Here are a few pictures of Clara Vivian and Grandma Vivian from today!

Are you liking it here in Tennessee . I just love it I just wish the rain would go away for awhile , it is suppose to rain until next Friday 50% Every day until Friday.I guess I am going to mow my grass in the rain ha ha.

Hey everyone! Love hearing what's new with you. I am with Addy and wondering where Monica grew up. I have seen those beans on the little house and wondered who in their right mind would eat them. If grandma & grandpa ever read this blog, they would laugh at all of us. We are in Tennesse and having a wonderful time. The kids are being good. They just went right to sleep after a day at the zoo. We had a good time and are making plans for tomorrow. Hope everyone is good and don't forget to take lots of pictures of Clara. Love to all!

Addy~I have all Steve's pics on a Memory stick that you can borrow!!!!!!! By the way, Your dad is wearing 34 pants now and Medium shirts if you need an idea for Father's Day. He is ALL THAT!! He weighed 193.4 this morning, that is a 42 lb. loss in 4 mos. tomorrow. I am at 136.4 this morning and I am going to 135 and going to try to hold steady. Let me tell you how Redneck Blain is!! As if you all don't already know. He has been taking up notches on his "work" belt, it was a 38-40. Well he ran out of notches, so rather than go buy a new belt (and he can surely afford one), he cut about 4 inches off and started making new holes. I know you are rollin', Monica!!!!
I talked to Leitha, Janis' sister, although I didn't know it was her, and she will be on the blog soon, hopefully. Can't wait to see Mommy's namesake tomorrow. I know, I will have to stand in line to get ahold of her.

Well it looks like Monica was one of the lucky ones that didn't get leather britchey beans shoved down her throat. I remember sitting at grandma's table choking them down because Trish threatened not to take me to the fair if I didn't eat those beans. YUCK! I've never eaten them since. Between having to gag down mashed potatoes and beans no wonder I never ate my beggies when I was a kid! I used to hate dinner time...but I've definitely made up for it since then! Ummm...I've been trying to look at pictures from the reception and I don't have a disk from either Steve or Emily and the other one won't even play. I have Monica's and Marcia's pictures and that's it. Any way you guys could get that to Mom this weekend?

Beautiful picture Rita, the fog behind the flag is awesome.
Monica where have you been! Grandma has been drying green beans on the roof since I was a kid. I called the other evening and she and grandpa were eating leather britchey beans then. I like them with cornbread. yum yum.
Rolling thunder in Rainelle this week. I am going this morning with Emily to see. Me and Emma will walk the streets with her, Emma HATES motorcycles. Jacob can't even ride his while she is here. She runs and hides and says "no mo cycles!"
Emily you need to put some pictures that you took of grandpas flowers on here. They turned out really good.
Janet and Addy hope you guys have a great time on your weekend away from home.
I am anxiously awaiting meeting Clara on Saturday! I love babies!!

 

I took this from my front porch one afternoon when the fog was coming in. What do you think, Steve and Emily?

Monica~Grandma has been making those for years!!! Only it sounds like those were not cooked and grandma cooks hers. She puts bacon grease in them and cooks them just like green beans, she also cans them. They taste like a cross between green beans and dried beans. Blain says it is an acquired taste and he hasn't been able to acquire it yet, just like pickled corn!!! YumYum!! I can't believe Grandma hasn't tried to give you some.
80 degrees is looking good for the next week (probably 90 in VA) Almost got all my garden in, Now the fun begins. I wish "Someone" would come up with a weed killer that you could plow in the dirt and it would only kill the weeds but let the plants grow. I mean, come on, we can put people in space!! How hard could it be?? LOL
Steve, I have tried to blog a picture and it won't work, but I can send it to (our sister's) blog with no problem. Any idea what's wrong?

Took some pictures of Tanner today...actually got him to smile in a couple!

Have any of you ever heard of "leather britches" (it is food)? I had a co-worker bring some to work last night and they were so neat!! For those of you who might be wondering what they are, they are dried green beans. These had a little bit of salt on them but they taste like a potatoe chip or cracker. I was impressed. When the guy set the little baggie of them on the desk, one of them fell out onto the desk. I heard it and thought he was trying to get me to eat a plastic bean (haha).

Get lots of pictures of Clara for us- Olivia wants one for her purse!

I hate that we're going to miss everybody this weekend, but Paul and I are taking off too. We are heading to Pigeon Forge til Monday. Hope you all have a good time! If you're going to be in town the big car show is Saturday evening starting at 4:00 in Rainelle. They're having fireworks and all that too.

Good morning all,
Rita and I took Mom and Dad to the doctors yesterday. Mommy to the eye doctor and Daddy to ortho to get injections in his hands for the arthritis. Mommy had had some hemorrhages in her eyes a few months ago and he was afraid she had some blockages in her carotid arteries, but this time they were almost all gone and she doesn't have to do anything different and go back in 6 months.
Daddy got injections in both of his hands for the carpal tunnel and arthritis. The doctor tried to talk him into surgery but he didn't want to go for that and I don't really blame him. They just scheduled him to come back in the fall for more injections.

Awesome! I have been dying to go to a zoo for a long time! I think we are going to go to the one in Columbus sometime in July for our anniversary.

Can't wait to meet Clara this weekend!

We are taking the kids to the Knoxville Zoo! Anybody been there? This is our first time.

WOW, I didn't know Andy was engaged also, Boy I guess I am way out of the loop. These kids are just growing up too fast for me.but Congratulations Adam and Andy.

Janet where are you headed on a trip?

Vonda,
As far as I know Andy is the other grandchild that's engaged. If there is anyone else, I'm not aware of them.

Congratulations Adam and Carrie!!! How exciting. I heard that baby Clara is coming to West Virginia this weekend and that makes me want to cancel our trip. I hate that we will miss her (Amy & Greg, too) I asked Olivia which baby she wanted to take on vacation...meaning baby doll. She said, "Baby Clara." I told her that I didn't think her mommy would let her go and she said, "Why, did she get a time-out?" It was really funny. By the way, my mommy doesn't know what it's like to be called in the middle of the night, right mom?

WOW! OH WOW! I cant believe all these kids getting married. just blows my mind , what little I have left, Yes, and now I really feel old .ancient Old. So besides Adam , who else is getting engaged?I cant even keep up.Boy our family clan is really starting to grow , with all these kids growing up.Time fly's.
Trish , I hope the One thing Mom never forgets is how to pray, for her family when they need here. but I don't think that will happen, she has a direct line to the Almighty, I think,Do I here an AMEN on that .As for us here I think it's going to be a beautiful day

Amen

Amen!!

Amen!!

Blue Stone Lake, by Emily

 

Congrats! I knew it wouldn't be long. Its hard to believe all of these little sprouts are actually sprouting! Before you know it Jacob will be announcing he is getting married!! Now how scary is that!!! Monica, you and Mark had better get busy in the baby department before some of these new little sprouts beat you in that department. I know Bobbie just can't wait to be grandma! I, on the other hand, am in no hurry Emily!!! I have plenty of kids that can call me Mamaw or TT. I guess the only ones left to have grandkids are Daniel,Bobbie, Me and Steve! WOW. when you look at it like that it does make me feel old.
Colin called me this evening to "reserve" his room for Friday and he said that Amy and Clara was coming with him. He sounded very excited, although I can see Colin when the baby starts crying for no reason and she won't be quiet, "Amy make her be quiet, its your baby! shes giving me a headache! Amy, I'm going to tell Mom!" Even though you grow up and get married AND have babies it doesn't mean you can't come crying to Mommy every now and again. I know I have cried to my Mommy many times. More since I have gotten married AND had kids than when I didn't. There are many times I remember after having kids that I would call Mommy in the middle of the night and say "are you awake?" duh its 3am! But she always says I am just laying here awake. She was waiting on my phone call, And after I would burden her with my problem, no matter if it was Tanner and the croup, Emily with a fever, or Jacob with a leg cramp or ear ache; she would pray with me on the phone, and whether the kids felt better or not I did. And usually after the phone call they would go to sleep, but I am sure Mommy didn't. She probably prayed right on. So you kids getting married and having babies, don't forget you got Moms out there praying for you. And if your Mom isn't available, you can always call one of your aunts or your grandma, we know how to pray too. And believe me, Grandma has forgotten some things, like how to turn on the oven or how to follow a recipe. Or even a name or two, but be assured she hasn't forgotten how to pray!!

Congratulations, Adam and Carrie!! Have they set a date?? I just cant' believe these kids are all grown up!! That makes us seem oldER!! Not that we ARE, mind you. And I had better not see any LOL's!!!

Adam proposed to Carrie last night and she said yes!! I guess that's two weddings in the making so far for our family. It's gotten quite chilly here today, nothing like yesterday.

Janet - It's nice that others can share in your "Incident". lol

My second graders had to talk about their most embarrassing moment the other day at school, so I told them about the 4-wheeler incident. I was trying to explain how big our family was and they couldn't believe it so I just showed them the picture on here. One little boy said, "That's bigger than our whole town." While telling the story, I made myself a pitiful victim, instead of the moron that I was. LOL They still didn't feel sorry for me:) They have also heard the scooter story, which they beg me to tell again and again.