New Patio and Grill

I finally got some pictures of my new grill that Dwight got me for Mother's Day this year and the patio we had poured the week before.  The patio sure makes this area look so much nicer outside and now that my roses have started blooming they really set it off!!! I started a new garden area to the left of the patio but the flowers haven't had much time to start growing very much and showing off.  I got the yellow knock out roses but not so sure I am liking them as much as the red ones, we'll see........
And here's a picture of the Hydrangea that Chad got me last year for Mother's Day, it is growing and blooming like crazy this year!!!!

Day Lilies

I have been wanting to go to a Day Lily farm for the past several years but wasn't able to find one nearby so kept forgetting about it. Mom got me loving day lilies years ago and she use to go to a plant farm about 60 miles from here to find hers, we always wanted to go together but never made the time to go and then when we did plan a trip we found out the farm had quit selling to the public. So Dwight got to looking for some locations of them that were within a days drive and found not one, but two that we could go nearby. I got so excited to find them so we headed out Sunday and went to Mike's Day lilies, well with over 400 varieties of them plus many other plants, trees and bushes I was in heaven = ) You just walk down isle after isle of the day lilies and tag what you want and they dig them up for you and have your bags ready when you're ready to check out. I love these because they are not the ordinary lilies you see everywhere, many of the ones he had there his father had started making his own breeds and still hadn't given them their official names yet. I found a beautiful dark orange one that hadn't been named yet and I told Mike I was going to name it Donna's Delight *LOL* He thought I was serious and began telling me I had to go to the official Day Lily site to get the name registered!!! We loaded up our goodies and Dwight found some snowball bushes, viburnum I believe he called them, brought them all home and spent the rest of the afternoon getting them planted in the ground. We started a new flower bed in the back yard for the lilies and it looks so good, but I do believe I am going to have to go back and get some more to fill in the bare spots = ) The temps were 101 and we were both soaked from sweating getting these new babies in the ground but looking at our new flower garden made it all worth it. Here are a few pics of some of the varieties I picked, can't wait to see them growing and spreading out next year. Thanks sweetie for taking me and finding this farm for me.


Aren't they gorgeous!!!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!!

Hope that everyone is enjoying their Holiday weekend and don't forget to remember all of our military past and present!!!

It has been a rainy weekend off and on here and we've mostly just been having a Lazy weekend. Yesterday we drove up to Townsend, TN at the foot of the Smoky Mountains. I have always loved to go up there and sit out in the river on a huge rock and take in the fresh, cool mountain air, nothing more relaxing that than. I have a spot I use to always go to years ago when I just 'had' to get away from everything and clear my head. The park was full of visitors yesterday and traffic was crazy but we finally found a nice spot to pull off the road, climbed the rocks down to the rivers edge and found us a huge rock to sit on and watch all of the people floating down on their tubes *LOL* The water had to be freezing but it sure didn't seem to bother any of the tubers. They looked like they were having a blast and it brought back memories of the last time me and the kids went tubing. It was an awesome, fun day and we were all floating down the river in the ice cold water and then all of a sudden we hit the rapids and were unable to maneuver our tubes, Chad got lucky and managed to avoid the big rocks in the middle but Marci and I weren't so lucky. We ended up flipped upside down on the rocks and Marci barely escaped getting pinned in between several of them, we ended up with bloody, scraped up body parts and many bruises = ) Several of the people that had been watching us from the river bank helped stretch beach towels out to Marci to get to her and pull her back to the edge. Talk about a nerve wrecking day!!!! Needless to say, I don't think there is enough money in the world to pay either of us to get out on that river in the tubes again *LMAO* Sweet Memories....

Megan's Graduation

May 20, 2010 was Graduation day for the kids at Union Grove Elementary School. They had a nice ceremony for the kids and they were all so cute and you could see they were nervous about their 'Big Day' Megan told me that when they were waiting for their names to be called to walk up and get their diploma of Achievement, she was shaking all over and fighting back tears *LOL* I told her that me and her Mom had been fighting back tears too cause we were so proud of her. She got her report card and had all A's and B's on it and now she is officially off to the Middle School as a Sixth grader this coming school year.

CONGRATULATIONS MEGAN!!!!!!! We're proud of you and keep up those good grades = ) Won't be long and we'll be sitting there watching your High School graduation.

Here's a picture of our little graduate.....

And her proud Mom..

Mother's Day

Happy Belated Mother's Day!!! I had an absolutely beautiful day and enjoyed the kids being here most of the day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, although a little on the chilly side unless you were sitting out in the direct sun. I have been wanting a new BBQ grill for the deck so Dwight got me one on Saturday and spent half the day putting it together for me so I mowed the yard for him while he was doing that ( aren't I sweet) LOL This past week we had a new patio poured off of the deck and it looks so nice out there now and lots more room for our get togethers, now I need to get a few more outdoor chairs and fill up more of my flower planters to spiff it up a little. We broke in the grill on Mother's day and cooked burgers and hot dogs and Marci brought some side dishes and a HUGE cookie from the Cookie Company, we all try to get the piece with the most icing on it = ) We stayed outside and enjoyed the sun, each other's company and conversations then headed indoors for a couple hours of games on the Wii. I got the new Just Dance game last week so we had to try that out, it had some great oldies songs and dances on it which I enjoyed and it was fun watching Meg and Marci trying to learn the 'Mashed Potatoes' and Cotton Eyed Joe *LOL* The guys had to do the Mario cart racing games and enjoyed theirself too. Chad had a busy day planned with his new 'girl friend'??? So he had dropped by early before Marci and them got here and stayed a few minutes with me, I was glad to see him and that he had taken the time from his day on the way to Dollywood to drop by and see me, that made me happy cause I was already putting on my pouting face thinking he wasn't going to get to come over ...LMAO All in all, it was a great day and I think everybody enjoyed it, I hope all Mother's out there had just as nice a day as I did.

Here's me and my fur babies

The Girls Me and Hubby

Amazing Easter!!!

The three day Easter holiday was awesome!!! The weather couldn't have cooperated any better, we had temps in the upper 70's all three days. Friday and Saturday Dwight and I got a lot of yard work done that we have been wanting to get to for awhile. We spent all day picking up tree limbs and trimming the hedges, cut down a few wild trees that we weren't sure what they were, looked more like over grown weeds to me = ) We made a run to Lowe's for a trailer load of mulch, cleaned out the flower bed in front of the house and got the mulch down and our hydrangea bushes that we moved from out Powell house. They are all three special to us and I wasn't about to leave them there. One, Chad got me for Mother's day last year, and the other two are both from our Mother's funeral services two years ago.

We got the yard all spruced up, made a run to Sam's club for some Easter food and I got the house all clean for Sunday when the kids would be here. This was absolutely the best holiday we have had in such a long time. It is so wonderful to be back home in Maryville again near the kids and have them be able to visit more often. I got my dinner ready and Chad got here first with a couple loads of laundry for me to do for him *LOL* bachelorhood for him is wonderful!!! He brought Tyson (his 200 lb. boxer dog) with him, which upset me a little to start with cause I wouldn't be able to let me pups outside with him here, they don't get along very well and Daisy thinks she is BIGGER than him so that would be a fight to start with. About an hour later Marci, Skeeter and Megan got here and we started hiding all the eggs for Megan to hunt, I already had four dozen out for her so I think she ended up with around 100 eggs to find. We had a great dinner and the kids brought some goodies for dinner with them so there was more than enough for everybody to eat and also take home some doggie bags = )

After our food settled, we all headed out to the back yard for an evening of games and some good time spent together. Chad had some frisbee's which were Tyson's, but he let us borrow them for the afternoon *LOL* I played till I just couldn't run any more and I think the guys were actually getting aggravated at me cause I couldn't throw it as good as them...LMAO Skeeter had a Corn Hold game that we all had a great time playing, so we spent several hours with that. Big D wasn't breathing to good that day so he didn't join the games with us, but he did sit out on the deck with us and him and Marci engaged in one of their famous 'family talks' She loves getting him started. The kids stayed till about 8:30 and I really hated to see the day come to an end but knew everybody had to get ready for work the next day.

I could not have enjoyed the weekend holiday any more and look forward to many more. Miss Meg said it was her Bestest Easter ever that she could remember!!! Here's a few pics of the family together.

Megan looking for her eggs

Chad, Marci and me......

OK, Blogger won't let me add any more pics so I'll do that another time = )

Heart Breaking Day...

Tonight my heart goes out to my son, Chad.

We found out early this morning this his baby's Mom had plans of moving to Wisconsin and taking Esera without letting his Dad know about it and letting him have one more time to visit with him, hold him and tell him how much his Daddy loves him.

I got to go with Chad on Friday to visit with Esera, but we didn't have a clue that might be the last time we would get to see him. If I had know I would have stayed all day and taken hundreds of pictures and loved that little fella so much.

As soon as I found out the plan and pulled myself together I had to call Chad and let him know what was going on, that's what a Mother is suppose to do right? I had to let him know even though there was no way to stop her from going, I only had hopes that Chad could get to hold him and love him one more time before he was gone. Thank God he did make it down there and got to spend about ten minutes with him today. I know his heart is very heavy tonight and breaking. Today is the first time I have heard my Son crying in a very long time and it just broke my heart that there was nothing I could do to 'fix it' for him. I did get him to contact a lawyer to find out his 'rights' as a father and he was off to the court house to file a petition for visitation rights before she got out of state with Esera. I don't if any of that will help him get to see his Son any time soon and I feel so helpless today that I couldn't make it right. I understand that she wanted to move back where most of her family is and try to make a better living for herself and the baby, go back to school where she could get her nurse's license and make a go of it, I don't hold any of that against her, it is just the way she was going to sneak out of town and not let Chad know cause she was afraid he would start trouble or try to get Esera. They are well on their way by this hour and I don't know if I will ever get to see my grandson again, or how long it will be before Chad gets to hold his baby again. Keeping all of them in my prayers and in my heart.

I love you Son and am so sorry I couldn't do more for you today. My heart is crying right along with you. Esera, what a precious little boy you are. I love how you lay your little head up against my shoulder when I held you and loved me. You are the most beautiful little boy in the world and I miss you so much already.
Mom

Here is the last picture taken of the two of them together...