Happy Mother's Day

This Mother's Day weekend, I had the pleasure of spending valuable time with my mom and my Meme. It was three generations enjoying each other's presence and doling out plenty of mothering along the way.

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path."-- Agatha Christie

May this Mother's Day be joyful, fulfilling, and blessed for you and yours...

1st weekend of Spring

As you know by now, the boys and I traveled to central Louisiana to my hometown this past weekend to visit my family.

While enjoying the fabulous Spring-like weather this weekend, we had an excellent brunch at my grandparents....fruit tray with homemade grenadine fruit dip, garden pasta salad, baked LA sweet potatoes, honey ham (that my grandmother baked) sandwiches with crisp lettuce from the garden, caramel cake, and a loaf of homemade Amish bread for me to take home. Oh yea...that's my Maw-Maw's idea of an easy, thrown-together Saturday brunch :)

In between our many trips back and forth to the table, the boys strummed us a tune on my grandfather's old guitar. For literally hours, they they bickered over who's turn it was took turns at the guitar.






We even had a practice-run Easter egg hunt. Frank-o even managed to find one egg that was filled with Starburst (from Lord only knows when seeing as my grandmother certainly had not placed them there this year).




On Saturday night, we took my Meme out to dinner and visited with my younger cousins.

On Sunday, my dad returned from the fishing camp just in time for a 30-minute freeforall wrestling session before we got back on the road to return home. Thanks to Papa Cody's wrestling....the boys slept the entire 2 1/2 hour road trip home!!

We hope you all had a wonderful start to Spring as well. I have many post in the waiting....(as seen in, coupon cash-in carnival, guest miracles post, 1st trip to the dentist) that I hope to edit, tweak, perefect, and post this week. Don't hold me to them all....

Fond Memories

While Daddy Buck was hunting this past weekend, the boys and I went to Alexandria (my hometown) for a visit. We had a terrific time visiting family and friends and I had time to reflect on the idea that my boys are experiencing family, playing in the houses of my parents and grandparents, eating at restaurants that I have frequented my entire life, playing at parks that I played at as a kid, even playing with many of the very same toys that I did as a youngster.....it is so very cool how life has come full circle.

Allow me to explain, with some pictures, just what I mean....

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o built these two masterpieces with Popoids at my parent's house....the very same set of Popoids that my brother and I played with during their craze in the '80s.

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o played with sticks and swung in my parent's backyard....on the very same swing that my family has swung on while barbequeing for the past 20+ years.

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o wrestled and posed for pictures on my Meme's living room sofa....the very same sofa that my Meme taught me to play Battle, Solitaire, and Go Fish.

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o had Saturday lunch at the breakfast room table at my Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw's house....the very same table where I sat on a pot for a booster seat and received many a cooking lesson while sipping a large glass of iced sweet tea.

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o frolicked in my grandparents' backyard and learned all about my grandfather's garden.....the very same backyard and garden that I spent many an afternoon digging potatoes, picking okra, and learning an appreciation for home-grown vegetables.

And, this year especially, a mighty fine garden it is. So enjoy a few extra pictures as I practiced some still-life photography:

broccoli row


green onion row


heads of cabbage

bloom on the lemon tree

unripe bunch of lemons

When I left for college almost ten years ago, it almost seemed "uncool" to go home on the weekends. Now it is marvelous to return home and allow my children the experiences that have left me with so, so, so many fond memories.