I Witnessed a Miracle

Sometimes in this life you get to stand on the sideline and actually witness a miracle.

Witnessing the birth of your grandchild, via c-section, is one of those times.

I'm just home from two weeks in Severance, Colorado, where my daughter Mandy and her husband Aaron and my brand new grandson Jayden live. I spent two weeks with them and it was a blessing to be with them during this amazingly special time.

I'm sharing some of the most special moments with you.


Mandy on October 2nd, one day before giving birth.



Aaron and I are about to enter the operating room - we were excited (and NERVOUS)


There are no words to explain how I felt, showing Mandy her baby for the first time. No words.


Jayden Gregory Vogt
8 lbs 14 oz - 21 inches long


A happy new family.


With all my heart, I prayed for this. My daughter, who struggled for years with infertility, holding her precious newborn.


And this Nana has yet another grandchild to love.

We're Having a Baby!

It's been a wild ride. Ups. Downs. Some very sad downs. And the past three months have been crazy, trying to get all the logistics in place so that I'd be there for this baby's birth.

Until just a few days ago it was all a guessing game. Mandy and I have been on the phone almost daily, for weeks, discussing the results of her latest exam (she's had way more exams than most expectant moms do)and worrying about the difficulty of scheduling an Amtrak trip (severe flooding around Omaha affected train schedules for weeks upon weeks), and trying to figure out how to make sure I was there for this long awaited grandchild's birth. It was a worry because the Amtrak trip is eight hours long, leaves Grand Junction only once a day and all that time could make a world of difference as to whether I'd be there for the birth or not.

To miss this would break my heart. My daughter has struggled so to have a baby, it's just not thinkable that I would not be there.

I'll be there. :)

Because nothing about this has been easy, of course Mandy has full blown placenta previa. It was iffy for a few months and her doctors thought she might be able to scoot by, go into labor and deliver her baby.

Well, of course not.

And so...Jayden will be delivered via c-section on Monday, October 3rd at exactly 5 o'clock in the afternoon. And not only will I be there, I'll actually be in the operating room with them. :)

The name is for sure. The day and time are for sure. And my presence is for sure. :)

I love it that the hospital where Mandy's having her baby strongly believes she should have two support people with her during the delivery. When Jayden is born, and taken to the neonatal unit, Aaron will go with him. I'll stay with Mandy.

Something that makes me smile is that Krissy, who had both her babies (my sweet Cameron and Avery) via c-section, told me if she'd known how boring it would be to lay in recovery all by herself for a few hours, totally alone and totally numb from the waist down, she'd have brought a good book with her. LOL

I'll be honest with you. I'm nervous. I've been in operating rooms but you know what? I was asleep. I'm a bit nervous about this but I figure if Mandy can do what she has to do, I can stay on my feet and support her.

Mostly, I'm so excited about being there and witnessing the miracle, I almost can't stand it.

The past few weeks have been amazing. I went to Denver for my brother's wedding and two weeks later I went back for the baby shower Krissy gave her sister. I got to visit with family I hadn't seen in two years. It was a fantastic weekend.

And now I'm going back. This time I'm going for three weeks. In the thirty-three years we've been married, I've never been away from Rob that long and Cameron and Avery are going to have a hard time understanding why Nana is gone so long. I've never been away from them for more than two days. Seriously. They're just too little to understand and I'm going to miss them terribly.

But a miracle is going to happen next Monday afternoon and I'm blessed enough that I'll get to witness it.

Hello

Our new baby is due in five weeks. :) Mandy's pregnancy has gone about as perfectly as any pregnancy could possibly go and she's absolutely glowing - maybe the most beautiful pregnant person I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure it's because she struggled so and suffered a loss and now it's finally happening. She's going to be a mommy in less than six weeks.

How I wish I could post new photos, but my amazing, wonderful, VERY EXPENSIVE digital camera's battery finally died and when I went to the store to buy a new battery I was told my amazing, wonderful, VERY EXPENSIVE camera is now a dinosaur. The sales person tried to be kind but she suggested that if I'm really lucky, I might find a new battery on eBay. LOL

So now I'm working with a quickly purchased $50 camera because I had a brother's wedding to go to and I needed a camera quick! Ugh! Ugh, ugh, ugh!

So what's new with our family? So many things.

I promise you as soon as I figure out this el cheapo camera, I'll try to upload some photos. Meantime, I'm buying lottery tickets in hopes of being able to buy another camera that's actually worth messing with.

Cameron is now in first grade. Seriously, he's six years old and as cute as he can possibly be. He's still a little guy - I don't think Cameron's ever going to be a big guy, but if attitude makes up for that, he's a really, really big guy. He's a sweetheart. Still adores his Nana and his parents are doing a truly great job of raising a fine young man.

He's very excited to be a first grader. I mean, "Nana! It's all day! I eat lunch there and everything now and even if Nathan and I have to be in separate classes, I still see him at recess!"

(Ahem. Apparently there were some issues with those two staying on task when they were in kindergarten together last year. I believe it was something like - SEPARATE THOSE TWO NEXT YEAR! )

And I'm really happy to report that Grand Junction finally got a pediatric endocrinologist. And she's helping all of us get a better grip on Cam's diabetes. He hasn't had a crisis in a year now and believe me, that's a huge, huge step forward. It means all of us who are involved in his 24-hour-a-day care are doing a better job.

Now about Little Miss Avery. Oh.My.Word. She's three. What a pistol! She was the quietest, easiest baby in the world. And then one day she exploded. She became Avery. You know, when her mom had me pulling my hair out by the roots, all I could think was, "How I hope you get a daughter just like you someday!"

And she did. LOL

She's beautiful. She's feisty. And she's adorable. And...she has attitude. She makes me proud. I absolutely adore her and her quirky way of talking and her don't-mess-with-me take on everything. Trust me when I say, Cameron's days of being the boss are history.

I'm assuming you wanted to hear all about my perfect grandchildren. Of course you did! LOL

I still have my Fridays with them. Nowadays, I call it freaky friday. It's funny how life turns around. For a couple of years, it was just me and Cameron on Friday. Then for a year it was all three of us on Friday. Now that Cameron's in school all day, it's just me and Avery on Friday. Actually, it's perfect because I have an amazing relationship with both of them. Somehow, we've managed to have such special time, one on one, that they think Nana hangs the moon.

And now the miracle we prayed for, for three years, is upon us. Mandy and Aaron's baby is due in five weeks. A boy. Jayden. Jayden Gregory (Aaron's father was Gregory.)

I've gotten a huge kick out of all the names they've told me were for sure going to be the name. But I like the one I'm almost, pretty sure, maybe, possibly is the one they'll go with.

So last weekend a momentous thing happened in our family. My baby brother got married. He's 53. There you go. Proof positive...you're simply never too old to find "the one." Our family couldn't possibly be happier to welcome Stacey. They've been together for several years and through a lot of ups and downs, and we're all so happy for them. Truly, this marriage was made in heaven - I haven't felt this sure that a couple is "right" in a long time.

It was the perfect reason to have a family reunion. The last time my entire immediate family (meaning my parents and my siblings) got together was at my brother Jerry's funeral. That was seven years ago. That's just way too long for a family to not be all together in one place. We're all so spread out. Bev lives in Texas. My dad lives in Kansas. My mom and three brothers live in eastern Colorado. I live in western Colorado. But we made it happen.

They got together last summer for my dad's 85th birthday but I wasn't able to go. This time, I made sure I was able to go. As you know, I'm that freak person who is suddenly terrified of driving, after driving in Denver traffic for 30 years, so I took an Amtrak train from Grand Junction to Denver last weekend. It's an arduous thing, when flooding in Omaha has Amtrak's tracks under 3 feet of water, meaning up to 12 hour delays, to take a trip on their train. But I got there.

I could go on and on about how exhausting it was...the constant worry about getting to the train station by their deadline only to sit for six hours waiting on their train...the lack of sleep because of such late arrivals...but I won't because it was truly a wonderful wonderful thing to be with my family again.

In two weeks Krissy and I will pack Cameron and Avery in the car and make a really quick trip to where Mandy and Aaron live because Krissy is giving her sister a baby shower and it needs to be where Mandy lives because, you know, that's where all her friends are. LOL We're leaving here on Friday and coming home on Sunday. And most of that time will be spent driving. Like I said, a quick trip.

And three weeks after that, I'll be back on Amtrak to go there and be in the birthing room with her. That's all up in the air. As we all know, two weeks early or two weeks late is considered "on time" when babies are born. I have no idea how to book my trip. If I wait for them to call me, it's an eight hour train trip on a good day and a lot longer if Amtrak's schedule is still not right. Ugh! I can't spend a whole month out there, but I surely don't want to go too early and have to leave before Jayden decides to make his grand entry.

What to do, what to do. Oh! I know. I'll do what I always do. Flow.

Yes. I will just flow.

xoxoxo

Da dump...da dump...da dump...

So I got a phone call from Mandy last night. I have to tell you, for the past few months, when I've seen her number in my caller ID, I've gotten a bit nervous.

Mandy is just a few days away from being halfway through this pregnancy. But understandably, she's been a bit of a nervous pregnant person and I suppose some of it has rubbed off on me, in spite of all my "I've done this and you need to relax" wisdom. :)

So I answer the phone and I hear, "da dump, da dump, da dump." Just as I'm thinking there's something wrong with the connection Mandy comes on and says, "Did you hear that Mom?!!!"

Let me tell you how blessed I am that Aaron is my son-in-law. Um...Aaron is Mandy's husband but more importantly, he's the father of my next grandbaby. LOL

After such a struggle to even get, much less STAY, pregnant, Mandy was very comforted by the ultrasounds her specialist did every week for the first three months. That's every single week, folks. And each time, she got to hear the baby's heartbeat.

Once she was referred to her regular ob/gyn because she was no longer high-risk, the weekly ultrasounds stopped. That means the weekly hearing of the baby's heartbeat stopped.

Aaron knew that this upset her. After all, she still couldn't feel the baby move.

I get it. I really do. But Aaron REALLY got it!

So he went on line and ordered a Doppler for Mandy. See? How lucky am I to have him for a son-in-law?

But....when he ordered it, he failed to notice that it would ship from....are you ready?....CHINA.

OK, guess how long it takes to get a shipment of anything from China.

I almost fell out of my chair laughing when she told me, weeks and weeks ago, that Aaron was giving her a Doppler but heaven only knew when it would arrive. LOL

It arrived yesterday.

And last night I picked up my phone and I heard, "da dump, da dump, da dump."

She now has a simple instrument that she can put on her tummy and hear her baby's heartbeat.

Mandy turned thirty on Sunday. That means it's been thirty years since I had my last baby. Let me tell you, times have changed. We had an educated guess that the baby would be a girl but only because rumor had it a faster heartbeat usually meant a girl. There was absolutely no data that I knew of to back this up, but I counted on it being true because I wanted another baby girl. :)

We certainly did not know, until the doctor held the baby up and said, "Yep. It's a girl!"

I have to tell you, I love technology. I often wonder if perhaps we've become too dependent on technology. Do little kids still go outside at dusk and chase fireflies? Do they actually walk away from their computers or Wii's or Nintendo DS'es long enough to go outside and breathe and do the things I did when I was little?

Is there even such a thing as a mom-to-be who doesn't know if she should decorate in pink or blue?

Sometimes I wish we could return to the days when things were simpler. But just this one time, I'm extremely thankful for technology.

Da dump...da dump...da dump....music to this Nana's ears.

Secret revealed.....

I doubt very seriously this will surprise many of you. But this is a big, big deal, so I get to "announce" it. :)

After a three year struggle with infertility, a lot of difficult moments and one heartbreaking loss, Mandy and Aaron are going to have a baby. And here's the part I love sharing - she is safely past the first trimester and no longer considered high risk.

We're going to have a new baby in this family!

It was devastating when, several months ago, Mandy got pregnant and all of us made the big announcement as soon as we knew - and she lost the baby the very night of the day we announced it. So this time Mandy and Aaron let the immediate family and their closest friends in on the secret but only with the understanding that no one was to say a word publicly until the beginning of the second trimester.

Last Monday Mandy's fertility specialist told her goodbye and referred her back to her regular ob/gyn. I am beyond impressed with all he did for them - they were only one more month of trying away from the next and last step - in vitro.

She's had ultrasounds every two weeks for the past three months to be absolutely certain everything was exactly as it should be. So we now know the baby is perfect, is extremely active and is actually a little bigger than normal for this stage. And, as you can clearly see, he/she is as cute as can be. Well, of course - this is, after all, MY new grandbaby and that's the only kind of grandbabies I have. LOL

We won't know the baby's sex until mid June. Baby Vogt is due on October 8th. If it's a boy, Tyler is a real possibility. If it's a girl, Molly is very possible. (It's been Mandy's favorite name since her dad and I gave her her American Girl doll for Christmas when she was a little girl.) Another possibility is Carly Kristina. I really love that one.

Mandy is coming to visit while she's on spring break - she'll arrive this Saturday afternoon. I can't tell you how much I look forward to hugging my daughter, I'm so happy for her.

Hooray for happy news and thank you, God, for Your timing and for blessing this family yet again.

A Kidney for Kelli

Kelli needs a kidney. It's as simple as that. Without it she will die. Her time is running short but you can help. Today's the day you can help make a lifesaving kidney a reality for Kelli Bach. Please open your heart and help her if you can.

Clicking on the above image will take you to her fund raiser site. You can read the story of her journey and her struggle there.

I've known Kelli for five years. I think almost all of us know her. Her courage and determination are an inspiration. Go. Read her story. And please, help if you can.


http://www.giveforward.com/AKidneyForKelli


Update: The goal is $20,000 in trust to help Kelli and John pay her donor's expenses, which are not covered by Kelli's insurance. As of five minutes ago, the donations had reached $8,744. Woohoo!

The best cookies ever....

You're not going to believe how easy these are. And they're wonderful.

Krissy's Cake Cookies

2 boxes yellow cake mix (generic works great)
2 sticks butter (not margarine)
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs
1 12-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt butter in microwave. Mix butter and cake mix. Beat in the water and eggs. Add chocolate chips.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

So my thoughts? Krissy has become very active in Cameron's school (PTO). Last movie night, she baked these cookies and she and Cameron took some to Papa, who works at Cameron's school at night.

Rob (Rob to me, Papa to Cameron :) came home and told me, "Get Krissy's recipe for those cookies - they're great!"

They're very rich and very, very good.

I'd show you the photo that's currently stuck in my camera, but my camera battery finally (after 7 years) died, and I can't download photos until I replace it.

But trust me, these are good, good cookies. Simple. 5 ingredients. I will warn you, the dough is very stiff to work with. But don't worry about that too much. Just plop spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet and they'll be fine.

You know, it occurs to me....this recipe calls for simple yellow cake mix and chocolate chips. But what if you were to try a different cake mix? Like, say, carrot cake? And maybe raisins instead of chocolate chips?

I think the possibilities are endless.

Enjoy!

I have a secret...

...and it changes everything.

I'm sworn to absolute secrecy for two more weeks. But I can give you some clues.

My whole life has revolved around this one thing for more than three years.

It is wonderful.

And I cannot tell you what it is. For a couple of more weeks.

In a couple of more weeks, I'll share an amazing video with you. In two more weeks, I have the official go ahead to share my secret with you. :)

Meantime, the break I've taken from blogging has rejuvinated me. I'm actually working on cross stitch projects! I haven't done crafts for almost two years, I got so completely burned out with the little shop I did for a while.

Suddenly I'm making Barbie doll clothes for a certain little miss someone, and yesterday I brought out a quilt I pieced twelve years ago. Time to get it done now, and it's hand quilted. But only because I started it that way - I simply must get my sister Bev to tell me everything she knows about machine quilting.

Life is good. We are all well. My favorite little boy (Cameron) is five. More amazing is that my favorite little girl (Avery) just turned three and boy, she's a pistol! She's her mommy personified and that's because I begged God to someday give Krissy a daughter just like herself. LOL (paybacks) She's completely potty trained and will thank you very much to tell her how cute her Tinkerbell big girl panties are. LOL

Oh my word, my little grandchildren are growing by leaps and bounds.

I sometimes feel a bit guilty that I'm actually noticing every single thing about how they're growing. I know I went through all of this with Krissy and Mandy, but I worked full time. They were both involved in so many things (softball, volleyall, gymnastics, girl scouts, cheerleading, and on and on and on....) and I had a husband who worked nights and I was so crazy busy, I honestly don't remember the little details of raising my own two precious daughters.

But Krissy's kids? I'm aware of every last single detail, from the way Cameron is walking around my house counting to five hundred, to the way Avery is letting me know she's big and doesn't need my help in the bathroom.

Thank you for that last one, God. You knew. I was about over the whole potty training thing anyway. LOL

To all of you who have emailed me behind the scenes, telling you me miss me, and hope that I'm OK...I'm OK. I just completely burned myself out and hit a wall. All I could think was, "What can I possibly say that anyone wants to hear?"

Remember that horrendous spring cleaning I did two years ago? I cleaned this house so ruthlessly that I totally skipped spring cleaning last spring. So this spring I'm paying for that. Big time. Oh my word, the cleaning! And it's like having babies...women my age just shouldn't do it. LOL

But spring cleaning I am. Me and Advil.

I'll be letting you in on that secret very soon. :)

Sunday Meanderings....

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

~~ Luke 2:8-14 ~~

MERRY CHRISTMAS

You know when you go from doing more than 300 posts in a year to about 50, you've slowed down. :)

Hello. How are you?

Everyone in Chelseaville is fine. We've actually had a fairly uneventful year. No real serious emergencies with our diabetics. OK, Andy was hospitalized for a few days with extremely low blood glucose (he was sick with stomach flu and that wreaks havoc on a diabetic) and I've made more runs up to Cameron's school to give him insulin than I can begin to count, but that's life with Type I diabetics in your family and it's actually become rote for us.

Not really, but almost.

And get this. As if my daughter (Krissy) didn't already have her hands full with Andy and Cameron having it, they found out on Thursday that their dog (Cody - a yellow lab) has canine diabetes. Oh my word, if it were funny, I'd type LOL. But it's not. So I won't.

Kris says she has decided to just line 'em up every morning and dose out the insulin shots. LOL (sorry - not funny)

Before we move on to my fascinating photos, I have to mention this. And I have to be very delicate.

You know that my younger daughter Mandy and her hubby Aaron are struggling with infertility and suffered a miscarriage about four months ago. They finally found a real fertility specialist and after a couple of months of this and that (if you've been there you know what I mean), Mandy had exploratory surgery last Thursday. She's recovering from that and because she's a school teacher, she has the next two weeks off so the timing is wonderful for her.

The worst news we could have gotten is that there's nothing wrong. Undiagnosed infertility. Guess what? There was something wrong. And the surgeon fixed it. And he thinks she's free and clear now to get pregnant.

And if you have a moment, a little prayer in that direction would be more appreciated than I can ever tell you. :)

We are beyond excited. You were there when they got married so you know they've been married 3+ years. Mandy will be 30 in May. It's time to get this little family going!

OK, let me share some photos with you.

This is one of my favorite things to see in December. That's Rob hanging the icicle lights on our house. We also put four deer on our lawn. Lighted deer of course. It's all very precious. LOL

Last year we got a heavy snow in mid November and it didn't melt for four months and Rob never got to prune the huge flower bushes in front of our front window and therefore couldn't get a ladder up to the house and we had no lights and I was heartbroken because our house looked dark and a little bereft without house lights.

I love Christmas and the perfect Christmas is snow on the ground that doesn't trap you in your house and lights on the house and deer on the lawn. I've never even considered any other lawn decorations. I like my four sweet little deer.

One died this year. As did half the house lights. When they sit in their boxes for two years, you don't know what you're going to get when you bring them out again. So we bought more icicle lights but bet me I'm buying a deer until AFTER Christmas when I can get him for maybe 70% off. Right? Right.

Does anything in the world look worse than the very beginnings of assembling an artificial Christmas tree? I ask you - look at that!

I'm not allowed to have a real Christmas tree. Rob was a volunteer fireman for too many years - went to way too many Christmas tree fires, including one very sad fatality - and he absolutely refuses to have a real tree in our home. Maybe I'm lucky. I haven't bought one in 33 years now, but I hear they're quite expensive.

I love a real tree and I miss the smell, but I know for sure I never have to worry about a fire in this house because the dog drank all the water out of the tree watering thingie and the lights set it on fire. Or whatever.

A little part of me thinks it would be perfectly fine to have a real tree in this house. But ask me if I like to argue with Rob.

So Rob puts the lights on our very fireproof non-spruce-tree-smelling tree.....

....he puts 1,000 twinkle lights on the tree. This year I wanted white lights. Next year I may go with the colored lights. Who knows. It depends on my mood, and actually I'd rather have the colored lights this year but I'm not brave enough to tell that man, after all that work, "Would you please take all those lights off and put these colored lights on instead?" Oh no, I'm not that brave.

In spite of the fact that he's watching football on TV while he's doing it, putting the lights on the tree ranks right up there with poop-scooping the backyard for Rob.

White light will work fine this year. LOL

But look! If you're a lousy photographer like I am, the lights look like they're colored! I really should get the manual to my digital out someday and look at it. I mean, I've only had this camera for seven years now.

Can you even believe this? Wouldn't you just know these are my grandchildren? SOCK MONKEY HATS!

And no, I did not knit these hats for them. I've tried, Lord knows I've tried, but I just can't knit. I've crocheted for forty years now and somehow I can't seem to make the transition.

Their daycare mom, Nancy, was in Steamboat Springs this summer and she saw these in a shop and because she knows about Cameron and Avery and their sock monkey thing, she couldn't resist buying these for them. The first day Cameron wore his to school (kindergarten) this year, I think Krissy got fifteen notes and phone calls from teachers in the school wanting to know where she got them. Adorable. Absolutely adorable hats and warm too!

Avery is almost as big as this Santa this year. I collect velvet Santas and just set them out in random spots all over the house. She fell in love with this one.

I added some Christmas art to the decorations this year. If you are in any kind of relationship with a five year old, you understand how important it is to display these things. Tacky doesn't count at Christmas! This is Cameron's countdown chain until Christmas. When he arrives at my house every morning, the first thing he does is run to this and he tears off another chain. And then we count how many sleeps until Santa comes.

I have to tell you, Cameron is blessed with the teacher he got for kindergarten. Every single day he comes home completely enthralled and excited about something he learned in school that day.

And you don't even want to know how much of his art I now have on display in my very white-beige-seafoam green, minimalist house. LOL






A NEW YEAR IS UPON US

I've struggled with posting for the past year. You know, I simply woke up one day and thought, "What on earth can I say that I haven't already said?" A person only has so many recipes and cleaning tips and doggie stories to share before it becomes redundant. I think I needed a break.

It doesn't mean I haven't had all of you in my thoughts. I have.

Perhaps this coming new year I will get back into the swing of it all.

In the meantime, never worry about me. I'm fine. If I weren't, one of my daughters or both of them would let you know.

I'm looking forward to 2011. I'm hoping to share the best news of all, the expectation of a new grandbaby. Oh, how I'm praying for that.

Rob and I are doing well and we hope you are too.

And Chelsea wishes you...

A Very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!

The best laid plans....

Someday I will learn. LOL

I had this holiday planned down to the very last detail of course. :)

Beginning tomorrow Rob has five days off and I'm so glad to have him home for such a long span that he can actually relax. You know. Watch some football. Smell the great things I'm cooking. Eat. Eat. Oh. And eat.

No school tomorrow. That means no Cameron at 7:30 in the morning. Both kids going to Nancy's daycare home tomorrow.

That's perfect because I always have that one last quick shopping trip, the day before the holiday, to get the fresh things that I don't buy a week ahead of time. You know. The salad greens and the bakery fresh French bread that I make my croutons out of and the toilet seat to replace the one that came apart today in our main bathroom.

Krissy called me at 5 o'clock this afternoon. Avery is sick. She's not desperately sick but she's run a 100 degree low grade temp all day and Nancy would prefer she not be at daycare again until we know what's going on with her. I totally understand she can't have a child who might have something contageous around all the other children.

So my plans for getting up with the birds and getting my last minute shopping done kind of flew the coop.

Tomorrow I'll be taking care of two little ones who aren't up to par. Avery's actually sick with something. Cameron isn't really sick, but he's not really feeling great either and not feeling great is a problem with him. When he's the least bit off, his blood sugar drops and we have to monitor him a lot more closely than we normally do.

Mandy and Aaron are due to arrive tomorrow afternoon and I may or may not be home when they get here. Walmart the afternoon before Thanksgiving? Who knows!

And of course there are weather advisories for the mountains. Mandy and Aaron have to drive through the Rockies tomorrow and there are heavy snow warnings out.

They have a Jeep, but still....I won't completely relax until they're sitting in my living room. She has a key to the house, so if I'm not here, they'll let themselves in.

Meantime, I've made darn sure she knows about that toilet seat! Use MY bathroom until Rob and I get home.

Rob told me today that when the house smells like Chex party mix he knows the holidays are officially here. I make tons of this between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chex party mix is not actually blue - only in MY photos. :)

As I was assembling everything on the kitchen counter today it hit me....I'm saving myself a ton of money when I make this because without even thinking about it, I buy generic. The funny thing is, this generic cereal actually works better - it doesn't crumble as much as the more expensive cereal.

So we have a wonderful Thanksgiving coming up in spite of a slight change in plans.

I haven't seen my daughter since the first week of June. I am beyond thankful that she will be here tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. May your day be blessed with family and good food and thoughts of....

Oh My Gosh! It's only four weeks until Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

How can it already be Thanksgiving? Where on earth has this year gone!

Here in western Colorado it's beginning to get pretty cold. Amazingly, we haven't had any serious snow yet. It's not at all unusual to get completely snowed in, in October and here it is, mid-November. Everyone out here got all atwitter one day last week because it actually started snowing, but seriously, I think maybe 16 snowflakes fell and it stopped. But the sky is looking pretty ominous this afternoon and as crazy as this will sound, I honestly think it smells like it's going to snow. :)

Of course it does. Mandy and Aaron are leaving Wednesday morning to make the drive across the Rockies to come out here for Thanksgiving. According to the weather gurus, it's supposed to start seriously snowing in the mountains Monday and continue all week. Of course. Thank goodness they have a 4-wheel drive vehicle (Jeep) but still, the mom in me isn't thrilled about them making that drive in those conditions. It does help to know the ski resorts all throughout the Rockies do a pretty good job making sure the skiers can get to them.

However, I.have.not.seen.my.daughter.since.the.first.week.of.June.

Ridiculous. We've never ever gone this long without seeing each other and I'm beyond excited about them arriving Wednesday afternoon.

I've already waited so long to post these photos, I was tempted to just wait and post them for Christmas instead of Thanksgiving. LOL But what kind of nana would I be if I didn't show you how cute my little grandkids looked on Halloween. This was before they went trick or treating and little Avery wasn't sure what was going on. But she caught on very quickly once she realized a lot of chocolate was involved. She's such a girl - LOVES chocolate!

The first time I saw Cameron's costume, his mom had called me and asked me to run down to her house real quick. Didn't say why...just said she had something to show me. When I got there, I was standing in her kitchen and Cameron jumped out of the laundry room, in that costume, and I almost wet my pants.

That had nothing to do with having a 60 year old bladder - he just flat out scared me half to death. :)

So Cameron was a real scary dude, and....

...Avery was a ladybug.

Please notice that she is wearing her big brother's red crocs and they are on the wrong feet. Those shoes are way too big for her but she loves them and Krissy just avoids the tantrum by letting her wear them. All the time. Everywhere. LOL

You know, I totally remember how much I hated Playdough when my girls were little. I swore I'd never have it in my house again. And then I got grandchildren. And now I don't care. This stuff keeps them occupied for hours when they're here with me on Fridays.

They rummage around in my kitchen drawers and find "tools" and away they go.







And on a bit of a sad note, the plant you see in the first photo is the avocado tree you all watched me grow from a pit, starting over a year ago. It's toast. No matter what I did, I couldn't make that thing be "not ugly" and every time I looked at it, I got mad at it, so I picked it up one day and tossed it in the trash.

I shall start a new avocado pit. And it will be more cooperative and become a bushy, pretty little tree. Or else.

Like all of you, we're getting ready for the holidays. We'll be having our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, as we do every year, so that Krissy and Andy can go to his family's on the holiday itself. And you know, I kind of like that. It gives me an extra day to float my Butterball in the bathtub since no matter what I do, I never manage to get my turkey completely thawed in time. And it gives me the perfect excuse to totally avoid Black Friday. :)

I made a big decision about Thanksgiving this year. We'll have all the same things we always have, but downsized. I have no idea why I've always thought I had to buy absolutely the biggest turkey I could find. A 28 pound turkey is just hard to deal with, all the way around. Hard to thaw. Hard to handle and move around and hard to make space for on the table.

And hard to eat for two weeks after the holiday, since that's what Rob and I end up doing year after year. So this year? Smaller turkey and smaller amounts of everything.

I'm trying a new appetizer this year. I saw this in the Sunday paper last month (Parade Magazine). It's a Pillsbury crescents recipe - bacon cheddar pinwheels. They look wonderful and if you're interested, the recipe is here. There's even a little how-to video which cracks me up because I swear, it's about 15 seconds long, yet it's actually helpful.

If that link doesn't work, just go to Pillsbury.com and look for bacon cheddar pinwheels because truly, there's no way I'm typing in all the letters and numbers in that URL!

Thank you to all of you who have emailed me behind the scenes to make sure I'm OK. I'm fine. It took me a long time to completely recover from being so sick early last month. The biggest challenge was getting my energy back, and my enthusiasm for much of anything, to be honest. But I did get it back and quickly jumped into fall cleaning which was particularly challenging since I totally skipped spring cleaning this year. LOL The blinds. Oh my word, I think I hate them. I love the way they look, but cleaning them is right up there with ironing and scrubbing toilets.

If I weren't fine, one of my daughters would commandeer this blog and let you know. :)

I hope you have a wonderful holiday planned. And I hope you're a lot farther along in getting ready for Christmas than I am! I'm not remotely ready but you know, somehow it always comes together and our little family has a very nice Christmas. It's mostly about the being together of course.

As we approach Thanksgiving, be aware of all you have to be thankful for. We all tend to forget that our cups are half full. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The face of the earth...

...I really haven't fallen off it.

But I have been just incredibly sick for two weeks. I've been so sick that for the first time in five years, I asked my daughter Krissy to make other arrangements for morning and Friday daycare for Cameron and Avery.

They both had runny noses and little colds and at first I thought I'd caught that from them. No way did I catch what they had because as little as they are, if they'd had this stuff, they'd have been in the hospital.

There were a couple of nights I woke up in a panic because I simply could not breathe and I almost went to the emergency room.

I have no idea what this stuff was/is. The worst part, other than those panicky nights, is that my ears were completely plugged up for ten days. Hearing anything at all was like hearing under water and let me tell you, a little bit of that is OK, but not ten days of it. Rob and I reached the point we wished we knew how to sign. And I'm not kidding.

So I'm better now. Today, for the first time in two weeks, I was able to get dressed and go out of the house. I was two weeks behind in grocery shopping and it got to the point Rob was making little emergency runs to the grocery store for things like margarine and toilet paper and toothpaste. Ridiculous, running out of one essential thing every day and sending him to the store.

I get colds like all of us do. But this was way worse than a cold and the last time I was this sick was the month that it took us to move from eastern Colorado to here in western Colorado, seven years ago. A month. I was so sick, even with a van company moving us, it took me a month to accomplish the move.

So. Whew! I can finally breathe again. We are so lucky for some of the wonderful over-the-counter cold meds we can buy. I don't think I'd have stayed out of the hospital this time without Mucinex. I finally woke up this morning and thought, "I feel much better. I'm not taking any more medication." And by 10 0'clock my ears were plugged again (sinus).

So I'm not over it, but I think I'm out of the woods. LOL (You know you're not going to EVER read a post on this blog that doesn't include at least one LOL.)

As soon as I feel totally human again, I'll be back with a pithy and exciting post.

Meantime, it's amazing how our weather is turning. There have been a couple of days in the past week, if it had been just a couple of degrees colder, we would have had snow!

Sunday Meanderings.....

FOOD FOR THOUGHT - A DEVOTIONAL

His Wondrous Handiwork

Is anything impossible for the Lord?

~~ Genesis 18:14 ~~

God is a miracle worker. Throughout history He has intervened in the course of human events in ways that cannot be explained by science or human rationale. And He's still doing so today.

God's miracles are not limited to special occasions, nor are they witnessed by a select few. God is crafting His wonders all around us: the miracle of the birth of a new baby; the miracle of a world renewing itself with every sunrise; the miracle of lives transformed by God's love and grace. Each day, God's handiwork is evident for all to see and experience.

Today, seize the opportunity to inspect God's hand at work. His miracles come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so keep your eyes and your heart open. Be watchful, and you'll soon be amazed.

Are you looking for a miracle? If you keep your eyes wide open and trust in God, you won't have to look very far. ~~ Marie T. Freeman ~~

A Woman of Prayer - 365 Daily Devotions, Freeman-Smith LLC, Publishers

AUTUMN!

It couldn't possibly be more beautiful anywhere on earth than it is here in western Colorado. I'm not saying we had a difficult summer - actually, it seemed mild considering we normally have unbelievably, relentlessly hot weather for three months, without a break - but autumn has arrived in all its glory and it's just wonderful. I have my windows open all day (and night) long right now and that's such a treat. There's such a short time span between needing the a/c and then the heat, it's my favorite time of year. Fresh air in the house!

As you know, I'm not one for refrigerator art. I'm very minimal, interior decorating-wise, and I just don't like "stuff" all over the place. That's been my motto forever. Of course, I thought "minimal" was great, until I became a Nana. LOL

This is the first paper Cameron brought home from kindergarten. He brought a lot of papers home from preschool, but really, that doesn't count, right? Kindergarten papers are SERIOUS!

I guess you'll laugh at me, but this is the very first time Cameron wrote his own name and for some reason, it just moves me beyond words. I wonder how many times he will write his name during the course of the rest of his life, but this is the.very.first.time.ever that he wrote it, and Krissy let me keep this and I will treasure it forever.

Every time I see this, I smile. Oh my word, look at his "m" - is that not the sweetest thing you've ever seen? Maybe not. But to me? It's sweet. :)

A CELEBRITY IN THE FAMILY AND A LOT OF FUN FOR THOSE OF US WHO KNOW IT!

I have a niece. Her name is Leslie. She's my sister Bev's daughter. She's my other niece, Sarah's, sister. And she's created a new web site that has taken off like a firecracker in Pennsylvania, where she lives.

My sister Bev has a blog. Sweet Tea and Sass

My niece Sarah has a blog. Owl Creek Cottage

Neither of them are to be missed. They are wonderful blogs.

But I digress.

Cameron goes to kindergarten every day and Avery goes to her play group (daycare at Nancy's) every day. But they are all mine on Fridays and I'm not giving up my Fridays with them until they are both in school all day long. We have such fun.

I don't just "babysit." I read to them. We play pretend. We go outside and search for roly polies for their special roly polie jars. We watch Finding Nemo or Elf all day long. I try to be a creative Nana and have "surprise" projects lined up when they arrive on Friday. It's gotten to where they walk in my front door and say, "It's Friday! What's our surprise, Nana?"

This past Friday it was egg carton caterpillars. I tell you, my niece Leslie is a creative genius when it comes to keeping preschoolers entertained.

I saved egg cartons for a couple of weeks. All I had to get for this fun project was WASHABLE markers (trust me, get the washable ones), a little package of wiggle eyes, some pipe cleaners, or as Hobby Lobby calls them, chenille stems, for pete's sake, tacky glue, and twist ties.

Please tell me that going to the grocery store and buying one white onion and taking ten twist ties does not constitute stealing because that's exactly what I did. LOL (I don't save twist ties.)

Avery is two and a half years old. Cameron is five. If you have kids this age, you understand how short their attention span is. Look at the concentration here. Just amazing, how intent they are, using their special new markers and coloring their caterpillar bodies.

By the way, I get extra point for this. I bought TWO packages of washable markers and two special tin containers (Tinkerbell for her and Spiderman for him) because it seemed the best way to avoid any arguments over the markers. They thought they were pretty special, to each have their very own markers with their very own "cool" containers for them. Do I know how to avoid a problem or what!

Such hard work! Avery finally decided to just settle down to it and get comfortable. And if her fat little feet aren't the cutest thing ever, then I don't know what is. I LOVE her fat little feet! LOL

All done - caterpillars!

Whew! Cameron's thirsty and Avery's simply in love. :)

Look at her. She just cracks me up. Now don't get all upset with me. I was watching her closely. But she's a little monkey and the positions she gets into crack me up. And by the way, if you think, "My grandkids will never jump on or abuse my furniture" is going to work, really, you need to sit down and rethink that. Just as I said when my daughters were little, I'm now saying, "Someday I'll just get new furniture." LOL

It really is amazing to keep little ones this age entertained beyond fifteen minutes, but look at the caterpillars they made. We did this for two hours Friday afternoon. And I totally stole the idea of photographing them in the grass from my niece Leslie.

Geez. I stole those twist ties, too. I may be on the way to becoming a criminal! A thief!




Funmoms. org.

You.will.love.this.amazing.website

Life is good. The weather is wonderful, everyone is healthy and life is simply good.

Sunday Meanderings...

Thank you, Microsoft Clipart


FOOD FOR THOUGHT - A DEVOTIONAL

HIS WONDROUS HANDIWORK

Then God saw everything that he had made,
and indeed it was very good.

~~ Genesis 1:31 ~~

As we pause to examine God's wondrous handiwork, one thing is clear: God is, indeed, a miracle worker. Throughout history He has intervened in the course of human events in ways which can't be explained by science or human rationale.

God's miracles are not limited to special occasions, nor are they witnessed by a select few. God is crafting His wonders all around us: the miracle of the birth of a new baby; the miracle of a world renewing itself with every sunrise; the miracle of lives transformed by God's love and His grace. Each day God's miraculous handiwork is evident for all to see and to experience.

The Psalmist reminds us that the heavens are a declaration of God's glory. May we never cease to praise the Father for a universe that stands as an awesome testimony to His presence, to His power, and to His love.

A Woman of Prayer - 365 Daily Devotions, Freeman-Smith LLC, Publisher


HELLO, HOW ARE YOU? I'M FINE :)

Where did summer go? Good grief, it flew by! Out here in western Colorado it's still getting pretty warm during the day, but let me tell you, it's becoming a little challenging to sit on the patio with Rob every morning as we share our first cups of coffee together. Chilly! But...I love it. I love being able to keep doors and windows open all morning long, until early afternoon.

Except for a minor cricket invasion this summer, we've enjoyed it immensely. Oh, what am I saying! The crickets were unbelievable all summer long and how on earth they get into this house, I'll never know, but I've lost count how many I've "relocated" to the toilet. And huge - I've never seen such big crickets. Surprisingly, I have not had a single one singing in my bedroom though. You may recall the one that almost drove me insane last summer. LOL

Sadly, these days are behind us now. School has started and life has settled into the school year routine, so afternoons in the little pool are over. You'll notice that this is pool #2. Pool #1 is toast. But...these pools were less than $20 at Walmart and for the fun Cameron and Avery had in them, it was well worth going through two of them. They're practically disposable. LOL

Please note two things. The kids are tearing into those surprises frozen in half gallon milk cartons I told you about. What fun, to play with a big block of ice, with a surprise frozen in the middle, when it's 95 degrees out. And...you seriously have to notice that this pool has cup holders on each side. Check out the sippy cups. Cracked me up, but these two thought that was slicker than...nevermind. :)

There were lots of days I had both the kids all day long. Daycare providers go on vacation. Daycare providers have family emergencies. For a while there, I had them so much, keeping them entertained became a quest. We watched lots of movies and read lots of books, but that started getting a little old.

One afternoon it occurred to me to dig into my scrapbooking supplies. I'm not going to tell you how vast my scrapbooking collection is - it would embarrass me. But it's amazing how long they stay entertained with something as simple as some colorful paper, some paper punches, and some glue sticks.

I had a wonderful time with Cameron and Avery this summer. It was a summer full of water play, indoor play, long naps, roly polies (they each have their own special jar with holes poked in the lid with an ice pick and a big fat twig inside for the critters to climb :), popsickles and ice cream cones and a few fun day trips. I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss summer with my two favorite little people.

He may be a big boy in kindergarten now, but my sweet Cameron still goes absolutely nowhere except school without Monkey. Monkey isn't allowed at school, so he brings him to me every morning and I babysit Monkey. I have to say, Moneky is pretty easy to babysit. lol

If your BFF was the Febreze company, you'd get as excited as I do when the Fedex truck stops by.

For several years now, they've been sending me their new products to try out and then review. I ask you. How lucky can one person be? They never just toss the product in a box and send it to me. It's always special, a very pretty package with some very nice things thrown in, in addition to the new product. I love the Febreze people.

This package included their newest product, the Febreze set & refresh, which simply stated, is a stand alone room freshener. You don't have to plug it into an outlet.

This special package included Febreze napkins and an apron. OK. Who on this whole earth besides me has Febreze napkins! I seriously love them and plan to put them out during the holidays and I'm not kidding because they are truly unique.

What could be more simple than this? It's pretty and you simply put the scent cartridge into the little holder and put it anywhere you want it. I have mine sitting on a bookshelf in my hallway. The scent they sent me is wonderful - "linen & sky." I'm thinking these would be perfect in your bathroom.

Wonderful new product. I've always loved everything Febreze, but this may be my new favorite because it's just so simple, and best of all, it works.

And I'm sure you're going to agree with me that nothing in the world could be more fitting than this - Barb wearing a Febreze chef's apron! LOL

I'LL BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW THIS

Apparently, in addition to camels and sheep, there was an elephant present at the Nativity.

Cameron and Avery sure seem to think so. They love to play with my Willow Tree Nativity. As you know, I never put it away. It's on display in my living room year round and it's one of my most treasured possessions. And yet, I don't mind them playing with it because they are ever, ever so gentle. They know the figurines will break. They know how special it is to me. But they are intrigued with it and can't keep their hands off it and I would never tell them they can't touch. (I keep a tube of super glue on hand, just in case. lol )

There's a lot of cuddling and kissing of baby Jesus and a lot of rearranging of things, and as you can see, I never know what new addition I'll discover after they've gone home. I think it's very sweet that there was an elephant at the Nativity. :)

NEW SEASONS

Autumn is just around the corner. I'm looking forward to the changing season. I'm praying for a nicer winter than we had last year, but I'm really looking forward to the trees changing color and the cool, crisp mornings and evenings. Summer was wonderful, but you know, three months of it was enough. God knew what He was doing when he decided each of our seasons, at least where I live, should last about three months.

I feel a fall cleaning attack coming on. Can't say I spent a lot of time cleaning this summer and I suspect I'll be paying the price for that, real soon. The blinds are dirty, the clutter has accumulated again, the carpet could stand to be steam cleaned....ugh.

I hope you're feeling as blessed as I am. Life is simple, calm and easy right now.