Eden's first birthday in heaven ~

Happy 1st Birthday in Heaven Eden Rain ~

Happy birthday to you in heaven
Our precious granddaughter Eden Rain
We heard the angels are throwing a party
To celebrate your birth and beautiful name.

They must be very excited
I'm sure they have baked a cake
And strewn flower petals all around
Getting ready to celebrate.

They have some presents to give you
That we just know you will love
We sent all your gifts to heaven
On the wings of a pure, white dove.

There's a box filled with love from your mama
All tied up with glittery strings
Inside there are one million kisses
And a new pair of soft angel wings.

There's a box of hugs from your daddy
He misses his little girl so
He's added some dreams and a rainbow
Along with pretty ribbons and bows.

Your sisters gifts are so special
They had to be just right
They worked so very hard on them
Sometimes even into the night.

Their box is the one that sparkles,
Because girls love nice, pretty things
They've included some stardust and wishes
 And lullabies for the angels to sing.

They also put in several handfuls

Of soft feathers for your bed

Then they included something so special

It's a new crown for your sweet little head.

Grandpa and I sent a simple gift

A sweet pair of new dancing shoes

You know how practical we are

To send something you can use.

So when you take those first little steps

Up there on the streets of gold

You can feel us all sending our love

Since you can't be here to hold.

We pray your birthday is very special

And that you know just how loved you are

You're our beautiful and precious angel

Dwelling in heaven among the stars.

Long distance grand-parenting

It is a rare day when all the grands are here at gma and gpas house at the same time so we tried to get
a few pics while they were here for the holidays.  There was NO snow {which I REALLY wanted for pics}
 and it was cold and rainy.  I had visions of many different poses and it just didn't work. We were lucky to
get the ones we did.

Underneath all the kiddos there is a gorgeous white bench, but didn't get any of that showing
either. I still dream of the pics I wanted to take...hopefully someday. 

We got all the kiddos in the pic except the little guy in the front.  His daddy would stick him
in the picture time after time... just as we were getting ready to snap the photo. lol

Too cute and so amusing. We got numbers 6 and 7 mixed up so they will probably be traumatized
  for the rest of their lives every time they look at these pictures! ha! 

1.Allysha   2.Jon    3.Annika   4.Keira   5.Joshua   6.Ainsley    7.Kanaan   8.Daniel

and baby 9 is missing. Her mama was sick so they stayed home. 

What a CUTE bunch of kiddos we have in our family!! I love them all and miss them terribly already.

Do you grandparent long distance? Our oldest son and his family live about 2 hours from us, our daughter and
family live 3 hours from us, but our youngest son who did live about 20 minutes away now lives in North
Carolina. 13 or 14 hour drive straight through. It has been a hard adjustment, but we are surviving.

PaPa swooped up Ainsley as soon as she got here!

 The night we said our goodbyes to them was heartbreaking. We had just finished Christmas at my moms and
Ainsley was eating more salad {what child eats more salad??} and I was sitting beside her. She looked at me and
said in a shaky voice, "Grandma I won't see you for a long time"...I replied, "I know , but we can write and we can
 call"... yea ,that didn't work.

Again, in a shaky little voice "Grandma, I won't see you for a long time"...I picked her up and she started crying.

That was it for this grandma. I cried right along with her! She has never done this before so she must be getting
old enough to realize exactly what is going on. I held her for awhile and she and I cried together. {in front of lots
of other family members}. I finally handed her off to grandpa and she cried some more. She was still crying
when they left and when she got to her other grandmas house.

Oh the hard knocks of childhood and life. We miss those two little gals to much. We used to be able
to just drive over and visit them on the spur of the moment, but not anymore...and life goes on.

 How do you grandparent long distance? Do you do anything special? I would love to hear about it.

Blessings and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Fall fun with Family

Our son and his family came from North Dakota to visit us for a few days and we made the most
 of the time we had together with our two precious granddaughters. We miss them very much
since they moved away, so it was great to spend some time together.

One day the girls and I made Halloween cupcakes together and I tried to capture the process.
I took a few more a LOT MORE photos, but I realized that you don't want to see 500 photos
of my grandchildren. Although I just can't understand why not! ha!

LOVE this one of Ainsley and her little bare feet. 

They took turns putting the batter into the cupcake liners...

Then they started frosting them...

 ...and they added sprinkles.

There was a lot of laughing and licking going on. Too fun and great memories!

We also visited a corn maze one day that is a few miles from our home and Ainsley hopped up here
to have her picture taken.

Grandpa took them a wagon ride. They always love to do this. I think he enjoys it as much as they do.

What little child doesn't like to pick up stones and leaves and all kinds of treasures?
I haven't met one yet. 

This is our family in the middle of the corn maze. 

The girls also love to play dress up whenever they come and it did not take them long
to pick out some dresses and put them on.  I keep a stash of them just for times like
these. 

Sisters Annika and Ainsley.
{Annika is wearing my sunglasses}

There was a petting zoo and the girls loved the animals!
A calf, pigs, goats and sheep. They really were cute little creatures!

This girl is limber! I remember those days...very faintly. ha!

This little gal is such a hoot! Her daddy told her to tell him which way to go and
she did pretty good, but this time she didn't tell him so he kept on walking
right into the corn. She thought that was pretty funny.

We love these witty, spunky, beautiful granddaughters of ours and we are so thankful that
they were able to spend a few days with us. They have moved on to North Carolina now and
we miss them already.  Annika will be going to another new school and their parents will
 be getting new jobs.

 Hubby and I are adjusting to a "new normal"with them so far away,
 and we are surviving...barely. lol

Prayers appreciated for them all.

Blessings~

Two of our precious granddaughters...

If you are facebook friends with me, you know by now that these  two  little sweeties of ours along with
 their mommy and daddy moved to North Dakota a few weeks ago. That is a LONGGGG way from
Michigan!  We miss them sooooooo much! They are the only ones of our grandchildren that lived
real close so now they are all spread out. {not sure how long they will be gone}

Grandpa and I took them on a walk to the park a few weeks ago and I snapped a few photos that
I wanted to share with you.

Don't you just love the way they dress? They love to wear pretty, sparkly dresses!
I didn't ask Annika to pose for me, but she sure did a good job.

Sweet little Ainsley.
We walked uptown to the BBQ place for lunch and they were closed.
The girls were disappointed...This sweet little face says it all!
She wanted BEANS! HA!

Beautiful little sisters.

HELP Grandpa!! HAHA!!

I was right in front of her getting ready to grab her.

I just LOVE the expression on Ainsley's face. She sure is tickled about something.

They loved sliding down this bar...with a little help of course.
I think Grandpa enjoyed it as much as they did.

They love to swing...and swing...and swing. It was hard to move on to something else
for little Ms. Ainsley, but we did. Notice her eyes are closed? lol

"Grandpa, this is the way it is..."

Even snuck a photo of yours truly in here.

The girls brought their kitty's up to stay at our house while they are gone and they are doing
pretty well finally! We didn't see them for days initially, but they are adjusting nicely.
This is Maive. I haven't gotten a photo of Merida yet , but they look a lot alike as they are
sisters.

Hand in hand with Grandpa.

I just wanted to share these photos today as I am sure missing these little gals.
Love them so much!!!

Booth beauty, a MOUSE and a brownie!

Just to put your minds at ease,  the mouse did not eat the brownie, but we will get to that
 later. lol

A few weeks ago when we visited my daughter and her family,  I stopped at the Memories
antique mall by Fenton, Michigan again. I always love to visit there because there are a couple
booths that I just love and these first few photos are from one of them.

Can you believe that I walked out of there and didn't purchase one thing?? I KNOW!
 I had just purchased several items at the Peacock Park sale and I had to be good.

The lady who has this booth always has such wonderful items and displays so I had
to capture it in pictures once again.

Just look at all the amazing and lovely white treasures!

She sure has a knack for displaying her items beautifully!

Love this olive oil soap and the dish it sets in.

A neat way to display old linens. I love old hangers and I have several in my stash.
I need to get them out and do this. :)

Okay...now we are to the brownie part...I made these brownies a week or two ago and they
were sooooooo yummy!! I just mix up a regular brownie mix , put it in the pan and add
dollops of peanut butter and then bake it. We love them this way and if you like peanut
butter and chocolate I think you will too!

I have been busy , busy, busy trying to get things made for a craft show that I am going to be in
and although things are not moving along at warp speed I am getting some treasures finished.

I found these nests  with the eggs inside on clearance after Easter. They were brown and of course
 I sprayed them white and added some Martha Stewart Tinsel glitter. Love how they turned out!!

Now on to the story about the MOUSE.  Our two granddaughters Annika and Ainsley
 {little gal in these pics}were at our house last week and we were in the living room playing
with toys when we saw a mouse run around the room. Of course it startled me so
 I screeched...well kinda...ha ha!

Of course that got the girls all excited and Ainsley wanted to literally jump in my arms so I
rescued her and we tip-toed into the dining room and watched the mouse run into the kitchen
and then on into the bathroom.  Ainsleys eyes were wide and she kept saying, *BUG ,BUG*
and pointing. It was just too cute!

These pictures are her trying to tell her gpa all about it when he got in the house. It was so
precious!! She got her face so close to his and kept whispering about the mouse. I told him
to keep her talking while I ran and got the camera and thankfully it worked!!!!! She just
went on and on. I just love her facial expressions that I captured! The above photo almost
looks like she is kissing him, but she isn't...she is just whispering. :)

"oh , paw paw we saw a mouse"...
don't you just love her little hands on his face. :)

Then she had to point and show him where it ran off to. So glad I got these special
moments to keep!

Last , but not least...my little vase of violas. I was outside this past week cleaning up
my gardens and found a few of these flowers still blooming so I had to pick them.

I sure hope I can keep in touch. I think my computer is on it's last breath, but I am
praying that it limps along for another year...think that will happen?? ha!!

Happy weekend everyone!!!!