Me friend, Meow

Our good friend, Meow sent us a post card from waaay down under this week. It was hard to explain to CassiJo where exactly Australia is without a globe though!

Meow received our post card from Oklahoma this week too for her post card collection. I couldn't find any post cards quick enough to suit me so I made some letterhead with some Muskogee land marks for her, including the Okie from Muskogee logo.

Thanks for playing Meow. There is nothing like getting a little surprise in the mail box is there?? :o)

Jenn Cleaned Her Closet!

Jenn cleaned her closet, and since she has mucho arto stuff, she sent CarlyJo some neato magazines, instruction books, watercolor pencils and a bundle of Jenn original cards. There was also a spattering of silk flowers, a box of bobby pins, stickers, material, and some Disneyland Coffee for me and Joe to share as well as lots of matted prints.......very cool. CarlyJo was very excited and CassiJo can't wait to get her little paws on those watercolor pencils. We had to hide them quickly!

We were thrilled to get the box especially since we weren't expecting it. A very welcomed surprise from our new friend Jenn.

On behalf of the Joe Family, Tanks so much!!

'Nuther note to self

1. Never miss an opportunity to shut up
2. Listen to your first instinct (and repeat #1)

Note to self

Before going on a great field trip with lots of photo opportunities, check the batteries in the digital camera.

Missed photo ops:
1. Llama farm
2. Mini goat farm
3. Horses in the field with colts
4. Beeeyoooteeeful scenery at the lake
5. Pictures of me and Carly having a good time

I went on a field trip with CarlyJo's class to Marval Trout camp. It is an annual field trip for the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes. They let the kids run around, play all sorts of games and hike the nature trails. A good time was had by all. Thank God for the perfect weather.

Poor CassiJo's field trip to the Tulsa Zoo was cancelled not once but TWICE due to the rains we had last week and this week. We needed the rain so badly so it is hard to complain, but her little sad face almost broke my heart. We are now planning a family trip to the zoo with the tickets we received from the school.

With just two weeks lieft of school, the natives are getting restless........

Nerdine's Meme

I modified the list. I had done it wrong and had only words I could think of and not things I liked. There were words on there that I didn't like and I didn't want y'all to think I was a freaky deaky girl......

I am playing along with a game from Nerdine. She has assigned me the letter "G" and I am to list all the things I can think of beginning with the letter "G". Ok here Goes

God
Gobhole Girl
Gas (the car kind)
Girls (especially my own)
Gabrielle ( my brown-eyed niece)
Green
Guys (well mainly just one)
Games (Scrabble is my fave although Joe always beats me)
Gregariousness (is that a word)
Grass( i love to mow it)
Generosity (giving and receiving)
Going
Growing
Ginger
Gray
Greenbacks
Gladware
Glad trashbags
Giovanni Ribicci (is that right?)
George Clooney
Greg
Geese
G-Mom
GrandPat
Gargoyles
Goofy
Gross
Granny
Grandma
GEHA (government employees health association)
Get
Goat
Gloat
Glaze (carly is helping me and has come up with some good ones!! )
Go
Gone with The Wind (Can you believe I didn't see this til I was 23 years old?!)
Gevalia (coffee)
Good Value brand
Guys Potato Chips
Gumbey
Gum
Gummie Bears/worms
Glue
Giraffe
Great
Glamour
Glitz
Grace
Grapes
Gravy
George Washington
Glob
Goober
Gymnasium
Gynocologist
Geologist
Geography
Grade
Grant (Hugh)
Grinch
Grown( i don't feel grown, do you?)
Goodies
Gordan (Jeff)
Gordman's
Golf
Glib
Garrison (the street Joe and I lived on when we first got married)


That is all we can think of. Man my kids are smart! They thunk of a big hunk of this list!

Jazzy Friends

This is the couple we stayed with....Octagon Man and Octagon Gal. They live about 30 miles away from Denton and came to enjoy the music with us. We went home with them and had a great visit. UJ and OM reminisced about days gone by and OG and I got to know each other better and enjoyed seeing our guys have such a good time.

Jazzy Pooches

I bet there are some kids out there who wanted
to ride this dog.



















This dog was politic'in.
















This pup was howling and whining. I think he
was just hungry.....we were near some food vendors.

















Cujo was there too. He has gotten nice in his old age.

Jazzy Pictures Part V

I gave this girl some money for some real clothes. She came in her pj's!!

....and these folks just snoozed away!

Jazzy Pictures IV

So, how is the weather up ther Slim??

Jazzy Pictures Part III

Here is the booth of an artist named Gail Shelton. Her pictures were so vibrant and wonderful! I asked to take a picture to show Carly. You can find her work here. She is a traveling art teacher....traveling all over the country and even around the world. What fun her class would be!

Jazzy Pictures Part II

This is the Jazz Stage where we spent most of our time

Jazzy Pictures Part I

Here is the surprise we found in our suitcase when we got to our hotel. Two little animals to remind us of our two little monkeys at home. :o)

















And we're off!

Coming Soon

I took lots of neat pictures at the JazzFest and I will have them posted soon. I promise.

~AJ

I'm All Jazzed Up

Please make a note at where we will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This is a wonderful festival we drove down to experience last year with our oldest daughter, Carly.

It is a free festival held annually in Denton, TX and is filled to the brim with wonderful jazz musicians. Some of the musicians come from University of North Texas, one of the top music universities in the United States. Other groups and individuals come from across the country to play in this festival.

Lots of food, arts and crafts and entertainment stages will be a fun family event if you are in the area.

The Headline artist for 2006 is Joshua Redman (Friday night) and The Robert Cray Band (Saturday night)

Anyway, if any of you Texans reading this decide to go to the festival, don't be shy, come up and say hi! You'll recognize me....I am the gal with the guy in the Batman suit.

HATS

Hats

I was driving back to work Monday after lunch at home (the hottest day this year 96 degrees!) and noticed a lot of people wearing all sorts of hats. In my short 1 mile drive back to work I saw: a baseball hat, a fishing hat, a visor, and an outback looking hat. By the time I got back to work I was laughing.....

Hats are very important to men I have discovered over the years. Men lacking in the furry head covering department must utilize head wear or lots of SPF 50 sunscreen to keep from getting a scorched cranium. Joe's fave hat I believe is a green baseball hat with an "orange" team on it. At the moment, the name of the team escapes me. I have also learned that my bootie is a hat magnet. When he takes off his hat in the vehicles, that hat will invariably end up under my butt and get smashed. I'm thinking we need a special suctioned hook in the cars for his hats.

Got me thinking: what kinds of hats to y'all wear? Do you have an activity that requires special headgear? Does Foo have a cycling hat? Does Meow have a Down Under hat? Does Saur have a hat with a mask? Does Emma have a hat with coffee cups on it? How big of a hat does Gobhole need to hide her hair on bad hair days? Is Leslee an OU or OSU fan? Does Jamie Dawn wear a big Southern Belle bonnet? Does Anne wear a do-rag? She is a motorcycle Mama you know......
Slick has a cool hat. (maybe I can catch him in it and take a picture)

Our church has a fun tradition. Months that have 5 Sundays we proclaim the 5th Sunday, "Hat Day" All the ladies of the church wear a hat to church. It can be any hat: funny like a chef's hat, or serious like a beret, it can be playful like a baseball hat. I have seen jester hats, graduation hats, big funny garden hats(me), cowgirl hats, baseball caps and even visors. This is a fun day and you should try it in your church.....be the catalyst and get the funniest hat you can find. :o)

I have asked Uncle Joe for assistance with this post in the way of locating some good pictures to post.....so stay tuned if you are reading this post with text only. I know he will come up with some good ones.

So there you have it folks, my silly thoughts for the week. ~AJ

Here is CarlyJo and CassiJo in their Easter finery.

I am having Blogger woes trying to post additional pictures, so please check back again for updated photos. ~AJ

Hello Peeps!

Here is the cutest thing I have seen this spring.....stuffed Peeps! We went on an outing to KMart yesterday and came across these adorable rabbit peeps.

They are named PinkiePie Peep and Penelope Peep. They are happily living with The Joe Family.

Stealing Cassidy

Today, after a 4 hour ordeal that involved 4 stores to get all the Joes a new Easter outfit we arrived home and Cassidy wanted to ride her bike on the driveway. I had already told the girls that I needed a rest before we colored the eggs for tomorrow and Cassi wanted someone to stay outside with her. She said, "Carly, will you stay outside with me? I don't want anyone to steal me." and just laughed and started riding her bike.......

(I realize this is a serious thing, but it struck me funny the way she said it)

She was also singing "Jesus Take The Wheel" today, except she had made up her own words.
"Jesus take the week, I can't do this all night long" This girl keeps us laughing every day....

Today at Payless Shoe Store I had a sad revelation. Carly and I may not have the same taste in shoes! Shoot! I was looking forward to sharing all those shoes!! Maybe she will change her mind and start picking out some cute shoes that I like. heehee!

We also ran into my friend Greg and his wife Melissa and their 10 month old baby, Logan at the mall. That was a treat....it was the first time I had seen Logan since he was a newborn and he had grown so much! His cheeks were just full of sugars. (that of course i had to kiss!) He was fascinated by Cassidy, who had put on some sparkley face gel at Bath and Bodyworks. He kept reaching out to touch her face and tried to poke her in the eye. He also tried to pick her nose. Cassi didn't quite know what to think of that.

Now I am off to rest for a bit before the hoo-haa continues as we color Easter eggs.

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday weekend. :o) Are you eating Peeps? I personally don't like them. Too sticky and sugary for me. I am a fan of Reese's Eggs and Jelly Belly's :o)
I found something really cute for the girls at KMart. We will post a picture of them later. I looked all over and couldn't find a Cadbury creme egg...the one that looks like a real egg when you break it. Do they still make those? Joe likes them and I thought I would surprise him with one. (The first time I saw one of those I gagged. It looked like a real raw egg yolk inside and made sick!)
******************************************************
Praise God for the resurrection! I am glad we serve a living God, one that will return someday and take us home to Heaven.

Help! I am blogging and can't stop!

I have posted four posts today...help!

Here I leave a post up for a week and today I post four!

Oh well hope you have a few minutes to read them.

I hope you all enjoyed your Sunday......we had a wonderful Easter Song service at my mothers church and I understand from Joe that the service he attended with Ted was excellent as well. I am amazed at the messages these preachers have for us every week. God is so good. He knows exactly what we need to hear and leads us to those messages. I actually had my own private service while listening to the music. I took advantage of the quiet time and just prayed for things that were on my heart. At one point I looked over at Cassidy, all snuggled in Papa's arm and had to look away because I was starting to tear up. My grandmother, and my mother (and I and many other family members too) have prayed for many years for my dad to get back into church and to see him there with his baby granddaughter was a wonderful sight.

Right now Cassidy and I are watching "Elf" one of my favorite movies. There is no one like Will Ferrell to make us laugh! Who says we can't watch a Christmas movie in April? ;o)

Y'all have a great week and I'll see you around the blogosphere.