Yesterday

Yesterday afternoon taking off for some Whale Watching! "Jayme, keep your eyes on the horizon and you won't get seasick".



Oops! Jayme.....Ocean.....Queasiness.......Jayme says:  "Not so much fun being out at sea!"



baby in the house changes everybody

ally and her mom visit their california family

the dutchman and his granddaughter 

mom and daughter

great great uncle daniel with ally

bath time!



adorable great granddaughter



brett with his 3rd cousin

one big smile whenever she is with her great great auntie char

Ally says:

"Life is good in California.  I've taken over my great grandma's and great grandpa's household and every friend and family member has fallen in love with me.  I sure am eating up all the attention!" 

The Arrival

 Shannon and Ally have arrived.  This week will be some kind of wonderful.  It's been a long time since we've had a baby in the family and we are "over the moon" with Ally!  And yes!  I am too young to be Great Grandma!  But I am loving every minute of it!

Arrival at gate 11



They're  here!




Grandma and Granddaughter




Shannon, Auntie Char and Ally




Irresistible baby!



Phone call with Granddaughter

My phone conversation with Shannon this afternoon ended with the most wonderful words:  "See you tomorrow!"

Gratitude - Overwhelming





"On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true, so they sprinkled moondust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue"  Close To You by the Carpenters

Gratitude

for Babies and Grandpas.

Ally and Grandpa James, June 2011

Ally and Grandpa James 8 months ago

Gratitude List begins with:

Happily Ever After continues

Married Thirty Years!

He is the best of the best!

Once again, Thursday is Library Day for me and these friends of mine.

Who could resist that smile of Jessah's?



Chloe - every year she is so brave



Jessah, Chloe and Celine at the Library. 

The Summer Reading Program has all kinds of fun!  Celine - so sweet, so beautiful.

Jessah loves books but she loves toys at the library too!






My dog loves it when the girls come over!  I love it when Chloe comes over!

 

Ally - there is no one like her

Sleeping Beauty



Ally Cracks Up!



A Smile A Day Keeps the Spankings Away

Future Sports Car Driver

Jayme and her Grandma Collins....Then and Now



1971




2011



Jayme arrived safely in Massachusetts this evening (amidst rainstorms and tornadoes)



A very tired Jayme is as happy as can be with her sister, Christine, and niece, Aishling.

I nabbed this picture off Facebook a few minutes ago.  Jayme flew into Manchester, NH (her birthplace) late this afternoon.  Here she is at Christine's home and is now on her way to stay with Denise.  This has been an annual trip since she was a little girl...only recently she has missed a couple of years.  I know she is happy to be back there.  Plans to spend tomorrow with her Grandma Collins.  Here's a pic of Jayme with her  Grandma  about 40 years ago:



Jayme and her Grandma Collins in 1971



Happy Birthday to my brother

\We will have a birthday party when you get back home!  See you very soon!  Love you!

Happy Birthday Debbie Bock!

Make a digital greeting

Moments - this is all we have

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Review
Ann Voskamp invites us to slow down, to learn how to live the full life of eucharisteo (with grace, thanksgiving, joy) regardless of circumstances. With lovely word pictures inspired by everyday life in her family and on her farm, she writes about her struggle to live joyfully amid sin and sorrow and suffering. -- WORLD Magazine

(WORLD Magazine )
Product Description on Amazon reads:
"Just like you, Ann Voskamp hungers to live her one life well. Forget the bucket lists that have us escaping our everyday lives for exotic experiences. 'How,' Ann wondered, 'do we find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties? What does the Christ-life really look like when your days are gritty, long---and sometimes even dark? How is God even here?' In One Thousand Gifts, Ann invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative spiritual discipline of chronicling God's gifts. It's only in this expressing of gratitude for the life we already have, we discover the life we've always wanted ... a life we can take, give thanks for, and break for others. We come to feel and know the impossible right down in our bones: we are wildly loved --- by God. Let Ann's beautiful, heart-aching stories of the everyday give you a way of seeing that opens your eyes to ordinary amazing grace, a way of being present to God that makes you deeply happy, and a way of living that is finally fully alive. Come live the best dare of all!"

The week that was quite interesting

• Just got my computer back about twenty minutes ago.  After days of a sluggish computer, finally took it in to the Geeks and now it is running beautifully again.  I really missed this thing!  Now....I will spend some time and clean up and organize the hundred's of emails,  return to Facebook after a long relapse and last,  but definitely not the least:  do a little updating on this blog! 
• I was furloughed!  Sooner than I expected.  A shorter season of work than I have ever had.  But quite delighted to sleep in past 5:30 a.m. Certainly will miss that paycheck though!
• Not once....but twice my washing machine has flooded the laundry room in the past couple of weeks.  Both times the Dutchman was working out of town.  (My typical response of D...U....T.....C......H...Help! was not heard by him).  Sweeping water out the back entrance and setting up fans to dry the floor has not been my favorite thing this week.  I now have a new washing machine. :)
• Another trip to the DMV and my frustration began to show.  Seriously.  An apology before I left.  Me...I'm the one who apologised....to the clerk and to the manager I demanded requested to see.  As I said, my frustration  anger was showing.... and I'm not too proud of that.
• I have lost the cord to charge my Kindle!!  Groan!  It is now completely out of power and I am unable to read Eric Metaxas' Bonhoeffer which I had been so looking forward to. 
• The Dutchman is now home and my life, as always, is oh so good. 

• I will end with a sweet picture of this happy great-grand baby of mine........whom I get to see when she comes to visit me next month!  Just look at that smile. What a charming girl baby she is!   She is held by our precious Shannon, who is such a good mama.   And there is Snickers, their beloved cat, who has been stirrng up trouble in the neighborhood lately! 

Creamed Salmon on Potato Chips.....

Thanks Char for making this favorite meal from our childhood!  Jayme grew up enjoying it too and it was a real treat for us when she visited last weekend! 


Jayme and I enjoying Char's cooking!  (I miss you dear daughter!  It went by too fast!)