Friday Foto Friends with Lily Grace

Good Morning Friends!  It's Friday!!  Mommie says some people say: TGIF! Which means 

"Thank Goodness it's Friday!"

And it is also Friday Foto Friends day, so Mommie said I could share some of her favorite photos from the week.

How about this beautiful sunset?  

Mommie said that God paints the most beautiful pictures in the sky for us to enjoy!  Sometimes they are in the morning at sunrise, and sometimes they are in the evening at sunset.

3 

Psalm 113:3-5

"From the rising of the sun to its going down

The Lord’s name is to be praised.

The Lord is high above all nations,

His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God,

Who dwells on high..."

I love to watch the sunsets with Mommie from our back yard beside Still Waters Pond.

Mommie said it's kind of like watching the fireworks on the 4th of July...they just keep getting better and better and you don't want to leave until it's over.  I've never seen fireworks yet, but I hope to do so. However, Mommie said God's "fireworks in the sky" are much better than man's man-made fireworks.

Look what we saw land in our yard the other day! This small butterfly sat there for a while so we could take its picture.  It never opened its wings all the way so we could see the pretty design on her open wings, but Mommie thinks it might be an "American Painted Lady" butterfly.

I hope we can see her again. I'd like to see her pretty painted wings!!!

Oh, here's a picture of ME! This was on St. Patrick's Day, and we were having breakfast. Mommie made some delicious Apple Bran Muffins, which are just like her Blueberry Bran Muffins except she puts little diced pieces of apple in them instead of the Blueberries. And we had scrambled eggs with spinach and sausage and cheese in them!  Mommie said the spinach was green for St. Patrick's Day!  They sure were yummy!  

Oh, and looky at this pretty purple flower we saw when taking our walk. Mommie said it is called a "Lady Lupine", which is growing in the woods and blooming right now. It is related to the "Texas Bluebonnet", but there are not so many of them here like there are in Texas.  She said that's because people from Texas will tell you that "everything is bigger in Texas".  Ha Ha.

While we were walking we checked on our wild plum trees to see how the baby plums are growing. You can see where I am pointing to some in this picture. Mommie said she doesn't think there are as many of them this year as there were last year, even though these trees had so many blossoms.  Maybe they don't produce as much fruit every year. I don't know. We will have to wait and see what develops!

Yesterday was my brother Scotty's birthday.  He likes to create things from copper wire and other stuff.  I think I already showed you one of these motorcycles before, but he added another one this past week to his "collection".  He does this all by hand with no tools.  I think they are pretty cool, don't you?

Speaking of Scott, when he got home from work yesterday we celebrated his birthday with just Mommie, Daddy, and me. (I).  Big brother Benton and Auntie Rose were out of town, so we are going to celebrate with them on Saturday.  Mommie bought some good ribeye steaks at the store, and Scott is cooking them on the grill.

Even though it is his birthday, he gets to grill the steaks because he is the best steak griller ever. He used to work in restaurants and was always the best grill cook, so he has lots of experience!

Our steaks were perfect!! Scotty's being funny putting bunny ears over my head when Mommie took this picture.  Some people never grow up no matter how old they get! Ha ha.

Speaking of how old they get...this is a "traditional picture" that has to be taken at every birthday party, Mommie said.  We must have a picture of the birthday person blowing out their candles. Scott's lucky we only put these two candles on the cake for him to blow out instead of 44 candles! Of course, if we'd done that, the cake would have caught on fire! Ha Ha!!!

Did you notice that Scott is wearing his "I'm Mom's Favorite" t-shirt again?  Mommie said he could get away with it because his brother wasn't here, and I forgot to wear mine that says that too. But since he's the birthday boy, he can be the favorite!  

Scott was being goofy with his gifts, which were kind of goofy too.  Those were towels for washing his car, but he pretended he was a unicorn. I think he's silly.

This gift was a wire brush for the grill, because he always does the grilling here.  He was pretending he was using it as a back-scratcher, which would have hurt, I think.  It was a very sharp wire brush...

Here's he's pretending he's brushing his teeth with it!! He's crazy. Oh, the Ritz crackers were also a gift, because he eats them like crazy with peanut butter on them. 

Here he's in his best gift...a "Director's Chair" for sitting outside, with a space for a drink and a place to put his cell phone or a snack. Mommie and Daddy had a funny story to tell about this chair. They went to Walmart to buy it, and they checked out at the self-checkout place, and then they forgot to put the chair back in the buggy when they went outside to the car.  They drove all the way home, which is about 15 miles, and when they got home and looked in the back of the car they both looked at each other and said, "Where's the chair????"  And so Mommie had to call the store and after about five minutes of waiting to speak with a real person, she told them what had happened and asked if the chair was still there where they left it.  The sales person checked and said yes, and she would hold it for them.

So they got back in the car and drove 15 miles back to the store, and Mommie had to find the lady and where she had put the chair, and had to show her the receipt, and then she could take the chair and bring it back home!!   Mommie said that chair just got a lot more expensive with all the gas they spent bringing it home! LOL.  Our friend Linda over at https://thatsmesimplylinda.blogspot.com/ would appreciate this story.

Well, that's all my pictures for this week!  I hope you enjoyed them.  We had a lot of fun taking these pictures.  Now we can't wait to go see what pictures you are sharing!  And also, we can't wait to go take some MORE pictures. But Mommie's going to go get a "permanent" in her hair this morning. She said she is tired of having to control the cowlicks in her hair every day, and they won't stay down and behave, so she is just going to get curls all over them so they have to behave. I don't understand how a cow could lick her hair...we don't even have any cows here in our house, but every day she complains about those cow-licks in her hair!!! I've looked and looked for the cows, but I can't find any here...do you think Mommie is imagining things?  She said she will let you see the new hair-do when it looks good enough to take a picture!  

Okay, that's all folks!

Love, 

Lily Grace

 

Grateful and Blessed!

Hello My Friends!

It's Friday night here at our house, and it's been a really nice day.

Mommie and Daddy went to a little flea market here in our town, and they had some delicious fresh strawberries for sale, so Mommie bought some.

I was enjoying eating them just like they are, so plump and juicy and sweet! Yummy!!

Aren't they pretty?

I am happy and joyful and very thankful to God for His blessings!

While Mommie was at the flea market she found these two pretty things: the cut glass juicer and this sweet little bowl with colorful old fashioned flowers on it.

She said they were a super bargain!

This evening we had our family over for a spaghetti supper and strawberry shortcake for dessert!

Here I am with MY bowl of Strawberry Shortcake! It sure was yummy with homemade shortcake and whipped cream on top!!

After supper we went outside to watch the sunset over Still Waters Pond. 

Isn't it beautiful?

My sweet "aunties" Rose and Sherrie let me watch the sunset with them.

It just got prettier and prettier every minute.

AND we saw BATS!!!

There were BATS swooping around through the sky, flying over the pond and all around us, even right over our heads!!

I wish you could see them. I was trying to point at them, but they were too quick. Mommie said they were eating mosquitoes and keeping them from eating us!!!

Mommie said that bats are really our friends, even though people don't seem to think so and are often afraid of them.

HERE is a LINK to more information about BATS and why they are good to have around.

Mommie said that because the bats are out there eating the bugs for us, we can stay outside a little longer to enjoy the sunset!  But, it didn't take long for the mosquitoes to find us and we had to go inside. Mommie said we'd need a lot more bats to keep all the mosquitoes away!  She said maybe she can get my big brother Benton to build a bat house so more bats can live there and have a place to sleep in the daytime where they won't be disturbed. That would be a nice thing to do. We shall see what happens.

Meanwhile:

Be Happy and Joyful! 

and

Be Grateful and Blessed!

Good Night, Sleep Tight,

Don't let the big bugs bite...

And if they do,

maybe you need some bats too!

Ha Ha!

Bye Bye,

Love,

Lily Grace

xoxoxoxo

 

Lots of Big Stuff, Progress, and Beautiful Skies

Hello Everyone!  I'm sorry I haven't written in a day or two. Mommie has been kind of busy with other stuff and so we haven't had much time for too many "adventures".  Oh, but today was Sunday, and Mommie and Daddy went to church this morning.  Mommie said I could share with you their church service and the pretty song the choir sang, so here it is:

Mommie said to be sure to start at the beginning to hear the choir singing 

"We'll Soon Be Done With Troubles and Trials"

"Some of these days I’m going home

Where no sorrows ever come

We’ll soon be done with troubles and trials.

Safe from heartache, pain and care, We shall all that glory share

And I’m gonna sit down beside my Jesus

Sit down and rest a little while.

We’ll soon be done with troubles and trials.

Yes, in that home on the other side

And I’m a gonna shake glad hands with the elders

Tell my kindred good morning

Then I’m gonna sit down beside my Jesus

Sit down and rest a little while.

I shall behold His blessed face, I shall feel His matchless grace

We’ll soon be done with troubles and trials

O what peace and joy sublime in that home of love divine

And I’m gonna sit down beside my Jesus

Sit down and rest a little while.

We’ll soon be done with troubles and trials.

Yes, in that home on the other side

And I’m a gonna shake glad hand with the elders

Tell my kindred good morning

Then I’m gonna sit down beside my Jesus

Sit down and rest a little while.

We’ll soon be done with troubles and trials.

Yes, in that home on the other side

And I’m a gonna shake glad hand with the elders

Tell my kindred good morning

Then I’m gonna sit down beside my Jesus

Sit down beside my Jesus

Sit down beside my Jesus, and rest a little while, little while.

Sit down and rest a little while. Little while."

After the music you can listen to the Pastor preach from the book of James 3:13-4:3.  She said it was a good sermon and you will like it!  I hope so!!

So now, what else have we been doing lately? Well, one day  this past week we took a little ride to see how the new road construction was coming along.  Here are some pictures Mommie took of the big road equipment:

I think it would be fun to ride on one of those big things!  Maybe they would even let me drive it! Do you think so?  Well, Mommie said probably not. They are very very big and expensive, and it takes a lot of experience to know how to work these things, but maybe someday they might let me sit inside one and see what it's like. That would be fun.

Mommie said they are adding two more lanes to this highway so it will have 4 lanes all the way from where we live to another city far away. She said that might make more people want to move to our neighborhood because then they could "commute" to better jobs in the cities on this road. Mommie said they call that "progress", but she hopes it doesn't change the quiet little town we live in. We like it just fine the way it is.

One of the little towns along this road is called "Hawthorne". We drove through the old downtown area and saw this painting on the side of one of the buildings.

Mommie said that's the way it used to be in this little town...lots of big bass fishing in the lakes, the railroad train came right through town, there were lots of orange groves and wildlife and old hotels. "Progress" made the big highway bypass this little town, and now it  has lots of empty buildings like this:

However, Mommie said somebody she knows actually just bought this building and they are going to put a pizza place and a couple of stores in it. So maybe something good is going to happen in this little town after all! Maybe that is progress!

After leaving here we drove back toward home, and we stopped at my big brother Benton's house because they had some big stuff and "progress" going on too!

This funny looking machine was going around to their back yard because they had someone cutting down some trees and this thing was going to haul away the debris:

It looks like some kind of monster with big teeth if you ask me:

Speaking of "monsters with big teeth":

Sugar...

And Spice were happy to see me. Spice didn't even bark at me this time! I think she likes me now!!

And they really aren't monsters with big teeth. They like to lick me and tickle me!! LOL.

Then we went around to the back yard and saw this going on:

And after that man in that bucket thingy was done trimming some more trees, he went way way up in the sky:

UP

UP

And WAY UP in the sky!!! I was getting a little nervous for him...

But Mommie said he would soon come down and be just fine.  They got that old dead tree cut down and some branches on some other trees and then they were done.

Mommie said they made good progress!!

While we were there Mommie said we needed to stop and "smell the roses", or in this case, Auntie Rose's Camellias, and they don't really have much of a smell, but they are very pretty!

And then we said good-bye to my big brother Benton and we headed back home.

I'd say we made good progress that day!

And now for the "grand finale".

Mommie and I sat outside this evening and watched the sunset.

Isn't it bea-U-ti-ful?

I just had to lift my hands and Praise the Lord. Mommie did too.

And then we sang this song that Mommie said they sing in church. It's called the "Doxology":

"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him all creatures here below;

Praise Him above ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

Amen.

 I hope you enjoyed this little ride with me today.  It's nice to make "progress" in good ways, but it is always good to remember Who makes all the blessings "flow", and to give Him the praise.  

I hope you have a wonderful night, and I'll see you later alligator!  After while crocodile!  (My Mommie and Daddy say that sometimes and I think it's funny, don't you?)

Love always,

Lily Grace

xoxoxoxoxo