Visit with the Grandkids

Erica, Chris and the kids stopped by on their way to Florida.  After living here for two years it was nice that they had a chance to visit.  I was especially glad Isabella got to see our new house.  She knew we moved but didn't understand the distance and why I couldn't just come over to her house as often.  Now that she has come to visit and sees how long it takes to get here she understands. 

They arrived Friday evening and we decided to have a cookout.  Greg's family and Frankie and his family came over to see everyone.  They have not seen the kids so it was nice that everyone had a chance to visit with them.  After everyone left Isabella spotted my craft room so we spent the rest of the evening making crafts.

On Saturday we went to a few yard sales, then to Mikes farm  http://www.mikesfarm.com/ to get some fresh picked Strawberry's.  We especially like to go there at Christmas, they have a fabulous light show. 

Antique Tractor

Isabella 

Raymond

 

They were having a yard sale and Raymond found a friend.

Later that day we drove to the beach for a short visit.  The kids had a blast running on the beach and playing in the sand. 

Lily was all smiles

Isabella had a blast playing in the sand and picking up seashells.

Isabella

Looking for seashells

Raymond was so much fun to watch, he just loved running around and playing in the sand.  It was funny as soon as we walked out on the beach he went right for the water.  A wave came in a he fell down on his butt in the water.  The next time he went near the water as soon as a wave started to come in he would turn around and run the other way.  

Raymond and Grandpa

Isabella and Raymond

  

We were very disappointed that they only stayed for one day but glad the weather was nice enough to take them to see the beach by our house.  It's always a special time when we get to visit with them.

Till next time.....

Love,

Jennifer

Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend we decided to go to visit Alexander in WV.   Alexander's parents were doing his bedroom into a sports theme.  We bought him a bookcase and I got a great deal on a slightly damaged cubbie for his toys at pottery barn (grandpa was able to fix it).  My sister-in-law made his sports curtains so we went to help him put the finishing touches on his room. It turned out really cute.

A friend painted this football stadium on his wall

They made the football headboard

On Saturday we went to watch Alex at his baseball practice.  He did well although he is a little leery when the ball comes at him.  He got hit in the head again with the ball so that is not helping. 

Alex and Grandpa put together one the the projects from Lowes.  These kits are really nice and Alex really likes doing them with his grandpa.

Alex and Grandpa

The finished project

Saturday night Alex painted Easter eggs.

Sunday his parents wrote some clues for him to find the eggs outside around the house.

Nice family picture

While we were there Greg showed Bobby how to change out some of the lights around their house.  Greg is very good at working with the kids to teach them how to do things around the house. (I guess that's why he makes a good teacher)  Bobby was a little nervous working with the electricity.  Greg did one light and then had Bobby do the rest.  He did very well and I'm proud of him.

Bobby changing the outside light

They look really nice

It was nice to visit since we hadn't seen Alex since Christmas.  Greg had spring vacation the following week so we didn't have to rush.  We always have a nice time visiting with them and the weather was great.  I can't believe how grown up Alex is becoming they just grow up too fast.   We went home Monday morning.  We stopped at my favorite grocery store  Wegmans in Fredericksburg,Virginia  http://www.wegmans.com   to pick up a few things.  I like their paper goods so I always stock up and they have the best prices on chicken and ground beef.  I take a cooler when I know I'm traveling that way and stock up on my way home.

Till next time.....

Love,
Jennifer

Bathroom Remodel

Well we finally finished Greg's sisters bathroom.  We started out by taking down the wallpaper, and all the fixtures.  We patched up the walls and got them ready to paint.  We also ripped up the floor so Greg could put down a ceramic tile floor.

Before

Before

Old Cabinet

She wanted a ceramic tile floor so Greg put one in for her.

Floor Before

Floor After

We painted the walls blue and put in a new cabinet, mirror and lights. 

New Cabinet

New Mirror and Lights

It was a lot of work but it turned out really nice and she loves it. Of course now she wants her kitchen done!  What have we gotten ourselves into :)  We will have to think about that one, now that it's getting nice out we have a lot of work in the yard to do and finish fixing our fence.

Till next time....
Love,
Jennifer

Birthday Party in PA

We traveled to PA for Lily's 1st Birthday and Raymond's 3rd Birthday.   Lily was born on grandpa's birthday so we had three birthdays in one weekend.  The party theme was curious George.

 

Grandpa and Lily had a professional picture taken together on their birthday which turned out really nice.  Erica made some yummy food and bought some really good cupcakes.  Everyone had a really nice time.  It's hard to believe how fast they grow up.  Isabella is five and will be signing up for kindergarten soon.  She is a great big sister always helping with the little ones.

All dressed up for the party

Raymond is such a trooper with everything he goes through.  I love to see him walking around, he is like the energizer bunny.  He loves Elmo and is fun to watch when he moves around when Elmo is singing.

Raymond and Elmo

Raymond

Lily is just super cute with her big eyes and pretty smile.  She is a grandpa baby and always wanted him to hold her when he was around.  (plus he would give her snacks)

Lily

 

Lily in her birthday dress

Saturday night when we came out of K-mart is was snowing.  My poor car hasn't seen snow in a long time.

This was a very quick trip for the weekend birthday's.  We had a nice time and wished we could have stayed a little longer.  I always have such a hard time leaving. 

My event planning class is going well and the remodel of Greg's sister's bathroom is also going well.  Hopefully this weekend we can get most of it finished. I guess that will depend on what type of floor we put down.  I will post pictures when we are done.

Till next time....
Love,
Jennifer

Chili Festival & New Year

It sure has been a long time since I've written, goodness I need to get on the ball for the new year.  Hope everyone had a great safe and happy holiday.  November and December was so busy for us, we had a 50th birthday party for Greg's sister and did a lot of traveling for the holidays. I look forward to all that 2012 has to offer.

We went to the chili cookoff at the First Christian Church of Richlands  http://www.fccrichlands.org/
This was the second year and they had several more chili cookers join in on the fun.  We walked around and tasted everyone's chili and then voted.  This year they added a car show, I love to walk around and check out all the old car's.  I sure would like to own one.   (Sorry forgot to take my camera) 

Weather wise January has been very mild.  This has given us a chance to do some cleaning out of the garage.  Still can't put the cars in but that's ok, only need to do that if there is a hurricane.  We have been able to get a new sofa and chair for our family room.  This was so exciting since I haven't had new furniture in fifteen years.  We have found a store in our town that only sells made in the USA furniture.  Made us proud that our furniture was made in Indiana. 

I have started a new class taking Event Planning at the community college.  I have done fundraising for ten years for the Lancaster Heart Foundation.  This is something that I love to do.  Living in Jacksonville I don't know what businesses are around so taking the class will help me with that.  We take field trips to different places that hold weddings and different vendors you can use for different events.  It's a lot of fun, who knows maybe I'll become a professional fundraiser. 

I guess that's all for now, take care and stay warm. 

Love,
Jennifer

Farmer's Festival / Seafood Festival

Festival season is in full swing.  The first one we went to was the Farmer's day festival. http://www.friendsoffarmers.org.   Richlands Friends of Farmers is a nonprofit organization striving to provide scholarships for high school students planning to further their education in the agriculture, horticulture and environmental science fields. This is a nice small festival and is for a good cause.  It's just down the road from our house so makes it nice we don't have to drive very far.  There is always a very nice collection of tractors.

There was a stand that had some really nice painted bird houses.  No I did not buy any, we have a bird house that we were filling when we first moved into our house.  We ended us with so many birds in our yard that we stopped filling it.  

We walked around for a little, had a barbque sandwich then headed home.


The next weekend was the Spot festival.  It actually rained all weekend so we went through the drive through to get a spot dinner.  I really like the spot fish.


This past weekend my nephew Craig and his wife Selena came to visit.  Friday afternoon we went to the Duplin Winery http://www.duplinwinery.com
We took the wine tour and then had a wine tasting.  This winery really does a nice job with their wine tasting and makes it a lot of fun.  After that we headed home and had spaghetti for supper.  I have a very good recipe that I make with wine.  I put it in the crock pot before we left so it was ready when we got home.


Saturday we went to a few yard sales where Selena found some good stuff.  About that we left for the seafood festival.  Once there we walked around and checked out the food stands.  We stopped and had some shrimp then headed to the chef's tent to see what they were cooking.  The first demonstration we watched was red drum (which is the state fish) with vegetables.  Yummy it was really good.  The next demonstration was a flounder sandwich which was also very good.  The restaurants that do the demo's all serve fresh local seafood that they get from the local fisherman.


We then checked out all the craft stands and ate a lot more seafood (plus the chocolate covered cheesecake). That evening they had fireworks which we stayed to watch.  It was a very nice day and we had a lot of fun.


Sunday we went to the Vietnam Memorial gardens.  They really did a nice job with the gardens.

The garden started with a memorial to the Marines killed in Beirut.

 

The name of all the Marines killed in Beirut

This year they added a memorial to 911. 

A piece of beam from 911

We then headed to Emerald Isle to have lunch at Rucker Johns then checked out all my favorite shops.  We headed over to the beach to take a walk and find seashells.  The water was very warm but the air was chilly. Selena found some really nice shells to take home.
We decided to drive up to Fort Macon to see if they were opened.  Since we were last there the new building is opened.  They have a very nice gift shop and a nice educational section.

Greg & Selena

 

From the fort we walked over to the beach.  This is a beach were you cannot go swimming.  It is actually water, where the ocean meets the sound which causes very strong currents.  This is a place were a lot of people fish from.  Selena found some really cool shells on this beach.

Craig & Selena

Monday we went to Southern Comforts which a a very cute gift shop in town.  Checked out a second hand store then meet Greg at smithfields.  Craig and Selena wanted to check out some southern barbque and fried chicken.  They really enjoyed smithfields but then it was time for them to head home.  We really had a fun filled and packed weekend.  We have a lot more planned when they visit again.


Well that's all for now, 2 more festival coming up this weekend.


Till next time....
Love,
Jennifer