A Lovely Bracelet and a Beautiful Plant

Our 2 precious daughters surprised me with 2 fantastic gifts.  Melodi gave me a lovely bracelet and Amberlea gave me a beautiful geranium plant.  How blessed I am to be a "Mom" to these beautiful and wonderful girls who are great "Moms" themselves. 
Thank you Melodi and Amberlea for being such caring, loving, and Godly women and also for blessing my life as you two (and your families) do!

Our Chiminea

It was decided it would be nice to have a chiminea on the patio so we could enjoy a "small fireplace" for comfort (even romance??) and a "contained fire" for roasting weiners or roasting marshmallows.  Of course, our purchase meant we would be able to enjoy quality "assembling" time together so I got my glasses and Mel gathered the needed tools.  In a short while we had a great looking chiminea on our patio.

"It All Began with 2"

There is a saying, "It all began with 2".  Yes, that is what happened to the Mel Bradford Family.  It all began almost 40 years ago with the 2 of us, Mel and I.  Now, we proudly have 11 in our family.  Our 2 wonderful daughters made great choices in selecting their husbands.  Since 1999, 5 precious grandchildren have been added to the family.
Each family member contributes his/her own uniqueness and we have so much fun together and enjoy good times when together.  We remember Barcelona, The Mediterranean Cruise,  the park, cook-outs, The Great Wolf Lodge, California, holidays and many other times shared.
We thank God everyday for each one. 
Thank you, girls, for being "fantastic" Moms to the 5 blessings you have provided in our lives!  (In fact, Mel and I have 9 special blessings in all!).
                                                                          1971

                                                                            Now

1975

                                                                            1982

                                                                                  1984

                                                                 
                                                                              1986

1993

The 5 Blessings from our girls and their husbands

Grandkids with "the 2 it all began with"

Breakfast at the Aldridge Coffee Shop

My sweet darling hubby took me to The Aldridge Coffee Shop for breakfast as my Mother's Day treat.  What a  delicious breakfast they serve there!  The owner daily makes giant homemade cinnamon rolls and are just $1.25 apiece.  They are so large they fill up medium size take out box.  Of course, we had to bring one home to share.  Mel suggested that we may want to go by when we go to town and purchase some.

The New Home for our Chicks

The weather has finally warmed up (going from 50+ to 80+ all in a couple of days time) so we moved our chicks out of the garage to their new pen in the backyard.  They have plenty of room to scratch and roam, then at night we put them in the coop.

In their pen 

                                                                      In the coop

Our Calves and the Egret Birds

One day while looking out our dining room window I watched a funny sight - 2 of our calves were aggravating 3 egret birds.  The birds were on the ground and the calves would "make a run at them".  Naturally, the birds flew then landed.  Time and again the calves did the same thing - 6 times.     Finally, I suppose the egrets had endured enough of the calves antics.  They landed close beside the head of a mother cow grazing.  The calves observed, waited a little, then went off to explore.  Seems as though the calves were not going to bother the bird that close to the cow.  The egrets seemed to be pretty smart figuring that one out.

Mama Kitty on the Move with her Kittens

I had commented earlier how Mama Kitty had not moved this litter of kittens like she did her last litter.  Little did I know that Mother Nature would change Mama Kitty's mind.When the kittens were in the old hay barn, we experienced the hail storm.  With hail and hard rain hitting the sheetiron, no wonder Mama Kitty wanted another location for her family.  She moved them to the old well house by the blue barn. 

A few days later when I was at the barn, the kittens were not in the well house so I began to search around.  Mama Kitty came out of an old lawnmower that has the motor off.  She had moved the kittens inside it.

This seemed to be a good place for her until we had another round of storms and hard rain.  Luckily, Mel had left the south barn door open.  Mama Kitty moved the kittens into the blue barn behind the cabinets.  They could only be seen when the cabinet doors were opened. 

Mama Kitty in front of the shelf where she kept the kittens

One of the kittens

Maternal instinct is protective for animals as well as humans!

Our Matching Aprons

Directions for making aprons using dinner napkins and ribbon were in a quilting magazine.  I decided to try it for Melodi, Amberlea and myself.  They turned out very nice.  Here I am with my 2 precious daughters as we model the aprons.

Fun Days with the Kids and Grandkids

Melodi and Amberlea decided they would attend a Homeschool Conference in OKC April 26th and 27th.  They checked with Grandpop and I to see if it would be okay for the grandkids to be here during that time and if I could have school here.  Of course, we agreed!  What fun to have them all for a few days!!Easter week-end preceded the conference dates so we were able to enjoy our girls and their families.  Bryan, Melodi and the kids came down on Thursday night.  Friday, after realizing that Mathew's asthma medications were not packed they were able to get a doctor's appointment to get Mat's medicine.  Now we have a supply for him on the farm.  Mat gave me a beautiful Easter bouquet for the table.  We enjoyed brisket, cream potatoes, baked beans and fried okra for lunch. 

The beautiful bouquet

Mitch, Amberlea, Jett and Jones arrived that afternoon.  The grandkids had fun playing together.  That night we enjoyed the Elliott Nachos recipe.  Yum! Yum! 

After eating we enjoyed visiting.  The guys watched the Texas Rangers vs. Kansas City Royals baseball game.  We had a house divided - some for the Rangers and some for the Royals.  The girls visited and looked at books Melodi is currently using for homeschooling and the grandkids built a fort with blankets for their stuffed animals and themselves.

Jones, who explores the farm

Watching the baseball game

Severe weather moved into the area and we had a spectacular lightning display.  Everyone enjoyed it from our front porch.  Later as thunderstorms moved closer everyone made their weather observations, then would see if Gary England agreed.  Purses, computers, Mat's medicine and things of importance were put in the saferoom closet "just in case".  Fortunately rain, lightning, thunder and some small hail were all we had.

Saturday, the guys went to Bryan and  Melodi's place to tear out fence.  Wow! What an amazing difference in how the place looks with the fence gone.  With Mitch, Bryan, Jacob, Mathew and Grandpop a lot was accomplished.
Amberlea took pictures of the Woods' Family on the place.

Hot dogs, chili, chips and ice cream sandwich dessert were our menu items.

Since the weather was cool and rainy, the egg hunt was indoors.  The eggs were filled with candy or gum and the prize eggs were found and traded in for $1.

The guys had worked hard that morning so rest was needed.

Bryan had to write a paper for class.

 Mitch, Amberlea, Jett and a tired Jones left to go home.  Jett is always sad to leave the farm; however, this time he knew he was coming back on Monday so that consoled him some.

Amberlea, the "bag lady" as she called herself,  is loading the car.

Sunday morning we remembered the reason for Easter celebration - that our Lord had risen.   Bryan needed to head back home for his week of school rather early since he had a long drive.  Melodi and the kids were staying here for the week and the conference.  Our brunch included ham, hashbrown casserole, biscuits plus bunny cake and ice cream. 

Emma helping with the hashbrown casserole

 Decorating the bunny cake

Monday, Melodi, Emma, McKaylea and Grandmom met Amberlea and Jett at Norman.  Some shopping was done and then the trade of Melodi for Jett was made.  I headed back to the farm with the girls and Jett. 

Grandpop and the boys had gone to Sulphur to stock up on fishing supplies.  Sonic was the cook for our meal Monday.  That afternoon the kids played games, then Mat and Jake went fishing.  Jake caught a bass, but threw it back in.  Mat's line became tangled then broke (according to their story).

Tuesday, time for Grandmom to be the teacher.  Each student had his/her own work to do.  Grandpop did the History lesson with the boys.  Jake and Mat once again went fishing.  This time a pole was broken and another line tangled; plus somehow Mat managed to get wet up to his chest.  We never did understand  the reason why.  That afternoon we played outside, Grammy came to visit and then had a movie, cheese popcorn and Dr. Pepper.

Schoolwork

Playing outside

Grammy visits

Movie Time

Wednesday, it was time for school again.  We started early around 6:30 a.m. after coffee and finished everything before noon.  The weather was damp and cool.  The grandkids came in for home-made hot chocolate, biscuits and bacon which they seemed to thoroughly enjoy. 

Crafts that we did during their visit included beads, painting, doing tile pictures and making pinwheels.   All of them love to do crafts!

The "Moms" arrived in the afternoon and had a special surpise for everyone - ice cream sundaes with all the trimmings.  They were delicious!!

Thursday, the grandkids had fun playing in the morning, then Amberlea and Jett needed to go home. 

Grandpop decided it was a good day to burn brush at the Annex addition.  Mathew and Jacob went over to help in the afternoon.  They were a lot of help!  Grandpop commented that they looked like "miniature firemen" with the sprayer filled with water going around spraying to keep any sparks contained. 

The girls were given a ride in the tractor with Grandpop.

We had an impromptu weiner roast since the brush was burning.  Hot dogs, chips, and marshmallows were devoured.

The "brush burning crew" arrived home about 8:30 p.m.  They were tired and very dirty after the long day, but a lot of brush was burned.

Friday, we celebrated Mathew's birthday a couple of days early.  I made a chocolate cake using a Paula Deen recipe and Mat wanted it decorated with a farm theme.  The cute cake was scrumptious!

The 7 of us loaded up in the car and headed for Sipokni West for lunch and for the grandkids to explore.  They had a great time looking around the movie set and everyone was "stuffed" after eating our burgers and fries (Mat had mashed potatoes and gravy with his burger,)

We came home and had cake and ice cream to top off our adventure, then, watched a movie, Curse of the Sacred Mountain, that was filmed at Sipokni West. 

Middle of Nowhere Market that is now closed.  It is at the turn to go to Sipokni West.

In the car coming home

Our Handsome Birthday Boy!  It's hard to believe that Mathew is 10 years old!

Saturday, Melodi and the kids needed to head home so we met Bryan at Cracker Barrel in OKC. The weather was beautiful so we were able to sit outside in the rockers while waiting for Bryan to arrive.  We enjoyed lunch together then they headed north and Grandpop and I headed south.

What a fun and entertaining week Grandpop and I had with all 5!  The time spent together was special and many memories were made for us and hopefully for them as well.

How wonderfully blessed the Bradford Family is!

As it says in Proverbs 17:6, Grandchildren are the crowning glory...