Simple Sundays

This is an untouched picture of our yard in Kansas. We had a huge yard and the house was surrounded by 14 maple trees. It truly was beautiful as you can see. The downside.......shortly after all this beauty arrives, we knew it was time for the cold....And I mean bone-chilling cold! The other downside was that maple trees are considered "soft" wood and we always lost branches during the ice and snow. But for a good six weeks in Autumn, I lived in a gold and red wonderland. 

I Need More Hours in my Day and More Days in my Week!

When we made the decision to move back to our home state of Oklahoma four and a half years ago, 

we left behind a million friendships we had made from our almost 20 years of living in northeast Kansas.

It was a very hard decision to make, to leave everything behind

and start all over again, with new jobs, another house, and a HUGE move. 

Then I put together a post like this and I am reminded all over again

why we made the right decision. 

 I cannot even begin to think of myself living five or six hours away from this little girls that has stolen our hearts!  Sometimes living an hour away from her is too much! 

 Besides family things, I also used the cooler weather to bake.

I made a gianormous candy-corn cake (in looks only, not taste.)

 I used the cooler weather to have an excuse to make a turkey dinner on Saturday evening as well. We like turkey at our house anytime. 

 Two different days over the past few weeks we have gone wedding dress shopping for Annie. She thinks she found the one she LOVES.  

 This is it. With some other things done. She is having the train extended another foot (or two???). She is having a blush underlay (which is like a champagne color) put under all that tulle. The belt (you have to look closely) will also be the blush color. She is having sparkles put all over the tulle as well. You have to know Annie to appreciate it....(the more bling the better!) In this picture the dress had been hung up on the rack and the tulle was all smashed. On the "real" dress it will be fluffy and wonderful. Annie is happy. 

 Taylor tried on a bridesmaid dress. We did not pick this one, but I thought I would include Taylor in the post as well. Annie's wedding is blush and champagne colors. We are still on the hunt for the perfect bridesmaid dresses. (With the more bling the better mantra in mind!!) 

 A couple of weeks ago I went to a baby shower for my niece Libby. The theme was "tailgating", since it was held on a Saturday afternoon. Most Okies are glued to their TV's or actually at their respective favorite college on Saturday afternoons cheering on their teams, so a tailgating party was perfect. (Our team had a bye week, so we were good! ha!) 

 The hostess had the cutest party. There were pendants with the baby's name (Sullivan) all over the yard. She served chili dogs and Frito-chili pies in the Frito bags. Then of course the cute cupcakes were a hit. There were popcorn and peanuts on all the tables too. 

 Then there were these cute little flower pots that held mums. The hostess painted the flower pots to look like a football. Everything was very cute. 

 Two weeks ago we went to an engagement party for Annie and her beau. I will do an entire post on the party soon. It was extra-lovely. Annie got lots of fun presents and so many people came to wish the couple well. 

 Of course Leightyn was at the engagement party dressed in her leopard print finery! 

 One Friday we were off of school and Leightyn came up for me to babysit. I bought a walker for her and she was all over with our wooden floors. She had a great day and left very tired! 

 This past weekend we held a surprise 75th birthday party for my dad. (Can you tell Leightyn is always the center of attention?) 

 We are Scottish (Ferguson) and my boys all got kilts for the party. My Dad thought that was the bombdiggity. Luke (with the hat) has the plaid that most resembles the Ferguson plaid. Fielding (with the tie) has a plaid that represents firemen. Coulter's plaid is the Scottish National plaid. The tag that came with the kilts said, "If you wear underwear, it is a skirt. Real men wear kilts." Ha! Luke put a pair of underwear in his sporran (purse) and kept telling people he had them "just in case".  Really, they were all gentlemen and actually wore running shorts under their kilts. I thought they were cute (and I know I am not prejudiced at all!!)

 My Mom has fun at any party there is. My Dad is not big on parties. They are complete opposites. I think on Sunday though, they both had a great time. 

I said our family picture could be a Merry Christmas card picture. It is hard to get everyone together at the same time. So Merry Christmas!

We actually had someone come over and take a picture of the entire family so we would have everyone in it. Sullivan (my nieces son-to-be) is due in less than a month, so the picture will be outdated very quickly. I guess that is what happens with a growing family. 

We had people send us memories of my Dad and we put the letters and notes and tons of photographs in a book for him for his birthday. My sister did all the layout on Shutterfly. The book is actually very thick. Our goal was to have 75 people send in memories and we got more than that. The cover of the book was also very much what the invitation looked like. 

 My Dad looked through the book and read every single page. Several times. I think we found a present that he actually liked!! 

 I told him we needed to call the fire department for all the candles. It took three cakes to hold all the candles! He blew them all out with ease. I told him it was pretty good for an old man. 

 We had chocolate cake, German chocolate cake (my Dad's favorite) and caramel cake (my VERY favorite). We had them shipped in from a bakery in Mississippi that we love. Oh my gosh the goodness! 

The pictures are just a small sampling of the past three weeks of my life. Without a doubt, we needed to be back in Oklahoma around our children and extended family. The days are busy, busy, busy, but it is the very best kind! 

Who Is Coming To Dinner?

I was recently gifted with two presents from my mother-in-law. She is on a cleaning out and purging mood and I was lucky enough to get her give-aways. 

 One of the gifts was this very large copper sieve. For years it hung over her fireplace. (Actually you will see the copper wire that hung the sieve in a few of the pictures if you look close enough. I keep forgetting to cut it off.) 

 She also gave me a large set of amber colored glasses in various styles. They are old-school heavy and beautiful. 

 I had a few of the children coming by for dinner so I used some of my antique Jewel Tea dishes, some of my Better Homes and Gardens/Wal-Mart-a-few-years-ago dishes and various fall cloth napkins to set the table with my new glasses and copper pot. 

 Oh I have plenty of dishes to set the whole table in all Jewel Tea or all Wal-Mart Better Homes, but I love the mismatch of the various patterns. They all have the same jewel hues which makes it lovely. 

 I filled the bottom of the copper sieve with dried moss and then literally just piled odds and ends of Fall decor in the (very big) pot. 

 I used a Ralph Lauren paisley tablecloth I bought a TJ Maxx a few years ago. I just folded it to become a table runner. It is one of my favorites because it is so classic and matches everything. I used (fake suede) leaf placemats. I positioned each leaf at a different angle so it would look like leaves that randomly fell, and not so uniform. 

 Actually, it is just a simple family-style table, set with bits and pieces that have been used through the years. The newest things on the table are the Wal-Mart plates and they are a few years old. 

I just noticed the green goblets on the table. I thought about those, then decided on the gold glasses. I had not taken them off yet when I snapped the photo. Hmm!

 Two different sizes of the gold glasses were used on the table. 

 I am also still using the candles I bought at Hobby Lobby several years ago. If you have read for a while, you know the story. ...Just in case....I came across 30+ candles with the monograms of Z, Q, and X. Most were electric candles and a few real candles. The best part is that they were $1.  I immediately grabbed them up, knowing I could redo them. I covered all the unwanted monograms in various fall decor and used them for my son's rehearsal dinner two years ago. I've continued to use them throughout the house during the fall season. This is the third year I've used them to decorate, plus the rehearsal dinner. I'd say I definitely got my money's worth from them. In fact, I'm still using the same batteries in the electric ones. 

 I kept extra plates on the table for salads, desserts or small helping of "seconds"!

 I love all the different textures in the big copper pot. I think that is what makes it look so nice. 

Is there anything better than family pieces, cool weather, a warm meal and children home to visit? 
Linked to:
Wow Us Wednesday
Tablescape Thursday
Open House Party

Pheasant Season

 Remember that shed I talked about a couple of weeks ago?  I got a couple of tables out of it, repainted them and then wondered how I had lived without those tables for two years?  Well I also got several pictures out of the shed. 

 My Grandmother Flanagan was an excellent needle-pointer. Does anyone still needlepoint anymore?  I know it has always been big in the South, but since my Grandmother died, I have not been gifted with any needlepoint pictures or pillows. We had these two pictures in a den that once had a hunting theme. At the time, I thought it was lovely. We had several other pictures as well. My husband loved it. In fact my husband STILL loves it (the hunting theme stuff). He likes to joke with students at school and say, "Hey, I use to have a shirt just like that. I wore it all the time....till it went out of style."  He thinks he is quite the jokester. Well I tried to explain to him that same idea carries over in decorating. He was okay with that...until it involved me dismantling the hunting room. 

Because my Grandmother so lovingly created these pictures, I could not get rid of them. So when I was cabbaging around in the shed I pulled the two pheasant and quail pictures out. I thought I could clean them up and use them for the Fall season. Oh my goodness. The Hubs was so happy. 

 I had this cute little table in the dining room and switched out the eight-sided table for this one. I put the eight-sided table into the dining room where it works perfectly.  I think this table works much better in the space by the front door. I put the pheasant needlepoint up and gathered some things to put around it. 

 I had some feathers in a wreath for the door and pulled them out for the little tablescape I was creating. I just kind of stuck them behind the little urn. It looks almost like a 3-D image now. 

 I also had a bunch of green hedge apples I had gathered out at the farm and piled them on a tray for the table. Then I found a reddish pumpkin in my stash and added it for another pop of color. 

 The needle point is actually beautiful. Look at all those tiny stitches. My Grandmother had much more patience than me, that's for sure! The Hubs could not be happier to have two of his favorite hunting pictures back in the house. 

 I'm sure my Grandmother is smiling down and very glad that I finally put her masterpieces back out as well! I really do think they look beautiful mixed with my fall decor. I have not taken pictures of the other picture and tablescape yet, by the way. Just when I thought I was through I decided that the candle was too much so I took it off and put it somewhere else. Does it really matter?  

In the meantime, I'll just keep enjoying my "fall" birds. The hunting theme may be gone, but the birds have come back to roost....for a season! 

Joining these parties:

Between Naps on The Porch
Wow Us Wednesday
Open House Party