Spending Time With Summer, Amber and Benjamin........and Happy Birthday to Lillian!

 The time had come for Summer to leave Rowlett and we helped her pack up the two rooms she had been living in for the past several years. Sherry has been such a blessing to Summer and Summer has blessed her right back by doing all she could to help her.

I remember the day we all helped her move in here and it was like a party.

And now the time had come to pack her up.

Louis Dean is amazing and especially so when it comes to packing and getting as much into a space as possible. He's a real genious at that, actually!

Amber devoted her day to helping her sister and she made all the difference!

I'm still not allowed to lift anything heavier than my purse - and I've even had to lighten that!

I love how these daughters of mine are always there for each other.

They loaded up our truck and the back seat of the cab and then Amber's Suburban as well as Summer's van! Then we all rendezvoused at the storage unit in Irving where we were overwhelmed by how small it was! No way did I or my girls think all of it would fit - knowing there was a whole other load to bring later on that night. We underestimated Louis Dean!  While we snacked on Sonic cheese sticks and drinks, Louis Dean measured and assured us it could be done!

And it was. Amber headed home to cook supper for her family and Louis Dean, Summer and I decided to take a meal break ourselves before driving back to Rowlett for the last load.

LD requested a restaurant with good chicken fried steaks and I wanted a nice margarita.

That filled the bill nicely!

The margarita's were good......

and we were happy!

I nearly always order the vegetable plate and, as it normally happens, I ate the garden salad and took the veggies home.

We were so tired but Louis Dean was bound and detremined to finish this in one day and not have to face it in the morning. So we drove back to Rowlett - 40 minutes over there - and he managed to load up a huge recliner, book case, sofa table, end table, 2 TVs and several boxes. Big boxes!

The storage unit closed at 9:00 and I was so happy about that! We will unload the truck another day.

We were showered and in bed around 1:00 Thursday morning!

I woke up around 9:00 and managed to get over to Amber's by 11:45 - a tad later than I planned.

She had ordered Greek food for lunch and we picked it up on our way to Benjamin's apartment.

We have been wanting to meet his new kitten and had planned this since last week!

He is adorable!!!

In the close up photo, you can see his left eye is damaged.

 I believe Ben said he can't see out of it.

Zuko came from an animal shelter and that's where she got the injury.

My son has a soft heart and he knew that lots of people do not like black cats.....and then with that bead eye, he was concerned this kitten would not be adopted.....so HE took him!

He chose wisely!

Klaus, the ranch kitten Ben took when Amber and I got ours, bonded almost immediately to Zuko!

As a matter of fact, as soon as we quit holding and cooing at the him, Klaus went over and groomed him checking to make sure he was all right.

Zuko was actually ill with something like a virus or cold or something and Ben had both of them at the vet's office and then they both recovered together.

I needed one more little snuggle with him.

Zuko could not have found a better home!

Look at the fancy cat tower!

And talk about high tech food and water feeding stations!

These are electronically programmed so Ben can feed Zuko the richer kitten food and Klaus the special blend the vet recommended for him.

Then there's the bubble fountain!! They love it and then Ben goes the extra mile and puts ice cubes in it since they love cold water!

Now!

Are you ready???

I loved this cabinet......

It was specially designed to hold the electronic litter box!

I loved everything about Ben's beautiful apartment!!!

But most of all, I loved seeing my son and watching him and his sister love on these special kitties.

We had to leave earlier than planned so Amber could take a couple of my grands to the doctor for a follow up visit. I took the car back to school in time to pick up the other two and then we drove the short distnace back to the doctor to wait.

Kids are so creative!

They use my phone and take cool pictures to surprise me with later when I go to my photos!

I could not bring myself to leave once we got back to their house so I stayed and watched Spectre - the  Daniel Craig Bond movie - before we all go to see the last one on Sunday!

I was pushing the envelope in leaving after dark but I managed pretty well thanks to the yellow night driving visor Summer bought me last year. It makes all the difference.

Today was Lillian's 87th birthday and we went over to Fort Worth at the nursing home to celebrate with her.

A friend in Utah ordered a box of cookies from Crumbl and I picked them up last night on my way home. Lillian loved all the attention she got today.

She had a stack of birthday cards that came in today and she had me read them to her again - even though she'd already read them. It was fun!

Rita J, I love that you sent a picture of you and Buddy!

Penny H, Elizabeth B, Melissa K, Helen G, Kay R.....she loved your cards! 

Lillian returns each card into its envelope so I can write down the names and addresses in my Christmas Card book. I do thank each and every one of you who have sent her a card this past year. She's been getting them on a regular basis ever since her birthday last year!

They have made such a difference. 

Mail is important and to know people are thinking of and praying for you - it is sucha comfort and blessing.

Louis Dean was excited to be singing to her again.

He does love and audience!

Lillian was such a good one and I reminded him that I was listening to him, too!

Chandy sent me a message while we were there asking what we were up to.....

so I had her Granddad record a little video where he told her where we were and that he only wished she could be here paying music with him!

Look how cute she is!!!!

It was a good day.

We spent the entire afternoon with her and arrived back home around 5:30.

Before I close, I want to show pictures of the pantry Summer cleaned and organized for me....while it's still clean!

She has a gift for organization!

I'm going to try and keep it clean!

Normally I have an entire shelf full of honey over there on the right.

Not so this year but I'm really hoping for a bumper harvest next year!

Maybe enough to get a little spring honey extracted before the summer flow.

Interesting the things we stock up on in our different pantries.

While I was at Amber's, she made a cute video of me using a 007 filter thing of some sort.

I think she got it from Instgram.

I love me some James Bond!!!!