How I spent my vacation ?????

In retrospect, I had been looking forward to this vacation for a while and had big plans of all I would accomplish with 10 days to myself. Well, my big plans fell short of my goal.
*I did get the kitchen cupboards cleaned and de-cluttered. I finally went to the cellar and found the boxes with the fruit and vegetable pictures for the kitchen and got them hung up (I know it has been a year since the move, and when Sheri got things on her wall, I felt compelled to do likewise)
* I got some painting done (bar stools from terra cotta to white) that I had wanted to do since we moved but never seemed to find the time. OK, there was more painting I wanted to do but it was damp and rainy there for part of the week and I knew the paint would never dry.
*Yesterday was the highlight of my week. I went to Canton with Uncle Roy. He was gracious enough to let me drive his car and go with me as long as I stopped in Cracker Barrel in Watertown on the way there. I got my hair cut and highlighted while the girls had school. After my hair appt we went to see the girls. Did I mention how my much I miss them? It was sooo good to see them and listen to Lael's stories of homeschool and Alyssa's horror stories of the hospital. They both told us how excited they are that Mommy is having another baby. Alyssa said now she will be a big sister! Having to leave them was tearing at my heart.
*I had wanted to get some scrapbooking done as well as some sewing. I do still have 3 more days of vacation, counting what is left of today. I guess I had better get moving here.

Now, I am looking forward to having Matty back. I did not think I would miss him as much as I do. Susan, Tom and Matty have gone to camp up at Old Forge for vacation. Because the weather was so cold and wet, I had imagined them coming home. Alas, they didn't. I guess I can wait until tomorrow to see them.

Strange thoughts

I was thinking about how I find myself doing some of the same things my mother did (despite promising myself I would never do that). Anyway, I was thinking about Matthew and how I see him doing things that his father would do. Now at 13 months, this can not possibly be learned behavior but more like inherited. Example? OK: Whenever he gets out of the stroller he has to go back and put the tray back straight. (His father always has to have everything perfect too) Another example is the container of wipes on the changing table. If I do not close the top as soon as I get the wipe out, he feels it necessary to stand up (in the middle of getting his pants changed) and close the top. After he puts the tray back or the top on the wipes, he gives me one of his huge grins, just so I know that everything is OK now.

A few more hours and Susan and Tom will start their vacation. That also means I will start mine too! Unfortunately, my poor Wm. has to work next week. Susan and Tom have been taking this week for vacation for the last 15 yr; their anniversary is Sept. 14th. I would love to go somewhere but with Wm. working I guess I will be waiting until his vacation in Oct.

On our walks Matty has been pointing and telling me car or truck (cuck) when one goes by. Yesterday he brought Susan a picture of Tom and Lael and pointed to his father and said DaDa. I was hoping for Gramma but so far nothing. If you ask him where Gramma is, he knows. He likes to feed Zoe from the high chair and on the rare occasion she is not there I tell him he has to call her. I called "Zoe, Zoe".......he called "we, we".

Now this may not seem blog worthy to you; but I love it every time I see or hear him doing new and different things.

Maybe with vacation, I will get a chance to see "my girls" OK, Josh and Jackie's girls!

Newsflash from Matthew.com

Matthew finally got another tooth. He has had 6 for months and the doctors told us that more were getting ready to push through. We were playing on the floor, he got laughing and threw his head back and sure enough, another tooth on the bottom, can the one on the right be far off?

Three day weekend

I do love these three day weekends. It was so nice to have the extra day accomplish things.

Matthew went to the doctor's on Thurs. for his check up and shots. He had a great check up. He is 32 3/4 in. tall and weighs 25#. They said he could have a reaction to the shots in 3 weeks and get a rash. He also had a very sore thoat, which would account for his not eating. On Fri morning, during our walk, I noticed he had a rash on the back of his neck. When I changed his pants, the rash had spread to his stomach. I called Susan, who called his dr. They looked at him and said it was a virus. Symptoms are sore throat, rash and sleeping a lot.

On Sat. Susan and I went to the Christmas Tree Shop and then to the Super Wal*Mart. I got really sick and had to come home and go to bed.

Sunday was Uncle Roy's birthday. We took him to Cracker Barrel for his birthday dinner. We went to Susan's house for cake and cookies, etc. Stephanie, Michael and Anthony as well as Uncle Jim came for cake.
*note: Matthew and Anthony are the same height and Matty weighs 3 oz. more. Anthony is 6 mo. older.

Today we finished the grocery shopping,put up the copper star on the porch, Wm. worked on the closet where we plan to put the washer/dryer, made some macaroni and cheese. Yep, the weather is definitely changing. It is cooling down next week.

News Flash: Jon and Donna are having a boy. Donna had a level II ultrasound on Fri. and the sex was determined : male. Josh and Jackie's baby will either balance the scale or throw it over to the other side.

Everything old is new again

It seems like yesterday that Jon Christian was running around "being" spiderman; and in love with anything spiderman. Fast forward 30+ yr. and the next generation takes the baton. Here is
Matty in his new spiderman sneakers and he is off and running with his old fat gramma trying to keep up. Jon never had spiderman sneakers like these......Matty's have lights!
No sooner did I mention how he hates shoes than he has proved me wrong.
"Dogs and kids will prove you wrong every time"

Productive weekend

Weekend started off very well with Wm. coming home from work early. We took Matty to see Wm.'s mother. She will be moving to the "HOME" sometime next week. (this was her choice). It is not as bad as it sounds as Wm. sister, Karen, started working there as the bookkeeper so they will be able to visit everyday.

Saturday, we met Susan and Matty at the mall so we could go to Sears. We got a stackable washer/dryer. I had one when we lived in Canton and loved it. We have our washer and dryer in the basement here. Since it is extremely hard on me to go up and down the steps with the laundry basket, poor Wm. has been carrying it down for me and most of the time he just feels it is easier to do the laundry. Anyway, because we will be putting it in the linen closet just outside the bathroom, we had to find a new place for everything that was in there. This afternoon, we decided to move the contents of the hall closet to the empty closet in the guest room/nursery and put shelves in the hall closet and make that the linen closet. OK, that is done now and the old linen closet is empty awaiting the washer/dryer which we are getting next Saturday.

The washer/dryer was not the only thing we got. OK, that I got. Wm. bought me the stand mixer (stainless steel) that I have been asking for, for as long as I can remember.

Today on the way home from church, we stopped at Marshall's Mega store to see if we could find something for Susan's birthday. I found a few small things and I also found something for Alyssa's birthday ( which is not for another few months, but my DH suggested I get it now while they still had it.)

Yesterday in Sears, Susan got Matthew some spiderman sneakers, complete with lights. At first, he didn't like them but has managed to get used to them and is walking and running better than ever.......look out Gramma!

worth a thousand words?

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words....if that is true all I would really need to do would be share these pictures.

I felt the need to put in both pictures with the dog and her boy (and Grampa). In the first Zoe turned her head, in the second, Matty did. Poor Zoe is really beginning to show her age. Lots of gray around her mouth. Not bad for almost 8 though, I guess She still can't get enough walking time.

In the picture of Matty alone, he had goulash for lunch. He didn't care for the plate but once he dumped it on the tray, he ate all he didn't end up wearing.

the latest from matthew.com

Matthew is walking all over now, running when outside and trying to outsmart Gramma at every turn: He loves it when Grampa takes both him and Zoe for a walk, before and after work. He was trying to pull himself up on the window seat this morning. I told him no and sat down with a pouty look and then the wheels began turning again. In no time he pushed the barn over to the window seat, stepped on the barn and easily climbed onto the window seat. Then he stood up and looked down at me with that grin of his, as much as to say, "how do you like me now, Gramma".

I was eating a piece of zucchini bread for breakfast yesterday. He wanted some so I let him try it. After he sucked off the butter, he ate it and was back for more. This morning for breakfast I made a piece of cinnamon bread toast. I broke a bite off one half and handed it to him. He reached past it and helped himself to the half piece.

He hates shoes (just like his Gramma). He takes off his sandals but actually sits down and cries when Susan puts regular shoes on him. Hope he has a change of heart before winter!

I did make Amanda's raspberry oatmeal bars yesterday. Wm. took some to work as did Susan and I gave some to Uncle Roy. They were delicious. Honestly, everyone who tried them loved them as well. I enjoy baking when the weather is not too warm but I am especially grateful to send things off to work with Wm. and Susan. I like making chocolate chip cookies because I don't eat them.

just more ramblings

* Well, Matthew is on the run now. I have had to make his area smaller in order to stay on top of things. We put a gate between the kitchen and living room and now another between the living room and hall. He loves to go down the hall to the office and get under the desk, jiggle the cords until the screen saver comes on. The screen saver is a picture of him. All of my grandchildren have had their turn as the screen saver. He loves seeing himself on the screen almost as much as he does in the mirror.

* On Friday he was trying to get a little travel clock off the table in the LR. He could not reach it; so he sat back down on the floor and you could almost see the wheels turning. He got up went over to the couch, got a pillow and brought it back and put it on the floor in front of the table. Do I need to tell you he got the clock and gave me one of his huge grins.

* Susan was gone to set up the retail store and warehouse in Rochester on Thurs. and Fri. Tom brought Matty and picked him up both days. On Fri. Tom had his own car checked as it was having a hard time starting. The consensus was that he needed a new battery. He got one and put it in. Susan, Matty and I took Tom's car to Kohl's this afternoon. When we came out after
snagging up some wonderful deals, the car would not start and we ended up calling Tom for assistance. He could not get it started either, so we all loaded in the other car and came home. I feel the need to share the deals at Kohl's with you.......everything was on sale; clearance items had another 70% off the clearance price and because Susan has a Kohl's charge, she got another 30% off the entire total. When she got out her charge card, a gift card from Kohl's fell out and it was more than all the purchases. Definitely worth the trip.

*I just made 5 loaves of zucchini bread and this is the first time I can ever remember having to buy the zucchini. :-( Wm. and I went to the vegetable market yesterday when we were out getting groceries. Tomorrow I am planning to make Amanda's Raspberry Oatmeal bars!

"The infamous sneakers"

OK, here are the infamous sneakers. Lael's are "big girl" sneakers that have to be tied (no velcro here) Black Skeechers with hot pink trim and laces! If that is not enough they came with an extra pair of laces and a watch!!! Alyssa's are Dora sneakers, but not just Dora, Princess Dora and Knight Boots, velcro for little hands and did I mention they light up? And the best part???? We found them on the clearance table. Don't you just love a bargain?

edit: forgot to mention Lael's sneakers also had zippered pockets!

Home again.....home again, jiggity jig

Back from our weekend in Canton with the sweet little girls. Sorry that Jackie's mom could not babysit, but glad we could help out.
We had a good time with the girls. Played, went to gas station for ice cream and slushies (Grampa and the girls special time) shopping at the mall, ate at Ponderosa (both Lael's request). Caught some sales at Sears and got new sneakers.
OK, I had a picture of the fantastic sneakers we got but for some reason, it will not show up on the blog.....it goes through the entire process but even though it says done, it never posts on the blog....bummer!

Matty is walking all over now, rarely does he crawl....what a difference 3 days has made. Grampa thinks I am really in for it now. :-)

On the move

::Tomorrow afternoon we leave for Canton for the weekend. Josh and Jackie are doing an Axis retreat and we are staying with the girls, Tom's mother is watching Matty tomorrow so we can go. Wm. asked for time off, but they are giving him a hard time. He has worked over the last few days and is going in early tomorrow and staying until noon. I have had a headache for past few days and am praying it will be gone by tomorrow.

::Enjoyed being with the family last weekend but it seems we never have enough time. Wonder what it is the girls have in store for us this weekend. I guess Susan will keep Zoe as she and Maxwell feel the need to struggle for the alpha position. Zoe is extremely laid back except when it comes to showing she is the alpha dog, she is old and doesn't want to play and Max loves too. (Zoe never played when she was a puppy either though)

:: Betsy and Kenny, as well as Bub and Deb, are camping up at Higley. They want us to go up with the girls to help celebrate Kenny's birthday. Not sure how that will play out......the girls get car sick, especially on the roads like in Higley and Alyssa can hardly eat anything, not sure I want to take the chance. (better see what J&J think about it first I guess)

:: OK, probably won't get a chance to see anyone while we are up there. We will be going to church in Ogdensburg on Sunday though when we take the girls to meet their parents who are returning from the retreat then.

Playing with Grampa

The kids had one last chance to play with Grampa just before the girls had to take off for the north country. Josh, Jackie and girls as well as Susan and Matty went to church with us yesterday, then we went to eat at Country Buffet . (the glazed shrimp were fantastic)

My beautiful grand-babies

The first picture is of the 2 beautiful Princesses. We went to the Christmas Tree Shop after the party to stock up on princess essentials :-)

The next is of Matty and Anthony in the wagon Gramma and Grampa got him for his birthday. The kids all had a wonderful time riding and pulling each other in the wagon. Even Anthony was pulling.....He pulled Alyssa around. This was all done under the expert direction of Lael.

Has it really been a year?

:Yes, it was just one year ago today that we closed on this house and it was also the day that our sweet little Matthew was born. Where does the time go?

:I find it hard to believe we have been in this house for a year but even harder to think that Matty has been a big part of our lives for a year too.

:Thank you Lord for this wonderful little blessing who was so long waited for.

Blessed

Feeling incredibly blessed: this week I am very blessed to have central air.
Blessed: to have 4 healthy, beautiful grandchildren with two more on the way (due within a month of each other) Guess it is OK to say that now that she has told you all on her blog.
Blessed: to spend the weekend with 3 of my 4 grandchildren. Matty's birthday party is on Saturday so Josh and Jackie are bringing the girls down for the weekend.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being a gramma?

*************************************************************

Wm. and I both had to go for blood work this morning. On the way back home we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts (come on; it was fasting) and got some donut holes. We gave Matty one; when I looked back a couple of minutes later, he had jelly all over his face and a huge grin. (Yes, he often has a huge grin on his face; he is a very happy baby) This afternoon at lunch I gave him his cheese and bologna........I then was cutting his potato into bite size pieces and when I turned back around, he had a piece of bologna sticking out of his ear. Yep, he was grinning again!

I am sure there are those of you who do not feel this stuff is blog worthy, but......

Hazy, Hot, Humid..........Downpours

With the weather unseasonably hot and humid and no real signs of relief even after the rains......not a lot is getting accomplished. I am unable to walk in this heat, despite the fact that Matty goes to the door several times a day, pounds on it and keeps repeating, "go, go". Today, however, Wm. did get most of the front porch painted/stained before the torrential rains.

Susan and I took Matty and went to BJ's. We did not renew our card when it expired. Wm. was not sure we got enough there to make it worth it. Susan has one as that is where she gets the diapers, etc. On the way there, we were driving in a thunder and lightning storm. Parts of the city lost power. (Stephanie had invited us all over for cake and ice cream to celebrate Michael's birthday and Jay (her brother and his fiance were coming from Burlington) She was one of homes to loose power.

Matthew will turn one on Thurs. It is so hard for me to believe this is the same little 5# baby that was born 5 weeks early. Now he weighs more than 25# and is over 29" tall. He is such a blessing and was well worth the wait of close to 15 yr. I do miss the north country and the life we had there, but I am not sure I can even imagine my life without him.

Because of Matty's birthday, Josh and Jackie will bring the girls down. Susan is so looking forward to seeing them......ha, like I'm not! They are back from vacation now and I can not wait to hear all about it from the girls.

The church was packed last week. Now it is smaller because of the construction for the viewing nursery but in all fairness, a lot of people were there for the healing. I do not know how many received healings.
Speaking of the church, here is something you may not be aware of. Eric Trelease and his wife, Jen, have been coming to Faith Chapel. They are living in Marcellus and Eric is working at Handheld in Skaneateles.

Sit and Spin

:: Sit and spin has become a new favorite for Matthew of late. I am sure you are conjuring up pictures of him sitting on the sit and spin and laughing as he spins round and round. Well, you would be half right. He giggles as he sits and spins but he just sits and spins on his bottom on the floor or porch or wherever he might be when he decides to do it. I must admit, I have never seen a child do this before, but it does make me laugh to watch him. We thought once about getting him a sit and spin for his birthday, but why? Obviously, he has just as much fun without one.

:: Saturday has become the only day I have to get groceries, and check out the stores around here. Last week, I told Wm. that I wanted to go to the tent sale. So, he drove to the Syroco plant tent sale. I have always wanted to go to this. It is only one weekend a yr. that they have their tent sale. We got there in the afternoon and all the tan Adirondack chairs like what we had on our porch were gone. They had a lot of other colors and styles though. I ended up getting 3 Bentwood chairs in the same tan color with 2 side tables to match. Now for the best part.......the chairs were $7 each and the tables were $4 each. I was not done with tent sales and after we loaded the car, we ventured on to the tent sale at the Syracuse China factory outlet. Now the prices at the outlet are excellent but the tent sale is unbelievable.....I got some glasses to replace some that we broke in the move for 25 and 49 cents each (depending on the size). If you love hunting for what you want and don't mind picking through a ton of boxes before you find what you are looking for, then this is the sale for you. Their sale is actually the whole month of July.

:: Well, I am very disappointed not to be attending CFC tomorrow when Andrew, Kathy and John Eastmond will be there. I love them and we have been friends since we lived in Pulaski and they stayed with us. I thought that we may be able to see them when they were in Syracuse but just learned that this year they are not scheduled to be here. :-(

:: Faith Chapel is having a healing service with Mark Swiger tomorrow. He is an Evangelist who has served as missionary to India for many years. More on that later.

Dinner at Gramma's

I made lasagna yesterday (because it is always better the next day). Tom, Susan and Matty stayed and ate with us tonight. Actually, Tom's favorite is my lasagna and I guess from the looks of the picture, Matty kinda likes it too.
I was not the one to give him whipped cream (in my defense, it was light) but he loved that too. After all if you can't do it at Gramma's, you can't do it.

Yesterday after church, we had a book signing by Rob Vanderwerf who wrote and illustrated the book "THE CRAFTSMAN" (a picture book teaching God's plan of salvation). The book was written for children 5-8 but I got one for the girls and for Matty. (eventually they will be that age).

Speaking of Faith Chapel, we have begun our construction project. We are building a new "viewing nursery" and a new foyer. We are doing this without borrowing any money and with the church family doing the work. They built the church 6 yr. ago in this same way.

We met the Ashleys and the Regans at Red Lobster in Watertown yesterday evening to celebrate Debbie's birthday. She told everyone she was 25. Well, they say the mind is the first to go! We had a fabulous dinner, however all Debbie could talk about was Carina's performance as well as repeating Louise's lines. :-)

How high's the water?????

Well, it started raining last night, and rained the entire day. Not only did it mean we could not walk but it rained so hard that parts of the city were flooded. Actually, I looked out the back door at 2 and it was raining quite hard. When I looked out again at 4, the back yard was flooded. It was almost like an island where the house was and there was water running down both sides of the yard and out into the street. Some of the streets in Seneca Knolls were flooded, (as well as the 690 off ramp near our house) not ours but there was enough water in them that the teenage boys in the neighborhood were hydroplaning their cars. By the time we got back for dinner, the water in and around our yard had subsided.

Because of all the water, we decided to just go to Kirby's to celebrate our anniversary. We had an excellent dinner and a good time just talking. We will be meeting the Regans and Ashleys at Red Lobster in Watertown on Sunday afternoon for Deb's birthday. I mentioned that because Wm. is not that fond of seafood so even if I did not have it today, I can have it Sunday.

The pictures of Matthew and Morrigan were great (spoken like a true gramma, eh) I am having some difficulties scanning them into the computer .

Please pray for Donna. She is working a lot , working harder and with this baby she is not feeling the best.

More Ramblings.........

Wednesday will be our anniversary; 32 yr. just in case you were wondering. I am very blessed to be celebrating such a milestone with the man God intended for me.

On a lighter note, Wednesday is also the day that Susan gets the pictures we had taken of Matthew and Morrigan at Wal*Mart. Susan had some taken of Matthew alone before we got there with Morrigan. Jon and Donna did get some taken of Morrigan alone too. That was not the plan when we started out; but the sales girl was very persuasive and in all the fairness, the pictures were just so darn cute. This was Matty's first formal sitting. Now anyone who knows our family knows that Susan is the family photographer for all the birthdays and holidays and just whenever the family gets together. She takes her camera bags with her and is prepared for anything!

Not much news here for this post; funny all day I had been thinking about things I could write about and now that I sit down, my mind has gone blank.

Perfect ending

Well, I started last week with Morrigan still here, had Matthew all week long and on Saturday, Lael called and asked us to meet them in Watertown; making a perfect ending to the week. Anytime I can see all four of my grandchildren in one week, it is terrific. Uncle Roy came over to go to breakfast with Wm. so he went along with us. It had been a while since he had seen the girls. He was recovering from surgery to his knee at Lael's birthday and didn't go.

We had lunch in the mall and then did a little shopping. We found some Little House cups at Gander Mt. What are Little House cups you ask? Why enamelware cups like what Mary and Laura used in Little House series.
We also found some cute shirts for the girls at Old Navy. We weren't quite shopped out so we left the mall and made our way to Kohls.

News from Matthew.com : Today Matty was 11 mo. old. He is walking a lot more. He walks holding on to things but then lets go and walks a few steps, stops and realizes what he is doing and gets down and crawls. His new favorite thing is to go into the bathroom and hold his head over the vent and let the air conditioning blow his hair. He can be playing away and once he hears the air come on, he crawls as fast as he can into the bathroom. We have a lot of others but he seems to have some fascination with the one in the bathroom.

Weather here has been very hot and humid. Even though it has rained periodically, it has done little for the humidity. We did not even walk today. The humidity was 93% before 9am. I opted to stay inside where it was cool.

More Ramblings.........

Jon and his family have gone back home to Raleigh, our little house is quiet once more and Matthew and I are trying to get back into our routine.

I dislike having only one bathroom, difficult when there are 2 families here but not impossible.

Loved having them here.....seeing them only twice a year is not nearly enough. Morrigan got to the Zoo and she had her picture taken with Matthew at Wal*Mart. The only things she really wanted to do was to have her picture taken with Lael and Alyssa and she wanted to spend time with them. Guess there is always next year. I really wanted my grandchildren to know each other but with Jon's family in Raleigh and Josh's in Canton their time together is rare at best.

We did have a family get together at Stephanie and Michael's house. Her house is only a little bigger than ours and it was packed. It was fun to see the kids (Matthew, Morrigan and Anthony ) together.

Thanks to Jackie and Danica, I now know what the plants are. I had no idea where to even look for the answer.

They're here.........

Jon, Donna and my little southern princess arrived last night. Today I had Matty, and Morrigan was big help with him. We had lunch at Dinosaur BBQ; wow, that is the best BBQ. Matthew was excellent and a hit with the waitresses.
Donna's sister and nephews joined us for lunch. After lunch I had the opportunity of touring Terry's home and giving her some decorating suggestions; something I have not had the opportunity to do for a while. Although, some people from church have asked me if they could hire me. :-)

The trip to the zoo is scheduled for tomorrow. No, I am not going. It is supposed to rain and I am not one for treking through the zoo in the rain. Susan took the day off so she and Matty can go as did Stephanie so she can take Anthony. Matthew and Morrigan are getting their picture taken together tomorrow morning.

This is a picture of Morrigan and Matty when they took their tubby this afternoon.

Three out of four ain't bad......

We went to Lael's party on Saturday. When did she get so grown up.....5 yr. old, where did the time go? It seems like yesterday we were at the hospital waiting for her arrival.

It was a very nice party....at Jonesy's Ranch in Ogdensburg. We rode on the wagon over some very rough and muddy ground. We got to see some new baby elk. The kids got to ride on a horse too. I am posting the pictures as I know everyone is waiting with bated breath to see three of my four grandchildren riding the horse (OK, Matty did not ride, but it made for a great photo op)

The grandparents from both sides were there as well as Jackie's brother and his twin boys, and Josh's sister Susan (and Tom) and our sweet little Matty. (who by the way, did quite well on the three hour trip despite not sleeping on the way up)

Over for another year........

Well, I got a lot of calls and cards today wishing me a happy birthday. That was very nice, and some were very unexpected.

We went to Kirby's tonight for dinner. Susan, Tom, Matty and Uncle Roy went with us. I chose Kirby's because you can get a free steak dinner if you eat there on your actual birthday. Don't care for steak???? You can have something else if you prefer. I had chicken parm. I love it, can never finish it but Zoe always can. She must be an Italian basset hound as she loves lasagna, spaghetti etc.

Matty was very good, eating off of everyone's plate. At one point he reached over and took his mother's entire steak. :-) No, he didn't eat any but it was good for a laugh.

We all came back here for cake, ice cream and singing, as Wm. had made a carrot cake last night.

Thanks to everyone who called, emailed or blogged their birthday greetings. It is good to feel loved.

Anyone know?

This is a part of the new bed we put in at the front of our house. Does anyone know what the plant is that is next to the rock and in front of the pink impatiens? I have three of them that were in the back yard that we transplanted to this new bed in front. I really like the way they look, just wondered what they were.

I received a birthday card from my girls this afternoon. Am looking forward to seeing them on Saturday! Just a few more days.

Baptism

Aren't we all glad I learned how to download pictures to my blog?

Yesterday Matthew Thomas Hubbard was baptized. He was such a good boy. After he was baptized, the pastor carried him around the church so everyone could meet him.......he just smiled and waved. It really was cute. (maybe it was a location thing, as in you had to be there)

Perhaps I should pack my camera now for the weekend so I do not forget it..

FANTASTIC NEWS

Fantastic news! I am going to be a gramma again. :-) Jon just called and Donna is pregnant. This is a special blessing as she "lost" a baby earlier this year. Jon, Donna and Morrigan will be here next week for Donna's nephew's high school graduation.

More later, this was just such exciting news, I wanted to get it right out!

Matthew.com.........

Where has the time gone?

Very difficult to believe that it is nearly the middle of June. Well, Jackie is not happy with being 28.......try turning 59......now that is old! My birthday is the day after Jackie and Lael's. I am so excited about going up for Lael's party next Saturday. You can not possibly realize how much I miss those girls. We saw them nearly every day when we lived in Madrid and now months go by without seeing them. I realize this was trade off and it was my choice to move here and as I said before, every time I look into Matty's little face, I know I made a good choice. I still miss the girls.

All of Lael's birthday gifts are wrapped and waiting to go. Aunt Susan and Uncle Tom are bringing Matthew up. Stephanie wants to come with Anthony but is not sure she can afford the gas her Expedition would use. I would like for them to come as I feel it is important for families to stay in touch.

Now just in case you are waiting for an update from Matthew.com........ :-)
He is very vocal now; especially screaming and squealing with delight. He has crawling down pat and is walking around holding on to things. He is happiest when Grampa holds his hands and lets him walk through the house. There were workmen out in front of our house yesterday. He was at the window most of the time they were here (when we were not on the front porch). He was hollering and waving at the workmen and they were waving back. When we came out on the porch, they came up to talk to him.

I am very impressed with the fund raiser that Jackie's mom group did at Wal* Mart today......good job, Jackie.

Another week

Well, Josh and Jackie were bringing the girls down this weekend but had to cancel :-( That is most disappointing. On the other hand, Lael's birthday is in just a little over 2 weeks and we will see the girls then. I found a really neat gift. The Christmas Tree Shop has wooden adirondak chairs for kids, the one I am getting for Lael is pink with a princess painted on the back. I will get it tomorrow after I get my hair cut. (yes, I am getting 2, that kinda goes without saying) Betsy and Kenny came down to open Betsy's sister's pool this weekend. We all went to dinner tonight at Red Lobster and tomorrow she will cut my hair. I know, I should find a hairdresser down here but hey, don't rush me, it has only been 10 mo.

Wm. came home from work early today. We took Matty to Skaneateles to see Wm's mother. She was very happy to see us, and was eager to watch Matty run through his repertoire. His sister Karen came in and Matty has only seen her once before but he crawled over to her and put up his hands, she picked him up and he hugged her and then gave her a kiss!

The weather today was much better than the forcast. It rained early on but was very warm and muggy here most of the day. We were able to get in a walk.

On June 4th, the church (Faith Chapel) is having their 17th anniversary. The service will be outside under a tent followed by barbque (pulled pork, chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, salads and desserts galore) There will be special music, games, bounce house, pony rides and here is something you may want to put into practice at CFC this summer, a dunking booth for the pastors and deacons!
This is a FRANtastic event which stands for Friends,Relatives, Associates, Neighbors, (who we invite to share it with us.) This is all provided at no charge. So if you are planning to be in Syracuse on June 4th, feel free to come! Wish the girls could be here (I know, I am whining again. I will see them in few short weeks)

I am hoping to get a chance to get some of the things I wanted to work on outside, done this weekend. I want to get the porch and deck pressure washed and painted or stained, some landscaping done etc. While Wm. hates to shop, going to Lowes and Home Depot are easily tolerated. He won't even mind going to Christmas Tree Store as we will be getting things for his girls. I did some shopping for Miss Lael last weekend with Susan and Matty.

Update: just returned from the Christmas Tree Shop; actually had to fight for the last pink princess adirondak chair. The one for Alyssa is pale green with a butterfly on the back.

a lot about nothing.........

Well, today I hit a new low. Matty and I were actually out walking at 8:30am. I am not a morning person, never have been. I was grateful that Susan brings the baby here and I that I can stay in my pajamas until a more reasonable hour. That is much too early but I knew it would be raining this afternoon and did not want to miss out on walking. It actually stayed sunny long enough for us to get 2 of our usual 3 walks in before the thunder storms came.

IMS (Immediate Mail Service) initiated an employee of the month today at their picnic lunch. In case you haven't guessed by now, Wm. was the employee of the month. He got a gift card to Tully's and the bosses from upstairs came down to tell him that his work had not gone unnoticed. Wm. told us during dinner tonight....just matter of fact. He is really not phased by this at all. I am. I think it is significant and shows that he still gives 100% in his job.

Just in case you were hoping for an update of matthew.com, here it is. Yesterday Matty learned to open the cupboard doors in the kitchen (I know, time to baby proof my house) He was in the walker and I went to change the paper in the printer so I could print out a picture and he did not follow me (very out of character for him) so by the time I got back into the kitchen( no more than 3 minutes) he was dragging a kitchen stool around the kitchen. Yes, he was in the walker, the 30" stool was tipped back and he was holding onto the ties of the seat cushion, dragging it around on the two back legs. He is still chasing poor Zoe around the house with his walker. He shreiks with delight as she runs through the house with him in hot pursuit. Susan has been trying to get him to wave and he wants no part of it. This morning when Grampa was leaving for work, he told Matty goodbye and waved to him. Matty waved back. Now, just to be sure it was not a fluke thing, Grampa waved again and so did Matty, grinning from ear to ear.

I wish the girls lived closer, I would like to take them to the zoo to see the penguin exhibit. Actually, there are a lot of places I would like to take them so I will just have to keep hoping they are able to come soon. It is hard, Syracuse and Canton are only 2 1/2 hr. apart.......so close and yet so far.

Special Mother's Day

My Mother's Day was excellent beginning with church. We are going to become members next Sunday. (we took the membership class last October) I have to tell this story here: When we arrived at church a CD was playing before the service started. Wm. went back to ask if the CD was Derek's and it was. I should not have been surprised as Faith Chapel is an Elim Church, but I was none the less.

Susan and Matty came over for dinner. Wm. cooked some steaks on the grill and we had baked potatoes, salad and strawberry shortcake. We opted for eating at home as we would have had a long wait no matter where we went for dinner as not only was it Mother's Day but SU graduation. Susan took us to Tassone's for dinner tonight instead for my Mother's Day gift. Monday night is all you can eat crab legs! Oh, I love crab legs.

Both my sons called me to wish me Happy Mother's Day. So, Morrigan, Lael and Alyssa wished me Happy Mother's Day. All three of the girls told me the four best words a grandmother can ever hear......."I love you, Gramma". 3 out of 4; and someday I will hear Matty say those words too!

Matty is crawling now and he has learned to move the walker in every direction. He spent a good part of the afternoon running up and down the hall after Zoe. Poor Zoe, it didn't take long to wear her out....after all, Bassets are not known for running (and she will be 8 in Dec.)

And the tradition continues

He started when Lael was little and he would take her for a walk around the block, stopping at the gas station where they would have ice cream. Later it was Lael, Alyssa and Grampa going for a walk everytime Grampa came over. It got so that when we came over Lael would say "Grampa, lets go for a walk".....which seemed to be a code for let's get some ice cream. :-)
Today, Grampa came home from work 15 minutes early and took Matthew for a walk. No, not to the gas station but the ice cream truck came through the neighborhood just then. I was on the back deck when I heard the music from the ice cream truck and by the time I got to the front porch, they were sitting out there having Lael's favorite: a push up. By the time his mother came to pick him up his face was covered in rainbow sherbet; with the biggest grin I ever saw.
And so the tradition continues.......

For the latest news from Matthew.com: Matty has 6 teeth now but is cutting his eye teeth and two more on the bottom, making for one cranky little boy. He was at the dr. office a week ago for his 9 mo. check up. He is 23# and 29 3/4". He weighs the same now as Anthony and is only a couple of inches shorter. Remember, Anthony is 6 mo. older than Matthew.

Got a Mother's Day card from my sweet girls today! Fantastic printing girls!!!

With all the talk of everyone working on their gardens and yards started me thinking that I would like to put in some landscaping around the yard. I have always had Jackie to tell me what to put in and to help show me which were flowers and which were weeds. No, I don't have a green thumb. I think mine is brown. Now with the weekend forcast calling for rain, I am not sure when I will be able to work on the yard. I was thinking today about how much I miss having a lilac bush when Jackie was talking about her's being overflowing with blooms; when the next door neighbor gave me a large bunch. That was an unexpected blessing.

Great Weekend

* It was a great weekend. We stopped to see the girls first and gave them their treasures. I needed to be at Betsy's so we could leave at 12:30 for the Red Hat event in Hanawa Falls. I was very pleasantly surprised at this. There were quite a few different chapters there. I think they said 114 red hatters. (including Potsdam's former mayor; and you will never beleive this: she was not wearing a hat!) It was very well organized and put together.

*I loved seeing the girls. Grampa spent the entire day with them while I went to the Red Hats. We did a little shopping when I came back and after church on Sunday we went to Ponderosa (at Lael's request). Grampa took the girls to Burger King for lunch on Saturday which was Alyssa's choice. I can not say enough how good it was to see the girls. They are growing so much and getting more adorable every time I see them.

*I was very happy to be back at CFC. You are very blessed to have Pastor Rick. It was so good seeing old friends. I have missed you all. The only trouble with coming back to the north country is there never seems to be enough time to see everyone and do everything I wanted to do. We were blessed to stay with the Ashley's; we do so miss them so.

*When I was telling a story about Matthew at dinner on Sunday, Josh told me he must have read it on Matthew.com. I did not realize I was talking so much about him. In my defense, I am with him 5 days a week from 7:30 - 5:30 and usually spend Saturdays with Susan and Matthew. (You know how Wm. hates toting me around and Susan does not seem to mind). When I told her what Josh said she laughed and said all my emails before I moved down here were about Lael and Alyssa.

*I told you I love being a grandmother!

Even more rambling.......

* I am so looking forward to seeing the "girls" on Saturday. We are staying over with Betsy and Kenny so we will be a CFC on Sunday. While I have been anticipating the red hat event since hearing about it and then deciding to come, I feel pressed for time (as always) and wonder if I made the right choice. These are extra hours I could be spending with girls.

* Matthew has new favorites.....he loves yogurt. He has yo baby (yes, Aunt Donna, it is organic) with his cheerios in the morning now. Susan got him some baby bananas and he really likes them too. Not, baby food, but little bananas (like baby carrots). He is still not crawling (for which I am grateful) but he is still on the move. He rolls over and over to get where he wants to be. He can sit up from a lying down position, then on his knees and then he will pull himself to his feet. No, it won't be long now.

* We are still taking our walks, which is good for Gramma as I am no longer using the treadmill. Matthew enjoys the outside and he really does not want to come in when we come home from our walks.

* So, because the girls are not here to check my treasure box, I am taking up a bag of treasures for them. OK, I would never go to visit without some kind of treasures for them.
I am hoping to see many of you on Sunday at CFC.

* And yes, I am bringing new pictures!

*The zoo has reopened the penguin exhibit. The swim tank has been repaired and you can watch them swim and play in the water again. There are seven pairs which have either given birth to babies or will very soon. I heard that this exhibit and the elephants are the ones drawing the biggest crowds. Hopefully the girls will be coming down this month and we can take them and Matty to the zoo.

Ramblings

* Thought I would try the color personality quiz from Deb's blog. Here are my results:

Your color personality is: Green
"It sounds like the hue you most relate to is green -- the color most evocative of nature. Adjectives such as kind, gentle, and contemplative likely describe you. You enjoy being involved with your neighbors and coworkers, but you also require plenty of time to yourself to recharge.
You are social yet introverted, and modern but not trendy. Surround yourself with your signature color to create a restful, soothing environment. From sage to hunter, green can work well in virtually every room of your house. Use it generously to create a haven you'll love coming home to."

Well, while I think this is a pretty good description for the most part, I really do not think that it could be said that I enjoy being involved with the neighbors and coworkers. I have always thought of myself as homebody who keeps pretty much to herself. I do love green and different shades do create a soothing environment in quite a few rooms in our house.

*Not much for a "newsy" blog. (not that any of my blogs are newsy) Am excited to being spending next weekend in Canton. OK, we are staying with Betsy and Kenny in Norwood for the night. Our first stop will be Canton to see the two little princesses. We used to have a tradition where I had a box that my father made and filled it with "treasures". I loved making my trips to the Dollar Store for "treasures" to load in the box. I loved watching the girls go through the box to pick out the perfect "treasure". I see my treasure box every time I go downstairs to do some wash. I feel bad that it is just sitting on a shelf, kind of like a tradition has died. Oh, yes, I can still bring it upstairs and load it with treasures when they come and eventually, Matthew will be old enough to pick through it. All this is probably silly, after all it is only a box with dollar store treasures, but the smiles on the girls faces when they found the perfect "treasure" said it all.

* The weather has been so great this week. Matty and I take a walk in the morning, and then one after lunch and a short one just before Grampa gets home. Matthew loves outside and the bouncer, I mean he really loves it. I dragged it out on the front porch so he could jump and I could rake the front yard. He is trying very hard to crawl. He gets up on his hands and knees and then he start rocking. Almost, won't be long now.

* Morrigan (along with her parents) will be here for a week at the end of June. Looking forward to that as it seems like forever since we saw her.

* I almost forgot, I finished the Mitford series. I loved them. Now what? Any suggestions?

Did I mention?......

:: Did I mention how much I love being a grandmother? I do, I love it. I miss the girls terribly but the trade off is spending every day with my sweet Matthew. I love how he cuddles and how he laughs when you even mention Grampa's name. I love to watch him try to do new things and how he giggles when he sees Grampa come in from work.

::When Susan took Matthew to the doctor for his cough and cold last week, they told her Matthew had a mouthful of teeth on top ready to come in. It looks like 4 but they have yet to break through.

::Just yesterday we had some firsts. I laid Matthew in the crib for a minute and when I came back he was sitting up in the middle of the crib with a huge smile on his face. Not sure who was more excited, Matty or Gramma. I had a bottle half full of water and I set it on the night stand and laid Matthew on my bed while I called Jackie.....he sat up, reached over and took the bottle and then laid back down and drank it. He had not taken any interest in taking his bottle on his own before this.

::He loves jello. I had made some and out of sheer desparation with him not wanting any baby food, I tried the jello. He finished the tablespoon I had put in his dish and wanted more. He wants nothing to do with jar baby food......if he can't feed himself, he wants nothing to do with it. Susan got him some veggies that look like cereal. He can't get enough. He likes his cheerios too.....but what kid doesn't. Zoe picks up any that fall around the high chair!

:: I have solidified plans for Easter dinner. Dinner will be here with Susan, Tom and Matthew and Uncle Roy. I would love to have the girls here too but that is not possible.

::Two more weeks and we will be coming north for the weekend. I am looking forward to spending time with the girls, Maxwell (the new addition to their family), friends and coming back to CFC for Sunday service. I am coming up to attend a Red Hat event in Potsdam. I do miss the Red Hat meetings and ladies. I had big plans of joining down here but the meetings are Wed. night and I just never went. I am so glad for this opportunity to fellowship with the Red Hat Society Divas; I hear they have added some new members since I left.

More Ramblings

:: My father in law did not survive the bypass surgery on Wed. Everyone seems to be handing it pretty well but I would still covet your prayers for the family and for the memorial service.
In leiu of calling hours there will be a memorial service at his church on Saturday afternoon.

::I am feeling better but I am still coughing. A loud barking cough that still startles Matthew and can wake him from a sound sleep. The doctor told my mother in law, who also has it, that the cough will last up to 2 weeks. Just what I wanted to hear.

::This is the first time since I can remember that I have made no plans for Easter. I guess we usually spent it with the "girls" and with Susan, every other year( every other Easter they eat dinner with Tom's parents). Tonight at dinner, Wm. asked me if I was cooking or we had plans. The truth is I have felt so bad that I never even gave Easter dinner a thought. Also with both Wm. parents being hospitalized and then with his father's passing, I guess that plans for Easter were not a great priority.

Update

*Figured that updating might be a good idea since it has been a while. We have been sick. I mean really sick. We went to Watertown Saturday evening March 25th to celebrate Betsy's birthday. Deb Regan called and wanted us to meet them at Applebee's for a "party". This way we all drove 1/2 way. (handy how Watertown is the same distance from Canton as it is from Syr) On the way home, Wm. got sick and things escalated from there. He took Mon. and Tues. off from work and actually stayed in bed (Wm. does not do sick days) By Tues, I had come down with it and Matty did not come the remainder of the week. We are feeling better but the cough continues; a loud barking cough that wakes Matthew from a sound sleep.

* Wm. father had been scheduled for bypass surgery last Friday. Today again, they said his sodium level was too low and it was postponed. Now, they have him on a salt free diet and are feeding him dill pickles and potato chips. (Not sure I understand the reasoning behind this, but then again, I am not a doctor. )

* On a lighter note, I found a children's clothing store, not far from where we live that carries brand name clothing at discounted prices. They were running a penny sale this weekend. If you purchased 2 items from the clearance racks, you got a third for a penny. The reason for going in the first place was that Matthew is fast outgrowing all he was given and needed new pants. We did get him a outfit and a pr. of pajamas on the clearance rack and then got a light blue zippered sweater for a penny! They carry tons of kids clothes from birth to size 16. I saw some great Laura Ashley dresses for the girls. Can't wait to take them there.

*That is about all the updating I can manage as my cough is getting to me again. I need to go to bed and pray for sleep. I seem to fall asleep only to wake right back up coughing. How long can this last??????

Update on the weekend

*Wasn't the weather on the weekend fantastic? We took advantage of it and went to Canton to see Josh, Jackie and "the girls". By we, I mean Wm. and myself of course, but we took Susan and Matthew along with us. What fun to have 3 of my 4 grandchildren together. I love it.....did I mention how much I love being a gramma? I love watching the older ones interact with Matthew. Lael was a huge help with Matthew and Alyssa helped feed him his bottle. Josh bbqed and Jackie made macaroni salad and cole slaw and deviled eggs. She had a made a variety of bagels and had them waiting for us when we arrived. She enjoys entertaining and she is very good at it. Bagels were fantastic.

* I definitely need prayer....I start watching Anthony this week. He was here this afternoon just to get used being here with Matty and me. He fell right into the big boy role, even at 13 mo. It was a riot to watch him go to Matty and hug him if he started crying or pat him and kiss his cheek. They we both sitting in the big rocker together and decided to put their arms around each other......I wished I had had a camera in the LR but of course leaving them to run and get it was not an option. My brain seems to already be fried today. I put a roast together and turned on the oven to preheat during nap time and it was not until I went to the kitchen at 5 pm to get Anthony a drink, that I realized I never put the roast in the oven.

* I was so excited that Matthew got a tooth last Thurs. but on the way home from Canton, Susan found a second one had come through.

*My life seems to get more hectic every day. I would like nothing more than to be able to come to Canton and stay long enough to see some of you and to get to go to CFC on Sunday morning. I guess are planning to come up the last weekend of April. (Mark your calendars!)

HALLELUIAH!

*Halleluiah, Matthew finally cut his tooth. This has been so long in coming, I was beginning to wonder if it ever really would come.

* We are considering a trip north Saturday...we have not decided if we will stay the weekend or not....just know that I am really missing the girls.

* Jackie, I did check on the Dora, pirates, at the Landmark in May. It is only on two week nights. As far as the zoo goes, it is open every day except 3; Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year's. I think waiting until the snow leaves is probably wisdom.

* And to all of you who read the Mitford series books, you are right, they are so good.....I hate putting them down. It has certainly been a blessing for Betsy to loan me the entire series.

I'm home

* I'm home! Loved the sunshine and the warm weather but like I always tell Donna...house guests and fish both begin to stink after 5 days. :-) The best part was being with family. Morrigan has grown up considerably since Thanksgiving. (I am all about Barbie now, Gramma)

* Flight down had a lot of turbulance, we had a commuter flight and winds were in excess of 30 mph. Flight back was much better and we had a bigger plane, still commuter though. I have to admit, I was quite calm the entire time we were in the air. Thank you for your prayers.

* Morrigan's birthday party was the coldest day we had down there. The sun was beautiful and the kids didn't seem to notice it felt cold. There were 17 kids and pony rides, many varieties of chickens, pot belly pigs, etc. The kids had the time of their lives. There were Barbie and princess presents and even a Barbie bride cake.

* Monday we had the chance to spend the entire day with Morrigan. We tried to take her to the play area in the new mall but it was closed for cleaning. We were forced to make a day of shopping! We had lunch out and after supper we went along while she had her tumbling and then dance classes. It was a 1/2 hr. of tumbling and balance beams, etc. and then another 1/2 hr. of tap and ballet.

* We left on Tuesday morning but the sun was already shining brightly. It was 65 there today and Fri. it should reach a high of 80.

* I enjoyed our time with Jon, Donna and Morrigan but missed my sweet Matthew. Seems that Grandma Hubbard took good care of him while I was gone. I was very excited to have him again this morning. We fell right back into our routine. It was amazing to see the new things he learned in the 5 short days we were gone. He is now rolling over, and over, and over. Before he stopped at one roll. He is also putting his arms up when he wants you to take him. (we had worked on it before I went but he was only putting up one hand)

It's been a while.....

It has been a while since I last posted (almost a week) so here it is:
*Friday was quite a day. Winds were up to 70 mi. an hour and the power went out at the house at 8AM. That in and of itself was not too bad but it seemed like everything we have used electricity. It began to get very cold in here and I called Susan to see if she wanted me to have Matthew's other Grandma come and get him. She had no electricity either. By 1:15, the power was still out and Susan came and got us and took us to her house. It was warm, the power was on so Matty and I could even watch the big screen TV if we wanted to! Our power was on by the time Wm. got home.

*Betsy and Kenny came down for Carol's (Betsy's sister) birthday and we had dinner at Tassone's. Betsy found me a used crib in excellent condition and Susan got a new mattress for it so now Matthew has a regular crib in his room at Gramma's house.

*Stephanie has asked me to watch Anthony for her 3 days a week as her sister in law fell and broke her leg and now has a plate w/9 screws in it. I will try it when I get back from NC. Not sure if 2 small boys is too much for an old fat grandmother or not. On the plus side, only one is walking....on the other side, one 6 mo. old and one 13 mo. old may be too much.....we shall see.

*Friday, 2/24, we leave Rochester for Raleigh. Morrigan's birthday is Sunday. They are planning the party at a ranch with horseback riding, pot bellied pigs, chickens, and other farm animals. The kids can ride horses and interact with the animals. What a shame Lael and Alyssa can't go!

weekend update

*I was very blessed by Sunday. After church, we took Susan and Matthew with us and met Josh, Jackie and the girls in Watertown. I can not begin to tell you much having three of my grandchildren together meant to me. I can say without reservation, that after a few more times with the girls, Matthew is sure to become a veteran shopper. Lael was an absolute riot.....I found a jacket I liked for Alyssa in Old Navy but she(Alyssa) said "No, no Gramma, I want something purple" and proceeded to show me a pink and purple skirt. Alyssa liked it and it looked good to me but Lael said "A skirt for Alyssa, what are you two thinking"......"Alyssa, look around for something that you will actually wear". Susan and I were in stitches. She ended up picking a pair of rain boots (pink with flowers) which she assured me she needed as a rat ate a hole in the ones she had in the back room!

*Lael gave Matthew his bottle of juice and an arrowroot cookie. ("the entire thing, from beginning to end, all by myself") I am amazed by this child. Maybe because I miss her (both of them) so much, that she seems to have grown up so much in the weeks since I have seen her. Alyssa's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds but then she has Lael for a role model. Have a mentioned lately what a great job I think Jackie does with the girls. In my opinion, Josh has the perfect wife for himself. He is truly blessed with Jackie.

* What I thought would have been dinner out ended up being Wendy's. What and/or where we ate however, was not important........I was just blessed to have two of my children and three of my grandchildren with me for the afternoon.

* Well, today being Valentine's day, my sweet Wm. offered to take me out to eat. Since we did not have reservations anywhere, I opted to go to the grocery and then pick up a pizza on the way home......now, I am sure you are thinking I have a terrible diet (Wendy's on Sunday and then pizza tonight) but I actually do cook good food on most nights. Josh called this afternoon and asked if I got anything from Dad for Valentine's day, I told him I did not need a gift to know that my husband loved me. I have known that for 30+ years!

Yes, I am definitely blessed!

Did I mention?........

* Did I mention that we are going to be able to go to NC for Morrigan's birthday? Jon and Donna insisted they purchase us tickets to go for the weekend. :-) PTL I am very excited to be able to go as we have never missed her birthday before. We talked about going but decided that driving was not an option for a weekend and it was too expensive to buy tickets considering we could only stay a few days.

* One thing I really miss being down here is our friends. We were blessed when Betsy and Kenny stopped here yesterday on their way to their granddaughter's birthday in Rochester. (While it was only for a few minutes, I welcomed the chance so see them. Next weekend they are coming down for her sister's birthday and we will all be going to dinner, HORRAY!) Now, I have read on all of your blogs, that everyone has read or is reading the Mitford Series books; I had been wanting to read them as you all seemed so into them. Betsy has them all and brought them down so I could read them.

*Tomorrow is shaping up to be a fantastic day......I read on Jackie's blog that their company left earlier than anticipated, so we called and asked if they would meet us in Watertown after church tomorrow. Once they agreed, we called Susan and she and Matthew are riding up with us. Now what more could a grandmother ask for than to spend the afternoon with 3 of her 4 grandchildren. (OK, maybe to spend it somewhere other than the mall, but then again, I will take what I can get)

* We got our computer back today. They guarantee their work for a year, so that is good. Wm. shall have to wait until I finish blogging to hook it back up. I am so grateful to Susan for letting us borrow her notebook. When we went to Skaneateles to pick up the computer, we stopped to see Wm.'s mother and father. They seem to be doing OK; not getting out much but doing OK.

* Another Card baby born last night......Hannah-Leah Card arrived at 10:30 pm. Her father will be heading back overseas within the next few weeks; she and her mother will be going to spend time with Dana's parents in GA. Stephen will not be returning to Ft. Drum when he gets back but going to Ft. Benning, GA.

Just Another Sunday

*Worship was especially good this morning. Pastor Lee continued on week 3 in his series "Becoming a Compassionate Congregation".

*I have never been sports oriented, didn't matter what it is, I have no desire to watch any sports on TV, and yes, that includes the SuperBowl. So while there was no SuperBowl party here, we did have dinner here again with Susan, Tom and Matthew as well as Uncle Roy. I must admit I am enjoying these Sunday afternoon dinners and I am becoming much more domestic down here than I ever was in Canton. Oh, I cooked and occasionally baked but lately rarely a day goes by without my baking something. Wm. takes his lunch to work since we have been down here, something he never did before, so I do like to make little treats for his lunch. I have to make more than a little or he never gets any himself.

* Matthew was six months old on Friday. I find it very hard to believe that he is the same 5# baby who came home from the hospital. He is sitting in the high chair now (and loving it) . He likes cereal and he loves vegetables, but not fruit. He will not eat any fruit unless you mix it with his cereal. He is gumming away on his arrowroot cookies with the biggest grin you ever saw. I guess no one would be surprised that he is now 18#.

* We did not even attempt to go north this weekend. The weather reports, even yesterday. were for lake effect snow and having lived in Pulaski for seven years, we know how bad it can get and decided it was better not to take the chance of having to drive through it. I find myself missing the girls more than I thought possible. We do call and talk to them but it is still not the same as holding and kissing them. Oh, I miss that!

*Yes, I do hold and kiss Matty all day long and now he even kisses me back. OK, I know he doesn't really kiss me but when I say "Matty, give your old fat Gramma a kiss"; he puts his open mouth on my cheek and then he giggles.

*Speaking of giggles, you would not believe how he giggles when he jumps in the bouncer. His legs are so long that we have had to raise it up twice. He jumps and giggles and giggles and jumps. I love it.

* I got a talking photo album in the mail yesterday from Donna. It has pictures of Morrigan's life since she was born and a little recorded "I love you" message from Morrigan. Did I mention that Jon and Donna do not want us to miss Morrigan's 4th birthday and have offered to buy us airline tickets to come for the weekend of her birthday? I was sure we would miss it for the first time since she was born. What a blessing!

* Hopefully, the weather will be better in a week or two and we can make the trek north. I do miss it and all of you much more than I expected. There are advantages to living down here but the single most drawback is that the girls are still up there.

Whirlwind Weekend

* This has been a whilwind weekend for me. Saturday was a baby shower for Dana (Wm's neice). Susan and I went and took Matthew. He made a big hit with all there, especially when he took a little power nap in Hannah-Leah's new bassinet, which he just managed to fit in. The shower ended at 5pm and at 6pm we came home to pick up our husbands and we off to dinner at Tassones with the other side of the family. Matthew and Anthony were both very well behaved. Jason (my sister's son) was here from Burlington with his girlfriend. We had never met her before and had the opportunity to do that.

* Sunday was Anthony's first birthday. Stephanie and Michael had the party at Michael's parents' house. Now there was a party that was definitely over the top. There were 40 people there and it was catered. It was fun to see the little cousins interact with each other. Anthony was the oldest and Matthew was a day older than Aidan, and he outweighed him by quite a bit. Aidan however, had been bigger at birth. Funny! During the picture taking, Matthew kept putting his arm around the other two. Too cute!

*Today was a gorgeous day....record high of 54 and sunny. (It was so nice in fact that Matthew and I took a little walk. Just to the corner and back but when I tried to take him out of the stroller he screamed, so we kept walking.) I know that this will change as the week progresses. The cold and snow is moving in.....I knew it had to happen sometime but I have been perfectly happy with the mild temps and green grass. Reality check, Linda, you still live in NY and it is still January!

*I had hoped that we would be able to spend the weekend in the north country but the weather forecast does not look too favorable. In fact, at 6pm, they said the travel north this weekend would be bad.....YUCK.....I did so want to see my precious girls....I miss them so much.

*We have the opportunity to go to Raleigh for Morrigan's birthday. Donna called and she really wants us to be there....we have not missed one yet.....she said they would send us airplane tickets if we would come....PTL. Because of his job, we would have to go on Fri. night and come home on Monday......we'll see.

More Ramblings

*I find it hard to believe that it is already January 24th. Where did the time go? It doesn't even look like January, there is a dusting of snow but for the most part, the lawn is mainly grass. I do not like the snow; hard to beleive from someone who lived in Pulaski; but then that is another story altogether.

*Matthew is still trying to cut his teeth. He spends most of time chewing on everything he can. He is more interested in chewing on the nipple than taking his bottle and chewing on his spoon rather than actually eating. I feel bad there is not much I can do to help him. Doesn't matter how cranky he is during the day, there is always a big smile for Grampa when he gets home.

*Well, our computer is still down. Wm. thinks that it probably can be fixed. I, on the other hand, do not.....but then what I actually know about computers could fit in a thimble. Yes, I am computer challenged. We know other people who have spent a small fortune on repairing their computers and I think it would be like throwing good money after bad. Right now it is totally useless, it will not even boot up so we can not get the old files, pictures, etc off. We are blessed to have Susan's notebook (unfortunately we have no access to our address book) so unless you are in Susan's address book, or send me a note first, I am unable to send out any emails.

*Again, I am thinking about the grandchildren and how much I miss Lael, Alyssa and Morrigan. True, it is wonderful to be with Matthew but the reality has finally set in that we will probably not be able to go to NC for Morrigan's 4th birthday next month. This will be the first one we have missed. Wm. has always been able to take time off when he wanted to but this job is different. I really do not see them giving him a week off to go to NC after only working there for 3 mo. Stranger things have happened I suppose :-)

Ramblings

*Our computer died on Saturday. Susan loaned us her notebook so we can check our email etc. I guess you do not think about something unless you no longer have it. Strange, how I just took it for granted; I could come in the office anytime, and it would be on.

*Matthew is still trying to get his teeth in. He has been cranky much of yesterday and today. This is very out of character for him....he is usually such a happy baby. I feel so bad that there is nothing I can do for him. He has been gnawing on everything he can get his mouth around, including Gramma's shoulder.

*Our 60 degree temps on Friday have given way to snow and cold temps Sun. and Mon. and today it is freezing rain. I was really beginning to like the warm weather. Reality check.

Random Thoughts

* Did I mention how much I love being a Grandmother?
And of course, mine are absolutely the most adorable and most intelligent grandchildren ever :-) Last night when Susan came to pick up Matthew, we were discussing the fact that we thought he was adorable but other people have stopped us in the mall, at church, etc. to tell us how beautiful he was. She called from Tassone's last night. Seems they went out to dinner with Stephanie, Michael and their 11 mo. old son, Anthony. Someone came up to Susan and told her that Matthew was so beautiful, he should be in commericals. See, he really is adorable. Maybe it's those cheeks.....that is the first thing people seem to comment on. OK, now I know what you are thinking, spoken like a grandmother. Last weekend when Josh and Jackie were here, Jackie said he had beautiful eyelashes.....in fact, she said they were so long they looked like he had fake eyelashes. I love spending the days with Matthew, watching him grow and learn new things daily. That said, I miss the girls terribly. I look forward to visits but the time we spend together is much too short.

* Our cozy little house was filled again on Sunday afternoon for dinner. This is a little awkward since we have no table......OK, we have a table but it is downstairs (no room up here) The plan in the beginning was to put the dining room furniture down in one end of the family room. There is counter in the kitchen with stools so right now that is where we have to eat, or on tray tables in the living room. On Thanksgiving we moved our table upstairs but that is too much work for Sunday dinners. I need a solution.

* The weather here has been beautiful. It is January and the temperature is 49. The weather report said rain for tomorrow but sun on Thur. and Fri. with a high of 55. I love it. Unfortunately, snow on Sun. and a high of 28. I shall enjoy the good weather while it is here.

* I have not taken the kissing ball down; I know what I said, but Matthew loves the lights. Besides, when I made it last year I did it with artificial greens. I still see wreaths up after Christmas, why not a kissing ball!

New Year - New Beginnings

I am grateful that the New Year offers new beginnings.....we have another chance to make new resolutions and rework the ones we didn't complete last year. Yes, I know that we have that chance every day but there is something about the New Year that makes it feel "official".

I have begun with spending more time in my devotions and prayer time (grateful that Matthew takes a nap); back to reading the Bible in a year, but this time with a different program than before; and I am determined to eat better, and exercise more. The hard part here is that this cozy little house has no place for my treadmill and it is downstairs in what is supposed to be the family room.....right now it is more like a storage room for all the stuff that didn't fit on this floor when we moved. Let me rephrase this....it is not being down there among the boxes that is hard, but just getting down there. Last year the doctor in Canton took me off the arthritis medication and I am OK with that considering all the side effects. With no medicaiton it is very painful to go down stairs to say nothing of using the treadmill once I am down there.

I still have to finish the sewing I projects I alluded to before. Eventually, I suppose.......

wonderful weekend

I can not tell you how blessed I was by this weekend. Josh and Jackie were here with the girls for the weekend. Josh help Wm. insulate the attic. (thanks, dear) Now while Josh coming to help is father insulate was in and of itself a blessing, the real blessing came for me in having 3 of my 4 grandchildren together.

Saturday, we went to the mall while the guys worked. We had a great time shopping and having lunch. It was so enjoyable to spend the day with my daughter and daughter in law and my grandchildren. We did find some great bargins, ie, the girls cowboy boots! I am not sure who was more tired, the baby, the girls or gramma.

Sunday was wonderful.....Josh, Jackie and the girls as well as Susan and baby Matthew joined us at church. I was truly blessed. After church, we were planning dinner at home (not sure how much planning there was to this as I only went to the store after church) Because Josh and Jackie decided to leave for home Sunday afternoon, (because of the weather between Syr. and Watertown) I opted for sandwiches. (Lael said it was a buffet, and I guess it really was) Wm's parents and Uncle Roy also joined us, as did Susan's husband. Tom.

I had thought that the new house was small.....I have decided it is cozy. We had it filled but really not crowded. Today the decorations were taken down, actually the Christmas tree got knocked over yesterday. No, it was not that bad, it was a tabletop tree and I had it on the window seat. OK, I did leave the kissing ball up. Matthew loves the lights (me too) but if you saw his picture on Jackie's blogspot, who would not want to kiss those cheeks.

I am in awe of Lael. I think she is 4 going on 20. She was very mothering with Matthew and she helped me make dinner on Saturday night and then she cut vegetables and made a shrimp cocktail for the buffet. She did as much work as I did trying to pull something together in a hurry. I am sure you will think I am the typical proud grandmother, but she carries on a conversation like an adult.....not a 4 yr. old. My sweet little Alyssa was adorable as she tried to hold Matthew and helped feed him his bottle, he is almost a big as she is. I do miss them so since the move down here.

I was definitely motivated by Pastor Lee's message yesterday. I am making a plan for the new year and William shall hold me accountable. I need more of Him!