Family Reunion Time

This past Saturday was our 5th annual Mathews family reunion. We celebrate this special day in honor of my mother-in-law who was so suddenly taken from us in July 2004 in a tragic car accident. Losing her has truly left a huge hole in our family! If you were ever blessed to have met this strong, young at heart, little Japanese woman you would understand the emptiness our family still feels.




So, once a year family and friends all gather at our place for a get together. My mother-in-law was the "glue" that held the family together, as my brother-in-law so rightly stated shortly after her death. This annual gathering is the perfect way to keep us all in touch. With our busy lives we seem to lose track of extended family. Left to right we have Uncle Charles, Pop, Aunt Vera Mae and Charlene. Having this generation of our family with us is what makes these reunions an extra ordinary occasion!!

The next generation! You all know I just had to slip a picture of my little "Reesie Cup" in !!

Left to right, Dale, Abner and Monroe.
Old friends make the day memorable as well. Especially being able to actually hug this dear friend, Abner.
We are so glad he is back!!! This retired colonel has been a friend of the family for many, many years.

Uncle Charles asking the Lord's blessings on the food and our family.

The food line. We had so much delicious food, as always. Plenty of ribs, chicken, smoked pork, fried fish and all the fixins to go along with it. It was soooo hot this year. I made 20 gallons of sweet tea, and 4 gallons of lemonade not to mention all the bottled water that was consumed. Making tea sure kept me busy!

My sister-in-law, Darlene, (or Sugar as we all call her and she lives up to her name!) and her hubby, Paul. It is always a treat to see them as they live a few hours away.

Okay, time for the disclaimer....the next few pictures you must view at your own risk...Nurse Rhonda (my niece) you should not look any further ;-) Our family reunion is never complete without the wild and crazy activites in the afternoon. The Lord is faithful to us and sends our guardian angels for protection. I don't know, there is just something in the Mathews' blood about being daring, going fast, pushing the limits. I have a couple of those guys that I am currently raising! Keeps me on my knees!

I am not sure who came up with this idea, but it is an annual sport that the grown-up (adult/kids) love. Crank up the airboats......

Parker ran to Nonna (me) for safety with the noise of the loud engines. He wasn't impressed at all!

Yes, that is a parachute and yes it IS being lifted by the airboats and yes that is MY SON, Brandon. This activity actually started out using a huge tarp. The guys enjoyed it but it was hard to hang on to. Last year a worn out parachute was used and it was better. However, this year my niece found this parachute at a thrift store for only $2.00!! It was in perfect condition and worked great, so I am told.

Little Tony going for a ride.

Little Mike, Jenny and family. Geeeez I feel old watching my nephews and nieces with their growing families.

The next activity of the day was toned down quite a bit for the younger daredevils. A ride behind the four-wheeler on a sled-type board. After this picture was taken someone came up with a creative idea. The plastic feed barrel we use for Missy, our cow, was swiped from the pasture and holes drilled in the front of it so that it could be pulled behind the four-wheeler. Apparently the passengers were rolling off the edge of the sled/board. I missed getting a picture of the new sled.

After a quick afternoon shower the little ones soon discovered a rather large mudpuddle. I thought this was a very cute picture! On such a special day I think the moms and dads just let the kids have their fun too in spite of the dirty clothes and shoes they had to deal with.

Another reunion passed with many, many great memories and stories to tell and re-tell! We love our family and count it a privilege to host this event. Until next year....

It's a Southern Thang

My hubby has a hobby! He just loves turning this......

into this!! Now for those of you who at this point are thinking, "This What?" let me explain. This is called a swamp buggy and our family loves going swamp buggy riding in the woods! Come along and I'll show you what I mean. We have friends along on this trip. We usually leave in the late afternoon. We pack a picnic supper to take along. Oh, bug spray is a must especially with all the rain Florida has been blessed with.

Time to break out the picnic/junk food. This time we had fried chicken, chips, drinks, sunflower seeds, cookies and bubble gum! I am one of those moms that feels like a meal just isn't complete without some veggies or at least fresh fruit so I just try to sit back and convince myself that there has to be some nutrition in the chicken and those sunflower seeds are nuts, right?

Dear friends enjoying the ride. Isn't this little man a cutie pie? Love those blue eyes.

My brave, strong man blazing a trail!!

Here is the view off the front of the buggy. You can see the water standing in this particular spot due to all the showers lately. We didn't get stuck at all and some spots we went through were pretty deep. Fun times!

As the sun begins to set we usually see quite a bit of wildlife. This is what I enjoy the most. If you look closely right in the middle of the picture below you will see some wildlife.....did you find it?

It is an owl sitting on a branch. He blends right in with the surroundings but he certainly wasn't afraid of us. We drove right on by and he never flew off. Isn't he just beautiful?

This is another trail we took. That is water completely covering the path up ahead. We didn't see any gators this time but we heard the frogs out in that water. Well that is the end of our adventure for now. Anybody ready for a swamp buggy ride?

We have a busy weekend coming up with an annual family reunion at our place. It is a big event in our family and things get a little wild and crazy with all the dare devil boys/men in the family. I'll take lots of pictures so you can see what I mean.

Sugar Babies

We have been enjoying a new variety of watermelon this summer. It is called Sugar Baby and it certainly lives up to it's name! These little melons are not much bigger than a cantaloupe which I love because they don't take up as much room in my refrigerator and if you are like me there is ALWAYS a shortage of space in my refrigerator. When I begin to get frustrated at trying to make leftovers and such "fit", it reminds me to stop and be thankful for the abundance the Lord has blessed us with. I just imagine how I would be feeling if all I had to put in my refrigerator was a melon??? Thank you Lord for this inconvenience. Anyway, back to these Sugar Baby melons. We have had so much success with these little beauties this year we haven't bought any watermelons from the grocery store! Also, the seeds from these melons are open-pollinated which means I should be able to replant the seeds next summer. That is my goal. One day I would like to only have to go to the grocery store once in a while for a few staples. I have a long way to go before reaching that goal but I am learning so much as I go. I love sitting down to a meal, looking over the dishes before us and realizing we either grew it, raised it here at home or it is venison that hubby/boys brought home!! It truly makes us thankful for the blessings the Lord has provided for our family!

Here is a satisfied seed-spittin', melon-eatin' boy! We like to gather in the kitchen after working outside in the hot, hot Florida summer weather and we start slicing these ice cold watermelons. They really hit the spot and quench our thirst!! Ahhh, one of the pleasures of summertime!

Hope you are enjoying your summer. It is passing so quickly!!

Reese's First Photo Shoot

Today's blog should be titled "Grandma's Brag Page"! ! Yes, yes I know, Brooke has already posted these pictures on her blog and you can read about her labor and birth experience here. However, I couldn't resist showing off the latest pictures of our first granddaughter.


I wasn't present at the photo shoot when these pictures were taken. Brooke took them behind my back and it is a good thing she did because I am weak when it comes to naked newborns and I would have spoiled the shoot and kissed that little darling till she woke up!! Just ask my family. It is an addiction I have when I am around my babies (naked or not)....kiss, kiss, kiss! It is a wonder my own children still have cheeks!!

I mean just look at this little angel. How could anyone resist??? In fact, I think I might have to catch one of my boys running by right now and just give them a big ole kiss after seeing these pictures again. Now where are those guys??....probably hiding if they know I have been looking at Reese's pictures :-)

A New Recipe

We were fortunate to have an established fig tree on our property when we bought our place a few years ago. Monroe also transplanted a few small trees that he got from his parents' house right after we moved in. The picture below are the trees he started and as you can see, they are doing great. We have a total of 6 trees and this year they are all producing figs! I am not sure what variety they are but they don't get very big and they are oh so sweet and delicious! Because the fruit is not big the seeds are very small which is a good thing for my kids. They like to munch on them while they are out playing in the backyard. They like to pretend they are the guy from the tv show, Survivor Man. You know, live off of the land kind of thing. I like it cause it keeps them outdoors for a long stretch of time ;-)


This is a bowl of fresh picked figs. I have learned that the amount of rainfall has to be just right in order to get edible figs. If it rains too much they get swollen and burst at the bottom. The fruit is so tender and soft it can't take too much water. Then the bugs like to get in through the hole in the bottom of the fig. A lesson Kay and I will never forget....right Kay??? That is a funny story I will have to share sometime, tee-hee-hee!

Well, I had to come up with some way to use up these figs. I decided to try a fresh fig cake. It turned out to be a not so pretty cake but that is okay because it was so moist and delicious. This is definitely a recipe I will use again.

I will be making preserves with some of the harvest. However, it will be a while yet as we have been blessed with lots of rain lately and the fruit is rotting on the tree right now. I thought about going out and shaking the tree to get the bad fruit to fall off. I can see lots of green figs that will be ready soon. Hopefully, it won't be too rainy when they are ready to pick. After all, my" survivor men" need something to keep them going!!