Memorial Weekend, Etc.

Happy Tuesday, friends!! ❤

This Saturday, we celebrated Karli Marie's birthday with a poolside dinner party at the Wilsons' home!  Chet surprised her the day before with these awesomesauce birthday yard signs... love it!!

Saturday afternoon was Chet's "Client Appreciation Event" with free kettle corn made by Shane & co.  Yum!  Chet handed out fliers to his neighbors and posted the event on Facebook, and it was a really good turnout.  I mostly sat in a lawn chair and tried to avoid getting sunburned while chatting with Teresa and Karli, whilst Chet went back and forth talking to everyone!

The Wilsons and the Fuldas (whose daughters didn't wanna be part of the group pic). =)  There was a hole between them and I told them to get together bc social distancing is still not quite ingrained in my mind. lol

I brought a couple bags for Jeffrey Edward and Kelly and was happy to get to talk to JEM for a few minutes. (It's been a tough season for their family, so join me in praying that their 2020 goes uphill from here!)

Tate's new backyard swing looked fun and fantastic!

They forgot to throw in the tortillas, so we had nachos from Qdoba for dinner!

Sarah and I working on our tan sunburn. lol  We're both pretty fair-skinned and the sun was bright that day, even under the pavilion!  Still love this pic, though!

As Christian gatherings tend to do, we naturally divided into guys and girls at first, but eventually all sat around the table together.  This = the guys sitting by the pool.

Delicious strawberry cake with strawberry filling from Ludger's!

Tate is so much playful cuteness right now!!  Singing songs, playing with "baby Sophia," offering me popcorn, showing me his car, jumping when he's excited about anything, etc.  He really wanted to open a (very clear) bag of kettle corn after dinner, so he brought it over to Karli and politely said "Open it!?" and when she said, "No, we're not gonna open it right now," he replied, "Let's see what's inside." Lolol  it's a great mystery.  Kids crack me up!

Partial group pic! =)

Failed shadowy Apple Watch selfie of our whole group by the signs! lol It was worth a shot, though!

A short video of pics from that Saturday

Rach finished all the signs for my room, and I LOVE them!!  Yay for brightening things up and remixing my entire house in this season. =)

This afternoon was our first Felony Tuesday docket via video.  I got a Google reminder thanks to the email Laura sent inviting me to join the meeting. lol   It went as smoothly as could possibly be expected, so yay for that!

This was me yesterday and will be me again tonight... no Wi-Fi at home for a couple days here, which sadly means no TV, and still a living room that's not finished, so I'm mostly hanging out in my room and listening to podcasts and music.  No complaints! lol  I'm super excited to see everything coming along and be so close to the finish line on this house project!  (Should have Wi-Fi back on tomorrow.)

They're working on the flooring now, and I had to snap a photo when I saw this awkwardness yesterday! lol  (The toilet has been reset where it belongs now, and I'll be cleaning that shower thoroughly.)

How freaking awesome is my niece!!?  Kyndal Faith did her first round-off back handspring without a spot at her private lesson today, and I am super impressed! =)

Last picture here, but this one really made me laugh!  I'm such a fan of Nancy's class and resilience, and Tonya Harding is the first person I remember viewing as a real live villain.  Since I ❤ metaphors, I followed this one all the way through, and it implies that my summer plans are going to make an epic comeback, while COVID-19 is going down at a rapid rate!  Here's hoping!

That's all for now.  Thankful for all of you, friends and fam!

Hope you have a lovely evening ahead! ❤

Photo Friday Fun! =)

First things first - a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend + proofreader + Peloton buddy, Elizabeth Jane!!  She's one of my favorites, for sure!  Hope you're having a lovely Friday, E-beth! =)

She's also a fan of The Office, so this meme seems appropriate. lol

Thanks to Microsoft Word + a transparent Hamilton logo and rainbow paint splatter pic, I made this lovely Lindsey's-favorite-lyrics-filled poster to frame and put in my guest bathroom (or somewhere in my house)!!  I'm kind of obsessed with it already!! ❤

The Wilsons invited me over for a homecooked dinner last night (knowing I've been eating restaurant food for a bit due to my kitchen under construction.  It was fun times and a good talk, and refreshing to be in a home that's not a hot mess. lol  We had tasty chicken fajitas/tacos + sugar cookies, and Tate was as talkative and fun as I've ever seen him, asking if I wanted to play the "hoops game" aka basketball with him, singing fun songs with hand motions, and grabbing my hand to lead me wherever he wanted me to go... so that made me happy!!  This = him smiling for the pic but being unable to tear his eyes away from Blippi's tractor song! ...I understand - Blippi's dancing is epic and hard not to wanna watch! lol

It delights my soul when kids play this game and completely believe they are hidden from everyone.  We were all saying, "Where's Tate!?"  "Where'd he go?" etc. and he was laughing out loud and walking around with his eyes covered. LOL

The Wilson's yard is looking very lovely for summer... I said, "Wow, that's a lot of flowers planted out there! It looks great!"  And Chet said, "Three Hundred and Eighty-one!!" lolol  Apparently, he kept track while planting them all.

Song of the Week = Going There by the Triumphant Quartet
*Dad told me a while back that he wants this song played at his funeral.  It's fitting!

Time to leave work, so I'll conclude with this encouragement!!

Have a great weekend, gang! ❤

Thankful Thursday!! (112)

Another awesome verse for my wall done by Rach! ❤

Today, I am thankful for:

1.  My happy new granite being installed on Tuesday!!  (And my awesome Mom coming down to be there for that since I was working.)  I love it!!  I'm so ready for things to be finished, but trying to be patient as it progresses little by little!

2.  My newly navy blue laundry room cabinets... I'm kind of in love with the color! =)

3.  My fun new t-shirts... (haven't written about it here, but I passed the Texas CSR test in Dallas last June - although the pay is double to triple, I'm super unlikely to ever move and put myself through that extra stress, but being certified still seems worthy of celebration via tshirt... yay me, and yay for backup options if needed!)  The other shirt is Peloton-related, celebrating Cody's XOXO breakup anthem rides. lol

4.  Hamilton!!  Not sure how I forgot to mention this one last week, but the Hamilton movie release has been moved up to July 3 of this year... GET EXCITED!!  Also, fun news - Robin has a 30-minute Hamilton ride on Peloton, which was super-motivating and fun to sing along with! =)

5.  Getting to spend time with family this weekend!! ❤❤

6.  Timely encouragement this morning, following an encouraging convo with Dr. Ashlock yesterday. ❤

7.  Funny memes... and just laughter in general... being able to see the absurdity and humor and joy in so much of life is really a gift!!

*Two more quick pics of things that made me laugh lately...
Who on earth thought this combo was a good idea!?  Yuuuck.

I was in an unusually bad mood last night after being unable to find what I was looking for at Lowe's, then I walked by a couple where the woman had a baby goat in the cart with her and the guy was walking another goat.  It was all highly absurd (reminiscent of the kangaroo in the Court Clerk's Office), but it put me in a better mood, as I find goats pretty adorable.  I got my phone out quickly, but remembered to turn it to silent just in time to snap this pic. lol

That's really all now.  Happy Thursday, gang!!

T-Man's 6th Grade Graduation

My oldest nephew, Triston Michael, finished out his elementary school years this month!  Crazy how quickly time passes.  Today would've been the last day of school at CHA... but that date was moved to a week earlier, thanks to the pandemic and homeschooling fun.  Since the full class ceremony was cancelled (along with field trips and the D.C. trip), the fam got together to celebrate his 6th Grade Graduation this past weekend!

Here's Triston reading his cards while we sat and talked by the pool! ❤

A celebratory cookiecake... with sugar cookie instead of chocolate chip, since that's T's favorite!

The women and children of the fam!!  (*Just writing that made me think of Titanic's "women and children first" line.  So many quotes from that movie just play in my head randomly from time to time.)

Dad took this pic of us, and I love it! =)

Hanging out by the pool outside... it was such a nice day on Sunday, and there's so much summery cuteness in these pics!

JB and the Mini Miss K, who accidentally fell in the pool fully dressed earlier and was not happy about it!

Carter Lee hanging out on the pool ledge... the same ledge where I set up the camera with the timer for our family pic above!

Jace practicing with his "fish trap," aka an old ice cream bucket that he and Grandpa are gonna take to the creek and try to catch something. lol

Kyndal Faith putting her $$ from Babah into her new purse! Cuteness!!

Me and the boys (and Jace's new tackle box).  

Dad and Jace after Dad gave him this wallet. I gave him my driver's license to show him how you can put cards and stuff in there, then he asked for it two more times... he pretended to be a policeman and said with some aggressive authority, "Show me your slicence!!"  And after he said it that way more than once, Kyndal Faith corrected him, which he found highly irritating and then asked me for clarification to prove himself right.  So I explained that it really was "driver's licence" not "driver slicence," and he did a little glare and eyeroll at Kyndal. lol  Kids are awesome and hilarious!!

Rach and T-man the graduate!!

This = Rach and Kyndal at LifeChurch earlier that morning.  Kyndal talked to me on the phone as I was driving into town, and she said:  "Guess what!?  Mom and I have on matching dresses today!!  And our sweaters kinda match, but mine has more jewels on it, and hers... doesn't have as many jewels!" lol  I just love listening to her tell stories... it's always a struggle not to laugh! =)

JoBug opening up our umbrella for the summer season so we could have some shade as it kept getting hotter out!

Jace showing me his tackle box, then quickly posing it up when I got my camera out to get a pic of the bright bait fish in there. lol

One final pic of T-man that day... looking mischievous and amused as JoBug burst into an extra-loud song rendition of "Happy Graduation Day to you!!" lol  (to the birthday song tune, of course)

And this = page 2 of my letter to him!

I'm thankful to be his aunt, and I'm excited to see what God has in store for his future! ❤