Our baby celebrated her 21st birthday with a little help from some of her nieces and nephews.
Flowers from my garden decorated a yellow cake with her favorite Fluffy Chocolate Frosting
Raider creatively arranged the pillow for his snooze on the sofa. 
In the spring we contacted our township about a tree at the curb that was in decline. They arrived today to remove it.
The township planted trees in our neighborhood many years ago and sadly some of them are now in need of removal.
I saw what is probably one of the last hummers of the season at the feeder.
And something that makes me very happy...I got my new-to-me car in the garage!The past few weeks I have been working diligently downsizing and disposing of things we don't need.I have gone through every closet, nook and cranny.It feels much better already and reminds me of a song from a while back that I loved by Sara Groves and Joel Hanson called Traveling Light.Well I was doubling over the load on my shoulders
Was a weight I carried with me everyday
Crossing miles of frustrations and rivers a raging
Picking up stones I found along the way
I staggered and I stumbled down
Pathways of trouble
I was hauling those souvenirs of misery
And with each step taken my back was breaking
'Til I found the One who took it all from me
Down by the riverside
(Down by the riverside)
I laid my burdens down,
Now I'm traveling light
My spirit lifted high
(I found my freedom now)
I found my freedom now
And I'm traveling light
Through the darkest alleys and loneliest valleys
I was dragging those heavy chains of doubt and fear
Then with the one word spoken the locks were broken
Now He's leading me to places
Where there are no tears
Down by the riverside
(Down by the riverside)
I laid my burdens down,
Now I'm traveling light
My spirit lifted high
(I found my freedom now)
I found my freedom now
And I'm traveling light
Down by the riverside
I laid my burdens down,
Now I'm traveling light
My spirit lifted high
I found my freedom now
And I'm traveling light
Down by the riverside
(Down by the riverside)
I laid my burdens down,
Now I'm traveling light
My spirit lifted high
(I found my freedom now)
I found my freedom now
And I'm traveling light
For ease in filling each shell, I use a decorator with a large opening tip.
An added bonus... they freeze really well!Assemble in a foil pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap and then foil and freeze. When ready to serve, thaw and bake as above. {remember to remove the plastic wrap before baking}
After getting PopPop and Jared, our first stop was McDonald's for dinner and giggles. Even at 9-years old, the girls still had fun climbing and sliding in the Playland gym.
Next it was to our local high school to see a delightful production of Annie followed by ice-cream sundaes with all the toppings at home.It was a late night, but Keri and Anni were up early and helped me make a pancake and sausage breakfast with tea in their own birthday-month tea cups. (The girls are 20 days apart in age)
Heaven knows why the kids are all fascinated about our crawl space. They couldn't resist helping PopPop bring up boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations. Then it was outside to gather leaves... again. Our yard did not look like we already spent days raking/blowing/hauling leaves to the front curb, so Jared, Keri and Anni helped PopPop gather more for the leaf collection trucks coming this week.
It didn't take much coaxing from Keri and Anni for me to get out my childhood Barbie dolls. The girls played for a couple of hours on my bed enjoying the same dolls I played with at their age.
There were also pots of tea with cream and sugar cubes, art work created, Mad Libs to chuckle over and hours of chatter.
More Ice-cream, the Muppet's Christmas Carol movie and finally bedtime.Our church has two campus's and this morning we will attend church at their campus and then enjoy a fellowship lunch together after service.I haven't done one ounce of decorating yet but I sure did enjoy every moment with these two cuties.
The above vest and hat were made using the recommended RED HEART® “Soft Yarn.The other two sets were made using yarn I had in my stash and resulted in a slightly larger garment but still fitting nicely. I used a "G" hook for all crocheting. 
Lacy Leaf Hat
and it is just the right lime greenwhat I envisioned it would be
sometimes
in certain lighting
during the day with natural lighting the color is beautiful
but in the evening with the lights on...well, not as lovelyI'll be able to live with it for a while and will enjoy the fun change.But just not sure where I will go next with the wall color~*~
His tweet got me thinking about how to help even more. Remember the little fundraiser we did for Monterey Bay and Heifer International? I was happy to report of the $300 we raised. So I thought, why not try to help out this cause for AB's birthday here too.
Alton Brown will help the Tennessee Aquarium with their new sustainable seafood endeavor later this fall. The "Serve and Protect" project will raise awareness and promote local and sustainable seafood choices.