Sunday, December 29, 2013

A Wonderful Christmas 2013

Our Family Christmas is on December 24th. It is a spectacular day since all of the grandkidlets can be at our house. Wednesday morning, Kendra's family wakes up, eats and opens the presents left by Santa.  We all eat too much and enjoy each other a lot. Such a special day!

      It's  Christmas Eve morning and the excitement builds.
                                   I feel the joy!!!!
Blake


Nicholas

Marley


                      Mother loves her clock from Heather and Kendra.
                           She will be able to actually "see" it!!!

Layla sees sparkles with this game!

Alexis

Brent and Jen are tired!!! They worked until noon and then arrived to celebrate Christmas.

"Watch out! Here comes Lexi!"

"Does Lexi need a hug???"

"Nope! I guess she just need a lap."

Christmas Morning at the Kattau's and Santa has arrived!

Blake is often the 1st one up in the morning.
Yesterday's presents were from the relatives but today's
are from Santa, of course! Santa never fails to find them at
PopPop's and JoJo's house.

Silly Blake!


Lexi loves unwrapping presents!

These boys are so patient...
and soooo silly!

"Thank you, Santa!"

"It's the most wonderful time of the year."

"Is that for me?" asks Lexi.

Nicholas loves a good book!

Merry Christmas 2013






Friday, December 20, 2013

43 Years!

December 19, 1970
Celebrated the marriage of
Thomas Lee Kattau
and
Jill Diane Walbeck
Warren Hills Christian Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
 
Who would have imagined that 43 years could fly by so quickly!!!
 
 

 
High quality photography?  No. (Who brought a camera???)
Large crowd?  20 people in attendance
Fancy flowers?  (Just my bouquet.)
Happy bride and groom? Absolutely!
 
Thank you, Tom, for putting up with me for 43 years! It has been an incredible journey full of adventure, mountains and valleys, laughter and tears, precious children and grandchildren, and lots of give and take. (You give...I take.)
 
I am go grateful that you consented to our blind date.
I can't imagine what life would have been like without you!
 
Happy Anniversary!
 
 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

A Snowy Day!

It was a snowy day today! Kendra and the grandkidlets arrived last night ahead of the snow. It was a beautiful sight to wake up to a white world even if winter isn't my favorite season.
 


We miss having Layla and Marley here this weekend. Layla had her two front teeth (baby teeth that refused to come out) pulled and two extra teeth dug out from behind the baby teeth. We are hoping that the primary teeth are up in those gums somewhere. I feel so sorry for all that she has had to go through.



Of course, since Mother is now a Hoosier, when Kendra's family is in town, she gets to see them. We piled into the van and plowed through the snow...over the river and through the woods ...  Mother was so happy to see everyone!
 
 
Since Mother's room is next to one of the five lounges, when she has company, her guests can visit with her there. The boys played chess while Lexi played with the "blocks" and then we all played a hot match of Skip-Bo. We had such a great time!!!
 
 
Alexis loves her brothers soooo much!

 
Alexis loved the many choices of games in the lounge.

 
Concentration!!!
 
 
 
Mother loved having the great-grandkidlets visit!





Mother loved listening to the laughter and funny discussions from our card game. We wish that she could see well enough to play but that won't happen.

 
We then met PopPop at Hacienda. Alexia didn't have a nap today but she was as good as always!

 
Blake loved wearing PopPop's hat at Hacienda.

 
Snow!!!
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, December 5, 2013

A Poem, An Update and A New Beginning

                                I'm happy...oh so happy!!!
                                I'm sure that you can see!
                             A checkup after a whole year
                              Showed me as tumor free!!!

Ok! So it isn't a limerick! I was thrilled with the results! After 13 tumors in my bladder, I have now been tumor free for 3 years. Merry Christmas to me...early!
 
An Update on Mother:  Mother and I headed to Battle Creek this morning for an eye checkup. Dr. Colquhoun has given Mother 9 eye injections for her "wet" macular degeneration (which means that she hemorrhaged in her eye). Today was just for eye photos and checkup. She has very little vision left in her left eye. Her right eye isn't good at all but at least she has some vision. We were at the Doctor's for nearly 2 1/2 hours but most of that was waiting.
 
Not realizing that the appointment would take so long, we had only 55 minutes to eat and get to Mother's hearing aid checkup. Keith, Sharon and Debra joined us. Mother ate as fast as she was able while I made calls to get some info from the hospital that the Hubbard Hill nurse needed. So much for lunch.
 
We got to the hearing appointment 5 minutes late but we were there for only 1/2 hour. We decided to make a visit to Debra's so Mother could see her new apartment.
 
A New Beginning:
Debra is loving her new apartment! Every time I see her, she tells me how perfect it is. She and Mother miss each other but Debra calls Mother often. Debra loves that she is still near her friends.
 
Debra was very happy to show us her beautiful new Christmas decorations that Brian and Laura got for her:
 
 


 
Living Room

Dining Area

Bedroom

Kitchen

Decals that Laura put in the bathroom
 
 
I think back to when I prayed on the morning of my birthday, November 6th. Knowing that there probably wouldn't be a room available for Mother at Hubbard Hill until late winter or early spring, I told God that I didn't want to beg but that the best birthday present that I could possibly imagine, would be a call that there was a studio apartment available for Mother. After all, He had already given us several miracles up to this point so I hated to keep begging asking. It wasn't long after, that my phone rang. I was so thrilled that I couldn't wait to tell Paula. I actually called her before I called Mother.
 
That was the beginning of the moves.
Mother has now been at Hubbard Hill for two weeks. She is very happy there and feels very content in her new situation. She is thankful to have her piano in her room. She is quickly becoming known for her musical skills since she is drawn to the piano to play while she is waiting for her food in the dining room. I knew it wouldn't take long.