've had very warm weather...

and if you know me...I'm not complaining...

 This is my daughter's good friend...

they were roommates for over a year...

this cute couple is engaged to be married next April...

my gift to them was a photo session for their engagement photos...

on Saturday it rained all day...nasty weather...

On Sunday it was perfect...

 This is where they will have their ceremony...

isn't it beautiful...

in the spring they have wild flowers...

Winter hit Texas today...

but it's not lasting long...

we are suppose to warm back up this weekend...

just in time for my Dad's family Thankful Christmas....

Ladies...don't forget to be in the photos...

cell phone with selfie stick works...

 Stringbean is playing T-Ball...

Fall is a great time to play...

even though we are in the upper 80's and 90's still...

 so much fun watching them play...

they have came along way since the

first practice...

 He named his bat Big Bertha...

 He is a lefty batter...

but a righty throwing and catching...

It's been busy here in Texas....

October has flown by...

we are still really warm...

the leaves are barely falling...

the squirrels are really busy collecting

pecans and acorns...

November is fast upon us...

Lot's of birthdays...

my Mom turns 70 this year...

we are have a Family weekend at the cabins 

and lake....can't wait...

my BFF birthday ...

My niece turns 6...My SIL celebrates her Bday...

Thanksgiving...then Hubby's Birthday...

sweeping him away for a weekend

at the ocean...with a day of Deep Sea fishing...

Have a safe and happy Halloween...

We had a great time at the park

The Canadian Geese put on a show

Does anyone know what kind of duck

The white ones with the wig are?

This swan is beautiful 

And really friendly

Stringbean is trying to catch a frog

I took theses photos with my pocket camera and cell phone

 

 

 

 

Bunny loves

Collaso is a real sweetheart 

He/she we don't know yet

Is very friendly and cuddly 

Likes the camera too 
 

Collaso and Duke hit it off

Immediately....

They are loving this cooler weather

Our heat index last week was over 100

We started the day in the low 60's...

Today is early release day for Stringbean 

The great outdoors are calling our names
 
 

 

 

Our stringbean is not a baby anymore...

he's growing like a weed...

lost his first tooth...

playing t-ball...

1st grader...

we had a amazing summer together...

we crossed of most items on our bucket list...

more adventures to come....

We lost a dear friend...

he worked for us for 17 years...

was more like family than employee...

best friend to hubby...

a Uncle to my kids and stringbean...

we was one of the nicest men

you could ever meet...

grumpy on the outside...

sappy in the middle...

a dry sense of humor...

funny and caring...

we miss him dearly...

 Time sure flies when you are having fun...

 Summer is my favorite time of the year...

we have been squeezing in as much fun as we can....

Time with my niece....

 Gardening...well mostly flowers this year...

I have come to realize I do fine in the spring...

and fall...but I just can't keep up with a garden in the summer...

there are just not enough hours in the day....

with a full time job...Stringbean full time...

plus all the critters and day to day stuff...

something just has to go....

 This is Magic...she is one of the first 

chicks we hatched in an incubator...

her sister Sunny was eaten by my son's dog

last week...she flew right past me when I went in the gate to the coop...and guess who swooped in to get her...Ginger...she is a sneaky girl...

We hatched 3 sets of 2 eggs...

all girls but one...so only one Roo out of 6...

not bad...

Freya and George (the Roo) were born on a Friday...

Freya means Friday...

 Stringbean turned 6...

I can't believe what a big boy he is...

oh we have been having a blast this summer...

we sneak off every day to go to the pool...

he is turning into a fish....

 we have managed to have many adventures 

this summer...

 he loves the outdoors as much as I do....

school will start before we know it...

I wish summer break was longer....

like 6 months or so....

May is here and moving fast...

it has been a crazy week...

yesterday we lost power at 7:00am...

a transformer blew...

it took about 2 1/2 hours to come on...

when our power came back on...

No phone (the business phone) no internet...

no TV...we did all the regular checks...

then I called our new provider...

F...bought out Verizon here in Texas...

I'm not using their name but everyone knows who they are...

I was just bragging about how smoothly the

transition has been...after hearing all the horrible stories...

I called in after I finally got the number...

of my Hubbies Ipad...since I can't get a good

cell phone signal in our office or home...

without the help of a booster...

which by the way...doesn't work...without Internet...

I was on hold a while...

finally a nice lady answered...

tried all her tests on her end...

everything looked good...

so she said a tech would need to come out...

I asked her if it was just us...or...

was it my area after the loss of power...

she stated they had no way of knowing...

Really...they don't know if an entire area is down...

Verizon knew...the power company knows...

the gas company knows...

she set me up an appointment...

someone would call today before coming out...

I told her we were a business and could not be

without of phone...we can deal without the net...

several hours went by...

trying hard to do work without a phone or internet...

not an easy task....but we muddled through...

I decided to call to check where our appointment stood...

the new person said oh your appointment is on Saturday...

REALLY...

it is TUESDAY....we have to wait until SATURDAY...

to go without our business phone...

and we are a service company...

Yes Mam...so I asked her to tell me...

is it just our service...or the area...

we have no way of knowing Mam...

Can I speak to your Supervisor...

okay...on hold for 20 minutes...

she came back...The Supervisor is unavailable...

Is there not something you can do to help us...

No....was going to send me to the support people...

well of course we got disconnected...

Called back again...got a gentlemen...

he told me once again they did not know if it was our area...

or if it was just us...and it would be Saturday...

I gave my spill again...

he said he would make note...that we

are a business and we need our phone...

After several hours on the phone...

even calling another service provider...

they couldn't change us over any faster...

not mention we might be without a phone for days...

if we tried to switch...

After I was at my wits end...

around 5:00 pm...

everything magically came on...

and we still do not know what caused it...

Prayers for our troops...a high school friends son...

 is on a mission...praying for good mission...

praying for safety for all involved...

God Bless Texas...

God Bless America...

The girls are growing....

This is Dawg...

he takes his guard duties quite seriously...

he can be really sweet...

when he wants too....

he is also a bit sneaky too...

I have the welps to prove it...

the girls are a lot of fun...

they also like to sit in my lap...

Sunday Hubby and I went hiking...

with our daughter and her guy...

we hiked 4 miles...it was a beautiful day...

we woke up to rain...lot's of down pouring rain...

and very chilly temperatures...

traffic taking Stringbean was horrible...

we sat at a light for 15 minutes...

before we finally got to go...

then we had 10 minutes in the carpool line...

by the time we got to the front...

they had closed the doors...

so we had to park and go to the office...

what a way to start our Monday...

the rain finally left...the sun came and went...

but we never really warmed up...

It made for a nice walk this evening...

I met my BFF and Mom...

lot's of good talking...and walking...

then home to watch The Voice...

I have my favorites...how about you?

Alison is my favorite...

I also like Laith... Hannah...Adam and

Mary Sarah...

all very distinctive...

I can't believe it is May already....slow down 2016...

lot's of fun activities this month...

my youngest niece has her first school program...

my middle niece is graduating from high school...

Stringbean has his first field day...

first school trip to the zoo...

and graduates from Kindergarten...

we also have 4 eggs that should hatch next week...

busy...busy...busy...