I’ve been a little remiss. A little something happened that I failed to mention. A little 7 pound, 8 ounce something. But that something is getting bigger every day!

I have a brand new nephew. His name is Wyatt. But with a name like that, I think of him as “The Cowboy”.

It’s pretty weird when your baby sister has a baby. But since that results in a new nephew for me, I’ll learn to deal with it.

Here he is…Wyatt.

p.s. Just so you know - I’m his favorite aunt. He whispered that in my ear the last time I saw him. And he looks pretty honest to me, so I have to believe him.

Summer and the lake are so intertwined in my mind that I can’t separate the two. But then again, I don’t know why I would want to try.

If I ever turn into a mermaid, I will attribute it to my many childhood hours at the lake with my redheaded grandmother.

Yesterday was the first Sunday afternoon that we hung out at the lake. Now, different ones in the family have already been down there this year. But this was the first day when a big group of us were there. It will be the first of many Sundays at the lake. It makes me happy because it truly is one of my favorite places on earth.

We spent the day:

Pier sittin’
Baby tossin’

Shell collectin’

Snack consumin’

After a day like that, I am positive that summer is here!

I know. I know. Summer doesn’t officially start until June 21. But for me, it started as soon as I pulled up at the lake yesterday afternoon.

What makes you feel like summer has “officially” arrived in your world?

So a lot has been happening lately, but I just haven’t felt up to writing about all of it. Allergies and a major sinus infection took a toll on me. I am finally starting to feel better. But I feel like I need to hit some highlights. Some of these will get their own posts later, but in the interest of keeping everyone in the loop:

• The Strawberry Festival is over…hallelujah! It was ok, but just happened to fall in the midst of really not feeling well, so my energy level was pretty low. I think everyone else had a pretty good time.
• Both of my sisters are pregnant. My little sister is due in July and my older sister in September. Both are having boys.
• I am going on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic with a group of 7 other ladies from my church. It is the last week of June. We will mainly be working with a Young Life camp and will also get to spend a little time with the Christian & Missionary Alliance missionaries. Three of my cousins are going on the trip as well, so I know we are going to have fun!
• To raise money for the trip, we are having a Yard Sale/Bake Sale on May 22 at my church (corner of Madison and Wyche Street in Whiteville, NC). Feel free to stop by and shop or just encourage us.
• I’m going to Nashville in August for the Hutchmoot conference put on by the Rabbit Room. If you remember, this was on my Task of Twelve list for the year. And since I bugged them enough, they are letting me help with it. Yay!

I’m the redheaded version of my mama
At least that’s what they say around my town
When I think about her sweetness & concern
I hope the internal traits also abound

Happy Mothers Day.
Mama, I love you much!

I’m better than I was earlier today. I still have the remnants of a headache, but it isn’t as bad as it was. 

Changes in the barometric pressure are one of the only triggers I know of for my migraines. All I can say is that these dark clouds need to go far, far away!

Not really sure what made my headache lift…the clouds or a visit by my little cousin. 

I wrote a children’s book a couple of years ago. It did really well. There were two printings and all the copies are gone…all 3 copies that is.

It was a Christmas present for my niece, Miss O. For the book is about Miss O and her special friend, a green puppet whom she loves so much. Here are the first two lines.

Once upon a time in the land of the flowers, Rose’s to be exact; there was a little green puppet.  He was all by himself on the very top shelf, nameless and faceless. 

 

“If only someone would come along” he said.  “I know they would love me.”

Not to keep you in suspense, it does end well.

At the time, Miss O was thrilled with the book. Not so much for the fact that someone wrote a book just for her, but because of where she thought it could take her. She envisioned that I would write a whole series of these books about Tally-ho Greenish, the little green puppet she named when she was four. Then the two of us would travel around to different bookstores signing them. She was in it for the fame.

I was reminded of this again on Sunday. As we ate lunch, I mentioned to her that I had recently auditioned for a talent show. She got very excited and said, “They are going to call you back. Then we are going to be famous. And we are going to be rich.”

Yeah, she is still in it for the fame. But she is so sweet about it, that it is endearing. So maybe one day, she will be famous. But until then, she will have to settle with just being mine.

This is a tale of several mamas and their babies.

My brother has always called me “Mama Jr”. But for some reason, I don’t think he intends it in a way that is ultra complimentary. Recently I talked about having babies or more specifically, not having them. So while I don’t have any children other than the ones I sponsor, my parents’ house was overrun with ”little mamas” on Christmas Day.

This little mama took great care of her new baby. She fed her, rocked her, loved her and changed her (yes, it is one of “those” babies).

When my first nephew was born, my mom was emphatic about not wanting to be called “Big Mama” as her grandmother was. So we can call her a little mama too. Then there is my sister-in-law who became a mother this year. My nephew is a little thing (except for his legs) so that makes Heather a little mama.

Then there is….Whoa! That most definitely isn’t a little mama! It’s my dad and my nephew showing off his new trick - spitting. In case you were confused, the baby is doing the spitting, not my dad. It’s hysterical, but we aren’t supposed to encourage him. Easier said than done. By the way, Papa is sporting his new Baby Bjorn, not old man suspenders!

Then my little sister will always be a little mama to her cat, Henrietta. A most wonderful, sweet, loving, patient, purring cat. Did I mention the fact that I picked her out? Of course I am impartial, but she is a great cat.

Oh wait, there might have been something else. Maybe, just maybe someone wrote a book with a page in it that mentions another baby for some reason. And I don’t think she was talking about a cat (even though you might have heard that her cat is pretty amazing. If you haven’t heard, she is a great cat). Yeah, there might have been a book like that.

I guess there was a book…since I have a picture of Mama reading the book and my sister-in-law’s shocked reaction to my little sister’s news.

It is sort of weird that my baby sister is going to have a baby. Especially if you take into account that this is the girl who played dress up with the little girls. As in played with them a month ago!

But here are the happy little Mama and Papa.

And next summer, we should have a happy little baby.

In honor of Christmas next week…wait, Christmas is next week?!?! How did it slip up so quickly? Ok, to celebrate the fast approaching holiday, here is a little story and recipe to get you in the mood.

My cousin brought his 5 year old daughter to work for a little bit today. They are headed out shopping this afternoon, so Gracie can buy presents for her mom and brand new little brother. Well, he is little in terms of age; you can’t exactly say the same thing about size. They call him Gus-Gus because he reminds them of the mouse on Cinderella.

Back to Gracie. She is a crazy little thing. Blunt and to the point. When the talk in the kitchen turned to matchmaking for one of her relatives, her response was “As a matter of fact, she did have a boyfriend but she broke up with him!” At that point, she tried to turn the matchmaking efforts in my direction, so I quickly realized that I needed to get back to work. She is quite generous because she has offered me one of her two boyfriends in the past. But for some reason, I don’t think a 5 year old is exactly what I am looking for.

Her dad told me about a conversation they had last night.

Gracie: Daddy, do you think Santa will bring me presents even if I have been bad?

Daddy: Uhhmmm…

Gracie: Well, I was bad last year and he still brought me presents. So it’s ok.

In case you have been bad too, I will give you a little Christmas recipe to make you feel better. It is ultra easy and soooo good. The perfect combination of sweet & salty. I originally found the recipe on Tasty Kitchen but I doctored it up a little. Concocting in the kitchen is a compulsion I just can’t overcome. But I don’t know if anyone really wants me to stop.

This is a great recipe to take to holiday parties or to bag up and give away, but make sure you save some for yourself. Sorry I don’t have a photo of it, but it got gone before I could take one!

Redneck Toffee

2/3 cup toasted chopped pecans (instructions on toasting below)

2 sticks butter

1 cup sugar

saltines

1 cup chocolate chips

1 teaspoon coarse salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

While it is preheating, toast your pecans. Bake them for 4-6 minutes. Stir them every minute. They will start to smell (good) and will darken a little. Make sure you don’t burn them.

Melt butter and sugar in pan over medium heat. Keep over heat and stir until butter is completely combined. It will take several minutes of stirring after the butter all melts.

Line a cookie sheet (with sides, very important) with foil. Cover sheet with single layer of saltines, breaking them if needed to fill up entire sheet. Pour butter/sugar mixture over saltines. Spread to cover all crackers. Bake for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over top. Wait a minute for them to melt. Spread chocolate evenly over pan (I use the back of a metal spatula to do so).

Sprinkle pecans over chocolate. Press down with spatula to set into chocolate. Sprinkle coarse salt over the top.

Let cool completely. You can put in fridge to speed up process.

Peel foil off and break in to bite size pieces.

Miss O, my niece, wanted to be a librarian for Halloween.  It would have been really cute - ”Marian the Librarian” with her hair in a bun and reading glasses perched on her nose. 

But someone told her that it was a stupid idea.  And what 7 year old wants to get caught in a stupid Halloween costume?  So my sister took her shopping for a different costume.  She ended up with (in her words) a “girl bat” outfit.  It is basically a bat costume with pink on it, hence the “girl” title.  Not what I would have picked, but she liked it.  My nephew Riley was easy…he wore head to toe camouflage and went as a hunter.  Which if you know him, army green and camouflage are more of an everyday occurance rather than a once a year costume.

The children had to wear their costumes to school on Friday.  And that is when the problems started.  It was a little chilly on Friday morning, so my sister told Miss O to put on a sweater.  Her response was “But Mom, bats don’t wear sweaters!”  I don’t know if you have ever seen a bat up close…

But she is right, no sweater to be seen.

Aside from the sweater issue, Miss O better watch her back because her brother, the hunter, might take an inkling to go bat hunting.  As ugly as real bats are, I wouldn’t blame him.

Let me tell you a tale…

Once there was a Mr. Coco, a widower with 6 daughters.  To keep things simple, we will call them A, B, C, D, E and F.  Things went along swimmingly until one day, they met 6 brothers.  Again for simplicity, named 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.  Hearts flittered and fluttered, and paired off they became 1A, 2B, 3C, 4D, 5E and 6F.  Six matches made in heaven, the only thing to do was to hold one big wedding for all six couples.  Mr. Coco was so thrilled with his newly expanded family.  He decided to find new lodgings to hold the big happy family all in one place.  And thus Mr. Coco and his family moved into my backyard on Sunday with the help of Riley and Miss O, my nephew and niece.

And that was my tale.  Not really a tall tale.  More like a fish tail.