New Grand-Baby-Girl

Granddaughter was born yesterday, the 10th. The Mommy (our daughter) is recovering from the C-section surgery, Daddy and baby are great!

The "other" Grandfather......

Me, holding the sweet precious little girl..... She's perfect!

Dylan's Daddy holding her while they were still in the surgery room:

We are thrilled! She's our third granddaughter!

More Cookies!

Lots of flour covered our hands, counter and clothes! What fun! AA loves to bake.










Decorating them with icing and sprinkles is next!

Wordless Wednesday

With most everyone decorating for Christmas, I was looking through our summer photos. This one caught my eye and I wondered why I had skipped over it so many times.
Our precious daughter; remembering our summer pool fun.

New Winter Outfits........

After I wrote Monday's (yesterday's) post, AA perked up and we had some good play time.
I had bought AA two new "winter" outfits a few days ago and decided she could handle a photo shoot in between her runny nose. We tried on both but took pictures of this one; sweater with black slacks.
Here's a few goofy poses....... this is what 3 year old's do!




And the "good" ones!





Many smiles!

Monday Morning

A new week is beginning and we still have colds. I have been avoiding it but now seem to have caught it too.
No new pictures from the past week, no news as DH and AA have stayed close to home.
Just a blip on the daily routine so will get back to normal in a few days.

Later this week, big news! Our daughter is delivering her #2 child. A girl, to be named Dylan, is expected this Thursday morning! Our third granddaughter! Of course pictures and updates will be later this week. See you then; have a great week!

So Disheartening.... Finding the Positive

This is an article (from rainbowkids.com) that seems to present the facts about international adoption; presented in a way that those who are waiting for their new children or those who are close to a waiting family can catch up on the history about international adoption.
The title isn't very flattering, but I guess it got my attention... Comments from those who are waiting?
Too Old, Too Fat, Too Many Kids

(Update from our Facebook notes, bad colds have been around our home, we have been sick for one week. AA is coughing, hoping she is improving otherwise the Doctor is in our future on Monday and DH is sick with a cold too. I have recovered from a mild cold last weekend and now am just waiting until the real bad one jumps on me.......I am running as fast as I can......)

Thank You for the BEST Wine!

We received two bottles of the best, yummiest, dry red Bordeaux wine from our two friends on our Thanksgiving feast day. It was a pleasure to open a bottle and savor the flavors. Dry. Deep. Oaky. Woody. Spicy. Smooth.
We felt pampered! Thanks L&C!

Decorating with AA

AA helped with adding the ornaments to our trees. She is understanding more and more about Christmas this year.





Explaining about the baby Jesus and the Wise Men....



What do you do when the Christmas tree branches reach out and grab your hair?

Enjoy your Christmas season!

Beginning the Christmas Decorating

Adding water to the tree....

Singing and dancing to Christmas music (Charlie Brown's Christmas and George Strait's Christmas CD).

A happy hug when the music stopped.....

Sunshine and Runny Nose

Even though AA had a runny nose, we thought she needed about 30 minutes of sunshine. It was in the low 70's here over the past weekend and just a beautiful day on Monday. We visited the local park again.

Day After Our Thanksgiving (Saturday)

Last Saturday, we enjoyed our son and granddaughter's visit. Kilee played hard with AA and they both ate twice as much as normal! All that energy!


They were so good together. Kilee acted as the big sister and seemed to be able to understand what AA was saying!


Time to get these two little girls together more!

I Made It!!

I posted every day during the month of November!! (OK, DH posted twice in the 32 times we wrote during the month of November!).
Hope you all enjoyed the daily updates!

Recap of Thanksgiving

Grandpa and Nana arrived.....they played with AA.
She had lots of fun tormenting them on the couch! Not a peaceful minute as she squealed with the attention.


We had the table all set (yes, a cover over our pool table), wonderful family and friends over for "turkey" dinner and no group photos to prove it! We had a great time and are grateful for the time we spent together.


Handmade "turkey" by AA:

AA dressed and ready for company..... the only picture we took!

Limes from our tree, we love them in bowls and ask everyone to take a few when they leave!

Three of the four pies on display. DH made one too, but it stayed in the refrigerator.... Peanut Butter Chocolate pie! (chocolate crust and a rich chocolate gauche on top of the peanut butter, cream cheese and whipped cream filling)! Yummy!!

Looking forward to our Christmas Celebrations!

Christmas Decorations

I know some of you are pros at decorating for Christmas. Last year, I decorated very little. Poor AA was still adjusting to us, learning English, so we didn't explain alot to her about Christmas. She helped decorate a small tree and did learn how to open presents very quickly!
Please share your Christmas pictures; may I copy or steal your ideas, thus flattering you?

Leave a comment and I will come visit! Enjoy your decorating and let's begin the "Merry Christmas" this season!

(click on the Angel to print out coloring pages for your little one)

Forgetful? Hint for All (Not Just Old People)

Have you tried this hint to help remember where you put items that you need to take out to your car?
After you get over the shock of the blog title, Lessons for Old People, you can learn something new! Of course, after reading a few of her posts, which she wrote for her Mom, I decided that the title was fine as I resemble it! And, I am sure I am older than her Mom, so what does that make me?

You have probably heard this before and it bears repeating. It seems to happen to us often. Either we save some food from a dinner for a guest to take home or we go to someone's home and they offer us some leftovers.
I also seem to forget to take leftovers to work that I have prepared for lunch. My solution was to write a big note and place it on my purse. And sometimes that doesn't help as the note gets moved.
We always have our car keys at one end of our kitchen counter so they can be found, so discovering them not there would certainly make us go looking for where they are. In the case of this hint, I would look in the refrigerator to find my work lunch. I like this tip.

You won't forget items stored in a friend's fridge if you toss your keys in as well

BRILLIANT. From Shivani:

When my sister and I were younger, sometimes my parents would have to store items in the fridge at someone's house when we went to visit (such as medicines or milk). To keep from forgetting these items when they left, my dad would leave his keys in the fridge next to the item. That way, wouldn't forget the items in the fridge as he needed his keys to drive home. You probably could do the same at work or school to make sure you don't leave leftovers overnight in the fridge.

Check out Katherine's blog and her introduction to herself. She won me over after I read all her posts about Twitter and then I read her post on chopstick etiquette! Yep, she knows it all!
If you expand her right side bar archive list, maybe you will find a topic that interests you. If not, give her a shout; I bet she can help you out!

Note: Katherine gave credit for this tip to Parent Hack. Read all the comments to gain more useful ways not to forget, even not to forget the baby!