our long weekend

last weekend we went to pick up mckinlee who had been in waco for 2.5 weeks. she had so much fun getting to spend the night with her friends several nights, doing fun things with both grandmas and being with nini and sadie. she came back to plano excited to see her friends here, sad to leave waco and with a boat load of new clothes!

here are some of the pictures i took last weekend.
(i need to look on her camera and upload the ones she took too.)

mck with mama dee and papa

chris and i with our girl

i am always taking pictures and never have any with me and sadie.
danielle took this one of us and i just love it!

sadie with mama jeanne

sadie and nana

4 generations:
sadie, danielle, mom, mama jeanne

i love this one.
look how sadie and mama jeanne are looking one way and mckinlee and nana are looking the other!

4 generations:
me, mom, mama jeanne, mckinlee

i took mck to the pool the evening after we had taken these pictures and she sure entertained me!

this beautiful sunset i captured through the bars of the swimming area!

i've got lots more pictures to post--especially some really cute ones of sadie and mckinlee from when i was in waco. will try to find time to do that later!
have a great day :)

great american scrapbook convention

the first weekend in june was the great american scrapbook convention in arlington.
i hadn't been in a few years, but this year i met some of my friends from waco and we spent all day saturday shopping, laughing and crafting.

this picture, taken by a nice guy who happen to be there, was a little over(or is that under?) exposed. but i liked the way it looked, so i darkened it a little and used it anyway!

i don't know if i was really supposed to be taking pictures or not (some booths are funny about that. you would think they would want you to take a picture of their product so you would be more inclined to by every little thing they used in the laoyout?!) but seeing as i bought so much from this booth i felt justified in taking a picture of this cute layout.

to despise birds so much in real life, i sure do like them on scrapbooking paper! i bought most all of this cute birdy stuff.

we even got to see tim holtz himself--the ranger booth was so cool and he is just an amazing artist!

that afternoon, we took a class making a clear, acrylic album.
here's all our supplies waiting to be used.

we got there early and had time to take a few pictures.

jennifer, kathy, sheri, me

another one i thought was kind of cool

here the girls are working away

and here i am

here's the finished project!
i thought it turned out really cute and it was pretty easy to do.
i will definitely be making more of these in the future.

here's most everything i got--so fun to see new products!

and i'm so proud of myself. i bought a card kit from basic grey and i actually got everything out and made all the cards one night recently. there was enough left over to make 2 or 3 extra cards.
i wish i had bought every card kit they had, but i loved the colors of this one.
here are some of the cards it made:

that was our fun saturday at the scrapbook convention.
now i just have to use all this stuff before next june!

have a great day--i'm off to buy groceries!

Project Life Tuesday - Weeks 23, 24 & 25

welcome to another week (3 actually) of project life.
i've gotten behind and now i'm trying to catch up. i haven't been good about taking a picture a day, but i'm not worried at all. i've just been selecting other pictures i want to include in my year. that's the thing i love about this project--no pressure, just pick a picture you've taken at some other time or a piece of memorabilia you've been meaning to do something with.
for more project life inspiration, check out the mom creative.

6.8.10
tuesday
we finally got a new needle for our air pump and inflated the human hamster wheel mckinlee got from nana and poppy. she has been rolling all over this house!


6.9.10
i've been making these a lot and we absolutely love them!

6.10.10
thursday
where we can usually find mckinlee in the evenings. since our big tv went out, she's been going to the guest room when she wants to watch something.

6.11.10
friday
i don't what kind of bird this is, but it had such unusual coloring i just had to take a picture.


6.12.10
saturday
when i helped my friend paint a while back, she made the best lunch for us and we had olde savannah sweet tea wine--it's so good by itself or mixed in with iced tea.

6.13.10
sunday
a picture i found on mckinlee's camera.

6.14.10
monday
an aisle at target. (it's my happy place, remember?)

6.15.10
tuesday
i'm not in the habit of taking self-portraits in library bathrooms, but i had my camera and needed a picture and this was it!

6.16.10
wednesday
we had one more stamp class this year and since school was out, mckinlee came along with her friend amber. i told them this was my picture for the day and they were excited!

6.17.10
thursday
these are the flowers in my big pots by the front door. this year we went with pinks and purples.

6.18.10
friday
mckinlee has been so busy making things for friends and family. she did such a great job on these cute little boxes.

6.19.10
my sweet grandaddy passed away today. i am so glad we all got to be there. he died knowing he was one very loved man.

6.20.10
sunday
family picture of danielle, mike and sadie. aren't they a cute family?

6.21.10
monday
we took a (very short) walk around danielle's neighborhood. i was trying to get all of our shadows.

6.22.10
tuesday
we found mckinlee and sadie matching outfits at the children's place and made flowers to go with them. then we went out in the backyard for a little photoshoot.

6.23.10
wednesday
another one from our photoshoot. it was too sunny for miss sadie!

6.24.10
thursday
before i came home, we went to bryan to visit my grandma who is in a nursing home. on the way there, we stopped and took a picture of the house i lived in when i was little.

6.25.10
we also drove by my old school. just in the nick of time since they were busy tearing it down!

6.26.10
saturday
my grandma was so glad to see us and we were so glad she knew who we were. we had such a nice visit with her and she was excited to see we brought her chocolates!

6.27.10
sunday
my drive home. i wish i had got the skyline, but i was a little too far away. (yes, i did take this while i was driving, but there were no other cars around except the two in front of me!)

6.28.10
monday
another one of miss sadie bella. this time with her great-aunt and uncle. she had a good hold on uncle aaron's ear!

thanks for stopping by!

saying goodbye

while mckinlee and i were in waco for the start of her 2 week stay with family and friends, my grandaddy lost his battle with cancer.
i hate this disease. it robs people of their dignity and makes you witness pain and suffering no human should ever have to go through.
grandaddy, however, was never one to look at the negative side of things, so in his honor, this will not be a negative post! :)

he was the sweetest man and had the strongest will imaginable. 10 years ago was his stroke/accident we just knew would be the end for him. he overcame amazing odds and stayed with us all this time.
i never heard him complain about anything. ever. when asked how he was, his standard reply was always, "i'm all right."
even after his stroke, which affected his speech, he had a great sense of humor. when i visited him after he broke his hip in december, he told me, "i like pretty girls!"

we are so sad to not have him anymore, but so glad he is not in pain. we look forward to the coming resurrection jesus promised when we will all be united together again on earth.
(Revelation 21:1-5, John 5:28, 29)

here are a few pictures i could find that i've taken of him.

this was taken a few years ago at the 'follow the christ' district convention

here i am with them. i love his smile in this one. whenever i think of him, this is how i picture him.

mckinlee with her great-grandparents

this is where he was most comfortable--relaxing outside in the heat with his hat on.

he and mama jeanne were married 68 years--what a great example for all of us.

this was in december when he broke his hip. we came to visit him and uncle nathan was there playing his guitar, so mck and i joined in singing a song for him.

he was able to go home and i'm so glad he got to spend that time there--being where he loved to be.

probably the most important thing grandaddy taught me is to always have a smile on your face, never complain about things and when asked how you are, just smile and say, "i'm all right."