Marley is 6!!!

On May 22, it will have been 6 years since our little Marley Mae was born! It doesn't seem possible!!!  She will probably grow up thinking that "Mae" really is her name or that her real name is "Little Mae" but that's ok. That is her real name to us.

        With the addition of Marley, we had two precious little girls!

 

"Layla is soooo funny!"

"I want that book!!!"

                    "I know that I can get a book out of here!"

"Oh, I love this book!"

 

 

                                        "I'm getting bigger every day."

                          Marley is ready for Kindergarten.

                                   Marley loves the snow!

         This is my favorite video ever.  Christmas before last, Marley asked for a Bible. She was learning many Bible verses at Brenneman Preschool. After opening her gift, she opened it (the page she was on didn't matter) and she began to recite. I will treasure this forever.

       Happy birthday Marley! I love you more than chocolate!!!

               (Watch out Layla! Your birthday is next week!)

Tom is 69???

                    Happy birthday to Tom!!! How can this be?

You sure were a beautiful baby!

                                I bet your teachers loved you!!!

                        You already look like a very smart man!

                                       Yes, I'll marry you!

                                 I am loving our little family!

                                Our 1977-78 year in England was incredible!
                                  We sure did have hair!

I certainly remember having to borrow the hat to wear at the Garden Party with Princess Margaret. At least, when we had dinner at Parliament, I didn't have to wear a hat! I just wish that I had owned a camera back in those days. I can't imagine how many pictures I would have taken!

 

 

       Home from our year in Burgh Castle, Great Yarmouth, England. Too bad we couldn't afford barbers!

 

 

                                     My favorite professor!

 

 

                     And then, the grandkidlets came into our lives:

 

Blake, PopPop, Nicholas

 

Marley, PopPop, Layla

 

                                        Alexis and PopPop

 

                                                 Retired and loving it!!!

 

                      Happy birthday to my wonderful husband.

                        Not many people are as blessed as I am.

                                     Hope your day is sunny!

What's So Funny???

This series of photos makes me howl! About 3 years ago, Nicholas, Blake and Lexi went to Battle Creek to visit my Mother. It gave me a great opportunity to get a photo of Mother and three of  her great-grandkidlets. This is what I got:

It's Mother's Day. How could I resist?

Happy Birthday, Paula!

I love my sister! She is another year older today but to me, she is just another year better. Oh, there are so many memories of our growing up years together. We had such great times: riding our bikes, playing house, etc. and we had a lot of the difficult years that siblings have. But as 'old' people, we don't know what we would do without each other!

Paula, Mother and Dad walk home from Paula's Kindergarten graduation.

Paula enjoys our first time at Women of Faith.



Paula & Ron celebrate Christmas
 

It doesn't get better than having my daughter and my sister live 8 houses from each other! Talk about a miracle!!!

One of our best times together is when we paint. Paula and I are a real team when it comes to painting. We each know our jobs and we do them well.

One of our greatest memories will be looking back at our trip to Bellingham WA for the wedding of Andrew and Miranda. I will treasure those memories.

Happy birthday to my dear sister!!!
Thank you for all the memories!

Tooooo Cute!

Alexis modeled for the DSI "Get To Know Me" Campaign. A mom in Kendra's "Moms of Kids with DS" group was the fabulous photographer! I know that Kendra will be blogging to get the "kinks" out of my information since I haven't heard it all 5 times yet. But the photos are soooo adorable, I couldn't get them posted fast enough for my non-fb  friends to see!  Kendra said that by putting a tutu on that girl and standing her in front of a mirror, she just danced and danced! Add bubbles to that mix and she could fly! Kendra was thrilled that Nicholas and Blake could be in a picture. By the time the boys were in the photos, Alexis was wearing down but I love the looks that they are giving each other. Oh, I love my grandkidlets!!!

Busy! Busy! Busy!

What an exciting weekend this has been! It began on Thursday (when a person is retired, the weekend can start on any day) when Tom and I surprised Layla by appearing at her school for an assembly. Earlier this year, Layla (and 18,999 other students across the country) took a math test. Layla and a few other 3rd graders received Noetic Honorable Mention Awards for doing well on the test. I love this girl! Her sweet friend, Naomi, received a Problem Solving Award.

 

Brent rode his bike in the Goshen '1st Friday' Crit Race. I don't like to watch these guys ride so fast. The mother in me wants to yell at them to "be careful!!!", "slow down!!!", and "go take a ride in the neighborhood like normal people!!!" but these guys don't listen.

 

 

Shouldn't Brent look sweaty, red in the face, and out of breath???? I would be in a hospital with an oxygen mask on my face!

 

What happened on Saturday? Hmmm....

 

But today was a busy day! I was at Trinity ready for choir at 8:00. We sang our two anthems during the service and listened to the sermon. I then headed home due to the arrival of Tom and Barbara Rowlen, We then went together to the 70th Wedding Anniversary  reception of Dayton and Thelma Wenger.

70!!!

 

 

How many people look this great after 70 years of marriage???

How many people make it to 70 years of marriage???

How many people have their reception in the same church in which they were married???

How many people stay active in the same church for 70 years???

How many people do you know that celebrate their anniversary on the exact date that they were married in the same church that they were married...

...just 70 years later!!!

 

Congratulations to Dayton and Thelma Wenger!

 

And then I find out that...

 

This coming Wednesday will be the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Tom and Barbara Rowlen!

 

 

50 Years!!!

How can this be?

We need to P-A-R-T-Y!

 

Congratulations to Tom and Barbara!!!

 

(I am still grieving the fact that on May 23rd, I will celebrate (?) the 50th anniversary of my high school graduation!)

This is not possible! I'm waaay too young!

 

Since I'm grieving, after the Rowlens left, I went for a walk. I walked down River Drive to see the beauty of the flowering trees and bushes as I do every year at this time...my favorite time of the year. I try to drink it all in and let the beauty soak into my being so as to hang on to it until next year. This is what I saw:

 

 

It was a great weekend!

Now on to an extraordinarily busy week!