A Weekend of Celebrating Family!

Sara is our youngest sister's daughter (next to Deanie who is wearing a yellow shirt)  and we gathered at Nita and Mike's on Saturday afternoon to celebrate her coming all the way from Alabama! She is here to run the Cowtown Marathon!

She, along with three friends, had rented an airbnb just down the street for a few days.

We had such a nice afternoon eating together and visiting!

Nita and Deanie provided pizzas and I brought a huge salad. Nita made a pitcher of Italian Margaritas and it was fun like a party!!!

Andie sat on her mom's lap!

These two are always so much fun!!

That Andie has laughing eyes and Trish has got THE best sense of humor.

Mike and Nita!

They keep our family close by hosting so many of our get togethers.

Sara is such a beautiful young lady.

It touched my heart when she said how much she loves having her Alabama family here with her Texas family.

Louis Dean always likes to have his picture taken with Deanie.

They bonded on the road trip home from Katy, Texas a few days after the quads were born.

Ever since then they have been each other's biggest fan!

Nita and Mike are always doing something to update their home.

They have a huge backyard!

Charlie spotted this dinosaur - which is WAY back on their property - from the back door.

He, Mike and I walked out to inspect it.

Mike made it from plastic where he works.

Pretty amazing.

While Mike is an elite collector of all things dinosaur - Nita bought herself a 'toy' recently!

This full body massage chair!

I'm here to tell you that it is AMAZING!

It has a place for your arms and puts massage pressure on even your hands and fingers

AND your feet!!

I could have stayed right there all afternoon.

I think several of us took a turn in the chair.

The time went by fast and before we knew it - it was time to go!

Our next stop was to see Lillian.

She's not been feeling well ever since Christmas.

Plus she's had a bit of the blues......and I don't blame her.

We sat and visited a good while and we made a date for Tuesday, March 10th.

It will be a lady's day for lunch and shopping and an hour at a pretty park.

Louis Dean said he would pack a small ice chest with drinks and we can just sit out in nature and BE.

I think it will do her a world of good - and me, too!

I can't imagine how hard it must be to stay in a tiny room with someone who can't speak English and yet talks all the time. Lillian has such patience.

We turned to the left when we drove away from the nursing home Saturday and took the fast way home by way of toll roads.

It had been a long happy day but I was exhausted and came in and went right to bed.

Amazing what a good night's sleep can do for us.

Louis Dean and I both woke up this morning feeling like it was a holiday.

His granddaughter and great-granddaughter were coming to visit.

Chandy's husband, Chris , drove them all up to the DFW area this weekend as he had do a job to do up by Denton. Chris does carpet and flooring. The job ran long and he didn't get to come over but we were thrilled to get to spend Sunday afternoon with Chandy and Bella.

She came bearing Bee gifts!!!!!

Chandy is expecting a baby boy in August and this is a high risk pregnancy for her as was Bella.

I'm so happy to say that she and the baby are doing fine.

The doctor cleared her for travel as long as she wasn't by herself.

Let me show you my new Bee cup!!!

One for my tea.....

and one for my coffee!!!

She called her granddad the other week when we were down at the ranch to tell him about the surprise she was custom ordering for me. But we were at the camper - which is 31 feet long - and there was no way I could not hear the conversation!

I'm including this 'blooper' photo just because.

Louis Dean does not like to use my phone to take pictures and when he does - you just never know what you're going to get!

We were so happy to see little Bella.

We want her to get to know us and be comfortable with us.

I don't have toys like I used to have here at home but I found her a set of dominoes to play with.

And do you know every time she finished playing - she would put them all in the box and shut the lid!

I was so impressed!

Louis Dean was in heaven playing music with his beloved granddaughter!

And Bella did a little playing of her own.

I loved how she crossed her hand over the same way she saw her mama do.

I made a good Sunday dinner for us!

We just wish Chris could have joined us but you can't fault a man for making a living and doing a job! Louis Dean really admires that about him. He is such a hard worker!

Here we are at the dinner time.

This is the THIRD time I have served a meal here with this table setting.

I gave Bella a child's fork and a small Frosty Snowman knife for spreading her roll with butter.

She loved these! Bella was also the first one to drink from my new bee mug!

I don't have all those child proof cups like I used to so this was perfect for her milk!

Chandy was on the phone with Christ making plans to rendezvous at a certain place for the trip home.

Time for goodbye hugs!

Bella loved the little fork and knife so much I told her she could have them!

Chandy sent me this picture shortly after she left.

Bella fell sound asleep within minutes of leaving our driveway.

My favorite thing about this picture is that she's still holding her fork and knife!

In other news......

Logan and Harrison made it to the semi finals in their hockey tournament.

They played this afternoon and Amber did a live feed on her Instagram.

I was able to watch it and it was an intense game!

I was sitting in the living room looking at my iPad and cheering them on.

They didn't win the game but they sure played a good one!

I love modern technology!

It's been a wonderful weekend celebrating family!

And tonight as I turned the page on my daily planner - guess what I found??

All seven days were blank!!!

No appointments of any kind.

That's not to say we won't be busy but we will be staying home working on projects.