Birthday Book

I could have never dreamed of a more wonderful sister-in-law!!

 After a supper of "Mimi Payne's Famous Lasagna" we honored Grandma with birthday cake and presents.

 She is very well loved by her grand kids!!

 My SIL then presented her with her book, filled with birthday greetings from years gone by:  her distant cousin she used to run in the cow pasture with, the pastor whom she sat under his teaching, fed his family from her table and enjoyed Sunday lunches together long before he was known around the world (Rev. David Jeremiah), the friend from 40 years ago with whom she helped to find a property that would launch her new Bible teaching ministry long before she became a household name among Christians (Kay Arthur), the 5th grade students that she spent extra time tutoring because she could see their gifts, the neighbor that she shared many cups of coffee with, the brother-in-law who thanked her for the selfless love that she showed by nursing her cancer-stricken mother-in-law, the parent of the 5th grader that she taught who became a friend for years just because she thought her daughter's teacher was the best.  The list goes on and on.

Grandma is a woman to be celebrated.   I am constantly reminded of the impact that she has had on so many lives as we run into people who she has known and loved.  I can think of no better way to honor her on her 70th birthday than with a memoir in a binder from those who love her dearly!

Surprise!!

Way back in the spring, my SIL had this fabulous idea.  Grandma turns 70 on her birthday next January.  Since my SIL never gets to be with her on her birthday, she suggested we surprise her with a big, half birthday in July.  She set about, months before the big date, to send out masses of emails to people, young and old, who have known Grandma over the years.  Family, friends, students-now-grown, neighbors, etc.  It all had to be kept a secret for months.  She asked folks to write a short birthday greeting to Grandma. The results were beautiful.

As my SIL was compiling this special collection of birthday greetings, we were planning the party on this end.  It would be at our house.  We would serve supper and invite family members who were close enough to attend.  In all the preparations, Granddaddy's only brother in Delaware suggested they join us for the celebration.  It had been a couple of years since they had visited and what better time to come than to surprise Grandma.  It was just getting better.

Keeping our mouths shut as the day approached was the trickiest.  Of all people, I felt the most confident that I wouldn't slip.  Pride comes before the fall.  Sure enough, it was me who mentioned something to her about the aunt and uncle coming from Delaware.  I was able to recover very quickly and she never suspected a thing.  (Either that means I'm a blabber mouth or that I'm a good liar....or both!)

On the big day, we had it planned out to a minute.  Grandma, totally unsuspected, threw us for a loop when she decided she wanted to go shopping all afternoon after VBS.  YIKES!  We recovered thanks to my SIL, who actually turned out to be a very convincing liar.  :)  Multiple times.

So she walks into my house for a casual supper invitation to find birthday decorations and all 11 grandkids screaming "Happy Birthday!".  We then explain that this is her half birthday before her 70th.  

Yeah!  She was surprised.  

"But wait," the oldest 2 grandkids say, "We need more guests."

Tim's first cousins and their family surprise her from around the corner.  

Scream.  Hug.

"But wait," says the next 2 grandkids in line, "We need more guests."

Grandma's sister from Memphis and her husband come around the corner.

Louder scream.  Hug.  Tears.

"But wait," says the next 2 grandkids in line, "We still need more guests."

Around the corner comes Granddaddy's brother and wife from Delware.

Very loud scream.  Hugs.  Lots of tears.

Grandma says through her sobs, "I've never had a birthday party my whole life!"

I think we can call this surprise party a success.

But there's more...

Labs are a Man's Best Friend

 The Fish House is filled with prayers tonight for my little brother, his sweet wife and their 2 kiddos as they had to say a premature good bye to their "firstborn son," Kramer.  

 We know the pain too well.

He was a good dog.  

He was a faithful dog.  

He was loved by many every single second of his life.  

He will be missed.

Kool Aid Coloring

 My sisters introduced us to hair coloring with Kool Aid.  I got mixed up and bought jello instead which thankfully my girls caught my mistake before we made a big, blobby mess.  It didn't turn out as dark as we thought but cute nonetheless.  The middle Fish girls got blue.

 AB had hers done 3 different colors before we found one that actually took to her hair....Red.

 So her little "best buddy" of course wanted red too.

Going to Galilee

ME and Caleb were assistant shopkeepers and tribe leaders.

 VBS was last week and so we spent the week in the small fishing town of Galilee.  We had 4 middle schoolers who served as helpers this year and only had 2 in childcare - which isn't really childcare as our 3 year olds came home with the same crafts as their siblings, singing the same songs as their siblings and even were fed lunch!  My SIL and I were shopkeepers again - this year at the toy shop teaching the kids to make wooden boats that actually float.  Lots of fun!

Leah, Cousin Esther with friend, Anna Kate

 VBS is the highlight of the Fish Sticks and Campbell Cousins' summer.  They love every minute of it.  I wasn't a good photographer this year.  These were my only 3 photos.  Better few than none.

Little Guy's first year as participant.  He was in the tribe of Gad.  It upset him at first as he thought I told him he was in the tribe of Gag!  "Like 'BLAH!'," he said?

Farmer Finds Rest

Being a farmer can plum wear you out!

More Rodents

I totally forgot to tell you that we got 2 additional hamsters this summer.  Caleb has totally fallen head over heels for his hamster, Dallas, that he got back in the winter.  The day he brought it home, though, the sisters were passing it around and one accidentally dropped Dallas - or as I saw it, Dallas squirmed out of her hands onto the floor.  Well that was all he needed to make the rule that NO ONE was allowed to hold his pet, Dallas.  It was very sad for all the little Fish Sticks who were dying to pet the little rodent.  Sometimes his Mama would take Dallas from her cage and tuck the Fish Sticks in bed to give little Dallas some exercise and social time with someone other than his owner.  It was a secret though and all Fish Sticks knew to keep it under hat.

But sometimes little 5 year old boys get excited about holding cute, little, fuzzy hamsters and accidentally spilled the beans.  That was the end of our secret night time routine.  One night later, this Mama found a tiny lock on the hamster cage that only a tiny key can open.  Grrr.

So I told the Fish Sticks that we would buy a Homeschool Hamster.  Our very, own special class pet.  As soon as school let out, we headed to the pet store to purchase our new pet.  Caleb got wind of our plans and decided he would buy another hamster and also upgrade his cage to a new and fancy one.  We bought his old one for a discounted price and came home with Starbucks, the homeschool pet and Star, the sidekick to Dallas (there's an NFL theme here if you can't see it) with a new hamster mansion for the 2 new buddies.

Quickly we learned that it's near impossible to introduce old hamsters with new hamsters.  They can and will actually kill one another.  Star was taken from her new mansion and placed in the homeschool haven with Starbucks.  They seemed to co-habitate nicely as they had been together at the pet store and there was a 50% chance that Starbucks was the birth mother of Star.

All Fish Sticks were happy.

Until last week we came home from the lake weekend to find Starbucks with war wounds.  Seems there had been some domestic violence while we were away.  The following 2 mornings, the Fish Sticks found Starbucks with more small, bleeding wounds.  They were outraged.  They had been generous to allow Star free room and board with Starbucks and here Star was abusing the very woman who possible gave her birth!!  How dare she!  The sisters came to Caleb very upset and insistent that he find a new home for Star.

And so Star was given to Caleb's friend from school who also lives down the road.  We all said good bye and look forward to babysitting Star next week while our friends go on vacation.  And now all is well and peaceful in the Fish House.

Summer Garden

We planted melons this year!!

Don't Grab the Chain

Why would you make a paper chain the length of a football field?  

To tie to your ponytail and play Rapunzel, of course!

Hot Hot Jamboree

 We have never been able to go to the lake on the 4th of July because the kids' camp fell that weekend.  This was our first and we got to attend the Annual Fiddler's Jamboree.  It was blazing hot outside but we sweated like pigs and had a good time anyway!  We even went twice.

My Man makes me laugh!  I promise there was only Sprite in his cup.

 We loaded up after a day on the water and took a 30 minute drive to Sentosa...the buffet restaurant I told you about.  In Singapore, the island of Sentosa has an acronym that the taxi drivers shared with us.  So Expensive Nothing to See Also.  But this Sentosa was not expensive with too many options of food.  A good thing to have when you have 17 hungry mouths to feed.  As we pulled into the parking lot, our hearts sank to see that Sentosa has gone out of business before we got to share the Sentosa experience with our Turkey cousins.  Mexican was the substitute.

The cousin table

I know it's hard to see but the 2 little boys were memorized by the table of police men that came in to dine.  Grandaddy took them over to the table to say hello to the officers and for them to get a close up look at the guns in their holsters.

And although we didn't partake of deep fried pickles or funnel cakes (who wants that when it's 100 degrees and humid?), we did have fun watching some teenage boys blow big bucks to race plastic remote controlled cars around a track.  Good times at the Fiddler's Jamboree!

Fish Family Fun

 Right after the Payne family get together, the Fish side headed to the lake house with My Man's twin cousins and their family.  We had a great day on the boat...until it broke down again.  Thank goodness it was at the dock this time...and no tourists were there to take photos at our expense.  :)

We're going crazy....wanna come?

Out on the Town

 

My crazy little sister was dying to show her hubby the city of Nashville.  She had the idea for the adults to hit the town, leave the kids to babysit one another and go country line dancing at the Wild Horse Saloon in Nashville.  Nonie and Pops weren't able to make it because Pops had a couple more days of work before his actual retirement, but my SIL and her hubby were able to join us.

I hadn't been to Wild Horse Saloon since my senior year of college in 1994.

 My big sis was a huge Micheal Bolton fan so when I saw this poster right behind us, I had to take a photo of her with her ole' heart throb.

Self-portrait with my best friend and SIL

Here's a fuzzy photo of the young 30 something girls dancing.  They decided that it was a shame that no one was line dancing to Michael Jackson's Billy Jean.  The Boot Scootin' Boogie was calling them up.  The 40 something crowd seemed to lack bravery - oh yea, add the 30 something husbands in with that group.  Wonder what Nonie and Pops would have done when CCR started playing?

Our hubby's got a few videos of us dancing and learning new dances, but I will just let you pretend you saw us cut a rug.  My BIL, Ross, brought the most laughs when he got up to learn and had no problem adding his own personal jive to the moves of the instructor.  It seems the reserved and soft-spoken missionary principal has a wild side we got a sneak peak at.  If only I had that on video...

I'm so glad I have a fun little sis that draws me back in time and reminds me how to be crazy and have fun doing things from my youth, no matter how dusty my boots have gotten.  Thanks for the memory, Rach!

It's Show Time

For Pop's retirement party, we had a luau theme.  Five of the cousins worked long and hard to put together a show for Pops and the rest of us.  They had Hawaiin music playing on a Kindle and choreographed the entire thing.

And what's a luau without a ukelele?

My brother had the idea to buy my Dad a clock just like the one that my Papa kept on his mantel.  It was a Seth Thomas vintage clock that used to sit on my Papa's, mantel.  He was a retired Navy Captain and my Dad had always loved the clock and the chimes that told the sailor's when their shift ended and began.

I think Dad really liked his surprise!  It brought back lots of good memories for all of us of the many summer's and Christmas' spent at my grandparents house in VA.

Faces of My Family

My sister, Rachel, my sis-in-law, Mandy and my brother, Justin

My neice, Rebecca and my sister, Katie

And the couple that got all of this crazy, fun family started

The 2 girls who share a birthday.  Uncle Justin, this photo is for you!

My SIL and her sweet, baby Reese

My 2 little knuckle heads

And one cutie pa-tootie!