Saturday, March 31, 2012

Aidan, the Baker Man

Aidan loves to help in the kitchen. He especially loves to bake. So does our Paityn. For Christmas I found an apron for Paityn but I couldn't find one that was suitable for a boy. That is, until I found this one at Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, $1!

He was so thrilled to help make a chocolate cake to
surprise his Mommy.
The orange apron matched his orange sweatshirt!
He does like orange =)

Here's another photo.....

There's a frog on the apron.
He likes that too =)

And, by the way,
the cake is delicious!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Aidan and Zoe

We are having nice weather even though it's been cooler this week than some days during several past weeks. It's now closer to normal. I had Aidan and Zoe here on Wednesday. Earlier that day, it was really cool. Aidan wanted to play outside but I told him it was too cold. By the time I was making dinner, I realized it had really warmed up! The sun had come out .....so I asked Aidan if he wanted to play outdoors while dinner was in the oven. I didn't need to ask twice!

He played soccer on the deck -



Later he also kicked the ball around on the lawn too. I sat on my swing and kicked it back to him when it came my way (I was also reading)

He also played on the slide -

But first, he had to pretend it was a train.
I had to press the 'button' to start the train.
He was the conductor...
let the fun begin =)

.
Zoe joined us after her nap.


So much fun...good fresh air....tired boy fell asleep while eating his dinner =)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Happy Birthday (a day late)

Yesterday was another birthday in our family. March is the busiest birthday month in this family! This time it was our son-in-law Scott Smith - Marcy's hubby and father to Paityn and Brinley. Scott is a gem. He has stood by our daughter as she faced the biggest challenge of her life. He could have, and most men would have, put distance between himself and his girlfriend of three months who would spend her life in a wheelchair. But Scott stayed. He has been so supportive of our precious daughter. Words can not express our gratitude.

Scott married our daughter on September 20, 2003

That was a happy day!

The soon to be parents...
Baby shower before Paityn was born.

What an awesome Dad =)

Welcoming Brinley Hope Smith

Scott loves to play games -
Scott would say we don't do that nearly enough!

Scott is FUN!
He wore the Santa snuggie 2010 Christmas Day,
added the hat Christmas 2011....
wonder what he will add for this year??


Happy Birthday (a day late), Scott!






Monday, March 26, 2012

Bridal Shower for our Greta

Whew, what a couple of crazy busy days!

Thursday and Friday I kept Aidan and Zoe, attended a funeral Thursday morning, took Ellen to a bowling activity Friday evening, shopped for a few items for the bridal shower then went back to the bowling ally to wait for Ellen to be finished, drove to our meeting spot where we meet Gina when she comes down with Joe's Mother, waited for her then went back home to a messy house and laundry to be folded. [Sigh]

 Saturday morning we all headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Gina and Joe gave us a gift card for Christmas that was waiting for the right time to be used. We had a great breakfast! Next it was to the mall where Dale and I had an appointment with an eye Doctor. We both need glasses so bad and even though the day was not  the greatest to make the appointment, we decided that we would make it work! Shopped for a shower gift for Gina to give her sister, got our eyes checked, waited for Christy (and Zoe...we were taking her to the shower with us)  to arrive to work (she works at Modern Eyes where we were ordering our glasses), got our measurements, then back home! I had gifts to wrap, bags of stuff to take to the shower and some food to load in the car. We were off to the shower!!

What a great time! Greta received a lot of wonderful gifts to help make her house a home. We had wonderful food and played some fun games. Enjoy some pictures....


These three were responsible for a lot of planning.
Sandy (behind the table) is the mother of Shalane and Julissa.
Julissa is Greta's Maid of Honor.
Sandy and I worked together a long time ago.
Greta and Julissa became friends then
and continued all the way through HS.
Shalane works in the Dietary Dept at the Retirement Community
where I had worked.
They are a wonderful family!

Food was Yummy!

I printed some pics of Greta and Lynn.
Had the silver dress picture holder from a women's event at church...
needed to give it height on the table
so I went looking through the church kitchen.
One bowl wasn't enough, but two worked!
Added the napkins to give some color.

Some of the gifts.
Can you guess what Greta's favorite color is??

Zoe is excited to see Brinley
and Paityn is excited to see Zoe!

Zoe was also thrilled that another baby came to the party!

Dressing a Bride with toilet paper!
Paityn offered to be a Bride...
Kim, Marcy and I dressed her.
She endured the tedious process like a champ!

Paityn's Mommy fixes her head piece.

What have I gotten myself into????

The 4 Brides pose for Greta to choose her favorite dress....
She chose Julissa's!
They were all so creative!

FREEDOM!!!

Opening Gifts!
Ellen collected the paper as Greta opened the gifts.



A purple cutting board!


Lots of helping hands!



Charlene (Greta's future sister-in-law)
enjoys some Brinley time.


We really had a wonderful time. Greta has some great friends, aunts, Grandmas and future in-laws. They blessed her with such lovely gifts. Thank God that the Good's (Lynn's parents) have an extra room at their house to store them. Not sure where they would have gone here!


My sister Jean reminded me of a picture that my sister Mary Ellen took of all my girls.....here it is!


Front row -
Gina, Kim holding Brinley (daughter of Marcy), Marcy holding her daughter, Paityn
Back row -
Me holding Zoe (daughter of DIL Christy who had to work), Greta, Ellen



 

Friday, March 23, 2012

Beautiful!

We are having a beautiful spring day. The last two days were cloudy. Today is started out like this...

Foggy!

But that sun soon got through the fog and chased it away. The trees and spring flowers are blooming. Love it!







Aidan saw these chairs as soon as we
 pulled into the drive yesterday.
He was excited!
I told  him that Pop Pop got them out.
He then asked it he got the little chairs out too.

Yes, he got the little chairs out too!

This is the Life!!


Love this piece of spring!
$19.99 at Target.
Yes, that's me reflected in the window =)


We are enjoying this beautiful day. So much to be done indoors but it's too nice to not enjoy some good old sun and warm breeze! Rain and cool temps tomorrow....yup, enjoying today!


Thursday, March 22, 2012

Saying Goodbye

We said goodbye to a dear Uncle today. Uncle Paul Myers went to be with Jesus early on Sunday morning. He was one of my Mother's brothers. Uncle Paul always had time to connect with us at family reunions. You felt special in his presence.

Today at his service we heard from two sons, a son-in-law and a grandson about how he honored his family. Uncle Paul was a truck driver. He drove till he turned 80. That meant he was gone a lot while his kids and Gands were growing up. Yet, they all said how present he was in their lives. This man was an intentional husband, father and grandfather. We heard over and over how Uncle Paul loved the Lord and how he made that love real to his family. Even though, as one of the boys said, they didn't always follow after the Lord, they all came back. That thrilled their Dad.

Rest in Peace, Uncle Paul.
You will be greatly missed here on earth!
But we know you are in the presence of your Lord.
How could we wish for anything more?

Monday, March 19, 2012

3 Sister Time

There was a time when most of my 6 sisters and I would get together overnight or for an extended week-end once a year or so. We went to Connecticut, Massachusetts and did several overnights right here in Lancaster County. Our sister Janet, she now lives in heaven, was the one to push us to make/take time. We are so glad we did. It seems almost harder now than it was then to keep getting together. Mary Ellen tries really hard to make them happen...so she and I headed to State College on Saturday morning to our sister Jeanie's home for some 3 Sister Time!

But first things first....we picked up our Step Mother, Mary. We planned to take her to Mifflintown, which is on the way to State College, where Mary would have some Sister Time with her sister Nora. Nora met us at a gas station...
Aren't they so sweet?
Nora on left, Mary on right


Mary Ellen and I arrived at Jeanie's home around 11a. We took a brief tour of her home (we were both there before but Jeanie added some new decor since we were there) then had a yummy lunch. Later we did some shopping and looking and did our fair share of laughing.

You can't see their faces
but they were laughing and laughing!
Like Jeanie says,
it doesn't take much to get us going =)

Later we had dinner at Jeanie's home. Her son and his family joined us.

Anthony, Lori and Austin

After dinner Austin wanted to go outside
to play with a favorite toy -
a hula hoop!

Lori shows us how it's done!

Let us in, Let us in...
not by the hair on my chiny chin chin...
hahahaha!
We had not seen this little beauty before -
Dick's storage shed and work shop.
Look at the window on the left.
Can you see someone looking at you?

Yes, someone was looking at you!
Some of Jeanie and Dick's boys found this self portrait
that Jeremy painted in high school.
They put it at the shed window as a joke.
I think it's so funny!!

The man in his castle has visitors!

Sunday morning was early to church. Jeanie and Dick attend a small United Methodist church down the street. Service starts at 8:15. I didn't get any pictures of Fillmoore. It's a beautiful old white church with wonderful stained glass windows and red doors. What a friendly church! So welcoming. Jeanie and Dick sing in the choir and help wherever they can.

 After that service it was to another UM church where Jeanie is the worship leader. Again, what a friendly church! The first service, Fillmoore, was a traditional service. The second, Houserville, was a contemporary service. (both were wonderful)



The worship team practices before the service starts.

This sweet little girl was helping light the candles.
She is one of Jeanie's piano students!

This church has encouraging words through out the
 sanctuary, lounge, entrances, nursery....




This church also has interesting doors....very colorful doors!

Purple

Green

Turquoise


It was a beautiful day. So warm and sunny! For lunch, we headed to the town of Belfonte. This town is built on a hill or side of a mountain. Dick took us for a ride on some streets that had me nearly screaming...they were soooooo steep! It felt like the car would go head over heels down the street.

That doesn't look half as scary as it felt!
Believe me, it was crazy steep!

Lunch at the Waffle Shop
L-R
Jeanie, Mary Ellen, Me

Picture taker and Chauffeur for the day =)
 Mr. Dick Stauffer

After lunch we headed to a pretty park in Belfonte. So many people were enjoying the beautiful day.

Beautiful bridge

Beautiful waterfall

Beautiful Gazebo!

Beautiful ducks take a leisurely swim

We don't look half bad ourselves =)

All too soon it was time to head back home again. We left around 3:15, filled up the car with gas, got on the highway. In no time we were stopped in traffic....an accident up the highway had things at a standstill. For.a.long.time. We called Mary several times to let her know of our progress, or lack there of. After picking her up at the same gas station, we were on our way home.

I came home to a house full of my kids and Grands. What fun again!

Memories added to the memory bank. Thanks, Sis, for the great time. I hope we can do it more often!