February Randoms…

- In February, DW, his daddy and brothers are the ushers at our church. That means, they pass out the bulletins before church and then take up the offering during the service. This year, Tucker got some more training in and hung out with his Daddy before the service welcoming people, shaking hands, (and giving high-fives). Of course his job was DONE when his BFF/Cousin came up the ramp. It was off to the balcony then to talk tractors and hay bales and such.

- Our trampoline somehow made it through the hurricane last Fall but recently fell victim to some bad wind during a thunderstorm. The craziest part is where it landed. It was in our back yard and ended up in our side yard, across the fence in the planted pine trees. The only way it could have gotten over there, without pulling down our power line that runs to the house, is by going OVER it. So we’re pretty sure it flew OVER the house.

- We celebrated Adam’s birthday with a fun night out. Lauren planned the most fun birthday for him this year. She lined us, and his two best friends and their wives up to all race go-karts at the Ocala speedway. The track is a real go-kart racing track and the go-karts went really fast, too. The girls got in on the first race and we all did the regular carts then the guys all 4 raced in the super-fast carts for the next one. It was a lot of fun once I got past having to wear that helmet and head brace that someone else had worn before. The fact that my face was smushed right on every surface of it really gave me the heebie-jeebies. I don’t know if it made it better or worse that the guy who worked there sprayed them down with Lysol right before he gave them to us. We drove Pappy’s Suburban so we all rode together, which is always fun, too. We had dinner reservations after the racing and I think everyone had a great time.

- This guy is getting so good about getting his hair cut! He’s never been awful about it, but sometimes he fusses about it before we go. We’ve started making his and DW’s appointments on the same day and I think that helps, too. Tucker always picks who’s going to go first.

- The kids love to ride the Gator out to the limerock pits. Tucker calls them the “lime pits.” They climb and run and act like they’re going on “adventures.” They always request to go there when we’re going to go for a ride, and the next question is always “do we have time to get out and play?”

- Safety First

~amw~

Daddy Sweetheart Dance

I just love the Daddy Sweetheart Dance that the Jr. Woman’s club puts on every year.

It’s so sweet to see all the pictures of the little girls with their daddy. They all think it’s the biggest deal, and it’s just precious.

DW & AB went again this year. The theme was ties and tiaras, so AB wore one of their sparkly tiaras.

Mamie was sad that you have to be at least Kindergarten aged to attend, but she’s looking forward to going next year!

DW was really sweet though, and after the dance, came home to pick up Mamie, too, and took both the girls to dinner at the Ivy House.

Nie-Nie did the pictures this year, so she snuck out and got one of my sweethearts dancing…

AB & Emma

Such a sweet night.

~amw~

Georgians….

Part of my heart truly lives in Georgia. Not only does my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephews live there, but so have some of my aunts, uncles and cousins, all of my life.

When any of the Georgia crew comes to visit it’s always a treat!

This was Ben’s first trip to Florida and I think he was a fan. He got out of the car and went straight for Mamie. She declared he LOVED her, and from then on, she was in his face the whole trip. ;)

On Friday my mom and my three aunts went over to help another sweet aunt (who’s battling cancer right now) with some house projects. Tettie and the boys hung with us and we ran errands and had lunch. Turns out Mamie wasn’t the only one Ben loved. He started smiling at the grocery store cashier and she too, also declared he LOVED her. She went on and on and kept making funny noises to get him to smile. It was hilarious, but after several minutes of it, got sort of creepy.

Parker came by that afternoon and played with the boys.

On Saturday, I had to set up for the schools foundation Gala and that night, we attended it. Steph joined us and it was fun having her there. I was the Gala chairperson this year and we had a Congressmen come as our guest speaker. Three times during his speech as he thanked the foundation and those who helped, etc., he referred to me as “Amy Whitehurst.” Stephanie and I got so tickled over it. I was trying hard not to have a Granny-moment though and bust out laughing at an inappropriate time.

On Sunday, Steph’s crew headed back to Georgia, but Aunt Kay and the two grandsons she brought along, stayed for another couple days.

On Monday, we took the boys to Silver Springs to let them kayak the Silver river. We’d hoped they’d see the monkeys or something fun. We rode the glass bottom boat, too, while we were at the park.

Every night the boys were here, they wanted DW to take them riding in the woods. He loved having an excuse to ride around, too, I’m sure.

The visits are always short and never often enough. That’s what makes them special, I guess.

~amw~ 

Be Mine 2017

The girls were very helpful this year in deciding what to do for their Valentine’s for school.

We hit the party section at Wal-Mart and found little trinkets the girls wanted to use and then just came up with a cheesy Valentine saying to go with them and I printed them up.  

Mamie also made cookies (sugar wafers dipped in almond bark and sprinkled with sprinkles) for her class and for our family.

The girls both enjoyed their Valentine dance at school the Friday before.

After school on Valentine’s Day, they were excited to find a Valentine in the mailbox from Grammy & Pop. They all insisted on opening their chocolate immediately. Everyone wonders why my car doesn’t ever stay clean. Mom & Dad had left a Valentine for me, too. 33 years and I’m still not too old for that to mean something. ;)

Once we’d gotten home, we were surprised again, when the florist delivered flowers for “The Whitehurst Girls…”

They’re the only two girls I’m okay sharing flowers with. Ha. It was super sweet and the girls thought it was the best thing ever.

They went through their Valentine bags from school and munched on candy and cake pops they’d been sent from Pappy & Nie-Nie, & Uncle Adam, Nen, Parker & Quinn. Taylor stopped by later and brought by what felt like another 150 cake pops for us. ;)

Valentine’s Day is more of a family night around our house. DW & I hate to wait a long time at a restaurant and we’d much rather go out on a night that’s not as busy. I’ve always done a “fancy” dinner at home- and by fancy, I mean “mixing all the red and pink and hearts and using our good china, and lighting candles, but all wearing t-shirts while we eat”- border-line-tacky-kind-of-fancy. ;)

This year, we started t-ball practice on Valentine’s Day. I know. Who practices T-Ball on Valentine’s Day? Single folks & the Williston Fire Ants Tball team. 

After T-Ball practice, we came home to our “fancy” dinner.  We ended our night with strawberry ice cream sundaes.

There’s a lot of love around here and you can’t ever have too much of a good thing.

~amw~