Puppies!

Our friends Randy and Amy had another batch of pups recently. We stopped by to see them today after school and some friends from the church were there. There were six kids and six puppies so I had to have a pic of each kid holding a pup:) So cute! 

Blue Boy and Pinkie

My paternal grandparents always had Blue Boy and Pinkie hanging in their living room. I can just picture (no pun intended) them where there were on the wall above Memmette and Granddaddy's chairs. We often referred to them although I never really knew much about their history. Just to see a Blue Boy or Pinkie immediately makes me think of Memmette. 

Yesterday I made a trip "uptown" to our citywide yard sale and was browsing at the Christian church when I came across a Blue Boy. 

It was lying on a table with a few other prints. I shuffled through them looking for Pinkie but she wasn't there. For only $2 I had to get Blue Boy. 

Memmette memories are worth far more than that. I figured I'd just hang it in the garage if nothing else. I asked the gal manning the checkout, Dana the youth pastor's wife, if they had Pinkie. She said she hadn't seen it but would ask the lady who donated the items. 

Right when I got in the car I took a pic of Blue Boy and sent it to my aunt and uncle and one of my cousins. We all have emotional attachments to Blue Boy and Pinkie as you can see from the pix I started getting from Aunt Carole and Sonya of their collections:

My uncle has the Blue Boy from my grandparents' house in his living room now. I'm guessing my aunt has the Pinkie. 

This morning I googled the little darlings and read more about them. They were painted by two different artists, didn't know that. Blue Boy was done by Gainsborough in 1770 and Pinkie by Lawrence in 1794. They are both on display in the Huntington Library in San Marino CA. 

I wish I could talk to Memmette about her pictures again. I'd ask her where she got them and how she came to appreciate them. I wish I could email or skype my dad in New Zealand and tell him I got my first Blue Boy. But chatting with my aunt and uncle and cousin was the next best thing and it was a sweet walk down memory lane about something we all share. Special. I will try to pass on the connection to Mallory and Michael. 

As a fun aside, I got on eBay and my very same Blue Boy I picked up for 2 bucks is listed for 49.99:)

Feeding Horses

It was so pretty today here! The kids wanted to take a walk down our road to pick some daffodils. On the way back we saw the neighbor's horses were near the fence so we went home and grabbed some apples. We've lived in this house over two and a half years and fed the horses for the first time today. The kids loved it. They've done this before at Martha and Wesley's in KY so they were old pros. 

Grounded

The kids admitted they had been disrespectful last night during their kids' ministry hour. I grounded them from screens all day today and they had to write apology notes to the children's pastor and other workers. This is the sight this afternoon after school. And it's so quiet. I love it. 

Daddy's HOME

Today marks one year since my awesome daddy went to be with Jesus. I still miss him so much. So many things remind me of him. I so wish he was still here with us but I know he doesn't. What a marvelous thought to know he's in Heaven with The Lord!!! Can't wait to get there myself! Praise The Lord. 

The kids sang 10,000 Reasons at his funeral and I noticed on the order of worship for tomorrow we will be singing that. What a wonderful time of remembrance and reflection that will be. Not to mention the time of praise! 

Thank you Jesus for my great daddy. He was such a good father. Like you.

Daddy's Home

Paul got home from a missions trip in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. He had been gone a week to the Dominican Republic where the team of about 23 were working on an addition to a church building. We were so happy to see him return safely. All thanks to the Lord for that!

The town where they were working was near the resort town of Punta Cana so on their fun day they went to the beach and took a boat ride out to their Catalina Island for snorkeling. 

Mallory made her daddy a chocolate cake for his homecoming dinner!

Who ya gonna call?

A co-worker at school asked me to make an 80s bday cake for her granddaughter. Someone fell thru so it was late notice. I was happy to help. I baked most of the layers Thurs night and Fri morning but waited til Fri night to do all the decorating. Needless to say it took me hours but it was fun. I finally hit the wall at 130 am and got up at 7 to finish.  She wanted three layers but was traveling to KY so I left the 3rd layer off and asked her to put it on when she got there. I don't know how they do it on Cake Boss when they stack those big tall cakes and drive with them! Yikes!