neighbor of the bride

Mr. and Mrs. Klewein

mother and father of the bride
(aka one of my best friends and her hubby:)

me and my hubby being photographed
by one of the short people in my life

my babies being slightly annoyed by their mother (again :)

it's my kind of wedding when the beautiful bride

walks down with a beer in her hand!

their first dance as old married lady

and bearded married man

Kaylee and her daddy (Jay) taking their turn.

They started off all teary eyed and stuff

and then got all

BRICK HOUSE ON US!!

I love the look on their faces, they were ready to turn it out!!

Carol and Jay

the GORGEOUS setting on Lookout mountain

look at my babies eyes, she ADORES this man :)

Brian and Alex do not like to dance.
DO NOT as in NO WAY, NO HOW, NO CHANCE.
As you can see from these pictures, those two can't say no to Hannah :)

me and Carol's baby girls

I love this lady :)

they were having the time of their lives!

and these two were still dancing having the time of their lives

howdy there partner, you look like my ole man.

My girlfriend next door Carol is having a double whammy this year. Both of her children are getting married. Her daughter got married over Memorial Day weekend on top of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tn. And her son is getting married in October here in Georgia at a winery. Carol and I have shared lots of good times and memories together in the last 4 and a half years that we've been friends (and neighbor's). This night was by far one of the best. She is at a time in her life that I DREAD. Everyone moved out, starting on their own as adults. She comes to my house sometimes just to sit and listen to the noise.
She is like me, she functions better in organized chaos.
We started "cocktails on the porch" last year, sorry it's an exclusive club not open to the public.
I told her the other day, we need to have a club meeting ASAP. There's lots to discuss. The first order of business is, how in the hell she held it together the whole evening?!! I had an ugly cry headache for two days!
Second order of business is how to grow old gracefully, being an amazing woman, mother, wife, daughter, sister and FRIEND, and making it look effortless all at the same time.
I love you girl and we were so excited to share in this day with you all!!

take a hike

my up and coming high school freshman

Alex's 8th grade class had their official walk over to the high school ceremony on last Thursday. His principal hands over the next group of freshman to the high school principal.

It's a walk that was short in length,monumental in meaning, but yet oh so subtle at the same time. In eight short weeks I will have a high school freshman, a 6th grader and a 3rd grader.

I will also have a few 100 more gray hairs, laugh lines and not nearly enough time to soak up everything that I would like.

Our time is like the walk was; short, monumental and subtle all at the same time.

The good times and the bad ones are also like the gray hairs and laugh lines and they're worth every memory......

A Green Thumb

6:30 in the morning is drinking time for my garden and porch plants. One afternoon as I sat on my porch waiting for the biggest boy to get off the bus I noticed a drop of water resting on one of my caladium leaves. It was calmly, lazily just waiting to be absorbed into the plant.

Taking a moment to soak up the rays is good for us all, I plan on being a big fat water drop on a caladium leaf for the next 8 weeks :) 

It's right around the corner

Jakob's field day
muffins with mom
Alex's final curtain call

he has decided NOT to play in the band during high school.

I'm hoping that after a year off he will go back to it, only time will tell.

class room fun!

A snow cone break for Hannah's class during field day

my baby

me and my girl on Market Day

she decorated each cookie all by hand by herself

Alex's community during field day

this was as close as I could get without him noticing me taking a picture on my phone.

He did spot me trying to find him when I walked in the gym and he stood up and waved at me. My heart melted when I saw the smile he gave me. That was my stay at home mom raise for the year. A 14 year old actually happy to see his mom :)

What would the last weeks of school be without field days, band concerts, market day, muffins for mom, sundae parties for no good reason, multiply trips to the grocery for last minute donations and lots and lots of checks being written for gifts, parties and whatever else they need from me. Gotta love it! We just finished up with the last field day events today, next week will be the parties. T minus 5 days and counting friends.......