Alese....Making Me Proud!

I wish that I could carry around a computer with me all day so when the kids say something funny I can post it right then because I find I forget :(!!!  But this post has been on my mind for a week now!!

Last Saturday night Master P and I went to the Hank Williams Jr./Jamey Johnson concert and we had a lady come to the house to keep the kids.  We got home super late and Alese was asleep on the couch so I woke her up to get in bed and she started mumbling something  something about cooking "those lemon squares" but she wasn't making much sense and I knew I didn't have anything like that in the pantry.  Hmm, what she talking about, was she dreaming about lemon squares and asking me to make her some?!  As I was saying goodbye to Ms. Loretta she said "oh when I was getting the babies down, Alese got out a cookbook and made some lemon squares all by herself".   What?!  I rushed into the kitchen and found the Providence Baptist Church cookbook still on the counter and lemon squares on the stove.  I was SOOO proud of her!!  My "baby" who is always wanting to watch me cook and help me cook made an effort to do this all by herself! :)  I tell her all the time if you can read you can cook, just follow the directions and you will learn so much along the way.  I  love to cook and can still remember being taught by my mother when I was even younger than Alese.  So many many girls can't cook these days, not sure if it is for lack of knowledge or desire or to much going on but I believe that whether or not she ever cooks as a mother/wife she needs to at least know how to do it.  I am still smiling at the thought of her getting out that recipe book pulling out all the ingredients, mixing and baking! :)  I am sad that she is growing up so fast but am MOST pleased with the young lady she is becoming.  She really is a great girl! :)  I love you Alese!

Annual Labor Day Dove Hunt

I have needed to blog about this for over a month now but just haven't so I have found myself with a few minutes on my hands.  I also have a dying urge to knock some things off my to do list! :)

Dove hunting is a big to do at the farm.  It has been for years and years, since before I was born.  My pappy was a big bird hunter, he always had lots of bird dogs.  I can't remember the way the story goes so I will have to ask Daddy but years ago my Pappy made friends with some folks from Louisiana, men that became lifelong friends of my Pappy and our family.  I grew up with these men in my life, their children's lives.  We have been through weddings, divorces, deaths and births together.  They are family and every Labor Day (and many times through out the year) they come to hunt.  Everyone anticipates getting to see them, there is just no one like them!!

The hunt starts at daybreak which meant that Daddy and I left Mama sleeping with Cash and Arden and we were in the field before daylight as were about 20 plus others.  It is such great fun, I am not a great shot but I do a lot of shooting :)  I actually just enjoy sitting under a tree or next to a hay bale with my daddy more than anything.  Cash and Ella joined in on the fun for a little that morning after they woke up.  After the morning hunt we had egg salad sandwiches on the back of the truck at the pump house then cleaned our kill.  The best part is heading over to the old dairy barn to fry up some birds.  It is fun to see everyone socialize then find a shade tree (or a couch) for a nap before the afternoon hunt.  Lots of fun had by all. 

Hoffman, waiting for daylight

I love this picture of Daddy

Please note, these birds that Cash and Ella are petting are DEAD! ha

My style! ha

Papa and his sidekick Cash

Best Buddies

Papa and Ella Bella

Mama and Cash man!

Whatever he is talking about is complete BS!! Trust me on this one!



Everyone's favorite uncle



Cleaning the kill!

Me and Hoffman

The Harrington's!

Uncle Shelton and Arden watching the fun

Mr. Chuckie ready for his afternoon snooze



Mr. Bob is ready for his too




Hoffman is already having his afternoon snooze



One of my favorite people...shhhh don't tell him!

Gone!

Daddy and Mr. Jerry F

Snooooozing

LOVE this one!

Cash takes every step his Papa takes

Daddy and Uncle Isaiah

Pooper Scooper and the Fair

I almost saved this post for when I have actually downloaded pictures that I could post but I will add them later.  Today Arden, Cash and myself loaded up and headed to Jackson for the state fair!! I grew up at that fair, showing cows and running around the midway for YEARS!!!  I miss it so much and I SAVORED up those moments today with them.  The kids have never been to the fair and they had so much fun! We started at the livestock barn or course where we visited with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Julie Douglas, her daddy (Pappy) and her babies Layne, John Rivers and Ramsey!  It was soooo good to see them and LONG over due.  We went to the barn that I spent MANY hours running through growing up where they display the duck pond.  It's where the ducks climb up the "stairs", feed out the feeding on top of the "barn" and then slide down the roof and into the water.  It was always my favorite and it was so fun to share that with Cash and Arden today!  We then wandered around the midway riding the ferris wheel, the carousel, the cars, etc...  We then made our way to the giant yellow slide, aka the feed sack slide.  I also grew up sliding down that thing!!  However I must admit the climb to the top seemed a lot more challenging today than it did  20 years ago, wonder why that is?  So I had been scratching my head all the way to Jackson wondering how I would be able to take both babies down the slide.  I was hoping they would just let me put both of them on my sack.  When I asked and they said "no, not safe" duh, I knew that, I quickly thought I would run get Layne to come ride with one of them.  However the "operator/ticket taker" said "one of my guys can take one of them down".  So that is what we did, a few times! ha  Cash, Arden, Larry and I began the climb to the top, Cash climbed into my lap and Arden climbed right into Larry's! ha  She hollered "wee" all the way down and as soon as we hit bottom they both started saying "do it again Mama"! ahhhh! so we did!  So once most of the money was spent and we were all getting pretty tired I asked Cash what he wanted to do next.  Please keep in mind that he had been for the past 45 minutes asking to go back to the barn so his response to my question didn't really surprise me; "i really just want to go scoop some poop"!!! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA  My kid is natural born KUN-TREE!!  When we went back to the barn Layne got him a pitch fork and he started scooping up poop and Mr. Gary(aka Pappy) said "he is a natural"! ha!!!!  I started calling him "Pooper Scooper" as did Arden all the way home!  Can't wait to post the "stinky" pictures!! :)


Pony Ride!



Arden rode the pony all by herself!

They wanted to ride in a jeep like Daddy's!

This was one of Cash's favorite rides

Arden and Larry!! hahahaha  She loved him

The last time i rode down this slide he was in my tummy!

Cash and Douglas ha!

Making Mama proud! And Layne Brown too! ha

Love it!



Where ya gonna dump the dung Cash?



Our Country Home...

So as most of you know, I am a country girl trapped on a city street!!! Here is where I would like to insert the picture of a crying face. :)  Living in town does have a lot of nice perks but being in the country has a lot more.  As fate would have it I am blessed with the best of both worlds.  My babies love "the farm" as it is now always referred to.  I love it to, for many reasons.  I grew up there, my family is there, all the people that I grew up with and love dearly are close by, it is beautiful and serene!!  I could list a hundred more reasons, kids on the farm learn to drive at 6, 7 or 8 depending on when they are needed.  I was at least that young and my first born niece Malaine already drives.  She is 8 and I must add how very much I love her.  She is so beautiful, sweet and caring.  Arden looks a lot like Malaine, actually all the baby pictures of all the Ard children favor.  Alese loves going to the farm too because she gets to drive when she is there.  I am hoping her Mama is not reading this, maybe I should put a disclaimer at the top that says "Stacie stop reading here, ha.  Alese is 12, when I was 12 I had my own little truck to drive around in and I had already wrecked my first car or should I say my brothers car, sorry John you should not have left the keys! :) 
The kids and I go pretty often, my parents spend a lot of time with them and are always asking to see them or vice versa.  I was very close to my Pappy growing up and it is important to me that my children are close to all of their grandparents.  Since my parents are 60 miles away we have to "work" to make sure they spend time with them.  Lots of meeting in Columbia!!!  Cash is the only grandson and he is my daddy's little buddy for sure.  Daddy or Mama will call and say "we want to get the kids for the weekend" or Cash will start asking to go.  Whatever the situation, we spend good time there.  Master P works a lot so he doesn't always get to go but when he does it is usually for a couple or few nights.  So finally to the point and title of this post!! Our country home!  I began today the long process of preparing our country home.   John built a new house last year and his old house as been just sitting for over a year unloved.  It is a nice little 3 bedroom/2 bathroom brick house.  I have taken on the big task with the help of Daddy of cleaning and fixing up the house.  It is going to be our weekend get away.  I am really super excited about it.  It needs a little TLC but I am perfect for the job.  Today all I could think about was putting up a hammock under all the shady oak trees in the yard.  I will post pictures sometimes, I look for this to be a long process but when it is finished and furnished we will invite our friends that are "city slickers" out for a weekend in the country!  There is just nothing like it.  Shoes are optional in the country but hospitality is not!

Today's Blessings

WOW!  We are loving this fall weather at the James house.  I know it is probably just a little teaser but we will take what we can get when we can get it.  The extreme heat has rarely bothered Cash much, Arden a little and Alese a lot! ha.  Cash will play outside in a shade in 105 degrees and not think twice about it but I don't enjoy playing with him! ha.  This week has been great, yesterday we played all afternoon outside.  Today was a special day because Papa came to visit us and as most of you know, Cash adores his Papa!  He mimics his Papa's every move, I mean literally down to the sound his Papa makes when he spits! :)  Cash was so excited about our special visitor, as soon as he woke up this morning he said "is Papa coming to hang out with us today"?  Now for those of you that know my daddy you know that "hanging out" is not something he does well.  He is a worker, a hard hard worker.  He does nothing that requires him to sit still so hanging out was going to be tough even if it was gonna be with his favorite and only grandson.  When daddy called to say he was at Foxworth (30 minutes from our house)  I told Cash, "Papa will be here soon" so he and Arden got so excited that they climbed on the couch in front of the window and began the task of "watching for Papa".  I knew the moment they could see his truck coming down the road because I heard Arden scream "PAPA HERE" and the front door flew open and out they both went.  We were very happy to see him, we had a loud lunch with him and then went shopping at the "Eagle Store" as my kids have tagged it.  Of course Cash wouldn't let Papa out of his sight and took a ride with him to Patrick's office all the while sweet little Arden cried and cried "I want Papa".  They came home soon enough and Arden was squealing like she hadn't seen him in weeks.

While we were waiting for Papa to get here I  decided to roll out some dumplings that he could take home for he and Mama to have for supper.  Mama took off all last week to be with Daddy and she had to take off Monday and Tuesday this week to tend to some stuff for Maw Maw.  I knew her first day back at work would be rough but because she is just so giving I knew she would feel the need to come home and cook.  While I was cooking the chicken pie Cash came in the kitchen with his new little camo Bible I bought him and he said "mama you want me to read you something from my Bible"?  Of course I said yes and I was amazed as I listened to my 3 year old son tell me about baby Moses, then about the Red Sea and on the story of Noah!  Wow!  I love that he loves these stories that glorify God.  What precious years these are.  How appropriately that when he finished his "reading" Arden started singing Jesus Loves Me.  She knows all the words and it makes my heart smile to hear her sing it. 

I am so thankful that Master P works so hard so that I can indulge in these priceless moments with my children!!!! 

Fall is in the air

What a beautiful Day!!!!  High of 80 which means...... lots of playing in the yard!!  It  was as if Arden knew this morning when she walked out on the porch that today was NOT meant to be spent indoors! She took off running through the front yard, looking over her shoulder as if she was daring me to try to catch her.  So we played chase and we chased some squirrels, or she did I should say.  We played with Cash's trucks and tractors that Gigi just bought him, in fact that's what we did most of the afternoon.  Of course we took a break to "build" a house out of sticks.  I LOVE these kind of days where it isn't to hot to stay outside all day long.  I did actually manage to roll out some dumplins for supper tonight, they were YUM O but I am TIRED O! :)  I will blog later about the August beach trip and the dove hunt at the farm.  I will also get everyone up to speed on Daddy's ticker troubles! Love to all!

Miss Arden's personality!

My sweet little Arden is going through her "inquisitive two's" early!!  She is into everything, climbing, digging, hitting, you name it she is doing it.  She keeps climbing on the table (along with everything else she wants to) but the other day she was climbing on top and standing of the table for the 3rd or 4th time and I told her that if she did again she would be in big trouble.  So I got her down and she ran off with Cash to play.  A few minutes later I was in her room putting clothes away and I hear her saying "Mama trouble, Mama trouble" over and over.  When I walked in the room, there she was standing on the table again letting me know she was in trouble!!! :)  I see a challenge on my hands with her!