The boat!

John and I sold our house boat two summer's ago because we didn't get to use it enough. At that time John's job required him to work on Saturdays which didn't give us enough time to enjoy the boat. We LOVED being able to "live" on the water. The house boat had bedrooms, a full kitchen, a living room, a full bath complete with a toliet that flushed, a swimming deck with a slide, and a top deck for laying out and sitting in our lounge chairs at night looking at the stars and drinking cocktails.
We missed the house boat as soon as we handed the title over to the new owners.
Sigh........
Well - we bought a new boat! Well, we bought an older boat that is new to us. We are so excited. It's not a big house boat like we had before - but it does have a small area under the front deck with a queen size bed. Poppy, my resident bargain/personal shopper, found this boat on craigslist at an unbelievable price. When we sent all of the information to our insurance agent, she called back and asked again how much we paid for it. I told her again and she said that it appraised for 3 times what we bought it for! Way to go Poppy!
Our new to us boat is a blue and white Criss Craft. it has a v-8 engine (which I understand is big enough to pull 3 adults skiing (who would have thought it). We had it checked out by a marina mechanic who reported that it was in mint condition.
John and I rented a great covered slip at Rocky Branch for the boat to live - it has a deck on the front of it so we have set up our table, chairs, storage closet and a small refrigerator. There is a porta-potty under the deck but we won't be using it. It doesn't flush. Good news is that there is a bathroom with showers that we can easily walk to. Homey-here doesn't do the portable potty thing.
We have been out in the boat only a couple of times - you know we have been in the monsoon season and it has been raining almost every weekend.
We are going to go today right after Lila's first birthday party.
Let the partying begin!
We are so easily amused.
Pictures coming soon.

Randomness family stuff!

As always, I find myself behind on blogging.  I have such good intentions, but fun and work and life get in the way of my blog!

I will start with the latest - well almost the latest - and go back.

Yesterday Britain Charann Coble graduated from pre-school!  So cute!  Can't believe that sweet baby girl is already 5 and enrolled in kindergarten.
 This Nene had to leave early before cupcakes, etc. because I had a meeting in Eureka Springs with a group that is up for renewal and the broker.  Good news - we got the renewal signed for another year.   Yippeee.... commission!  I don't have pictures yet from this momentous occassion, but will soon. 
When I turned my camera on, it wanted batteries -  But Pop-Roy to the rescue!  He is going to share his pictures with all of us once he downloads them.  I will add some to this blog at that time.

In late April, we went on our almost annual Branson trip. All of the kids; Ryan, Laura, Sean, Aaron and Audrey, plus all of the grandchildren; Lawson, Taylor, Britain, Emma Grace and Lila, plus Nene and Poppy, all load up and head to Branson for a weekend of fun.  Poppy out did  himself this year on the accomodations - he found has a 4 bedroom, 4 bath condo that was totally awesome!  We had lots of room to run and play and stretch out and eat and play games.  We were right on the lake which had a nice dock for fishing, etc. - also had paddle boats which were fun.  There were 2 or 3 swimming pools on the property too.  Almost forgot - very close to Tanger Mall for shopping.
The rain got in our way a little bit - but we had lots of fun anyhow.  The sun would come out in 2 hour intervals that would allow us to be outside enjoying the outdoor activities and then the rain would chase us back in.  I think next year we will try to plan our trip in June. 

Lunch with Audrey and Lila

I like to go and visit Lila on my lunch hour.  Her play-school is only 5 minutes from where I work.
It is such a nice break in the middle of a sometimes stressful day to sit and play baby games with my sweet little granddaughter.  Grandbabies are the BEST on so many levels.  One of my many many many favorite things about grandchildren is that they are ALWAYS happy to see me.  Always.  When they are babies, I love the way they smile and reach out their little arms to be picked up.  As they grow older, I love the way that they hit the front door - running - looking for Nene to hug. 
Really - life just doesn't get any better than this.
On a recent Friday - I made the drive to Lila's playschool only to find the parking lot full of cars and mommy's and babies leaving the building.  I was lucky enough to catch Audrey going in - she informed me that playschool was closing for the afternoon - all babies had to vacate.  So - Audrey, Lila and I went for lunch.
I love our family - I love my 2 precious daughter-in-loves - I am so blessed that Audrey and Laura love me too and they like me!
Here are a couple of pictures from our friday surprise lunch.

Branson and Uncle Tom aka my Sweet Brother

My sweet little mother-in-law LOVES Branson. She doesn't love the things about Branson that I do or that the kids do, but she LOVES Branson. Geneva and Junior (John's dad), lived in Branson for a couple of years before Junior passed away. They made many friends and lots of precious memories. Actually, John's family spent a great deal of time in Branson while he was growing up.
Geneva really likes to fish - trout fishing in particular. See - not one of the things I love about Branson.
Anyway, John found us a cute cabin right on the river/lake (the part that is good for trout fishing) and we planned a weekend to take Geneva.
On the Thursday afternoon before we were to leave on Friday - my brother Tom called (he lives in Montana) and said he wanted to come visit for the weekend. Awesome! We had not seen Tom for almost 2 years - we were missing each other.
So on Friday after work, we picked up Geneva and then stopped by the airport and picked up Tom and off we went.
We had a great time. John and Geneva fished and Tom and I talked and talked and talked
On Sunday afternoon when we got back to Bella Vista, all of the kids and grandkids came over for dinner and to see Uncle Tom.
Uncle Tom is incredibly interesting and fun to be around. He is borderline genius (no kidding - he is), has several college degrees in various unrelated areas, he loves the outdoors and he loves kids (the little kind and the grown-up kind).
I love my brother. Tom has always been my protector along life's way. He is probably the most unselfish person I know. He genuinely cares and loves everyone in his life. It was good to see him.
Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Note - I did not have on any make-up ;-)

A Saturday Shopping Trip

Sean has custody of Lawson and Britain which means shopping for his sweet little girl sometimes involves family - he needs female perspective when buying.  Both Lawson and Britain are growing up so fast - but Britain in particular has had a recent growth spurt and needed all new clothes.
Since God blessed me with all boys - this chance to dress a little girl is AWESOME and really fun!
So,  on a recent Saturday, Sean, Lawson and Britain, Laura and Emma Grace and I all met at the Promenade to shop.
We had so much fun and found the cutest little clothes and shoes for both Lawson and Britain.
We had their little feet fitted and measured at both Stride Rite and another shoe store - it is very important that little shoes fit little feet just right. 
Anyhow - Laura, Britain and I picked out - Britain tried on (Lawson did not want to try on his clothes - he is such a boy), Sean approved or disapproved and Sean picked up the tab.  Way fun!
We found little sundresses, shorts, capris, sweet little shirts, hair bows, head bands...
We shopped at Gymboree, The Children's Store, Justice for Girls and Penney's.
Here are a few pictures of our fun day.