I'm a HALF CENTURY OLD!!!

Today is my birthday!  I couldn't be happier either!  Mike and I are beyond BEYOND blessed to have 2 of our 3 daughters living with us and our little Lily!  We all love each other and miss each other when the others aren't around.  We're a big happy family!
I have sooo much to update on here, family members we have lost, additions to the family and just changes.  BUT, today isn't the day for it.
I have to go to a funeral this morning for a friend who lost her 21 yr. old son in a wreck.  At first, I was kind of challenged to find a way to get thru it AND remain positive.  Then I thought, what a way to begin my next half century of life.  To show support for a friend and her family. That's about the only thing I can come up with.
Tonight, everyone is working, so Mike is taking me and Lily out to dinner!!!  Another great way to begin my next half century!!!
More soon, I PROMISE!!! and pics too, I have tons-
Joan

Rainy day in Carolina

I woke up early this morning to the rain.  I love the rain, but Mike doesn't since he has to work in it.  I like to SLEEP!  Not today tho.  Britt started her new job at the hospital and her new-hire orientation is all this week.  So, Lily decided to wake up at 6 am this morning looking for her Mama, who was in the den getting ready.  We were soon all up.  She's asleep on the couch now and I'm in the kitchen!!!
This means, today, all my babys are employeed to some degree.  At the same time.  That means, I get to collect on the phone bill and they can buy their own gas for their own vehicles.  This is a happy day in the Arnold household!
I don't have a pic to add on here yet.  I'm thinking about baking another chocolate cake is prep for Ashley coming home next month.  She wants the perfect chocolate cake, with yellow cake inside.  I'm making it from scratch, so we'll see.
More soon!

No they DIDN'T!!

OH yes!!!

Good Bye Blackberry....

Thru the years, I've had nearly every BB out there and I've ended with the BB Bold 9930. I bought it in April and people laughed me at Best Buy for buying it.
Well, today, I took it back there in its pretty box and they gave me $350. for it! I'm not kidding. It's their buy back program and I did it! I will use that to purchase an IPad Mini! NOW WHO'S LAUGHING BABY!!!!
I'm an iPhone convert now and probley will stay one. I've had my 4S for a long time now and have never had one second's trouble, which is more than I can say for my android phones I've had.
All is well here and let's hope it stays that way!!!
More soon!

Gift

This morning, waiting for me on the kitchen table was a package from my cousin's Kenny and Joanne. WHAAA!
I SO HEART packages!
Joanne is a Western Romance writer who's books are, when reading them, like movies playing in your mind. I can even smell the earth, barns, horses and the kitchens of her characters! Even Courtney has become a fan!
Ken went to the DNC this year and sent me a button! LOVE IT! I will wear it with pride!
I voted Republican last election, but will NOT be this time.
After having Lily come into our world and observing how Medicaid works and WIC and how our government DOES take care of those who need a had getting back up, I decided to vote differently.
I don't know anything about politics beyond our house, and I don't have time to learn more. My 1 vote will go to the Democrat party this time, and I'll let wonderful people like my cousin Kenny bring to my attention what's important to know.
So... today I have HAVE to bake Court an apple pie. It's the second day of Autumn and she demands it. : )
Gotta go!
More soon-

Favorite pics

I'm still experimenting with this blog app that I haven't figured out yet.

Testing

I just downloaded an app for my IPhone to see if I can update from here.
I don't think I like this one.

Lily Belles

It's been forever and a day since I've updated my blog.  I can't describe how busy I am with everything.  I now tell people I live in a group home.
Ashley moved to Charleston after switching from Active Duty Coast Guard to Reserves.  She is working in a restaurant currently, but is considering going title 10, whatever that means.  She's having a really challenging time dealing with the loss of income that civilian life brings, but mostly, she misses traveling and staying extremely busy.  I hope she finds her way thru all her decisions soon and can rest her mind.
Britt is SOOOOOOOOOOO happy with being a Mom and AND, she just got a job working at the hospital as a Team Technician, whatever that is.  She and Lily live with us too and we couldn't be happier.
Court is still engaged to Dillon and they haven't picked a date yet for the wedding.  They haven't even picked a YEAR!  HAAAAA!  She's loving her new job at the hospital also as a Unit Secretary.  She also just bought a new NEW car and it's beautiful!
Lily is doing fantastic now. We had a horrible HORRIBLE scare in July after she received her 12 month vaccines.  She had a 90 minute seizure while on vacation in Hiawassee and was rushed to this tiny hospital there.  They weren't able to stop it, so she was Life Flighted to Emory in Atlanta where she was placed on life support after going into resp. arrest.  I still haven't recovered enough from all that to even hardly type it all out here, so I won't.
She is much recovered now, but not quite where she was pre-seizure.  She JUST started walking, but isn't talking or trying too. This COULD be because there are so many of us around her 24/7 that she can't get a word in!  ha!!!  She will have another MRI in December to ensure the damage that was caused has healed.  If all is well, she will begin speech therapy.

One of my main issues here is that my computer is fixing to crash, so I downloaded an ICloud from Charter and moved all my pictures there.  Well, I reformatted my hard drive and now I can't seem to get them back over.  So, whatever pictures I can access now are from my IPhone.  I have a cloud there too, but I can't figure out how to get to them either! I'll figure it out.

That's the quickest update ever, but pretty much covers things.  I'm going to re-figure out how to update from my IPhone, so when my 'puter crashes, I can still update here!!

More soon!

Joan

Some of my favs

STILL HERE!

This is just RIDICULOUS! I'm here and have been, just busy or babysitting!!!
I'll post a HUGE post this weekend, when I'm home. All is well!!!!
Joan

Present and accounted for!

I'm here! Just got ANOTHER new phone and I'm keeping this one. I LOVE the IPhone 4S!!!
Anyways....more news to come soon!!!!
All is well-
Joan

Video

I'm adding this on here so HOPEFULLY, Ashley can see it on her boat. I emailed it to her and she couldn't receive it. I put it on Youtube, she couldn't view it. SOOO, lastly, I'm adding it here. WHO KNOWS! Maybe she can view it here. She can't get Facebook on her boat either. WOW!!!

ASHLEY! I hope you can view it because it's PRECIOUS!!!

We love and miss you!!!!

Infant and Tierras!

Not really. I had the best time with her while Britt was at work! Tee hee!

Our Squishy Lily

See!

I'm back...'cept I didn't go anywhere!

But my brain did! I have been in total baby-bliss as I knew I would. Lily has completely, totally and happily taken over our entire universe. It's like a huge bubble has settled over our family and we are perfectly content to stay inside it, only to venture out to work or go to Wal-Mart. hee!!

Now, it's time to stretch the bubble out and poke my head thru and get back to reality. It's been nice tho!!

Let's see what all has happened during my sabbatical. Mom, after walking around in extreme pain for 3 weeks, learned that her hip was fractured. She had surgery and is now home recouping. Dad has been inspirational in his care for Mom. I have been SOOOO blessed to have him as a Dad and also my wonderful father-in-law in my life. It's a complete puzzlement to me how apples can fall so far from trees, but they do! Nuff said.

What else....MY BABY GIRL ASHLEY is doing SOOOOO good! She's happy, in love and happy. She's also very far from home. She will be home for a visit coming up and will be bringing "The One" home with her. "The One" is Jonathan. His family lives in Chicago and he has absolutely made my baby happier than I've ever seen her. I believe he is very happy too. We haven't met him...yet...and I hope he likes us! hee!! We are very southern, which should never be confused with ignorant. We are Southern in every sense of the word. Ash told me Jonathan went and bought a book on.... Southern etiquette. For one, I didn't know we had any. Or where it came from, cuz we don't know nothin' about it! HAAAAAAAAAAAA!! I hope he leaves his book at home. I will say, Britt's boyfriend and Court's fiance (more about that in a sec...) can't WAIT to spend some time with him. I think they've begun making plans. I don't ask any questions.

Britt (and I'm saving Court for last on purpose) is doing wonderful! She is a wonderful, beautiful Mom and Mike and I are beyond proud of her. The smiles that Lily has when she looks up at Britt says it all. I have never seen a baby look more like her mother, than Lily. And Summer's (cousin) daughter Alex to Summer. Anyways, Lily-Belles is a very happy, content, squishy baby! Her boyfriend Brandon has been like a miracle! He loves Britt and Lily and is so content to spend evening with them doing nothing but staring at Lily! His family has been so gracious to Britt and Lily and we are so SO lucky to witness their budding relationship!

Courtney, last Friday, became engaged to Dillon! If Mike and I could have hand-picked Courtney's life-mate, we couldn't have even come close to Dillon. He cherishes Courtney and she him. They aren't all sloppy with each other, but respectful, thoughtful and happy with each other. Dillon reminds me of Dad and also of my father-in-law. Quiet and content to let their women shine! hee

he also can pick a guitar, laugh, work, plan, console and sing! OK...I'm done gushing over Dilly-Bar (that's what I like to call him!!) They don't plan on marrying for a couple of years. Court's neck deep in her pursuit of a Radiology degree and Dillon is working at the Fire Department and getting settled in his new career.

Court's 20th birthday was Friday and of COURSE we had a party!

Yup! Both in the same day! My Aunt Aurelia made Court's cake and it was so cute and delicious!!

Ashley had ordered her a clock and she opened it at the party.

She got her and Dillon's favorite movie...(notice her engagement ring...)

and she got a laptop and much needed software for school...Dad captured her face as she first saw it!

HAAAAA!!!!!

Now, on to Lily.

Here is Lillie holding Lily...

I've never witnessed a relationship that Lillie (Grandma T.) has with Lily. Sr. loves Jr... Jr. loves Sr. Period.

look at Sr.'s face as I take over....

Pure worship!

I'm sure I've left out many events in our lives, but these are some of the highlights.

OHHHHHHHHH....I also became a convert and proud owner of....

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I love it! Mom got one too! Ashley will get one when she comes home so we can Facetalk!!!!

Gotta go feed Lily-O's!!!

More soon!

Joan and herd

Still here!

I'll be posting a ton very soon! Don't give up!

Aunt Rheba

Yesterday, Aunt Rheba and her daughter Lisa came down to visit and see Lily. We all had the best time and it was so SO wonderful seeing them!

We visited awhile, then we all went out to eat at Longhorn.

That's Mom, Aunt Rheba and Dad. Lisa sat beside me on one side and Brandon on the other with Britt and Lily on the other side of him. I didn't get any pics of them!

Here's Dad....

I want to say here that he made us all a Banana Pudding to take home and mine was the biggest and the bestest! It was SOOO good and a work of art!

This morning, before I sat down to blog this, I had laid Lily down to sleep. I HAD to take this picture of her asleep. She sleeps ALOT, so I don't have alot of pics of her awake yet.

We love her SO much!!!!

Also, Mike's Grandma Terry finally finished Lily's quilt. She hand embroidered it, mostly hand sewed it and hand quilted it.

The picture here looks nice, but to see it in person and really study it, you see how intricate her stitches are and appreciate the time she put into this.

It's a keepsake Lily will always have and will be treasured by all of us!

Here is a picture of Dillon and Brandon taken recently. I can't wait for Ashley to come home with her boyfriend so I can get a picture of the 3 of them!

Brandon's the one with his mouth full of DIP! whatev.

Welp, that's it for the moment. Let me go so I can see what else this day will hold and possibly get more pictures of!

More soon-

Joan

MY turn!

Today, I'm off work, the girls have gone fishing with the boys and I'm loving up Lily!

She's asleep in her crib and I had to grab my camera for this picture...

HAVE YOU EVER IN YOUR LIFE! Her little hands just get me!

More soon!

Joan

Nashville 2011

As I had mentioned earlier, Court, Dillon and Mike went to Nashville for Court to audition for The Voice. The audition was brief and didn't pan out. I'm not quite sure what they were looking for, but it wasn't quality!

It was Dillon's first time in Nashville and Mike really enjoyed showing him the highlights of the city.

After the audition, the three enjoyed all the sights and sounds that Nashville had to offer. Court even was able to sing around town and everyone loved her.

Here Court is headed to her audition at like, 5am.

Here Dillon is checking out "E" as his fans love to call him...

"E" was EVERYWHERE!

They went to Ernest Tubb's

went by Tootsie's

and the back alley that so many of the country stars used to get from the Ryman auditorium to Tootsie's back in the day...

Court left her mark in Nashville!

and got to sing with the band at Nashville Palace. Alot of the band members here play for some of the big stars during tour season.

They went to the Country Music Hall of Fame...

You can find all the pics here....

https://picasaweb.google.com/112298489614175847253/Nashville72011#

Even tho Court didn't make it onto The Voice, they had a great time and will DEFINITELY go back!

More soon!

Joan

The Tadpole for Grandma Terry's 93rd Birthday!!!

Can you believe she's 93!

I lost count as to how many family showed up, but it was a bunch!

And of course, Lily!

I think everyone got to hold her.

It was a great evening and great food!

Here are all the pictures from that night...

https://picasaweb.google.com/112298489614175847253/Tadpole

More soon!

Joan