Simply the Best...

Tom and Jennifer came for supper tonight with their adorable girlies. We enjoy having them here so much. After supper while I was sitting in the rocking chair cuddling with sweet little Ella, watching Olivia play at her little table, a feeling of pure happines and peace washed over me in a way I have seldom felt before. It felt like this is exactly what my life was meant to be. Grandpa Andy and I are truly blessed...

Now that I am done being sappy I will add some pictures of the evening.

Grammy and Ella Faith

Getting to know Grandpa Andy

Blurry...but cute of Grandpa and his girls

Olivia took a picture of Mommy

And a picture of Daddy--not a bad photographer for 2 years old :o)

A Visit from Big Sister Olivia

Big Sister Olivia came to play this morning. We had a WONDERFUL time. She played and played with Annie. I think Annie missed her as much as we did! We also worked on making Olivia's very own little picture book about baby sister Ella. Grammy forgot to take a picture of her creation, but it was cute and she was quite proud of her work. We still have pages to fill with more pictures of her other grandma and grandpa and special people like that. We finished off the morning with a trip to Culvers for lunch. She really enjoyed that...especially the chocolate milk. When we were ordering, she asked the cashier: "May I have some ice cream please?" It was ADORABLE. Of course we finished lunch with ice cream :o)

The time absolutely flew by...Grandma and Grandpa TOTALLY enjoyed a special morning with our sweet girl.

Today Was the Best Day!

You will find one of my favorite verses from the Psalms printed on the header of my blog--The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy. That perfectly sums up my feelings today. This morning our family joyously welcomed a perfect new little baby girl...Ella Faith. Mommy, daddy, big sister Olivia Grace and sweet baby Ella are all doing wonderfully.

Daddy and Ella Faith


Love the chubby little cheeks!


She's already stolen Grandpa's heart


Grammy and her newest sweetheart


The whole adorable family


Big sister Olivia checking out Ella's tiny fingers


We are so thankful to God for her safe arrival and cannot wait to get to know our newest little blessing.

Scrap Inspiration

If you could use some scrapping inspiration, be sure to check out the March gallery at Freehand Scraps.
I love this kit called Clothespin full of new stuff from CHA and a special handmade flower made from vintage sewing patterns. Here is one layout I particularly loved by guest designer Jill Sprott

I still have some dress fitting pics from Melissa's wedding (way behind, I know) that I have not done yet...may have to lift this idea :o)

Love this one by Holly Stork too...


All the great ideas makes me want to scrap tonight--not likely, but at least I want to.

Who Gives the Song?

Some words of wisdom from Charles Spurgeon...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Olivia made a Valentine today for her mommy and daddy. She told me over and over that she was making a Valentine's Day for mommy and daddy and they would say, Oh Olivia, what a beautiful Valentine's Day!


She used the Cuttlekids for the first time...she uses my punches every time she is here. I think the scissors and glue were still her favorite.

Notice the mess on the table and floor...little Olivia crafts just like her Grammy :o)

She signed her own name. If you look closely you can see the O l i v --not bad for 2 1/2 years old.

Happy Valentine's Day from Grammy and Olivia!

Helping Grammy with the Dishes!

Today was a babysitting day for this little cutie...

After lunch she wanted to help me with the dishes...




We had a good time...and the curtains only got a little wet ;o)

Hilarious!!!

Christmas 2009 in January 2010

Sisters--January 2010

We finally got to have Christmas with my family this weekend with no snow to mess up our plans! The fact that our celebration was delayed turned out to be such a blessing. For one thing, our sweet daughter Melissa and her hubby Jason got to come home for several days again which meant we got to see alot more of Tom, Jennifer and Olivia. It is always such a good thing to have the whole family together. Also, because of the delay we were able to meet our brand new great niece Lanee. In a surprising turn of events my sister's daughter and her husband were able to adopt a darling little two year old girl last week. It is a long story...totally and obviously a work of God. We had such a fun day together. Olivia and Lanee had a great time playing, especially with my sister's boys. Our house was full of noisy, messy, crazy, fun, fun, fun! Hope we don't have to wait 'till December to do it again!

Happy Birthday to my Sweetheart!

Today is my dear hubby's birthday...this pic was taken on the cruise ship on November 18--our 30th wedding anniversary. Andy was looking at the pic today and said, "How did you manage to smile like that when you were so sick?" My answer...because I was happy :o) Still am! :o) Happy Birthday sweetie--I love you!

Favorite Christmas Photos of my Favorite People!

Everyone has gone home and the house is quiet...very quiet. Just time to post a few pics I love of the people I love most--





I snapped a few pictures of Olivia and Grandpa up to no good in the kitchen and they were LOVING every minute of it...

Something Cheery...

I think my poor neglected blog is desperately in need of something cheery. I am still not able to do too much on the computer as the things moving on the screen seem to make the vertigo significantly worse. But I am willing to suffer a bit more vertigo to post this...

I can't help but smile when I see that sweet little face, even if it is rocking a little :o)

An Interesting Way to Begin the 31st Year...

I am back after an unexpectedly long blog break... My sweet hubby and I recently went on a Western Carribean Cruise to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. We don't travel much, so this was a greatly anticipated event. We planned and prepared and waited and planned and prepared and waited. We flew to Ft. Lauderdale Friday and it was a wonderful start to a great vacation. We boarded our beautiful ship, the Crown Princess on Saturday, November 14. It was amazing! Our stateroom had been upgraded to a suite with a balcony which was also awesome. Unfortunately in my preparation I made one big mistake. I tend to have a little problem with motion sickness, so before we left I talked to my doctor and got a patch to wear to help. Even with the patch I ended up being pretty seasick the whole trip. On the upside, I lost 10 pounds because I couldn't eat much of anything :o)

We did manage to have a good time inspite of my being so sick. Our time in the ports was fun--after a couple of hours on land I usually felt a little better. Evenings when the ship would start to sail again were rough for me, but we still enjoyed some lovely dinners, dancing and shows.

However...the cruise itself is only the beginning of the story. The day we flew home, I took off the last patch and gladly threw it away. Almost exactly 24 hours later I began a nightmare of withdrawal symptoms including hallucinations, racing heart, chest pain, extreme vertigo, panic attacks, extreme pressure and ringing in my ears, blurry vision, and nausea just to name a few. The first 7 days after we got home I was pretty much worthless. I am not 100% yet, but am much, much better. I started looking at pictures tonight to edit and get ready to print. I haven't been able to do that yet and my sweet hubby is getting anxious for it to be done.

I am glad to say my dear husband decided to stick it out with me even after the rocky start to year 31 ;o) In all seriousness, I have been truly blessed by God with 30 WONDERFUL years of marriage to the best man I know. He has been a better husband, father, and friend than I could ever have imagined being blessed to spend my life with. My earnest prayer is for 30 more years and beyond to enjoy life together...oh yeah, and no more cruises!

Living Proof Live - Springfield IL from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Living Proof Live!

We just got back from an AWESOME weekend at Living Proof Live with Beth Moore in Springfield. I didn't get any good pictures, partly because we were pretty high up, and partly because I wasn't thinking about taking pictures. It was a wonderful two days of worship and teaching. Travis Cottrell is my all-time favorite worship leader and he was AMAZING! The worship times were so huge and powerful they were almost overwhelming. I loved Beth's teaching on John the Baptist--tons of awesome insight from such a familiar story. And she looked so cute...I had a case of serious jacket envy :o) I enjoyed two days of super fellowship with my sisters and tons of encouragement. I am beyond exhausted...but feel very blessed to have been a part of something so special.

Happy Halloween

A very tired, but smiley faced pumpkin girl stopped by for a visit and some treats. She got the goodies, but the treat was all ours :o)

Bootiful Girl

Had to put up a pic of the Bootiful little lady who played at our house today. This may be the only Halloween picture we see. Olivia wants nothing to do with her costume. Mommy and daddy have been trying hard to convince her that it is fun to wear a costume, but so far she is standing firm in her decision. When her dear daddy was young he was absolutely terrified of anything in a costume, so maybe it is genetic ;o)

A Musical Interlude for Your Listening Enjoyment

An old favorite from my favorite 2 year old singer: The first thing she says is "My singing it for puppy..."

Story Time with All My Friends

Olivia loves reading books with Grandpa Andy (or anybody that will read) but this particular time was a classic stall for nap time.   I told her we would read two stories then naptime.  She insisted on getting out every friend she could find (one at a time) and lining them all up for story time.  Even "Horsey names Zebra" got to sit on Grandpa's shoulder.

Edited to add: I just noticed the "tell-tale" oreo cookie crumbs around her mouth... ooops!   Maybe chocolate cookies for lunch gave her too much energy to need a nap :o)

Long Week...but Friday's Coming

We didn't get to keep Olivia on Monday, so we are anxiously waiting for Friday.  This week seems to be dragging on FOREVER!!!  Grammy is very exhausted happy when the house has toys strewn all around and a noisy girlie running, and singing and giggling!    I thought I might have to pull up the Snuggle Puppy video or Five Little Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed tonight just to make it through...but decided to post a picture instead.  Better rest up, Friday is just around the corner ;o)