I'm Baaaaack!

Did ya miss me? I sure missed all of you~

And what a busy week it's been.

Besides computer glitches that forced me to spend a week saving pictures, it has been full of family activity.

A week ago we celebrated my cousin Sandy's 60th.....ha!!! I'm not the only one getting up there.

We all gathered at the lake to surprise her. All of her kids and grandloves, siblings and quite a few of us cousins were there to help with the fun and fun it was.

There was a day full of chatter, hugs, play and food, there is always food involved at a great party. There was

Ring-Around-The -Rosy...
A drink or two,...I was good and only had flavored waters, but wished I was the dog~~~~
A few jokes, Gary being the joke of the day with his ' There will be nooo sermon today....'
Kayak rides were given to at least a dozen little ones...a note here...The birthday girl had two of her three sisters present, with most of their kids and grandloves...there were 15 little ones under the age of 5...and two more on the way. Actually, there were cousins, 5 times removed. And we thought we had a productive bunch...
The guys cannot get together without having a horseshoe tournament of which sister Mel kept score and made sure there was no cheating going on...

Bill doesn't look too sure of Teddy's decision...
The hammock was a busy place for all the little ones lined up to take turns.
There were even water train rides...come one, come all. Chuga, chuga, chuga, chug.
Every one of the people at this beach are family...there were 48 at the beach, not including those out fishing and kayaking, and at the 6 campsites they had reserved. What a great blue sky day for a family get-together that it turned out to be.
OOPS!!! This picture is out of sync. The following day Mom and I went to a church dinner in Butternut, the little town north of us. All of the proceeds went to the Butternut Community Fair which we attended. Mom ran into a few of her cousins and we all laughed about their days as kids while we walked through the exhibits. There was a Kathie Doll at the entrance that took Mom's breathe away. (Sorry, no picture.) She said she made one for my sister Linda, who was pretty upset with her for leaving it behind for the little girl moving into their home when they moved north. It seems her family was even more poor than ours and the little girl didn't have any toys. My Mom was so thoughtful, though it took my sister months to forgive her.
Here we are, back at the Birthday Party. Some of Sandy's surprises were US! Left to right, front to back, are myself, cousin Sandy, the birthday girl, my Mother Wynette, cousin Debbie, middle row, my sisters Linda and Mel, brother Randy, my hubby Bill, back row is cousin Rhonda hiding behind her sister, and Slim, Mel's hubby. There were lots more family that were off in other directions during the picture taking, at least another dozen.
Always out for a good laugh are Rhonda and Mel. What a hoot these two are when they get together. The day was a great success with so many little ones playing together and cousins getting to know one another., big kids playing too. You are too funny, Mel and Rhon...
The rest of my week was spent taking care of myself and little ones. I felt like Noah, who was teething....That's the tooth, that one right there! Only my problem was not teething, but laryngitis! ( I guess Bill would not call that a 'problem', but, instead, peace and quiet....for him~~~ ) I'm on day 5 with this every other word being a squeeeeak.

In spite of it all, we stayed busy outside and inside,

Swinging,
playing board games before the boys Daddy had to fly off again,
and, has anyone seen the toy cars bucket?
There were pickles to make, lots of Bread and Butter Pickles, thanks to my Mom's lush cucumber patch.
As you can see by my garden ground, it is nothing but mud. I was surprised to see tomatoes struggling through the muck after the weeds were finally suctioned out of the way. What a mess.
Mom dropped off another bag of cucs for dills. Those of you who have been following my blog have known that we had a water problem...none...due to the 8 yr. drought prior to this summer. Because of it, we had a lot of calcium deposits in our water that was causing problems when canning., turning everything into mush. Needless to say, we have not made dill pickles since., so , what a treat to now be able to make them again, now that we have a new well with good water. Let's keep our fingers crossed, that they are nice and crispy like Mom's. Afterall, it's her recipe for Garlic Dills.
It has been a very busy couple of weeks. There was also another birthday party for my son, and a couple of nights of company. I'm ' plum tuckered ' but ready to see what this weekend will bring. Dear Bill says we are digging the potatoes and starting to clean out the other 2 gardens as well. It should go quickly, as there is not much this year with all the rains and rot. Hopefully we will see a few carrots and rutabagas for the pantry shelves. There aren't enough of anything else to fill a canner, but we are grateful for what we do have. Does anyone have winter squash? I am so hungry for a buttercup squash that I will be stopping at a farmers market tomorrow.

That's it folks! My luck is holding so let's see if this publishes for your pleasure...or not.

BlessYourHearts