Jellybean was a wax statue

and she was a beautiful, animated, theatrical wax statue...

 Meet the fabulous Harriet Quimby...

And her "parents"...my grandparents who played a supporting role in the wax statue star's shining moment.

Memories of sweet, sweet ducklings

Here is Moby Duck and Webster...

The ducklings that Bug's Grade 3 class raised and released into Memorial Gardens.

Snuggly, Cuddly, Loveable ducklings...

who even napped with the kids and who even peed on one of the sleeping beauties... hee hee

Joy in every day

My life is full...

full schedule

full days

full of joy

full of life

full of adventure

 full of wonderful people

full of hiding

full of wounds

One Year Old Beauty

You had me at the first moment I laid eyes on you...you know, your first 10 minutes of life...so beautiful...so perfect...

Last month, you turned one...walking, full of mischief and wonder, an expert at the "Elvis lip"...so beautiful...so perfect...

SO LOVED

Science Fair (Round 1) Pictures

Jellybean's Science Fair...Round One.
She still has a Round Two to go as she won silver at the School level and is going to Regionals.

 The ingredients

 The display...looking all professional and, dare I say, cute and sassy.

Bug's Science Fair project. First one ever.

Magnetizing a nail with a battery.

Adorable...and professional...and VERY nervous...

So far away

On Christmas Day my cell phone rang and my heart leapt to see that it was my dear cousin, Svein, calling. It was this time last year that he became a real part of my life...not just a name and picture of a small boy with his two brothers. He became someone I have come to love very dearly and to hear his voice on Christmas Day was a lovely sound to my ears (and to my heart).

On a sidenote: how long does this scraggly, mop-head phase last on boys...I liked when we "had" to get his hair cut every 3 weeks...he is still cute and all but a little scruffy, no?

Because I grew up on a farm that's why!

"Mom, why do you like to catch frogs like boys? Girls aren't supposed to like catchin' frogs..."

We had a lot of fun in the midst of watching/playing a soccer game the other day. We caught frogs and gave them Spanish names. I don't know why they had to be Spanish. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time...because it was funny and made the kids laugh.

I will follow on the path after you

A couple weeks ago we celebrated the 50th anniversary of one of my aunt and uncles! What an example of love and of what marriage should be! So thankful to have them in my life!

Top picture: Making sure he was cutting straight lines in the cake...humor is one of the keys to this dynamic marriage!

Bottom picture: smooching is another key...{grin}

Thank you, Auntie & Uncle for being so in love with each other and being such an excellent example to us of what love is and of what it looks like!  I love you!!!!

He's got da music in him

Bug is always dancing...ALWAYS... and by always I mean always!
 His sister caught him dancing at a wedding ceremony when he thought no one was looking...boy was he embarassed when he knew they had been watching him the entire time.

He dances as he is walking, as he eats supper, in the car...dance, dance, dance. And it doesn't matter if there is music playing or not...it's in his bones...

Because summer is all about fun

BabyK at the local fair in their town...

I loves me this boy!

Time sure flies

when you're having fun!

When I met this beautiful young lady she was just a baby; she would snuggle with me and giggle. She wrapped me around her tiny little finger. I have watched her grow from a squishy cheeked baby to an absolutely gorgeous young lady with an amazing sense of humor! I wish we could spend more time with you...know that we love you to pieces!

Crazy, fun-loving girl!

Happy 14th bday, BabyK!!!! (July 28th)

Pie Are Squared

No they aren't; they are round but, that was the theme of today.  Today my baby, my youngest, my Bug turned 8 years old. I know! That's what I thought when I woke up this morning to! Kind of a 'Where in the dickens have the last 8 years gone and who was driving that speeding bus?' Maybe Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock got a hold of my life and turning it into a spinoff of Speed.

So anyway, back to the Pie Are Squared thing... We had a couple of the birthday boy's favorite things: his favorite kind of "pizza pie" and for dessert, his favorite kind of pie.  He has all ready had cupcakes (this past Sunday) with all his buddies and he had a sleepover with one of his best buddies last night.

This boy, this young man, who turned 8 has a heart of gold, whose smile can capture you in a moment where you are frozen in time, whose eyes are so blue, so kind, so innocent, so full of love you can fall into them and never want to leave, a boy who has music locked into the marrow of his bones. He is always dancing, always singing, always drumming...

There was a food theme to his birthday this year.  Jellybean didn't have the money to buy him what she wanted so she scrounged what money she had and bought him a chocolate doughnut. The bride from this past weekend's wedding brought him over her favorite dish as a child, sunomono salad (this but without the crab or shrimp).

Other than that he has birthday money and gift cards to spend, new rollerblades and his buddy who just moved has informed me that he is sending him a tackle box with a couple of hooks. He will be so excited by the gesture and the knowledge that his buddy, now two provinces away, did not forget about him.

Two and a Half men Days with my Girl

Tuesday of last week we got a phone call. Could Rush come and visit for a couple of days? We got all the bus schedules and such lined up and by Wednesday at two she was here and visiting us. Yay! The two of us went to a local coffee/cheesecake shop, got a couple of slices of lemon meringue pie and had a very good conversation. We cooked up her favorite meal and went off to visit my dad and Jude's and had more laughs!

Our visit with Rush was absolutely fabulous. She and I laid on my bed, watched a couple shows on the laptop and just enjoyed each other's company visiting.

A picture from the baby shower

Only one but only because Blogger is not loading them from picassa very well right now.

 Enjoying snuggles and love with her grandma (yep, that would be me.) She has three grandmas after all, but this picture - all me and my girl.

 BabyK and Jellybean reacted quite epically to the baby food tasting/guessing game. Do I need to inform you that they were thoroughly disgusted by them all or do their faces display their disdain for this culinary "delight"? Oh, except for the Strawberry Dessert... they liked the Strawberry Dessert...

...just not enough to want a jar in their lunches. {grin}

She's really real!

I wasn't making her up. {grin} I really truly do have a grand-daughter and here she is, finally, for my interworld/bloggerland friends to "meet" her.

Look at all that blonde hair! She was re-admitted to the hospital for a day and put under the lights for jaundice but she responded very well. Her personality did a complete 180 for her mama and daddy; she's sleeping well and not crying near as much as she was and has taken to nursing like a trooper {however a trooper to take to nursing}. We love her completely and madly! How could you not?

And we get to go see her again on Saturday for her baby shower.  Yay!

First NFL football game

Alternately titled "GO, CHIEFS, GOOOOOO!!!!"

 All access passes (other than field and locker rooms) had these two doing what they wanted to watch the Chiefs make it into the play-offs on Boxing Day.

 But that wasn't the best part of the game for either of these guys...

It was simply the fact that they got to hang out with each other, drink way too much soda pop, eat ginormous stadium hotdogs, and make funny faces at the camera and probably laugh uncontrollably at each other while burping and all that other boy stuff we ladies don't neccessarily want to (or want to admit to) doing...

I uber love hotels

Most times, unless the weather takes a frightful turn - and even then my husband has moved baracades to go around them- he & I drive straight through on long trips. Our 24 hour trips to KC have not been any different but... this time we have Jellybean and Bug with us and we wanted to have a very nice, relaxing time with them.

Hotel there and hotel back! Yeah baby! We searched a bit on the internet and picked two hotels that we liked that have waterslides or play areas so we can get rid of pent up energies in the pool area and make some fun memories.

Here are a couple from the way down...

 Pink panther and Allie the bunny were too tuckered out to play... they got the bed ready for the kids {wink}

Two exhausted, happy, wonderful children!

Road Trip!!!

In our family, we leave ridiculously early on road trips, use as much sleep time as travel time as we can.  This is what it usually looks like in our car...

But I say usually like I don't sleep.  It usually looks like me sleeping in the car and occassionally waking up to capture moments like these but they are much cuter sleeping than I am!

In three days we will be piling back into our car and travelling from whence we came...

My grandbaby

Right now... only one more month to wait for this precious bundle!