Thursday, December 25, 2014
Christmas 2014 in Pictures
A wonderful day with family, good food, and fun times. A long game of Monopoly, Autumn cleaned up with an almost total monopoly. An entertaining game of Taboo, and a few other games. Movies, music, snacks, laughter, fun, made for a wonderful day.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Merry Christmas
Well the big day is almost upon us. The busyness of the season is now behind us, shopping is done, decorations hung, the tree selected and decorated, gifts wrapped, groceries purchased. And ahead of us the anticipation of tomorrow, the sheer pleasure of watching the little ones enjoy the magic of this wonderful time of year.
Our older two grandsons, 6 and 4, are really into Christmas this year, they have been counting down the days, they wonder if they will hear Santa land on the roof this evening, they dream of what gifts they may be getting, they are giddy with excitement, and it is so FUN to watch.
Little Charlie is two and is constantly singing Jingle Bells, the four older grandchildren are obsessed with the Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer movie, we have watched it several times. Another favorite is the Little Drummer Boy.
The fun with the advent candles, the earnest discussion at supper time over who is going to blow out the candles. The fun with advent calendars and opening a little window each day, although a few of the grandchildren got a little carried away with opening the windows and got way ahead of themselves, oh the anticipation.
Memories being made at every turn, As I watch my grandchildren enjoying this time of year I feel the magic rekindled in me from my own childhood. The excitement of my grandmother coming to stay, we called her Nanny, and aunts and uncles visiting, family walks after indulging in a scrumptious turkey dinner, working puzzles together on Boxing day, mince pies for breakfast, stuffing and turkey sandwiches for a few days after Christmas. I don't really remember many gifts, a few, some fantastical paisley pajamas from Nanny, a knitted jumper made by my mother, a curling iron, but what I do remember is the coziness, the love, the wonder, the joy of Christmas, all brought about by the adults in our life that loved us. So it is with joy that as a grandparent myself I can help create this wonder, and I see my children creating it for their children, and one day my grandchildren will be the adults and they will pass along the joy and wonder of this season too to the next generation.
So to all I wish you a Merry Christmas, wonderful memories, and the ability to feel the joy and magic of the season as you did as a child.
Our older two grandsons, 6 and 4, are really into Christmas this year, they have been counting down the days, they wonder if they will hear Santa land on the roof this evening, they dream of what gifts they may be getting, they are giddy with excitement, and it is so FUN to watch.
Little Charlie is two and is constantly singing Jingle Bells, the four older grandchildren are obsessed with the Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer movie, we have watched it several times. Another favorite is the Little Drummer Boy.
The fun with the advent candles, the earnest discussion at supper time over who is going to blow out the candles. The fun with advent calendars and opening a little window each day, although a few of the grandchildren got a little carried away with opening the windows and got way ahead of themselves, oh the anticipation.
Memories being made at every turn, As I watch my grandchildren enjoying this time of year I feel the magic rekindled in me from my own childhood. The excitement of my grandmother coming to stay, we called her Nanny, and aunts and uncles visiting, family walks after indulging in a scrumptious turkey dinner, working puzzles together on Boxing day, mince pies for breakfast, stuffing and turkey sandwiches for a few days after Christmas. I don't really remember many gifts, a few, some fantastical paisley pajamas from Nanny, a knitted jumper made by my mother, a curling iron, but what I do remember is the coziness, the love, the wonder, the joy of Christmas, all brought about by the adults in our life that loved us. So it is with joy that as a grandparent myself I can help create this wonder, and I see my children creating it for their children, and one day my grandchildren will be the adults and they will pass along the joy and wonder of this season too to the next generation.
So to all I wish you a Merry Christmas, wonderful memories, and the ability to feel the joy and magic of the season as you did as a child.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
And Now for Some Cute Baby Pictures
As I mentioned in an earlier post we added two grandchildren to the family this year and I am now grandma to a half-dozen splendid little ones, what a blessing they are all are.
Little Peter Ray joined the family on August 8. His birth date is special for our family as he shares a birthday with our son Ben, Uncle Ben to baby Peter, and with Grandpa. Dave and I thought it was so cool when I had Ben on Dave's birthday twenty-three years ago, and to say Dave was pleased that a grandson was born on his birthday is the understatement of the year. How exciting to have three generations in our family share August 8. You can bet in 2015 we will be celebrating big time the fifty-seventh, twenty-fourth, and first birthdays of our August eighters!!!!
Peter Ray weighed in at ten and half pounds!
And just last Wednesday evening our little half-pint, Aubrey Lee was born, she weighed in at seven pounds, six ounces and is just a beautiful little doll baby. Aubrey was born on December 3, and three is special birthday for our family too. Dave's mom's birthday is October 3, Alivia's (Aubrey's big sister) is November 3, Aubrey is December 3, and Dave's dad is January 3. I like that we have four birthdays in a row each exactly a month apart.
All our grandchildren are growing up fast, Henry is six and started kindergarten this year, he loves it and his favorite part of the day is riding on the school bus. Patrick is four and he started pre-school, he has three best friends, Bam, Boone and Logan. Charlie and Alivia are two and as I watch them frequently they are BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, and get up to all sorts of shenanigans. If they are out of sight and there is a lot of giggling you better go investigate immediately! And of course the new babies, Peter is four months and loves to snuggle, and little Aubrey is a week old and just so tiny and precious and she loves to snuggle too.
Well here are grandmas brag pictures of the half-dozen splendid grandchildren:
Little Peter Ray joined the family on August 8. His birth date is special for our family as he shares a birthday with our son Ben, Uncle Ben to baby Peter, and with Grandpa. Dave and I thought it was so cool when I had Ben on Dave's birthday twenty-three years ago, and to say Dave was pleased that a grandson was born on his birthday is the understatement of the year. How exciting to have three generations in our family share August 8. You can bet in 2015 we will be celebrating big time the fifty-seventh, twenty-fourth, and first birthdays of our August eighters!!!!
Peter Ray weighed in at ten and half pounds!
And just last Wednesday evening our little half-pint, Aubrey Lee was born, she weighed in at seven pounds, six ounces and is just a beautiful little doll baby. Aubrey was born on December 3, and three is special birthday for our family too. Dave's mom's birthday is October 3, Alivia's (Aubrey's big sister) is November 3, Aubrey is December 3, and Dave's dad is January 3. I like that we have four birthdays in a row each exactly a month apart.
All our grandchildren are growing up fast, Henry is six and started kindergarten this year, he loves it and his favorite part of the day is riding on the school bus. Patrick is four and he started pre-school, he has three best friends, Bam, Boone and Logan. Charlie and Alivia are two and as I watch them frequently they are BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, and get up to all sorts of shenanigans. If they are out of sight and there is a lot of giggling you better go investigate immediately! And of course the new babies, Peter is four months and loves to snuggle, and little Aubrey is a week old and just so tiny and precious and she loves to snuggle too.
Well here are grandmas brag pictures of the half-dozen splendid grandchildren:
 |
| Little Half-pint baby Aubrey |
 |
| My little Dumpling Alivia |
 |
| Sweet Pete, baby Peter |
 |
| Charlie |
 |
| Patrick |
 |
| Henry |
 |
| The whole gang! |
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
A Very Large Project
A year or so ago I was at a church rummage sale, the kind of sale I love. The sale is run by some very elderly ladies and they price the stuff to move! Most of the stuff donated to the sale are things that people have owned for decades, someone has cleaned out their craft room and donated patterns that they intended to use one day and never did, odd ball assortments of pyrex dishes, old coffee urns, and lots of books, you know the type of stuff. At a cursory glance you may just see junk, so you have to proceed slowly, pick through the items and at some point you may hit gold.
So on a fine spring morning my husband and I stopped into the church rummage sale, we went our separate ways seeking gold. After going through several tables of books I found a wonderful Betty Crocker cookbook, Cooking for Two, from the 1960's, there are some fabulous pictures in it. Then I came to the craft table, the sweet spot of the sale, for there were tons of patterns for crochet, sewing, quilting, all kinds of dribs and drabs of left over ribbon, yarn, fabric, odd little tools, knitting needles, crochet hooks, and everything was a quarter or less, what a deal. I started going through the patterns and picked a fair number of crochet booklets and quilting booklets and was pleased with my finds. Satisfied I had found my treasures I went off to find my husband, he was at his dream table, the mans corner where all the tools and bits and bobs from cleared out garages were put, he found a very cool spot light still in the original packaging, probably dating back to the seventies. We went to pay for our treasures and the ladies told us we owed three dollars, we rounded up and made a small donation to their cause and left pleased with our findings.
Well the crochet pattern books disappeared into my sewing room and there they waited. In fact I forgot all about them until one afternoon in August when looking for something else I came across one of the pattern books for making throws with flower motifs. I liked all of the patterns but the marigold pattern stole my heart, and I had a bunch of left over yarn that could be used to get started. So a mammoth project was started, the throw was not big enough for me, I wanted the blanket to be a bedspread for our queen size bed. I ended up making one hundred and forty-four squares, each approximately six inches across, and now have a thick, heavy, super warm, colorful, one of a kind, bedspread for our bed.
So the moral of this story is be careful what you buy for a quarter because you may end up crocheting your arm off for 8 weeks making a very large project!
So on a fine spring morning my husband and I stopped into the church rummage sale, we went our separate ways seeking gold. After going through several tables of books I found a wonderful Betty Crocker cookbook, Cooking for Two, from the 1960's, there are some fabulous pictures in it. Then I came to the craft table, the sweet spot of the sale, for there were tons of patterns for crochet, sewing, quilting, all kinds of dribs and drabs of left over ribbon, yarn, fabric, odd little tools, knitting needles, crochet hooks, and everything was a quarter or less, what a deal. I started going through the patterns and picked a fair number of crochet booklets and quilting booklets and was pleased with my finds. Satisfied I had found my treasures I went off to find my husband, he was at his dream table, the mans corner where all the tools and bits and bobs from cleared out garages were put, he found a very cool spot light still in the original packaging, probably dating back to the seventies. We went to pay for our treasures and the ladies told us we owed three dollars, we rounded up and made a small donation to their cause and left pleased with our findings.
Well the crochet pattern books disappeared into my sewing room and there they waited. In fact I forgot all about them until one afternoon in August when looking for something else I came across one of the pattern books for making throws with flower motifs. I liked all of the patterns but the marigold pattern stole my heart, and I had a bunch of left over yarn that could be used to get started. So a mammoth project was started, the throw was not big enough for me, I wanted the blanket to be a bedspread for our queen size bed. I ended up making one hundred and forty-four squares, each approximately six inches across, and now have a thick, heavy, super warm, colorful, one of a kind, bedspread for our bed.
So the moral of this story is be careful what you buy for a quarter because you may end up crocheting your arm off for 8 weeks making a very large project!
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Very Quick Post
This evening we became grandparents for the sixth time. On August 8 we welcomed grandson number four, grandchild number five, with the arrival of Peter Ray and today we welcome granddaughter number two, grandchild number six, with the arrival of Aubrey Lee. I will post pictures in a day or two. All I can say is I am so excited and feeling very blessed.
We will go visit our newest granddaughter tomorrow, I can't wait!!
Bean
We will go visit our newest granddaughter tomorrow, I can't wait!!
Bean
Monday, December 1, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
The End of an Era
Well yesterday our youngest daughter Emily, she is nearly 21, moved out to her own place. How exciting, she and her boyfriend Skylar have been saving money, buying household items, and after a fair number of months of preparation they were ready to sign a lease and voila they now have their very own place to live, they are both so excited to finally have their own space.
It is a strange feeling, for over thirty years we have had children, and now they are all grown and out in the world. I am enjoying Emily's excitement, and remember my own, about her own home. I laughed last week when Emily burst through the front door with a large box containing her very own vacuum sweeper. The box was torn open, the sweeper assembled, and then she was off vacuuming my living room with vigor. She will have many firsts, cooking meals, grocery shopping, paying rent, cleaning, all those things that come with independence and adulthood and remain our responsibility for life. Although independence comes at a cost it is worth every penny. Everyone dreams about the day they are able to get their own place and it is exhilarating when it finally happens. And as parents our goal should be to raise children who grow up and want independence and have the skills to attain it. Dave and I are ready to embrace our empty nest, because it really isn't that empty, our children and grandchildren are over frequently, we enjoy the joyful chaos and then the peace when they go home ;)
It will perhaps be a while until I post again, as our computer has an XP operating system and yesterday Microsoft ended support for the operating system and our computer is now vulnerable to hackers and viruses. We have had this desktop computer for 9 years and it is time to upgrade. I am going to move the computer upstairs as it still has all of our pictures on it, and I use Quicken for my check register and plan to continue using it, it will not be online though. I am not excited about a new computer and have heard nothing good about Windows 8, but will probably have to get it. I think we are going to go with a low end lap top since we do need to use an actual keyboard from time to time. For now we can use the Kindle Fire and our phones to access the Internet. I will not be touch screen typing any blog entries though as that sounds like a nightmare.
So April 8th 2014 was the day our nest emptied and our computer had to be retired. Dave and I are looking forward to having the house to ourselves it is a nice feeling. And it is a nice feeling to know that we have four great kids who are now adults and are all getting on with their lives as they should be. We feel very blessed.
It is a strange feeling, for over thirty years we have had children, and now they are all grown and out in the world. I am enjoying Emily's excitement, and remember my own, about her own home. I laughed last week when Emily burst through the front door with a large box containing her very own vacuum sweeper. The box was torn open, the sweeper assembled, and then she was off vacuuming my living room with vigor. She will have many firsts, cooking meals, grocery shopping, paying rent, cleaning, all those things that come with independence and adulthood and remain our responsibility for life. Although independence comes at a cost it is worth every penny. Everyone dreams about the day they are able to get their own place and it is exhilarating when it finally happens. And as parents our goal should be to raise children who grow up and want independence and have the skills to attain it. Dave and I are ready to embrace our empty nest, because it really isn't that empty, our children and grandchildren are over frequently, we enjoy the joyful chaos and then the peace when they go home ;)
It will perhaps be a while until I post again, as our computer has an XP operating system and yesterday Microsoft ended support for the operating system and our computer is now vulnerable to hackers and viruses. We have had this desktop computer for 9 years and it is time to upgrade. I am going to move the computer upstairs as it still has all of our pictures on it, and I use Quicken for my check register and plan to continue using it, it will not be online though. I am not excited about a new computer and have heard nothing good about Windows 8, but will probably have to get it. I think we are going to go with a low end lap top since we do need to use an actual keyboard from time to time. For now we can use the Kindle Fire and our phones to access the Internet. I will not be touch screen typing any blog entries though as that sounds like a nightmare.
So April 8th 2014 was the day our nest emptied and our computer had to be retired. Dave and I are looking forward to having the house to ourselves it is a nice feeling. And it is a nice feeling to know that we have four great kids who are now adults and are all getting on with their lives as they should be. We feel very blessed.
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