Welcome Ellie Grace

♥Today I became a Great-Great Aunt ♥

Ellie Grace Shipwash was born to my great-nephew Corey 

and great-niece by marriage Samantha.

She was born at 12:24pm and weighed 8 lbs, 6 oz.

She would have been a great-granddaughter to my sister Helen Ann

and a granddaughter to my nephew, David

but the two of them are celebrating in Heaven tonight.

Here is my niece, Angela giving little Ellie lots of love

Welcome to the world Ellie Grace

May God keep His hand of blessing upon you always.

A New Year's first Sunday

Today was the first Sunday of the new year.

We went to the early service at church then we went to Starbucks for breakfast.

Both our kids gave us gift cards to Starbucks for Christmas YAY!!!

My hubby got one of the breakfast sandwiches and regular coffee

and I got their Steel-cut Oatmeal and a Caramel Macchiato...

that is my absolute favorite hot coffee drink there.

The oatmeal was AMAZING!!!

Then we ran by Staples to get some office supplies

and Lowes (same plaza) because my husband needed something there.

When we got home and let Milli out, after changing out of our church clothes

my husband went outside to work in our yard

and I continued my project of putting away the last of the Christmas things. 

The day passed quickly and after dinner we settled in for some movies.

How do you like to spend your Sundays?

Happy Birthday Milli

Yes indeed, our sweet ole girl has made it to her 16th Birthday!
Here are just some of the adventures of Milli:

This is when she was very young

Our older son brought her into our family

Being Silly

Checking out the new baby (Hannah 2005)

Christmas Time

Checking to see which presents are hers

A camping trip in our Class C Camper

Checking things out

 Going Biking

Relaxing after a long day of fun

In our Bus

Always near the food

Playing Santa

 Checking things out (again)

 A trip to Aunt Nettie's and Uncle Chuck's
(visiting her canine cousins and going swimming)

 Back at home

With Mark on his bday

  Her favorite snuggly bed

Getting comfortable

Thinking...

 ?

  Snooping in the pantry

A confused moment

Lying close to mommy (who's on the computer)

Watching over Ethan

Watching Ethan and Papa Play

Going for a stroll

Checking out the Christmas Decorations this year

My Sweet Milli Girl

I love you ♥ Happy Birthday!

Little Sweethearts

I was excited about this week being a short week

since it sort of began in the middle the way the holiday fell

but I didn't expect it to end up in such an unexpectedly, pleasant way.

Our older son called and invited us to dinner tonight - dinner and a movie.

The dinner was delicious (home-made lasagna)and the movie was great, 

but the company was even better!

We got to spend the evening with two little sweethearts...

two little girls who have stolen our hearts for sure!

♥ Hannah and Sarah ♥

Sarah just turned 8 months old and she is so much fun to watch. 

She is crawling and standing and observing everything around her. 

She smiles and laughs (as long as her momma is in sight).

She LOVES her sister and Hannah loves her.

As I sat there and watched the activities of this family - our son's family

it just made me so happy deep-down inside. 

They are so much in love, so full of peace and contentment

and I can see God's hand of blessing in their lives. 

They celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary this week.

I knew from the start that God had meant for these two to be together.

Our son and his wife are so perfect for each other. 

They complete each other and they compliment each other. 

They are amazing parents and it all just makes me so happy. 

Lord, I am so grateful for the way you have blessed our son and his family, 

and it brings me so much peace and joy 

to see them serving and loving YOU the way they do.

A Day with Boo Bear

Today was our day with Ethan and we played with the Choo-Choo train 

one last time before putting it away until next Christmas. 

Ethan LOVES the train and so does his Papa.

 He is enjoying exploring outside the play yard. 

He loves the blanket and his toys, and he is getting around more and more.

He especially loves this little car.

Milli looked on from beyond the gate (ha ha)

and only made noise when I went upstairs to put Ethan down for a nap.

THEN she decided it would be a good time to howl and cry :0(

 I found this book in the store the other day.

A cute little book with Bible stories for little ones

Ethan LOVES books and enjoys being read to before sleeptime.

The day passed by too quickly as it usually does

and was filled up with activities of love and laughter.

We watched Yo Gabba Gabba videos on the computer as Ethan ate his meals

and he even got to visit with Aunt Nettie who called on Skype today

just to see and talk to him :0)

Papa made it home earlier than usual, too, and spent more time with Ethan. 

We really love our days with him ♥

New Year / Mid Week

Today Mom and I went out for lunch to our brand new Panera Bread restaurant. 

Mom LOVES Panera Bread and she really liked the new one in town. 

She had the soup and sandwich and I had the soup and salad.

Fuji Apple Chicken Salad is my favorite.

We both had the Vegetable Soup w/pesto and it was delish!

After lunch we went next door to the brand new Starbucks for our favorite hot coffee

Caramel Macchiato!!!

Silly me forgot to take a picture of either of these delightful treats.

I'll have to remember to do that next time.

After lunch and Starbucks I had to drop off some catalogs 

for some upcoming locket parties, 

and then it was off to the grocery store. 

The store was not very crowded and I was glad about that. 

Mom waited in the car and then we headed home. 

I love how the holiday fell this year, with New Year's Day being on a Tuesday

so today was like the start of a new week but it was Wednesday...YAY!

That means a short work-week...Hallelujah!

Tomorrow is my day with Ethan :0)

Happy New Year!

It's a brand new year...2013.

My husband and I went to bed watching a movie around 10pm

and woke up around 2:30 am when Milli got restless. 

We had missed the excitement of the new year's arrival, 

but it was fine by us, ha ha. 

We've never been real fond of New Year's Eve, not sure why. 

When we woke up we put the tv back on and they were replaying the countdown

and the ball dropping. We thought that was kind of funny. 

Today we accomplished quite a bit. 

Manny did some reorganization in the bays of our bus 

and gave the old bus a good washing before we took it back to where we park it. 

I took down most of the Christmas decorations inside and outside the house.

As much as I hate to see those things be put away

I know it's inevitable and it's worse to delay the process. 

The only thing remaining is the Christmas tree and the train beneath it. 

I may leave that up until after Thursday so Ethan and I can see the pretty lights 

and play with the train one last time while he's this age. 

I've decided my goal for this year is to 

SIMPLIFY MY LIFE!

Do you suppose it's possible? 

The Bible tells me "I can do all things through Christ"

so with that in mind I would say to you that it is indeed possible. 

We shall see. 

Maybe I should print out a bunch of these signs and post them all over my house!