Whew!!! It's Been a Long Time

I can not believe that I have failed as a blogger.  Oh wait, yes I can.  May 2013 was my last post.  A lot has changed.  Important people have died and babies have been born.  We added a new fur baby and we moved.  So, gonna do an update and try to start blogging more regularly.  Think I have said that before.

One of the best events that happened involved Elizabeth Ann Rivers.  Joey and Katie welcomed a new baby girl into the world on November 1, 2014.  Her two big sisters are doing a great job showing her the ropes and we are so blessed to have her here.

On November 17, 2014 our world crashed when sweet Liza was diagnosed with a brain bleed.  She spent some time at Batson's Children's Hospital in Jackson, and at the time, we were given lots of negative reports.  But Liza recently turned 1 and God has something big in store for this sweet girl.  She is doing great and I can't find anything wrong with her.

Josie flew through kindergarten and is now in first grade.  She loves to read and I love watching her read to Colbie.  This year she came and spent a weekend with us and I helped her with her book fair project.  She did it all, but I gave her lots of pointers.  I think we may make it a tradition.  Josie is a beautiful ballerina and she is adding gymnastics to her list of accomplishments.  She is such a wonderful big sister and that girl makes me so proud.

Colbie has adjusted to being the middle child and she is one little fireball.  She has personality plus and then some more.  This year she is going to preschool 5 days a week and taking dance with her big sister.  She loves Liza and showers her with attention.  Sometimes you will just catch her down on the floor loving on her baby sister.  I went to her program the other night and she was the star of the show.  Her smiles just made the stage light up.

Katie and Joey are doing great.  They both love their jobs and are the best parents three little girls could ask for.  Katie now works 3 days a week and is off on Thursday and Fridays.  This allows her to attend a lot of the girls school activities and parties.  Joey still plays softball on occasion but most of his time is spent at home when he gets off work.  They are now in the process of building a new house and will be moving in 2016.

Hunter grew up on us.  That boy is already a junior in high school.  He is still fishing and got his drivers license and a car.  I pray for him every day because I worry about him driving.  He hasn't decided yet what he is going to do when he graduates, but he still has a little time to make those decisions.  Right now, his biggest decision is whether he is going to fish in fresh water or salt water.

Fisher is not far behind Hunter.  He is a high school freshman.  He decided to take a year off from sports and get used to high school.  He has come to the camp several times since school started and stayed with us for a night or so.  Now that he doesn't have football practice or weight lifting he has a little more time for his grandparents.  He plans to play football next year, so we need him to come a little more often before his schedule gets booked.

Jennifer has a new man in her life.  His name is Brian Gilbert and we have known his family forever.  They are good people.  What makes us really really happy is that he makes Jennifer happy and he is good to the boys.  Jennifer stays active decorating her house, helping everybody out, taking care of the boys and Brian, and spoiling her pup, Roxie.

In January 2015, we lost Meme.  She lived a wonderful life and we have many happy memories.  It doesn't seem the same with her gone and I catch myself wanting to call her or make a note to myself to tell her something.  She is missed so much and I learned so much from her.  The fall before she died, Katie's mom and dad offered us their timeshare in the mountains.  We took her with us and I am so thankful we had that week together.  She had a great time and was able to see all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren be born.  We love you Meme.

The biggest change of all was our move.  After Meme passed away I just needed to get away from all the memories of the house.  We decided to remodel the camp and downsize.  It has been a wonderful change and I love my little camp.  I think we are happier than we have ever been and just love the simple life.

Glenn finally retired....AGAIN!!!  He gave his two weeks notice and then fell and hurt his shoulder and couldn't go back.  I was glad to get him home.  We bought the lot next to the camp and he spent about 4 or 5 months cleaning it up.  This was a real feat considering he couldn't raise his arm and he used a tractor and chainsaw each day.  I think the work was good for him, but now he is settling into fishing and relaxing and spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren.

I am still healing from my broken leg.  I have had surgery on it twice and I will be finding out tomorrow what the new doctor recommends.

Glenn and I have traveled a little in the last few years.  We have been to the mountains, Key Biscaine and I got to go to Walt Disney World with two little princesses and their parents.  It was a dream come true for me and I will do a post just on that trip.

We also added a new fur baby to our brood.  I now have Sonja (14 year old doxie), Harley (3 year old rottie), and our new pup Ares (5 year old rottie) who is a 109 pounds of pure love.  They all love living the river life.

The best part of our lives is right now.  We are just enjoying the simple things around here and watching the river roll by.

Baby Boy Johnson

Although it really hasn't been that long ago that Colbie was born, it seems forever ago.  We were very excited when my nephew informed us that his wife was expecting.  Donovan is my brother's youngest child and he grew up in California (which is way too far away).  He did not get to spend time with us while he was growing up.  He went to college a while and then joined the Navy.  On his way to Florida, he and his wife stopped by to spend a few weeks with us at Christmas in 2009.  Well fast forward to April 24, 2013.  I received a phone call early that morning to the news that my great nephew had arrived.  He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and they named him Bronson.

Jennifer was going to Jacksonville and let me tag along.  I was so excited to go meet Bronson and spend time with my nephew and his wife.  I also got to see Sharon, Donovan's mother and spend some time with her too.  I got so busy taking pictures that I didn't get one picture of me with any of them.  That is okay, because I am already planning another trip soon. 



This is a picture of my brother when he was a baby.  I could not find a baby picture of Donovan.  I think grandpa and grandson resemble each other a little.  One thing is for certain....those Johnson baby boys sure are cute.










To the Moon and Back

Happy Birthday Joey!!!!

Thirty-one years ago today I received the greatest gift ...my son.  The first time I held him, I knew that my life would never be the same.  From that moment he held my heart.  I have worried about him, prayed for him and loved him more than I think he will ever know.  I made my share of mistakes as his parent, but he survived and thrived in spite of me.  Being his mother is the one accomplishment that I am proudest of in my life.  I love him to the moon and back again, to infinity and beyond, forever and ever...as long as I'm living, my baby he will be. 

Happy birthday sweet son.

My Favorite Time of the Year

My favorite season of the year is Spring.  Everything is starting to turn green and the weather is comfortable....Not too hot and not too cold.  Back in the day, I would play in the dirt and spend a fortune at Lowes on plants and potting soil.  Because I can't handle spending days on end in the yard weeding and watering, this year all plants are on the patio or around the patio.  My mother-in-law and her good friend Mary helped get the planters ready.  My grandson cleaned up the patio and the finished project makes me want to sit out there all day.  Harley loves it too. 
This plant survived winter and this is about the 4th bloom.  I love the color.



This time of year also brings baseball season.  Baseball has always been an important part of our lives.  My husband actually spent our wedding night watching the playoffs.  Our son played baseball through college and now our grandsons are continuing the tradition.  Fisher's league has already started and he began the season with a grand slam.  He has hit another homerun since then and this is only his 4th game.  Hunter's season starts later. 

The water is down at the camp now and we have spent some time up there.  There is a really comfortable leather lounge chair there that Harley and I fight over.  I can't wait for the sandbar to make its appearance.  I miss looking out there and seeing it.  Also, when it reappears, I know the girls will be ready to come.  Of course, Hunter is game for fishing anytime.  He caught a 22 lb catfish last month.

Josie and Colbie came to see us last weekend and we took them to a wedding.  Josie was so observant, commenting on the bouquet and dress.  At the beginning of the reception, she asked when they were getting married and I told her they were married.  She replied "But they haven't danced".  I have a feeling that Josie is already planning her wedding.  Joey needs to be working on the wedding fund...


Here we are with our good friends at the wedding.  Josie was being bashful and upset that I wouldn't hold her.  She doesn't understand why I can't.

Josie and Colbie are so much fun to watch in the tub.  They play so good together and are so happy.  The only downside is that the walls, floors and whoever happens to be in there with them are sure to be soaked.  They are growing up so fast.

 

 

Life is good at our house. 

 

 

Glenn turned 60 on February 28th

Happy birthday Glenn!!!  This year, Glenn and his buddies turned 60.  We celebrated with Fearon and his family a few weeks ago and then we went to the Hard Rock this past weekend to celebrate Glenn's birthday.  David turned 60 on March 1st so it was a double celebration  The Jenne's, the Cunninghams, and the Mays joined us and we had a blast.  We had a lot of fun and ate way too much good food.

Friday night we all met up at Mikey's in Ocean Springs and had dinner.  Then we saw Travis Tritt in concert.  He put on a great show as usual.  Of course we had to play a little, but by 11 we were in our rooms for the night.  We had a big king sized bed and windows that were blocked out so we slept in late (for us) the next morning

Saturday we met up with everybody at the Schooner for lunch.  Afterwards the the guys headed to Sports Academy and the girls (with David in tow) headed to the Garden Show at the Coliseum.  We all bought a few plants and then the guys came to get David and the girls headed to the mall.  Ellen and I were dragging and so we decided to go back to the Casino to take a nap.  When the guys returned, we all hung out in the room for a while.  Of course, we had to mess with Joey so we were constantly sending him pictures.  So glad my baby boy is a good sport.  After everybody got freshened up, we headed down to the casino to play until 7, when we met up for dinner.  I think everybody enjoyed the crab legs.  We had fun till late in the night.

Sunday morning we checked out and returned to the real world.  We had boarded Harley and I was going to leave her there until we got unpacked because she is always so helpful.  I missed her so much I went ahead and got her, but I didn't have to worry.  She was so exhausted from playing with her buddies at Karen's that she slept the rest of the day and into the next.

We had a great time and agreed that we will definitely do it again soon. 

Harley

Our new puppy is getting big.  She is a sweet girl but she truely looks for something to get into.  Our baby girl is a counter surfer.  At about seven months she realized that she was able to reach anything on the countertops. 

In her first counter surfing she managed to eat 4 peach fried pies.  I had been to Hattiesburg to stay with Joey and when I came home, Lavelle told me that she had cooked some fried pies.  Since I have been dieting, I glanced at them and noticed there were five pies on the plate.  I jumped in the bath and came out to notice that two pies were gone.  I left to go see my uncle, who had been ill.  Upon returning, there was only one pie left on the plate.  I asked Lavelle, who usually eats like a bird, if she had eaten 4 pies.  She replied telling me that no, that she thought I had eaten them.  I looked over at Harley, and she was avoiding eye contact.  I immediately understood that she had eaten all the pies.  I was pretty impressed that she had eaten them without detection.  She understood that what she was doing was something she needed to do behind our backs or when we were not looking.  The next day she was at it again and found a bell pepper sitting on the counter.  I walked into the kitchen to discover bell pepper seeds all over the kitchen.



Who me?  Naaaah!  That's not dip on my face.

Her next counter surfing event netted her five bananas.  She usually gets bananas for treats.  She managed to eat the bananas and leave the peelings on the floor.  She has also eaten weight watchers dill dip.  She wasn't too crazy about that, but she did leave her imprint in the bowl of dip and the evidence on her face.  She has managed to eat muffins, left over hamburger, and a whole bag of turkey jerkey. 

That girl knows she hungry!

Christmas at the River

 This is the first Christmas that we owned our river camp and decided to decorate and enjoy a Christmas at the River.  Jennifer helped me decorate and I decided to not put up a tree in Pascagoula.  Who would have ever thought that I wouldn't put up a tree in our main residence.  The truth is I just didn't want to deal with our sweet Harley tearing it down.  The kids all came up to the camp and we just enjoyed being together.

                                            

On Christmas Eve we traveled to Ocean Springs to have gumbo at mama's.  Joey, Katie and the girls left early to prepare for Santa's arrival.  Glenn and I returned to the camp and spent Christmas Day relaxing in our pajamas.  It was a wonderful Christmas and I think we will have many more celebrations on the river.