Overnight with Alexis

The last grandchild to have an overnight stay with us this summer was Alexis. I picked her up around noon on Friday and we made some stops on the way home.

Fashion Cents has become a popular local shopping place. I had never been there and neither had Alexis. She found a dress she liked and she told me that was unusual because she never finds anything she likes!

Leaving Main Street Closet with a bag of  treasures :)

Our last stop was Goodwill. 

Displaying her purchases...

...and showing off the dress. It fit her perfectly and she was especially happy with the hidden pockets.

Ice cream treat at Son's in Quarryville!

Alexis and I both like games so we played a few. This game was hard. You had to guess what the card was on your head by asking clues. We got a laugh out of this card that says Alexis is nuts!

And I was ketchup :)

Yahtzee!

In the morning Alexis chose a bacon and egg muffin for breakfast along with chocolate milk.

We had a special surprise for Alexis on Saturday morning. Steve picks up Amish during the week to take them to work. One of them has a riding ring and knowing that Alexis loves horses he asked if we could bring her over and let her drive a horse and cart around the ring. He was very happy to oblige and Alexis loved it.

Here the Amishman gives her instructions and he rode with her around a few times so she could get used to it. The horse's name was Diamond

Ready to go on her own!

And her she comes...along with little Benjamin who was very happy to ride along :)

She even got confident enough to instruct Diamond to trot!

Then she asked me if I wanted to ride with her.

Ready to go for my ride

Here we go!

Alexis was a great driver and it was actually a lot of fun! I'm so glad we were able to do this with Alexis.

Alexis enjoyed working the cash register at the store and she was very good at it!

We stopped at the Centerville Diner on the way home and here is the meal she chose. She ate every last bite!

And that's a wrap! We really enjoyed our individual time with each grandchild this summer and I believe they did too. Hopefully we can do it again next year!

Julissa's Baby Shower

On Sunday we had a baby shower for Julissa. It's funny to think that almost exactly 9 months ago we had one for Megan at the same place, Living Light Mennonite Church. We certainly didn't expect to be back in such a short time for another one but we are very glad we were!

We used "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as a theme for our decorations. Isn't the little sleeper adorable!

Baby pictures of Julissa & Josh

Gift table

What's a baby shower without food? We had plenty of it. Here's a picture of the cheese, meat and cracker tray.

 

Veggie tray

Kristen & the girls put together the fruit skewers. Note the grape caterpillars on the side :)

Julissa's sister Jennel made the cupcakes. They were delicious!

Gummi worms!

Lime sherbet punch

Enjoying the goodies

Lydia brought the gifts to Julissa and Hannah took the opened gifts and stacked them against a wall. They took their duties seriously and did an awesome job!

The girls wait patiently while Julissa opens a gift.

Loved that Julissa didn't stop smiling :)

And she did some laughing too!

The girls wore such pretty dresses. They looked so beautiful standing there patiently that I just had to snap a picture of them.

Megan and I put together a goodie bag for everyone to take home. I admit we may have gone overboard with the candy but hopefully they found people to share it with!

It was a fun afternoon and nice to share the occasion with family and friends. Only a few more months until we meet the little one!

Summer Birthdays

Summer will soon be in the rear view mirror and I thought I would just combine into one post the grandchildren that had summer birthdays. There were three of them--Awstin, Clara & Alexis. I think it is interesting to post a picture each year of the child around their birthday. It's amazing how much they change in just one year.

Awstin - 8 years old

Clara - 4 years old

Alexis - 12 years old - Next year we will have a teenage granddaughter!

That's it! Just a few more weeks of Summer and then it will be Fall. It has been a good Summer but I am ready for the cooler temperatures and the beauty that Fall brings. I am also looking forward to the new grandchild that will be joining us in a couple of months :)

Overnight with Lydia

This Friday and Saturday was Lydia's turn to stay overnight with us. Lydia loves shopping so after picking her up at her house, we made some stops on our way home.

First stop--Main Street Closet!

Second stop - Goodwill

Lydia doesn't miss anything when she is shopping. She found little gems hidden here and there in both stores of things she wanted and of course as long as the price was reasonable Grandma was glad to oblige. We were especially delighted to find a pair of sneakers for her that fit just perfectly. They even light up when she walks!

Showing off her wares from Main Street and Goodwill

Friday evening we took a trip to Mapehofe for ice cream and then enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the deck before watching a movie before bed.

Yum!

Waiting for the sun to set.

Snuggling with Froggy during movie time

Saturday morning after choosing her breakfast from the store (she told me she had thought about it ahead of time and knew exactly what she wanted) we visited our neighbors alpaca and sheep farm.

Apple Danish and chocolate milk - can't go wrong there!

Dolly the sheep would have been happy to eat all the crackers she had!

The baby alpaca in the background is only 2 weeks old

Saturday afternoon she spent with Awstin and Bryce and Melissa took them to the Splash Pad at Muddy Run. I picked her up after closing the store and after packing up her things Steve and I took her home. On the way we stopped at the Centerville Diner for supper.

Lydia ordered shrimp and french fries!

One other thing I should mention. Lydia raises rabbits and she had the idea of putting up a poster at our store with a picture of three that she had for sale. I also posted it on our store Facebook page. Typically she sells her bunnies at Roots Auction and gets about $2.00 a bunny. She advertised them for $10.00 and sold 2 of them! She was thrilled! A neighbor from the store bought them so on our return trip from taking Lydia home we brought Petey and Fluffy along with us. The neighbor was waiting for us and now Lydia is $20.00 richer! :)

The poster that made her richer.

A fun weekend indeed!