Visit from the Coffeys

My sister Annette from Arkansas and her family came this past Monday to visit my mom and me and they left this morning. They are moving to Syracuse, New York, in two weeks for Joseph's new job, so this is going to be one of the last times we see them before they move. We had a really enjoyable visit and it was nice to be able to spend time with my sister and her family.

Annette had my mom take some family pictures for her. I wish I could've been the woman behind the camera, but Mom did a pretty good job. 

It was so hard to get the kids to cooperate! When Kimball was looking at the camera, Rebecah was looking away and vice-versa, but we'll forgive them since they're such cute kids!

Here's a picture of Annette and me and her family, and then Annette's family with our younger sister Laura's family, and finally a picture of Annette, Laura and Chandra. We should've gotten a picture of the four of us sisters together, but Channie was rushing to get to work. Fun times!

Mom's Birthday Slideshow

One of my hobbies is making slideshows, and I think I'm pretty good at it. Not in a professional kind of way, or anything, since I've seen amazing professional work that I can only dream of replicating, but more in an amateur way.

Sometimes when my friends and family have seen some of the projects I've made they'll say something like, "I don't know how she does it…" (meaning how I'm able to do things on my computer, like make slideshows). I'm not gonna lie, it's a lot of work! It usually takes me about two months to complete a slideshow from start to finish because I always try to make everything as perfect as possible and that requires time. Time to piece everything together and time to watch the slideshow over and over to make sure everything is just so.

My latest project was a surprise slideshow for my mom's 60^th birthday. I had to wait until Mom was out running errands or grocery shopping to work on the slideshow and I spent a lot of late nights working on it after she had gone to bed. It turned out really well, if I do say so myself. I always maintain that I know I've done a good job if someone's crying when the slideshow ends, and Mom's definitely has shed a few tears each time she's watched it. It was a lot of work, but I'm glad I could make a slideshow to honor my mom and best friend as she reached another milestone birthday.

If you have 12 spare minutes, take a look and let me know have you think I did!

Turning 30 (for the Second Time)

My mom turned the big 6-0 this past Tuesday, although she referred to it as turning 30 for the second time and we've been having a wonderful time celebrating. My sister Sharon drove up from Mississippi last Friday with her three youngest kids so that she could spend a few days with us and be here for the birthday festivities.

On Monday we went out to lunch at Pizza Hut for my mom's birthday lunch. Pizza Hut might not sound very glamorous, especially for a 60th birthday, but that was my mom's request. So my sisters Sharon, Laura Chandra and I (and Sharon's and Laura's kids) took our mom out to lunch. My mom's friend, Paul, came along, too. We had such such a nice time.

On Tuesday we had a birthday dinner for my mom. She requested one of her favorite meals – roast beef, mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. My sister Sharon also made mom her traditional birthday cake. For as long as I can remember my mom has always had carrot cake for her birthday. It's not my favorite, but that's what mom wanted.

I thought it would be fun for all of my sisters and me to go in on a joint gift for my mom instead of all doing separate, smaller gifts. I knew my mom would like a KitchenAid mixer, so that's what we decided on. My mom really wasn't expecting a big gift, so she was surprised. I love surprising people! I love the surprised look on my mom's face! [You'll have to excuse the poor lighting. I don't like what the inside lightning does to my pictures. The light above my kitchen table is especially harsh on people's skin, but I figure mediocre pictures are better than no pictures.]

What a fun day… I'm so grateful to all the people who helped make my mom's birthday a special one!