Happy 96th Birthday, Granny!

Today Granny turned 96!  Yes, I said 96!  Pretty neat, huh?!  We had her birthday party at the park again this year and thank goodness it was a lot cooler today than last year!  There was a nice breeze and the rain held off.

The Birthday Girl!  Kathryn Elizabeth White.

A little fun was had with her cake... she didn't want the candles to actually say 96, so they say 54 instead!
The icing still said 96.  Since we had a 9, 6, 5, and 4 we tried to talk her into being 9, 654!  Didn't work though. 

This knife is not usually for cake cutting.  It is a watermelon knife, but worked well for cutting her large cake!

Here we go again, the annual Payton v. Dustin battle!  They are having a lot of fun, but it looks like Dustin is winning!

Still having fun!

Part of the gang

This is becoming a yearly event too... hanging Payton's shoes by the rafters!  See HERE for last year's pics.

What you cannot see in this picture is Dustin is holding Payton down so Riley can pour a bottle of cold
water on him.  Notice that her hair is wet.... he got her first and now she is getting even!

Run Payton, Run!

Family Camp 2011 and the Zip Line!!!

In May, we attended the DYF of Indiana's Family Camp weekend.  It was a lot of fun.  It's neat to see how relaxed Riley is there and how much she enjoys being at the campground.  Payton loves it too.  He has a blast every time he is out there!

The whole group + counselors (except for Kyle who is taking the picture and his mom who is holding the ladder) 

Aren't we cute???

And now for the Best part of this year's Family Camp... The Zip Line!  As I've said before, I'm a chicken and did not try it, but the rest of my family did and LOVED it!

At the campfire, Riley and Payton helped lead one of their favorite camp songs: Fudgie the Whale!  Read the lyrics then look at the pictures.  It's fun to see what pictures go with what lyrics!

FUDGIE THE WHALE

I’m a great big mammal

I’m a great big whale

I got a chocolate wig

And a chocolate tail

I bought my car today

Because it was on sale

And when they call for me 

They call for FUDGIE The WHALE!

FUDGIE

FUDGIE

Fudgie the whale

...And a chocolate tail...

FUDGIE.....

...FUDGIE...

Anderson's Christian Radio Station, WQME 98.7 is Wonderful!

In April, I won 2 tickets to see Mercy Me, Natalie Grant, and Brandon Heath all together at Emen's Auditorium on Ball State campus.  As soon as the tickets came in the mail, I called TicketMaster to see if there were any seats available close to the ones that I won.  Can you believe that there were 2 just two seats away from ours?  Amazing!  God is Good!

Once I purchased the extra 2, we started planning for a fun family night in Muncie.  We didn't tell the kids because we wanted it to be a surprise.  We were actually able to keep the secret going until right before we were ready to leave!  Then they were so excited to get to go with us.

The entire show was great!  The best part was getting a picture taken with Natalie Grant and getting her autograph.

Birthday Catch-Ups and Minute To Win It Challenges

On April 10th, Payton turned 9... can you believe it? 9.

He invited 5 friends over for a "Minute to Win it" challenge party.  We played a lot of the fun challenge games that they have played on the hit TV show "Minute to Win it."  With 6 total boys, they drew numbers to pair up into 2 person teams and Riley's friend came over so they could be on a team.  The best part was the team names they came up with!  We had the Bad Boys, the Flying Ninja Tsunami Squirrels, Fat Cakes, and the Squat to Pees!  I bet you can't guess which team name the girls picked!

I'll be posting photo highlights of the party soon!

3rd Grade Basketball Champions!

Payton's 3rd Grade basketball team, the Clemson Tigers, won the championship this weekend!  The boys had a great season and I think they all learned a TON about how to play basketball all while having fun at the same time!

Old Pictures, But Fun Memories

Michelle, Grandma, Felicia, and Larry

Grandma, Felicia, and Michelle

Michelle, Grandma, Felicia, and Larry

The last 2 pictures have hung on my Grandma Bessie's walls probably since they were taken.  Right now I'm not sure what year they were taken, but I know it was a long time ago!  At least 28 years ago for the one with the dolls and longer for the others.

Funny thing is, I remember having these pictures taken.

I remember when Michelle and I laughed at Larry's flower shirt!  He reminded me of the episode of the Brady Bunch when the oldest brother Greg and the rest of the bunch were singing as a group on TV.  Not sure why, because Greg doesn't wear a flowered shirt... but Larry sure made me think of him!  I've posted a few links to view old the Brady Bunch episodes that I've mentioned below this post.  Also, if you want to check out the entire show, watch it on www.hulu.com!  I think this picture was taken at one of the hotels on 231 as you are going into Greencastle, I remember riding in Grandma's big car and picking Larry up on the way.

I remember having to take my Cabbage Patch Kid with me for the other picture.  Not sure if it was me or Grandma that wanted the dolls in the picture.  I think the doll that Michelle is holding is one that Grandma made for her.  I'm pretty sure this picture was taken at the Reelsville Fire Dept.

A little Photo "catch-up"

I love taking pictures of Grandma's barn.   

Looking towards the bridge from down below the house at Grandma's.

Standing along the tree line behind Grandma's house looking up towards the house and barn.  You can see my mom and dad's house in the upper right of the picture.  Right beside where I am standing is where Scott's deer was on the edge of the field in the tree line.

Payton and Mason wishing this buck was theirs!

Mason was telling us how nice of a buck this was and how nice it's body was!

Scott's daughter, Raylan loves to go deer hunting with her daddy!  She wasn't along for this one, but enjoyed being there when they brought it in.

Scott helping Riley and Payton get through the barb wire fence.

Granny, Riley, and Payton at Uncle Raymond's on Thanksgiving Day.  Can you believe that this was Granny's 96th Thanksgiving?  Wow!  (counting her first one when she was 5 months old)

Jerilynn, Riley, Payton, and Anna on Thanksgiving Day.

Riley and Payton playing a DS game together at Grandma and Grandpa T's house the day after Thanksgiving.

Riley was all ready to watch Ramona and Beezus with me and pooped out about half way through!  However, I finished the movie by myself and cried my eyes out!  It's such a good movie.  Gotta love the nice, feel-good movies!

Not many people believe us when we tell them that Buki and Barkley have a very close relationship... honestly -- they do!  They eat out of the same bowl together, at the same time.  They sleep next to each other.  And they love to play together.  If Barkley isn't starting it, Buki is!  Oh, and if you haven't guessed it, Buki is now an inside cat.  We still aren't exactly sure how this happened, but it has something to do with Riley becoming extremely attached to him!

Jon, the kids, and I stayed at my Mom and Dad's until the Sunday after Grandma's funeral.  It was nice to just be there on the farm and enjoy being with family.  It was hard to look down at her house and think that she wasn't there.  It still just didn't seem real.

Saturday we went to visit Grandma Denny (my Mom's Mom) at the nursing home in Brazil.  She was sleeping and was hard to wake up, so we tried to talk with her a little bit, but our visit was short.

Saturday evening, Jon and I went to dinner together in Greencastle, while the kids went over to Aunt Loretta's to play with Mason, Jocelyn, and the rest of the crew.  Jessica had to learn all the in's and out's of diabetes in record time and she did a great job!  It was awesome to have a chance to have dinner with Jon.  Afterwards, we went back to get the kids and sat out by a fire with Jess, Jeff, Scott, Gwen, and all of the kids.  Just being together brought back so many memories of being kids and running around my Grandma's and Aunt Loretta's together.  I'm sorry that it has been so long since we've seen each other and especially sorry that it took a funeral to make it happen.

Sunday morning is when Scott got his buck and I took the pictures of the barn, house, field, etc.  My kiddos were so excited to be a part of the deer experience... such city kids, I know!  I remember being a kid and laughing at friends who would come down and be mesmerized when the hunters would get a deer... now it's my 2 that are mesmerized -- how funny!