Birthday Shots w/ Baby Aiden

For my birthday, Josh and Karen brought baby Aiden and came to my house to visit. They bought steaks and Josh grilled them to perfection. Meanwhile, Amber was in the kitchen making delicious real mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. Yum! My favorites!

While dinner was cooking, Steve took me, Michael, & Emily to the library. I ran out of all of the "Ladies #1 Detective Agency" books. I'm now onto "The Sunday Philosophy Club" books by the same author. (I'll miss Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi. They have become good friends of mine over the course of the past few months.)

Then came the cake. Josh and Karen bought the mix, frosting, and candles and Amber baked and frosted. Then Josh tried to write "forty" with the candles, but he ran out of room.



Afterwards, Emily, Jared, and Matt did the dishes. What great kids I have!!

I loved the cards, the phone calls, the birthday wishes here and on facebook, the signs Amber made & put up with the other kids' help, and the special dinner and cake and presents. What a great day! Thanks to all of you! I felt (and continue to feel) so loved. You guys rock!


After the celebrations were over, I decided to do a "photo shoot" with Baby Aiden.













Oh my goodness he is adorable! Some of the faces he pulled made me laugh so hard I couldn't focus the camera! All of them were charming, sweet, and irresistible.

And this, my friends, is my favorite picture that was taken all night:



What a little sweetie! How did we ever live without him?! Friends and family. You are what make my world go round! <3

My Official Birthday - The Big 4-0

I was looking back over a few posts from last year and found this one. Pay close attention to the last answer I give about where I see myself in five years, will you? hahahaha! Yep, at least one, that's for sure. :) (I again tag any of you to do the interview that wants to. And let me know, ok, because I want to read yours. Thanks. Think of it as my Birthday Present. :)

Just now, Michael asked if it was my birthday (for the hundredth time so far :) and I said, "Yep! How old are you?" and he said, "Eight." "Yep. And mommy is forty." "Mommy is forty-eight?" "No Sweety, Mommy is forty." "Forty-eight." So I got bumped from 39 to 48 in one day. :)

Have a wonderful, wonderful day!

My "kind-of" birthday

Notice the clock on the left? (removed) It is set to Guam's time. Why you ask? Because Guam is where I was born.... 40 years ago today, according to their time. My official birthday is the 26th, which is tomorrow in the States, but in my heart I celebrate today. :)


(pic borrowed from my brother, who currently lives in Guam)

And I could only wish that it was 77* here, like it is there right now. I'm going to leave this link up so that I can see the ongoing weather there today.

Have a great day!

Sleeping on the couch instead of in the doghouse....

I asked the kids who had tucked Beth in this way:



Nobody had. She is just a girl who craves comfort.



She was just happy that the kid who had been sleeping on the couch moved so that she could take their place.



Just look at that face. Total contentment. At least she didn't make me fluff her pillow! ;)

Things learned during this week:

1. Accentuating the positive makes everyone feel better.
2. Meditating in the morning makes the rest of the day go so much better. I like to meditate before prayer; it makes me feel more receptive to answers/solutions.
3. Most of life is better when you K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid)
4. Nobody understands teenagers. (It makes me feel better that it isn't just me! :)
5. Chocolate really is a treatment for stress.
6. There really are such things as miracles.
7. God is good. (I knew this, but it is nice to remember it always. :)

Have a beautiful weekend!

As an afterthought: I loved this article from the Daily Om; it goes right along with my desire to Nurture.

Grandma Names

I'm stumped as to what I want my Grandma name to be. When we lived in the South, I thought the cutest grandma name was Meemaw, and that's who I wanted to be.

Now that I'm in Utah, I don't know how well Meemaw would be received.

So I'm asking all of you, what did you call your Grandma(s) (use a pronunciation guide for me, okay? I saw one grandma name as "Meme" today, but I'm not sure how you'd pronounce it.) Or, if you are a Grandma, what is your Grandma name?

(1/21/10 - I saw a cute spelling for Memaw that I like a lot: Mema. I think it's cute! Maybe Mema I'll be. :)
Thanks for your help! <3

TGIF!

The title says it all! I'm so glad to be done with this week, 'cause yesterday was for the birds.

More Baby Pics! :)

I had sooo much fun with Baby Aiden these past few days! But, I have to tell you that even though he is a really great baby, I am so glad it isn't me having babies anymore! But being a Grandma is going to be awesome!

My hat goes off to Karen for all of those nighttime feedings and making sure that he has clean diapers, clothing, and blankets and for all of her time giving of herself (literally!) to make sure her little one has warm mommy's milk to drink. I thought of her last night as my head hit the pillow and I knew that she'd be up in the middle of the night while I was snoring away. Thank goodness for good Mommies!

Josh has been putting in extra time at work to make up for Karen's lost wages while she is on maternity leave; and they are trying to make a money plan for her to stay home with the baby. When he is home he snuggles the baby and tries to help. Thank goodness for good Daddies!

Raising a baby is so much easier when there are two people working together to make a home.

And these are some of the cute pics I took while Aiden was here. All so adorable:









Aiden has won all of our hearts! Thank goodness for babies. <3

Wordless Wednesday - January 13th

Visiting Grandma (Josh, Karen and Aiden came for an overnight visit. How I've loved it!) Bird Bath

An Wonderfully Eventful Day

Yesterday Josh, Karen, and Aiden came down to my house to spend some time. Before coming home, though, we stopped by my mom's nursing home so that Aiden could meet his Great Grandma.

Our 4 Generation Picture



The cute little family with Great Grandma



Great Grandma fell in love with Aiden, just like we all have.



She held him the whole time we were there.



She told Josh and Karen that she'd be happy to keep him with her. :)



This was a moment that I have wanted to happen since we thought we were going to lose my mom last July. I'm so glad that her body healed and that she could meet this sweet little bundle of joy. What a blessing!

Josh, Karen, and Aiden will be staying here a day or two. I'm sure I'll have lots more baby pics for you in the next few days! ;)

(P.S. the pics were really yellow from the lighting in the nursing home, so I tried to make them look as close to normal color as possible. I hope they look okay on your moniter.)

Monday Morning Musings - A Bucket List

Before I get started, did you notice my Flickr slideshow on the top of my sidebar? I'm uploading my favorite pics there (to Flickr). If you click on the pic in the slideshow you'll be taken to the complete collection on my Flickr account. I'd love it if you'd go check them out and tell me what you think about them. :) My goal is to add a few new pics every day.


I've seen posts lately about long range goals: things to get done before a certain birthday, or to do before they die. I've been thinking about these things a little bit, and I've come to realize that perhaps I'm way too practical. My bucket list looks something like this:

1) Get out of debt

2) Finally get my house totally organized where it stays tidy 95% of the time.

3) Finish a quilt for each of my children for when they are 18 (or in Josh's case: by the time he is 25! :), a quilt for each of my grandbabies, and perhaps.. just perhaps so don't hold me to this one: a big quilt for my kids and their spouses' bed.

4) To get at least a Bachelor's degree. In something. Anything! a Master's would be beautiful! and a Doctorate would be awesome!!

5) I'm stumped here. I'm a simple woman I guess.

I'll work on it.

How about you? What would be on your bucket list? Funner stuff than me? Or perhaps just learning how to get permanent marker off of the wallpaper?

A Year in Pictures

Today I've been working all day on a project I've been thinking about doing for awhile. I've wanted to make a calendar of the pics I've taken throughout the year. I've picked my favorites that fit in with the appropriate month. Take a look and tell me what you think.