Wednesday, May 25, 2011

who's your cabinet?? (hoosier cabinet from my mom) - yes i am spoiled

we recently discovered a store in petersburg called "the underground," a curiosity shop with antiques, knick-knacks, you name it!  & priced sooo beyond reasonable!!  it will be replacing my favorite looking around shop in evansville that is closing lost & found this weekend.  go there for some great deals if you are in evansville!!

well, yesterday the kiddos & i went up to petersburg to give pap his bath & check on poor reggie dog (his kidneys are starting to fail).  mom asked me to make sure i returned the buffy dvds' to the underground for her that i had purchased (as a cheap pick me up for her to relax, but she already had them) (i said, that store has it all!). 

after pap's bath, we stopped at the courthouse to visit damaw & all at work.  she asked me if i returned the dvds yet or not.  umm, no.. so, we headed to the store.  of course, i went straight to the hoosier cabinet that i just thought was beautiful & couldn't believe it was still in there! there was no longer a price tag on it & my heart dropped a bit, but really, where would we put it & such.  i still did open the doors & look what was inside!!  mom said she was in such a rush, she forgot my last name!


my momma made me tear up & totally surprised me (& i am not one to be surprised).  i just love it.  mom, you didn't have to do that, but i thank you so.  i love you & all that you do for everyone.  you are such a rock for me, even though at times i know you don't feel so.  thank you for being my mom.

here's the cabinet!
 i think i might sew up some curtains similar to our tablecloth from some of my grandma's old material..

now the biggest dilemma - where on earth to put it? 

here's in our kitchen / dining room area: 

i didn't clean up our clutter for these pictures, but here are some options we have on where to go..
where gracie's play kitchen was (i will need to move the artwork hangers behind).  we could put some of her play food in there & other toy junk.  & anyone want a play kitchen??

also in our kitchen / dining room area:where our little black table & notes & filing cabinet & junk & clutter are...

or a different room -
in our rug room/play room (really, the playroom is our entire home)  where our pirate ship is that ben got for christmas (this was from santa, but i got in a deal where it was free, so i don't feel so bad about parting with it).  in this room, we have my grandparent's old piano in 1 corner, a basketball goal in another, kiddo trampoline in another, a little yardsale pinball machine that still gets played with & pop up ball pit in the last.  i thought we could use it as toy storage in there.  
soo...
where should it go?  oh, where should it go??

Monday, May 23, 2011

daddio, daddio how does your garden grow?

um, for our first year at home, maybe not so good.  this was the first year for no big big garden at all at pap's.  honestly, it's kinda sad, but we/he can't manage it.  but we are blessed with some friends that do have some awesome gardens every year that i'm sure will share goodies. 

so, daddio decided to use some pots & buckets & go to town with the kiddos on a itty bitty garden.


what did he get? mainly peppers (his favorite).  he's a bit disappointed in how they are looking at the moment.



there's 1 strawberry plant with 1 itty strawberry in there too.

& some herbs (cilantro & something else)


gracie's favorite is the aloe vera plant, a plant we've in inside for a year or so.  she learned about the natural healing properties & is always wanting to break off a piece for a new boo-boo, or momma's shingled up face.



& our homemade topsy turvy buckets, decorated by daddio & the kiddos.



no tomato blooms yet, but some beautiful artwork!
 ( i think daddio did the turtle, it looks like his handiwork)


 & a lovely flower (i think by daddio too)
this was done by a kid 


& a pretty little purple flower in an old, old planter.

here's some oldies from gardens past at papaw's. just had to throw those in.

 so proud of their finds from the raised beds!
picking something (but not his nose!)
 i love this picture.  papaw is so happy.  & miss gracie won't share her pepper.
 proud of the peppers she picked!
oh, the sunflowers!
 he looks so small next to them!
 gracie amazed at the wonder of a sunflower with damaw.
 checking things out from a higher viewpoint.

her first year watering the garden at pap's (or the grass).  she was in her momma's old clothes.  poor thing, i like to dress her very vintage i guess. 
big b with the hose & loving it.  there's a picture like that somewhere of me squirting mamaw & papaw when i was little too.  oh, memories...



shucking corn.  i think this will be missed most by gracie.  she can eat her weight in it & pap has always had the bestestest corn in the world!!


that's it for the stroll down garden memory lane.  what a fun time it has always been working out there on sundays. 


Sunday, May 22, 2011

guess what.. another tball game!!

saturday was another fun filled game of tball for ben.  thank goodness i brought some (lots) of activities for gracie.  & there was a little girl to play with, in addition to cooper! 


'rastlin for the ball...



good fielding, big ben!!

a thumbs up from daddio

paying lots of attention to the game... but isn't he just dern cute??
 
benj & buddy r checking up on coop. ben loves that litttle guy!  oh what he would give for a little brother!!




gracie flirting already around with the boys in the dugout.


the boys are getting better, game by game.  this game was kinda early in the morning for us all, so the kiddos were a bit tired (some even just walked of the field, out of the dugout & cried, they were so worn out.  poor boys). 

the season goes on through july, but i'm sure it will fly by & ben may be the next don mattingly or scott rolen from our area.  if not, that's just fine.  he can be whatever he wants & we will be proud.




Friday, May 20, 2011

last day of school & preK graduation

it was finally here... the last day of preschool & pre-K (i must be specific about that, benj always corrects me that he is in preK).  now looking foward to a fun filled summertime!!!

the kiddos thought the decorations & chalk on the sidewalk leading up to the van celebrating was a bit cool, deep down i think.  gracie did like the bubbles waking her up, way more than bubby.

sweet ben wrote out cards for everyone in his class & spent an extra amount of time on that special one for mrs. cano.  10 or so cards he made.  a perfectionist for sure!

getting into our van (that i just love!!) heading to school.


we played outside after school with friends for one last time this year.  once i told 2 of the daddies i had shingles, they took several steps back!

monkey ready for takeoff!

the boys running all around & miss a taking a rest

gracie thought she was big time getting to push her friend little a on the swing!

just hanging around.  this is one of her favorite things to do!!
 
breaking the rules (climbing), but it was the last day.  


namaw & poppy came all the way over (thank you!!) & beat us home from preschool.  we had los bravos for a celebration dinner at home, yummy!! (thank you namaw & poppy).  & the kiddos got a little sumthin from their namaw &poppy for graduation.  thank goodness, because ben asked "don't people get stuff when they graduate?"  it's all about stuff sometimes, but we are trying to break that.

now, onto the ceremony...
the church was packed to the brim, so we had seats in the rear.  it was a bit hard to get any good pictures.  but, we could see our sweeties singing their hearts our (i think yelling) & putting all they had into the motions.

oh, sing a joyful noise! (gracie is the one with her eyes closed)

i think he saw me...

looking oh so happy!! i love all the kiddos white eyes!

can you hear me now??

gracie, was singing & performing her heart out so much, that she fell asleep during the performance!! i thought she had gotten sick or something, but just needed a nap. thank goodness there were plenty of cookies afterwards to recharge her!

the 2011 old north afternoon preschool & preK classes with gracie snoozing in the back by the cross. 

  
ben & his teacher, whom he just loved to death.  it was so funny, they had to find the correct hat for benj due to his extremely large brain!  mr. benj wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.  (some of the kiddos answers just cracked me up "16, firefighter or a ninja."

walking down the aisle.. looking pretty proud!  way to go my big buddy!! i am so proud of you!

 bestest buddies. miss a wants to be a mommy when she grows up.  she has one of the bestest mommys & role model  i know!




at home.  i think he asked a few times "why do we have to wear these silly hats?"

 

with their proud namaw & poppy.

 
the kiddos & daddio were tired of me taking pictures, so the camera went up.   it was such a fun & memorable occasion though, with lots of laughs.  we've all learned a lot this school year: on handling other kiddos, each other & the school smarts too.  ben & gracie, your momma & daddy are so proud of you both each & every day & love you more than you will ever know!