A Beautiful, Relaxing Christmas Day With Loved Ones!

We had one of the best Christmas Days ever, this year. It was very low-key and relaxing. The present were kept to a minimum and many were handmade with love. I finally finished Jon's quilt. He loves it. Two years in the making, but well worth it when I saw him curled up on the floor wrapped up in his new quilt.

Natalie had a blast opening presents. Her favorite, by far, was here Blue Bouncy Ball! That's all she asked for. She could not believe it when she saw it at Grandma's house. Once she got the hang of it, she did not get off until bed time. She even ate her snack on it!

Jon cooked all the Holiday meals. They were unbelievable! We could not have eaten better if Emeril himself came and cooked for us.

HO-HO-HO! Computer Meltdown

I am using my cell to try and post that our computer bit the big one and getting here is very, very hard. We had a Wonderful Christmas & I pray that you did, too. I will try to post more ASAP.

A Homestyle Christmas!

I realized that I wanted Natalie to grow up knowing what Christmas is truly about. It's not about how many presents you get or if you have all the 'IN' toys. It's not about candy and shiny lights. It's about the 1st Christmas. The Birth of Baby Jesus! It's about LOVE and KINDNESS and JOY!

So this Christmas we are going back in time, to a day when people knew what Christmas was truly about. We are giving less store-bought things and presenting our loved ones with things made of ourselves. With each stitch or cut or polish, we think about the person that will be receiving our gift. We think about how much we love them and what they mean to us. We appreciate them in our lives.

Christmas will not be without fun. We are just doing the free things offered. A visit to a Christmas tree farm, full of decorations and cheer. A beautiful midnight Mass. Holiday dishes that we grew up with and some new ones, too. Family visits, full of love and fond memories.

My Christmas wish for you is a season full of childlike wonder and joy. We are all Blessed, and now is the time to celebrate that Blessing!

Some Lost Photos Found!

Through the years of divorces and movings, much of my past was lost. Many photos of my childhood just disappeared, leaving me with a sadness. I have felt like a 'man without a country' so to speak. All memories of my life before Jon slowly dissolving. But a few days ago, Jon was cleaning in the basement and found some old pictures. These were included in them.

Me on January 27, 1971 at my sister's birthday party

This was taken of me at Easter, 1958


December 7, 1958

And most importantly, my Dad's graduation picture

School Cutie!

I had to post Natlie's 1st school picture. We just love it! School is going great. Her teachers say that she has so much energy ~ she's always laughing and singing and dancing.

She is our Joy!

Update from the front

Well, things are starting to get back to normal, finally. Jon's grandfather has been ill for quite a while and we have been driving back and forth(with Jon's mom)from Lansing to Bangor, MI - about 2 1/2 hours one way - almost every weekend for a year. He took a turn for the worse about a month ago and since then we have been going a couple times a week. On the 29th, we were told that it could be hours, so Jon and his mom went to stay. Grandpa passed away early in the morning of the 31st. It's been a rough few days.

It's so hard to explain things to Natalie, because she is still too young to really get it. But she does know that her Poppy is gone. We told her that he was very sick (which she knew) and that he went to live with Jesus (and Elvis, one of our cats) in Heaven. She seemed to accept this. But at the funeral, she walked in and saw the coffin up close and personal. She asked who the man was and Jon's aunt told her that it was just a man. She turned around and walked out, never discussing it again. Infortunately, she had sleep issues, behavior issues and potty training issues. She had sleepwalking/night terrors for a couple of nights. Thankfully, she did sleep all night last night. We will see what tonight brings. The other issues are getting back to normal, as well. Ok, maybe not the behavior issues, but I think some of them are just normal 3 year old sassymouth.

Trick or Treat-ing is FUN!!!!!!

We're gonna see a parade! What's a parade?


Doggies pant and so do I!


Will we get candy?


Doin' the "I've got a leaf" Dance


OK, I'm waiting.....where's the parade?


I'm still waiting...........


Sheesh! That was a parade? Where's the candy?


Things did get better later in the evening. We went Trick or Treating and Natalie got loads of candy and other goodies. Halloween was saved after all!

Miss Doggie's Halloween

(Don't forget to turn off the background music, before opening the scrapbook)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Self Portrait

Into the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we joined our local FCC group and went to Uncle John's Cider Mill, followed by dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant.

It was a balmy 80 degrees with puffy clouds in the gorgeous blue sky. A perfect day!

Natalie had a blast playing in the huge sand area and riding bikes on the little race track.

Look out Jeff Gordon, this girl has moves!

Then we hiked over to the pumpkin patch.

On the way, we stopped and Natalie rode 'the train'. Can you see the embarrassment in her eyes as she tries to pretend that she is not with these two square, old people.

"Gosh Dad! Pa-lease! You're doing it again."

She was all smiles when we finally got to the pumpkins. Natalie picked out her very own one. Then helped Daddy carry it to be weighed.But the nerdy parents struck again when they wanted her to pose for one more picture.

Sheesh!

I will leave you with two more pics............ Which one is having more fun?

Natalie?

Or Daddy?

I Did It! I Did It! Natalie-rella vacuums!

Until today, Natalie has been terrified of the vacuum cleaner. No matter what I did to convince her, she held firm with the knowledge that the big noisy thing was going to eat her. Today, I got out the vacuum and she watched with trepidation. Then she asked if she could try it. Woo-Hoo!!!!! She loves it. She says that the suction tickles her toes. I now have a little house elf to help with the chores!!!!!!!

Visiting Natalie's Grandpa ~

Jon took Natalie over to visit his dad. Tayden( Natalie's cousin) was there and she had a great time playing with him. She also got to play with her other two boy cousins, as well.

Here as a few pics of the fun ~

Crazy Daze

Sorry that I haven't posted lately but things are, as usual, crazy. We have had some bad news about Jon's grandfather. He had to be rushed to the hospital and they discovered that his heart is dead on one side. They stabilized him and sent him home. We are visiting as often as possible, Jon is staying the weekend. It's day-by-day right now. So we enjoy all the time that he is with us. I am worried because Natalie so loves her "Poppy".

School is progressing wonderfully. Natalie is a little charmer. Her teacher said to me the other day, "She sure loves to sing and dance! That girl NEVER sits still". HA-HA-HA! Tell us something that we don't know! Our private joke is that when China orphanage officials checked the ACTIVE box on her referral document, they were laughing! She has been active since day one.

Here are some pics from the playground.

Natalie is having fun - notice the tongue!

Daddy's little beauty!

Never one to do things the easy way!

I rest my case! I just let her go and stand ready to run and catch her!

More Antics

Natalie is painting while Zack helps himself to a drink from her paint water.

At school today, I became one of 'those' mothers. I arrived a little early to pick her up and Natalie's class had just went outside to play. So.....I crept behind a bush and watched while she was playing. Sneaky, sneaky. Then, when they went back into the classroom, I waited a couple of minutes for them to get settled and continued with my sneaking. I peeked in the classroom window to find my daughter with her arms around a little BOY! It was story time, where they all sit on the floor and there she was all snuggling with Victor! What a little flirt!!!!! God help us in a few years!!!!!

Homework and Play

Here is Natalie's 1st homework. She had to draw a picture of herself. Look at the big mouth! She's got that right!

Then, Natalie and Daddy went outside and played on her new bike. Obviously it is for when she is a little bigger. Daddy's going to restore it and have Natalie pick the color she wants for it.


I don't know who is having more fun!!!!!!! Maybe me ~ watching those two had me in stitches.

Our 1st Day of School!

It came as a surprise to me, but Natalie started Pre-School today. I had an appointment this morning to check out the preschool at our new church. We loved it. The people there are so nice and friendly. When we went to see the classroom, Natalie was a little apprehensive, but as soon as she saw Play-doh, she was hooked! Off she ran without looking back. So I went and filled out all the tons of paperwork. When I was done, I was asked if I wanted to leave her for the rest of the class time. And that is how her First Day of school came to be.

I was able to get an action shot while I peeked in the window. Here they are having snacktime.

At the end of the class, when Natalie saw me, she ran out of the room yelling "That's my MaMa! She's come for me!" Then she wrapped her arms around my legs and said "I love you, Mama". Little does she know, but I will always be there for her, even if it is from out in the hall watching.

Day of Destruction!

Sorry I haven't posted much yet, but as you will see in this post, we(Jon) have been very, very busy.

Let's start with..........we have known since we bought the house that we needed a new drainfield and septic system. So last week we had them replaced. Sounds simple, you just hire a guy, he comes, digs a little and a few hours later, voila, a new drain and tank! HA-HA-HA!!!!! Never in the deal was mentioned "Total Yard Destruction!"

Here is BEFORE.......

And AFTER........
So, the aftermath leaves Jon with having to re-do the entire back yard. He has to re-grade the yard, since rain runs toward the house now. Then topsoil, grass seed, fertilizer, not to mention all the rocks that must be picked up first. The rush is that the lawn has to be in within the next few weeks or we will have a huge mucky mess since the dirt is mostly clay. Oh, and we are having one of the big trees taken down since it's roots are so invasive that they like to find underground pipes and plug them!

And just for fun.......this project started the same day that he started his fall semester at school!

Welcome to our New Blog!

Since things have not worked out as planned, I thought that it was time for a fresh start. So I am going to continue posting about our wonderful family here. Thank you for following along and enjoy the ride.