Plum crazy...

 Taking it back a few years with a memory...spurred by a construction project at our house. 

We have a two-story house and quite a large wooden area above our garage on the end of the house.  Our house is 42 years old and much of the wooden areas are rotten or squirrel damaged.  So we are having all the wood and trim replaced. 

These two cousins are turning 30 this year and I'm happy to say they are wonderful men and have given up plum throwing.  :)

Years ago when my oldest son was a young boy, he and his cousin were playing in the driveway, and we have a plum tree nearby that drops a lot of red plums right on the drive.  Well, as boys will do, they began picking them up and throwing them and proceeded to pelt that area above the garage door with plums, enjoying the sound and spots they were making.  But Mama wasn't too happy!  She caught them in the act and knew those spots would stain.  She gave them a tongue lashing and promised they would have to clean up the mess.  She had to get paint and make them get on a ladder and paint over those spots.  And did the cousin come back and help?  No, and then she wasn't sure she wanted her son up that high doing the painting.  So guess who cleaned and painted those plum spots?

Augh!  Parenting is the hardest job ever sometimes.

KETO BIRTHDAY MEAL FOR MY SON...

Well, son #1 just had a birthday and has been really into the KETO diet lately...in fact, he's lost 30 pounds!  Didn't know he even had that much to lose!  But he's over 6 feet tall, so I guess those kind of guys can carry more than you think.  Anyway, I made a Keto meal for him.  It turned out pretty well - except for the cake!  It wasn't pretty but it still tasted good!

Bacon Chicken Broccoli casserole - this was so good!

Green Salad with lots of veggies

Roasted Red potatoes (I got the really small ones from Little Potato Co.)

Wheat Rolls (these were for the Non-Ketos)

Keto Vanilla Pound Cake

Strawberries with a little Swerve

Whipped cream

We ate inside much to my disappointment.  But it is pretty hot now, and Son #1 HATES bugs so that would not be a very fun birthday dinner for him.  I was also glad to have a Sous Chef - a college student who is living with us right now!

My sad Keto Vanilla Pound cake! But it tasted good!

This is what happens when you let the birthday boy put the whipped cream on everyone's dessert!

  I'm so thankful to have these moments!  They are few and far between nowadays.  Afterwards, we all went to church and had a great time singing in our Wonder of Worship class!  That was the icing on the cake for me!

WHEN YOUR KIDS INVITE YOU SOMEWHERE...

WOW, How fun for the tables to turn and all of a sudden YOU are invited someplace by the kids!  It's started happening with Mother's Day at my daughter's house and now a weekend lake trip with my son and his sweet wife!  

We stayed at her parent's mobile home that had a gorgeous view of Lake Tenkiller.  It was a great time of reminiscing for us, especially since my parents owned a lake house and boat there for many years before my Dad's death in 2001.  At that time they sold it all and despite our best intentions, we've only visited a couple of times since then. 

Ready to check out the lake - including Tucker!

 Happy 26th birthday to our son!

Beautiful sunset from the deck of the cabin! We enjoyed this special time with our kids.  Kinda fun to not be in charge but just going along with what they had planned.  

A SUBJECT CLOSE TO MY HEART...

Son #1 has been busy this past year!  A documentary (his first) he's been working on is getting ready to be revealed this weekend.  When he showed us the trailer recently, it really excited me because last winter I was part of a women's Wednesday night class called "Getting Creative with God," where we learned about and explored different forms of creativity and how it relates to our personal walk with God. We got away from the normal lecture type class and did a lot of fun hands-on activities! 

This project is similar in exploring our creativity and our relationship with The Creator,  and I'm thrilled the singer/songwriter asked him to go with her on this journey!   Check out the trailer:  https://youtu.be/aNGf1GlfsXg

THE REST OF THE STORY (WEDDING STYLE)...

Oh, the professional wedding pictures!  Gorgeous, huh?  No story on this one, just gorgeousness!  I believe this was after their "first look."

Bridesmaid's bouquets - I made them two days before,  and I am not a florist!  Thank goodness I did, because with rehearsal dinner and all, I was making 14 boutonnieres/5 corsages the morning of the wedding.  I was literally in my robe with groomsmen coming in and out as I labored at the kitchen bar!  Protea is the large tropical flower in the middle that she picked out.  The rest of the bouquets were wax flower, seeded eucalyptus, and sage.  My daughter helped me finish them off with strips of fabric around the base that were left over from her fabric strip curtain and then we put ribbon streamers on last.  My son bought the bride's bouquet, and we added vintage lace streamers to it that cam from her mother and grandmother's wedding dresses.

MOG dress - I love telling this story!  After shopping for two days in Dallas at a fancy mall, I reluctantly bought a blue dress, just to have something.  It was fine.  Then I had a brainstorm and decided to google upscale resale shops and the first one I went to I found this Kate Spade dress that I loved!  It had a navy skirt on it so I knew it would please the bride.  Only it was a tad snug.  I knew if I could lose 5 pounds it would fit better.  That was way back in April when I bought it.  I did lose more than 5 pounds and it fit like a glove!  The pearl necklace and earrings I wore belonged to my Grandmother Flora. 

This cute little ring bearer guy is our nephew's son!  He was a hit!

The ceremony setting - the bride's parent's backyard.  It was perfect for a large group!  Lots of green space.  The bride made this curtain to separate the seating area and stage from the reception, and so the audience wouldn't see her until they were opened.  

Woohoo!  They're married!  The hanky in my son's pocket was literally given to him just minutes before the wedding.  My aunt brought it to me to give to him.  It belonged to my Great Grandpa Townley, and was monogrammed.  So it was from my son's great-great grandpa!

The signing of the marriage license.  What became of it after this moment, no one knew.  Finally it was found in the house, on the top of the refrigerator, only after they had applied for another one!

The reception was immediately following and set up in long tables.  I loved the cuties (clementines) they had on each plate.  They had charcuterie boards along with caesar salad and bread.  I actually sat down and ate for some of the time.  It was really good and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  

The Mother/Son dance.  Three days before the wedding my son asked me if I was going to dance with him.  He said he wanted this song, so we practiced a whole 10 minutes and came up with this!  It was a lot of fun!

Did you ever wonder what a non-dancer looks like?  Here you go.  I'm laughing my head off.  

The cake signs were watercolor done by the bride, and the hand lettering by a bridesmaid.  The cake topper figurine of a bride and groom was something my grandmother gave me when I got engaged.  I always wondered why she gave me it because I am brunette and the bride in the figurine was blonde.  But I have used it for a little decoration for showers and such.  It totally fit my son and his bride with their hair colors and they wanted to use it.  Sweet.

Ahh...this one's a favorite.  My son looks so handsome in his green suit with that green convertible.  That was just a fun way to acknowledge my Dad in a way, since my Mother has kept it all these years since his passing.  Made for a fun exit!

Thanks for letting me bask in the wedding stuff once more!

SENTIMENTAL WEDDING TOUCHES...

One thing I love about weddings is when the couple chooses to incorporate family traditions or things from their parents' weddings into their own.  It's such a sweet way to honor their family and in a sense, thank them for bringing them to this point in their lives!

I don't have many pictures yet, and didn't ask anyone to take candids for me at the wedding, so those are still to come. Here's a few we took and a glimpse into some of the sweet ways they honored the family:

I made all the bouquets/bouts/corsages for the wedding except for her bouquet.  She wanted us to tie on as streamers some lace taken from her mother and grandmother's wedding dress! 

In the actual ceremony, the song, "Sunrise, Sunset," was a recording of her grandfather singing it acapella, recorded in 1981 for her parent's wedding!  It was awesome!  He didn't even recognize it was his voice at the rehearsal.  A piano song she composed a few years ago was recorded also, and all the wedding party entered on that song.  We sang congregationally "Come Thou Fount," as the couple took communion during the ceremony.  I loved it!

I wore my grandmother's pearl necklace and earrings that my aunt let me borrow.  My grandmother Flora passed just about 5 years ago, and she really loved my son because he has a special way of acknowledging older people.  The Hubs wore a polka dot tie our son got him.  It's the first time he's ever worn polka dots and I loved it - made him look youthful!

Our gorgeous daughter - just because!

My son had taken his bride out a few times in this classic convertible Corvair that belonged to my Dad - although he's been gone 15 years, my mother has lovingly kept it and driven it occasionally.  Our friend got it repaired so they could leave the wedding in it!

It was special to us that these friends came from Tennessee and Tulsa to celebrate with us!  We were all married the same summer and were in a Bible study together for years (one couple is missing because they are teaching in Europe this semester).  As each couple moved away, we continued our friendship by vacationing together every other year, with all our kids.  We all try to attend the weddings of our children and continue to support each other however we can!

This is from Rehearsal Dinner (my previous post).  All the cobalt blue glass decorations were part of my mother, aunt, and friend's collection.  I was so excited to get to use it, and I think they enjoyed the fact that it was used in this way.

What fun/hardwork it's been - but totally worth it!

OUR GARDEN PARTY REHEARSAL DINNER...

Just got a chance to sit down for a moment after a whirlwind of events:  hosting our son's rehearsal dinner and then helping with the flowers for the wedding!  It was crazy but fun. You only do this once!

We wanted to have the rehearsal dinner in our backyard, and were so pleased that the weather cooperated.  I tried all summer to get grass to grow in some of the shady spots, paid special attention to all the flower beds, etc.  I figured out closer to the date that it would be dusk and none of that would matter!  Ha!  I also decided if there were weeds showing in the flower beds that it would be time for a little mulch.  Other than that we hung lots of lights, I borrowed almost everything, including lots of cobalt blue glass from my mother, my aunt, and my friend to make some beautiful tables!  We had the food catered:  Italian chicken, pork chops, salad, fancy mac-n-cheese, vegetable medley, and bread and butter. I made all my son's favorite desserts since his bride had no preferences:  banana layer cake, lemon bars, and blonde brownies!  I was pretty pleased with the cakes!  Take a look: