Coasters And Coupons

Remember yesterday

I told you I would show

that there are many things

you can do with coasters?

You DID read that 

yesterday, didn't you?

Well, I keep my promises.

There are many uses for them

besides keeping a 

sweaty glass from leaving

a ring on furniture.

My friend, Lucille, said
she was excited to see
my tutorial.
Well, Lucille,
do I have a tutorial
for YOU!

Yes...indeedy...Ready?

I use COASTERS for 

ENTERTAINMENT

while we wait for our food!

Come on, SweetCheeks.

Let's play a game.

Whut kind of game, Nana?

It's called 

THE COASTER GAME

and you can go first.

Is everyone ready for this?

This is a 

GUESS AS YOU GO

quiz.

See if you can figure out

what's what 

BEFORE 

I give you the answer.

Give up?

Fish with Gills

Elephant with short trunk.

Monkey with ears- (not far off there)

Minnie Mouse

Pirate

This is MOM -snicker-giggle-

ahem

Oh-and the
COUPONS?

Well, in case you didn't know.

Those are these bready

things on top of your salad.

LOTS OF COUPONS like this

make SweetCheeks

VERY HAPPY!

Hope you aren't TOO disappointed
with the
What Can I Do With Coasters
tutorial.
What were you expecting?
Roofing  for the Taj Mahal?;>)

Baptizing Baby Olly

Yesterday we were blessed

to be part of a baptism

for our little grand-nephew.

Wow!

Are we getting old, or what?

Our nephews are having kids?

Oh- yeah-wait they are 

the same age as 

OUR OWN KIDS.

This is Olly's godmother,

sister to Olly's Mom.

Look at that sweet baby!

This is the grandparents on both sides

along with Mom & Dad,

godparents and outlaws in-laws.

Afterwards we went back to 

their house for a wonderful meal.

It is a great old house.

It is beautiful and they

have done a ton of work to it.

Built around 1893 or so it was

a mess when they moved in.

Here is the front.

There was NO landscaping.

Look what they did here.

They placed each plant and stone

by themselves.

The inside is wonderful, too.

I just snapped a few quick shots

before sitting down to chat

and enjoy the day.

Oh- And GUESS WHO 

rode along with us?

If you are nice and promise 

not to mow the lawn at 

6AM when your neighbors

are sleeping then, tomorrow

I will tell you what

you can do with 

THESE!

Yes. Yes. It IS a coaster.

You won't 

BELIEVE
what can be done with
these things!

Y'all come back now, you hear?

How Do YOU Count To Seven?

On our way out of town

we called Mimi
 (our youngest daughter)
 to see if & hubby & kids

 wanted to meet us for dinner.

BigJ had a project going on

but Mimi, BigBoyE &

CharlesInCharge 

met us at 

The Cheesecake Factory.

We are always so happy to see

these little boys.

We wish they lived closer

so that we could see them

more often.

BigBoyE is just a riot.

He is the male version of 

SweetCheeks...all antics

and fun.

He is TWO but he can count 

to TEN.

He counts his KISSES.

This is less than 10 seconds long.

And CharlesInCharge

 is his best audience.

I am sorry this is so blurry.

He just kept moving

AND eating

AND watching BigBoyE!

Gotta love boys like that!

I love them even more

than I love

And, THAT is saying something! 

Happy Blessed Sunday-
We are headed off to a
nephew's baptism today.
I'll be sharing that here soon~

The Piano Recital

A few years ago when

my daughter and family

moved into their first real home,

we gave them our grand piano.

It belonged to 

MyHero's grandmother.

She was a concert pianist

and it seems that some

of the girls have inherited

a bit of her talent.

Lulu & SweetCheeks

both take lessons and the

teacher comes right to their home.

How great is that?!

Lessons are suspended for

Summertime so there is

a recital for parents

and friends at the end of

the teaching year.

This showcases 

what the kids have

learned over the year.

Guess WHO was the

first one up?

Loud stage whisper: 

NANA- I'm furst!

Nana- I'm furst and 

Lulu is sechont!

Shhhhhh..

Okay- Here we go...

Little Miss Determined...

Next up-Sister Lulu

Lulu usually plays the assigned piece

 and then an original piece

that she writes herself.

Another year of lessons has

come to an end.

And...what happens

AFTER the recital?

Ummmmmm...

I'll give you three guesses.

Good for everyone ~ BUT

It looks like 

SOMEONE would rather have

SOMETHING else.

Ummmm...would that be

Sweets For The Sweet?

Nah..

That would be

Cotton Candy

for the 

Hot Mess in the family.

NOT MY FAMILY-WHY ARE WE HERE?

So...WHAT are WE

doing at this family reunion?

Well....it's a long story...

but...

every year we are invited to

the R family reunion.

It is held on the

Grandmama R's farm.

You would not believe

the work that she has done

to this place.

Can you believe that 

this is a corn crib?

It is a special hideaway

for the kids in the family...

and some of us adults

that love 

Magical Places.

Can you see the trumpet

vine that covers it?

And, just past the corn crib

is this gorgeous area that

has been cleared and beautified.

More? You want to see more?

Magical, isn't it?

What? You want to see more yet?

Okay- ONE MORE PICTURE-

Grandmama R's hubby passed

away a little while ago.

She found a whole new

creative outlet and 

painted a picture for

each child, and grandchild,

in her family.

They drew numbers and

each got to pick one

to take home with them.

HEY!  How come I didn't get

a number?  I am almost family~

Here she is holding court

surrounded by all her wonderful

pictures. 

I won't tell you how old she is

but let's just say she won't see

the North side of 80 again.

Isn't she cute?

She is SOOO full of life 

and has such a positive outlook

on everything.

She brightens the life of 

everyone around her.

We talked and ate too much.

We said a prayer again for

Jessica as she goes through

her grueling chemo treatments.

Please remember to keep

her in your prayers.

You can read her story here.

Isn't she a beautiful, brave girl?

 Now...you wonder how we get invited

to this special reunion every year?

Well, we are connected.

How, you ask?

Well, this is MyHeros

"other wife", Mikey-baby.

His movie and dinner date.

He is the son-in-law 

of Grandmama R.

Aren't THEY special?

I wish he could talk 

Mikey-baby into coming over

and cooking and cleaning.

*sigh*

I think I am stuck with the

real wife's jobs

while Mikey-baby has all the fun!

What The Fourth Of July Looks Like Here

The day started hot and bright.

There were a couple of boats

out early fishing.

MyHero and I worked all morning

setting up for family and friends.

I made a 

Flag Cake

that more than filled the pan.

My daughter, TPot and her

BFF, Miss Tina,

always have fun together.

Who's that behind those

Foster Grants?

(anyone remember those ads)

MamasBoy skipped across

the bay from his place to ours

with his boat to give all the

kids a ride....and do a little

water skiing.

Hey!  How you gonna get

all those people in 

THAT BOAT?

The day got hotter and hotter.

Some didn't seem to mind the heat.

That's our little CJK.

One month old!

Yeah- maybe I should learn

NOT TO TAKE

up the nose pictures, huh?

Quiet with  you!

Do you want to see the baby or not?

Some of you that have 

been following me for a while

remember that 

SweetCheeks had a couple

of  invisible VISABUL friends.

Her BEST VISABUL friend

was Bob.

He did everything with her.

He walked with her and talked

with her and played 

house with her.

We mourned Bob's passing

when he fell down the steps

never to reappear.

But- Wait!

What is THAT I see?

She has  NEW 

BEST FRIEND?

Can it be?

Really?

Well, pictures don't lie....

or do they?

Best Dive In Town

You know we have been traveling.

And, if you HAVE been reading

my posts, you know that

we have been near the 

water. Right?

Well, we hit Traverse City

a couple of days ago.

GREAT TOWN.

My blog title says 

Best Dive In Town.

Did you think I was

talking about the local 

swimming pool?

Or diving into the waters

on their pristine beach?

Nah!

For one thing you won't catch

ME in a bathing suit

at a public beach.

Why? Well~

Seriously,

I hate to see people

running and screaming away

from the water.

So...What DIVE am I 

talking about?

Hang on- I'm getting

to it.

We hit Traverse City

about lunchtime.

We saw wonderful little

sidewalk cafes and

beautiful restaurants...

BUT.....

we saw a 

PARKING SPACE

in front of this one.

The lady I chatted up in 

the parking lot said

This is the best dive in town

it's where all the locals go.

Sah-weet!

We had burgers!

No bun for me!

They were G-O-O-D.

MyHero quote/unquote...

You aren't taking my picture

while I am eating again

are you?

Nooooo! 

Stop it- you know I lied

Our waitress was sweet

and cute.

There were some local

characters in there that

gave the place a little

extra flavor.

okay-just a little pun there

Speaking of flavor,

this is what the promotional piece

says about 

Traverse City.

 AOL Travel News named Traverse City one of America’s Top 10 Beach Towns,

 TripAdvisor.com called it one of America’s Top 10 Charming Small Towns

 and Bon Appetit magazine called it one of the country’s Top Five Foodie Towns.

Do you see that last sentence?

Top foodie town?

I was just a tad worried

when we started to leave.

I felt the hair rising on

the back of my neck

when I noticed what was

printed on the back of their

shirts.

yeah- like I need more 

problems than I already have....

Let's just say I stopped

and picked up some

Imodium.  

(and y'all know what THAT means, don't you?;>)

UP Tripping Around

Well, you know me-

I like a little play on words.

Yes-I am up...as awake-

and arisen...

but the UP in my title

stands for the 

Upper Peninsula

of Michigan.

You already know,

if you read yesterday's post,

that we were in Northport, MI.

That is the lower section

of Michigan.

While it IS pretty there,

we really love the UP.

We love the Pictured Rocks area.

We always stay in Munising, MI

and take day trips from there.

We love to go East to

Grand Marias.

While we were there this time

there was a fishing tournament

happening.

While looking at dead fish in a cooler

 might be fun for 

SOME OF YOU,

I would much rather watch the

sailboats in the harbor.

Quite beautiful, huh?

There were even more wonderful

things to look at from our

hotel balcony.

A few wild flowers provided

some pleasure for the eyes.

And the other

EYE CANDY?

Yep- It is

MyHero sunning himself.

WHAT is he looking at?

He is looking down at his feet.

uh-huh

And I thought he said he

QUIT SMOKING.

I think that was 

NOTHING BUTT

a lie.

Hope you have a great day!