Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Busy Weekend!!!


Today was our very first "Grandparent Day" at Nicholas's school. It was fun to be the grandparent instead of the teacher for a change even though that was one of my very favorite days during the school year. It was fun to see where Nicky "works" every day, meet his teacher, (Miss Gray) and his principal. We left after a little over an hour so that Tom could get back to Elkhart to teach. What a super little boy!!!


Nicky is the only one in his class missing his two front teeth. He is as adorable by nature as he is adorable looking.

All 4 of us Grandparents were able to attend Grandparent's Day today. PopPop Jim and Grandma Connie came from Kokomo and JoJo and PopPop Tom came from Goshen.

The night before Grandparent Day was a swimming lesson for Nicky and Blake. Blake was closer to me so I was able to capture him as he came up for air. One has to move quickly to catch this little fish out of the water.




I just can't resist posting little Alexis in her new birthday chair. It is our gift to her for her 1st birthday gift but it came early. Since she (and her siblings and Momma) will be in Goshen on her birthday, it is only right that she is able to enjoy it ahead of time. Soooooo sweet!



Thursday, March 25, 2010

My Greatest Gifts!!!


Sweet Nicholas is 6 years old and ready for baseball to begin. He is in Kindergarten and loves school. Give him a transformer and he is in heaven. Nicky is so in love with his little Lexi. What a wonderful big brother he is. Such a tenderheart!


Precious Layla is definitely our "girly girl". She loves pink, princesses, jewelry and you will usually find her wearing something fancy. She will tell you that she is reading in level "H" which is one step below 2nd grade level when in fact she is in Kindergarten. She is PopPop's girl!!!

Blake is our pirate. He has been playing/wearing/eating and breathing pirates for 2 or 3 years. We keep waiting for him to switch gears on us but nothing so far and that is just fine. He is the cutest pirate I've ever known. Blake is 5 yrs. old and in 3 day a week preschool.


Little Marley is our "funny girl". She does make us laugh with her constant dancing, jumping and singing. She is nearly 3 yrs. old and has attitude. She loves to do whatever sister Layla is doing and is in constant motion.



Little Lexi will be 1 year old April 7th. It's so hard to believe! She has been through a lot in her little life and is such a healthy, precious baby! She now sits up on her own and when on her tummy on the floor, can move in a circle very quickly! She is such a gift!
How can I ever be more blessed than I am now? It isn't possible! God has been so good to me and I will forever be thankful.



Monday, March 22, 2010

Lexi....."Contemplating"


Kendra just gave me a tutorial on the use of Picnik. I think I went a little overboard with this picture of Lexi but it was a good 1st attempt. Thought I would share it.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

1st Day of Spring.....in Noblesville




Alexis is such a happy baby! She loves her brothers and her brothers certainly love her!!! Nicholas is taking a break from playing ball and having a chat. Can you tell that the weather was absolutely perfect?

Nicholas is quite the ball player. Between practicing baseball or basketball he is riding his bike or scooter. He loves running around and runs really fast since there is less wind resistance with the absence of his 2 front teeth!!!

Blake just runs! and runs! and runs!!! He doesn't necessarily want to play a game of anything.....just run! Of course, pirate pretending is always part of the fun!

Tom and I were glad to be in Noblesville for this weekend since we have heard that while we were in short sleeves down here, the weather back home wasn't so wonderful. Tomorrow afternoon is Blake's preschool "Spring Sing". We love it when we can attend anything for our grandkids. I'm sure that there is much more in the future....let the games begin!!!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Florida...Day 2











Beautiful day! A little chilly at times (60 degrees) but it's suppose to be in the 70's from now on and that's here in St. Pete. We are going farther south tomorrow so it will be even warmer than here.

We had a nice day. This morning (Saturday) we visited the beautiful Sunken Gardens. It was small but very beautiful, in fact, there was a wedding taking place in the "wedding garden". I'll bet that bride didn't plan on the temps being 60 instead of 75, which is the average.

Ready for our daily walk, we headed to the Friendship Bridge to walk the 2 1/2 miles across Tampa Bay. After we got there, there was a change of plan because it was closed. We have no idea why but we certainly missed the memo.

Visiting historical Ybor City was a real treat! It is Tampa's Latin Quarter. With the beautiful weather, the festival taking place was great. It had a festival, arts and craft fair, ethic food, and teams of people dressed up in the wildest ways for the Great Urban race which was a take off on the Great Race. So fun to watch. Some of the couples were running around with computers, GPS's, notebooks...crazy! The streets were antique brick and many stores had the wrought-iron balconies. Such a good time!

After lunch, Tom and I drove to Clearwater beach but it was chilly enough to walk along Gulf Boulevard. With such nice sidewalks everywhere, we used them.

Florida roads are pothole free, well marked and wonderful! Tomorrow we aim toward Punta Gorda checking out several places between here and there.

Friday, March 5, 2010

St. Petersburg, FL...Day 1











Today was our first full day in Florida. We woke up to sunshine and a very nice Comfort Inn breakfast. We put on our walking shoes and set out. Since Tom doesn't believe in parking close to any destination, we took a looooong walk to Demen's Landing and then to The Pier. (I bought some bandaids tonight!) . It was beautiful walking with blue skies and 60 degrees. This afternoon, we sat in the sun and read by the pool and after dinner I drove to Fort DeSoto Park to try to catch a sunset. But...we missed it! If we are late getting some where in Elkhart, it is usually due to waiting for trains. We missed the sunset due to a small sail boat going under a draw bridge!!! I could have had some gorgeous pictures!



Speaking of pictures...I took very few. I'm trying to be smarter about photos than usual. I haven't figured out why and it probably won't last very long...my smartness that is. The photos are the only ones I took today. Tom is sitting in "chairs" by the courthouse here in St. Petersburg. It was first thing this morning and is therefore wearing a jacket. The "lady" is me after eating 3 meals today. That won't happen tomorrow...trust me!



Temperatures tomorrow are to be 66 and going up from there. As the week goes on, it will be in the 70's!!!

Monday, March 1, 2010

89....and holding!


Happy Birthday Mother! How can my mother be 89 years old today!!! Oh...I do forget that I am 64! Where do the years go? Time used to seem to crawl and now it flies by! I remember Mother saying that. She often says now that she is so shocked when she looks in the mirror and sees her face because she doesn't feel as old as she looks. In fact, she says she feels about 50. I know what she means. I do the same thing. I would imagine that most people, if not all, do the same thing.


Mother is still a busy lady (relatively speaking).She has the same schedule that she has had ever since I can remember...get up at 10:30 a.m. and go to bed about 1:00 a.m. It varies but not by much. With her amazing musical abilities, she is in demand when it comes to playing piano/organ for different Eastern Star organizations. We were laughing the other day because someone was scheduling her to play for their installation a couple of years from now. Why wouldn't she be in demand? How many people have such gifts? How many people can sit on a piano bench for hours and play requests in any key and not have to have a stitch of music in front of them? When I speak of her gifts, she says that she thanks God every day for these abilities. I have no doubt...This is the woman who thanks God daily and "goes through every name of kids and grandkids before falling asleep". If I speak of her gift, her first response is to be modest until I ask her to name one person (not a professional but a 'normal' person, that can do what she does. That's when she realizes never to take this gift for granted.

Paula is on her way to Goshen from Noblesville as I write this. We will be at Mother's in Battle Creek by noon and spend the rest of today and until after brunch tomorrow with her. Tonight, Keith and Sharon will join us for birthday dinner. Should be a good time.

Tomorrow, knowing me, I will have a birthday photo of Mother. Good grief.....89!