Flowers and Veterans!

What a combo!

Last weekend Ash emailed and said to have Britt on stand by at the house for something special. GUESS WHAT SHE SENT???

They are absolutely beautiful and Britt was beyond touched and happy! Here Britt and Court are...

They are on our dining room table now just as beautiful as the day they arrived!

I was SOO proud!

I'm so proud at how they have banded together in support for Britt and Little Lillie! This will be a good year for all of us! Ashley's card that came with the flowers was just beautiful and my heart was just flooded with pride!

It's SOOO hard on Ash right now being away from the family with Harold being so sick and all the excitement surrounding Britt. We're proud of Ash being so strong and supportive!

Yesterday, Court was honored by the Veteran's Service Corps. for her strong service and dedication to all Veterans. She was presented with a certificate and lapel pin. I don't know when she was more proud of herself, but that was one of the top moments.

It was special!

Dad's gonna kill me for taking such terrible pictures, but there was no where to stand to get better ones. I'll get better!!!!

We also went to monster truck last night for Court to do the national Anthem.

Here is a great shot taken by Britt with her Blackberry....

We had incredible seats and had dirt sprayed all over us when the trucks spun their tires in front of us. SOOOOO cool! Mike, who was working, moved us to better seats and we had an awesome time!

That's it for the moment. We're headed to Ryan's steakhouse for the "all-you-can-eat buffet bar" breakfast then off to Laurens to see Harold.

If ALLL the pain and suffering that goes with cancer is a marker of how many jewels will be in our crown in heaven, then Harold won't be able to hold his head up for all the jewels that will adorn his crown. He has handled it with such dignity and also patience. The family is an inspiration to me as to how each family member leans on each other and gladly carries each other. I'm very privileged to be a part of this family.

Have a good day everyone and enjoy the sunshine! : )

LILLIE ELIZABETH ARNOLD

YES, she's having a girl! hee!!! When the ultrasound tech. double checked herself and announced her gender to us, we all just hollered! I couldn't have smiled and laughed any harder! After having 3 drama-filled, beautiful daughters, I just couldn't comprehend the thoughts of having a boy. Mike was probley even happier than me! He LOVES his girls!

So, the tech. gave us a CD filled with pics and a video of Lillie.

Here is Lillie pondering...."will I REALLY look just like my Grandma?"

Here is little Lillie twiddling her thumbs, wishing she had something to read to pass the time....

and here is Lillie sending us a message...

Yes, she is beautiful and DEFINITELY looks like ME! ha! Poor Brittany is already tired of me comparing her to me! Britt says she's gonna have blonde wavy hair. whatev.

I don't have any other photos to add because I haven't taken any!

Ash is doing really good! Her cutter seized and captured last month!

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13th Coast Guard District Public Affairs

U.S. Coast Guard

News Release

Date: January 13, 2011

Contact: 13th District Public Affairs

(206) 220-7237

News Release: Coast Guard seizes cocaine, rescues suspected smugglers in Eastern Pacific Ocean

EASTERN PACIFIC – The Coast Guard Cutter Midgett seized approximately four kilograms of cocaine from the 35-foot vessel, Laurie Alena, over 450 miles off the coast of Guatemala, Dec. 16, 2010.

The Laurie Alena was intercepted due to suspicion of drug trafficking involvement. When the Midgett neared the vessel, the Laurie Alena began to sink forcing the crew to abandon ship and use debris for floatation.

Two crewmembers of the Laurie Alena were quickly pulled to safety aboard the cutter using life rings. The other was saved by the Midgett’s rescue swimmer.

Four approximately kilogram-sized packages, testing positive for cocaine, were recovered from the vessel’s wreckage.

The cutter Midgett is home ported in Seattle, Wash. and conducts missions in homeland security, search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, and drug and alien migrant interdiction operations in the Bering Sea and Central American waters.

For more information, contact Ensign Nasaria Valadez, via e-mail, at Nasaria.E.Valadez@uscg.mil.

VERY Proud of her and everyone on her boat/ship!

OH, I also wanted to share a quote I read this morning on Facebook by one of my BFF's...

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and

those that matter don't mind (dr. Seuss)

Welllll, I need to get going. Wal-Mart is a callin'! hee

Have a great day!

Court's First Day of College

So, as I did last year, I captured the moment! Court's first day of something. Last year, it was her first day of her Senior year, now it's her first official day of college.

Awww....

She looks so cute and collegiate!

Another exciting bit of news, which will come this afternoon...we find out if Britt's having a GIRL or boy. Get that! GIRL.....or boy. hee

Britt has been craving SOUR SOUR SOUR and hot. She thinks boy, her Daddy and I think girl. We've had over 22 years of "drama queen" girls in the house and it's all we know. I will update this afternoon after we get back from the 4D ultrasound! SOOO excited!

Ash emailed me earlier and she's doing good! She says it's really hot where she is and on her boat...which, except for the berthing area, isn't AIR CONDITIONED! WHAAAAAAAAAA???

She said it's been around 95 degrees. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, they will be back in an area where we can talk and txt and junk! hee

We've been so busy lately. We went to Charlotte this past weekend for a wedding of epic proportions. It was fanTABulously beautiful, big and the food was great too. Court sang in her first Catholic wedding, which was a HUGE change in what she was used to. It was a definite learning experience, but a good one and everyone at the Catholic church was SO nice to her. She sang Ave Maria and 3 other songs and they were beautiful, if I do say so myself!!!! We were just glad to get back home and getting Court ready for school.

Britt had her first sewing class last night and made a GORgeous pillowcase. I will take a pic of her holding it up after she gets dressed. She did a great job.

That's it for the moment. Stay tuned!!!!

SNOW 2011!

I want to give a shout out to all my Blog BFF's on the USCGC Midgett...HEYYYYY!!!!!! KORI- you're the best!!! Ashley - We LOVE YOU!

IT"S SNOWING! and alot too! Mike and I braved the back porch this morning to take a snow total picture. This was at 7:45am.

Mike wanted me to take his picture too....

Here is the back yard...

and Britt's truck...

It was cold and I was in my bedroom shoes, so I went back inside the house! hee

I'll take more pics soon and post them!

It's been a few days or more since I last posted. I didn't really take any pics recently, AND I had a terrible stomach virus AND I had to work some, so now I'm back to normal again! : )

I just took this picture of the dogs frolicking in the back yard, building a snowdog....

HAAAAAAA!!!! They wish!

Well, let me go look out the window some more. ASHLEY is calling home today, so I am beYOND happy!

More soon!

Stomach virus

Down with it. More soon....

Stay TUNED!

I BLINKED and the holidays are GONE! WHA???! We had a good Christmas, only to be GREAT next Christmas when Ash will be home and little Lillie or Baby Boy will be here too.

Yesterday was New Years Day and we ate Collards and Black Eyed Peas, of course. We'll see if we win the lottery or something! ha

Anyways, I'll be posting more pics and stories on Tuesday. I gotta work tomorrow and I need today to get all my pics together!!!

Have a good one and ASHLEY, if you're reading this.... if you lost my email address, I can always resend it to you! : )

Christmas 2010

FINALLY, this Christmas is over! It was great, but Ashley wasn't here and it just wasn't the same. We're ALL looking forward to this coming Christmas. Ash will be home and we will have a new baby in our family. It will be fun watching Ash and Court competing for the baby's attention!! ha

We went to alot of Christmas partys and ate enTIRELY too much.

I already posted some pics of earlier parties we attended last week. Here is the Christmas party at my Aunt Aurelia's, in Travelers Rest.

First off, it started SNOWING while we were there! The first Christmas Day snow since 1963!

There was tons of food!

Mike and Court enjoyed it!

So did Britt!

and did Larry Jr. and Lauren.

When it started snowing like crazy, we left and headed back to Mike's parents house to get ready for the Christmas Day party there!

we atarted off there waiting for Donna and Mark to arrive from Virginia. The weather slowed them down, but they eventually arrived.

SO, we started without them!

Court and I entertained!

Harley even enjoyed it!

Then, Dillon and Court sang and picked...

Then we opened loads of presents...

Britt found $$ in her socks!

Silker and Papa enjoyed watching!

Everyone opened!

Court LOVED her show boots she got from Silker. She starts riding this spring in competitions on a horse and she'll wear these boots...

Court's boyfriend got a really neet cooler from us to take fishing...

Courtney also got a hat to wear in the competitions. Girls, from what I learned, wear straw hats, boys wear felt. Here is Grandma Terry wearing it...

Finally Donna and Mark arrived and we opened up MORE presents!

Here is Mark...

Deanna opened up tons too...

Britt was glad to open all night long!

It was a fantabulous day and Ashley was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO missed. All I know is this coming Christmas, she will be HOME and sitting right in the middle of the floor with her sister and cousin and NIECE! Imagine the pics that will be taken then!

Yesterday, I had to work, but that didn't stop the girls from playing out in the snow. Britt's BFF, Kristen who lives up the road, played with them, just like old times.

Here is Kristen, whom I think is beyond beautiful!

Harley had a "ball"! BAH-HAAAA

haaaaaaaaaa!!

ad did Cassie and Harley together...

Boomer preferred to sniff out stray critters in the snow..

I think they all got cold fast!

That's about all I have time to put pictures on here for. Here is the link to ALL my pics...

http://picasaweb.google.com/112298489614175847253/Christmas2010#

I posted the link to the pics taken from Silkers Annual Christmas Party in a posting a couple days ago.

Hope everyone survived the snow, travel or not being able to be home this year.

We missed Ashley as I said above and it's SOO good to know she'll be home more this year and for Christmas.

Have a great day!

Christmas at Silkers House

I wanted to put a link on here to the pictures we took at Silkers house at her party. We had a BLAST and we won't forget it anytime soon!

One of the games we played was, "Place a Cookie on your Forhead and Wiggle it in your Mouth". Grandma Terry excelled!

Harold was there, but was tired.

Silker directed the festivities...

there was alot of laughing too!

Here is a link to all of them.

DARRELL AND ASHLEY...we really missed y'all there and you were both on all our minds. If your ears were burning that night, it was because we were talking about y'all! ha

http://picasaweb.google.com/112298489614175847253/20101223#

Gotta go get ready to head to my Aunt Aurelia's house. More pics to follow! Then tonight, we're headed back to Silkers house to open MORE PRESENTS!!!! : )! More pics to follow of that too!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Christmas at my parents

Well, this week has just been a night mare with Court's truck broke down again, no Christmas shopping done, food still to be cooked and NO one in our family has any Christmas Spirit in us at all. I wonder if we have like, Post Tramatic Stress Disorder!

Today was Mom and Dad's annual Christmas Party and it was so nice. They really went thru alot of trouble "purdying" everything up for us and all the cooking and Dad's tree was gorgeous and his mantle was "Marty Gras" looking!

Here are SOME of the Grandkids...missing are Ashley, WHO WILL BE HERE NEXT YEAR, and Alex, who has pneumonia, so was home.

SO, here is LAST years picture complete with all Grandchildren...

Here is THIS years Christmas photo. Where each missing child was, sits their Christmas sacks!

That's last years Christmas picture in front of Lauren. That was all Dad's idea and they had fun making that picture.

Here they are opening presents...

Here is Dad's mantle.... : )

and tree....

Here is where he plays and practices...

and here is where the kids ate...

He had it all decorated up and we sure did enjoy and love all the trouble they went thru!!!!

Mike was in bed sick as a dog, so he was unable to go. He has an ear infection and Vertigo. I think the vertigo medicine made him worse. We made him a huge plate of food and took to him afterwards. He got up to eat that, but was miserable.

Well, that's it for the moment, I think. Court and Dillon have gone to see the newest, "Baby Fockers" movie, which Mike and I really want to see. Britt has gone to a friends birthday party, but will be home early.

One of the high-lights of our day was ASHLEY CALLED HOME! It was SOOOOOO wonderful hearing her voice. I swear she sounds so grown up sometimes. She sounded happy and I heard her smile, so all is well. That did my heart SOOOO good to hear from her. She emails pretty frequently and her friend, Kori email me toooooo, which I love! She's also one of my many blog readers! HEY KORI!!!! Did I just say it was WONDERFUL hearing from Ashley? Our Christmas is very much dimmer (and MUCH quieter) this year because she's not here. She is SOOO missed and everyone talks about her all the time. Some of it's good too! hee

All I know is next Christmas, Ashley will be home and we will have a baby in our lives. I have quit taking ANYthing for granted, because everything changes by the minute. We, no matter what we think, are NOT in control of one single thing. We can't predict our futures, because futures are changeable too. We can't count on material things, because they break down. alot. Even if we're riding in them.

I think I'll hang some rosary beads in Court's truck or something. I know! I'll put a picture of Grandma Terry in it, that'll scare away the bad Karma! BAH-HAAAAA! Scare away any car jackers too! ha

The only real, REAL thing we can count on is family. No matter how much they get on your last nerve, how much they never listen to a word you say, how much they make fun of your cooking, how many times they disappear whenever you need them to help around the house, how many times they take your only can of hair spray, wear your only pair of comfy bedroom shoes, eat your last frozen Snicker bar, or leave half a drop of gas in the truck for you...they really why we get up every morning, hunt our bedroom shoes down, make a HUGE pot of coffee, trip over their shoes, search for our hair spray and run out the door to work. Then they leave home and we can't stand it and want them to come back home. As fast as possible!!! Weird.

Here is the link to all the photos taken today!

http://picasaweb.google.com/larry29662/Christmas2010WithTheMcCauleyS?authkey=Gv1sRgCKHzzO7P88XLpAE#

I'm going to bed. more soon!