Fall Family Fun

It is a RARE day when we get the whole family together as we did this past weekend.
We had a fun , fun time taking family photos, going to a corn maze, taking a hay ride
and just hanging out. I wanted to share a few of the pics that we captured.

Above are all our grands except that one that is due in May. lol. If Ainsley looks unhappy
it isn't because she didn't have a sucker. She had one and didn't want it. Thought I better
clear that up right away. ha!

Two of the grands singing Karaoke at the corn maze.
Don't they look the part??!!

The little girls singing LET IT GO from Frozen. The DJ took a video of them singing and put it
on his facebook page. Little stars in the making. :)

The corn maze was fun, but really all it is is exercise disguised as fun! I found that out
a few years ago, but it was still a blast.

I was really beginning to get bummed because according to the weather forecast it was
supposed to rain, rain, rain and rain some more, but it held off for us until after the photos
and after the corn maze fun. We started the bonfire when it was dark and it started
pouring so thankfully we got most of the plans in. 

My oldest son Jason and his beautiful family. The plan was to have the bean stubble
still in the fields for the pics, but as fate would have it the renters plowed the field
 a few days before!!
They haven't plowed it for years and years ...until this year. I need to hang a sign
next year...:)

The kids took several photos of the mister and I. I am so annoyed. He had a gray shirt to wear, but
in all the hustle and bustle I forgot all about it so it is what it is. Hopefully next time I will
be a little more organized.

Sweet little Korrah

All our grands with us. Ages are from 1 year old to 16 years old. YIKES!
How did we get here in life? The years just fly by now.

The boys...Joshua...the little guy in the middle is always making faces. You would
not believe how many poses I got of him. 

I think this was my DIL idea. It turned out pretty neat although I think hubby and I should
have switched places. 

Smooch, smooch...another baby on the way in this family.

Remember earlier how I said it is a rare occasion to get our whole family together?
Well, our SIL Matt is missing from this family. He was in Japan again for his work.
Maybe someday we can get him in the photo.

Goofy, silly, fun!

So this is our family and we love each and every one of them. Thankful for Gods blessings
each and every day!!

Long distance grand-parenting

It is a rare day when all the grands are here at gma and gpas house at the same time so we tried to get
a few pics while they were here for the holidays.  There was NO snow {which I REALLY wanted for pics}
 and it was cold and rainy.  I had visions of many different poses and it just didn't work. We were lucky to
get the ones we did.

Underneath all the kiddos there is a gorgeous white bench, but didn't get any of that showing
either. I still dream of the pics I wanted to take...hopefully someday. 

We got all the kiddos in the pic except the little guy in the front.  His daddy would stick him
in the picture time after time... just as we were getting ready to snap the photo. lol

Too cute and so amusing. We got numbers 6 and 7 mixed up so they will probably be traumatized
  for the rest of their lives every time they look at these pictures! ha! 

1.Allysha   2.Jon    3.Annika   4.Keira   5.Joshua   6.Ainsley    7.Kanaan   8.Daniel

and baby 9 is missing. Her mama was sick so they stayed home. 

What a CUTE bunch of kiddos we have in our family!! I love them all and miss them terribly already.

Do you grandparent long distance? Our oldest son and his family live about 2 hours from us, our daughter and
family live 3 hours from us, but our youngest son who did live about 20 minutes away now lives in North
Carolina. 13 or 14 hour drive straight through. It has been a hard adjustment, but we are surviving.

PaPa swooped up Ainsley as soon as she got here!

 The night we said our goodbyes to them was heartbreaking. We had just finished Christmas at my moms and
Ainsley was eating more salad {what child eats more salad??} and I was sitting beside her. She looked at me and
said in a shaky voice, "Grandma I won't see you for a long time"...I replied, "I know , but we can write and we can
 call"... yea ,that didn't work.

Again, in a shaky little voice "Grandma, I won't see you for a long time"...I picked her up and she started crying.

That was it for this grandma. I cried right along with her! She has never done this before so she must be getting
old enough to realize exactly what is going on. I held her for awhile and she and I cried together. {in front of lots
of other family members}. I finally handed her off to grandpa and she cried some more. She was still crying
when they left and when she got to her other grandmas house.

Oh the hard knocks of childhood and life. We miss those two little gals to much. We used to be able
to just drive over and visit them on the spur of the moment, but not anymore...and life goes on.

 How do you grandparent long distance? Do you do anything special? I would love to hear about it.

Blessings and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Photo collage and a review

When Lauren from Cardstore contacted me and wanted to know if I would like to do a review
of one of their cards it was not hard to say yes!

I quickly clicked over to their website and found so many fun cards to choose from. From birthday
to anniversary to just because and more.

My subject was also a no-brainer! I would make a card for our two little granddaughters who just moved
over 1200 miles away. These are the two that we saw often since they lived close to us and it just isn't
the same without them here. It is quite an adjustment and it is taking time. I find myself throughout the
days just reminiscing about the fun times we have had over the past few years. Thank God for skype
and telephones, but is isn't the same as holding them close!

As you can see from the photo, I choose a photo collage card with a chalkboard background and I love
how it turned out. I hope that every time they look at the card they remember the memories we made
and the fun times we have had. I realized later I should have added a photo of me and hubby
also, but I thought about that a little too late. :(

I chose to put my own saying on the inside of the card. Rather cute huh? Well,
truthfully I googled and found part of it. 

I thought it was very easy to navigate through the process of making this card online.  There are several
different styles and themes that you can choose from and it was fun deciding what one to pick.

I really enjoyed the process, but this being my first time I had to edit and edit and edit some more. ha!
When I was satisfied with the card and all my edits, I could have chose to have it shipped directly to my
grand-girls or to myself.  I had it sent to me so I could personalize it and then I sent it on it's way.

{Side note: It was really hard not to keep it for myself and hang it on my refrigerator!! *Smile*}

It arrived in a couple of days in a nice sturdy cardboard envelope along with FOUR envelopes!
I expected a couple envelopes in case I made a mistake while addressing it, but not four. I would
 say that was very generous. I was also glad that the cardboard envelope was as sturdy as it was
 because sometimes my post office bends things right in the middle that should not be bent
 before delivering them to me. Even magazines!
WHO does that?? 

Here are my sweeties with their card!  According to their daddy they were very happy as I
 am sure any grandchild would be to receive a fun card like this. They asked their daddy about
 each photo and I so enjoyed making it for them. I would highly recommend this site and I
can't wait to make another card.

Click on over to cardstore.com and see for yourself...you will have fun like I did!



Note: I was compensated the price of the card for providing this review. The views expressed
are my own views only and I would highly recommend this store.

Two of our precious granddaughters...

If you are facebook friends with me, you know by now that these  two  little sweeties of ours along with
 their mommy and daddy moved to North Dakota a few weeks ago. That is a LONGGGG way from
Michigan!  We miss them sooooooo much! They are the only ones of our grandchildren that lived
real close so now they are all spread out. {not sure how long they will be gone}

Grandpa and I took them on a walk to the park a few weeks ago and I snapped a few photos that
I wanted to share with you.

Don't you just love the way they dress? They love to wear pretty, sparkly dresses!
I didn't ask Annika to pose for me, but she sure did a good job.

Sweet little Ainsley.
We walked uptown to the BBQ place for lunch and they were closed.
The girls were disappointed...This sweet little face says it all!
She wanted BEANS! HA!

Beautiful little sisters.

HELP Grandpa!! HAHA!!

I was right in front of her getting ready to grab her.

I just LOVE the expression on Ainsley's face. She sure is tickled about something.

They loved sliding down this bar...with a little help of course.
I think Grandpa enjoyed it as much as they did.

They love to swing...and swing...and swing. It was hard to move on to something else
for little Ms. Ainsley, but we did. Notice her eyes are closed? lol

"Grandpa, this is the way it is..."

Even snuck a photo of yours truly in here.

The girls brought their kitty's up to stay at our house while they are gone and they are doing
pretty well finally! We didn't see them for days initially, but they are adjusting nicely.
This is Maive. I haven't gotten a photo of Merida yet , but they look a lot alike as they are
sisters.

Hand in hand with Grandpa.

I just wanted to share these photos today as I am sure missing these little gals.
Love them so much!!!

Cousins

Isn't this the most precious picture ever?

I snapped it when Keira was up visiting

cousin Annika this past weekend. Keira and Annika

have so much fun playing together.

Keira came up with her daddy {our oldest son}

on Friday and she cried when she had

to leave on Sunday and go back home.

I hope they have lots of special

*cousin moments* in the future

and that they stay best of friends.

Speaking of cousins...

this is an oldie.

From left to right:

My cousin Dean , my sister Chris,

my baby brother Jeffrey, yours truly and

my cousin Dale.

We spent a lot of time together when we

were growing up and it was the best of times.

Isn't this a neat picture?

My grandmother (who is no longer with us)

made all of us cousins these nightgowns one year

for Christmas. What priceless memories!

That is me in the front row way off to the right.

What cuties we were!! Wish I still had that

nightgown.

I sure miss my grandmother. She was a

wonderful Godly woman who would do anything

for anyone and I loved her so much.

She was an amazing baker and was known

far and wide for the most

delicious maple frosted cinnamon rolls ever!

Sweet memories...

blessings~