She's An AR...Teest!

Who's the "She"? Well it's my Granddaughter, Summer. She's a freshman and this is her first year of art and she had her drawings and paintings in the art show at the High School tonight.  It was also the academic awards too...she and her older sister both got academic awards tonight....a good night all around!

This is Summer....smiles all the time and lights up a room when she enters! Notice her hair color? Her sister dyed Summer's hair pink and blue to match Summer's prom dress. Prom is this weekend....But I digress! Here are her entries.  I think she did a great job and considering she just started drawing and painting this school year,  I'm impressed! I'm also a bit biased!

This is a little blurry...

This is Summer's best friend, Bailey.

Eagle or angry bird..hmmmm..I'm going with eagle.

I have no clue who this is! The school's mascot or their team name is the "Mapleton  Mounties"  Outside the school is this carving of a Canadian Mountie...I'm thinking it was probably a student who carved this...not sure, but it wasn't Summer...and we don't live in Canada , but I think it's pretty cool anyway!

For all my Canadian friends!

Now This Is What I Call Spring!

My previous post was weather whiney as usual! Today was sunny and cool, but not as bad as Saturday.  I have this picture that my daughter-in-law, Amy, took of my Granddaughter Sophie...they were at a tulip farm in Portland and I thought it just screams Spring! I had to share it!

Ooopppssss...It Did It Again

The past week has been the Spring we've been waiting for...warm temps, a bit of rain, good "cook out" weather.  I mowed the yard for the first time this year and basked in the wonderful cut grass smell and enjoyed the ride on the mower too.  Our Granddaughters, Addy and Lexi, came by on Thursday  in the afternoon and they stayed for dinner..along with their Daddy.  We had yummy grilled chicken and a crisp salad, fresh asparagus and even homemade icecream.  Lexi came into the kitchen and said:  "It looks like a party in here!".  Yes, we even celebrated by eating outdoors.  It was 82 degrees Thursday.  Enter Saturday.

That's not sugar on my front porch..it's SNOW!! Mother Nature, I officially hate you and want out of the will!

My tulips were confused by the white stuff falling on them...they have refused to pop open.

Pink blooms?? Yes, but tonight it's suppose to be 29 de...will they still be pink in the morning?

So keeping with the winter temps and the snow, I made a pot of homemade veggie soup. Some homemade bread would be nice with it.....smells good anyway!

I caught Eddy on the couch this morning being cozy with MY BLANKET!  I get it Eddy, it's cold outside, and snowing and you're just trying to get through the weekend because it's back to more normal temps on Monday.  Yep, 50de. will feel like a heat wave!

What?? Did someone say it's going to get nice out?  Just go back to sleep and give me back my blankie!

Sole Sistas!

Today was "National Go Barefoot Day".   I'm guessing we were suppose to go barefoot all day.  I work in an operating room all day and, trust me on this,....You do not ever want to work in an operating room without shoes and socks on.  In fact, it's policy in our hospital that everyone has to wear shoes and socks and no crocks are allowed either.  No holes allowed or I guess you could say "All holes barred!".....But in the tradition that we are up for anything, I asked for a quick photo op at the end of the day to celebrate.  Our usual way of celebrating anything is to have a food fest so this was much more healthy, easy and gave everyone a smile to end the day! So here are my working "Sistas"...bearing their "soles" to you!  Hope your day was a barefoot, fun and smiley day!

Whew......it's the end of the day people and I think I can tell how hard everyone walked on their tooties....sometimes I think we feel like we go home on bloody stumps!

A little closer...The ones without socks took them off before the shoot...

Thanks team! Don't I work with a great group of gals?  Now all of you go home and soak them puppies because we start all over tomorrow!

Did You...?

Did  you happen to have Friday off of work? Did you sleep in? Did you clean house? Did you put away all your Easter decorations? Did you run errands? Did you take a walk in the woods and find flowers blooming in a creek?

Did you sleep in on Saturday? Did you go to the grocery store? Did you pick the flowers you found in the creek and put them on the kitchen mantle in a cute little vase? Did you have French Toast for breakfast? Did you have a burger for dinner? Did you play Angry Birds until your eyes were watering?  Did you complain because it was windy, wet and very chilly out?  Did you laugh over some pix that a friend gave you of your children when she babysat them when they (and you) were young?

Did you sleep in on Sunday, but not too late, because you went to Church?  Did you make a yummy steak dinner/lunch? Did you read? Did you take a walk with your dog in the woods and find golf balls?  Did you hurry outside and take a few shots of a sunset? Did you? Oh........me neither.

Good night.

Another Week To Celebrate

We decided to gather our kiddos together this weekend to celebrate Easter again..with the Ashland group.. Since we had Easter with Craig in Oregon, Portland, we wanted to see the others and enjoy some family time.  We certainly had the perfect weather. Sun, warmish, and about as perfect a Spring weekend as anyone could have ordered.  Very similar to last weekend! Except last Sunday I came down with a nasty virus that reared it's ugly head Easter afternoon.  Headache, fever, chills, coughing...I never (or hardly every) get sick. I'm blaming the flying petri dish....the airplane ride...for this weird phenom.  It even invaded my work week. I went to work on Wednesday thinking I was getting better, only to have a relapse in the afternoon. Thursday I got up and tried to get ready for work, but finally gave in and called in sick. I haven't done that in years...I mean atleast 4 or more anyway.  Jack's fighting the coughing and tired part but he did much better than me...showoff! Anyway, I'm so much better and really enjoyed having everyone over for food, laughter, and a mean game of Candy Land with Cameron! Here's the weekend in a pic flash:

The bell goes off and everyone bellies up to the bar for some grub:

Yummo!

The weather was nice enough to gather on the deck...Summer and Cameron chowing down!

Big Sis Driana enjoying the sun on her face.

Their Dad, Jack the 3rd....I still call him "Jackie"..sorry!

Jordan and Phil.

After dinner it was time for the annual Easter egg hunt. These little lumps on logs were just waiting while the older generation went out front to hide them.

Then the hunt was on with skirts flying in the breeze....Lexi and Addy in hot pursuit!

Cameron spying one up a bush.

Maybe a little help from their Mom (Amanda) would be appreciated!

The hunt ended with one missing egg that I'm sure I'll find after the first time I mow! We always have that one egg that seems to go missing every year.  Next on the agenda? The guys thought it would be fun to hit some golf balls. Brett, Summer's boyfriend was the only one who really could hit them far. It's been a bit since my boys golfed. Of course Jack couldn't resist asking our son Jackie to explain to his teenagers how he drove a golf cart into the creek at Brookside golf course when he was a teen.  He was soooo thankful for being reminded of that!

Anthony usually saves his sportsmanship for football and basketball but tried his hand with the clubs too.

The ball girls....those little white balls need to be retrieved so YaYa doesn't send them flying with the mower in a few weeks. They were good at their job! The funny part will be finding all the ones in the Creepy Woods. I've found tons while looking for mushrooms....more golf balls are found than mushrooms! It's surprising how far they sail through the trees!  That's OK, I don't ever find shrooms anyway!

To end the day everyone took rides over the Pines.....

So long Easter 2013....It was fun celebrating 2 weeks in a row and seeing all the kids and Grandkids just enjoying time together. Mother Nature was having a good day too!

Spring might have sprung after all...Hello Daffodils! I missed you!

And The Beat Goes On

We tried to put as much as we could into our quick trip out West.  The area is so beautiful...the air so clean and fresh.  The trees have this cool mossy covering on all the limbs. The smell of cedar was always in the air.  We visited a park not too far from the kid's home that had a fun playground for the Grandkids and also rose gardens that were just beginning to come into bloom.  The view was great of downtown Portland.

We had Amy's sister and her kids. The cousins had a ton of fun all weekend!

Here's just a small sampling! We met up with Amy's parents and her brother and his family on Friday at the beach. (Canon beach I believe)..I was very excited to see the ocean again. The wind was chilling but that didn't stop us from playing in the sand and surf!

This is Haystack Rock. A beautiful rock formation that really defines this beach area.

The kiddos gathered shells.

Played in the water and nearly froze!

Let the sand get in their toes!

Posed for YaYa when asked! It was just a great time to hear the surf and the seagulls and even with the cool wind and damp, it was still warmer than home! Saturday was the real reason for this trip. Taylor got Baptized on Saturday afternoon. He was really excited.  We baptize when the children turn 8. Because we baptize by immersion, I had a towel made for Taylor with his baptismal date on it. He loved it! Here are the pics of that day.

The family gathered together.

I thought Taylor looked adorable in his sweater vest...he had matching socks..too cute. Only don't tell him I said he was "cute"....He's too old for cute!

Congrats Taylor! We so glad we could be there for your birthday and baptism and to see your new home and where you live now.  We sure miss you guys and hopefully we'll get back soon. There's still so much to see and enjoy! Thanks for all the fun and all the "blog moments"....and especially for the wonderful memories.

What I Did On My Easter Vacation

We boarded our plane on Wednesday and bid farewell to Cleveland....

And Chicago..

Took a flying leap over the mountains! Whenever I've flown over the plains and mountains and find myself on the other end of our beautiful country, I always think of the pioneers who took months to make this trip. They put up with cold, heat , starvation and all kinds of trials. We just had to put up with the security lines and squished seating to get across the terrain in 4hrs! A miracle. We should be so grateful to live in our day.

We visited many beautiful spots in Portland, Oregon..or as my 4yr old Granddaughter says: "I live in Oregon, Portland". This is Multinomah Falls.  So amazing!

It was a beautiful day to hike up to that bridge!

And the view from up there was very cool too!

But this is the reason for our visit...My son Craig, his wife Amy and my Grandkiddos: Sophie (on Amy's lap), Taylor, and Katie. We had alot of fun and I have so many pics to share. I will have to do a few posts to get some more in. For now, I'm happy to be home, but we miss you guys!

Jack, Craig, and Taylor.

My handsome hubby and me!