Now Presenting:

Ashton James

(I know this is a little late, but I figure it's better than never!)

I know he doesn't look like this anymore. I hope to see some recent photos of him soon.

His mommy Laura loves him . . .

He loves his mommy too!

This is Ashton thinking about moving away to Canada and not seeing me again for a long, long time.

Poor baby. I know exactly how you feel!

Happy Birthday, Laura! I miss y'all!

Laura's Baby Shower

There was a lemonade stand in the foyer.

Cute pictures of Baby Laura and Baby Sheldon also on the punch table

A close-up of the "Bubbles"

Other decorations in the foyer area

There was a rope light path leading to the party room

It was a duckies & bubbles-themed mystery luncheon!

Since no one knows whether the baby is a boy or a girl,

the secret menu items were given children's names.

Who knows? Maybe Laura and Sheldon will pick one of these names.

Everyone engrossed in figuring out their menus

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, the waitresses, Mandy and Marilyn 

practise putting on "Robin Hood" in case somebody orders him!

The 4 lucky people who managed to avoid him received a prize.

"Cara and Rose Bush" waiting patiently for the first course to begin

Dear Little "Olivia Henrietta" waiting to be hatched

"Hans Hamesh" and "Mandie Leticia"

"Cheri Melody", please, without a cherry on top!

After the meal, each table was a team for the game, "Design-a-Baby".

This team decided that Laura and Sheldon's baby will be twins with curly hair.

I certainly hope their child looks nothing like

the concoction Kari & Karen were dreaming up here!

Janelle chuckling to herself. She must be designing her own baby!

And finally, Laura opened all of her gifts.

The End

Our Family Christmas '08

The Christmas table minus me since I took the picture.

The kiddos table - not much interest in looking at a camera

while eating a yummy meal. Can't say I blame them.

Apples Flambe'

Granddaddy's hand and Tina's raspberry angel food torte

"He stuck in his thumb, and pulled out a . . . tangerine?"

What a good boy is Preston!

Harlan gleaning knife-sharpening wisdom from a sage ole' woodworker.

"Beep-beep, Grandfather"

"This is the way the city girls ride down to the farm"

Julian seems quite mesmerized with Mrs. Bunny's day.

The watchdog/dinosaur-bird of the gift kingdom.

Jason slew him and found a golden egg inside . . .

not really, but there was a rake and a hoe inside!

"Mouse Trap," the favoritest game of all

Farmers wearing hunting gear in case they see a deer in the field.

The best thing for train tracks susceptible to damage

by babies and toddlers is high altitude.

Grandmother's fun little creeping inchworm

2 cute

Peek-a-boo, Ginger!

All tuckered out - weren't we all?

Sweet little Gianna wasn't feeling so well this week.

She ended up spending two nights in the hospital

because she had RSV and had trouble breathing.

She's our little half-pint of sweet cider half drunk up!

She's home and doing much better now.

Happy Birthday Tater!

Tina made Dexter a chicken cake because he likes chickens!

All too soon it was time for these two little girlies to go home until next time.

I was going to post Bethany's wedding pictures, but I didn't actually take any.

So I guess I'll let her do that herself when she gets them!

The Christmas Sleepover Party

Mother sent out special invitations to her five oldest grandchildren to come for a sleepover last Friday.

I just happened to be over at Loren's when Adrian got his.

As soon as they arrived, we took them to McDonald's for supper.

We felt sad for Preston because he didn't feel well enough to come.

Not that they cared about eating supper!

 We took them Christmas caroling and practised on the way.

"All the grown-ups sing very quietly, and everyone else sing very loudly!"

Actually here we were singing the Cathedral's laughing song, ("My Name is Ticklish Reuben")

(except Dexter who is holding his ear!)

"Away in a Manger . . ."

Granddaddy B. handing out treats after they sang to him

On the way home we stopped to see The Lights of Hebron.

Their live nativity is inside a "cave" of spray-foam insulation. It looked real!

Giles even got to ride Mary's donkey!

I think he was disappointed that he couldn't go for a gallop though.

There was free marshmallow roasting for the children. So fun! (and sticky)

There was a collection of inflated yard ornaments that intrigued the children.

Here the boys were discussing this "buck" and whether the other one is "a doe or a baby buck?"

Bedtime stories with Grandmother. We all camped out in the livingroom.

It took awhile for all the grasshoppers to quit jumping and fall asleep!

The next morning we made a batch of gingerbread cookies.

Each one got a little ball of dough to roll out.

Then they picked out which cookie cutters they wanted to use.

Yummm! The best smell ever! We added orange zest to the recipe that smelled wonderful.

We let them decorate their own cookies. I think Adrian was surprised at how hard it is to squeeze icing out of a bag, but he was determined to do it by himself. He climbed up on the table to get better leverage.

I don't know who had the most fun, but the children weren't ready for the party to end.

Oh well, they'll be back at Christmas, and I can't wait! 

Our family just spent a lovely weekend in

Helen, GA

Doesn't this look like a convincing Alpine village? (minus the mini-golf course)

Everyone was there . . . even Jason.  :)

A room with a view! We had to go upstairs to see that hill out over the trees, but oh well.

One day we toured an old car and buggy museum.

Mother's imagination is taking her back to the prairies of Laura Ingalls' childhood, I think!

Justus holding Gianna, the sweetheart charmer baby.

Eve, Preston, Mikayla's baby, and Mikayla pretending to take naps.

The children's singing session during our Sunday church service.

Father grilling sweet onions and pork chops. Yummy!!!

This picture is titled, "Disappointment."

Giles is all ready to go swimming and it's pouring down rain out.

He did get to go later when they went tubing down the river.

I stayed home to help babysit and plan a little birthday party for Eve.

The birthday girl

The kids came back from tubing to find a bubble blowing machine and balloons at the front door.

Eve opening gifts. That's the little purse I sewed for her at our Heatwole Hen Party (sewing retreat).

Mikayla is saying, "No, Eve, that's MY purse!" because it's identical to the one I gave her.

It was sooo good to see Harlan's again!

Eden was just a newborn last time I saw her. Doesn't she look thrilled? (she really does love me)

She usually looks like this, such a sweetie!

We had this pool all to ourselves several evenings.

Giles loved it when Royal threw him in like this!

Dexter needed a little convincing to get in the water, but he had fun then.

A fun stroll through the town one evening. Isn't Preston a sweet big/little brother?

As you can see, we visited Granny's famous funnel cake haus for ice cream.

I've always wanted to look like somebody famous . . .

Mother wishing the shop wasn't closed . . .

Gabriel sight-seeing

Parting Shots:

A Basketful of Sweetness that was at our house for two days after we got home.

An unsuspecting kitty and two little kittynappers.

This is the only picture I have of the fun day we had on the way home.

We were shopping in Clarkesville at antique stores when I saw this velvet painting of a Mennonite (?)lady.

I hope it isn't something embarrassing, but can somebody out there tell me what it says?

Notice how similar it is to the top picture in this post!

Mother has a few more pictures on her site.