Intergenerational Visit to Grandma

I am a little behind on my blogging. Weekend before last, Tommy and I went to visit Grandma with Jill and Hattie. Jenny had Lucy and Kate with her; Eric was working; Stephen was weatherizing the boat; Lanie was at a friend's house. I love the way my kids hand their kids off to each other. Last weekend, Lanie and Kate stayed with Julie and Maddy while Tom and I went to the Wildcat game!

Grandma had been a little confused during the week before this visit; we think she was dehydrated, By Saturday afternoon, though, she was as sharp as ever! She knew that was Jill coming in the door with Jenny's baby!

I think this is a prety cute picture of four generations all sitting on one bed!

Miss Hattie charmed the entire nursing home; I guess I should say "Baby Hattie" because Grandma is "Miss Hattie" to most of the staff. As we were leaving, Grandma escorted us to the door, "walking" her wheelchair. She wanted everyone to know that was "her" baby. One resident asked, "Is that your baby?" and, when Grandma answered in the affirmative, the lady said, Well, now I know why you are hanging on!"

I think Grandma was pretty proud of this visitor too!

FOOTBALL!!!

The Wildcats beat Lake Hamilton on Friday night and will be playing in the state championship game for the third consecutive year!!!! Two years ago we played Lake Hamilton and lost; last year we met Pine Bluff and were victorious! This year our opponent will be Texarkana. I blogged about our previous meeting with the Razorbacks earlier in the season. That's the team we beat by blocking a field goal in the last seconds of the game and running it back for a touchdown. The experts (Tom and Drive-time Sports) never expected Texarkana to make it to the title game; Pine Bluff was supposed to clobber them! It makes me nervous that they might be peaking at just the right time for them! The game will be played Saturday, December 4 with kickoff being at 6:30 P.M. in War Memorial Stadium! GO WILDCATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Jill and Stephen are proud LSU fans and have had their house rolled before on the weekend of the game against Arkansas. This year's job was pretty fancy!!!

Clean-up has begun! The Pauls and various neighbors aided the effort and, almost, made it fun!

SUCCESS!

I feel certain I have mentioned the "El Dorado Promise", a program funded by Murphy Oil Corporation. Every graduate of EHS, who is accepted into college, is given tuition equal to the amount charged by the most expensive state school in Arkansas. Three of my grandchildren will benefit from Murphy's generosity! Cash awards are also given for achievement on a variety of examinations. During this past week, DanMan received Murphy Money as as result of his 4th grade benchmark scores! CONGRATULATIONS, DANIEL BUCHANAN JOHNSON!!!

CONGRATULATIONS, too, to the EHS Wildcats! They were victorious tonight over Van Buren, 48-21!! A Van Buren sportscaster is reported to have told his audience, sometime prior to the game, that El Dorado hadn't had to face any real competiton so far this season. BIG mistake, fella!

Next Friday we will have a rematch with Lake Hamilton! They are a good, strong team and we have already beaten them once this season. It will hard to beat them a second time. This is the school that beat us in the state championship game in 2008. GO WILDCATS!!!!

Misc. Sunday!

BREAK TIME!!!!

Uncle Bo got into a "raspberry conversation" with Hattie; looks like she is positioning her tongue to reply, doesn't it?

Thought Hattie's Uncle Bo and her Aunt Julie were going to have a tug-of-war over her but they agreed to share! This picture gives you a good idea of the progress Julie has made since her surgery. I think she was terrifically pleased by the comments of her brother-in-law, Eric; a large part of his practice is surgeries like hers. Way to go, Betsy!

OUTSIDE on Sunday!

Saturday had been a dreary, kind of chilly, day but Sunday was beautiful! Before DanMan came to play, Lucy and Papa had visited the tire swing horse. Lucy had decided her name was Cinderelly and that they should feed her a combination of rice krispies and muffins with ice cream for dessert. You can see her dish in the photo below

When DanMan arrived, Tom turned "swinger duty" over to him!

I love the expressions on Maddy's face in the two pictures above. I'd say that girl was having fun, wouldn't you!?

I added this picture just to show you the effort DanMan was putting into making sure his cousins had a good time.

INSIDE on Sunday!

On the Sunday morning after the wedding, the Junior Johnsons, the Nolans, and the Pauls were able to spend some time relaxing and playing at Papa and Nannah's.

Jenny and Eric did not bring Hattie's boppy chair to El Dorado. She looks perfectly happy using Papa's popcorn bowl as a substitute!

Lucy's favorite breakfast is bagels with cream cheese. I think part of the attraction is being able to use the cream cheese as face paint.

Hannah had been afraid she wouldn't get in any snuggle time with Hattie during the weekend because she was at a Girls' Retreat Friday evening through church time on Sunday morning.

As I have said before, I LOVE how my grandchildren love their cousins!!!

Weavie and Wendy's wedding, Part VI

This photo was supposed to be included in my last post. Since I had 'borrowed" the pictures from the photographer, I was not using Picasa and thought I could upload more than four at once. (I know I have before - re Tom's retirement!) Anyway, this picture, which should have been exactly in the middle, third out of five, did not post. I wanted you to be able to see how happy the minister, the groom's younger brother, was about this marriage.

This family has been close to us for many years, ever since we moved to El Dorado in June of '79. When we decided I needed to go back to work Jenny was about twenty months old; Spud announced, "If you're going to work, my mom wants Peaches". I was so relieved!!! Turns out his mother, Dianne (Di-Nan to Jenny) had no idea her son was volunteering her - but she decided to try babysitting and it worked out wonderfully well.

Dianne died in 2001. Spud was married by then and the father of four beautiful children. Weavie was a chemical engineer in Baton Rouge; he has always been shy and his mother so wanted him to find the right woman and have a family of his own. We all did! We are so happy now that he waited until he was 44 and found just the right wife for himself! (He found her in Rochester, NY!!!! We always tease Jimmy that he had to go all the way to Canada to find a woman who would have him. At least Weav didn't have to go that far!) Larry Cottrell, the boys' father, was the best man; you can barely see him, and his big smile, at the right of this picture.

Weavie and Wendy's wedding, Part V

Our neighbor, Greg Owens, is a photographer. Weavie and Wendy signed a contract with him when they visited in July. I had thought Jimmy and Tanya had casually mentioned him as they walked with the engaged couple from our house to theirs. Not so. W and W had already done online research and came to town determined to search out this particular photographer! Imagine everyone's surprise when the subject came up right by his house way out in the country! He posted fifteen photos on facebook last night as, what he calls, teasers. I hope he'll consider it good advertising if I share some of them with you.





Wendy's father, Terry Anderson, escorts her to meet her groom. Didn't the tree lights look wonderful? (The bride too, of course!)




It didn't look this dark to me during the ceremony. I thought I was also posting another picture of this scene closer up. I will have to do that in a minute because I love how the minister, Weavie's brother, Spud, (Kevin in the professional world) is laughing.






This wonderful picture shows the boys from the neighborhood all grown up! From left to right we have Rue (Carroll Brantley), Weavie (Steve Cottrell), Spud (Kevin Cottrell), and Bo (Jimmy Johnson)! Rue, Spud, and Jimmy were talking and laughing so sicced the photographer on them - and then I went in search of the groom. I hope the guest from Baton Rouge will forgive me for snatching him away but I HAD to have this picture! (Nickname explanations: RUE - his sister called him K-Rue when be was little because she couldn't pronounce Carroll; WEAVIE - same sort of origination - Kevin could not say Stevie correctly; SPUD - so called by a neighborbor because of the number of Spudnuts (El Dorado's version of doughnuts) the kid could put away when he was little; BO - a shortening of Jimbo, what I have called my baby boy for years.

During the week, as people have been coming and going, Zucchini made herself very popular. Wendy had been disappointed not to meet our dogs when she was in town in July but Tom had boarded them because we had so much going on and were out of town for several days. (Jenny's move from Atlanta, then Julie's surgery, and Jimmy's birthday) She made much of both dogs when she got here this time but Candy was not given free-rein of the territory the way Zucci was; we knew the damage she could do if the decided to rearrange the decorations. We suggested putting Zucchini in the house Friday night for the rehearsal but that idea was quickly vetoed. As a result, she was the official greeter and joined the groomsment during the practice. The first thing Wendy said to me after she finished rehearsing was, "We want Zucchini to come to the wedding!" I am not sure if she actually joined the wedding party during the ceremony; Jenny had a coughing spell and I was concerned about her as she snuck off into the bushes, holding Hattie, so as not to disturb anyone. Tom did not notice Zucci either but DanMan swears she was wandering around up there making sure everything was done correctly! I guess she figured that, since she had been invited, she really ought to join in the festivities at the reception too!

Weavie and Wendy's wedding, Part IV

This table was just to your right as you entered the reception tent. It held to place cards and seating assignments.

Tom and I found this hanging basket at the new Pittman's in Magnolia. We hoped it would look very welcoming as guests came up our dirt road driveway - and it did!

We, also, found the flag there. We were really probably kind of rushing the season but it doesn't say CHRISTMAS anywhere. Tommy is so fond of our bird neighbors that, even though he is not big on garden flags, he hung this one the minute we got home. I hope you can see the blue jays. We bought lots of yellow mums and purple, yellow, and LSU pansies too! I'll have to take some pictures of the front of the house, where we thought we were supposed to be dressing up the scenery!

Weavie and Wendy's wedding, Part III

By the time guests arrived, it was beginning to get dark and all of the candles were lit. You can imagine how lovely this looked at dusk by candlelight. The dry erase board had a message saluting the bride and groom.

Julie Ralston Fite, the Cake Ladi, created the wedding cake. I had never tasted one like it - and she had never made one like it! She baked a white cake, used strawberry filling, and, obviously, a chocolate ganache. Weavie and Wendy both love purple, so it was the featured color, but the decorator's theme was Autumn, from the decorations to the menu. It all worked perfectly together.

The candy table was the topic of much conversation. No one had seen purple and white candy corn before!

The table settings were lovely.

I had selected more pictures than this for this entry; I just remembered that four is the max I am allowed to post at a time. Be back in a minute!

Weavie and Wendy's wedding, Part II

The pump on my fountain quit recently but Tom installed a new one and worked on the plant arrangement surrounding it while he was at it. Good job, Thomas!

This tent held the reception. I had never seen one quite like it. It even had a dance floor! (Unfortunately, since we were not aware that the excitement was going to be out back, Tom had treated all the ant hills in front but none where we ended up needing an ant-free zone! He had to surreptitiously spray the dance area while people were eating because quite a few of the pesky creatures were already partying!)

The ceremony, which began at 5:30 P.M., was held in this small gazebo. I did not take any pictures during the actual wedding but I am hoping to be able to borrow some so you can see how lovely the setting was at dusk. We had rain forecasts for November 13 from 60% to 30% as we checked the ten day weather predictions. It did rain late Friday night and into early Saturday morning but, by the time people were awake and finishing wedding set-up, the rain had moved out of the area. It never turned into a beautiful, sunny day but, since it was an evening ceremony, that didn't matter. Naturally, Friday and today were absolutely gorgeous!

Weavie and Wendy's wedding, Part I

I was not as good as I had hoped I would be about documenting the preparations for Weavie and Wendy's wedding. I do have some interesting things to show you though.

All of us, who were with the bridal couple back in July when they visited and Wendy saw "The Johnson Wedding Chapel" (and the Johnsons) for the first time, thought that the plan was for the ceremony and reception to be held in the front yard. When Tom and I returned from Little Rock last Monday, we were surprised to find activity on the softball/soccer field at the back of the house. When we saw the size of the tent being erected, we understood why the location had been changed.

I love the use of fencing to welcome guests to the site. The fences and the lights are being left for us. Thank you, Jo! (Jo Huskey, a very talented woman I had never met but with whom I quickly established a wonderful rapport, was the wedding coodinator. Neither the bride or the groom had ever met her either!)

Rena Tolan, a friend of ours from church, is Jo's right hand woman - and designated ladder climber! She, also, helped her sister to cater the delicious traditional Thanksgiving meal for the reception. I will be telling about the wedding in multiple entries due to the peculiarities of my Picasa program but I will let you know right now that it was a wonderful, beautiful, moving occasion!

Wildcats 6A South Champions - a THREEpeat!

On Thursday, November 4, 2010, the El Dorado Wildcats defeated the Pine Bluff Zebras to claim their third 6A South Conference Championship in as many years! Pine Bluff is the team that ruined our perfect season last year and the one we then met and beat in the state championship game! They are always a formidable opponent and this year was certainly no exception! I am so very proud of all of our players and their coaches! (Above you see Coach Johnson slapping hands with Ryan Williams, the strongest man in the 6A! Ryan is one of Jimmy's D-linemen and one of my Hugh Goodwin babies!)

A friend of mine, Stacy Gulick, who was Hannah's kindergarten teacher and is now the focus coordinator at Yocum Elementary, DanMan's alma mater, took this picture of two cute Yocum alums during the game. (Now that I think about it, Stacy was Ryan Williams' kindergarten teacher too!) I guess no one was thirsty right at the moment so these guys climbed on the bench for a better view of the action! (DanMan on left, Leighton Turbeville on right - Leighton's father, John David Turbeville, was the Wildcat quarterback in '85 and '86.)

I should be cleaning house...

I think I will compose this journal entry in fits and spurts today as I take housecleaning breaks. This Saturday is the wedding at The Johnson Wedding Chapel. The new cleaning lady has us in pretty good shape if I can just hide all my stuff! As usual, I have about ten projects in the works and they are scattered all over! One of them is a baby blanket for the eagerly awaited grandson of our good friends from USAF days, Billy and Dianne Harrison. When I finish that item, I will probably post a photo. I am using what looks to be a very complicated pattern; it isn't really but it keeps me on my toes. Jenny's Lucy is a blanket collector - oh, wait - let me add a picture here...

Lucy was watching from the hallway as her mother got ready for a Halloween party. Looks like the procedure was pretty boring but, thanks to an ever-present blanket, she was able to make herself comfortable! (I am very disappointed that the picture is posting so small. Oh, well!)

Anyway, Lucy is a blanket girl, especially liking a particular yarn (Baby Bernat Coordinates) and pattern. When I was making blankets for Hattie I decided not to make any like Lucy's favorites so that there would be no confusion or hurt feelings. I found another yarn that I loved (TLC Cotton Plus) and made Hattie's first blanket from it. Jenny declared that to be her favorite baby blanket EVER so I am duplicating that one in blue for Baby Fitzmaurice (Fitzmorris?). I just finished a pink blanket for another friend's granddaughter-to-be and have the yarn for a bib and washcloth to gift with it in a pile. Yarn for hats for Arkansas Children's Hospital is in another pile, another started blanket in another pile - well, you get the picture!

Tommy and I just got back from shopping to find the wedding planner and a friend busy decorating. If the weatherman will only cooperate, this will be a beautiful, beautiful wedding!

Tonight Tom and Jimmy are going to see Merle Haggard in concert here in ElDo. Tanya and I will go watch Hannah in a skit at the Junior Service League style show. We have no ticket for DanMan for the concert and he sure doesn't want to go to a style show; hope he is welcome at Zach's for just a little while!