Spring Fever

Growing up in Texas, we saw all kinds of weather.  Sunshine, freezing rain, tornado-speed winds and ........the type that scares me most......hail.

I cannot handle hail.  Nope.  I don't care what size it is, it scares the crap out of me.  

I remember a HUGE hail storm that passed through our neighborhood when Charlene and I were in middle school.  That storm brought softball-sized hail and I was terrified!  

It completely smashed cars left in driveways, ripped humongous holes into our roof and broke every single window in our house.  

The sight of my mother fighting to hold a sheet of plywood against a window (so the hail couldn't get into the house) haunts me to this day.  Since water was pouring into the roof holes, my dad sent Charlene and I up into the attic with buckets to scoop the water out onto the garage floor so the ceilings wouldn't cave in.  

Even with the drastic weather changes in Texas - some even in the same day - I've never seen weather like what we had in Minnesota today.

This was the view onto our deck this morning at 7:30am.

And this was the view leaving work at 5pm. 

Happy Spring, friends!! 😎

Thought-full Thursday

Life lately

It's been awhile since I've done a "life lately" post so here goes!😊

First and foremost, HAPPY EASTER!!  

On Good Friday, we celebrate Jesus' ultimate sacrifice at the cross.  On Sunday, we rejoice in His resurrection.  Our God is BIG!!

My boss and his wife, Suzie, bring goodies for me and my coworkers every single holiday.  Sweet, right?  This time it was a gift card to a new snow cone shop in town and these hilarious glasses.  

I've been wanting to set up a coffee station in our kitchen for forever and, friends, it's finally done!  I found the cart at a local shop called Chloe's Attic.  The shop owner up-cycles and re-purposes furniture she finds at antique sales, flea markets. etc. using chalk paint.  

BEFORE

I saw this (photo above) a few weeks ago and it was the perfect fit for what my kitchen! 

AFTER

Sue painted it almost this GORGEOUS robin's egg blue and I LOVE IT!!

Done!

The color almost matches the wine rack from hell but is just different enough to stand out.  Y'all.....I don't even like coffee but this cart gives me the heart eyes! 😍

I'm so excited that my new prayer journals have been approved to sell at Art2Heart!!!!  

Since these were new to the shop's inventory, they had to be approved by the board of directors.  I'm always anxious that they (or anyone else!) won't like what I create so I'm glad to say that we are moving forward!  They are super fun to make.  💚

I've also got a TON of hymn boards ready to go.  If the good Lord's willing and the creek doesn't rise, they will be popular with the customers.  (That's an old southern phrase my mama used to use.  I'm laughing as I type this! Haha......I sure miss that lady.  😇)  Check out the Etsy shop to see all the options.  

On the docket for this weekend is to finish off more hand-lettering designs and transfer those suckers to wood signs.  And I might try my hand at lettering an old window I've been holding on to.  Jim keeps threatening to toss it out if I don't do something with it.  

Rough draft #1.......

My man-child is moving in with Maci next weekend!  He's all grown up and getting ready to tie the knot.  When I was in Texas for the MS Walk, we toured his new apartment community.  It is STUNNING!  I can't wait to see how they decorate it.  

He posted the photo below of his co-workers on FaceBook last week and I can't stop staring at it.  It's very rare that you snap a photo of Garrett right in the middle of a belly laugh.  Man oh man.....I love this kid!

Speaking of kids I love, Delanie is still flying high after winning the MPA state finals last Saturday.  She had a weepy moment on Sunday and was saying that she wished she could start the season all over again.  I feel you, honey pie!  

Jim and his lucky hat.....

She has officially changed her mind about colleges.  Initially, she wanted to go to Texas Tech but decided University of North Texas would be a better fit for her.  She's pretty excited about their music /media departments and is ready to try out for the Green Brigade Marching Band.  

Back home in Minnesota, we thought Spring had officially arrived......until we got a freak snowstorm this week.  It was sunny and 50 degrees one day then we got a few inches of snow the next day.  Hopefully that was the last snow we will see for awhile.  Don't get me wrong....I love winter in Minnesota.....but I'm ready to bust out my capris!

And, on a silly note, check out how long my hair has gotten!!  The last time it was this long was when Garrett was born.......in 1994........a long time ago!  

I'm kinda digging it! 

Jim has been traveling so much for work lately so I'm looking forward to having him in the house this weekend.  He came home from North Carolina with a nasty head cold.  It sucks balls that he's so miserable.  Even with a head cold, he's still the cutest thing I've seen all day.  

I have the most HILARIOUS video of him dancing on the deck last weekend but he made me delete it.  Seriously, friends, if you saw this video you would wet your pants laughing.   (Text me and I will send it to you on the down-low! 😜)  

Happy Easter!!

The Champ

Prepare for a blog post full of bragging! 😜

My baby girl just won the Minnesota Percussion Association's state drum line championship!!!

Last year was the inaugural year of the Grove Area Percussion winter drum line.  Read all about how they did last year at the state finals.



It has been such a blast watching this kid find her thing.  She gives everything she has to her high school band and it is awesome thing to see.  

(Insert this mama's ugly-cry here.)





This is such a funny group of kids.  Watching them interact is really something else.  They are all such good kids and they have formed their own little family.  And, of course, this girlie is who they call "mom".



Delanie and her best friend, Amanda.......



.....those girls are thick and thieves.





For the past several months, this group of kids has practiced 3-4 times per week.  All in all, they averaged 12 hours per week........TWELVE!!





Practice after practice, they got better and better.






The whole gang......



Holy balls, all those bruises, buckets of sweat, bus rides after bus rides.......



......hours and hours of practice really paid off!!



The year's season in review......

February 2nd @ Eagan - 2nd place

February 9th @ Foley - 1st place

February 25th @ Maple Grove - exhibition only

March 4th @ Burnsville - 4th place

March 11th @ Champlin - 1st place

March 18th @ Elk River - 1st place

April 1st @ Dassel-Cokato - 1st place 
**This was the weekend I was in Texas so Jim drove an hour to watch the show.....ALONE. 

April 8th @ Rochester - STATE CHAMPIONS!!

The photo above is this year's group of Seniors.  What a way to go out, right???

This is Delanie's drum line instructor, Mike Brown (AKA "Brownie").  I could not be more thankful to this guy!  He has worked tirelessly to get these kids to the championships.  He wrote the music, choreographed the show and brought out every ounce of effort from these kids.  

OK, let me tell you about the Minnesota Percussion Association's STATE FINALS in Rochester this past weekend.  

Check out the look on Delanie's face......total "rage face".  

Rochester is two hours away from Maple Grove so Jim and I made a full day of it.  Jim even wore his lucky hat.  He wore this hat the last two times they won 1st place.  How sweet is that???

Kevin and Brandi flew in for the weekend to be a part of the festivities.  

I think Delanie was a little shocked that the four of us sat together to cheer her on.  As she was standing on the floor waiting for awards, Bruno Mars started playing on the loud speaker.  Brandi and I stood up and started dancing like lunatics.  I thought Delanie was going to die of embarrassment!! 😉

I thought it was pretty cool that the band directors included all the families in the celebratory photo.  That's us at three o'clock.  💜

Congratulations Delanie!  We are so dang proud of you, Champ!!

Watch the video and prepare to be amazed (the actual show starts at 3:00).......

MPA Finals - 2017

Texas - round two

Check out Bill & Charlene's dog, Chloe......

She is the sweetest thing!  She loves cuddling.  She will crawl up on the couch and sit right on top of you.  

How cute is this......she's keeping my feet warm! 💙

Even Maci got in on the action.  😊

We woke up Sunday morning to a true Texas thunderstorm.  I love thunderstorms!  The pounding rain, the cracks of thunder and lightning.....especially at night......bring it on!

We get rain in Minnesota but it doesn't even compare to Texas.  In this case, everything is indeed bigger in Texas.

We finally got out of our pajamas about 3pm and headed to On The Border for dinner.  Tex Mex food is one of my favorites and I needed a fix.  Fajitas for the win!

The newly engaged cuties!

The girls wore our squad shirts.  We had an extra so we talked Garrett into joining the team.  

The whole gang is here....

We headed to the mall to see "Life" at the theater.

Y'all know that I do NOT like scary movies.  This one isn't scary but it is definitely suspenseful.  It's about a team of astronauts that bring an alien back to Earth.

To put it mildly, I was a little on edge after movie.  OK, honestly, I was freaked out.  After the movie, everyone was waiting for me outside the restroom.  I walked out and this kid started running down the hall behind me.  All I could hear was the pounding of his feet and I lost it!  I thought the alien was after me.  

Garrett was about 6 feet in front of me and I ran to him like my ass was on fire.  I was trying to get behind him so he could protect me.  How's that for a maternal instinct.....ha!  On my way towards Garrett, I knocked Charlene against the wall.  Seriously......she was IN MY WAY!

When we got home, we FaceTime'd with Jim and she was telling him all about it.  I'm not sure who was laughing harder.....him or us.  

This is a close-up of the screen shot.  We were laughing so hard that I might have wet myself a little.  😜

It wasn't long before Jim gave us the signal above.......out of Crown, gotta go!

The next day, we piled into my rental car and headed to Rockwall.  There is the CUTEST craft mall there and I wanted to check it out.  Rockwall is about an hour from Charlene's house so there was tons of laughing, dancing, singing, laughing and more laughing on the way.  

This was the scene in my rear view mirror on the way back.  Charlene was PASSED OUT in the backseat!!

All in all, it was a terrific weekend!  Can't wait for the whole crazy family to come to Minnesota for Delanie's graduation in June!  

We may need to stock up on Crown for Jim.