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.

ALL IN A DAY'S WEEK!

Connie, Mel and Les as Mel and John get ready to leave for their trip back to Texas.

Our friends, Mel and John were in Chicago over the weekend for their daughter's wedding, and were heading back to Texas, so stopped overnight to visit. It was fun to see them after we had just been together with them on our way back from Texas in February. They had their truck filled with gifts and belongings of their daughter and husband.

We arrived home from Cancun on Thursday, April 28th with a full week ahead of us. Paul and Amy invited us for dinner after church on Sunday, so we could see all of them after our 3 weeks away. It was great to see everyone again. Selah is growing and changing so much. She loves to be talked to and held, which Grandma loves to do.

The older kids enjoyed our Easter egg hunt. Amy and I hid the eggs filed with coins, so that was

an incentive for them to find the eggs. Nathan was sleeping so he missed out on the hunt but we plan to have another one soon. Included in the eggs were scripture verses with a symbol of Easter, so after all the eggs were found, the kids took turns reading scriptures and sharing the Easter story.

Grace's turn to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa!

We had our special outing to the Children's Museum - Grace's choice for her birthday. It is very educational and has something for everyone. Grace wasn't interested in the water way and air tunnel; but really enjoyed the building area, where she made two little cars out of wood and bottle caps. Grace, you are really good with the hammer. Grace also enjoyed the puzzles and lights.

Since Grace has such a nuturing instinct, she really enjoyed the American Baby doll with the bitsy bear and cradle. Grandpa made her special Mickey Mouse pancakes and Grace wanted to make her own Cookie Birthday Cake with decorations. It was a great day with you, Grace.

Up to Lake Villa to see Isaac, Levi and Elise, Jenny and Dan!

Wow! Elise has change alot. She's crawling now, pulling herself up, eating cheerios with her fingers, and lots of smiles for Grandma and Grandpa. We found a couple of great garage sales while we were there, too. Jenny got these fun beads for the boys, so you can make lots of neat shapes and iron them so they permanently stick together. The boys had lots of fun with them.

National Scrapbook Day
My friend Paula, came from Algonquin on Friday to spend the night and attend NSD with me. It was fun to get together and get a head start on our albums and reminice about the good ole days. On Satuirday when Bonnie got here she was wowing about my azalea bush and took some photo ops of me with it for a beautiful page in my album. Maris, Paula, Carrie, Bonnie and Carolyn were all prize winners. We featured our Fabulous Power Palette this year and several did great pages using it.