Slideshow of Darrell's Party

Blog Candy

OK, so it looks like I'm going to have a few extra bookmarks available sometime this weekend. Anyone want one? Leave me a comment and let me know why a grown woman would want a bookmark with a "Stinkin' Little Skunk" on it and you may just be the proud ower of it after Sunday night. I will randomly choose 3 comments after 6:00 p.m. (Eastern) on Sunday and will get your bookmarks in the mail to you on Monday.

Come on, gals, I can't wait to see why you want one!

My 3 little wild men

Here are my 3 little wild men who will be living in Korea for the next two years. Oh, how I'll miss them! What an opportunity for them, but what a loss for me!

I'm so sad.

I just gave Darrell my last hug for at least a year -- and that's if I can swing a trip to Korea next summer, if not it the last hug for at least two years. OMG! Why are those things so hard? He's a dad-gum 36 year old grown man and I'm acting like he's a 7-year old on his way to camp for a week and will be away from Mommy. They are on their way back to Kansas and will be flying out of St. Louis on the 14th for Korea. They have to get his truck sold and their camper stored between now and then and of course do all the crazy stuff you have to do when you leave the country for two years with 3 children.
We had a wonderful visit even though I had to escape for a while yesterday and go hide in the yard for a while just to get away from all the chaos going on. We met my sister and her son, Will, (who wasn't able to come to the party on Sunday) last night at a Japanese restaurant for supper. The kids loved it and we all laughed and talked about all the trouble Darrell, Marti, Gina, and Will used to get into when they were little. We laughed about the one summer Will came to stay with us on the farm and he, Darrell, and Roger spent days and days toting (a southern term for carrying) irrigation pipe for the tobacco and corn fields. When Will got back home from that visit, he vowed he would NEVER come back for the summer -- and he never did! Poor little city kid came to the country and almost didn't survive. Now, he's the greens superintendent at several fancy-smancy Reynolds golf courses at Lake Oconee and he spends his days toting pipe. HaHa! Darrell got a big laugh out of that! I have cooked more in the last week than I have in the last 6 months and my back door has been opened and slammed more than it has been in the last year. I have washed clothes and picked up Power Rangers and X-men and crayons and said, "Quit chasing the dad-gum dogs in the house" at least a million times.
OK, now I need to get up off my feeling-sorry-for-myself-butt and get busy doing something besides thinking about the fact that my little boy is gone. I think I'll go stamp! But, before I do, I need to go wash one more load of towels and I may just go slam the back door a few more times just for good measure. And, I might just go dirty up a dozen more plates and a few dozen more glasses and I might even chase the dogs up and down the hall. And, I'm most definitely going to go open a few more bags of chips and leave them on the coffee table for the dogs to get into.
Hang in there with me, gals. I am sad, sad, sad. (Darrell & Denise -- if you are reading this, I LOVED our visit and I already miss y'all.)

Just a few more days......

and my son and his family will be off for a two-year tour of duty in Korea. Oh, how I'll miss them! They are down in south Georgia right now visiting family and saying their good-byes there, but will be back here tomorrow for another big send-off party. I'm really excited, and sad, too, about tomorrow. We have rented the club house and pool at a local RV campground and are planning a big cookout and family get together. My sisters and their families will be there so that we can say good-bye to Darrell, Denise, Nic, Jake, and Ryan. I'm sure that we'll have a great time, but these good-byes are really tough. I'm so very proud of Darrell, though. He has always been a great son, but the older he gets, the more loving he becomes. Oh, what would I do without him?
I'm proud to say that he's a good husband to Denise and a super dad to "the Boyz". I'm excited for Nic, Jake, and Ryan. They are old enough now to be able to remember this time they will spend in Korea. I'm sure it will be a real adventure for them. And for Denise, too. Darrell will be at Camp Casey and Denise and the boys will be living in Seoul. Darrell will get to go to Seoul a couple of times a month to see them. So, it will kind of be like she's a single military mom, but with occasional visits from Dad. This will be very different for the boys. They have never had Darrell gone for such long periods of time before.
I'll make sure I get some pictures taken and posted of all the fun we have tomorrow.

Lovin' my flowers

Just had to share these with you. I just love impatiens; to me they just say, "Yea! It's summer!" Now, if I can just keep the dogs out of them! The flower box has a bird nest in the back of it so I'm having to be very careful when I water it. Can't wait to see the babies!

The Rain is Falling!

Hooray, Yippee! It's raining in Georgia! It's been so-o-o-o-o long since it's rained here and everything is so-o-o-o-o-o dry! Thank you, Lord, for the rain!