Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Lily's 6 Month Birthday


Little Lily would have been 6 months old today. I just wanted us all to celebrate her life, she touched so many in such a short amount of time.

Monday, May 28, 2007

At Least I Did SOMETHING!


At least I can now say I DID something over the Memorial Day weekend. This very teenie project has been sitting in the closet for almost 3 years to do for the 2 sets of grandkids. At least now it's done, didn't do the best job on them but they are done. It's been so long since I've really sewn that I've forgotten a few tricks in binder covers, but it's nice to remember and that the skill is still there. ahhhhhhhhh Felt good, and they are cute! SLUG BUG PURPLE!!!!!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Side Note on Graduation


It finally hit me the morning after Abby's graduation that her 'Butterfly' program was the same one that Tyler had performed when he graduated kindergarten at Lincoln Christian School 20 years ago. That was back when they held classes at Temple Baptist Church. Just makes the memory all that much sweeter, doesn't it?

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Birthdays at the Zoo


Where do I start? This was one of the most fabulous days we've all had together in ages. The Omaha Zoo was not packed too badly, just a few schools doing a last of the school year zoo run. The four little kids were terrific and we were there for over 6 hours! Think grandma and grandpa are the hurtin' ones this evening. :) There's a ton of pics, and I need to share so many, so here goes.......... Abby vs. gorilla


Raegan vs. gorilla


Hunter vs. Gorilla


Dylan vs. gorilla


Close cousins

A perfect quartet



Hard to keep everyone's attention :)


Serious giraffe and penguin watching


When will THIS happen again?


Abby hugging giraffe......


Raegan doing it BY HERSELF!


Hunter cracks me up :)


Dylan checking out the giraffe's mouth.......


And take a real close look at this one below. Do you see anything a bit odd?


Yep, you're right. There's a kid in the background that didn't belong to us. HA HA!


And I have to add one last photo, one of the calming parts of the exhibits...... ahhhhhhhh

Kindergarten Graduation


Abby is officially graduated from kindergarten! All the kids had speaking parts in the program and of course Abby did great. She spoke slow, loud and clear. Sat there busting my buttons on how well she did. It was a beautiful program telling the story of the butterfly that goes from a cocoon to a butterfly and how each child was put in their family by God on purpose because they are each special. Sometimes it's hard to watch the cycle of time, life, and experiences start over again, but then again it is very rewarding. Abby is a beautiful little girl. I had gotten her a music jewelry box (plays What A Friend We Have In Jesus) for graduation and Season noticed it had butterflies on it, which was more appropriate that I'd expected. And a bonus, something she didn't have yet.
But you know, there's always at least one kid on stage that will keep the audience entertained through the whole thing. Yep, that kid showed up last night and stood right next to Abby. Parents may have been horrified, but we just have to giggle, they are little.
Before going home I stopped over to their house quick after the ceremony which had to include a sword fight with Hunter. He won.
Yeah!!! What an evening. Congrats to Abby! Our little Graduate!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

REAL Magnolias

Donna is so sweet to send me pictures of their magnolia trees. Isn't this absolutely gorgeous? Ahhh, makes me dream of past visits to their home and all the spectacular flowers in their yard.

*sigh*

Southern magnolias.......... the real kind.

Friday, May 18, 2007

A Heartfelt Welcome!


HELLO, RUTH!!!!!
Hope you can take a little time around here. Just remember, it's a 'G' rated blog, so keep those comments clean. :) We love you.
Remember this photo? It's pretty precious to me.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

More Easter Beauties

Finally got ahold of a couple photos of my other two beauties, Abby and Hunter. These were taken at Easter this year. The one above is very cute, but the one below tells the true story! Ah, sibling love. :)

When It Rains, It Pours


Just some updates on what's been happening in the family. Season lost a friend to cancer last week, a young mom of 3 who she had gone to high school with. That funeral is this morning and I will watch her kids so she can go to the funeral. Dawn-Marie was the daughter of the senior pastor at Faith Bible Church. Bill's great aunt passed away last week, too, so he will be going back up to Rising City and David City for the day today to be with his family. This woman hung on to life for 99 years, but she wanted to get to 100 before she went home. She just about made it.

Shawna and kids are still living at our house. Dylan has turned 3 and Raegan 5 since they've been with us. We can't imagine what is going through their little heads through all of this, but Bill and I are not going anywhere and we can at least offer a haven for the three of them for now. A great Omaha zoo day is planned for the 22nd, to celebrate both of their birthdays. We are really looking forward to THAT day! Better have my camera charged up good. :)

I would also ask for your prayers for myself, and this is a pretty selfish request, but there have been days recently where I feel depression rearing its ugly head again. It's a road I've traveled once and would rather not go down it again. So if you could pray for mental and emotional strength during this time, it would be greatly appreciated.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Another Year of MOPS


Yep, folks, I signed my commitment for another year of mentoring our MOPS group hosted by my church. Even tho this school year is almost up, planning for the new year has already gotten underway. There will be interviews starting this week for new leaders and steering team members and then there's the kick-off Saturday in June somewhere in Kearney again. I won't be able to go to the international convention in Orlando this year, which is sad, but that's the week of our other timeshare at Lake Okoboji. I guess I'm feeling honored they want me back in a leadership position. Can use all of your prayers for a successful school year 2007-08.

Can You Guess?


OK, who knows where this hanging lamp was last seen? Anyone? Anyone?

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Mother's Day

Here is a special Happy Mother's Day to all you out there who read this. I did not send any cards out this year, even though it's been on my list to do all week. Hope that all you women have a very special day, because YOU are special.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Back to Rainy NE


Back to Nebraska and thunderstorms and torrential rains. The pond is spilling over, but hasn't spilled over the 'garnishment' that Dylan left for us to retrieve. *sigh* It is good to be home in some respects, but it's always hard to leave my favorite place in Iowa. The weather held out pretty good most of the week till Thursday when it got cold and threatened rain. But Bill caught a ton of fish at the beginning of the week, but had to leave the boat parked the last part of the week due to winds and whitecaps on the lake.
One of the hardest things was to be without internet there. I drove around for nearly an hour on Tuesday just to find an internet cafe' and found the best coffee shop in Milford, Iowa that I didn't even know existed. Wonderful coffee and wi-fi. It was heaven on many levels; soothing music, visiting with my sister on the computer, incredible coffee and a chance to upload my accomplishments for the week to my paper site. Have to remember this is a tourist area and because we visit off-season there are limited shops open and some restaurants keep odd hours. I did visit the Three Sons one more time while in Milford, and it will be my last. It's sad, but not only are the clothes still too expensive, I'm becoming too old for many of the styles. So I saved a ton of money this time and just got myself some workout pants at Walmart! Yes, WALMART! Felt good and just my style, a bit on the relaxed side (and fit my ever present grandmotherly figure).
When we got home we unloaded and I took Shawna to our Walmart (the ghetto one) to let her pick out her own thank you gift for watching the dogs all week. That saved a ton of money, too. We had a BLAST walking the aisles and doing gal things together. She has such a sweet spirit and didn't want anything for dog-sitting, but she found a great pair of sandals for herself. One pair of sandals equals one day of professional dog-sitting. Good deal, I think.
Anyway, today is a re-organizing day for me. With all the rain, there can be no yard work for a day or two. The little kids are with their dad today, so the house is quiet and the coffee is on. May be a good day to sit and write, too. Lots in my head and my heart from the week.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

I'm here!


Well, we made it to the cabin. Figured I'd snap a shot of myself before getting intense on scrappin'.
Sheesh, should have picked up my chins before I shot this, but what can ya do when you have to do things by yourself? LOL
I miss you all. Check out the 'trail' page to see what I've been up to if you'd like.