It's a Girl!

                  Andrew & Jen-Yu are having a girl!

Snakes & Snails or Sugar & Spice

Construction Update

On Sunday, Forrest, Andrew, Jen-Yu and I went to Jemison to check out the progress on my parents new house. As you can see, it is looking good and pretty soon they will be moving in.

This is the front of the house. There are no steps yet, so we have to climb up on a board.

This is the back. There will be a screened porch here.

This is my parents standing in their new living room.

They decided to finish off the attic space, so this gives them a lot of extra room.

What's Happening

We have had lots of work going on at our house the last couple of weeks. We had to have all of the coating on the bricks stripped off and a new coating put on. It took 6 days of pressure washing to get the all of the old coating off. This is what the bricks look like with the coating stripped off:

-and this is what the new coating looks like:
Now they are starting to paint all of the trim and siding to match the new coating on the bricks. I will be glad when everything is finished.

On a sad note, we lost our 12 year old kitty, Byron, last week. He died from liver failure and we miss him very much.

Baby Things

Since I am about to become a Grandmother for the first time, I have felt the need to make baby things. Since we don't know yet if the baby will be a girl or a boy, I have tried not to be too gender specific in the things I have made so far. My niece however is also pregnant and she already knows that she is having a boy, so some of these things will be going to that little fellow. The bibs are made from washcloths with a crocheted edging around them. The baby blankets are flannel with  a crocheted edging around them.

Folk Festival

Forrest and I spent the whole weekend at the Leeds Folk Festival. We were manning Andrew and Jen-Yu's booth since both of them had to work. Our tent had the space right in front of their building, so that made everything very convenient. All we had to do was bring everything out the door and set it up. There were lots of art and crafts booths, food, music and a farmer's market. Here are some pictures of the event including our tent and some of those attending:

We are going to be grandparents!

That's right, we are going to be grandparents! Our son Andrew and his wife Jen-Yu are expecting a baby. It is due around the end of April or first of May. Everyone is really excited. Here is a picture from the doctor's appointment yesterday:

Construction

My parents are building a house! Forrest, Andrew and I took a trip yesterday to check out the construction. Most of the framing is done and it is really starting to look like a house. My parents are going to be so much more comfortable in the new house and from the looks of things, it will not be too much longer until they move in. I can't wait to see the finished product.

'shrooms

After all the rain last week, we have had an abundance of mushrooms popping up everywhere. Yesterday, I went out with my camera and made some photos of the 'shrooms. Here are some of them:

Rain, Rain and More Rain

I have not written anything in a while, but there has not been much to tell. There is not much happening here except rain. Four whole days of rain so far. Tropical storm Fay has left us saturated, but I can't complain because we needed the rain. While it has been raining, I have started to make some crocheted Christmas ornaments. I always make some kind of ornaments to tie to my Christmas gifts every year and it looks like this is going to be it this year:

Happy Anniversary Daniel & Magen

Today is Daniel & Magen's 2nd wedding anniversary, so happy anniversary to Daniel & Magen!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Yesterday was Andrew's 29th Birthday. It is difficult to believe that it has been 29 years since the day he was born! We had a party with just the family and we cooked some food on the grill and had birthday cake and homemade ice cream. Here are a couple of photos of the fun:

Weekend Project

Our project for this weekend is scrubbing, touching up and resealing our kitchen floor. We need to do this about once a year and we were overdue on the project this year. This was a good weekend  to do it because Daniel and Magen have gone out of town to visit some of Magen's relatives so there are fewer people in the house that will need to be getting in the kitchen. We have finished the work and now all we have to do is let it dry. Hopefully, we will be able to keep Byron off the floor until it dries. He has already tried to get his little paws in there. Here are some pictures of Forrest at work:

Daniel & Magen Cook!

Yesterday, Daniel and I went to Whole Foods and got the ingredients and Daniel and Magen cooked last night- a delicious fondue dinner. When Daniel and Magen were in France, they had fondue and loved it, so they have been promising to make it for us and last night was the night! Here are some photos of the fantastic fondue:

Aldridge Botanical Gardens

Forrest & I were looking for somewhere different to walk so we decided to travel to Aldridge Botanical Gardens today (not much of a trip actually, since Aldridge Gardens is in Hoover which is where we live). It is beautiful there. They are well known for their hydrangeas which are past their peak blooming season, but many of them are still very pretty. Here are some photos of what we saw there:

New iPhone Software

I don't have the new G3 iPhone, but I did get an iPhone last Christmas and I downloaded the new software for it that was made available yesterday. You can download applications to the iPhone now and there are lots of really great things that you can get and lots of them are free. I got one called Pandora Radio that allows you to basically create your own radio station that plays your favorite music whenever and wherever  you want. Another one turns your iPhone into a remote control for itunes on your computer. I am still exploring the options available and having lots of fun doing it.

Holiday Weekend

We had the kids over to eat on Friday and we took them to Alabama Adventure on Saturday, so it has been a busy weekend so far. Here are some photos:

Happy 4th of July

New Look For The Blog

Daniel has been teaching me today how to change the look of my blog. Now I have a custom background instead of just one of the templates that blogger lets you choose from. I worked on it, but I certainly can't take all of the credit because I would never have figured it out without Daniel's help. So, THANK YOU DANIEL!!!

A None Too Friendly Encounter

Forrest and I went to visit my parents yesterday. They live out in the country, so we decided to take a walk in the woods. We took our camera and I was making a picture of a flower when I turned around and saw this guy. Now I don't know much about snakes, so I have no idea what kind of snake this is, but I do know that I do not like snakes. I turned around and went back the  way I came and did not try to go past this guy. By the way, the whole snake is not in the picture. He was really long!

We Are Back From The Beach

We are back from the beach and had a great time, but as always, it is good to be home. We visited Fort Morgan while we were at the beach and I wanted to  share some of the photos that  we made there. This place is old and rustic and  had opportunities for some very interesting photos.

Greetings From Orange Beach!

Still Playing With Photoshop

Trying Something New

I am trying putting together my pictures and text for my post in Photoshop and then downloading one thing to the blog. What do you think?

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, seen here with my Mom, my two brothers, and I in the late 1950's. Hope you had a great day Daddy.

And Happy Father's Day to the Father of my children. Here is Forrest with our children Daniel and Andrew:

Pond Cleaning Day

Yesterday Forrest & I spent the entire day cleaning out our fish pond. We drained all the water and took out all the plants and the fish (we only have one now since the other fish committed suicide by jumping out of the pond). There was a lot of debris and mud to be removed. We now have clean water and the plants have been thinned out and look much better.

I think Mr. Fish looks like he is much happier now.

.... and my Gardenias are blooming! I love the scent of Gardenias. I wish I could send that scent to you as well as these pictures: