Kids, Kids, Kids

Amanda and Kyle won tickets to see the Indiana Pacers and a 2 night stay at the Embassy Suites in Indianapolis. Tom and I got the pleasure? of taking care of Cassidy, Lauren and Luke for the weekend. I wasn't sure how Luke would do since this would be his first overnight away from home without Mom or Dad. Amanda had everything ,plus some, for us to take proper care of her children. I guess I forgot how to take care of kids- I say that with a smile.=-)

Actually the kids were all so good. The girls didn't fuss, and Luke was actually pretty well behaved. The girls and Alex played Corn Hole when Alex came over to visit with them. It is always so much fun to have our grandkids spend time with us. Here is a collage of some of their weekend. In clockwise order: Lauren and Cassidy are playing with Play Doh. It is good for the imagination. Luke's picture is next. He is perfecting his throw for Corn Hole. Alex, Lauren and Cassidy play on the computer in Alex's room. Grandpa is giggling while Luke 'beats' him in Corn Hole. Even the little ones like the game. We can't wait until we can get outside with it. We are so glad all of our grandkids live close to us to enjoy them. Sunday morning, after breakfast and showers, the kids watched some TV for awhile. Luke did stop long enough for me to catch this picture of the three of them. I swear, he had to of run 10 miles this weekend. He was constantly running from one end of the house to the other.

Grandchildren are the Flowers in the Garden of Life

There is no greater joy than seeing the world through the eyes of a child. They bring laughter, help you experience the world all over again, we can share our lives with them, and watch them grow into adults to start all over again.

Here is a link so you can watch Luke and Grandpa play Corn Hole. I think Luke beats Grandpa.....LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0Gj74ufmlY

Remember to be kind to someone.

Amanda and the Clown hair...

I found out along with Amanda that sometimes it is better to just leave things alone as they are. Amanda has been tired of keeping the blonde in her hair. So she decided to let it go back to her natural hair color. Well........ She chose a mahogany brown to put it in her hair. Ugh......it was very purply red. She laughed and I wanted to cry. What have we done? So being the good mother that I am, I ran to Dollar General to get a darker color. After applying it to her now mahogany red brown hair, she is now, still mahogany brown. Eeekkkkkkk we need more dark brown. So back to Dollar General. Another box of dark brown. After this application we now have a little red and lots of dark brown on the ends.

Tiffany from the office told me about this stuff called Color Oops. It is supposed to take the last color out of your hair. Well...it is worth a try? That is what I thought. I had Tiffany get me a box. I called Amanda with the good news. She was very hesitant to use it before their trip to Indianapolis for the weekend with Rick and Jen. I guess she should have stuck to her guns. She called later and said,"ok lets do it". She came over and we started with the Color Oops. Let it stay on the proper amount of time. Rinsed it off !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Orange hair. Ok, we now are going to apply the 'brown' that I have for her. It didn't actually turn out the color brown we thought it would be. It is more like Jet Black. Now we have gone from orange to black. I then applied the frosting kit to her hair and let it turn a brown color. Have you ever seen black hair with brown highlighting? Ummmmm.. not good.
I now have to make an emergency run to Wally World to get hair color remover once again, and hair color to fix what we have now really messed up. When will it end? I hurry home and we get the hair color remover on. Here we go again. We are back to the orange hair. Do not despair. We have another Mahogany Brown. Oh...and we have another brown to put on after the Mahogany Brown is on. Needless to say, we are now back somewhat to the original color we were trying to remove in the first place. It isn't quite as harsh dark as it was when we started, but we made progress. We don't have the orange hair any more !

I will have to say that this was by far the worst hair experience that I have had to deal with. Once Jane and I made her hair jet black. She had to live with it. One other time Jane and I twisted our hair before we permed it. Talk about a wild woman from Zanzibar! We beat that by a mile. Another time Jane highlighted my hair so much I had to use a brush to comb through it. All in a days work. Maybe one of these days we will learn to leave well enough alone.

Make sure you are kind to someone today. You never know who you may help with your kindness.

Family Easter and the Cornhole

We had Easter dinner at our house
this year. We had lots of food and plenty of fun and laughter. As usual, we had more than enough food. Someone thinks the California Blend isn't good to eat. We will have to remedy this problem the next Holiday celebration. This holiday desserts ruled the tables. We had lots of sugar to satisfy any ones sweet tooth. Praise God for the families we have to share our lives with. He is so generous to all of us. Dad was a little under the weather. I hope he gets to feeling better.

Well look who is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her ! Shannon and Dad seem to be distracted by something going on at the door.

Maybe it is the Easter Bunny making a surprise visit.






The Easter Bunny left a few eggs(Amanda didn't adhere to the rules) for the little ones. Of course Grandma's and mother's had cameras ready to record the adventure of finding where all the eggs were hidden!



















Another group photo to add to the page. There are a few not in the photo. They weren't allowed this time. Next time we will take a picture of just them. LOL




The fun for the day was the Corn Hole Game. It was altered since we couldn't go outside. We realized we needed an official score keeper and a referee !!!!!!!!! Go figure ........

Stephanie and Spencer

Alex and Rick

Dad watching Jennifer and Rick

1. Collin and Barbara 2. Rob, Heather w/Jen, Rick laughing

1. Alex, Amanda, Luke, Tom.

2. Mark, Amanda, Kyle, Luke, Spencer & Rick

Rainey, Alex and Spencer D.

Amanda using her Michael Jordan Technique

As usual, we all had a super great time spending the holiday together.

With all the fun and laughter, we never want to lose sight of why we celebrate the Easter holiday. Praise God for His faithfulness when He sent His only Son to die on the cross, shed His blood that we that believe in Him may have everlasting life. We praise Your Name above all others. Happy Easter everyone.

Remember to do something kind for someone.

Spring is in the air, Matthew's first visit with Dr. Schneider

Spring has finally arrived. Much anticipated by many people.
It is the promise of a new beginning. The season gives us an anticitpation of starting projects, planning many family get togethers, and time to enjoy our families in a new and refreshing way. Spring seems to renew peoples spirits. Aren't we lucky to live in a country that gives us so many privileges and opportunities. I am looking forward to the blooming of the flowers that were planted a couple of years ago. They seem to get better as they grow each year. Spring is also the time of the flower catalogs arriving in the mail box. Time to dream of those beautiful flower gardens we wish someone else would take care of ! Spring is the time of year that we can also pause and renew the Spirit of our Souls. God offers us renewal every day. Just as He promised with His rainbow He sets in the sky after a rain, we are promised to be renewed as we follow Him. One of my favorite verses is from Philippians 4:7 -And the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. God renews our Souls when we give our hearts to Him. You become a new creature in God. Spring gives us a look at how God can change the old dark spirit of our beings into a New and Beautiful Spirit and Soul. I love spring and I love Jesus.




Today was Matthew's first visit with
Dr. Schneider. He was dressed so cute.
He is growing pretty good.
Mom and Dad waited in the waiting
room to be called back for the check
up and the weighing in.

Shelley decided to weigh herself and

then weigh herself and Matthew

together. The little guy weighed

in at a whoppin' 7 lbs. He seemed

to be tolerating the whole process

quite well.He didnt cry or cause a

fuss at all. He just went with the

flow. Good thinking Matthew!

I went back to take this picture

of Shelley with Matthew and

Dr. Schneider. It looks like the
doctor visit is going along just fine.

They seem to be having a good time.

We are so thankful that we have

Dr. Schneider in our community.

Everyone in our family depends on

him for excellent health care.

Remember to give to others. It is one way to brighten

someone else's day.

Luke 6:38
Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure and

pressed down, and shaken together,

and running over, shall men give into your bosom.

For with the same measure that ye mete

withal it shall be measured

unto you again.

These 'feet' were made for walking.....

Planters Fasciitis

After visiting with Dr. DeTommaso at FWO this afternoon, I have a better idea of why my feet have been hurting so much. It is called Planters Fasciitis (fashee-EYE-tus).

Wonderful. Another problem to have to deal with. You are more apt to get this if you are a woman. So now I have inserts for my shoes, which I have to get adjusted to. I wear them one hour the first day and add an hour each day after. I got a shot in each of my heels today. I love shots. Actually I don't really mind them that bad. After all I gave birth to three kids. What could be any worse than that? I have cute little braces to wear to bed at night. Won't I be real appealing? I have to return to get custom orthotics made for my painful feet ! After turning 50 I have literally gone to pot. I have got to get this body in working order. Who knows what is going to 'break' next!

As the great philosopher Maxine once said:
Be sure to share some kindness with someone to make them feel special today.

God's Blessings

Matthew, Overnight, Cooking

Amanda, Cassidy, Lauren and I
stopped Saturday to check on
Matthew. Cassidy and Lauren
had not seen him yet. We also
stopped Sunday afternoon so
Alex could see him. He is doing
quite well. He is to see
Dr. Schneider on Good Friday.
This will be his first check up
since he left the NIC Unit in
Indianapolis. He is just as cute
as he was before. We cant
wait for him to get bigger.
As you can see in the second
photo he has lots of hair.

The little guy needs a hair cut already.



After we got done shopping Cassidy and Lauren decided they needed to stay all night at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They played on the computer, ate Pizza Hut pizza and Cassidy and Grandpa whipped Lauren and Grandma at a high powered game of Dirty Dawg. Later in the evening Cassidy and Lauren played with the camera. They get some pretty good shots !

Alex found out early Sunday morning that the girls were here. She hurriedly came over to spend some time with them. We went to Wally World then they gleefully gathered ingredients for Rice Crispie Treats. They were soooo sweet! Good job girls.

After taking the girls home and Grandma and Grandpa settling down for the evening, we can surely say that having Grandkids is really GRAND !

前往中國 --(Going to China)

Rick and Jen recently asked Peggy (Jen's Mother) and me to go to China with them and Spencer D. This will be so exciting. There is so much to experience when they go to get Malia.What a joy to be able to be there when they hand her over to Rick and Jen. I certainly do hope I do them justice with the photos I plan on taking.

There will be so much to learn and see when we get to China. The culture

of the Chinese people is so different from ours. There are approximately

1 billion people living in China. Most of those people living in villages

and small towns. Boy babies are favored over girls. By tradition, only

boys can pass on the family line and are charged with caring for parents

in old age. Girls when they marry are expected to care for their

husbands family. All of us will have a lot to learn and an experience

of a lifetime to share when we return with Malia.

Rick, Jen and Spencer
will be getting one of the
'lost daughters of China'.
These little girls are abandoned
on doorsteps, park benches etc.

Rick, Jennifer and Spencer will be able to share their life

and love with a child and be part of that

'gift of wonder' called family.

For One who waits,
A moment seems like an eternity.


-Fortune cookie 1996

We have no idea what part of China that Malia will be coming from.

But we do know that where ever she may be, that she will be given

a lifetime of opportunities to explore two worlds.

The journey for Rick and Jen
began March of 2005. Half a
world away,when they first
set foot on what turned out
to be a very long paper
trail, from the little girl they
hoped to add to their family.
It has taken a lot of courage
and hope, but some door,
long closed, will be opening
and will fill hearts with
sunshine and endless
possibilities.

A link to the agency Rick and Jennifer are going through.

http://www.childrenshopeint.org/

Hoping your day is enriched with kindness towards someone.

Spencer D's Spring Band Concert

Straight from the home of the Southwood Knights.....

We present Spencer D. on the trumpet with the Jr. High Band.

No.... no.....no....that isn't Spencer D.

He doesn't have an outfit like

that. He wears a white shirt.

He wears tan pants. This

isn't Spencer D.

Let us continue on, looking for

the cute kid with the straight

hair from SHS.

Proud home of the Knights

There he is. Puffing away on his

trumpet. Looks like he is in

1st chair. ^5 to Spencer.

The band director has flaming

arms.Gotta beware of Band

Directors. Looks like Spencer

is still in 1st chair!

A very enjoyable evening listening to the musical talent in our family.

Thanks to the Southwood Jr. High Band for the entertainment.

I am working on getting the concert loaded onto YouTube. Details later.