My Mother's Day gift

My oldest daughter Amanda asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day and I told her I had no clue.  I told her I would think about it.  I thought of many things but yet nothing in particular. There really wasn't anything I wanted or needed.  Then I was thinking or more like wishing, that I could have a picture of all my children, spouses, and grandchildren to hang on my wall.  You see we have not all been together since my grandson Kharson was around 3 yrs old and he is now 19.  For one reason or another, some good reasons some not so good, my family was never all together same place same time.  I don't know if I am being just sentimental or what but the more I thought about this the more I wanted this. Wasn't sure how it was going to be accomplished because my youngest daughter Angela lives in Georgia and just started a new job, my grandson Kharson would be leaving for boot camp for the National Guard soon and my oldest daughter and her husband because of work schedules have very limited time for anything.  But I just couldn't get this idea out of my head.  I called my daughter in GA and ask her if there was any way possible she could take a few days off and come up for a visit before Kharson had to leave.  She said she would talk to her boss and get back with me. I kept my fingers crossed and told her I would help her out with gas since this was such short notice.  Well in about a weeks time we had things all in place.  I was happy and kept my fingers crossed that nothing would prevent this from happening.

                                       My grandchildren and my great granddaughter in the middle

Amanda worked on trying to get a photographer to take some pictures for us. But since we really only had one day to do this on it wasn't working out. We were still trying to get this set up the day before and not having any luck so  I called my cousin Dale and asked if he would be willing to take the pictures for us and he said sure he would be happy to. Now if the weather holds out for us we were set. The forecast showed rain but I kept my fingers crossed and prayed.  We coordinated clothing, everyone would wear jeans but the adults would wear black shirts and the littlest ones wearing white shirts.

                                                           My grandchildren and myself

The day came and it was beautiful outside. Sun was shining, the forecast showed the rain had been pushed to the next day.  We got ready and headed to the park.  Here are some of the pictures that were taken.  There are lots and lots more. It was hilarious at times trying to get everyone in the group pictures to look the same way or just keeping the little ones from having  meltdown because they wanted to go play in the park. But we got some amazing pictures. I am so happy the way they turned out.

                                                                   My children an myself

                                            Daughter Amanda, her husband Ed and my grandson Logan

                                  Daughter Angela, grandson Kharson and Granddaughter Morgyn

                                                        Son Bryce and grandson Noah

                       Granddaughter Morgyn, great granddaughter Randi, future grandson in law Patrick

                                              Myself and our photographer, my cousin Dale

Hope you enjoy a little glimpse into my family. I am pretty proud of all of them.

My Heart

Recently we got together for some family birthdays. With everyones work schedule it is hard to get everyone in the same place at the same time.  We have a lot of birthdays in the first part of the year. So we were finally able to get together and have lunch and then cake and ice cream for my sister Lisa (3-6), my grandson Noah (3-19), my daughter Amanda (3-23) and my granddaughter Morgyn (4-18). Everyone had a great time and since it is a rare occasion that all my grandchildren are in the same place I wanted a recent picture. 

Noah 2yrs, Kharson 19yrs, Randi 3yrs, Morgyn 21yrs and newest Logan 2 1/2 months. Randi is the great grandchild and her mother is Morgyn.  They are my pride and joy and so much fun to be around. 

Randi had her battery operated car out in the backyard and her and Noah had a blast just driving around. It was so funny watching them just going along without a care in the world.  Noah wasn't to sure of how to steer and ran into the fence numerous times and Randi would just put it in reverse and they would drive backwards. It was such a beautiful day out and we took advantage of it by letting them run around and absorb all that beautiful sunshine.

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the day and if you are fortunate enough to have some nice warm spring weather enjoy. I can't wait for spring weather to actually arrive here in Northwest Indiana!!!

Tried something new

I have always wanted to be able to paint a picture. But sadly I just can't.  Shoot I can't even draw a circle without it looking lopsided.  Oh well I can do other things so I guess I can settle with that.  The end of this month at church there is a Relief Society in Excellence program for the women. The theme or idea is for us to learn/do something we have wanted to do. Also to bring anything we have made recently to show the others and then explain how we made it.  I plan on taking a couple of my totes I have made and I even bought a couple new print placemats for spring that I plan on making.  They have butterflies on them, I love butterflies. I also am taking the car seat coverup that I made for Logan.  A couple weeks ago I saw on Facebook where someone had posted about this painting class that was going to be at Blue Chip Casino.  I saw the picture they were going to make and fell in love with it.  I figured why not, the website said you don't have to have any experience in doing this, so...I signed up.  I couldn't find anyone to go with me for that night, but I was determined to still go even though I really don't like going places where I don't know anyone.  But I put my big girl panties on and went.  I HAD A BALL!!!  Turns out there were a couple of people I knew there. Which was great and I met a lot of really nice women in the class.  They had all the supplies for us to use, a finished painting of what we were going to do and a very patient teacher up front.  Mine may not look like the original but that's ok. I am happy with it.  I don't think there were any two paintings alike in this class of about 35-40 people.  Everyone just put their own spin on it and they all turned out great.  I plan on seeing what they are going to offer this next month and see if I can do this again.  The picture was called Stained Glass Dragonflies.  This business offers many different classes around the country. It is not in every state but quite a few.  The website is www.wine&canvas.com   Check it out and see if they offer this in your area, you won't be sorry.  Here is my painting.

It may not be perfect but I am proud of myself for taking the chance and opportunity to do something I have always wanted to try.

My daughter went back to work last Thursday and I am watching my grandson Logan.  He is such a cutie and a really good baby.  He is not so sure at times about taking the bottle because he is a breastfed baby, but he manages.  He is just about 7wks old and has such a cute personality. Well of course I am a little biased.   Here he is today attempting to hold his bottle.

My sister dropped by to drop off some material for a tote I am making for her and a friend of hers and she was holding Logan and he was so comfy he started to fall back asleep while she was holding him.

Today is my grandson Noah's 2nd birthday.  Here he is with my great granddaughter Randi. They were both sitting very patiently waiting for a piece of my moms birthday cake last month.

Well that's about it for me around here.  Just babysitting my precious grandson, crafting, trying to declutter some so that when I get my new carpet when the weather gets nicer, I won't have as much to move around.  Keeps me busy that is for sure along with all the activities and things I need to do for my calling at church working with the Young Women.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day and stays safe.

Young Women New Beginnings 2013

This past Wednesday night we had our Young Women New Beginnings program at church to welcome in the new girls into the Young Women program.  When the girls turn 12 they "graduate" from the younger programs into the "teen" program. Its the same for the boys for the Young Men program.  The Young Women Presidency has been working hard  for a while getting this all pulled together.  It has been a lot of fun though.  Busy yes, but fun overall.  We had to decide on a theme so we would know which direction to go in. The theme church wide this year is "Stand in Holy Places" There is always a new scripture for the year that goes along with the theme.  While on Pinterest I ran across this idea that I thought we could use.  I brought the idea to our meeting and the other two women checked the website out and it was a go.   We decided to go with "Follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Temple" 

I had copies made of the Salt Lake City Temple and the Washington DC Temple for each side then a copy of Dorothy's Ruby Red Shoes to put on this back wall and I made the yellow brick road on poster board to put on the floor leading to the pictures. 

This is a picture of the front of the room. We had a picture of the Chicago Temple which is the one we go to as it is closest to us, and then a picture of the Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man.  Which the 3 of us in the Presidency gave a talk about what each character received in the movie and how it relates to us as Women. I had to give a talk about the Tin Man and how he received a heart. 

The above is a copy of the scripture for the year. I know for me by the time I memorize this scripture it will be time for a new one to be given to us for the new year.  Oh well, LOL.

We didn't have a meal for this program, just went with some more or less finger food except for the fluff.  Everything was homemade which tasted wonderful Yum Yum.

The YW president took an old pair of shoes and used glue and red glitter to make a pair of Ruby Red Slippers.  All the girls thought that was such a cool idea and wanted to go home and try this out for themselves. 

I made each of the girls a paper red shoe filled with gummy lips (for the kiss Glenda gave Dorothy before she was sent out on her journey to Oz) and gummy hearts (for the love we have as Women). I made 20 of them and then wrapped up all the candy and put them in bags with a tag to remind them to Stand Ye in Holy Places. 

Everyone seemed to have a really good time.  All the girls were happy with the things they received and heard about that night.  We have such a wonderful group of young women. I so very much love to be serving in this organization.

This post I know is long and full of pictures but I wanted to share the wonderful evening we had with you.  I am sorry about not being able to tag the website we found this idea from but everytime I time I tried to add it to this post it wouldn't let me.  But if  you check my Pinterest page under Young Women you can find it there. Here is the site http://dearthduo.blogspot.com/2011/03/theres-no-place-like-home.html but like I said it won't copy correctly for me. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and rest of the week.  I for one am so looking forward to spring and nice weather. I want to open my windows and let some fresh air in. 

A little catch up

The above picture is what is keeping me busy these days. My great granddaughter Randi age 3 and my newest grandson Logan age 2 1/2 weeks.  Randi was so happy that she got to hold Logan. She was so cute and was being so careful to hang on to him. Of course her mother, my granddaughter Morgyn was holding him also.  Randi kept telling her to let go because she had him.  Randi is so happy that Logan is here but just can't grasp the concept as to why he can't come over to my house to play with her toys with her. We told her give him time and then he will be able to play with her. But I can see it now, she is very territorial with her toys and I am sure she will be getting upset many times over and over. But it will all be ok :) 

Logan is growing big and strong. The doctor said he is very healthy and growing great. He has already put on one pound and grew half an inch since birth. That may not sound like much but in baby world this is a good thing.  I took him to church with me this past Sunday so that friends of ours there could meet him and his mother could get some much needed rest without any interruptions.  She said she took a nap but she kept texting me to see how he was doing that I don't think it was a very restful nap. Oh well new mothers...

I once again have some crafting/sewing to get done before the end of the month.  Our New Beginnings program for the Young Women at church is the 27th and I have 20 paper shoes to put together and fill with gummy candy then place in clear bags, mount 4 (11x17) on foam board, make 3 fabric totes for the new girls coming into Young Women and the day before this program make a fruit salad and dip.  The theme this year for Young Women is "Stand ye in Holy Places" this is centered around the Temple. Our theme for the New Beginnings program is "Follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Temple.  I already have the yellow brick road done on poster boards to be taped to the floor. All the shoes are cut out waiting to be put together.

I have been trying to go through things and declutter but it takes forever it seems.  I am getting new carpet and I want to get rid of a lot of things before I start the process of moving things out of rooms in preparation for the new carpet. My thoughts are the less I have the less I have to move when I get the carpet.  Well at least that is what I keep telling myself.  I also had to go out and buy a new washer yesterday. I have been babying my washer for a while now but it just came to a point where I figured I had better just go out and get one before I have a load in filled with water and it quit on me.  I can't complain as this washer came with the house when we bought it, have no clue how old it is, but I have lived here 11 yrs.  So I think it was time.  It will be delivered Wed morning.  I need to move a couple things in my kitchen so they can get the old one out and new one in. 

Well time for me to go check on my daughter and Logan. Gotta get my morning Grandma snuggles in.  I love being a grandma and I love that I live right on the other side of the house away from Logan. My home is not that big and when my granddaughter and great granddaughter lived here it was crowded that is for sure, but I loved when Randi would come in my room in the morning and I would fake sleeping and she would come on the bed and give me kisses and tell me to wake up.  I really do miss those times.  But she does come and spend the night with me so that is a good thing.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and stay safe and well.

Introducing Logan Charles, Emotions and a Rant

Meet Logan Charles, all 7lbs 13oz, 20 1/2in of him. He was born 1-30-13 at 8:08am by c-section to my daughter Amanda and her husband Ed.  This is a picture of him at about 15 min old.  He came out crying loudly and proudly.  He was bright eyed and aware of everything around him, or at least it seemed that way when he was staring at everything around him.

My daughter went in on Tuesday 1-29-13 at 6a to be induced as she was a week overdue and her doctor doesn't usually let his patients go to far past that before going the next step.  Amanda was nervous but strong and I knew she could do it.  They got her all prepped and started the pitosin IV and she was on her way. Nothing really happened major was happening until about 7:30pm when the doctor came in and broke her water. She was dilated to 3 at that time.  She was determined not to take any pain meds or have an epidural. She didn't want to do anything to possibly harm the baby.  Well within 30 min of her water being broke the pains kicked in big time. They were coming fast and strong and only about a min between them.  She hung in there but along about 10pm she was starting to lose her confidence and kept telling me she couldn't do this. I assured her that yes she could.  The nurse asked her if she wanted a pain shot through her IV to see if that would help and she assured her it would not harm the baby.  Amanda decided that OK she needed some help so yes go ahead.  Well other then making her dizzy it didn't help with the pain.  I just kept talking to her and convinced her she was strong and that yes she could do this and the end benefit would be a beautiful son. I knew she was getting discouraged and so exhausted. She was getting so  upset and I knew she was going to just break down.  We talked about it and she decided that she could still be a good mom and get an epidural.  This was done about 11:30pm.  It did give her some relief and she was able to get some rest in-between the contractions.  This was good till about 3am when it seemed that the epidural wore off on her left side. So she was able to really feel the contractions on that side. Although not as bad as she was feeling earlier. The nurse said she was completely dilated and she could push in about another hour or so. She tried her best for about 3hrs and just couldn't do it anymore. She was completely exhausted and didn't have the strength do push anymore.  The doctor came in about 7:30am and they talked about all the options. She could continue as she was doing, they could use the suction but she would still need to push or they could do a c-section.  Amanda did not have anymore strength left so taking the baby was the option that was chosen.  The next thing you knew the room was full of all sorts of nurses getting her prepped.  Ed was at this time totally freaking out as everyone was coming into his wife's room and doing all sorts of things to her. One nurse handed him some scrubs and told him to put them on so he could go into surgery. He totally went pale and said no and handed the scrubs to me and said I was going.  So I guess I had better hurry and put this stuff on.  In a matter of maybe 15 min we were going down the hall to surgery.  They got her all ready then brought me in and I sat by her head and held her hand. She was awake. By 8:08am Logan was born. He was beautiful and as I have been there for every one of my other grandchildrens birth, it was exciting to be in this one also. Albeit in a different manner then the others.

After he was all cleaned up and bathed, I was the first family member to be able to hold him.  Amanda was still in recovery and Ed was out taking a breath and trying to get himself together. He was so freaked out over the whole thing.  The picture of above is Logan looking up at me while I was holding him. He was about 45 min old here.  He is so beautiful and so sweet.

This whole experience is very emotional on anyone. But as a mother myself it is so emotional and painful to see your child in so much pain and you can't do anything for them but to be there right by their side. I held her hand through all the pains she was having. Encouraging her to breath, to squeeze my hand as hard as she needed to. She kept telling me she didn't want to hurt my hands I assured her she wouldn't hurt me at all.  I needed to be strong no matter what I was feeling, so that I could get my daughter to a spot that she needed to be.  I hadn't had any sleep either right along with Amanda but I didn't dare show any signs of exhaustion because I knew she needed me.  I was not that keen on actually going into surgery because I didn't want to possibly pass out myself during that.  But I said a prayer and asked the Lord to give me the strength I needed to be with my daughter and to also be with her and my grandson to bring them both safely through all this.  The overwhelming feeling I received just then, I knew things would be just fine.  It was like I could take on the world. I am so glad I was able to be there for her and be there at the birth. It was an awesome experience to see Logan actually being born.  I watched him come out, but I didn't watch them sew  her all back up. 

Logan has lots of hair just like his mother did. You can't see in this picture but he has hair that hangs over the collar of his pjs.  You can wrap his hair around your fingers its so long.  I laughed and said he would need a haircut before he left the hospital.

Now for a little bit of a rant.  Sorry but I have to get this off my chest. The people who I am talking about won't see this blog but I need to get this off my chest.  I know that people mean well, I know that there were a lot of people who were concerned and wanted to know how Amanda was doing or had Logan arrived.  In this day of technology you can contact people at a moments notice.  We tried to keep people informed via text msgs throughout the labor as best we could.  But there comes a time where enough is enough. I am sorry I couldn't text you back the moment the text came in, I was busy with Amanda. Just because I didn't  text you back doesn't mean you have to try her phone.  We couldn't get back to you as more important things were happening.  Don't keep texting, I heard it the first time, 2nd time, 3rd time etc.  When I finally get a chance to let you know they are taking her to surgery, don't keep texting me and asking me questions. I don't have the answers yet and I had more important things at hand at the moment.  When I tell you not to come to the hospital until I text you back and let you know what is going on, don't just come anyway.  If things were at a point where you needed to be there right then and there I would have let yet you know.   When it was all said and done, Amanda needed to rest, not socialize with everyone.  I know you love her but really take her feelings in to consideration. Not just what you want.

Ok sorry but I needed to get that out.  Things went well, things are fine. Logan is a good baby and oh so sweet.   She came home on Saturday morning.  Ed had to go back to work on Sunday because of Super Bowl (he works for a pizza place)  I stayed home from church to help Amanda with anything she needed.  After she fed him around noon or so, I brought him over to my side of house (we live in a duplex) and that way she could rest.  She took a shower and put her feet up.  She said she didn't really sleep but it felt good to get her feet up.  She is pretty swollen up from surgery and all the IV fluids she was given.  He was here about 3 hrs then it was time to eat.  She is breast feeding so that is something I can't help with.  Even though he slept the whole time he was here, she didn't have to worry about anything but herself.  She said she needed that.  This picture is of him all snug in his cradle at my house.  Just chilling with grandma. 

This is a long post I know and of course lots of pictures of Logan, but I am a proud grandma.  Another grandchild for me to love on.  I LOVE IT!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and try and stay warm and safe.

Mother in waiting

Amanda looks so ready to have her son. She just got back from her Doctor appt and she is to be at the hospital at 6a tomorrow 1-29-13 to start the birthing process. They will induce her to get things going since she doesn't seem to be getting there on her own.  The last few days she has been feeling a lot of lower pressure and having lots of the practice contractions.  I am so excited to be able to finally hold my new grandson.  The next post will be of pictures of the newest member of our family.  :)  

This is the wooden letters Amanda painted and the beaded lizards that are hanging in Logan's room.  It doesn't really show that well in this picture, but the walls are a dark chocolate brown and the letters match the turquoise trim.  The lizards are red beads,  multi colored beads and green beads.

These are the two hats I crocheted for Logan. Gotta keep his little head nice and warm.

Logan's crib and the crib skirt I made for it. I made it so that it can be tied up higher and higher on the bed frame as they let the mattress down as he gets older.

Well need to get some things together to take to the hospital with me, make sure camera batteries are charged, phone is charged and reading materials ready.  And the next time I post will be after Logan has arrived. 

Everyone stay safe and healthy.