First Haircut

Yesterday, Krista and I took Mia to the beauty shop for her first official haircut. She had about 10 long hairs when she was tiny that Krista cut, but this was her first time in the beauty shop for a "real" haircut. She's going to be a flower girl in a wedding in June, and she had some wild hair sometimes in the back. So, Krista decided that she would like to have it cut to make it appear thicker and help it to grow evenly.

This is what Mia thought of the whole idea of a haircut! I don't know if it's because she has had to endure some pretty awful things at various doctors offices and hospitals, but when Deb came towards her, she started screaming. She wanted Nana to hold her, so I got a cape and she got a cute little pink butterfly cape. She wasn't really impressed with the cape or the Minnie Mouse I was trying to make dance in front of her to distract her. She loved the picture Deb had hanging up of her granddaughter, Mari, but that wouldn't even comfort her during the actual cutting time. :)

She did hold pretty still though...well, some of the time and Deb did a great job on the "do". She trimmed it once and Krista said she wouldn't mind it being a little shorter, so she trimmed some more off of it. At the end of the ordeal, Deb gave her a Dum Dum sucker, which you can see made her feel a lot better. But, of course, it was a purple one I guess that would make anyone feel better, huh?

Here's what her hair looked like in the back when she was finished. Deb just dusted her bangs a little so they didn't fall into her eyes, but didn't cut those. She's still go so much new hair coming in. Isn't it adorable though?

And, best of all (hehe)....she got a "First Haircut Certificate" with some of the hair in a little bag on the certificate. I guess she's now an official "girly" girl, huh? Her beauty shop experiences have begun. Krista couldn't wait to get her home and play with it some--curl it up a little, etc. But, it was a fun experience....well, it was for me. I'm thankful that I was invited to go along. :) And, after we finished at the beauty shop, we went to Wendy's for a Kid's Meal--cheeseburger, fries and lots of "dip dip" (aka ketchup). We called Jayme and she and Collin met up with us for lunch. So, Mia got to see Collin also....that helped make up for the tragic day she had--hehe....she was really not hurt at all in the cutting of her hair. :)

No cheeseburger for this guy. He had his baby food and then just sat back and watched everyone else eat and played with his turtle. He's such a good baby. :) For those of you who are wondering about Bryce, he's getting to be a big boy....hates for me to take his picture. He was at preschool on this day, so he wasn't with us. He's a very fine young man though...I'll try really soon to get some good pictures of him and post them. He was playing a Wii game last night while he was here and I tried to take his picture--he said "Nana, quit taking my picture--I'm playing Mater Nationals". :) I sure do love these three little blessings. Each one is so different, and special to me.

Spring? Well, maybe Soon!!

It's always exciting to me when I start to see the first signs of Spring. Today is a beautiful day (well, it is right now)...it's about 60 degrees, the sun is shining. It makes me so anxious for the beautiful Spring weather.

Here's the very first sign of Spring I saw..just the other day. Yes, those are tulips, just starting to come up. They usually come up, then we get a snow on top of it. And, true to form, there is snow predicted in the next few days. So, I may have more pictures to post of the snow on the tulips. :)

A Happy Valentine's Day weekend

This past weekend was, of course, Valentine's Day. On Friday evening, Jayme called and asked if we would like to go to Toro Loco with them. Of course, we never pass up an opportunity to eat there! So, we met them down there and had dinner with them and Tom and Lois. Then afterwards, we went over to Josh and Jayme's. I brought a little gift for each of the boys, since it was Valentine's Day the next day. They had a "family date" with the Swords family on Saturday, so I gave them their gifts on Friday. I had found a few of Bryce's favorite things, Cars for him. He's always amazed when we find some that he doesn't have--yeah, he has that many. He was so excited by each thing that was in his gift bag. He is going through this thing that he doesn't like to have his picture taken. So, this is the only picture I got of him. Collin, however, smiles every time he sees a camera pointed at him.

I got Collin a little Elmo that talks and says something about hugs...he loved it. He laughed every time that Elmo would talk. Collin is a pretty easy baby to entertain--he's happy most of the time. And, very content to sit in the floor and play with toys, which is a blessing, seeing as how he's pretty heavy--it would be difficult if he was a baby who needed to be carried around a lot.

Then, on Saturday, Jayme and I went to a baby shower for a lady at church, then I came home and we went to Portsmouth to pick up Mia. Her mommy and daddy were going to go out for dinner and a date. So, Miss Mia got to spend Valentine's Day with Nana and Papaw. She is a lot of fun. I got her a little book that is Dora and has a little piano on it. She is very interested in music. Of course, she inherited some pretty musical genes from her mommy and daddy. If I could get a video to upload, I would put one on here of her singing. Krista has the best one--if any of you are friends with her on Facebook, be sure you check it out. If you are friends with me, I have one of her singing, one of Bryce singing and one of Collin giggling!!

Since Valentine's Day is about love, I thought I would share these pictures of the little people I love so much. My entire family is very important to me and I love them all so. We are all missing Granny and Bippy right now, as they are in Florida. Granny, if you get to see this, I hope you enjoy seeing the kids. I'll try to get more pictures to you soon--I just haven't taken many lately. I thank God for my family and pray for them--I am praying that God would be important in each of their lives and that He would lead them where He would have them to go. :)

Happy Valentine's Day--well, a couple days late.

Wii Mania

I know a lot of people don't like for their kids to play video games, fearing it will make them lazy and sedentary. However, I got a game for Josh for Christmas for the Wii that actually gives Bryce lots of exercise. The game is Mater National (from the Disney Pixar movie Cars) and Bryce loves it. Well, he won't actually play it, but he loves to watch others play it--and he "coaches" while they play. He gets very frustrated when they don't take the exact turn he wants or if whoever is playing doesn't do the game just the way he wants it done. :) It's funny to watch, that's for sure.

The kids were all here on Monday--Uncle Josh had come in for a doctor's appointment and Bryce had sent word for him "not to leave until he got to see him". So, we ordered pizza and all got together.

Here he is thinking he can move the car on the screen by moving his body. He gets so "into" this game. He loves it and hates it all at the same time.

Uncle Josh is a natural at video games, so he's usually willing to play the game for quite awhile for Bryce. Apparently here, Josh did something right--looks like Bryce is cheering him on!

By the end of the evening, Bryce's shirt was about a whole size bigger, the neck stretched out, chewed on and just a regular mess! He would get "nervous" about someone playing messing up and would chew on the neck of his shirt. He is so fun to watch when this is going on though--he's very intense about it!!It looks like Uncle Josh must have done something good here--look at that face! He's so fun. He did take a turn at playing and actually did pretty well. When Krista was younger, she would want to watch the others play a video game before she would want to play. So, maybe he's taking after her. He couldn't find a sweeter person to take after. ;) Well, she is so very sweet now!!

We had a fun evening on Monday. When Josh told Bryce it was time to go, he said "Hey, no one even played with me tonight".....I guess the video game was a work out, not playing. :) He's a great little man though and his nana loves him very much.

Oh, yeah, by the way, he came into church on Sunday morning saying something to himself, under his breath over and over. Jayme said "Bryce, remember what you were going to tell Nana?" He looked at me and sweetly said "N-A-N-A....I can spell your name!" My heart melted!!!

Ice Storm--Round 1....2009

Well, it's Friday evening and we have actually survived the Ice Storm of 2009--hopefully the only one of the year!! We (thankfully) never lost our electric. We had no cell phone service, internet or cable for a couple days. We still don't have our land line service back.....hopefully soon. Josh, Jayme and the boys have been living here with us since Wednesday morning (well, Josh didn't come until Wednesday evening). They still (as of 11:00 p.m. this evening) don't have electric at their house, so we are still having one big slumber party here!

Here's the way the snow/ice started. Tuesday came with about 6 inches of snow by noon or so. This picture is of the pine tree in our neighbor's yard, with a little snow on it. I took a camera out with me to get the paper that morning. :) By Tuesday evening we started getting a freezing rain/ice mix.....which landed on top of the 6 inches of snow. It was pretty, but not at all fun! Josh and Jayme lost their electric about 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Papaw had made several runs back and forth from Clarktown to our house, so on one of the runs, he picked up Jayme and the boys. They got here about 9:30 or so.

Here's the snow with a little ice on it. We got about 1/2 inch of ice on top of the snow...then, we got about 4 more inches of snow on top of the ice. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Jayme, the kids and I haven't seen too much of Josh and Papaw. They have been working very long hours....very hard times. It's been very trying for them and very tiring too. We've kind of just played the days away while the Greenes have been here. Bryce brought some of his Mini Adventure Cars over and I had a couple little things upstairs that were new, so it's been fun for him. Except--their Mater National game for the Wii was in their Wii system and they couldn't get it out to bring it. He wants the electric to come back on so he can watch Mommy and Daddy play that game some more.

Here are some of the pictures from the ice storm. Most of them don't need explanation.....just wanted to post them for all to see. Especially since my parents are in Florida and are missing all this...I want them to be able to share a little bit in the fun.

These two were taken while we were driving to Walmart--along Lucasville/Minford Rd. The pine trees looked like they had their "arms" hanging over the utility lines, huh? It was an eerie feeling driving along there, trees were a lot closer to the road than usual.

Today was actually a beautiful day. The sun was out and the sky was a magnificent blue. You could hear the ice melting and falling outside--crackling on the power lines and the trees. The last few pictures were taken today. I pray that soon all have their electric restored and life can get back to some version of "normal"...whatever that may be. I know I have a husband who is exhausted! I have to admit that the sun glistening on the trees today was really a sight to see! The pictures really don't do the scenes justice....it was so beautiful. God can make something so beautiful out of something so difficult. Kind of like our lives sometimes, huh? God can use us for His good even when we mess up on our own. Does that make sense--with ice storm pictures? :)

Happy Birthday Jayme

Yesterday was Jayme's 28th birthday. I can hardly believe that it has been 28 years since I became a mother for the first time. It seems like only yesterday that she was that tiny little girl born after several days of labor. Becoming a mom has been one of the greatest blessings in my life, second to my salvation and being a wife. I have the greatest kids in the whole world! Each of them unique and special!!

We had a little family party to celebrate Jayme's birthday. I made dinner and had everyone here. The party was a little hectic and a little on the wild side. Bryce had been coughing for a couple days--flare up of his asthma. Apparently he got a little too worked up and threw up a couple times. Mia was just excited to have everyone there and was happy to be there too. She was running around squealing and laughing. Collin was a little intimidated with everyone there and he was crying. :) I know, typical evening, huh?

Anyway, we had a great time. Dinner, cake and pie (thanks Lois) and ice cream. We had present time (of course!). Well, the surprise I eluded to before was the following:

Thursday evening when the boys stayed here with me, Bryce painted his mommy a picture for her birthday. I gave him the idea of the flowers, but he said "Mommy does like flowers", and then helped him pick colors, etc. But, he did the painting himself. Isn't it adorable? He worked very hard on the picture and left it here to dry on Thursday. He came home from church with us on Sunday and spent the afternoon. I had put it in a frame and he wrapped it up for Jayme. He was so excited--he just knew his mommy was going to love his painting.

She opened it and looked very surprised and happy with the picture. Here she is when she opened it. And, then.......here they are together. He was so proud and happy that she liked the picture. Here are a few other pictures from the evening. It seemed like I was really busy, so I didn't get to shoot many pictures.

Mia had so much fun. She loves family get togethers. She loves to say "YoYo" too, and enjoys playing with Uncle YoYo. She did some pretty fun dances for entertainment and was just fun.Collin is sitting in his little chair, keeping an eye on Uncle David. David was making some noises at him and I loved this look on his face. He's a sweet baby! And, for the last picture.....the birthday girl with her favorite (Union Mills) cake, blowing out her candles.........Silly Jayme! Happy Birthday Sweets. I love you so!!

My Guys

Last night, Josh and Jayme had Bible study at their house, so the boys came over to spend the evening with Nana. Papaw was at his water board meeting, so I was on my own. :) But, they were very good. Once Collin got his belly full (2 jars of baby food and 6 oz. of formula!) he was a happy guy. And, Bryce was just happy to be here too.





Collin is getting pretty good at sitting up on his own. And, when he does topple over, he catches himself and falls very gently. He enjoys sitting up too--no more of that baby stuff of laying on a blanket in the floor, or sitting in a baby seat!






We got Bryce a Nintendo DS for Christmas, and he has really enjoyed it. I got him a Wonder Pets game for his that he is "really good at". He was playing with my DS last night and trying out a Mario type game. He was very intent on it, but I'm not sure he ever figured it out. But, he enjoyed trying.





Collin is such a sweet baby. So content, so happy. Jayme made up a little song that she sings to him sometimes. Anytime you sing it, it brings an immediate smile. "Collie Wally Doodle Bug" is the name of it. If you see Jayme, ask her to sing it for you. Be prepared for it to get stuck in your head though--it is one of those songs!





Bryce got very interested in a little gumball machine toy thing that is really kind of a baby toy. However, he was trying to work the little puzzle thing in the ball. As you can see, he was fascinated by it and very determined to get the marbles through those little holes. hehe....he's a funny guy.



We had a fun evening, even if it was really cold! I have some more pictures to share later, but they involve a secret, so I can't show them yet. Shh.....don't tell the secret!!! I have such beautiful, happy grandchildren. I love them all SO much. Can you tell????