FAMILY REUNION

My Uncle Ray and his family came to visit.  We had a wonderful day.  We hadn't seen my cousins in years.  My dad has only one brother and no sisters.  My mom has no siblings.  I have only two first cousins.       We were all thrilled for the time we spent with them.  We were blessed with beautiful weather and enjoyed the day very much.  I have lots of pictures and plan to post more later (when I have time to upload them).

Uncle Ray and Daddy

Cousins Blenda and David

David and his children Cody, Max and Nicole

The Men of the Family

The Cousins

The Two Cody's

My cousin David and my brother both have sons named Cody.  It was the first time the two Cody's met.

EASTER 2013

LANDSCAPING COMPLETED

and it's only taken 4 years (it was worth the wait).

Our Backyard

We now have a small waterfall (it sounds wonderful)

Our Front Yard

Our landscaping ended on a not so good note when we tried before.  The man doing the landscaping died in the middle of the job.  After a couple of years we tried once again and everything turned out beautiful.  We've spent more time outside in the past six weeks than we ever have.  The waterfall makes such a peaceful sound and we all love being outside now.  We even had a family reunion outside (pictures will be posted later).

MORE SPRING BREAK PHOTOS

Del and Nora in San Antonio

Nora Teaching Del to Pose for the Camera at the Antique Car Museum

Nora's Favorite Antique Car in the Museum

She has good taste in cars.  This is a Duesenberg.  Of course Nora liked it best because it was pink.  Duesenbergs are where the expression "It's a Duesy" comes from.  It was and I guess will always be the ultimate in cars.  There has never been anything better.  In the 1920's a duesenberg sold for over $6000.  Today they cost several million.

SEA WORLD

TEA CUPS

THE CAROUSEL

DINNER ON THE RIVERWALK

These were taken on the Riverwalk in San Antonio.  We were there for Spring Break.  We had a great time.

DEL'S BIRTHDAY

Del's birthday was early in February.  Nora insisted that we had to have a center piece for the table.  She put this together herself.  I'm going to try to start catching up on posting pictures a few at a time.

EVE AND JOSEPH ARE MARRIED

The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time. It was a steampunk wedding. I had to look that up on-line to find out what it was. We were all asked to wear costumes. It was a lot of fun. Del didn't get one picture of me so no pictures of my costume but I have pictures of everyone else.

Gaffer, Gammer and Nora

Nora and Aunt Lisa

Nora and Dad

Hannah, Uncle Dan, Aunt April and Nora

Groom (Joseph) and Bride (Eve)

HALLOWEEN

Nora's school had the children wear costumes to school on Halloween. Nora was a little nervous about wearing a costume. She was afraid she would be the only one wearing a costume. She asked me many times if I was sure they could wear costumes. After she got to school and saw the other kids she was very happy. She looked lovely.

FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE

RAINBOW

PARTY TIME

My Dad's first cousin R.V. (Valton) Burgin celebrated his 90th. birthday in Duncanville on Saturday.  His birthday was actually on Monday.  Valton and his brother Edgar are two of my Dad's favorite relatives.  Governor Perry was at the party.  Governor Perry said his dad was a friend of Valton's and he had know Valton forever.  Mama was very excited about meeting Governor Perry.  I forgot my camera but had my phone and this is the only photo I got while we were there.  It's not a great photo but you can tell who the people are and that made Mama's day.  Governor Perry tried very hard to get Nora's attention but Nora was mad because they didn't have any party games.  I would have loved to have gotten a picture of Nora with the Governor but she wouldn't turn loose of me long enough to take a picture.  Anyway, it was a wonderful afternoon even if Nora didn't like the party.  Valton is going to come and visit us in the fall and do some fishing with Daddy.  I'll get pictures of him then.  I'm hoping to have all the family come so everyone can spend some time with Valton.  Most of my nieces and nephews don't even remember meeting him.  I want them to know cousin Valton.  He's a real American hero and the author of "Islands of the Damned".   

Mama and Governor Rick Perry

Things are very busy.  I was hoping for some time to rest this summer but it's been too busy.  Del has planned a trip this weekend for Nora to see dinosaur bones.  We leave Thursday.  Nora will be starting school soon.   We have most of the school supplies required.  I still have another trip to try to find what we need to finish up.  We'll have to go out of town to find the last few items.  Next week is open house at her school and she starts school on the 27th.  I can't believe it's that time already.    

SUMMER FUN

Our pastor's grand-daughter is spending a month with here grand-parents.  We are reaping the benefits.  She has spent a couple of days with us and Nora has loved every minute of it.  They play so well together even though there is a few years difference in age.  Nora is begging for Candlynne to come everyday.

PLAY DAY WITH FRIENDS

Tiffany and Jeanine were passing through town and called us to come and play.  We spent the afternoon at Burger King having a great time.  

Ellie, Maya and Nora

Jeanine and Ellie

Tiffany and Maya

TOOTHLESS

Yesterday I took Nora to the dentist to have a tooth removed.  Her teeth are coming in and the baby teeth haven't come out.  The dentist decided to go ahead and remove two teeth because the other tooth was so close to the surface and behind the baby tooth.  She said it was coming in just like the other one.  Too far back.  I had dreaded the appointment for two and one half weeks because I just knew it was going to be awful.  Nora hates the doctors office and has a crying fit about an injection.  I didn't have the heart to tell her she would be getting injections in her mouth.  Anyway, things went much better than I had even hoped.  Her dentist was wonderful.  They put a movie on and Nora laid in the chair and watched TV (on the ceiling) the whole time.  Next they gave her a beautiful hot pink special nose to wear (Nitrous Oxide).  Then they put sparkle jelly on her gums (to numb them).  Then as she watched a Nihao Kai-lan video they put some extra special sparkle jelly on her gums (Novocain) and she never knew there was a needle involved.  Then she pulled the teeth.  One came out easy and the other one was a little harder to pull but Nora never budged.  She just watched Nihao Kai-lan.  Dr. Rebecca Ball is indeed a magic person.  I thank God for her.  Nora was so excited to come home and put her teeth under her pillow.  I'm still in shock at how well things went.  Talk about answered prayer.  I am one very grateful Mom.    

GRADUATION DAY

Nora graduated Kindergarten last week.  There was a play called "The Little Red Hen".  Nora was a cow.  She did a great job.  She also looked great in the actual ceremony.  The children got to show off all the things they had learned all year.  Nora recited the presidents of the United States.  All of them.  I was very impressed.  She can also quote more scripture from memory than I can and she knows all the books of the bible.  She has an amazing memory.

Nora and Ms. Charlynn (the best Kindergarten teacher ever)

6 YEARS OLD

We celebrated Nora's birthday on Saturday, May 19. It was her first big party and we invited all the kids from her school. We didn't have a lot show up but the ones that did had a great time.

TUMBLING

Nora's tumbling school had an event to showcase the students talents. Nora had such a good time. She said she was nervous but she did great. She loved getting a medal when they gave out awards.