Shelby's Birthday! And other great news.....

Yesterday was Shelby's party, a few days early, but fun anyway. Shelby will be 2 tomorrow. And what a cute 2 she is. She is very quick with the "cheese" smile...........so fast that its hard to beat her with a camera. Here are a few pics of the party. Shelby got a new tricycle, and as you can see she shared with Annalise. She got some great gifts and love the baby doll that when given a bottle, goes to sleep. She sang 2 songs to the baby. I tried to get a video of it but it didn't do it right.

NOW I HAVE TO APOLOGIZE TO THE MOTHER, AUNT AND GRANDMA FOR BEATING THEM TO THE PUNCH. ACTUALLY, THEY ARE A LOT BUSIER THAN I AM, SO CHECK THEIR BLOGS OUT FOR EVEN BETTER PICTURES.

I also will attempt to beat them with even more news. Justin so far has gotten acceptance from 3 Universities for his Masters. USC, EASTMAN, AND INDIANA. IF THERE WAS MORE, I HAVENT HEARD.(Justin is tooooooo busy to let his Grandma know)

I hope to let everyone know what his choice is as soon as I know.

Easter

Hope everyone had a great Easter! Ours was a mixed bag. Carol got sick Friday nite and still isn't feeling very good. Adam, Sarah and Cipriano came down Saturday morning. We were so happy to see them. The 1st thing they wanted was Fat Ernies. I ordered them when they called from Temple. Yummy!!!! We then loaded into the truck and went to Temple to a nursery. Last week we had gone and they had spectacular fern hanging baskets (then priced at 25.) however when we went they were now priced at 39. Needless to say, we didn't buy any. We did go to Home Depot and got 2 Texas Sage plants to replace the "dead or dying" ones. Sarah paid for one, we paid for the other.

Cipriano is fighting allergies and as Sarah says, "its kicking his butt".

For supper I made Chicken Fried steak, mashed potatoes and green beans.

For breakfast Easter morning, we had biscuits, sausage, and scrambled eggs. I put an absolutly scrumptious ham in the oven just about 9am and had the rest almost ready for the big meal. Sarah did the deviled eggs. I made the Smithfield ham, which I said was the BEST I've ever had. We had potato salad, ham, asparagras, jello eggs, deviled eggs, vegies and dill dip. Ate until we nearly exploded, then we had strawberry shortcake for desert. A veritable feast. Carol still wasn't feeling very well so we did have leftovers which Sarah and Cipriano took home.

In between, Jennifer, Joey and Shelby stopped by. I had made Easter treats for the Gr grands (picture!) Jennifer cut Sarahs hair, and we sat outside it was so nice. It was so cute to hear Shelby calling after Sarah all day. The last time they were here, Shelby ignored Sarah all together, this time she became Shelby's best friend!!!

Later in the day Jessica, Scott and Annalise came over. Annalise had just woken up. Such a cutie! She has learned to say "no" very well and mean it! I did get one of Annalise and Jessica, just ONE.

By the time they arrived my batteries had died for the camera, and Sarah had used my last 2 for her camera, hopefully she will post pics on her blog.

All in all, Easter was nice, too bad 2 were sick. Cipriano, poor thing, did go out and plant the sage and moved to suckers from a crape myrtle to a better location. I did tell him to forget it, but he is the kind that would do it anyway. I believe he prefers to be working.

Just news

This is just a 'kind of' boring update. Not much exciting happenings in our world but felt like if I don't blog soon all will forget me. We have been working in the back yard in between rain and chilly weather. Trying to eliminate weeds before they take over. Thistles and dandelions for the most part, hen bit is real nuisance but easy to pull and rather nice looking as a whole. It's trying hard to take over, but a little work takes care of it. I hate pulling weeds!!! Also been cutting out little tree sprouts that try to fool us. They seem to grow very near other shrubs and fence line, easy to take care of if we can get to them. Yesterday we cleaned and pulled and filled up a large contractor bag with debris in less than an hour! Beautiful day, jacket weather but pleasant.
Last week a bit of sickness hit. Jennifer had bronchitis, she is expecting and a nurse told her dayquil would help, without checking on pregnancy and Jennifer got dizzy and weak, finally went to the dr. and got some meds for it.
Justin, with all his travels, got a bacterial infection which really made him ill. He went to the 'quack shack' on campus and he was so sick his Mom had to drive to Waco to take him back to his apt. She wanted to bring him home, but he wanted to stay. She loaded him up with juices, gatoraide, and 'healthy' food and the dr. loaded him up with meds. and he seems to be fine with in a few days.
I am getting this news seconed hand so I am just reporting all this in my own words. Hope I am near enough to the story to be mostly correct.
Last week we went to the AARP tax people at a local Sr. citizens center to have them work on our tax. I did it, and thought we were going to have to pay! But I needed to have it checked and found out that we did not have to pay after all. What a relief!! The gentleman that helped us was wonderful, he explained alot and filed electronically so we could get our rebate check.
Not much further news. Trouble, our dog had been having problems with infection in his anal glands, but now is fine. We will have to watch him closely for signs of a return of the problem. Expensive but well worth it, he is our "BABY".
We both have spring garden fever. We purchased a new tree, a wax mrytlel(sic) and a shrub to go between the ponds. We had to remove a dead one. We still have to replace the Texas Sage (2) that are on the way to dying. The sage is over 10 years old and very scruffy looking. I did buy some seed geraniums to put in the front. I want to load up with tons of blooming plants, but forcing myself to wait until the Texas weather settles down. More on future plantings and pictures later.

Friday night, we went to Dynasty for my belated birthday dinner. What a treat! Since we had been there, they have continued to change, for the better. They now have 2 very large aquariums across the back wall. Very pretty, and the food as usual was delicious. I wasn't surprised to see the room nearly full. After dinner we stopped by Carol and Becky's house to invite them to dinner Saturday. Becky has been attending classes all week(lasting thru July) she will be getting her proffesional certification to become a medical Coder. She is so looking forward to that. But it is extremely stressful.
Saturday evening we had crisp fried trout, twice baked potatoes and a garden salad. Scrumptios. After supper, we were surprized by Justin! He had just returned from Indiana Univ. from (so far) his final audition and interview for his masters degree. Now comes the long wait for invitations and hopefully awards to continue. Most all will offer some sort of compensation, award, so then he will have to decide. I promise who ever he chooses will be so proud to have him. We will try to keep you posted. Too bad I didn't take pictures ( a running joke in this family) He had a new T-shirt on from Indiana. Looked great on him!

Yesterday we also took the plants out of the shed and watered them, sorry looking but we should save most all. Today and tonite we are expecting heavy rain/t storms, perhaps sleet and falling temperatures. Not a good forcast for those of us who have many plants that have already started to leave out. Typical Texas weather, 80 degree on day and freeze possible the next. Fun fun!