FAMILY TIME...and...BABY LOVE.

Our daughter Lindsey and her husband Michael, along with baby Sophia
came to visit this past weekend. I was in grandma Heaven for 3 days.
It was wonderful to bond with the baby again, I don't want these little
ones to forget grandma you know, we played all weekend, it was great!

Little Sophia was the center of attention... just as it should be.
Babies are such a blessing in a family to both young and old.

She is such a joyful, funny, sweet and loving
little girl and we all love her to pieces.

It's like magic...put a big flower on her head
and we all melt and follow her everywhere.

She started to walk at the end of her 8th month and now at 9 months, she is walking everywhere.
It's so cute because she holds her hands out in front of her, like a mummy and off she goes, turning this way and that, throwing her little bottom to the left for balance...it is SO cute!

I am loving this pose...how about you? And see... bellies can be so cute!

This is Sophia's new... "wrinkled nose pose"...I LOVE it!
Makes to laugh every time and she just loves to do it too.

And then she does this, the... "melt your heart"... sweet pose.
Oh my, whats a grandma to do with so much baby love?!

Now this is how families stay together...kisses all around.

I think I held her almost all weekend...loved it!

There was a cute little grand daughter thief named
Brickelle though, who just kept stealing her from my arms!

Wouldn't it be fun to be the whole center of attention sometimes? Brickelle
pulled Sophia all over the house on this blanket, and they both loved it!

~Triple Decker Hugs~

Lindsey is pretty strong, I guess packing a baby around all the time
does that. She was having fun lifting the baby and her cute niece.

What a thrill for a grandma and a baby to be together...
nothing as fun as that! Dressed up and headed for church.

And yes, she has grandpa all a flutter too...just as it should be.

Grand children make us want to live forever...I am so glad to
know that "FAMILIES ARE FOREVER" and that we can be
together here on earth and in the Eternal life to come, what a
glorious gift and blessing from a wise and loving Heavenly Father.


...Now for some lessons on mothering...

Make sure to put your baby over the shoulder when burping!

Pat gently on the babies back, saying; "That's the way baby."

Then, check the babies diaper to see if it is wet...

and if it is, change her diaper right away!

Then you must make sure the babies toes are all clean..baby loves this!

Even all the baby lambs loved Sophia...

They all wanted to give her kisses...just like grandma!

I hope you all had a great weekend too,
sending you all my love and wishes for
a very good week..my love to all.

And lets all keep the people of Missouri and
Oklahoma and Kansas in our prayers.

WHILE WAITING FOR SPRING....

I am trying to keep busy while I wait for Spring to show her lovely face.
I changed out the winter bedding for summer bedding, that felt good...

although I keep reaching for more quilts at night, as the temps drop.

I took a walk around the property, taking pictures of our animals.
I love to see the horses happily eating, and the pole? It's because
the one on your left tries to to shoo the other one away so he can
have the hay all to himself, the pole seems to keep him on his own side.

I had to stop and give the chickens a treat and talk to them, a
couple of them are sitting on eggs, maybe we will have babies soon!

Samantha seemed to love to pose for me...she was sitting on top of
the chicken run. How do you like the background? I love it too!

Posing again against the chicken coop...
I loved the wood grain behind her.

Everyday, these two cats bring me 3 dead mice...
they love me you see and want to share their catch
of the day. They leave them on the mat at the back door,
I make my husband toss them away when they are not
looking, don't want to hurt their feelings you know. ;D

See that tiny little guy...well, he is the boss of the big guy!
Do you want to know how I know this? Well, whenever I
throw the big guy's toy, (see it in his mouth) he is not allowed
to go get it unless he asks the permission of the little guy! When
he finally gets permission, then he slowly sneaks up to his toy
and gently picks it up! Shih Tzu's are small but large in charge!

But Cougar doesn't care...look at that big smile! He knows that
he is the younger brother and it's just fine, he's a happy camper!
Yes, camper...he is sitting on our picnic table like he belongs there!

Samantha is showing off again, she raced ahead of me to show
me how fast she can fly up the tree and out onto the branches!

Then she was showing me her newest trick, of how
she can shimmy down as fast as she went up and
do it sideways too...I was impressed!

Remember Bobby? He is the little cat that came crying so loud at our
hotel room door. Starving and freezing on a COLD winters night. Well
of course we took him in and we even brought him on that 3 hour ride
home. He was so sick and he nearly died...but look at him go now!

He was up in that tree with Sammy and they were wowing at the
birds in the tree that would get just close enough to get them all
excited but not close enough to get caught! It makes me so happy
to see him so healthy and so happy. To think that he would have
died makes me sad...I am so glad we brought him home!

This is one of the cute little birds that was up in that tree teasing the
cats, I'm glad that the cats didn't catch it..isn't it a pretty one?!

For the last few days and next week too, look at what we get to have!

More snow...yes, it is pretty but where is Miss Spring? And what
is she doing? Off smelling the flowers some place else I bet!

I can't say that I blame her...if she is at your place, will you
please give her a message for me? Tell her to get where she
belongs right now, or I am moving!

I feel just like Cougar...I think I'll just stay comfy and warm
and bury my head in my pillow and go to sleep til Spring gets here!

"You did buy this new pad just for me didn't you mom? Oh,
and I just love it! Thanks for loving me this much!"

We went up to Fish Lake for lunch the other day, (see the ice
out on the lake there behind the dogs head?) Cougar stayed
right in the same position the whole time and every once in a while
he would lift his head up and give a "WOOF". I wondered what he
was doing? When we went out, I could see what it was that had his
undivided attention....

It was these scary critters...and they wouldn't stop looking at him!

This is my daughters new dog Bruno. He is a 9 month old St. Bernard.
Some one had him and they neglected him by just chaining him up out
in the middle of a big field and leaving him there. I guess there were some
complaints filed against the owners because he was taken away to the pound.

Well, Bruno has a family of kids now who love him so much! He is the
most gentle, sweet big baby. I am so glad he now has such a good home.

I saw this on Debbie's blog, (the gal who won my last give a way)
and I liked her idea of homemade cloth napkins. I get tired of just
paper napkins and it didn't take long to whip these up. I made 34 of
them because we have a big family! It's nice to use them and so easy
to toss them into the laundry and fold them back up for their little
basket again, love having lots of them on hand. I just made them about
the same size as a paper napkin and they are just a perfect size.

It's time to get the humming bird feeders out ladies and remember
to leave them out until October. Change the feed in them about
every 4-5 days. I like to make my own feed for them, it's easy.

Just pour 1 cup of sugar into 4 cups of boiling water and stir.
Store the extra in the fridge in a empty gallon milk jug.

I love to sit out on the deck as they buzz over my head, they are
so cute! And now if Spring will just get here, maybe the humming
birds will too!

Have a great week my friends, sending you tons of hugs!

ALWAYS SOMETHING GOING ON HERE...

Spring is here and there around these parts. The robins are here indicating that Spring is too, but the warm Spring days are teasing us because one day it will be so nice, and then we will have snow and strong winds. I sure wish she would make up her mind!

We have had lots going on in the family with gatherings for Easter and Mothers Day and a son in law's college graduation and a grand daughters baptism. It has all been so much fun and great to be together as a family.



Caleb being a sweet gentleman for his sister Ella on Easter.

We were together on Mothers Day and one fun thing we did was....

we dipped lots of big sweet strawberries in chocolate....

How do you define happiness? I say it's a chocolate covered strawberry in each hand.
And yes, we ate, and ate, and ate them all up! Nothing as good as that!


It's always fun to have the little grands and their mommies and grandma in the bathroom giving the little ones their bath. The room is full of laughter and talking and love...good family times.

Us with our daughter Lindsey and her husband Michael and baby Sophia.


Lots going on this weekend, for one thing the baptism of this beautiful little 8 year old.

Her name is Hannah...and we sure do love her! This was her big day and she was the director and producer of the whole event. It was a very special spiritual day too a great day to be 8.

~Us with our daughter Jennifer~

~I love my daughter, my sweet red haired daughter~

~Hannah's other grand parents~

It was a beautiful, warm Spring day and it was a day of spiritual warmth too.

Me and my Hannah

Grandpa and Hannah

Our darling Hannah who was the director of how each of these pictures were to be taken.


Jen and her children, Hannah and Gavin. I am proud of Jen, she is a good mom and is working so hard to do what is right and make a good home for her and her children and she is succeeding .
Sophia reminded me of a cute little Dalmatian puppy in these cute PJ's.

Our daughter Lindsey and her husband Michael and Sophia at his college graduation. We are so proud of him and of them...good people doing all the right and good things in life. God bless them.


~A kiss from daddy to his sweet little girl~

After graduation they bought hats and other things from the college bookstore.

Grandpa and Sophia...she loved pulling his hair up there too!

~Sophia, cheering for her daddy~
And yes...at 9 month, she is walking!

Oh, and she found all the toys and re-arranged then too!

Michael parading into the events center for graduation. It was so cool because they had bagpipes a blazing and it was all so exciting as we were there with them and his parents too.

Michael got a picture with the college president, Michael Benson.

~Lindsey and Michael on their big motorcycle~

We went out to dinner after the graduation with them and Michael's parents.

Our daughter Tiffany on Mothers Day with her two sweet children Ella & Caleb and a baby in the middle to be born about the end of August...what a beautiful picture of Motherhood and family.

How much fun is a one dollar ball and a warm Spring

day and a beautiful park to run and play in!

~Sweet, darling and fun... Ella Mae~

And just as sweet and handsome and fun is her big brother Caleb..

Grandma and grandpa's darlings...we are so blessed because we have 20 of these darling little people in our family and one more due in August...plus a great grandson too! Yes, we know how very, very blessed we are and we love them and all and our 8 children...life is good, so good!

Well, hopefully Spring will make up her mind and stay with us now.

Have a great week everyone and remember....

always.. count your many blessings.