Decoration

Been under stress due to the holidays. Needed to be creative and unwind. Easy to make and didn't take long either. Think I'll keep making them and use them to decorate the tree next year. Like?

Christmas

A wonderful Christmas with lot of hugs to go around for all



















Levi taking Kayla's cookie.











Of the 70 or so people there were only 12 children. Years ago it was almost all children at these parties.







Georgia and cousin Aidan got along great and played well together.



One more time for old time sake. For years Laura and Michelle were dresses alike, as moms we never asked if they wanted to, we just did it. Every Christmas party, wedding and family parties you would find these two in alike outfits. They still are as cute as ever!!

The Tree

Sam and Max

need longer weekends

A wonderful weekend filled with time together and silly faces. Could use a lot more of these wonderful weekends.

My first Auction

Today I went to my first auction. Jacob's Garden was an up scale greenhouse built at the wrong time. Very nice things in there that were very costly too. I would walk around and look at the things I liked. Wrote down the item number and the price that the store was trying to sell it for before the auction. My rule was before the item reached half price I had to stop bidding. Most of the items that I would have loved to bid on they had not gotten to yet and it was getting late in the day. Ended up buying a Christmas tree that they had price for $423 and got it for $40 along with a box of miscellaneous junk.
What I didn't like was the line to check out and pay for your items was really long and took me over a half hour to check out.

the Photos are In

Thanksgiving

Most everyone knows that I no longer cook. My husband and son like to take over the kitchen and both think they are great cooks. The two of them for some time have been planning the big Thanksgiving dinner. Yesterday I was handed a grocery list with a list of items like cabbage, dill pickles, hamburger, and french fries. Guess we are not having turkey.

Weekend With the Sparks

Austin plays farm 24/7. Grandma is finally getting the hang of playing farm the Austin way. Putting the right animals in the right pens. Even if they are only toys male and female animals don't go into the same pen and different animals go to different places. Elephants are allowed on Austin's farm. Sometimes while playing farm an animal will die and you will need to put it into compost. You better know and use the right equipment to do that. I also learned that if an animal wears a red collar it will give that animal, mostly cows, special powers where they can fly. Feeding on Austin's farm is a very important job. Grandma is not yet allowed to do that.

Georgia in her toy box. Yes, each kid has their own toy box and they have so many toys that they can't close the lid. What was Georgia's favorite toy to play with while we were there? The Toy Box it's self!!! She loved being in it with the lid closed. I was afraid she was going to fall asleep in there and feared I'd not be able to lift her out.

I do see walking in the near future for our little Levi. Mr. Independent thinks of himself as 3/4 year old. Would rather feed himself and I got more food into him by letting him do it himself. Doesn't want baby toys but rather play with Georgia and Austin's toys. He specially loves Austin's endless bails of hay and cows. Levi army crawls like Mark did and is very quick at finding small little tiny things on the floor and putting them into his mouth. Still only has 2 teeth but that beats Mark who walked before he got any teeth. Levi also has "mommy radar" he is happy with whomever is holding him but can sense when mom is near by. He even woke up from a deep sleep when Laura arrived home. So cute!!

I was watching the 3 kids and their Uncle Tom. Georgia ask when could they take a bath. I explained that I had to first feed Levi and then changed his diaper. Then I'd have to feed Uncle Tom, give him his meds and change his diaper. Followed by fixing them supper and then finally they could take a bath. Georgia looked at me and said "wow, you're doing everybody's work today". I replied "yes I am, and I don't get paid for what I do". She quickly took off and a few minutes later return and gave me six cents. I am so proud of my Georgia and appreciate the time, effort and energy that Georgia put into the recognition of what I was trying to do.

Forrest Gump

This Eastern Screech Owl was found at the base of a tree in cemetry. He was in such bad shape, No one thought he was going to live, but his will to live was so strong, Mary decided to give him a try. He was on plenty of pain medication. He never missed a day of eating. He just fought for life and in November, his pin feathers began to grow and here he is today. What a beautiful bird! He will be an educational bird. He is non releasable because of a fracture in his right arm, that keeps him non-flighted. He has been such a pleasure to work with and look for him, as he loves to do programs for children.

This is what the bird looked liked when it was brought to Wings Paws and Prayers. Severely injured after being attacked by an unknown bird or animal.

Child Abuse?

Playing with the Camera

Just being silly one evening while playing with the camera.

Pumpkin carving day

Before we could begin our pumpkin carving Georgia thought the pumpkins needs a bath to get all the dirt off of them. So Grandma bathed pumpkins.
















Georgia loved every part of the pumpkin activities. From cleaning them, carving and even feeding the insides of the pumpkins to the pigs. Grandma did get tired of lighting the candles, holding hands, spinning in a circle and kicking while singing "Happy Birthday". Then you blow the candle in the pumpkin out and repeat like 20 X's.




Austin was a different story. Yes, he loved the candles and the "Happy Birthday" dance, but it took him forever to get to that point. He scoped out seeds one at a time. Grandma did have to help him if we ever wanted to get that pumpkin finished. Austin did get upset too for he wanted to use his toy tractors and manure spreader and play with the seeds and yuck from the pumpkins on the table.


















Pumpkins for everyone. After all our hard work we had a beautiful pumpkin for everyone there. Casey didn't carve a pumpkin so Georgia took a marker and drew a happy face on her daddy's pumpkin. Happy Halloween!

What a weekend!!

Even Grandma played dress up with a doll baby. Poor Levi, Grandma would put one costume on him, take his picture, strip him down and put on another. It was so much fun!!















Here is our Austin. He seams to likes everything a particular way. During bath time he did NOT like bubbles on him. Spent most of the time not enjoying all the bubbles that Grandma made, but carefully washing all the bubble off his body. Austin told me that cows don't like bubble either.














Georgia Bear loved the bubbles but pretended it was snow and almost Christmas.
















The kids loves their toy boxes and love playing in them. Levi and Georgia together, those two loved it when the lid was closed and would play in the dark.










Austin and Georgia would put balloons in the toy box and closing the lid. Would wave their hands and saying some magic words, opening the lid and having the balloons float up and out. The toy box was hours of fun.