Adventures with Annabelle

Well we have met Baby Annabelle. We have been in Denver for two days. My 92 year old mother is with me. We call her Nonna. Nonna is very good with all kids. For some reason they just love her. Maybe they just sense she is old and not running around doing stuff like the rest of us. They also sense she is easily manipulated like most of us grandmothers. Annabelle pretty much has us wrapped around her little finger. He has different little variation of cries for different needs. Her real deep cries are for hunger and stomach cramps. She gets a lot of those followed by a fart or a poop. They seem to make her very uncomfortable. But she she has another cry for pacifier or switch my position or both lol.

She is happiest in the morning. After her breakfast, she is at her best, a true morning person like her dad I would say. She will coo and smile and play. She will stare at you with adoring eyes and win your heart over all over again. She seems fussier in the afternoons. She loves going outside whether or not she is in the stroller. She lets us know if she is cold and baths aren't her favorite thing.

By the way, she has her mom's blue eyes but it seems her hair is growing in brown like her dad's. If you put her baby pics next to either her mom's or her dad's you can't tell the pics apart. I look forward to seeing what she looks like when she gets older. She is truly a beautiful child.

I love being a grandmother but I have to say. I am glad my true child rearing days are over. I will always be here for my kids and grandkids for I love spending time with them but I must admit I am happy to give them back when I am done! Grandkids are truly a gift from God.

Ethan, I can just picture him :)

Tonight, I have two priceless stories to tell. One told to me by his dad and the other told on Facebook by his dad. Yes, I know, kind of sad to learn about things from Facebook but I guess at least I know the stories, imagine them, and hold them in my heart.

The first was a trip to the park. Ethan walked to the park with his dad. In the park there was a large fire hydrant type of thing that acted as a hug water supplier to the kids. New York can be pretty hot this time of year. I guess Ethan started walking towards it and got kind of sprinkled and ran back to dad. Then he got a little braver and ran in just a little closer and ran back to dad.

The then got braver and did this back and forth thing getting wetter and wetter and giggling more and more till he went in completely and got himself totally wet. Dad was not as smart as the mom's in the park. The moms brought towels, my son did not. lol. He will have the towel next time. I can just picture the smile, the laughter, the giggles on little Ethan's face each time he gets braver and braver.

The other story from Facebook is that now my grandson is an expert at climbing on the coffee table and standing on it. When he is up there he calls to dad to come and catch him when he jumps off. Yes, I can picture it too. I can remember similar instances with my own kids but I really wish I could be there to enjoy it all. I feel like I miss so very much. But I guess just hearing about it and enjoying it in my own imagination will have to do.

On the other hand my grand daughter is learning how to smile. One day, my daughter told me, she got the hang of it. The next day she had forgotten how to do it and was trying to figure it out again. I hope she has it down pact in two weeks when I am there. I am expecting lots of smiles from that little one. I can't wait to see her. I will tell you all about it at that time.

Welcome Annabelle

My beautiful granddaughter was born on June 16,2010. Her name is Annabelle Katherine. She is so very beautiful. She was 7 lbs 1 oz at birth and 17.5 inches long. She has brown hair and for the moment dark eyes. She has a little round face. Her daddy tells me she isn't fond of eating and she sleeps all day and is up all night. I got to see her on video this evening and she is so very very cute. I hear she is the loudest member of that little family. That must mean she takes after our side since our side is definitely louder than her mom's side of the family. They are quiet people.

We are feisty. Well what do you expect from and Irish/Italian mix. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger already. I can see it in his eyes, in the way he looks at her.

I want to say that one of my greatest joys in life is seeing how my sons interact with their children. How they got to be such great dads I have not a clue. Maybe somewhere along the line hubby and I did something right. But I really want to give the credit to God. Without Him I could have messed up really badly. I do also want to thank Him for her health and that everything went well in delivery. I am thankful for the way He watches over those little families.

Anyway, I didn't want to leave anyone in suspense so the news is now out!

Yes, Ethan again and other things.

My mother and daughter left for Italy this morning. They will be there for three weeks. What will I do with myself you may ask. The list goes on. I got on the computer and I saw my son on there. Naturally, I couldn't resist asking about my grandson Ethan. He's sick was the reply, but then talked on about some things I wanted to share. Things I don't want to forget, because when Ethan is older I want to tell him about it. It also connected to several things I have wanted to blog about the past month but just haven't been able to concentrate enough to do it.

I am happy to say that Ethan is finally getting out more with the better weather. I was sent some pictures of him hanging out at Barnes and Noble surrounded by books. My daughter brought home a delightful video of him chasing a little girl. Poor Ethan, he was quite at a disadvantage, because the little girl could quickly get up and run and Ethan crawling after her, was not fast enough. At that time, his crawling was somewhat better than his get up and run. Now I understand he loves being chased, and on video chat I watched with great joy as his dad chased after him. He ran away and started laughing. His laughter is quite contagious and it so warms my heart.

His nanny is now taking him to the park. He loves the swing. He is a child after my own heart. This grandma loves to swing as well. I too recently went on a swing. There is a wonderful park near my other son's house. We went to take a walk there and I saw the swing. Naturally, I couldn't resist getting on it. I discovered how much exercise swinging is. It works the arms, the legs and the core. You can do it for a long length of time without getting too tired. And when I closed my eyes I could imagine flying. To be specific flying into the arms of God. Got my 90 year old mother on there too and though she couldn't go as high she enjoyed it. Well back to Ethan. His dad told me this morning that he loves swinging so much he won't get off. That kind of forms congestion in the playground lol. Anyway, I know how he feels. I was unhappy to discover that my local school playground does not have swings in it. How sad for a child to miss out on such joy and exercise.

My granddaughter is due any day. I can't seem to think about anything else. She doesn't know how much she is loved already and how anxiously everyone is awaiting her arrival. I can't wait to see her and so very soon I will return to blog about her as well.

I wanted to share one other thought with you. The other day outside our home we saw a daddy quail and about 8 to 10 newborn quails with him. They must have been about one inch in size. The momma was nowhere to be seen and it was very obvious daddy quail with lost without his mate. He and babies ended up on our driveway. He couldn't get the babies up the driveway curve into the grassy areas because the babies were to small to jump that high. I tried putting a branch and an wood piece on the driveway to see if I could get them to climb onto them and onto grassy area but daddy quail wasn't smart enough to figure that out. Instead he took the babies under his wings underneath the wooden plank and protected them. At one point a big bird came around and the father quail attacked it. Quail don't fly unless they absolutely have to. And this one did. It was all very impressive. It reminded me of how God does the same for us. How he will take us under his wings and protect us. How he is always there when we need Him. It was such a wonderful reminder to be, so humbling and sweet to watch all of this. In the end my husband gently led the daddy quail and babies down the driveway and around so they could get onto the grassy area. Haven't seen them since. But I thank the Lord for the experience. God's creations are so awesome.

Ethan at One Year

My little grandson turned one this past weekend. I was there to see it. My mother and I few to New York for this big event. He turned one on Easter Sunday. Of course I brought and bought him many gifts. But I want to tell you about the one he really liked. I bought him about in the Christian Book store. I don't remember the name of it. But it has a button on the top. If you push the button it sings a very short song. The words are:

When you look in the mirror

you'll see his touch.

Cause God made you special,

and he loves you very much.

I would often sing with the son and he would just start to giggle. Most of the time when he was crying it would sooth him. It was truly amazing.

He now walks by himself. We bought him some shoes and by the time I left yesterday he seemed content with them on and was walking around in them. He was very afraid of walking in them at first. He was a lot of fun to watch when we took him to the park yesterday morning.

He loved watching all the children play. There was a little boy coloring. He walked up close to him to see what he was doing. He seemed so fascinated with his world.

Not only is he teething again but he is also in clingy stage. He has 4 favorite people. Needless to say I am not one of them. His mom and dad, his other grandmother, whom he sees very very often, and his nanny. I am looking forward to the day when he is older and do cool stuff with him and it won't matter if I don't see him every day because he will remember the places we go together.

Ethan plays well by himself. When he starts to focus on something he has great concentration. He will ignore everyone in the room. It is fun to watch him chase a ball around the room. He does that by crawling. He has learned to throw little toys over his shoulder. Yesterday he was crawling around dragging his pj's all over the room. He loves the noise of anything hitting the wooded floor. He will throw anything like tv controls and toys. He loves to turn off the bathroom light and he cheats playing with his pop up toy. He has trouble with pushing things down or turning levers so the little pop up guys come up. So he throws the toy on the floor and the pop up guys pop up. Then it is easy for him to push them back down into the box. This little guy is brilliant lol.

He enjoys playing Peek a Boo. It makes him laugh. His favorite part of the day is still bath time. He is very excited when he knows its that time. Honestly I would be excited too but not of the bath, but of the massage his mother gives him afterwards. I am all for massages.

He seemed to enjoy his Birthday party, though he had no idea what was going on. He was indeed surrounded with total and complete attention. I think he was quite happy with his Birthday cake as well. I know I was. The food was all delicious. What an all around great weekend it was.

Three beams of light.

Starting to recover but a long way to go. It has been a difficult couple of months. It took about a month for my father to get to his final resting place thanks to the Italian government and all their paperwork and delays. In the meantime moving my mother into my home was not an easy ordeal. She wanted to bring the kitchen sink with her. I told her there was no room for two kitchen sinks. Now we are going through the process of negotiating space for the stuff she brought. But their are three gorgeous light beams that puncture though all the commotion and difficulties. I brightest one of course is Jesus. As Easter approaches rapidly I must remember to what He did for me. He died and rose to save us from our sins. I am reminded everyday of how much I need him because no matter how hard I try I just don't cut it on my own. Enough about me I am sure you are sitting at the edge of your seat to hear what the other two beams of light are. Or have you already guessed. Yes, yes one is Ethan and the other is Baby Girl who is due to arrive in mid June.

It has been a long time since I have told you about my little Ethan. He is now about 22 lbs and as handsome as ever. He is an extremely intelligent little guy. You think I am being partial?

Well, let me tell you that at 10 and a half months he got angry with the rocking chair. He was trying to pull himself up on it but of course it was rocking and he was unable to do so. So he pushed the rocking chair to the well and then stood up. That that is an intelligent boy. He now can walk holding on to one hand. His balance still is quite there. But one of my greatest joy was seeing his this past weekend and I did get to watch him take several steps alone from his dad to me. He has the cutest little habit with his pacifier. Every few second or so he flips his pacifier around. Someone will be holding him and he brings his little had up to the pacifier and turns it upside down. He is adorable. He has taken quite a liking to his great grandmother and gives her much joy. He is very picky about what he eats and who feeds him. Only his mother, the nanny and other grandmother have the joy of that. I hear he opens kitchen cabinets at home and takes all the goodies out and plays with them. He knows exactly the order to open those cabinets too, because if he tries the wrong one the other won't open.

All I can tell you right now about Baby Girl is that she is growing bigger each day and she loves to dance. She loves chocolate cake too. One night her mother baked a chocolate cake and had some. Little Baby Girl started dancing her little heart out all night long. I hear she has quite a kick. I am looking forward to the baby shower in May and meeting her in August.

My Father's Death

Don't know where to start or what to say as usual. There are some emotions I can't express here because as much as I would love to they are too personal even for this. But I must say that I am blessed that God gave my a best girlfriend or two in whom I can turn to and express anything and everything my heart desires and know I will never ever be judged. I did not cry at my dad's funeral. I have a different way of grieving. I do the busy thing. I have to keep busy and focus on something, anything else. I am a Martha. (Remember Martha and Mary from the gospels.) I have to do. I have to pick up the phone and inform people. I can't sit down. I need busy work just don't put me in the kitchen! So that is what I did. Then at night when all is quiet I can then allow myself to think and let loose in the privacy of my room, with no other people around.

My father was two weeks short of 95. He died in his sleep. He went to bed and never woke up. That is the best way to go.

The wake and funeral were perfect just the way he would have wanted it. God went before us and helped me prepare everything. The funeral home was great. You know they can read your mind. They know what you need before you do :). I know that that they are supposed to do that but it still amazed me. I mean down to the smallest detail like Thank you notes. I was thinking oh I need to buy thank you notes and there in the packet they left me were a bunch of thank you notes. Too bad they don't write them for you lol. My daughter did a great job writing the obituary and my son's Eulogy was absolutely incredible. I was blessed to have all my children here and my daughter in laws for wonderful support. As I said. God went before us in every way.

So now its over and the real work begins. I ask my Lord to go before me once again to help us move my mother in here with us and to sort through everything. Sorting through everything is not so easy. But as the the Lord says with God we can do anything.

Skiing a love-hate relationship

There was a time when I loved to ski. There was no hate except getting up at 6 am so my husband could be on the slopes for breakfast by 8. We would have a front row parking space. If we were in the second row we were running late. We would be on the first lift ride up with the kids in tow. We would ski till the lifts closed with a lunch break somewhere inbetween. I very much enjoyed being out there in the fresh air, zooming down the mountain side and trying to keep up with the rest of the family. That was our Sunday, almost every Sunday for many many winters.

One winter, I got hit by a snowboarder, tore ligaments in my shoulder and couldn't ski for awhile. The only thing that did was make me paranoid of snowboarders, went back to skiing and nothing else fazed me for many years to come.

But somehow, time passed and I got older. We no longer ski every Sunday. In fact, except to spend an hour at the gym in the morning we hang around the house all day Sunday. You might say we have become old boring people. We relax and do our own thing. But once a year we spend a week at Snowbird ski resort. That is where I am right now. Even that started out as a total blast. We have ski in and ski out capabilities. All we do all day is eat, sleep and ski everyday for a week. Heavenly right? But one day I realized I wasn't 30, 35, 40 or even 45 anymore. Energy became more difficult to come by. One day I was skiing happily down a slope I had skied down hundreds of time and I fell. I didn't just fall I tumbled it my head on the ground hard my ski came off half way up the mountain and I fractured my leg. Actually, Thank God I got off the hook very easily. It could have been much worse had I not been wearing a helmet. We had only started wearing those the year before. But fracturing my leg made me think a lot about life. I don't worry much about death because if it happens I am gone, I'm with God and all is well. What I have come to fear most is pain and suffering and all the things I can't do if I am hurting. So, the love started to dwindle a little and the hate started to appear. Now I am not at all saying I hate to ski. I still love everything I have always loved about it. I can't ski as long as I used. But now I fear falling. I fear skiing on icy terrain. I fear getting hurt. In comes the hate. Now the question is will I eventually give into the fear and hate and stop skiing altogether or will I come to terms with the fear. I am still trying to figure this out.

In the meantime, when I am out there I relay totally on God's protection.

Christmas Memories

As the Christmas season is about to end all we are left with are pictures and memories. I would like to share some of them with you, the memories that is. I have yet to learn how to put pictures onto this blog.

On Christmas Eve I took Ethan to his first church service. It was the Children's Mass at my parent's parish. I actually love this Mass and go every year. I love watching the children, and I love the music. Ethan was extremely well behaved. He is very curious and takes all the sights and sounds in. He watched everything and everyone. He stayed in my arms almost the whole time. There was this cute little girl just a couple of weeks younger than Ethan. She was staring at him and cooing. She kept trying to get his attention. She eventually did. He watched her for a few minutes. She was smiling he was very serious. Then he turned his head and his attention went to other faces and people. As my mother and I watched this scene we giggled. Then came the icing on the cake. I got to bring my grandson to the alter to have him blessed. It was a privilege and an honor to be the first to introduce him to God and bring him for his first blessing. I hope I will have many such occasions in the future. I was told in the past that Jesus must have been around 8 or 9 months old when the wise men came to him bearing gifts. Seeing how Ethan was with others makes me think of how Jesus may have been when the Wise Men came. How he would have looked at them and cooed and giggled.

I mentioned in that past that Ethan tried to talk and have conversations. This has temporarily stopped. I was told because he is teething. He has two tiny pearly whites on the bottom gum. He does love to be held and it is so wonderful to see him look at me with adoring eyes. He doesn't seem to have much trouble being passed around from one person to another in the family and when he is in a good mood he sometimes goes to the friends.

As far as opening presents, he doesn't have that quite down yet but he does love paper. It was fun to watch him tear it up :). All in all we all enjoyed the wonderful week together. I can honestly say I really miss my little guy and I miss his parents too. My other son and daughter-in-law will return to their home tomorrow. I will miss them both very much but I look forward to meeting the child they are to have in June. I am lucky my daughter is still with me for another couple of weeks.

The Best Christmas Ever

The time has finally come! Christmas is here and the house is filled with family. But the Christmas treat is having my grandson here. We had another wonderful experience today. We were blessed to see a live ultrasound of our new unborn baby. My other daughter in law is pregnant now. She is at 14 weeks yesterday. We took my mom with us. She had never seen anything like that. The new little one was very active.

The meeting between my mother and Ethan was a very emotional moment. No not for Ethan but for my mom. She started to tear up. As I sit here and write this, she is in the living room having a blast with that little stinker. Let me tell you how spoiled he is. He will not eat store bought apple sauce in a jar. It must be freshly made. Guess what his mom is doing right now? lol

Ethan is a riot. He still can't crawl but he gets around with an army crawl. Let me tell you his crawl is pretty fast too. He is so enjoying the attention. There are 9 adults in this house at his beck and call and we all enjoy playing with him. He laughs more now than he used too. I just love sitting around watching him and of course holding him and hugging him and kissing him. I guess the greatest thing of all is that he will come to me. He recognized me right away.

There will be more coming up as the days go on.

Christmas time with a baby in the house.

Christmas is almost here.

Again I don't know where this is going tonight but I felt I had to write. I went to Mass tonight, Yes, I worship in the Catholic Church, and the deacon gave the "sermon" or whatever they call it now. I found it very interesting because I felt he was right on as to what I have been feeling all week. This is the first Christmas in years where I have felt an unbelievable amount of joy and peace. You might say that I basically have it all, I have much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful family a grandson a grand baby on the way, my husband and kids are employed, I don't have to go out and work, a warm house etc. I am extremely grateful to God for providing all these things to me but it has been more than that. Since Advent began I have actually felt Christ's presence. You have to understand that I don't feel that often and every Christmas for quite a few years I have not felt that at all. I honestly don't know what has changed unless it is me. I know I won't always feel this way but I am enjoying this feeling at the moment. The deacon told us that Jesus is the reason for the joy. I have been studying a section of the psalms this year and they have made it very very clear that God is truly with us always, that he cares about everything we do, that he protects us and watches over us. What is different is that I am truly trying to take this to heart especially the Trust in Him statement. I have become frazzled several times in the past couple of weeks but I have told Him that I trust him and have truly tried to do that and I guess he honored that by filling me with joy. This is not the joy of excitement for Christmas though I am because I am expecting all the kids to come, but a peace that surpasses all understanding. As the deacon told us Joy begins with the letter J as does Jesus. Jesus and joy go together. I liked that.

I have also found a peace in having everything finished early though in the past everything was still done early and yet there was no joy. I have found great joy in going to church on Sunday. That too doesn't always happen. I want to thank my God for this joy and hope that he will give me this peace even as the house settles down and the children leave.

I sit in front of the tree in the evening and look at the manger. I think of my grandson as being the age of when the wise men probably found Jesus. I have been told that it took them several months from the moment they saw the star till the day they found him. I have had time to meditate on the shepherds that saw the star and went to that manger and saw the baby. I have thought about being one of the shepherds and how cool would that be to see that star and find a baby. If I found that baby what would I say? What would I do?

On that note, I say goodnight. More will come as the family arrives. I believe that this is meant to be a very special Christmas that will be unique. No other Christmas in this family will ever be the same with the same joy and peace as this one. Thank you Lord for this special gift.

Grandchildren What A Blessing!

As I was waiting to fall asleep last night, I was thinking about writing in the blog today. I had the most joyous encounter (if that is possible with a 7 month old over the internet) with my grandson. I wanted to write it down because I then print this blog and will show it to my little one when he gets older. I want to treasure and remember all these special memories of him. Last night I saw him again on internet video. He turned 7 months yesterday. So I started to sing him Happy Birthday and he looked up at me on the computer and started to sing too. Oh my gosh how cute is that? Let me tell you it made my entire day. I couldn't stop smiling the whole evening.

I know I told you that Ethan means strong and he is mentioned in the Bible in 1 Chronicals 15:17,19. But what I didn't realize till a few day ago, when my other son happened to mention it, was that Ethan was also a musician (percussionist) in King David's band. He wrote Psalm 89. It talks about the reign of David and the great things God has done. It praises God. It is interesting that God showed me this before I heard my little grandson sing. It warms my heart

even more.

At the present time I am studying the Psalms of the Assent. I just finished Psalm 127. It talks about the joy of children and what a blessing they are from God. Vs. 3 Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. I have been blessed with three and the greatest blessing of all is the frosting on the cake, the grandchild.

Let Me Tell You About My Grandson 3

It isn't easy being a long distance grandmother. The trip from Utah to New York is very long. Flying isn't as much fun as it used to be. But it's all worthwhile when you have a smiling little face at the other end.

Ethan is getting cuter by the day. He has quite a personality. He is 6 months old now and he knows he is boss. He knows how to manipulate and he not only has his mother but also his dad wrapped around his little hand. He doesn't have to cry for very long to have someone run to his side to pick him up. I confess I did the same thing while I was there. He is very loved and he has two great parents and he knows it and knows how to take advantage of that. Babies learn fast!

He hates wearing clothes, (what baby does after all there was no such thing as clothes in the womb) and his favorite time of day is bath time. That comes in the evening before bed. As soon as he is in his little tub he will kick his feet and splash all over the place. He is fun to watch. He doesn't like his face washed.

He is starting to eat solid foods and he loves his applesauce. He also eats sweet potatoes and while he was there he tasted grapes from his aunt and his naughty grandmother (that would be me) put a little vanilla ice cream on her finger and he liked that too. He was going to start pears after I left.

He rolls over by himself now but he does not crawl yet. He can sit up but hates being on his belly. So he will sit starting at the toy in the distance. He will try to reach for it but not far enough that he will fall over on his belly. If he is put on his belly he will do his best to roll over. On the other hand he wants to walk! If you stand him up he is all excited and can almost stand up by himself. He can sit in his big round bouncy chair and bounce up and down for hours. This chair has music. When the music flips on he will bounce to the music like he is dancing. In fact, I think he will be a good dancer when he grows up. But best of all I love his conversations. He will look you straight in the eyes and start babbling. Of course the only two distinguishable sounds are ma and da but he is having a conversation. From time to time he will stop and if you respond he will continue talking. I just so enjoyed listening to him from the moment I got there till the moment I left. All these things will remain in my heart. I look forward to Christmas where I will see them all again.

Changing the subject I did have an interesting time on the plane. They now have internet. It is not fast enough to play computer games but certainly enough to surf the web and I chat with friends. I was able to have a free taste of this on the way to New York and it was really fun. I hung out on my computer till the battery ran out.

Quilts Quilts and More Quilts

There have been books (other than how to...) written about quilts. I have never read any of them but I think I am beginning to understand why it makes me think so much about my life. Maybe God inspired women to make quilts so he could teach us things. This past year I have put together 4 quilts I think. I wrote about one of them in a previous blog. My best quilt was the one I made for my grandson. It is the most beautiful piece of work I think I have ever created. I felt so incredibly satisfied with it that I kept thanking God for the inspiration, the equipment etc.

But it is the quilt I just finished that made me think the most. This quilt was quite a learning experience. It is by no means a perfect quilt. I am not a perfectionist and will never be. This quilt was a kit as most of my quilts are (other than the baby quilt). Though it is a square, it is built on the diagonal instead of straight up and down. So you build from the corner down. It makes sewing it a bit more difficult because it has a way of stretching out of place. The top came out pretty nice considering I didn't use a walking foot, like I should have. I didn't want to just leave the top plain. I wanted to embroider this quilt. I decided it was too big to machine quilt it by hand so I found a lovely machine embroidery that would fit in the square. I must say it was quite a challenge to center the three layers in the embroidery hoop to machine embroider it. There are 69 squares in this quilt. Anyway, many of the squares are not centered perfectly. Then I picked another pattern for the rectangles. Again not all of them are centered either. To make a long story short, the short sashing is bunched up with the little string of embroidery and the large sashing has a most beautiful design but isn't perfect either. Yet, I would look at the quilt from afar and think it was pretty cool and as a whole not bad, actually pretty. I then thought about myself. I am like that quilt. I have so very many flaws. I am just like that quilt, bunched up in some areas and definitely not always aligned in God's will. There is so much for me to improve on and still learn. Yet, God looks at this quilt that is me. He sees the flaws but he looks at the big picture. He sees the quilt as though it was perfect and he loves me anyway. He loves me like the person who will receive will love it because that special person will know how hard I worked on it and how much love and passion and frustration went into making it.

Breckenridge

We are now on the second part of our vacation. I am presently in a room full of people so let me see if I can actually write this in a coherent way. My husband arrived in Denver on Sat. morning. He had been visiting his family in Ohio. We left Sat afternoon to here to Breckenridge. The only disadvantage I see here is lack of consistent internet but other than that this is a lovely place and we are all having a great time. We are in a three bedroom condominium walking distance from town. I have yet done much looking around in town because we have been so busy doing other things.

I think I mentioned I have a bucket list. Yesterday, I was able to cross one item off of it. We all went White Water Rafting. We took a beginners trip and had a really good time. We learned the basics and were out for about an hour and half at the most. We wore wet suits, jackets, helmets and a life vest. It was quite cool and the water was freezing. Now if they could just figure out a way to warm the water........

Today's activity was a bicycle ride. Our tour so to speak started near Vail. We picked our bikes and the company drove us to the top of the trail. We rode down. They made it sound as though there was no exercise involved, but it turned out that once we passed the town of Copper Canyon it was relatively flat. We actually had to do some work with the pedals. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. We stopped in a couple of places and took pictures. When I was a young girl I loved riding bicycles and I kept remembering those times. I feel a sense of freedom as I ride alone with the breeze on my face. The weather today was perfect and so was the day.

Tomorrow the outlet malls? lol

4th of July

Our vacation this year consists of coming to Denver to visit my son and daughter-in-law.  I must say Denver is much nicer a place than New York.  It is a beautiful, clean city.  Though the weather these days is rainy the temperature is comfortable and my daughter and I are having a great time.

Today was particularly fun.   We went to the arts fair.  You have to understand that the week prior my daughter, her friend and I went to the arts festival in Salt Lake City.  Though it had improved much from about 10 years ago when I went last, Denver's art festival was much more fun.   It was much bigger with more of a variety of artists.  I was particularly intrigued with one booth.  The artist at this both created small quilts and purses.  They were made of applique but different from the usual applique.  She used a different technique which is difficult to explain.  My understanding is that she laid all the pieces down and sewed it all together with free hand embroidery.  But it looked different than any applique I had seen before.  I was intrigued.

We spent some time at the mall where I bought I Life for my computer had delicious barbecue for dinner and went off to the fire works display. 

I love color.  I love bright bold mixtures of color and light.  Seeing fire works live is one of my favorite things to do.  We were right up there close and personal.  There was fun music in the background.  Fireworks make me feel like a little girl again.  Watching them reaches into my heart and sole like nothing else does.  Fireworks with fun music is an incredible experience for me and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it.  I tried to capture it in pictures and on video.  I love my new I phone.  The video I took with it I though was impressive.  The kids will have to teach me how to post it on Facebook.  All in all this was an absolutely wonderful day.  

Nature Around Us

Good morning all.  Another beautiful sunny day.  Spring is over and summer has slowly crept in. This is the time that goes by quickly.  The next two months will fly by and then the rush and struggle of the Christmas season will be upon us once more.  I have a lot to say about the Christmas season but I will leave that for future discussion at another time.

Summer comes complete with lots of action.  As I look out the window these days I see some very happy flower plants.  That would not be the roses and lilies that have been clobbered by the deer lol , but the peonies and other flowers that the deer don't enjoy munching in.  There are two Grouse (they are big black and blue birds that have a horrible screachy sound ) and a couple of little squirrels clobbering the cherries on my cherry tree.  Outside my bedroom window there is a nesting Robin.  The robin is definitely my favorite.  She sits there all day long.  From time to time she will leave the nest but for very very short spurts.  I have wondered what she thinks about all day.  Sometimes I see her get up and look inside the nest.  Probably checking to see if her little eggs are ok.  Then it looks like she moves them around with her beak.  Watching her take such good care of her little ones fills me with joy.  God often talks about how He takes care of his creation.

Speaking of creation I miss my little grandson.  My daughter-in-law had to go back to work. My heart goes out to her.  I know how difficult it is to leave little Ethan all day long.  God created us to take care of, watch over and protect our young ones like that little robin in the nest.  But I also know that God will be watching over and protecting the lovely lady to who taking care of him and Ethan will always be happy to see his mom when she gets home.  I was able to see Ethan on internet yesterday.  He has grown so much since I last saw him.  You should see how he holds his head up by himself now.  I haven't seen him laugh yet but I know he smiled at me. He looks directly at the computer screen now. 

On that note I encourage you to take the time and smell the roses if the deer hasn't gotten to them yet lol and when you do think about the great beauty God has created for us.

Let Me Tell You About My Grandson! Part 3

My time is almost over and I will be leaving for the airport soon.  Sigh I will miss being here though it is good to get home.  I must admit that I miss my sewing machine, but not that much. lol

I have some more things to share about Ethan.  I honestly don't remember if I wrote any of this already and I don't have time to look back and read what I have already written since it is almost time to leave but here goes.  

Ethan loves his swing.  His swing has a little mobile with rainforest animals the circle around his head.  He loves sitting there watching them but only for a limited amount of time.  I think he gets bored after awhile but who can blame him.  He is very very smart and moving animals have got to get boring after a while.  He has learned to drop his binky when he wants attention.  We are sure he drops it on purpose because then he cries and we put it back in his mouth and that is attention.  He will repeat this over and over again till he has permanent attention ie being held lol.  Told you he was intelligent!  Oh he loves lying in mommy and daddy's bed.  He always stops crying when they put him there.

You should see him on his belly.  He is starting to lift his head up.  He has really strong legs and with his legs he can inch himself forward.  He still needs to strengthen his arms.  He does get frustrated after about 15 minutes.  Oh and did I tell you he loves to dance.  I will pick him up and start to dance with him in my arms and he loves that.  He is so quiet and happy when I do that.  The best part he loves to have my nose touch his.  When I do that he gets a big smile and makes gurgling noises.  Yesterday he was staring at a stuffed bear and was making gurgling noses at it too.  See I told you we have conversations.  He is also starting to like it when I kiss his belly.  

The poor little guy has lots of gassy problems so his tummy hurts a lot.  When he really cries hard and pushes his little legs into a curl you know he is hurting.  He will be a great soccer playing someday.  I told you he has strong legs.  He can't keep socks on.  He will kick them off in minutes.  I didn't think that was possible.  I had to see it with my own eyes.  Also I watched him grow.  I am sure that he gained a wee bit of weight and grew a tiny bit while I was here.  He definitely looks bigger today than he did 4 days ago.

That is all I can think of for now.  I will be leaving shortly right back to my routine.  Luckily I will have the joy of visiting my other son and daughter in law shortly.  I am very very blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Let Me Tell You About My Grandson! Part 2

I will make these short and sweet because there are many distractions in my son's apt.  Right now there are two grandmas her me and the maternal grandmother.  She loves to cook and she is a fabulous cook.  Not my thing better her than me I must say.  She comes over and cooks for the kids often.  She will cook then food for the whole week.  Me I could fill their home with quilts if they asked.  Not as useful, I understand but it is what I enjoy.  I honestly wish I enjoyed spending an entire day in the kitchen but it would drive me nuts!

Ethan loves to dance.  I love to dance too so we have something in common.  When I dance with him in my arms he just leans on my shoulder totally content.  He loves to have his nose tweaked.

When you touch his little nose he smiles.  He loves his vibrating bouncy chair and his swing. He also loves going out.  He falls asleep in the car and stroller with no problem.

Ethan and I have had several interesting conversations.  He has communicated to me that his stomach cramps really bother him after he eats.  He tells me he loves me just by the expression in his eyes.  I have started teaching him how to say his prayers and started teaching him about the 5 piggys.  You know you the one that went to market and the one that stayed home....

He doesn't quite understand that so he doesn't smile at that yet.  He has told me how cool his hands are and how he loves putting them in his mouth when they are free.  He told me it hurts to scratch himself but he can't control his hands enough not too.  It really frustrates him that he can't communicate his needs and thoughts to us properly yet.  I told him not to worry that we will be patient with him and that in time he will be able to.  I have told him about all the exciting things we will do together when he gets bigger.  I told him about the zoo and the children's museum.  I started to tell him about how Jesus loves him and how as time goes on I will teach him all about Jesus.  I told him about all the great books I have at my house that we will read together when he comes over.  He told me how much he loves to sleep in my arms.  

I told him how lucky he was to have wonderful, loving parents and how I will always be there for him if and when he needs.

I must say that I had forgotten how difficult infants are.  I am glad I have raised my kids.  Being a grandmother is truly wonderful.  We can hold those little ones, play with them care for them but in the end they go home to their parents lol.  I often thing how wonderful it would be to be young again but honestly when I think about it long enough I realize I am glad I am just where I am in life and except for going back temporarily to change a few minor details in my life I am happy where I am.

Maybe this wasn't so short after all lol..........