For Jamie

My niece Jamie and I ....were messaging on Facebook the other night and she said "Aunt Patti...we need more pictures of Bella!" Jamie's a senior in college and can't wait to come up from Houston to hold Miss Bella! May be next week...In the meantime....Here you go Jamie....These are for you!

This is one of my favorite pics so far....

2 weeks old...2 weeks ago...

her first trip out to the lake.
(I thought I had already posted these.)

She is always doing something cute with her hands.

Here's her pretty momma looking pretty good
for having a 2 week old baby!



This was last night at the lakehouse.
The kids came down for a burger.
We had been doing more yard duty....
I'm still hoping there's enough hours left
to get all the stuff done
before the wedding there July 11!

Ohh I think the flash woke her up!

Not a happy face but a cute one!

I'm thinking about something ....seriously.

Back to sleep....

Joe-Joe thought she looked like an angel

with her wings spread here!

Angel Baby

After about 65 shots....

thank heaven for digital!

I finally got what I was looking for!

That sweet little smile!

You know the one they do when they

are asleep and dreaming!

What do you think babies dream of?

Now we're off to Dallas for the day...

Mr. Hero has his college....

University of Dallas Baseball Reunion!

He hasn't seen most of the guys since 1976!

And since we dated through college

I knew most of the guys too!

This should be a hoot!

They had planned on a softball game this afternoon but with the temps hovering over 100 they decided to cancel that part......it just wouldn't be wise for a bunch of 55+ year old men to be running around the baseball diamond in that kind of heat! Unless we had several ambulances waiting on the sidelines!

Hope you have a great Father's Day Weekend!

Blessings from my delighted heart to yours!

Patti

Behind the Scene at Miss Bella's First Photo Shoot

Sorry for the lapse in blogging this past week. It's been a busy one and I didn't even get to go all the fun places I wanted to! So sorry I missed everyone at the GRAND OPENING this weekend. Congratulations! Everything looked amazing from all your photos. Speaking of photos......

Miss Bella's very first photo shoot with the very talented Miss Tara Swain took place Friday afternoon. I snapped a few shots of Tara shooting Bella.......

Miss Bella seemed to throughly enjoy herself...she only fussed a little and was awake almost the whole hour while we played with her.....and I was in heaven just watching a pro at work. Picked up a few pointers too! Like ....newborns look best photographed naked. Their clothes always seem to just eat them up! And natural light is best....just look at how the natural lighting is making interesting shadows on Miss Bella's little rolls of pudgy goodness! And thank goodness her navel cord fell off that morning!

We did pictures with clothes and

without clothes....

with a tutu and pink boots...

with all kinds of hair thingys.....

Time out for a breather with mom.

This was right before mom got all wet....

I mean what were we thinking leaving that diaper off so long!

Getting "adjusted" on the fuzzy rug.

Miss Bella in the "frog"position.

Miss Tara in action.

Look...she's focusing on her little toe....

How interesting!

Miss Tara said she should have them all edited within 2 weeks.

I can't wait for the final product....

But she did put one of the family shots on her blog Friday night.

Don't check this out unless you want to chuckle...alot!

Deb...this one's for you!

Click here.

I think I need a BIG one of these

and

I think the shovel company needs it for an ad!

Come back and tell me what YOU think!
Leave me a caption for the photo and I'll pick a winner on Friday.

Best Caption wins our new Chikfest Cookbook.

Speaking of Chikfest...that's what I was doing all last week.

Building a cardboard 12' barn and decorating the stage and church for our women's conference that was held Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Photos to follow later in the week.

In the meantime...check out the photo here.

Make sure you leave Tara some blog love while you're over there!

Hoping you have a wonderfully blessed week!

Patti

Wedding Wednesday

While running through some of the wedding blogs this morning I came across this on Wedding Bee. The Wedding Bee Blog is a blog that features guest brides-to-bee as they blog about everything happening with their weddings. I've learned a lot about weddings these days by reading this one and I get to see lots of ideas. One of the "new" things to do is for the bride and groom to write their "love story" and then they do a video of photos of their early days and their courtship and it is played at the reception. But after seeing how creative this couple got with their "love story" I just had to show it to you. It is HILARIOUS! GO watch it!

Click on the title below.....


The Fresh Hubby of LA » Weddingbee » The Wedding Blog




The DJ that our wedding venue recommends does an audio "love story" and it is played at the reception before the wedding party enters. Amanda and Bo were loving that idea but after seeing this "story" we might have to step it up a notch! It sure has got my wheels to turning! You know that what ever they come up with I can't show you till December ....after the wedding!











One thing I can show you is something I found a couple of weeks ago......

Remember the "Love Wins" charms that were created by Cherry of Cherry's Creations? After her pastor challenged everyone to multiply the dollar bill he handed out on Sunday morning Cherry made these cute charms and turned her $1 into $66+. Their church turned $125 into $750+! I added the plus because after showing the charms that I bought from Cherry's Etsy Store to the Bride she flipped over them and the "Love Wins" theme. (I told you she would!) We are incorporating both into their wedding and we will be ordering a bunch more from Cherry soon. We are going to sprinkle "Love Wins" through out the wedding and reception....It is the perfect slogan for our vintage baseball themed wedding! We're using the one in the middle that is round...like a baseball!



So........when I found the following on Etsy .....I just had to order it for The Bride.




Is this not the cutest charm to wear on a necklace (one comes with it).


It came from this Etsy artist and she sent me a bookmark too!

She makes these charms as a ministry for the women of Zambia. How Cool!

Here's Julie's Bio ....

I am a SAHM of 2 young girls and I also substitute teach.I love art - I love to create and am trying to turn that passion for all things creative into something good. I also have a heart for Zambia and the GSM Zambia Satellite which empowers Zambian nationals to improve the lives of children and adults through education, nutrition, health care and faith. What drew me to GSM is that we don't dictate to the Zambians. We walk along beside them and THEY tell US what they need.At this time, the money I make from this shop is specifically going to teacher salaries at four different schools. Thank you for visiting my shop.
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
1 Cor 10:31 (NIV)

For more info about Good Samaritan Ministries, please see: http://www.goodsamministries.com/
For more info about the Zambia Satellite, specifically, please see: http://gsmzambia.org/

How awesome is this!? I am so amazed!

Julie...God is going to bless you over and over for your selfless dedication to these women of Zambia. I don't know if you will ever meet any of them but one day in heaven they will line up to give you hugs! You can't outgive God!

So girlfriends .....please take a minute to visit Julie's Etsy shop... jjblackman.etsy.com
She has some really cute charms including a personalized photo charm of your loved one.
(Deb...I think you need to look into this! I'm seeing Bella's photo hanging on your purse! You know the one where she is waving!)

And check out cherryscreations.etsy.com while you are over there!

Love Wins

I'm so lovin it!

blessings from my delighted heart to yours!

Patti

Weekend Projects

No, he wasn't a project ....but Mr. Hero did say this little guy kept following him around trying to sell him insurance!

Since the first of April ........this has been our weekend project....

A sprinkler system.

Thought we could have it done by May 1st

but we're into June and still working on it.

Mr. Hero and 2 really good friends along with lots of other help have been trying to get the system installed. We had it trenched and in pretty quick then the rains came.

That made it even harder to cover the trenches.We've got about 6 weeks until there is going to be a wedding right down there by the dock.

No, not the wedding I've been telling you about on Wedding Wednesdays but another wedding.

Jessica's sister (Bella's other aunt) and Charlie's best friend are getting married.

They wanted to get married outside.

With about 75 friends.

And a small budget.

Last winter we offered them the lakehouse.

Then we decided to put the sprinkler system in.

So the last 2 Saturdays we called in the big guns...

Francisco and his crew of 4 guys moved and spread about 40 yards of dirt.
Here's Francisco and Mr. Hero putting in a drain and rock and stones for...

My birthday present that Mr. Hero bought me at Canton.
I'm so excited!
I've always wanted a potting station!
Thanks guys!

The drain runs under the flower bed that will

eventually look like a country garden.

See the drain coming out under the stones.

Tootsie I sure could use your help!

(You should see her blog header!)

Anyone else out there with a green thumb and

ideas for a fast garden I'm listening!

Here's the other project we worked on this weekend.

Steps made from railroad ties.

There were only a couple of treacherous stepping stones

coming down the hill from the deck.

Not a good entrance for a bride!

We'll put down the gravel and sod the

hillside this weekend.

Hopefully before it rains again.Sodding and planting...

that's what I'll be doing this coming weekend!

Here's what I was doing this afternoon.

Miss Bella
Day 10


That's not her tutu but a tulle bow from her shower!

It did the trick though!

She wasn't very happy with us

so I didn't get the nekkid baby shot!

I'll try again in a day or two.

My favorite shot of the afternoon!

Blessings from my delighted heart to yours!

Patti