Swimming Lessons

Today Alex will start swimming lessons. Two weeks of splashing around at the local fitness center and hopefully he will learn to be a great swimmer. I learned to swim the old fashioned way – my Uncle pushed me in the pool and said swim or die.

This was after one of his lessons last year.  What a cute little bug-eyed mess.

I’m convinced Alex was born to make me laugh – as in this photo, who wouldn’t, couldn’t think this is funny, right?

And he has questions and comments, priceless to hear and important to remember.  Such as when I told him not to eat watermelon seeds because he might grow watermelons out of his ears if they were dirty, he replied, “And everyone would call me a loser?” Laugh, laugh, uncontrollably laugh……

By the way, he HATES and is scared of fireworks…….so this is how we helped him get through the 4th of July, his Poppy’s yard ear protectors.  Thank goodness he wasn’t afraid of the many fireworks displays we saw at Walt Disney World this summer.  Maybe it’s just the ones we pop on the driveway.

I love summer – even with its hotness we wouldn’t have swimming lessons and maybe more stories to share.

Happy 4th of July

I wanted to take just a minute out of my 4th of July weekend to wish everyone a safe holiday.  Also to share a few of my favorite patriotic pictures.

These pictures were made on my trip to DC back in 2007 when I testified before a Congressional committee.

The flag on the Washington Monument – I had to lay down on the ground to get this one.  But I must say it was worth it. Gives me chills to look at it even to this day.

At the tomb of the unknown soldier.  This was a great memory to see how they honor our fallen heroes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I call this one PINK AND PROUD.

A beautiful pink dogwood that was in full bloom when we were at Arlington Cemetary.

Our family is off to the lake tomorrow for a day of boating and then back home to grill out. But I won’t forget the sacrifices made so we can celebrate our independence.  GOD BLESS AMERICA!

The Perfect Seven

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I have a really, really good excuse.  Seven pounds of perfection came to change our world.

Introducing my FIRST NEWBORN GRANDDAUGHTER:

Lilliana Victoria Marshall

May 12, 2010 @ 4:00 pm

7 lbs – 19 1/4 inches

Lilliana was born on her Mommy’s birthday.  So perfect. So sweet. So beautiful. So loved. So timely.

The Marshall family has had its run of boys.  I have three sons, my sons have four sons. When my oldest son got married his wife had a beautiful daughter we instantly fell in love with, but we didn’t get to experience the newborn stage of that granddaughter. Finally, our Mary Katherine will have a Marshall girl cousin.

Don’t get me wrong – I love my boys and all that comes with them.  I heard someone say that boys are moving dirt. That pretty much sums it up.  Scruffy, tough, into everything, loud, messy, always hungry, curious.  Lots of things describe my boys. Now let’s HEAR IT FOR THE GIRLS!

I wanted to post a few photos. I’m not sure how much posting (if any) will get done in the weeks ahead. I miss having time to sit and go through the wonderful blogs.  My friend Teresa will be so glad I’ve finally done a blog on the baby.  She was faithful to sit with us the entire day until Lilli made her debut. I think she may have been as excited as we were!  But she does love, love, love Lilli’s Daddy and is quick to tell everyone.  Here he is learning to be a Dad.  Look at Lilli sucking her fingers.

Here are a few photos. Just know there will be many, many more to come!

This was made with my mobile phone while I was on rocking duty.

And my ALL TIME FAVORITE SO FAR – my first time to dress Lilli in one of the countless outfits I have bought for her.  Our first outing together – 9 days old. Can you tell I’m in love?

I'm Back

If I can drag myself out of bed today, I want to work on a new post. I just finished giving a baby shower for my sweet daughter-in-law and my son over the weekend. So leading up to it there was much to be done.

Now I have an awful cold and am generally run down. But I miss my blogging friends and feel like I have neglected all of you. So bear with me. Today I want to catch up on all your news and maybe share some of my own.

Me and Nicholas Cage

So now that I have your attention, I can say I did spend part of my day with Nicholas Cage. For several years now I have worked as a background artist, which is fancy for movie extra. Fun, fun and more fun. I've lost count how many films I've done, but I think it's at least a dozen. Maybe more.

Today I worked on a film called Drive Angry which is being filmed right here in my little home town. I was cast as a cougar, not the animal, but the female type after younger men. The scene was in a bar where lots of us cougars were on the prowl.

Maybe I'll have more to talk about tomorrow. But I do love most of Nic's films -- those that I can remember. Right now this cougar needs some sleep. It's really hard chasing younger men for a living.

Sprinter

It's Sprinter here in Shreveport, Louisiana -- that's Spring with Winter hanging on. We woke up to snow flurries this morning. It's beautifully strange to look out of my kitchen window to see the beautiful blooming dogwoods and see the snow falling in the branches. What a sight on this amazing snowy Sprinter Sunday!

Wrong Number

Today I don't have a lot to think about. You can tell because I'm blogging about wrong numbers.

Okay, so we all get them. Those random wrong numbers. Oh, I'm sorry, wrong number. Excuse me, wrong number. Sorry, I dialed the wrong number. I've dialed my share of wrong numbers and you know it happens to all of us.

Our home phone number has been the same since 1977 and it ends in 1810.  How lucky we are that the Wal-Mart Portrait Studio's phone number ends in 1018. We get so many wrong numbers for them it's unbelievable. There was one time they even printed an advertisement incorrectly with our 1810 number on it. My poor little hubby got so frustrated with the calls he started making appointments and telling unsuspecting moms their photos were ready to be picked up. That's wrong on many levels. I could see frantic mothers trying to get little ones dressed in coordinating outfits only to find out they didn't have an appointment. He must repent of that transgression and never do it again, I know. That's why today when I got another Wal-Mart Photo wrong number I just said sorry wrong number.

The funniest wrong number story I have happened a couple of years ago. The phone rang at 2:00 am which is always a real heart stopper. Immediately I think someone's been hurt or has died. You know that sinking feeling when the phone rings in the wee hours of the morning. Hubby answered and immediately realized it was a wrong number. After he said hello he just hung it up without saying another word. Within a few seconds the phone rang again. This time the caller said, "You didn't have to hang up on me ***hole". Really?

Got any wrong number stories? I know you all have one. Hubby also answered one of those middle of the night calls to hear, "Daddy, Daddy, it's a girl." Obviously, a wrong number because at the time we weren't expecting any babies. So he just offered his congrats and told her wrong number.

Gotta go – the phone’s ringing.  Please, I hope it’s not a wrong number.