. . . remembering . . .

. . . i wasn't alone

at the cemetary this morning . . .

. . . tons of folks were there . . .

. . . memorial day . . .

. . . i'm grateful for

my dad's willingness

to serve our country . . .

. . . army . . .

. . . world war 2 . . .

. . . and it's nice to see

the grass is beginning to grow in . . .

. . . thanks, too, to my father-in-law . . .

. . . merchant marines . . .

. . . world war 2 . . .

. . . blueberry/white chocolate chip balls . . .

. . . don't worry . . .

. . . they aren't fattening . . .

. . . on a recent trip

to the happiest place on earth . . .

. . . tai pan . . .

. . . i picked up

several of these

little hanging ball/ornament-ish thingies . . .

. . . the tag dubbed them blueberry balls . . .

. . . and although

i'm not much of a blue person . . .

. . . i figured they'd be

easy enough to spray paint . . .

. . . so i impaled them on bamboo skewers . . .

{the kind of skewers some folks use

to double dip in the chocolate fountain at wedding receptions.

have you ever seen someone do that? ew!}

. . . and stuck them into a block of oasis foam . . .

. . . after setting up my fancy paint booth, of course . . .

. . . then ~ thankfully ~

i remembered to take precautions

to protect a fresh pedicure . . .

{all the while looking super hot!}

. . . and manicure . . .

{actually BEING super hot/sweaty!}

. . . then giving them

a good coat

of trusty heirloom white . . .

. . . there are lots of nooks/crannies . . .

. . . but i'm telling myself

the dark spots add needed depth

between the white chocolate chips . . .

. . . right? . . .

. . . these will be used

to fill an apothecary jar . . .

. . . honestly ~

what ARE you supposed

to put in those things

when it's not

easter/christmas/halloween? . . .

. . . ideas, please . . .

. . . also . . .

. . . there are six oops! winners

who still haven't picked up their prize . . .

. . . don't make me beg! . . .

. . . reminder . . .

. . . cameron and i

want to take this opportunity . . .

. . . to remind all you winners

to come pick up your oops! . . .

. . . cheryl came as soon as

she found out

her name'd been drawn . . .

. . . and just looky how excited she is! . . .

. . . i might be a little tricky

to get ahold of this weekend . . .

{and selfishly ~ i'd like to request your prayers for bill ~

because this surgery's just got to work!

bless his heart.}

. . . yellow . . .

. . . green is the color

associated with envy/jealousy . . .

. . . feeling blue? . . .

. . . that's depressing . . .

. . . and yellow? . . .

. . . that's the color

associated with

being a big fat cowardly chicken . . .

. . . as in terrified . . .

. . . as in how i feel

about cutting

into this darling fabric . . .

. . . check out the print . . .

. . . it's big . . .

. . . r.e.a.l.l.y BIG . . .

. . . and i've gotta be sure

about matching those motifs exactly. . .

. . . so that hopefully ~

these floor length curtains with grommets

{for amanda's family room}

will turn out just as she's imagined them . . .

. . . now if only they were red ~

that's the color of courage! . . .

. . . birthday boy{s} . . .

. . . happy birthday to husband . . .

{this is the picture he asked me not to put on my blog}

. . . thanks to our sweet daughters

for all the ties . . .

{even the orange one!}

. . . he'll be stylin' at church . . .

{when he's recuperated from the surgery he's having this friday}

{everyone cross your fingers!}

. . . also celebrating his fifth birthday today

is little tater tot . . .

. . . remember when he was born

on bill's fiftieth birthday? . . .

{there's a big fat clue as to how old husband is today}

. . . here's tate sporting one of his birthday presents . . .

. . . i made the big mistake of saying,

"nice cape, dude" . . .

. . . to which he answered . . .

. . . "i'm not dude. i'm super tate" . . .

. . . true dat, bud. true dat . . .

. . . anyway ~ happy happy birthday

to mr. bill and super tate . . .

. . . drumroll please . . .

. . . charlie and i would like to congratulate you on . . .

. . . everyone who commented

after cameron was born . . .

{even those whose comments were deleted

in the great blogger debacle of 11-12 may 2011}

. . . was eligible . . .

. . . i put all of your names in a hat . . .

{if i'm being honest ~ they were just scattered in a pile on the desk beside me}

. . . the first six randomly drawn names

are winners . . .

{although i admit that when i picked bill's name i did throw it back}

. . . then i picked a ***seventh bonus winner

just for good luck . . .

. . . congratulations! . . .

. . . hopefully you'll come pick up your prizes soon . . .

{you have your pick of one regularly priced $12.00 oops!}

. . . and as luck would have it ~

i have lots to choose from right now . . .

. . . first come ~ first served . . .

{try to come before the end of next week because we

[and when i say "we", of course i mean "bill"]

are having surgery again on friday}

***mindi! i don't know how to contact you.

call me. hurry. you're having a baby soon!***

. . . cameron chase rasmussen . . .

. . . here he is with his pretty mommy . . .

. . . six pounds seven ounces . . .

. . . nineteen inches long . . .

. . . born at 12:51pm . . .

. . . 10 may 2011 . . .

. . . with the most perfectly round

beautiful little head you've ever seen . . .

. . . special delivery . . .

. . . one of these babies arrived

just after 12:30pm today . . .

. . . a little boy weighing in

at a whopping six pounds seven ounces . . .

. . . congratulations to brent and amanda {in green} . . .

. . . we look forward to meeting

tyler and amelia's {in white} little guy in august . . .

. . . time for an oops! giveaway . . .

. . . six winners in honor of grandchild number six . . .

. . . leave a comment! . . .

{comments now closed. winners announced}

. . . girl power . . .

. . . thank heaven for my mom . . .

. . . i wish you could have heard

her interview last night . . .

. . . answering questions from

her kids and grandkids . . .

. . . she's amazing {and funny and really cute!} . . .

. . . thank heaven for my daughters . . .

. . . and the fact that

all of us were in town on mothers day . . .

{thanks drew and jessalyn ~ 10 hours driving

[and one ticket] were totally worth it, right?}

. . . and someone in this photo

is having a baby tomorrow . . .

{stay tuned for another giveaway!!!!}

. . . i wish we'd taken a picture

with my sisters . . .

{and nieces, too!}

. . . i love them and

i thank heaven

for a fun family gathering yesterday . . .

. . . girls are amazing! . . .