Jake is 5 Months Old

Here is a group of pictures of Jake taken this week - he turned 5 months old on Wednesday. Jake spent every morning with us while the others went to church for Avalanche Ranch - VBS, Z and M had breakfast each morning before going off.

Be sure to watch for the surprise ending to the video!

Last Night

This picture was made by Tom the last night Mom and Dad visited in Virginia. There are four generations here, great-grand parents, grandma, daughter and great-grand children! I am sure everyone recognizes us all!

Jake is Baptized

I've been working on the railroad

1. Mix and stir, 2. Your turn, 3. Stir, stir, stir, 4. Glue, more glue

Celebrate

My Birthday was today, (50+++++++++ if you want to know) and my family - DH, Daughter and Son-in law, and my three sweet DGKids helped me celebrate in style. I had calls from my parents and son too!

First the day started with some of this:

I came home after a wonderful class (I do recommend Yoga for anyone looking to increase balance, flexibility and strength) and worked some on this:

Of course there were cards and flowers:

And gifts from the grandchildren, who have pronounced themselves ready to learn how to knit. The orange is grandson's FAVORITE color, and of course, the granddaughter picked pink (though she usually says green when asked for her favorite). Grandson says he wants to make a scarf, and granddaughter a blanket.

The evening was capped off by dinner out and I pronounced myself blessed. It was a perfect day.

Egg hunting, 2007

I just got pictures together for a collage of Easter Egg hunting by the grandkids. Looks like they all had a wonderful time, don't you think? If you click on any one of the pictures you will be taken to Flickr, where you can see larger pictures.

Jacob Michael

Newest Addition to the Family

Here we are welcoming Jacob Michael, first encounter for me, Zack and Maddie. He is a cute little guy, just .3 of a lb short of 6 lbs and is 18 3/4 inches long. He'll be in the step down NICU unit for a few more days until he is eating well enough to go home. Being 4 weeks early he is slow to eat, he'd rather sleep. There are more pictures HERE .

A Family Recipe for Friends - Coconut Macaroons

We are having guests today, Jennifer from Baltimore is coming and bringing her friend Chris. Since this is Christmas, I decided to write to Jen's mother Linda and see if there was something I could make that would surprise Jen, something that was a family favorite. Linda responded immediately with the following recipe. Linda said this is one she made every year, and in fact was from her own teenage years in 4H. I admit, I had never seen a recipe for Macaroons with corn flakes in it, but in spite of how it might sound, they are delicious and easy to make too!


Coconut Flake Macaroons
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup shredded coconut
2 cups corn flakes
Add the salt to the egg whites and beat until foamy. Add sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, and continue beating after each addition. Beat until the egg whites form peaks that tend to bend over a little when you draw out the egg beater. Fold in flour and vanilla. Add the coconut and fold in gently. Add corn flakes and mix in lightly. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto greased cookie sheets. Bake in at 325 degrees about 20 minutes. They should be a delicate brown. Makes about 30 macaroons.

Birthday - Birthday

Today is a double Birthday, two special people in my life celebrate today: Madeline (Maddie), my grand-daughter, and Sally, my sister-in-law. Maddie will be three today, and Sally 29 or something! Sally and her family celebrated earlier this week, as Brian and Christine and Michelle were in Florida visiting. Maddie will have her family party today at two. So Happy Happy Birthday Birthday, to both of you! Here's a look at Maddie, taken about a week ago. I promise a birthday shot or two later!

Family and Friends, thankfulness

Well, it's turkey time again for everyone. But more than that, it's time to be thankful. I'm so thankful for all you, my family and friends. Your love and support over the years has been such a gift. I'm so pleased that my family was able to be together a few weeks ago in Texas. This past year has also connected me to new and old friends. I can't express what it means to know them and to share with them the events of our lives.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow. I'll be thinking of each and everyone of you as we sit down to have our dinner of Thanksgiving.

Visit Home

I've been home in Virginia a week now, but the trip to Texas was and is still my biggest news. As most know, we all went to Texas to surprise my parents on their 61st wedding anniversary, Oct. 27. They were expecting their two grandsons, their wives and daughters for the weekend. Instead, and In addition, they also got Mike, Sally and Anne, and myself. We flew to Houston, rented a car and drove to Lufkin, surprising then on the night before their anniversary. We had a wonderful time, the weather was perfect and the company was excellent! I don't think any of us will forget the time we had. There were lots of firsts, Mike and Anne met Michelle, Brian and Christine's daughter, and I got to meet Christine. We talked, ate, shopped, knitted, it was fun for all!

Happy Birthday Rebecca

The grandkids threw a birthday party the other night .... for their mom. They could hardly wait. The kids were so excited by the upcoming Wednesday birthday they even baked the cake, five days ahead. Tom reported that while shopping at Party Plus he was informed by Zack they didn't need streamers, there were some at home. They were definitly into party mode.

Butterfly Detectives

My creation
Originally uploaded by Jobanna.

The kido's came for the morning while mom went to the grocery store. Though she reported she went down the aisles slowly and got to read labels, the kids had more fun. No butterflies were harmed in this great hunt.

Happy Anniversary

I wish my sister-in-law Sally and brother Mike a wonderful anniversary! I do hope you both are celebrating tonight, and enjoying some of the wonderful cake left from yesterday's birthday celebration! What a busy week! We wish many more years to come for both of you!

Happy Birthday Mike

My brother is a year older and wiser today ..... back when this picture was taken I think I am about 8 or 9, and he is probably 3. That makes this picture almost 50 years old. Hard to believe! Where has the time gone? MIke is retired once now, but still working in a "secret type" job for the AF. Mike has lots of talents, math, science and physics being the formost, also music, and now photography too. I admire him learning and perfecting a new hobby. I'm glad he is so creative, and willing to share his knowledge. I was always jealous he could play the piano so well. Truthfully, he played better at the end of one year of lessons than I did in 4 years! He had a gift!! I wish I could share part of his birthday with him. I'll toast him with a good glass of wine and wish him amy many more! I love you!

Happy Birthday Anne

There once was a child born this date,
Who's age we can all calculate
She traveled far away
but was at home today
So all her talents we can celebrate!

Have a great birthday Anne and enjoy your Chinese dinner!

Happy Father's Day

This is one of my favorite pictures, even if blogger thinks it needs to be sideways! It is a very appropriate picture of what today is all about for I think!

Happy Fathers Day to my dad, son, brother, nephew and son-in law ! Hopefully next week at this time Dad will be here and we can celebrate with a real cake, and maybe some crab cakes! Sounds good to me! I also hope to be able to connect with Russell later today. I hope Skyler is taking him out for a fabulous sushi dinner somewhere! I love all of you, and as far as I am concerned, you are all the best there are! You all are great examples of being a father and in my dad's case, also grand-father and great-grandfather. Enjoy your special day!

Nothing too exciting going on here, though yesterday I did go to a plant sale at the the garden . (Held, gratefully after the ball game in the last post). This was an impromptu sale, not one of the usual huge vendor sales they have twice a year. They were given 1,000 bulbs to sell by a vendor in VA., and they also cleared and cleaned out starts from their own greenhouses. There were so many people there, most just snatching up what they could carry. Almost everything was $1.00, so I could not resist getting some at that price. I planted about half yesterday, and will get out in the back today and plant the rest as soon as I decide where!

Last game of the season

Once again, remember to allow time to load!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well today I am 58! Thinking about years past I got the wild idea to scan these pitures from my babybook. And if you want to see larger pictures, as always click on the image!