He Leadeth Me

My family usually visits in the summer or fall, but this year, they decided that it would be great to come in February. There were two purposes. #1 --to see snow #2 --to celebrate Uncle Terry's retirement. The snow came in buckets a few days before they arrived.  It was the largest single snowfall we have had since we moved here.   After they arrived, the sun shone the entire time they were here. DO WE KNOW HOW TO PLAN A PARTY, OR WHAT? We visited the Transportation in Denver. It is really a neat place.   This was at the scenic lookout as we were driving home from the airport. Kim and Randy at the Transportation Museum Aunt Gail, who grew up with snow in Arksasas was the most adventurous in the snow. Terry and Gail making a snowman Randy helped David to shovel We were a little lacking in the snowman making materials so the snowman had oreo cookies for eyes, a carrot for a nose, and a bell pepper slice for a mouth. We hiked at Garden ...

Our Family Reunion was in July. I have been so busy since then that I haven't spent a lot of time blogging. So for the next few posts, you are going to get to see my precious family and the beautiful  YMCA of the Rockies at Estes Park. Sweetie is the matriarch of the family so she gets to be featured in the first blog post. Here she is with all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Missing from the photo are: Emily, Philip, and Sarah who were all at the reunion but had to leave before pictures were taken.   Gail and Jon created a fun game of family bingo. Newest great grandchild--Cora Elise. You might be wondering what Josh is thinking. We often wonder that!  Her own private escort to the picture taking location. Sweetie with her children. Not pictured is Aunt Terry who had to stay home for classes to become a chaplain.  We missed her! We teasingly told Kim that we should have taken a picture of the "original three" but...

When my mom visited Colorado Springs in February, she went to music class with Kelly, David and Aaron. Isn't this just the most priceless picture?  

When Caleb was about Aaron and David's age, we lived in Houston and Sweetie (my mom) was Caleb's cradle roll teacher. He absolutely LOVED this little seal who toddles around when you turn on the little button on his tummy. Of course, Sweetie immediately decided that Caleb should have the seal for his very own. Baby Seal, as we call him, still lives at the young Gibson's house and Aaron has discovered him. What fun! What joy! What great memories! Thanks Sweetie!

The Hello, Goodbye Window is a wonderful Caldecott winning book about a child who sees her grandparents in the Hello, Goodbye Window each time she visits. book cover courtesy of Titlewave This picture wasn't designed to be a reenactment of the book but I just couldn't help but compare. David in the window with Nana looking out at his great grandmother, Sweetie. One of those sweet moments in life.

Sweetie and Kim came to Colorado to visit us last week and we had a great time. The weather was gorgeous for us. Can you tell we are mother and daughters? They had fun with 2 of the grands as Sweetie calls her great grandchildren. Aaron loved Sweetie's balloons as much as his brother did when he was that age. Superheros were willing to snuggle. When we visited the Broadmoor, the geese were out and walking on water. (It was actually ice.) The pond was partially frozen, but the sun was warm. The Broadmoor Breakfast Buffet was a big hit! You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

I haven't found any children so far who don't LOVE books by Robert Munsch. Here are some of my favorites! Book Covers Courtesy of Copyright © 2010 Follett Library Resources, Inc. Purple Green and Yellow has the word "cow plops" in it. When my mom, Sweetie, read this book to her grandchildren, she changed the word "cow plops" to "watermelons" to make it more genteel. When we were writing down things that we appreciated about my mom and dad recently for their 60th anniversary scrapbook, my nephew Josh, who can always make everyone laugh, had this to say. "You can substitute "watermelons" for "cow plops" but you really need to clue Poppy in on the changes." I would have loved to see the look in 3 year old Josh's eyes, when Poppy read the new and improved version of Purple Green and Yellow. Murmel, Murmel, Murmel is a fun book for a child expecting a new sibling. One sign of a good book is that the parent reading th...

Earlier this week on Facebook, I mentioned that my mom had made me a great foot-warming device. My friend Amy promptly dubbed it a "Foogie". Several people thought it would be a best seller for cold weather, and others wanted to see pictures. Below is the ORIGINAL! My mom, who we call Sweetie, has been making these for us for years. They are filled with rice and can be heated up in the microwave. They are great to use to keep warm or for aches and pains. I kept this one nearby at all times when I had the flu earlier this season. Sweetie then came up with the brainstorm of making one with a "pocket" where you can place your feet to keep them warm. The first picture below shows one foot in and one foot out. (Does that remind you of the hokey-pokey song?) This photo shows both feet warmly cuddled into my Foogie. Thanks, Sweetie, I love it!