Here is how my Friday turned out.  I could have written this all tomorrow, but things are quiet around the house and this might be my best opportunity!

No, she wasn't thrilled that she was the last one at the table!

My three stuffed themselves into a tube slide and posed for me before turning wild on me!  The "bubble chldren" are mainly mine, but not all of them.  I'm pretty sure we don't own any boys!

Next, they all  disappeared into the big slide.

It seemed an eternity while I waited for SOMEONE to appear.  Where did they go???  Were they swallowed up by the monster size toy????

Aha!  I believe I see something resembling a child . . .

But, that's only one pair of dirty socks!  Where are the others???

THERE they are!!!!

Plus one more bringing up the rear !!!

Once again, we (not MY children, but my granddaughter) broke the McDonald's sock law!!!

I got one last picture (WITH their shoes on!!!!) before it was time to leave for the girls' therapy appointment.

Our therapist was running early (yay!!!) and so she saw Annamarie, then Luci, then me.   Her parting words to me were "You are doing such an excellent job," which rang like music in my ears - because that's not at all how I feel.

When we pulled into the driveway this is what we saw

So, all of you peony guessers were right!  We bought this house in fall of 2004 and I don't remember this bush being there, maybe the hot summer sun had shrunk it down to nothingness.  So, Lori K, I have no idea how old it is.  I buried my nose in it and detected a faint, sweet smell.  It is a small bush and has maybe a half dozen blooms on it.  One good rain will turn them all brown and rotten looking.  That's what's happened in the past.

Rissy, being the cook and "helper child" she has always been, took over the kitchen and when I came in from putting the frozen foods in the freezer and the chips and cereals on their shelves, etc., this is what I found . . .

She turned 7yo on Feb. 27th and this is the exact kind of helper she was last year (when she was only 6yo) when I was so ill.  Tonight, she told me to go sit down and she'd call me when she needed me to reach the paper plates (which are stored too high for her to reach).  She called me, after a while, and I found relish, ketchup, & mustard setting out on the counter, along with some Fritos and Cheetos.  Bless her heart - that's all I can say.  She's just an angel to me!

This morning started off with Luci hollering and Jesse telling her to hush and go to the guest room.  Apparently she was hitting Annamarie and finally kicking her in their bed.  He separated them, but enough noise had occurred that I wasn't able to fall back to sleep.  I guess I'll take her old bed (still in the "new" guest room) and move it into the girls' bedroom to see if separate beds might stop the provocation problem with Luci. 

The answer to "what's up with the sunglasses?" from yeseterday's post/picture . . .

They all had just returned from the eye doctor after having their eyes dilated and they *claimed* they needed to wear the sunglasses in the house, too!

My seamstress friend has requested pictures of the girls AND me in our new dresses and aprons.  We finally (all 4 of us) wore them today and Jesse was here to take our pictures.

Unfortunately the sunlight was coming through every appropriate place we could all fit in while standing!  So, I apologize for the glare!

Another shot of the fab four with the morning sun gleaming behind us!!

And, finally the last attempt at getting a picture without an interrogation lamp behind us!

Apparently the memo about wearing white shoes today never reached me!

I should make this last picture my "Wordless Wednesday" as my great friend Lori K.,  does each Wednesday.  She posts a picture with no explanation to anyone.  You just get to try to figure out what's going on!!!

So, does anyone have any guesses what's up with the shades?????? 

I didn't do much of anything yesterday and even wimped out on fixing dinner.  Sausage, sauerkraut, and creamed corn - white bread on the side!  The truth is, I'm allergic to horses and I'm still having sniffles and scratchy throat problems today.  After I'm around something I'm allergic to, I begin to desensitize to the allergic reaction.  I guess that's what I get for rubbing my face against Mr. Bobo's face (now known as Buddy) and kissing him!

Then I played with the close-up focus and wasn't particularly elated with those results, either.

Yes, that's a family Bible and you can tell because of the small zig saw puzzle piece sitting next to it!  It's out there for EVERYONE, including little children!

Here are my Mother's Day gifts.  The girls told me all day yesterday (a day late, already) to please, please, please, hurry up and open them.  I waited for Jesse to get home and finally gave up waiting for him.  As they were piling their gift sacks around me - he walked in.

Annamarie found a HUGE purse with lots of compartments - something hard to find that I NEED desperately!  She also found an inexpensive clock for my bathroom.  Mine finally died.

Luci got me a cutting board with a hole to grip it when using it for the kitchen (a perfect size) a lemon candle, and some wash and lotion in the scent of Sunflowers (I think).  Anyway, it smells really fresh.

Rissy was the most excited because she's the child who really listens to people, remembers what they say, and has the GREATEST gift  ideas.  She gave me a precious aqua nightgown with teeny flowers and trimmed with white lace (just like HER, very girlie) and a box of chocolate truffles!

All of them made me two or more cards and each picture had two people holding hands, the people were me and the child who drew it.  Lots of bright colors and lots of thought went into their art creations!

We took a long drive to Jesse's brother's house.  He and Sharon had invited us down for Mother's Day.  If we hadn't gone, they would have spent the day alone and Sharon IS a mother, besides being a super, sweet lady.  The drive was about 2 1/2 hours and Jesse was stopped by the Highway Patrol when we were a little bit past the halfway there mark.  I glanced at the speedometer and saw it halfway between 80 & 90.  The speed limit is 70 (gulp!).

Frank's & Sharon's place is tucked in a wooded area around Lake Eufala.  Very pretty & peaceful

Uncle Frank has the neatest grill.  The side he was using was gas (propane) and the closed half was for using charcoal.  It even had a side (on the left) warmer plate. 

My girls have all been  trained to help in the kitchen and I really think poor Aunt Sharon might have had more help than was necessary, or at least *wanted*!!!!

While my girls did slave labor inside (!!!) I went to the backyard to try to capture a female cardinal with my camera.  She wasn't interested in coming back to the feeder after she saw me, but Jesse was able to capture her with our limited zoom lens at the top of a tree.  Because of the distance, she could have just as easily been a martin or dark chicken!  The bird picture leaves a lot to the imagination, doesn't it?

Luci was a bit intimidated, but Annamarie and Rissy adored the dog, Apollo and I think adoration was returned!

He's a great guard dog and has a sweet disposition.  He's a Rottweiler (sp?)  & Labrador mix. Isn't he pretty?

After we ate hotdogs, hamburgers, smoked chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, and tossed salad, we were ready for more of the outdoors.  Frank called his neighbor (the one we gave our horse, Mr. Bobo, too) to tell him we wanted to come on his land and see the horse.  His daughter met us in the pasture closest to the road.  She's a darling 14yo girl named Angel and I thanked her for taking such good care of him and allowing us to visit.

Mr. Bobo saw me and immediately tried to get through the rungs in the gate to nuzzle my face.  He buried his face near my cheek and the hair above my ear and just sniffed and sniffed.  Not an attractive picture, but his urgency to get to me broke my heart!  Then he saw Jesse and the girls and he began to throw his head around and prance with his feet.  He was so excited to see us.

Here is Angel, his new owner, who renamed him Buddy.  She's a sweet girl and had lots of question to ask me about leading him, brushing him, saddle vs. bareback, etc.  He has a few horsey idiosyncrasies to put it mildly!  (That's Jesse in the background on his cell phone - which is forever stuck to his ear, these days!)

We visited quite a while and my three girls fed him carrot sticks and he was in horsey heaven!  It was VERY hard not to load him up and take him back with us.  But  I knew Angel loved him and was working with him daily and he was getting excellent care from her.  He has a huge pasture, in which to run, lots of grass to eat and they are talking about getting some cows.  He has been around cows before and would probably love the animal company! 

The look in
his eyes as Jesse began to load the girls into the truck and when I hugged him
good bye and began to walk away, again, tugged at my heart.  He's such
a pretty horse.  As we drove back to Franks, he galloped along side the
fence following the road our truck was on for as long as he could (tearing up, here) and nickered loudly when we were past the point of his pasture.

So, this morning, guess what is awaiting me????????

The Mother's Day gifts I was too tired to open when we got home.  Luci's is in a Wal-Mart sack because she had another fit the day before and tore her gift to me up into a thousand pieces.  She wanted another gift sack but I explained part of the consequences of throwing a fit would be the fact she'd have to "wrap" my gift in a Wal-Mart sack.  She whispered to each sister and Jesse asking them to please go to the garage and get another sack, and they all told her "No, you shouldn't have ripped the nice one you had."

I forgot to include a picture of Frank & Sharon that I took as we were leaving their house.  These were the gracious host & hostess who invited our LARGE family to their quiet home!!!!!

I found out we are going to Jesse's brother's house (a few hours away) on Mother's Day for a cook-out.  I won't have time to post this in the morning, as we are leaving early.  So . . .

Reason #1   My oldest, Stephanie

Reason #2  Nikki . . . and Nikki with my 3 youngest and granddaughter, Jaiden, a few years ago.

Reason #3   Annamarie

Reason #4   Rissy

And finally, Reason #5   Luci

I could have carried things a bit further and pictured the dog, cat and bird; the laundry baskets of dirty clothes and my washer and dryer;  my refrigerator and pots and pans and dinner being served at the table, the vacuum and dusters, etc. etc. 

I forgot to mention the girls were all busy making Mother's Day cards today.  They also had a delightful amount of fun putting the Mother's Day gifts into gift bags with tissue paper.  I made myself forget (on purpose) what we had bought for me the other day - which was actually very easy, considering my lack of short term memory!

I had to laugh when she told me, "Granny, I won't breathe a word about what's in that sack.  She'll just have to wait until tomorrow!  She needs to learn to be patient!"

This morning, I left to pick up Stephanie so she could be at work at 10am.  We (JanaLyn included) came back here to a breakfast of donuts and milk.  You know?  Those stale, cheap ($2/box) kind of donuts from Wal-Mart's bakery?  They WERE stale, as always, but no one seemed to mind.

That's JanaLyn, Luci with milk, Annamarie caught with a mouthful, and MY donuts and a cup coffee.

After eating all that sugar packed in the donuts, I turned them loose in the backyard!  Even our dog, Sampson, wanted to be out back to play with the girls!

Silly me, I decided to let our cockatiel (Tango Jo) out of her cage to play.  After snapping a few pictures of her I realized my supidity.

The hunter, the spy, the stalker, the CAT (!!!!) was still inside and watching patiently for a chance to pounce.  She was in the dining room, sitting on a chair under the table, which is the room right next to the den where the bird is kept.  She didn't miss one little peep or fluffing of feathers from Tango!

I never had to worry about Jesse-boy, he had been successfully trained to leave the "pet" birds alone.  I trusted him completely.  IF a bird flew by him, he immediately laid down on the floor on his side in a passive position.  I'm not so sure about Stormy!  Can you tell from the look in her eyes and the fact her whiskers are all facing forward that she was eager to eat poor Tango???

I bought some great things for Rissy the other day at Barnes & Noble. She is so eager to read and is reading a grade level above the rest of her work.  I love those little "Brain Quest" cards.  I've found them at Sam's before, too.  These Brain Quest cards were to help her with math.  The CD of "Annie" was for all the girls.  Well, it was kinda for me, too!

I have a question for those of you with outdoor interests and green thumbs.  Can you identify this bush?  The flowers they produce look a lot like a peony, but not fragrant.  Kind of a white with pink tinges and fairly large in size.  I even wondered if they were a type of rose - but the flowers only bloom once.  I thought Jesse had whacked it down and killed it last year by accident and figured it was a goner.  But, it surprised me by coming back, and quite suddenly, this past week!  It has lots of buds that will soon open.  Can anyone tell by the leaves what this might be?

Finally, Rissy has picked up an interest in photography and asked to try her hand at using my camera.  I let her.  Mind you, my hair is just pulled back in an elastic and I'm not "really" dressed yet.

Her first try:

I  explained
to her the close up and distance focusing button and the fact she had
to hold the camera very still when she took a picture, or else it would turn out to be
blurry.

Here's her second try.  She didn't have the most glamorous of subjects to work with, but that's ME - take it or leave it!

After looking at that picture of myself, I guess I should get up and do something about myself so I don't look quite so unkempt!