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!

Great-Grandma & Jake

I just wanted to post this picture of Jake and Steve's mom. Because of the death of Mom's brother, Doris, Nancy and Mom came down for the viewing on Thursday evening and then stayed overnight with us before going back for the funeral on Friday morning. Megan brought Jake up on Friday morning so Grandma could see him. It took a while for Jake to warm up, but eventually they did get some smiles out of him.

Love this picture!

Eventually he did smile for Great Grandma, but I don't have a picture of it. I actually took this one a day earlier but you can see he has quite the smile!

So glad they were able to spend a little time together!

Overnight with Awstin

All smiles!

This week was Awstin's turn to spend the night. Unlike the other grandchildren, Awstin's overnight was from Tuesday to Wednesday instead of Friday to Saturday. This was because I wanted to take him to the Choo Choo Barn and I was pretty sure it wouldn't be as full on a Wednesday as it would have been on a Saturday. Awstin's and my history of the Choo Choo Barn goes way back. Every since he was a baby, I have kept him every Wednesday. One time when he was around 4, I decided to take him to the Choo Choo Barn just as something a little different to do. I was unprepared for his enthusiasm and fascination for it. To say he loved it is an understatement. I purchased a season pass for him and me and we frequently would spend several hours on a Wednesday enjoying the world of trains. Usually it wasn't very full and we would just let our imaginations go, pretending we were riding the trains, camping in one of the cabins underneath the track, enjoying the circus, etc. After he started school, we of course didn't go as often, but over the summer and during Christmas break I would take him and we would start up just where we left off. 

Because of COVID, it had been a long time since we had been there and he was so excited about going again. He came on Tuesday evening and we enjoyed a snack on the deck, and a video of Curious George before turning in for the night.

Laughing at the antics of Curious George

I had to open the store and work until 9:00 on Wednesday morning and he assured me that he usually sleeps in until 9 anyway, so I probably wouldn't see him until then. Well, he was up at 6:00 am! He joined me in opening the store and helped me until 9:00 when Julissa came to work her shift.

Sitting at the counter at the store getting ready to eat breakfast.

Steve had quite a few errands to run so he dropped Awstin and me off at the Choo Choo Barn around 10:30 and told us he would return about 12:00 to pick us up. We entered our favorite place and after a few trips around to make sure everything was operating as it should be, settled in for a time of fun and imagination. 

It seemed like each time I tried to take a video, the night scene started but on this one you can see just how excited he is to be here.

Steve returned around 12:00 and Awstin declared that it seemed like we had barely been there for a minute. We persuaded him to take a break for lunch and promised we would return for a little bit after we ate. We walked over to Isaac's to get something to eat.

Macaroni & cheese and applesauce (not pictured) He ate everything!

After lunch we went back for another hour and then called it a day. It was great to spend time again at the Choo Choo Barn with Awstin and it was nice to hear him say on the way home, "that was so much fun!."

See you next time Choo Choo Barn!

Overnight with Clara

This past weekend it was Clara's turn to come to our house overnight. Clara will be 4 in a couple of weeks and this was her first time to come by herself to spend the night. She was so excited and jabbered happily as we drove away but soon fell asleep :)

Knowing that Clara loves horses, I decided to take her to The Miniature Horse Farm. It is a really nice place and you can just walk around and look at the horses for free. I did spend $1.00 for a bag of feed :)

The horse is barely taller than Clara!

I just love that smile!

She loved feeding the horses!

They had goats too.

Here is a video of her feeding the horses.

We had fun around the house...

Goofy sunglasses

Playing with the train...

Riding tricycle on the deck

Eating ice cream with Grandpa on the deck.

Selfie with Grandma!

In the morning, Clara asked Grandpa to make her pancakes and sausage for breakfast which he obligingly did :)

Yum Yum! Clara even asked for and ate a second sausage.

We visited with Julissa and enjoyed the goats and kitten.

The goats are so tame! This is Squeaks.

Staring at each other

Misty

Saturday afternoon, Clara enjoyed playing with Awstin & Bryce while I worked at the store. Jay & Kristen and the rest of the family came for supper and to watch fireworks from our deck. It was a delightful evening and it was nice to hear Clara ask Kristen when she would be coming back to stay again. I guess that means she had fun!

Note: My blogger is telling me that they are discontinuing notifications by email whenever I post a new blog. So if any of you count on getting email notifications to know when I put up a new blog, I'm afraid you will just have to check every so often to see if there is a new one. 

Overnight with Mark

Ordering from a menu is not something Marks gets to do very often so it was a treat for him to order a corndog, frenchfries and drink. He ate the whole thing!

This weekend was Mark's turn to stay with us overnight. I met Kristen and the children at Living Light Church for a picnic lunch and then brought Mark home with me.

Getting ready for our picnic lunch

On the way home, we stopped by my sister Lois' house. Her granddaughter Clara was there and showed Mark the goats and llamas.

If you look closely you can see the goat chasing Mark down the barn hill :)

I couldn't get a picture of the llamas but here Clara and Mark are going to look for them. Love how all the goats follow them.

Lois also has some caged birds.

Clara was happy to make the birds excited but listen for my sister's voice at the end of the video.

Playing mini golf.

Mark was pretty good! Here he is sinking a par 3.

There was also other things to do besides golf :)

Mark's choice of breakfast food

Yum! Yum!

Mark started this puzzle on Friday

Still working on it Saturday morning.

Finished! Just in time to go to the Muddy Run Splash Pad with Melissa, Awstin & Bryce.

Just like Hannah, while I worked the store Saturday afternoon, Mark enjoyed time with his cousins and the Splash Pad at Muddy Run. We took him home Saturday evening and enjoyed a wonderful Father's Day meal of shrimp and ribs prepared by Kristen. It was a great time together!