More North Carolina

Before the pool shot

 Is there anything more fun and precious than spending time with your grandchildren.  Not for this Grammie.  I loved every minute of it.

Grandpe and Grammie did an 24 hour period with the kiddos, so Mom
and Dad could get away for a much needed husband and wife time.
It went really well, other than the little guy getting a couple bloody noses.
He'd jumped over the arm of the couch and hit his nose on a stick the day before they left and it bled really easy after that.  We managed, Grammie just carried a zip lock bag with supplies just in case and we used them.

Griffin Sawyer he's 3 3/4 years.

Sydney, sooo grown up at 6 1/2 years.

 These pictures were taken on Meghan's sun porch.  I never really thought about having one, but I've really come to enjoy eating out there and Gus likes to sit and read the paper and such in the sun room too.  Who knows maybe our next place will have one.  I put Grandpe in charge once and went outside on the patio and made good use of their porch swing.

So and humid it looks like the fog rolled in.

This one may be a bit better

Don't miss my next post, it will be the 4th of July celebration.

Bumper Bowling and Frozen Yogurt

The grand children are getting older and we like to do

more out-of-the-house activities with them, but it was a challenge

to come up with indoor/out of the rain activities.

 

Meghan had scoped out a cheap movie day for us, so we went to see Ice Age Continental Drift on Tuesday.  It was a good movie, and the kids loved their big box of Skittles.  Me, I went for the theatre popcorn, of course.

 

On Friday, our last day of entertaining Sydney and Griffin we took them Bumper Bowling at the Family Sports Center.  Sydney typed in our names, she has gone there before with her after school program class and knew how; I was impressed.

 

Gus trying to get a strike or even a spare maybe.

Griffin the big boy bowler. 

 Griffin asked every single time if it was his turn, when it was Sydney's.  I tried to explain that we couldn't bowl out of turn, because then it would add the score to her total and not his.  Not an easy concept for a little guy who hates to wait for his turn.

Sydney, happy to be bowling.

Not a great photo, but proof that I was there.

Sydney bowled with and without the assistance of the ramp.

 

Griffin amazingly did not get his fingers pinched between any balls.

We had a great time bowling.  I came in first place and Gary, placed second.  Griffin Sawyer was third place and Sydney came in last.  Sydney was mortified, she said, but I've bowled before and I'm a good bowler.  Yes, and everyone has an off day.  There was no prize money, so we were just having fun, not competing.

We stopped on the way home at a frozen yogurt place called Di'lishi.  It was so delicious the kids ate every drop.  Although many of the toppings were chocolate, I managed to make a great Sundae with Coconut ice cream, coconut flakes, pineapple, peanuts and peanut butter topping.  Yummy!  It was cool to have to freedom to create.

Griffin before eating his chocolate creation.

Sydney loved hers as well.

The kids and I created bird nests and little birds to inhabit them.
I also made chameleons out of pipe cleaners and we took turns hiding them around the house and finding them. Griffin always, always, always, had to give it away.  Even if you hog tied him so he couldn't point, he'd still look right at it. 

 We also had a tea party lunch and dinner.  The kids love the mini snacks and fruit ideas I came up with and it always helps to be in character and act silly.  The kids and I made Get Well Cards for their cousin, Henry and they spent way to much time on my Ipad.  Many of the apps on my Ipad are educational... math, letter identification, patterns, colors, sorting, stacking etc., so it wasn't totally rotting their brains.  I enjoyed teaching them new programs and helping them learn.
 

April, May & June - Where did you go?

 Sorry about the three month absence, life happens....  We get busy, or bored or procrastinate; my excuse is probably some of each, but mostly busy.  I will be trying to post the missing months in August when life slows down for me.  July is insanely busy.

The hubby and I just returned from a visit with our daughter, her husband and two kids in North Carolina.  The first day we were on duty as their day care providers (while their day care was closed for the week) we chose to stay home with them and just spend time being with them, it had been 8 months since my last visit and a whole year since they'd seen their Grandpa.

Bill's Aunt and Uncle had just visited them and bought the kids these cool bubble shooters, so we took them outside to try them out.

Not sure why the pouty look, but still a cute picture.

Griffin almost four, getting the hang of it.

 

The bubbles looked like rainbow globes in the sun.

They made a whole pile of bubbles and stomped them.

 

Sydney posing for this cute shot.  She let Grammie La La braid her hair.

I said "Show me how much fun you're having" and she did.

We also took the kids up to the pool that day in the afternoon.  It was pretty tricky with all the rain we had all week, to get an hour or more when you could be outside.  I didn't take the camera with me, because I knew the kids would want to be in the water the whole time and I had strict instructions not to be more than two feet away from Griffin at all times when he was in the water.  He's a little dare devil.  I also knew we were going back on the 4th to the annual pool party and games, so I decided to take my camera then.  I'll post pictures of the pool day in a later post.

 

Who isn't?

Who isn't on face book these days?

 

One important person, my sister, Martha.

This post is for you, Martha, because you're a very

important person to Audra & her family, so I don't want you

to miss these beautiful pictures.

 

(My sister, Martha is Audra's God mother and also Audra

carries on her middle name "Jane")

Martha has also supported Audra over the years with prayers and

doing special things for her like needlepoint heirlooms etc.

Aunt Martha is a special Aunt to all my girls by the way.

 

These are recent pictures taken by my husband's cousin, Tracy in

Vegas, where my daughter Audra and her family went for a

mini vacation.  Tracy invited them to stay with her and they had just an awesome time.

 

Rick and Audra (the reason the grand babies are so beautiful)



The whole family - Rowyn 2 1/2 yrs, Emma 6 months

Emma Love - 6 months old and always smiling

Rowyn Gracie Jane Roberts 2 1/2 yrs

 

Emma Love Roberts 6 months old

I told Tracy I'd love to go visit her and take photography lessons.
My photography continues to improve slowly, but she
has tons more skill and I'm sure better equipment than I do.
Wow! is all that I can say.
I can't wait to see the rest of the photos.

 

 



1,000 Gifts Continued.....

Have you ever started a book and then halfway through decided to start over at the beginning again?  Well it's seldom that I do, but when I'm afraid I might just miss something important or want to make sure that I'm comprehending all that I  should...well that's when I decide to start it over from the beginning.  Not to mention that I want to make sure I fully understand my dare.  My dare to live fully.  I have a dollar store special notebook that I'm recording all the things I'm grateful to God for, my blessings as I catch them falling upon me each day.
 
Here's my second installation to my list.  I didn't number the first ones, but will start now.  If you'd like to start with my original post here's the link.

 7.  Unexpectedly running into a good friend at my church

 8.  A heroic deed done by a child

 9.  Cuddling under a heavy quilt on a cold night.


10.  My Grandma's bracelet 8 charms long



11.   Watching a child's first experience with snow

12.  A No-recipe homemade soup from what's in the fridge that turns out yummy.

13.  A drowned child/alive and celebrating their second birthday
       (Truman's Open House/Birthday link)  Just noticed this one made number 13, how ironic is that?  Luck had nothing to do with Truman's miraculous out come, we give all the glory to God.

And so I continue reading the book a few pages here and there during my busy days.  I don't want to rush finishing it as I hope to instill a habit of looking and recording by continuing to be amazed by the impact of Ann's book.

It's here!

Yesterday's mail brought some excitement into my day.  I lit up when I saw the package from Vintage Pearl, because I knew my Grandma's bracelet was inside the wrappings.  It arrived quick and just as I specified, every name of my grandchildren in order of their birth and spelled correctly.  It's beautiful and I can't wait to start showing it off.  I did put a post on face book yesterday, the extent of showing it off so far, but hope to wear it soon.  The twins would drive me crazy if I wore it to work, they love to grab anything I attempt to wear at their house, so will refrain from wearing it over there.

 

Oh dear!  The entire picture isn't showing up.  This will have to suffice for now, but will try to post another picture of the entire bracelet soon.

 

Here's a link to vintage pearl's web site.

I used an online coupon code and saved $26.00, so

if you decide to order something, don't forget to look for

a code first.

 

I also have jewelry by Lisa Leonard.

Olive Garden Recipe (copy cat)

Olive Garden Recipe

Pasta E Fagioli Soup

 

 

2 lbs ground beef                       3 (10 oz) cans beef broth

1 onion, chopped                       3 tsp oregano or 

3 garlic cloves, minced                or Italian seasoning

3 ribs celery, chopped               2 tsp pepper

3 carrots, chopped                     5 tsp parsley

2 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes   1 tsp Tabasco sauce

1 (16 oz) can red kidney            1 (26 oz) jar spaghetti sauce

    beans                                      8 ounces pasta  

1 (16 oz) can white kidney

  beans drained

 

Brown hamburger, drain.  Add onion and garlic and saute, then transfer

to a large slow cooker.  Add all remaining ingredients except pasta.  Cook on LOW for 7 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.  During the last 30 minutes on high, or 1 hour on low, add pasta.  Serve with grated Parmesan on top.

 

This was the most delicious new soup recipe I have tried in a long time.  I bought 365 Days of Slow Cooking by Karen Petersen a while back and am slowing trying some of the recipes.  I would highly recommend this one.



One Thousand Gifts

A Dare to LIVE FULLY right where You are

 

A dare... who can resist that?

Not me.  Not in my childhood and not now.

 

If you haven't read her book (Ann Voskamp) you owe it to yourself to do so.  But, that's not the dare.  That dare is to follow in her foot steps and find a thousand gifts and record them, share them, live them as I plan to do.

I started finding gifts before I was even halfway through the book, gifts I would have barely noticed, maybe smiled momentarily or thought about for a minute or two and gone about my busy day.  Now I'm recording them, remembering to thank God for them and dwelling on them, even sharing them with others and it is bringing me more joy.  Imagine that!  More joy, who doesn't want that, need that, love that?  This has been a true wake up to God's blessings.  Showers of blessings as I'm beginning to realize.  Here's just a few that I've savored in the last few days.

 

• One baby imitating another
• Time shared with another when "everything is funny" and you can't stop laughing
• Rocking a peacefully sleeping child
• A sister that's on the same wave length as you are
• Sunshine on snow after a run of gray winter days
• The smell of baby feet  (I bet that won't be on anyone else's list)

There's even a website that's been started and you've been invited to join in at www.onethousandgifts.com  This website offers free downloads and resources to help you live fully and give thanks right where you are.

  

Maine and Snow go hand in hand

Snow pictures from when we were in Maine.

There was ice under the snow and right after I took this shot, 

I went down on my rear.  Yup! I knew there was ice right near

where I was standing. LOL but my memory was off by a couple feet.

Amanda shoveling her car out after the storm.  Thankfully both my daughter and her husband had some days off to spend with us while we were there, so they didn't have to deal with this every day.

Henry loves the snow and being outside.

The backyard.

I tried to download a ton of pictures, so I could blog about them

while enjoying my next vacation, but most of them loaded upside down.

Ugh!  I really should take a class on blogging and learn a few things so it's

less of a hassle.

Well I'm now in sunny New Mexico and off to take another long walk. 

I'm sorry my words are few.

Christmas

Christmas is the time of the year when loved ones try to get together to celebrate and rekindle bonds.  It is so easy when your loved ones are near, and can be so very difficult when loved ones live far away.  This year was spent with my eldest daughter, Amanda and her hubby Derek and their three small blessings, Michael, Ava and Henry.

Ava Lauren - Christmas Day 2013

TaDa! Henry Owen age 2

Henry with his super hero's shirt

Ava with her American Girl Look a Like Doll

Christmas 2013 Aren't they Adorable

They were so excited to see all the gifts under the tree and Ava quickly became the organizing child and started reading tags and sorting all the gifts into piles.  They took turns opening gifts and I never saw a disappointed look from anyone.   Whether a big expensive gift or a small trinket, everything was appreciated and oohed and aahed over.  It was well worth the 21 hours in the car to enjoy the week with my Maine grandchildren.

Great idea for gift!

 

 Aren't these the most adorable ornament gifts you've ever seen?
They can be made of a shinny smooth bulb or a textured glittery one.
I'm not sure what type of paints were used, but perhaps someone who reads this will know or I may be able to get my daughter to ask her day care provider who made these for her last year.

They came with this cute little poem.

With their names and dates on them they make an awesome memento to your little ones childhood, for as we all know they don't stay little forever.

SNOW! Did I say snow?

 Our first Christmas with the grand kids was a huge success.  We had pretty good weather for traveling, except for a short stretch in Canada and managed to sandwich two snow storms between the travel times.  Each time they received close to a foot of snow.  So I headed out with the big kids and Henry rode in his sled.  I bought Henry the sled when he was born, so this is his third year to get to use it and it looks like it will be his last, he's pretty stuffed in there.

Ava's turn to pull the sled.

Henners is stuffed in there, but loves it.



Michael now 9 and Ava 7.

The boys on a snow bank

Snow angels, anyone?

Henry now two, loved it as you can see by his face.

I'll be sure to post the actual Christmas morning soon, so stay tuned.

;

Where was I?

We were in Maine for Christmas and that's where I picked

up this incredibly unique advent calendar.

Each of those little numbered doors open up a small

pull out drawer to place a small surprise or treat for

the lucky person that is counting down the days 

until Christmas. 

 

 

I just love the pictures painted on the drawers.

I took a couple closer shots, so that you could

see the details that have gone into it.

 

My oldest daughter, who lives in Maine took me to her

favorite store that always has the best gifts.

Believe it or not it's a hardware store, called Schachts.

I made several purchases and at half price, they were

a real bargain.  I also like the idea that everyone else around

here doesn't have one just like it.

 

Now that they've gotten the bugs out of the new blog look so

I can once again post pictures, and I've had new

antivirus software installed on my computer; perhaps you'll

see me on it a bit more often.

 

Our Christmas trip was great, I'll be posting pictures of the

grand kids soon.  We had two snow storms while we were

there and I took some cool snow pictures.