With 28 days to go, I should have been doing projects for the wedding. But what did I do instead? .....We went to John Deere Day , of course. We decided that with wedding planning and our usual chores, life had just about beaten us down, so we needed a break, and we took it. What fun we had. We met Shannon and her family at our local John Deere dealership for an exciting day. Jackson enjoyed playing in a feed trough filled with shovels and buckets to scoop feed corn. Hudson enjoyed kicking back in his stroller.
Joey and his little man sure love the tractors.
They even climbed up inside. That tractor was over $50,000. Wow.
Dream on...
Jackson rode a pony.
Giddy up...
Shannon and her little fellows.
Hudson just took it all in. He has the brightest eyes and such a sweet disposition.

I guess this is the closest Jackson has been to chickens and ducks.
He got to pet a goat.

Easter Bunny showed up with eggs for the kids, but Jax wasn't so sure. We enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch.
Jackson tried milking the cow. They had a tank of water inside that cow. He had a tough time squeezing hard enough.

I believe his favorite thing of all was climbing up on all the equipment.

Mimi and Buddy do love these boys.
Shannon and Jason with their little guys.

One tired baby.

Jackson loves his Buddy so much. They are going off into the sunset to explore more tractors.


A very fun day was had by all. To top it all off , Joey and I went to eat our favorite...Mexican food last night. I think that was the best day I've had in a very long time.

Sheila

The Countdown Begins

Well, the countdown has begun. We have 44 more days to get it all together.

On my chalkboard door I have featured a countdown and some photos from Shawn and Darris' engagement photo shoot. The quote says: "Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they bloom when we love the ones we marry". So true!

We have her first shower this Sunday at my longtime friend ,Betsy's house.

Shawn is getting so excited. I believe we will have a good turnout.

The invitations have been mailed. Shannon just called, and said she received hers today.

My sister-in-law, Ginger did a beautiful job printing them.

Now to keep it all organized and tie up all those loose ends.

Ready or not..here it comes...soon.

More Wedding Plans

Here is our little ringbearer. Jackson was so excited when his suit came in the mail. He seemed kind of proud to try it on. He says it is his "outfit for Aunt Shawn's wedding". We just hope he cooperates with us that night. He is 2 1/2 after all....keeping our fingers crossed , and the bribes will be in my purse.

Dapper little dude. We found some cute brown suede shoes to go with his suit.




I printed off the wedding programs and folded them and ran them through the

sewing maching with a zig-zag stitch for a decorative touch. We like things to

be unique. I don't know if you can see the stitching very well.

I sewed a banner for the drinks table using the fabrics we made into the birdseed bags. In addition to iced tea and lemonade, we are having a large wash tub full of ice and canned drinks.

So the banner will add a fun touch to that area. And we can use it again for spring decorating or picnics.
I have been collecting all kinds of old and not so appealing candlestick holders. I am painting them Heirloom White. There is a large stone fireplace with a rustic wood mantle at the site , and we will saturate it with candles on the mantle and inside the fireplace. We plan to cover a plywood letter W in moss and place on the mantle as well.

I am not getting anything productive done today, and probably won't for the next few. I went to the doctor yesterday and found out I have pneumonia and strep, so she told me to rest for the next 5 days to avoid the hospital. There is no time for hospital now. She gave me a sinus cocktail shot,antibiotics, some steroid nose spray, prednisone dose pack, and some heavy duty cough medicine, and I do feel better today--much less wheezing and I can breathe. Now if I can quit coughing.

Well, that's all for today. Hopefully I will recover quickly, because I have my daughter's wedding shower to attend this weekend. Stay well...

Sneak Peek , Wedding Planning

I'll show you what has been keeping us so busy lately. We have been crafting projects for Shawn's wedding. This bucket holds little calico bags I sewed up and we filled with birdseed for throwing. She is having a relaxed, casual, rustic style wedding in April.
The building in which it will be held is quite plain and rustic, so we are going to have to gussy it up a bit. She doesn't want anything to really be matchy matchy, but to coordinate. Hence, the mismatched fabrics and ribbons, and even twine and raffia.

This little menu I printed off the computer and placed in a frame I found at the Goodwill. I painted and glazed and distressed it a bit. So shabby chic.

You read right, we are having fried chicken, mashed taters, mac and cheese, corn pudding, fried green tomatoes, pork tenderloin with crabmeat dressing, deviled eggs, green bean bundles, and banana pudding. Instead of wedding cake we are having cupcakes, ...from Muddy's Bakeshop, no less. Comfort food!

I sewed this ringbearer's pillow from burlap. (Jackson will be the ringbearer.) I embellished with some scrap pieces of lace and buttons I had found at yard sales and thrift stores. I don't throw much away. You never know when you might need it. Ha. Notice the bleached peacock feather. She is using peacock feathers, both bleached and colored ones throughout her theme.
I stripped and recovered a guest book and pen set that I purchased half price from Hobby Lobby. I also covered them with burlap and lace scraps.


Here is a little collection of the items we have made. The cake stand was made by Shawn's fiancee, Darris from an old tree stump. He is making more for the cupcake table. We also made a peacock feather pen and glitzed it up a bit with an old rhinestone earring.

We are saving jars to place tealight and votive candles in. I want to make a very large letter W for the mantel, covered in moss. Has anyone ever done this? Did you use styrofoam or thin plywood? I'll let you know how it turns out.





Well, I can't wait til the wedding. I think it will be beautiful. And yummy.

I haven't posted in so long. We did have to spend time searching for a new car after the old one was totaled. This is not what I wanted to do at this time in my life. We are planning a wedding, and for those of you who have planned or are planning your own weddings, it is a lot of work and takes up ALL your free time. Maybe soon I can sneak a peek at what we've been making for my youngest daughter's wedding. Well, back to the car...

As you can see, we found one. It is a Ford Edge, and I really like it. It is too smart for me , and I haven't learned all about it yet, but I do now how to operate it, and it gets me to work.

And I think she's pretty in red. I am partial to anything in red.

I was also hit with the stomach virus 2 weeks ago and now bronchitis for the past week. Both of which I picked up from the grandsons. Oh, well, they share.

I hope I can manage to post a bit more often, but my life doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. Will it ever?