Spring Dance - My Daughter

Joy is going to her first formal school dance tonight. She is so excited about it. Thank goodness her ankle is healed now, so that she can wear her Jessica Simpson high heels!
I have to chaperone this dance every year, since I teach at the school, but this is the first year I have looked forward to it. I thought that she would not want me to be there, but she does. After all, now she and her friends have someone to hold all of their "stuff" while they walk around unencumbered.
Julie

Key West - More Spring Break Pictures

Here are some gift shop display stands in Key West. John Owen and his friend each bought one of these coconut dudes.
This is just a cool, and very colorful sign in town.
Here are John Owen and Joy posing by this very large conch shell.
You can get hours of entertainment from a fun house mirror! Gotta love 'em. This one is in the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum.
John Owen insisted I take a picture of this gigantic strawberry he was eating. It was actually four strawberries fused together. I will continue to post Key West pictures over the next few weeks, maybe. I will try to put quilty stuff in too, for those of you who are looking for that.
By the way, I have figured out how to make a toothbrush rug, and am starting a small one now. Such a cool way to use up undesirable fabric.
Julie

Key Largo, Florida - Spring Break 2009

Key Largo was glorious. The weather was perfect, the water was warm, the sun was bright. You can see for yourself what the sky looked like here.
We chartered a boat, the Aquarius, for snorkeling. They took us to a coral reef off the coast of Key Largo. It was a blast. Here is Joy enjoying the ride.
John Owen loved snorkeling and seemed to be an old pro at it.
Here I am standing by the water in Key West. It was such a beautiful place.e

This is Ann's Beach. It is actually on another key, Islamorada, Florida. We enjoyed the clear water and all the sea life. My kids got to catch sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, blue crabs, sea slugs, and all kinds of other animals. Of course, we released them after checking them out. The water was nice and warm. So luxurious....
Julie

Deb sent Joy a "Get Better Soon" package from New Zealand!!

Joy was thrilled to receive her very own package from Deb at Works in Progress. Deb sent this to help Joy feel better as she is recovering from her broken ankle. Joy has looked and looked at her magazines, and has almost completed her felt cat. Deb, that was so thoughtful of you. Joy couldn't wait to tell her friends that she had received a package from Christchurch, New Zealand!
An update on Joy's ankle. We went to the doctor today. They cut off the cast and did a new X-ray. Everything was looking good, and she now has a cast that she can remove for bathing or swimming. I am excited that I don't have to put the plastic trash bags on her cast anymore for showers. :-D
BTW, the candy did not last long at all! It was so good - I had a taste of it myself. The kids devoured it. LOL
I hope you are having a good week. It is almost the weekend, and I am really ready for it. I plan to go to Atlanta Saturday and visit Little Quilts and Red Hen. Fun!!
Julie

UPDATE ON JOY

Good news - no surgery! She has a fractured fibula and will wear a cast for the next 6-8 weeks. We go back after 2 weeks for a new cast because there is still some swelling which will go down in that amount of time and we will need a better fitting cast. Thank you all so much for asking about her and sending prayers.
Julie

Get Well Joy! Also, Loser Monday

As you know from my last post, Joy had a trampoline accident and injured her ankle. These are photos of her after we came home from the emergency room that day. Her ankle is all splinted up so that she cannot further injure it. It has greatly reduced the pain she feels since it has been immobilized. We go to see the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. I had to cancel her school trip to Washington, D.C. and New York City. Luckily I had purchased the trip insurance and will receive a full refund. I will let you all know what the doctor says tomorrow. Wish us luck, and thank you all so much for the prayers.
Julie
It is Loser Monday. Since last Monday was a "snow day" here in the Deep South, the Weight Watcher's meeting was closed. I don't know how I did then, but at this week's meeting I had lost an additional 2.2 pounds, for a total of 11 point something pounds lost since starting.
Julie

Joy's Accident

Here is Joy's poor ankle. She was jumping on a trampoline at a friend's house and "came down wrong" on her foot. By the time I got there she looked like this. There are torn ligaments, dislocated bones, and possibly a fracture of the fibula. Since the fracture is near a growth plate it is hard for them to tell. Because of this they told us to go to an orthopedic doctor Monday. We are anxious to see what he says because she is scheduled to go on a school trip Friday to Washington, DC and New York City. She will be heartbroken if she does not get to go. Please say a prayer for us. I will let you know what we find out.
Julie

Sixth Grade Beauty

Here is my good news. My daughter, Joy, won Sixth Grade Beauty in the Vallerata pageant yesterday! I was so happy for her. She enjoyed herself and didn't get nervous at all. She just had fun. I don't believe that is my baby girl. Is it? She seems so grown up!

What is Vallerata, you might ask? It is a pageant held every year by our school, Valley High School. Joy was in the Junior Miss Vallerata Pageant, which is for the middle school girls. The sixth graders are the youngest group. Here she is with a sweet girl who is in one of my classes. Don't they look pretty together?

I just love this shot of John Owen looking at his sister. Some of my fellow teachers are peaking out from behind the column in the background. Here is my sister, Jo Ellen. She had a lot to do with Joy's success. Jo Ellen took Joy to have her hair and makeup done. She also bought Joy's shoes and some other necessities. Thanks, Mama Jo, for all your help!
Here is Joy with one of my friends and fellow teachers. She is such a fun person to be around and makes the job fun!!

Thanks for reading.

Julie

Hawaiian Vacation

My daughter, Joy, went on a two week trip to Hawaii back in June. I know, it took me long enough to blog about it. There are just so many photos that it is overwhelming. I finally decided to just show a few at a time. There are so many beautiful photos. Joy is the one on the right, in the pink shirt.In Hawaii, hibiscus plants are hibiscus TREES! I usually spend about $25 or $30 every spring for a new hibiscus plant which dies over the winter. In Hawaii they just keep growing! This was some sort of ceremony at the Polynesian Cultural Center and was one of the first things she did. I don't know much about it other than that one of the guys fell off the boat. She didn't get a shot of that!
This is cute!

This guy looks friendly! I would love to have that statue in my garden. :-) I already have a cast aluminum devil's head by my front door to keep away certain religious door-to-door people who like to wake you up at 8 A.M. on a Saturday morning. LOL. This would surely scare them away. They just kept coming back even though I would tell them - politely but firmly - that I was a Methodist and a happy member of the local United Methodist Church. They don't come back now - they are scared of my devil. I will have to post a picture of him later.
I don't know what this plant is but it is so pretty.
The people they met were so friendly and good to the kids. This is another shot from the Polynesian Cultural Center.

I hope you enjoyed this little photo essay of part of her trip. I wanted to put some pretty pictures up after the 9-11 shots from Thursday.

Julie

I WON Karol-Ann's Giveaway!

Karol Ann had a giveaway for her box of African fabric scraps and I was one of the two lucky winners. I was so excited to see this package in the mail. I've never gotten ROYAL mail before!! Isn't this beautiful? I love it. I am still thinking of what to do with it. It will be used together in something. What? Maybe a crumb quilt?
This is the card she sent. It has a painting on it. I thought it looked like a child's painting but I thought - what if it is something Karol Ann did? I wouldn't want to assume it was from a child. I had seen a picture of one of her paintings and it is FANTASTIC but I still didn't know for sure. So I thanked her for the original artwork and she told me that it WAS her sons!! LOL. Sorry, Karol Ann. You are very talented and I am very ignorant.
Here is my daughter, Joy. She got her braces off last week!! She has such a beautiful smile now! I just had to show it off since I paid so dearly for it. :-D
I wanted to include this September block from my Sunbonnet Sue quilt. Isn't she cute? And it is my birthday month! Monday is my birthday and I can't wait!! I will be only 43!! Getting younger every day. Take care,

Julie

Travel Day

Traveling day was today! Today we all had to get up at 3 A.M. to have Joy at the Montgomery airport for her flight to Hawaii with People to People. I am including a picture of her acting silly a few days ago. I didn't bring my camera with me to the airport and so didn't get a photo of her with her People to People outfit on. They were a really great-looking bunch of kids though. She will represent us well, I am sure. As of this post, she still has not arrived in Hawaii. Her flight was delayed three times and they won't arrive now until after midnight (our time) but it will be about 7 P.M. local time in Hawaii.

Here is a photo of my son, John Owen (on the right), with a couple of his buddies. After we took Joy to the Montgomery airport, we had to travel to Atlanta to put him on a flight to Ft. Myers, Florida, for his weeklong visit to his Aunt Carol. Carol lives in Naples and will be taking John Owen to Universal Studios and Kennedy Space Center. He called me earlier and is very excited. They are already having a great time. It was a little weird putting him on that plane and leaving him there, but he was extremely excited and I know it is a good confidence-building exercise for him. Well, more later!

Julie