This photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

Prince Cousins Luncheon

Prince Cousins

5th Friday for Lunch Club~July 30, 2010

The Prince cousins who live close-by have been

making it a point to get together on 5th Fridays for

lunch. July 30th was no exception, and we

gathered at our home for what was deemed a

"Pioneer Lunch" because we had food that

earlier Princes might have had that they had

taken "from the land." It was just that, because we

served peas that Wayne planted in our garden

this year. We were so pleased to have more of the

7 Prince brothers represented this time. Ivan's

daughter Sue and her husband Gil Hineman came

from Dallas; Virgil Prince's daughter-in-law,

(David's wife) Marilyn Tutwiler; Wayne Prince

(Percy's son) of course was here; Ezra's daughter

Joy and daughter-in-law (Jerry's wife) Jackie Prince

came; Howard's son, Keith Prince was here from

Ruston, La, and Howard's daughter-in-law (Phil's wife)

Nancy Prince came and brought her daughter and

son-in-law, Marty and Kendall. We spent time catching

up on everyone's families, we told family stories, and

we just enjoyed being together.

Nancy Prince-Marilyn Tutwiler

Phil's daughter Marty Prince and Kendall Rogers

Elaine Prince & Jackie Prince

Sue (Prince) & Gil Hineman

Gil Hineman, Keith Prince, Sue Hineman, Joy (Prince) Coble, & Jackie Prince

Joy (Prince) Coble, & Wayne Prince

Ezra, Ivan, Virgil, Joe, Percy, Pappa, Mamma,

John, and Howard~The Princes~1949

We did take a little time during the afternoon

to notice the hummingbirds coming to our feeders.

A summer visit from the Bandera bunch...

In July Larry and Jackie came for a short visit and left

Caitlin and Hunter here to stay for a longer time.

We were so pleased to take all 5 of our grandchildren

to church on Sunday while we had them all together.

(Nanna, Caitlin, Hunter, Laura, Doug, Kaylee, and Pappy)

Rhonda graciously invited the kids to swim and they

had a good time there, cooling in the pool.

Caitlin just flipped over it!

Doug enjoyed jumping and catching the football on the

way to the water, and got pretty good at it.

Of course we had to stop and pose for a picture

of this fine group. I'm only sorry that we failed to

get Rylyn and Jackson in there saying "cheese" with

everyone else, but they were otherwise

occupied at the time!

(Kylan, Me, Caitlin, Doug, and Hunter)

Another attraction at the Mills home was their

birds! Hunter enjoyed fooling around with Bonnie,

and so did Caitlin.

Paxton was our sweet fun babiy visitor this summer!

Laura was about to get some of his sugar, but

Kaylee was really his hero... sharing her

CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM with him!

How good is that?

Special Wedding Decorations

Rhonda had a vision for Paige's wedding that would rival any of the weddings on TV! I was pleased that she let me help accomplish her goal. Paige's wish of disguising the CLC gym into a beautiful venue for a wedding was realized.

I guess from the pictures I included it's obvious

that 2 of my granddaughters were part of the

celebration, or that their dad was proud of how

beautiful they are!

Everyone agreed that it was a beautiful wedding

perfect for a beautiful bride!

On to Bandera from Brazoria...

The kids spent some time together and we were so glad to get to see our Bandera kiddos and their mom and dad.

Summer work had to be done when we got home. There was hay to be cut, raked, and baled.

A Trip to the Gulf Coast...

Early in the summer we made a quick trip to the coast for Wayne, Doug, and Warren to try their luck at catching a big one. Luck was not theirs, but they had fun anyway. We went out for seafood, since we had no fish to cook. On the way back to Janet's we made a side trip to see the huge statue of Stephen F. Austin, Father of Texas. It is an awesome sight, and rightfully located in Brazoria County where he came with the 'old 300' to settle in Texas. We had an enjoyable visit with Warren and Janet. As we headed for Bandera the next day, we couldn't help but notice the beautiful hibiscus in Janet's yard.

The Day Lilies Are Blooming!

We decided that the only way to reclaim the daylily bed from the bermuda grass was to dig them up, remove all the soil from the bed, then replace it with potting soil, replant them and wait for them to flourish again as they had in the past. Unfortunately, the weather was dry, dry, dry, but they held on, even though their bloom season left something to be desired, and I even worried that I was loosing some of them.

Well, we waited for another bloom season, and the waiting has paid off. I am excited to see some of the old ones back, and some of the newer ones coming into their own. It is not the show of bloom that I look forward to seeing in the future, but it is a start, and I am keeping my eye out for invasive weeds or bermuda grass!

My yellow ones have not bloomed yet, and I have a beautiful pink one, and a pink one with a wine-red eye that I am waiting to see again.

The day lilies came from a lily farm on highway 7 between Nacogdoches and Center, TX. Jack Carpenter was the owner when I bought my flowers and I have been so pleased with all that I purchased.

Recently he sold The Lily Farm to his nephew, and has decided to retire.

It is amazing to see all of the lovely colorful blooms in the acres of day lilies at The Lily Farm.

You can see the lilies there online at:

http://lilyfarm.com/

Springtime Arrives in the Backyard

The signs of spring have been coming daily here in the backyard. We are never disappointed if we go outside and sit for a while. The birds get busy entertaining us. They are building nests, feeding babies, or they are just on their way to their summer homes further north. We have seen the Rose Breasted Grosbeak, but didn't get his picture. We haven't given up hope to see him again. Last year 6 pairs stayed here about 2 weeks. The Orchard Oriole has been here too, but was camera shy, and we missed him. Others are pictured below:

Baltimore Oriole eating an orange we provided to entice them to stop by.

This Carolina Wren built a nest inside our patio nesting box.

A male Northern Cardinal is a regular,

also pictured is the American Goldfinch male.

The Eastern Bluebird is always good to stop by and entertain us.

Mealworms tempted this male Eastern Bluebird

to come very close to us for a meal for his babies.

The colorful Painted Bunting male

has come to the yard again this spring.

He enjoys white millet seeds,

and we provide them just for him!

The female Painted Bunting has come to the feeder for the first time,

as far as we know. It was a surprise to find out that she is green!

The male Baltimore Oriole

The little blue jewel is what we call this handsome fellow.

Indigo Bunting male

Try bird watching... it's a stress buster, and very enjoyable.