Lee Laurie.........you are a Super Star!

This was taken at Chucky Cheese the other night for Garrett's birthday. He had a blast....said this was his best birthday ever!!

This post is for Lee Laurie.......she is a wonderful mother, caring and loving friend, thoughtful....I can't describe in words just how wonderful she is......

She received a big atta girl the other day at work. She exceeded her goal on pre-sales....she reached 240% of her goal. So on top of being a mom, a grandmother, a loving friend....my best friend, a person that would go above and beyond to help you, even if it meant putting things she needed or wanted to do second....she excels at work....she has a huge customer base and she is the only one they want to wait on them.

To me....she is a "SUPER STAR!"

I love you, Lee.

Hailey and Garrett at the park....

These are some older pictures of the kids. Lee Laurie and I had taken them to Hattiesburg to have some fun. This is a little park just off of Hardy St in Hattiesburg. There is a zoo next to it. We didn't make it to the zoo, however, we are planning another trip with them.

We had stopped by a produce stand and had bought some stuff....boiled peanuts and some fruit. Since it was windy and chilly that day, we sat in the truck and ate boiled peanuts while the two little ones played.

Of course, the cool weather didn't bother them at all. They are two clowns. If you look close, you will see that they have their fingers stuck in the dinosaurs nose.....yuck!! You can tell by the smile on their faces it didn't bother them at all...ha.

They get along so good together. After letting them play for awhile and burning off some that childhood energy, we decided to let them drive the Volkswagen......

and what a fine job they did....well, not really, this is at a store in downtown Hattiesburg and they use this ole Beetle Bug to draw attention. It is really a cool way to tell someone which store is yours....you know the one with the white VW Beetle that ran half way into the building....yep...well that is my store. Also, downtown just a few blocks away is the Historic District and they have several old beautiful houses. We have taken several pictures of them. Lee has posted a few of our pictures on her site, asouthernrose.blogspot.com

Afterwards, we took them to Chucky Cheese where they played even harder. They had a blast!!

We must make time to spend with our children.....they are not little for long....they grow up and start wanting to find out who they are, where they want to live, what they want to do.....they need reminding that we are and will always be here for them. After several years, I know I am where I belong......one of the many songs that Lee Laurie and I like is by Rascal Flats....God Blessed the broken road. It has a special meaning to us. Hope you enjoy!

The newest great nephew.....

The proud momma!!! Daddy was gone getting breakfast.

This is my niece, Kaila, with her brand new son Brody. He came to us on Easter Sunday. He was 8.5 pounds and 21 inches long. He will be spoiled rotten. He is my sister, Wanda's first grand baby! Kaila looks a lot like her momma.

My other sister, Terry, lives in Louisiana has 3 grand young 'ins. Julianna and Zachary by one daughter and Benjamin by her other daughter. I will have to get some pics of them and get them on here. Don't want to leave anyone out. She has been trying to get them to call me, GUS, short for Great Uncle Stevie......

Morning of Lee Laurie's test.......

As many of you already know, Lee Laurie had a heart cathe done last week. We are very happy and blessed that she has a strong heart. The Doc said if it was an 8 cylinder motor...she would be firing on all 8. This means that we go back to her regular doctor and try to tweak her meds....which the side effects are drowsiness and lowering of blood pressure....both of which might explain the fatigue??

Anyway, this is the morning of the test and I was able to take the day off to take her to the hospital and be with her the rest of the day. We are also blessed that I work with good Christian people who honestly believe that God is first, your family is second and your job is third.
I was also able to see by great nephew, Brody, that morning at the hospital. He was an Easter baby, 8.5 pounds, 21 inches long. Pictures will come.

I want to thank everyone that has came by or call to check on Lee Laurie, thank you all for all the prayers, a special....very special heart felt thanks to Ms Judy, Lee's mom. While Ms Judy was inside with Lee......(blogging......she wants her own blog now). She also did so much cleaning inside and fixed an awesome dinner......and I was able to cut grass and tidy up outside.......

I heard of people going to the extremes.......but this beats it all!! Go have a heart cathe, to get your yard cut, house cleaned, dinner fixed.....my dearest Lee Laurie, just asked us next time;-)!!

Jason at Papa John and Kahki's house.........

We went to visit my parents, PaPa John and Kahki. The little man in Papa's lap is Jason. He is Lee Laurie's grandson. He will be a whole one year old the end of May. He is such a sweet baby boy.

Yeah, Jason doesn't have a chance in not being spoiled.

Here he is with Kahki.....she spoils all the grand kids.....

It was a little chilly that night so we built....well, they had me make a fire in the "fire pit". It was so nice just sitting outside feeling the warmth of the fire and the coolness of the night air. We love to sit outside on their patio. It is cozy......has that warm and fuzzy feeling. It is private, quiet, listen to the wind chimes.....we have spent a many a hour out there.

Here he is with Ya Ya, she is so proud of him. We love to spend time with him and just spoil him pass rotten. He is scootin every where, pulling up on things trying to walk. He is such a good baby! And Jason, next time Pappy will not take all the pictures and get one of us, buddy!

Tyler Man!! This is my Tyler. He loved to help daddy. It didn't matter what, where,when...etc. He wanted to be with his, Daddy. He was about two-ish in this picture.....working in the garden with me.
I was trying to be Mr. Fix It....and while I was all caught up in......now how did this thing go....I was attacked by my helper. He was such a cute little boy!!

Here he is with his hoe to help me.

Then one morning I woke up.............and my Tyler Man is acting and looking more like a grown man. He turned 16 this past January and will get his driving license this month...scarey. I remember letting him sit in my lap and steer and later when he was about 8 letting him drive my truck when we were at the camp. He would let the seat up as close as it would getl....sit on the edge and stretch his neck to see over the steering wheel. He did good. That was even pulling a boat and trailer.

We do what I call "peddling jobs" from time to time. We skirt mobile homes on the weekends or in the afternoon once I get off work. Tyler is a very hard worker and catches on to most things quickly. He is thinking about firing me and starting his own little business skirting mobile homes this summer.

It would be good for him to start this. He would learn about cost of material, labor, tools, fuel expense......and overall....what we call at the bank..."the bottom line". He already has 4 yards he is cutting and trying to decide what he wants to do this summer when school is out. He also helps a lady on her farm when she needs him. He is not scared to work.

Taking a coke break.



He can do anything he puts his mind to. He helps one his friends work in his dad's auto mechanic shop from time to time.

This is the finished job. The skirting makes it look all better.

These days, Tyler and I don't spend as much time together as we would like. He is of course wanting to spend more and more time with his friends and most importantly his girlfriend, Crystal. She is a cutie. I work out of town and it seems like I always have something going on. We do get to hunt some and we will fish more this summer. We are suppose to go target shooting this weekend. We work hard and we play hard. I am very proud of him and love him so much.

Tyler, if you ever look at my blog, know that I love you very much, know that I am very proud of you, know that I will always be here for you, know that I don't know everything(HA), know that I try to lead and show you by example what a good man is suppose to be and do.

Outdoor Wednesday.

Happy Outdoor Wednesday!! I am posting different pictures of flowers from the yard. We will have a some kind of flowering plant in the seat of the old rocker.

These we call "old folk flowers" because you usually see them around every old house site.

I love these Japanese Magnolias.

We have several more plants a blooming. I will get some pictures to post. The weather has been so pretty today. I wanted to stay home............however, I am happy I do have a job to go to. I will have this afternoon to get outside and enjoy the weather.