Our Very Busy Day!

Our sweet granddaughters are here for the day. It is gloriously cool and sunny and beautiful! After a little sweet talking Olivia convinced her grandpa to get her new tire swing hung this morning. They had a fun trip to the hardware store where they sat in all the chairs and had a sucker. Then she and grandpa had some fun swinging.



We also made pink piggie cupcakes to take to the Hog Days Parade tomorrow :o) Olivia was in charge of noses!

She took her job very seriously. She is pretty meticulous when it comes to her crafts...especially food crafts!

A little quality control


Would you like one?

Makin' pig faces :o)

Finished product!

Then Olivia and I headed off to her first day of preschool all by herself.

I am happy to report there were no tears from Olivia or Grammy, although it is hard for me to believe that my baby girlie is big enough to go off to school.

I came home to find Grandpa and Ella enjoying the beautiful day on the porch!

Time to run...little Ella just woke up from a short nap and it is almost time to get our big girlie who is planning to "have a cold, cold popsicle with grandpa" when she gets home!

30 Years Ago Today

30 years ago today our lives changed. Dramatically. For the good. When God sent this precious blonde haired boy to make us a family.


And now he is 30. And I am old. And he has his own beautiful family. And we are so proud of the husband and father he has become. (And we like that they are all dressed in Cubby blue)!

Happy Birthday Tom...we love you!

What to Do on a Summer Day...

On this fine summer day we started our fun by making a necklace. Olivia was so patient and serious about stringing the beads



Modeling the finished product...gotta love the face :o)
Olivia's comment to me the other day: "I get to do a craft everyday I am here...right?" Guess I had better brush up on some kids crafts--quick :o)

Once we had a beautiful necklace to wear, the fun moved out to Grandpa's pond...the fish were hungry!



Feeding the fish made the people hungry--these two LOVE watermelon.

We have had so much fun playing together this summer...I kind of hate to see it end!

Things That Make Me Smile :o)

Flowers always make people better, happier; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the soul. ~Luther Burbank
Not sure what it is about these flowers, but they always make me feel cheery...so I cut some and brought them inside today.


We watched the girls for a while Thursday evening and Olivia asked me to take a picture of her and her beloved Christmas Kitty; she knows grammy all too well :o)

And last, but certainly not least, I don't know how anyone could look at this sweet little face and not smile...

I Am Blessed!

My sweetie showed up a little while ago with a beautiful bouquet of mulit-colored roses...


I think he's a keeper ;o)

Felix Family Reunion

We traveled to Indiana Saturday for my husband's family reunion. We met at Andy's cousin's farm for a day of lots of good food and family fun. There were 40 something members of the family in attendance--which was great! Here is a pic of the whole gang:

This is Andy's parent's generation group shot

There were TONS of pictures taken...and TONS of photographers :o)

Andy was excited about this shot of all his generation cousins--only one was missing and that is pretty remarkable.

This is Andy's mom and her part of the Felix gang

Andy's Uncle Curley and his crew

The Childress bunch

The Russ Felix family

These are Andy's dad's cousins Dale/Mary; Bill/Lorraine

Great Grandma May got sweet little Ella laughing, I'm not sure which one of them enjoyed it more.

Had to include one of Olivia :o)

Some of the group hanging around

Patti had a great room of toys where Olivia and Grandma Terry had some fun out of the sun.

I am not ashamed to own up to being a wimp...I declined the hay ride in the 100 degree heat/humidity, but those who went had a good time and made it home safely...even with Becky at the wheel :o)

It was a very good day of reminiscing for most and getting to know family they didn't know well for some of the youngest generation. We continue to feel blessed to be part of a large extended family who love each other well.

A Spur of the Moment Summer Trip!

A couple of days ago I was showing my sweet hubby a friend's pictures from their recent trip to Starved Rock State Park, and he decided we needed to go ourselves...so we did! We had a great day, the sky was a little overcast which was a blessing. This spectacular park is only about an hour from our house but unfortunately we hadn't taken the time to visit for many, many years.


We hiked for miles, way up and way down...

This first pic is of Starved Rock taken from Lover's Leap

The next taken from Lover's Leap of Starved Rock. It looks like a LOOOONNNNGGG way between the two and it is. I decided I needed picture proof that I had made it to the top of each :o)

Apparently one of us was surprised the other made it all the way up the million stairs...

While the peaks had amazing "birds-eye" views of the river and the woods, the canyons were stunning as well.


We enjoyed a lovely brunch at the Starved Rock Inn and relaxed for a bit enjoying the pretty views. After lunch we walked and climbed until we couldn't go a step further.

We saw one particular waterfall from the bottom, from the middle and then from the origin of the fall...it was cool to see it from all angles.


The end of the day found us sweaty, tired, mosquito biten, muscles aching, but relaxed and happy...thinking perhaps we should be spontaneous more often!