If you are around Daniel for long, you will hear him say those words.  Daniel loves trains so much, his dad decided to take him to the Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina.  Laura and Papaw went too.  Here are some pictures:

 

If you were viewing this picture at the "normal" size, you would see that the sign says, "Please stay on path".  Notice how none of them are on the path.  

There they are waiting on the train.  It looks like my dad brought his lunch.  

All Aboard! 

Train Ride! 

Papaw is showing Daniel something he knows all about.  Tractors!

And cars.  

Dad and Kevin said that the kids had a great time and that they both really LOVED riding the train.  Here's a very serious looking Kevin & Daniel....

Like father, like son. 

Sunday

Many of you know that almost every Sunday my family gets together for lunch at Mom & Dad's house.  She still cooks the exact same meal that she did when I was growing up....roast beef, mashed potatoes & gravy, mac & cheese, beans, corn, biscuits etc.  She just has some extra mouths to feed now.... Scott, Rana, Laura & Daniel.  Here's a picture of Daniel.  They gave him a lolipop at church today.  I'm sure that wherever he is now, he is still holding it in his hand.

 

Daniel loves to watch TV.  If you have been around Daniel for long, you will recognize this picture.  

He still has his name taped to the back of his overalls from church this morning.  :-)  

We have read great things about how the ipad is helping to teach children with autism.  Laura got a new ipad!  Here she is learning how to use it. 

We're all so excited to see Laura learn to use her new ipad!  

Look how happy she is!  I have to say that the few apps that I have seen for autism are fantastic.  Scott had fun playing with them.  I wonder if he learned anything. 

Po Greta

Poor Greta.  Our little redneck cat got a bad report from the vet last week at her checkup.  She has another gum infection and might have to get more of her teeth pulled.  Ugh.  I asked the vet how on earth she will be able to eat if she loses more teeth.  She informed me that Greta doesn't have any chewing teeth left in her mouth and is not chewing her food now.  We are trying a 10 day prescription of antibiotics as a last ditch effort to save her from surgery. 

 

I took this picture just before we moved into our new house about 2 1/2 years ago.  This is a picture of a cat that sat on our porch waiting for Greta to come to the window.  Since she has been an indoor cat for almost 13 years, I think this is one of the first cats she had seen in about 10 years.  It really liked her.  You should have heard him serenade her.  She looked at him for about 2 minutes and then walked away.  Kitty got dissed. 

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day.  I have been blessed with a wonderful Dad.

I am thankful for a dad who loves God, loves my mom, loves me and my brother (and families).  I feel so blessed to be able to live next door to my dad and share life with him.  I love you Dad!   

It's On

Let me start this post by saying that I don't have anything against squirrels.  I happen to think that they are really cute.  However, I am in the midst of a small scale war against some of the resident squirrels at my house.  Last year, they broke my favorite bird feeder.  My brother and his family gave me that feeder as a birthday present several years ago.  So, when Scott asked me what I wanted for my birthday last year, I told him a squirrel proof feeder.  Cue the Squirrel Buster II.

This bird feeder turned out to be the perfect solution  until several weeks ago when the squirrels figured out that they could shimmy up the shepherd's crook that it is hanging from and break off the cardinal ring at the bottom.  Thankfully, the makers of the Squirrel Buster II will replace this ring for free.  After receiving my ring in the mail, free of charge, within 2 days of inquiring (awesome!) my feeder was up and running again.  Then, they did it AGAIN.  I went to the closest Wild Birds Unlimited store and told them my plight.  Enter the Squirrel Baffler....

The Baffler is a little "umbrella" that hooks to your shepherd's crook and keeps the squirrels from climbing up the pole.  You have to hook it at least 4' from the ground or they'll just use it to hop on.  Here are a couple more pictures of birds.  If you want to see them closer, just click on the image to make it larger.

This particular feeder is very busy, ESPECIALLY in the morning!  I will post very soon about my next favorite gadget, the Trap It on my hummingbird feeder.  Awesome!

I have been winning the squirrel war for 4 days.  I'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday Jason

It's that time of year again when I break out the picture of my cousin Jason and his Mr. T birthday cake....

Happy belated birthday, Jason (June 3rd).  I pity the fool that misses your birthday. You are awesome.