Seth and Noah's Birthdays, June 2011

Seth and Noah celebrate their birthdays a week apart. They had a party at their house with yummy cake and ice cream with the whole family. We were home from the lake two weeks-including the boys birthdays and Survivor Week, so Noah spent Tuesday night with us and we went mini golfing at - you guessed it - Wilderness Falls. I seemed to have picked up a bug and couldn't talk, so decided to fit in a stop at the doctor's office on the way home. Poor Noah had to stop with me; but he was very patient and I was glad to get something to take care of the cough. We topped off Noah's birthday with a stop at Chuckee Cheese for a few arcade games and ice cream. After a short rest at home, we were off for another great night at Survivor.

Seth spent Thursday night with us after Survivor ended and drove to the lake with Les and I - a day before the rest of Seth's family arrived for a week of vacation over July 4th. It was fun to have Seth spend a day with us. We spent time on the wave runners and took a trip to El Capitan's for lunch to celebrate Seth's birthday.

Children's Museum, June 2011

DUPAGE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Carrie and Jay introduced me to the Children's Museum, so I thought it would be a fun place to take the kids for their day out with Grandma. After taking Jay and Grace, they offered me a Grandparents Membership where I could join for $100 which would include 2 adults and 6 children. After doing the math I decided it would be a good deal since we have 11 grandchildren. Since Les probably wouldn't be too interested in accompanying me with 6 grandkids, I thought maybe Amy would benefit as the second adult. I mentioned to the Museum employee that Amy had 7 kids and wondered if it was possible for her to take all seven kids, which she was a little reluctant to allow, so I told Amy she'd have to figure that one out.

So when Jenny and the kids came down in June, and Seth and Noah had birthdays in June, we decided to try out the new membership. Carrie is also a member so she and Jay met us for lunch at the museum. We had a lot of fun and I think even the older boys enjoyed themselves in the midst of all the little kids. At the carpenter's shop each of the boys made a little car with wheels. The wheels were bottlecaps from various items like milk cartons, etc. The boys were imitating Jay in the last picture with their arms crossed. And Jay had picked this up from his mom so they were having fun with it.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, JUNE 19, 2011

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

We were blessed to have both Paul and Amy and John and Carrie and their families with us on Father's Day. Dan and Jenny couldn't be with us as that is Dan's day at church.

Les is the master chef and cooked some great fish which he had caught at the lake! Amy got some great pictures of each of the kids with Grandpa on his special day.

CYC BASEBALL - JUNE 18, 2011

CYC BASEBALL

Saturday was Caleb, Seth and Noah's last day of baseball and our first game to watch this season. It's a family affair with all the Moms and Dads, brothers and sisters and Grandmas and Grandpas coming to watch and Paul coaching Caleb and Seth's team. Each of the kids got a medal for participating and I got some good photo ops. It's a great safe environment for the kids with an added Gospel message for each group.

Nathan's going to be a good little ball player, getting lots of visuals from his brothers and added tips from Grandpa. He and Grandpa play catch together: Nathan's got a great throw!

Lake Fun with John, Carrie and Jay! June 9th - 13th, 2011

MORE FUN AT THE LAKE

with JOHN, CARRIE AND JAY

Jay was so excited about the boat ride when they got here, so off we went in the pontoon - and a beautiful afternoon to go with it. Jay loves the beach at Frankie and Louie's so that was our next excursion: playing in the sand, chasing bubbles, playing in the water, riding on the raft with Mommy, and jumping off the dock into the John's arms - no fear! When we walked up the dock they have a big life size pirate at the end of the dock - Jay looked up and said "Jesus". Out of the mouths of babes.

Feeding the ducks, throwing rocks in the water, fishing and riding the wave runner were other fun water sports.

When Jay gets up in the morning he's ready to go. Les said it's like someone wound him up. He would come up and play with all the cars in the basket, plus his own mater, Lightening McQueen and another one I can't think of the name. He'd say, "Play cars." "Gamma, catch em". "Mama said no crash."

Other fun sayings of Jay's:

I play b ball (baseball) with dada and gamma . I fun. I dit(get) it as he chases after the ball.

When Jay goes to sleep he likes his blue blanket and teddy. He reads the Toy Story book and can fill in the blanks as you read. Woody is a cowboy and Jessie is a cowgirl!

Also Brown Bear, Brown Bear he can almost recite from memory. Then the grand finale is singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus loves me!

Les and John got up early one rainy morning and went out fishing in Les' new boat. They brought back four nice big ones. John said he caught a lot of fish, but they were all too small to keep. We did have fish for dinner one night - yummy!

We celebrated John and Carrie's 10th wedding anniversary with their favorite rice krispie treats and we watched Jay one night while they went out to their favorite BBQ place -Wobbly Boots.

Great times and memories here at the lake with John, Carrie and Jay!

Memorial Day Weekend! Jenny and Dan Drive Home! May 29th, 2011

After a fun week with Jenny and Dan and the kids, they make the 9 hour trek home so

Jenny can be at work at 10AM on Monday. We had a great week with all of you! Have a safe trip home!

A Trip to Frankie and Louie's and The Bridal Cave!

A Trip to Frankie and Louie's and The Bridal Cave!

Even with the cooler temperatures and overcast skies, we tweeked out a little

bit of sunshine and a fun morning with a pontoon ride to Frankie and Louie's where Isaac and Levi had a blast playing in the sand and water and Elise drinking from her straw and experiencing the sand for the first time.

Our friends the Dockerys stopped to see the kids; Chuck at Frankie and Louie's and Paula came by the house later in the afternoon to say hi! They are great friends!

Saturday, May 28th, Jenny and Dan took the boys to the Bridal Cave while Les and I watched Elise. I was glad to see Jenny could take pictures there, so now we can let others know about the Bridal Cave along with pictures.

Fun at the Lake with Jenny and Dan and Family! May 24- May 29, 2011

Our week at the lake with Jenny and Dan started Tuesday morning with their arrival at 3:45 AM. Yes, that is AM! The kids all settled in their beds and awakened at their usual time... "early". We let Dan sleep in since he had driven all night; then Jenny took a nap with Elise in the afternoon. The weather forecast for the week was scattered thunderstorms every day, (bummer), so we got our boat rides and swimming in between the raindrops.

Isaac at 4 years old is in the stage of wanting to do projects. So Isaac helped me spray the cushions on the pontoon boat as I wiped them off. He was so cute as he said, "I won't be tired when you have some projects for me."

Isaac loved riding on the wave runner with his dad and even being in the water when I was sitting on the patio with my jeans and sweatshirt on. Other fun projects that Isaac likes are putting puzzles together, playing with play dough, and "making things with the activity beads".

Levi, our 2 year old grandson, was so cute playing with the farm set and singing "Farmer in the Dell". No, I didn't get a picture of him playing and singing.
He loves doing whatever big brother, Isaac does. I love the way Levi says "Iyak". He doesn't get the "s" in there; that's the best I can do in spelling out how he says it. He also has quite an imagination. We would go for walks and he would hear the deer up on the hill "sniffing" and was concerned about the coyote "Kote" (Levi's pronunciation") which big brother Isaac informed him about. It's so much fun just to take it all in.

Our little 10 month old Elise is a bubbly little girl, even after a short night of sleep or up at all hours of the night she still has a smile for everyone. Elise is crawling everywhere and pulling herself up wherever she can. She's saying words now. Daddy's teaching her to say "da-da" and Mommy "ma-ma". She also says "ba-ba". Grandpa thinks he heard her say "grandpa". I love to watch her pick up cheerios with her little fingers and then every once in awhile she pats her hand down and gets a whole handful. Elise has two teeth on the bottom and 4 teeth trying to come in on top. Maybe that explains some of her sleeplessness!!!

We celebrated Jenny and Dan's anniversary and Jenny's birthday while they were here; the boys helped me decorate their cake while they went out to dinner at The Trail House Restaurant. Before they got to the restaurant their curiosity led them to The Bridal Cave nearby where they inquired about the cave and someone there gave them a free pass for 2 adults and 2 children. So Saturday due to weather conditions they set off for the Bridal Cave while we watched Elise.

Grandpa and Dan went out fishing one cold, rainy day and caught nine fish. They also caught quite a few on the dock with the boys, which Isaac and Levi thorougly enjoyed. What a great week we had with Jenny, Dan and the 3 grandkids!!!

Les Caught a Big Bass!

Les caught this big 2 pound bass which was 18 inches long. Great catch, dear!

The fishing has been great! The weather, not so great! But we have much to be thankful for, with our neighbors to the south in Joplin Missouri getting hit with a devastating tornado killing over a hundred people.

CALEB, SETH AND NOAH, MAY 10, 2011

CALEB, SETH AND NOAH

Grandma got her Mother's Day photo op in with the three boys, Caleb, Seth and Noah.

Grandpa has been helping the boys (Caleb and Seth) with their pitching at baseball practice on Tuesday nights. So Grandpa asked the boys to come over to our house early so he could show them how to mow, before they went to practice. Caleb and Seth are both good workers and got right on the mowing. Seth did the push mower and Caleb the riding mower. Grandpa told Seth it was harder work to push the mower, but he would get done sooner. Seth liked that idea. So when he finished he and Noah came in and played the football game on the computer. It was really a hot day (in the 90's) so we gave them plenty of water to drink. Thanks Caleb, Seth and Noah for helping out.

Have a great season playing baseball.

Sleepover!

Sunday night Jenny and Dan spent the night as Jenny works Monday, and Dan is home with the

kids so doesn't have to go into work first thing in the morning. John is going to Michigan and Carrie had a meeting at work so Jay is spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa also. The cousins had fun together. Jay loved feeling Elise's head and the boys gave each other hugs when they got up. We took Jay home Monday afternoon; Carrie's sister Lena was there to watch Jay until Carrie got home from work. John's in Michigan until Wednesday.

MOTHER'S DAY, MAY 8TH, 2011

MOTHER'S DAY, MAY 8TH, 2011

We had a wonderful Mother's Day and were blessed to have all our

immediate family with us. Paul and Amy were our gracious hosts and had yummy beef sandwiches for everyone with everyone contributing a dish to eat.

Isaac and Levi were all excited about seeing the goats and chickens at Uncle Paul and Aunt Amy's. Jay didn't want to get near the goats. They had fun with the Easter egg hunt. The older boys, Caleb, Seth and (John) hid eggs in the front yard, while Paul , I and the little ones hid

eggs in the back yard for the older boys. Paul and Amy will probably be finding hidden eggs in their yard all summer. We also got to celebrate Grace's birthday with the family and sing Happy Birthday.

Grandma Marian had gotten all of the moms flowers again this year, but I forgot to get pictures til later that night, so I got one of Jenny and I with our baskets. We'll have to get one of Amy and Carrie. I didn't get any pictures of Caleb and Noah either and not a picture of all the grandkids with me. I am really slipping.

Les sang us the Mother's Day song which some of the young mothers aren't familiar with. Here are the words for those of you who don't know them.

MOTHER

M is for the million things she gave me

O means only that she's growing old

T is for the tears she shed to save me

H is for her heart of purest gold

E is for her eyes with love light shining

R means right and right she'll always be.

Put them all together

they spell Mother

A word that means

the world to me.

PS Can anyone tell me why this is leaving all the spaces between lines? When I try to fix it, it won't remove the spaces.