A trip to Pops and Nana's place.

I thought it was quite fitting that I would blog about the trip to Pops and Nana's (by the way, she calls you, "Nannie," Rita?!!) on this Easter weekend. Know why? Welllll, so glad you asked. This is the very yard that I grew up hunting Easter eggs in. All my cousins and I would wait inside, totally impatiently, for the grown ups to finish hiding them all over this very yard. This house belonged to my great grandmother, Eunice (see why we don't use family names... sorry to all you Eunices out there reading the blog). Now, my dad and his wife live in it. I have always loved hanging out in the country. This particular "country" is called Calhoun. It is about 15 minutes from "town". I love that my Poppa owns several acres of woods out there. Seriously, one of my most favorite things in the world is to go out in the woods, walking with my dad. However, I do believe it was our last trip into the woods, we got a bit lost. We ended up walking toward the sound of a road, and had to DIG our way under a cyclone fence. (We had shovels, because we were digging up fern for my garden) Anyway, for the next two weeks, I had just about the worst case of chiggers (redbugs?!) that even my doctor had ever seen. That particular trip into the woods is not one of my fondest!

Back to the story. Ellie seems to share that love of outdoors and nature with me. Must be genetic. (ha. Little adoption humor, there.) When we leave the house, she has to name every flower we see until we hit the interstate. Obviously, she doesn't "name" them per se, but she says, "fwower", and I have to repeat, "Yes, that IS a flower." Or it doesnt' stop. "Fwower. Fwower. Fwower , mom". So going to Pops's house is always fun. I mean, check out these "fwowers". If you are from the south, you know exactly what these are. If not, well, every landscaper around loves these hardy beauties....azaleas! I happen to be a big fan too. That is what was blooming all over my yard too. Did I ever post pics of my garden? I just dont' remember?!

Back to my story.

It looks like Miss Gabbi Girl may also share the outside love as she is showing absolutely no fear with this big ol' goofy dog, Buddy.

Nope, she thought Buddy was just the cat's meow. Sorry about that pun, Buddy.See this porch? This is where the cousins used to wait for the eggs to be hidden. This is an old house! I like it. It has character! And here is Buddy in a full frontal. Do any of you read Pioneer Woman?! I LOVE her blog! She has a big ol' goofy dog like this named, Charlie. I think Charlie and Buddy should meet. It is always pretty slow paced around here. Lots of sitting on the porch or swinging in the swing or walking in the woods. It is a nice change from my fast paced life. My dad had his first heart attach at 40. (I'll be that in August!). There is a lot of heart disease, and basically artery disease in my family. strokes, heart probs, etc. He gets VERY worried when I tell him I have had the least little symptom, like constipation or a toe fungus. Nah, I am just kidding. He really does worry about me though. It is nice to have someone who worries about me. Not that I want him to worry, but I know that he cares. A couple of weeks ago, I had spotty vision at work (the third time in two weeks) where it seemed like I was looking into the sun. I mean, I couldn't read at all! He was there in nothing flat with his glucose monitor checking my sugar. He made me promise to go to the doc. (I called the doc!) And my sugar, by the way was great. Did I mention everyone on his side also has adult onset diabetes?! Great! Back to my story.

THis is Mrs. Lovett. She lives next door. She lived next door to my great grandmother too. She had just rambled in from church and we walked over to say hi. Buddy wouldn't quit chasing her cat. (Back to my ....) Her husband passed away very recently. He was kinda an icon in the community! He was VERY active in the church and had coached for the high school FOR EVER! Everybody knew Coach Lovett. I'm glad she has Dad and Rita next door to look after her if necessary.Do you need to get up for intermission?! Go ahead. Take a potty break. Get some more sweet tea. Then come back, we have lots more! It is actually 1:45 am, and I am not the least bit sleepy. So, I may get a little winded tonight. Hang with me. Let's take a little wardrobe break! This was an Ellie hand me down. Isn't it so precious on my girl? But what I REALLLLLLlly love are these....I am CRAZY about them. If you are reading, any grandparents of ours, anywhere. I want more of these for my girls ! Christmas? Birthdays coming up?! They are at GraciousMay. I just orderd three more pair, because I am psycho like that. I wanted to wear them tonight with a litttle bunny dress to the ballpark. (yep, Hunter and Hayden have started back up!), and could NOT find one of them. I am DISTRAUGHT! I may have to contact her to see if she can make me another pair. If you order from her, tell her I sent you. Maybe she will have pity and make me the missing one. Ha.WHAT has been up with my camera lately?! Dude!

ANd have I mentioned how much gabbi likes babies?! She really loves this one that Maddi left in our car one day. I told Staci she would just have to tell this one goodbye. Gabbi Girl LOVES to gnaw on those ponytails! See? Told you.ALright, one more little subject and you can move along with your day. Ellie Sue was walking around Pops's favorite chair, saying, "saun, saun". We couldn't figure it out. Lots of that happening lately, btw. SHe tries to say sentences, but , ummmm.... not quite sure what she is saying. Her vocabulary is EXPLODING! But . back to my story.

We finally figured out it was "song", and she wanted Pops to play his harmonica. It was right on the end table that she was lurking around as she was requesting it. She is a genius, I tell you!

Gabbi was pretty taken by it.
So was Buddy. He would just tilt his head up and start "singing " right along with Pops. Have I ever told you that the harmonica is one of my favorite instruments. I have gotten two in ther past few Christmases. I don't know if I could put my hands on either of them. Story of my life! I learned few songs on the first one, and took it to work with me to entertain my patients. Not sure if they were sincere, but they said they liked it!

I told Daddy that as he was stroking Buddy, tugging on his overalls, and playing his harmonica, I felt like we were "right out of HeeHaw." I was looking for Buck Owens and LuLu!

I think I learned something about myself tonight/ this AM. I have always known that my creative juices flow best in the wee hours of the morning, but I don't guess I knew my WORDS also spew out a little more freely. I am sorry for the LONG post. I suppose if ever I get ready to write a book, I should set my alarm for around 1:00 am to get up and write!!

Staci and Veronicia are hosting a big ol' Easter egg hunt tomorrow, so I better try to get to sleep. Daddy Todd is going with us, so at least there will be help with all the bathing and diaper bag packing and carseat loading and such. Do you think I will have pics of the hunt? do you?!

Melanie