America

May America Forever Be Free. May We Always Be Thankful.

May We Never Forget.

(a free printable to frame)

May She Forever Shine

Have a Blessed 4th of July ~

"O say can you see by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country, should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation.

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

Original lyrics, penned by Francis S. Key

Cover of sheet music, 1862

Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili ~

Very seldom do I cook new recipes. Well, okay, very seldom do I cook. Shhhhh, only my friends & family know. I like good food, though, and am beyond blessed to have family & friends that are good cooks! Those that aren't? We meet at a good eatery!

I found this recipe on Pinterest. Yes, my new favorite place to be. It looked good. It looked easy. AND, we were having family in. So YES, I wanted to impress {wink font}

I won't go into it here BeCAuSe I want YOU to visit this site! Don't let the title fool you. This girl has some good stuff. And not just photos. Y'all, this recipe is a throw together, can't get easier, will make it again recipe! Click here on Photo a Day to get the easy peasy recipe. We ate it in different ways. I made a burrito with mine adding shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, and Lite sour cream. The Hood ate his with a burrito on the side, and Stacey (if I remember correctly) ate hers with tostido chips. You can't go wrong. It's that easy. Now, if I could just buy shredded chicken somewhere. Have a blessed week!

Oh, and those sweet things that visited with us this past week?! Our oldest daughter and their two sweet babies. The Hood went to The Track with them while they rode race carts and bumper cars! Yeah, we hated seeing them leave. We have five of the most loving and affectionate babies. We are so in love~

They'll be back in July for the 4th! And she's bringing HER hubs to grill and cook! He's a master at grilling and cooking on the grill. I'm cutting way back on my eating until then so I can stuff myself while he's here!

Thank You

Thank you to all that have sacrificed for our country. We are free because of so many within our Armed Forces and I offer my thanks today~

Happy Independence Day!

Please decorate responsibly!

You have GOT to click here and go read this post.

Too cute.

Hope you've had a happy and safe weekend.

May God continue to bless our great Nation.

And I've found a new site! A Scandinavian one! Cute outfit for the 4th!

Past Independence Day Celebrations!

John is wanting us to use the term Independence Day instead of calling it the 4th of July. He feels our youth and young adults need to know what Independence means and the sacrifices made by others in order for us to celebrate our freedom. As he put it, "We don't call Christmas the 25th of December." And we don't. Good point, Hood. So I've made a concentrated effort to call it by it's proper name. Independence Day and I am so proud to be an American.

Ian was only three when this photograph was made.

His friend, Matthew, is the grandson of a dear friend.

They had such fun playing 'train' on the side of the pool.

Train? Go figure.

The year was 2006.

The next year, Jenny took some cute photos

at the parade in our downtown area. 2008, sweet Noah was not even two yet.
My, how time flies. This afternoon

I watched him sitting with Ian,
as Ian read a book aloud, and thanked God for our family.

Last year, our Jenny was pregnant with Miss Elle ~

This year that sweet baby girl is crawling and pulling up,

and loves eating, her big brothers, and her mum and daddy.

~ ~ ~ ~

As I composed this post, I am reminded how very blessed I am.

How very blessed we all are. Have a great weekend.

Celebrate the 4th!

Click on over to There Is No Place Like Home to find out how she put together this adorable door decoration. Kelli is a Christian, homeschooling, Texan wife and mother and she has other decorations and ideas I know you'll be sure to enjoy! Leave her a comment and let her know you visited. We always love us some comments!

This needs no directions or help. We all love Rice Krispie treats!
The picture below came from a blog I just found today, by Googling 4th of July decorations, and I sure intend to add it to my list of favorites. Not only is the first impression a grabber, but I can tell there are ideas, tips, and recipes that I want to know more about.
When I found this image, I thought of our grandsons.
How easy is this?!
And how cute!
So, are you getting ready for the weekend?!
I plan to go this afternoon and get a few items
to dress up our small part of the world.
Be sure and come back tomorrow!

Getting Ready For the 4th!

Our grandson, Ian, traveled to Memphis recently.

This photo of him at the Children's Museum of Memphis.

An awesome playground for kids and adults!

Who wouldn't love to have your veranda or porch look like this?! We have a screened in veranda and although we haven't gotten it outfitted or decorated yet, there are plans! You can see more ideas at The Stories of A to Z. I always find something to drool over at Beth's site. On to the food! I wanted to share two items with you today that are easy to make, and would be ideal for a busy mother. Or a retired grandmother, like me! You can click on the photos to be directed to the blogs where I found them! You'll also find more ideas! The waffle idea is one of Beth's and the adorable jello stars is an idea from BrownEyed Baker!

I leave you with this precious young man,

and the title of his mother's post.

"One Nation Under God"

{Note that little finger denoting one. Sweet!}

What are YOUR Plans?!

Beginning tomorrow, I'll have several posts on how to have a rockin' 4th of July! Until I can get the first one published, I'd like your thoughts on what you and yours will be doing this weekend. Do you have any traditions that make it special? Is this a free day from work with good food to be gotten at a fair or neighbor's home?! Share with us! And I'll be sharing with you some really neat decorating ideas and yummy recipes that will be sure to give you some ideas!

A Few Good Men ~

These snapshots came from Jen's blog ~

and they just stirred something in my heart.

Of course, who doesn't get goosebumps seeing

men in blue carrying Old Glory. Does it every time.

(And the fact that the background is a revitalized area of downtown!) Noah loves loves loves his mum and dad,

and never gets too far from either of them. Today it was his dad.

Don't you just love that 'Mr. Cool' get up? I do.

Can't wait to get my hands on him tomorrow when they come over.

And my other favorite photo? This one ~It's my baby girl with her baby girl ~ got goosebumps again.

It's the 4th of July!

(Thank you, Dawn, for providing the beautiful graphic card!!)
Hope everyone is having a grand 'ole time celebrating Independance Day, which also happens to be one of Johnny's favorite movies~but that's off the subject. We went up to the country and had pork with all the trimmings at Alton's and there was a slew of folks there! Started off with a few, when I realized how many were there my headache began, speech became a problem, and I came home. It was fun while there, though! John was even able to stay a little bit before leaving for work. I went by and picked up Deborah and Lorenzo and they had a blast as well. Lorenzo grew up in Los Angeles and had never seen a donkey. Alton has four, so snapshots were taken to document this historic sighting {insert bunches of winks here}. He was hoping to see a cow and we did see a calf, in the road of all places!, as we drove home. Here's some pics from the day~
I am so totally in love with this man and cannot wait for him to retire and I can have him home all the time. So, well, when he's not hunting or fishing.

This one is a bit fuzzy. I really need to make an appointment to get my eyes checked. It looks perfectly clear when I look at the viewfinder. But somewhere between there and here, it becomes fuzzy. Surely it's not MY eyes.

Jackie Martin grew up with Johnny in Slapout and I taught second grade with her. It was so good to see her and spend some time with her today. On the right is John's niece, Kim Barnes Holt. It was right after this snapshot that I began to realize just how many people were there!

I went to Jen's homepage and here are some cuties from there! She has many more, so check them out! What better way to end a 4th of July than with some snapshots of family, especially when they're grandbabies!! There are several funnies on Jen's site that brought smiles to my face. In one, Ian is trying to get Noah out of the road. I also liked the snapshot Jenny got of the old gin.
God bless America!