Please Pray for Haiti

The already impoverished country of Haiti experienced a 7.3 earthquake yesterday. Having been there myself in July of 2008 this is very near and dear to my heart. Please pray for Haiti as they are dealing with huge devastation right now. Here are a couple links to blogs from people in Haiti right now:

The Livesay [Haiti] Welbog
There are other links on the Livesay's site also down on the left-hand side.
Providence Ministries
RHFH Rescue Center
If you Twitter you can also follow Troy Livesay.

A blessing indeed!

Yesterday I got that call that we all hate to get but it is part of life. "Grandpa isn't doing well." I knew he had aged a lot between Thanksgiving and Christmas but I still wasn't ready for that call. January 1st I posted about him celebrating his 91st birthday. He was in the hospital for his birthday but he was able to come home on Sunday. Yesterday he gave us quite a scare. The doctor wasn't able to get any response from him. My Aunt is wintering in Texas and she was told she should come home. She will be here at 3pm today.

I went and sat with Grandpa last night and to everyone's surprise he was awake, sitting up, and being his spunky self (as spunky as you can be at 91 that is, wink). He enjoys giving people a hard time, especially my Dad. When my Dad came in the room to give him his hearing aids he handed him the first one and said, "I thought you might like to have these in while people are here. This one is for your right ear". After Grandpa had it in Dad handed him the next one and said, "this is the one for your left ear". I chuckled a little when I seen Grandpa furrow his brow at him with a look of "really? I thought it was a second one for my right ear". LOL! Then my Dad (because he is just like his father) seen the scowl and said, "and this one is for your middle ear" and pretended to hand him a third one. Since Grandpa hadn't put in the second one yet he looked at my Dad and proceeded to put the left hearing aid in his nose!!! We were all laughing then!

I love my Grandpa so much and I am so blessed to know that he loves me just as much. I will be very sad to see Grandpa leave this world but I am holding onto the image of God with his arms spread waiting to greet my Grandfather with a huge hug and whisper into his ear "well done good and faithful servant, well done."

This is one of my favorite pictures of Grandpa with Kaylyn about 10 years ago.

Enjoy it while you can.

Soaking up the sun looks pretty good to me too. Now I just need to teach her to help fold the laundry with me instead of just providing me company. We certainly could use some more sun.

She shoots, she SCORES!

Libby had her first basketball game this morning. She really enjoyed it. It was quite an eye opener for her to realize how winded she was after only a 45min long game. She was hoping they had practice during the week. No such luck. She will have to get some running in on her own while daddy walks the track. It was an early lesson in the importance of conditioning. Wink!

That is her taking the shot and she did make one basket. I took this picture with my phone. Phones really aren't good for action shots. LOL!

Guess what day it is?

It's an Emily day. Libby was actually happy to have a dentist appointment today because she knew that meant she would get to spend more time with Emily. Maybe I should schedule all of those not so fun appointments on Friday's. Poor Libby is very stuffed up though and I think you can see it in this picture. 'Tis the season I guess.

Yes, you might get slammed against the wall!

Anna is on an indoor soccer team right now. I see it as a mix between hockey and soccer. It gets very intense but it is really fun to watch.

What sports do you enjoy watching?

Wordless Wednesday-Traditions

Every year I give my kids pj's on Christmas Eve and we take a Christmas picture.

I couldn't help but wonder while taking this picture about how many more years I will have them all home on Christmas Eve.

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wii is great!

I love how the Wii is something that EVERYONE can play together and how it levels the playing field. I took this picture last night with my phone while Mark and Kaylyn were playing Wii Play together.

If you are considering getting a Wii I would recommend getting 2 controllers right from the start. We got the Wii last Christmas and just got a 2nd controller this last week with Christmas money from my Uncle Jer to our entire family. It has been so much fun playing against each other.

Dinner is in the crockpot.

Thanks to Kristen at We Are That Family my family is going to eat well for a while. I won her giveaway from Homemade Gourmet. I am so excited to to try all of these yummy meals out. Tonight we are having Chipotle Raspberry Chicken. Doesn't that sound yummy? For more information on Tami, the founder of Homemade Gourmet, check out her blog Around the Table with Tami.

Guess what?

Do you like the t-shirt I gave my niece?

Happy 91st birthday Grandpa!

This picture was taken last February while my Grandpa was staying in Texas with my Aunt for a couple of months. My mom and dad (in the picture with him) were visiting him on their way to Arizona.


This has been a hard year on Grandpa. He continues to battle congestive heart failure. My dad had to take him to the ER this morning because he was so nauseous and having dry heaves (sorry about the tmi). They ended up admitting him so he is spending his birthday in the hospital. Poor Grandpa. They are thinking it is from a change in his medicine but wanted to monitor him overnight.

This is a picture from Christmas day.

I love you Grandpa!

Wordless Wednesday - Throwing in Green!

Zack's first MSU track meet. He took first place! Way to go Zack!!!

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Thanksgiving

Here is everyone relaxing before lunch. Expect for Mark who must want to eat soon because he is carving the bird.



We have outgrown my mom's table. I see that as a good thing. Wink! Mark and I offered to sit at the counter with Kaylyn and Libby so they didn't feel like the kids were being pushed to the curb... er, counter.



Ready for dessert. This is when it pays to sit at the counter. Maybe Mark had ulterior motives after all. We have mom's pumpkin pie and my raspberry cheesecake. Even though my mom makes the best pumpkin pie ever (in my opinion) she doesn't care that much for it so she asked me to bring something for her.


Emily LOVED grandma's pumpkin pie.



Lunch is all cleaned up now it is time to go over the sale flyers and give grandma ideas for Christmas.



That would be Mark opening a whole can of trouble...



That would be Zack teaching his daddy a little lesson.



That looks like me saying "boys stop that you are going to break something".



I hope you all had a wonderful time of food and fellowship with your families!

Wordless Wednesday-Cutest "floor cleaner" ever.

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Happy Birthday Kaylyn!

A little late again. My poor blog is full of cobwebs.

Kaylyn turned 14 a couple weeks ago. We usually celebrate on Sunday's with cake and ice cream but because life has been so hectic we squeezed it in on a Tuesday night and I made tacos for everyone and then we had cake and ice cream.

Kaylyn has been asking me for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for the past couple years. Her Grandma Hill made it for her every year but Grandma passed away in 2005 and Kaylyn has been missing her cake. The problem is my mother, uncle, and myself get headaches from chocolate so a double chocolate cake is way too much for us. I came up with a simple solution that I should have thought of long ago. Provide 2 desserts. I had one happy girl this year. Wink!



It was also nice to have Grandpa join us. He loves all his Great-grandkids. Emily thinks he is pretty cool too because he gives her rides on his walker and she thinks she is pretty big stuff on it.