Grandpa Ake

Today is your birthday!! My precious grandpa would have been 96 today. Unbelievable to me… Unbelievable that he has been gone 25 years. Seems like not long ago that he looked at me with those sweet tender eyes as I walked down the aisle. I will never forget the look on his face…never.

I hope that you and Grandma are celebrating your birthday in perfect style - - it would be with that incredibly yummy german chocolate cake that only grandma could make…

Your little queenie bee wishes you a Happy Birthday my precious Grandpa. Many happy returns to the day of thy birth. May sunshine and gladness be given. And may the dear father prepare you on earth for a beautiful birthday in heaven!

Gratitude

Wow, what a Christmas it was! The day started out perfectly mahvelous!! The kids were thrilled with the Scavenger hunt to find each of their main presents – J’Amy and Eric got the Wii, Ashley a Mac Notebook, and Jake an iPod. The day was perfect. Maycie was pretty much done after she walked into the living room and saw all the Santa had left for her…the Princess Tent, Dora the Explorer Vanity… does it get any better? Well, it does when you can put Barbie Mariposa on the DVD and curl up on the bopee with your favorite blanket and chocolate milk!!

Breakfast was fabulous ~ great job J’Amy!!! Then off in blizzard like conditions to the great northern reaches… All was going along fine at 65 mph in 14° ambient temperature, along with 40 mph wind gusts. All was just fine until . . .the VW buggie just stopped…quit…I had just enough time to cross over 4 lanes of traffic as the car came to a complete halt. I checked the ignition – nothing - - Fortunately, the kids were in another car and I called and they came back. And then… my knights in shining armor. . . my son-in-law and his precious dad… they came and rescued me. They sacrificed their Christmas morning to come help me get my little buggie off the side of the road and towed to the dealership.

My previous post signed off by saying “Endeavor to live in gratitude.”

I am so grateful to have such a precious son-in-law who loves me and would sacrifice whatever it took to help me. I am grateful that I have the resources to fix my car. I am grateful I have raised such good kids. I am grateful for Eric and his daddy Kim, who came to my rescue. There really are true knights in shining armor – and mine is a hero to not only this mother-in-law, but to his little baby girlie too!



Love you Eric!!

Christmas when I was a Child . . . then . . . Christmas as me now…

I remember the Christmas when I was 7 years old and I went to bed Christmas Eve, after meticulously placing the cookies and milk out for Santa, and Mom coming in to say prayers. I remember after she left I prayed my secret prayer to God in Heaven begging him to tell Santa that I really had been a good girl all year… I sure wanted that Thumbelina dolly. You know the one where you pulled the string and her little head rocked around and she made a cooing sound. Then I remember getting a little older and still was anxious for Christmas to come and I would go in and get in bed with my little brother Mike ~ trying to convince him to wake Randy (our big brother) up. I also remember as we got older that Christmas mornings seemed to get later and later ~ much to my parents' delight.


Then I turned into a parent ~ and the whole thing started over with my children. Not to mention the precious granddaughter!




Now when I go to bed on Christmas Eve, I pray my secret prayer to my God in Heaven begging him to give warmth to those who can’t sleep at all because it is so cold. I ask him to give hope to those who seem to have lost it. And with a most humble and grateful heart, I thank him for his gift of the babe born in the manger.

Endeavor to live in gratitude.

Muah!

Boutique Time!

So have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? Have you even started your Christmas shopping yet? Do you need to shop for Christmas or do you just want to shop for some really cool stuff?
Come and check out this darling boutique with a boatload of handmade items from children’s clothing, handmade candles, home décor, jewelry and gift baskets. Heck, who needs a holiday to shop?

AND, the website is hosting a give away - - niiiice…. Check it out here!

Sale in the Shops!

For those of you who follow this blog and follow my Etsy shops - - - this announcement is just for you!!! This is your heads up on what will be happening this weekend. As everyone knows, this Friday is commonly referred to as Black Friday - and the Monday that follows is Cyber Monday. Black Friday is typically the heaviest buying volume in brick and mortar stores, while Monday is typically the heaviest volume of purchases on the internet. So - - - here you go - - Friday through Monday I will have a Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale in my shops. There will be a 20% discount on everything purchased. This discount will be given through a PayPal refund.

Woop Woop! Who doesn't like a sale?

My shops are right over there -------------------------------------------->
But here is a hyperlink as well:
LilikoiDesigner
HipChickeeBeads
Steamtrunkstudio


Happy Shopping!

The Flower

So, by now you are probably thinking, “Does this lady blog about anything but her granddaughter?” You know I never thought that I would be one of those grandmas that would have the bumper sticker that says “My grandkid is cuter than yours”, or “Let me tell you about my grandkids”, or my personal favorite “The writing on the wall means the grandkid found the crayons”. But okay, here I am posting about Maycie Jean again…..and no, I don’t have any of those bumperstickers…

But dang, you have to admit she is about the cutest flower you have ever seen, isn’t see? Halloween was a ball this year. She woke up in the morning and the first thing she wanted to do was get in her costume. This is a much different scene than last year when J’Amy put in her in her ladybug costume. I think she still bawls at the site of that thing… Anyway, my office hosts a trick-or-treating event for employees’ kids, so she and J’Amy came in and we paraded our darling flower around the office for everyone to “Ooooo and awe” over. And so Maycie went around to everyone and smiled sweetly and tried to hand them candy. What a sweet little generous baby!

Anyway, feel free to Oooo and awe over my precious little flower - - -

Muah!

Sleeping in the Sun

I want you to go through an exercise with me. Reach back in your memory and remember being a young child. Remember nap time? Remember naps in kindergarten? We pulled out the brown tri-fold plastic covered foam mats and laid them out on the floor in our kindergarten classroom. Mrs. Betsworth turned out the lights and we “napped” for 30 minutes. Nap time immediately followed Snack Time. I remember sleeping on my bed and the sun pouring through the windows and feeling the warmth of it. I also remember laying out a blanket and sleeping under the apple tree in the backyard, and the some of the sunshine rays peeking through the thick branches. I remember sleeping in the car on the way home from Grandma Ake’s house.

I am sure that Maycie will one day remember fondly of her naptimes, sleeping in the car with her baby, sun pouring in. Doesn’t she look angelic?




Muah Maycie Jean!