Book Sale Success!

The book sale was awesome. This year they were letting fewer people into the building at a time and it was much less chaotic. I even managed to shop the children's section... twice!

Me, Dan, Kelly, Jessica in line

See how bundled up we are?

It was only in the 50s... brrr!

The line in front of us 

The line behind us

Our haul

We purchased 57 books for about $120.00... quite the bargain.

We're already looking forward to next year!

Thanks for Your Prayers...

Storm was released from the hospital late Monday afternoon. Since he's been home, he's gotten his appetite back and is moving around quite well. Thank you for the prayer support you gave us during this time!

As you can see from this photo, Mom and Dad are relieved and Snow and Storm are only interested in watching Netflix. Thankful that their lives are getting back to normal!

Cousins

A few weeks ago Jessica, Adam, Storm, Snow passed through Kansas City on their way to Branson, MO for a family vacation with Adam's family. They coordinated with JD and Janel to join up together in Kansas City for a visit.

This was the first time Blizzard got to meet relatives from JD's family (except for me and Dan). They provided me with cute photos of the cousins all together for the first time.

I would have been envious, but since I knew I was traveling to Kansas a week later I managed to restrain myself😉

Seriously, I can't wait until Thanksgiving when JD, Janel and Blizzard plan to travel here. I'm eager to have ALL of my grandkids together!

Snow - ready for take-off

Storm - a seasoned traveler

Meeting Blizzard

A Happy Mother's Day

Hope you all enjoyed a great Mother's Day yesterday. Now that my kids are all grown with families of their own my Mother's Day is spread over several days. Two weeks ago I celebrated Mother's Day with my daughters with pedicures, lunch, and shopping. We had a fun, leisurely day. On Saturday I celebrated Mother's Day with my husband by going out for breakfast and then more shopping! Yesterday I celebrated Mother's Day with my mom, Jessica and Snow with lunch at Tagliani's and then, you guessed it, shopping! I must admit I'm almost shopped out.

Here is the sweet photo that appeared on my phone yesterday morning with the caption of Happy Mother's Day...

A Stitching Post

I finally finish finished the Easter Egg Patchwork project for Jessica. You can't tell from the photo, but it's on crystal fabric from Picture This Plus. I love the frame and the way it turned out.

Now I'm working on a stocking. I just didn't want to take the time to take a photo of it. I'll have an update at the end of this week. 

It feel so good to have a completion!

Going Home

Jessica and Snow headed home yesterday. After three nights in the hospital I'm sure they're looking forward to some peace and quiet! I ran over there yesterday for just a minute to drop off some items and to get my baby fix. There's just nothing in the world as peaceful as holding a new little person!

Snow's going home outfit - love the headband!

She looks so tiny in the car seat

Snuggling with big brother

The expression on his face is priceless!

Snow!

On Friday, February 19, 2016 at 5:44 pm Snow arrived in Phoenix! She weighed 7'14" and was 20 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful!

Me and Jessica before the big moment!

A proud Grammy with Snow less than an hour old!

Mommy with big brother Storm and little sister Snow

Storm is checking Snow out - he's not sure about her yet!

Yes, Gramps is already wrapped around her little finger.

There Will Be Snow in February in Phoenix

I know, the title of this post is a bold statement, but I can 100% guarantee that there will be Snow in Phoenix in February, at least at my house!

As you can see from the photo above, Storm is going to be a big brother! The new baby is coming in February and her/his name on my blog will be Snow.

In case you're new to my blog, let me explain. I don't want to use the kids' real names on my blog for security/safety concerns. Since I'm totally obsessed with weather, I decided to give them all weather related names. So far (in order of birth) we have Sunny, Skye, Thunder, Storm, and now Snow. Poor Thunder! I see he is the only one without an "S" name!

We are very excited to welcome our fifth grandchild! I know the time will fly by because this time of year I'm busy planning the holidays. We'll hold the baby shower the second weekend in January, then the VNSA Book Sale is held the weekend of 2/14, and then it will be time for the baby to arrive.

I can't wait to find out who is coming so I can start stitching on his/her Christmas stockings...

Congratulations Adam, Jessica, Storm!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I will admit it without shame. I love my birthday! I have always loved it. I'm not much for getting unexpected gifts, but I love to receive gifts on my birthday, Mother's Day, and Christmas. I am also not coy about sharing my age. I am 59 years old as of today. And proud of every year. I think aging is a huge accomplishment. Especially when you think of all of the experiences, challenges, and opportunities that make up a year of our lives.

This year to celebrate, I chose a party at Peter Piper Pizza. It was held yesterday at lunch. I chose this option for two reasons; 1) the grandkids would love it, and 2) I finally got to play some games and win some tickets myself!

Dan and I got there early to order the pizza. He bought 100 tokens and I started playing. My goal was to win as many tickets as I could and then distribute them among the three older grandkids. Woo-hoo! By the time they had arrived I had won 350 tickets. They were so excited.

Skye gave me a birthday card that she had signed herself with a picture of me drawn on the back. Thunder gave me a cave that Batman hides in (I slipped it back into his mom's purse when the party was over) and Sunny gave me a yellow #2 pencil (un-sharpened) a Hello Kitty ring, and a dime. Awww, what great gifts that hey all picked out themselves!

Jessica baked my favorite - Angel Food Cake. We had a marvelous time!

I still have several freebie and discount email "gifts" that have arrived this month. So far, the only one we've used is the free burger at Red Robin. I have the rest of them stacked up and ready to use this week.

All in all, 59 is fantastic!

Thanking Skye for her flattering drawing of me

Sunny, Skye, Storm, Thunder 

Helping me blow out the candles

Storm wants to play with Thunder, he knows those slots mean something!

Gramps and Sunny winning a race

Skye "letting" Daddy win

Thunder and Skye

Sunny and Storm

Me with three out of my four babies,

I miss you, JD!

Now Why Didn't I Think of That?

I have started my morning devotions this year with the Chronological Life Application Bible. I'm enjoying it, especially all of the extra information that's provided on each page. Jessica and I were talking about devotionals the other day and she gave me a great tip. I have always highlighted verses in my Bible, but she takes it a step farther and writes the date next to the highlighted verses. Now why didn't I think of that? All these years and it never occurred to me. I'm starting now...

What a great way to look back and be reminded of why/how God spoke to you through His Word. She also writes notes in her Bible. I used to do that when I was young, but have gotten away from that practice. Maybe it's time to bring it back.

White Elephant Party

We held our 2nd Annual Family Christmas Party this past weekend. It was a blast! It featured, games, prizes, singing of carols, White Elephant Gift Exchange, Desserts, and Appetizers. Since it's a family party, I tried to find games that we could all play from the youngest (well, not quite, Storm couldn't play) to the oldest.

I had read a blog post about a Candy Cane Scavenger Hunt game that a mom used to teach math concepts to her kids. I adapted it for game night, hiding candy canes all over the house. Obviously the person who found the most was the winner - it was Thunder! He found 32 candy canes. We also played Christmas Bingo. I also adapted a baby shower game by handing out jingle bell necklaces to everyone. If anyone was caught saying "Christmas, Thank you, or gift" they lost their necklace. The winner had the most necklaces at the end of the night - congrats Matt!

The food was delicious, the carol singing was enthusiastic, the gifts were creative, funny, and yes, even useful. I've already started searching Pinterest for games to use next year!

Me, Katie, Sunny, Thunder

Dan and I with the grands

Gabe, Sunny, Katie, Thunder

I love these kiddos!

Me and my girls

The winner of the Candy Cane Hunt!!

Matt and Storm

Matt and Shelby with Sunny

Matt brought the best white elephant gift.

It was a can of Pringles and a gold fish - fish and chips!

Sunny and Thunder were ecstatic that they now own a fish.

Yes, I'm Behind...

I haven't posted since before Halloween! Goodness gracious, I wish I could give you a good reason why, but I can't.

Today will be the first of my catching up posts. Halloween was such fun this year. We went over to Jessica and Adam's house for trick-or-treating. They live in a great family neighborhood. Tons of kids. Tons of parents out with the kids. Lots of houses decorated to the hilt with scary or funny costumed characters in attendance. The kids got a lot of candy (even Storm!) and they looked very cute in their costumes.

Here's a peek:

Storm chose a Mutant Ninja Turtle costume (haha)

Storm's 1st Halloween

Cowboy, Turtle, and Super Girl patiently waiting to go trick-or-treating 

Let's go already!!

Katie, Thunder, and Sunny at one of the decorated homes

Wow! Great haul for his first time out

Official Three Month Photo

Oh my, I can't believe Storm is already three months old! We managed to get our official photo made in addition to some cute cousin photos:

Official Three Month Photo

  

Boys Day at Grammy's house

Thunder has a tight grip on Storm

Gramps came home just in time for a photo

I think Storm has had it with the picture taking!