Happy Birthday Emily! (my daughter)

 Emily was due on April 7, 1974, but I went 2 weeks over and my doctor didn't believe in inducing.
 I was pretty miserable, and you can imagine why when I tell you she weighed 10lbs. 7oz., and was 21 in. long. She came here wearing 3 month sizes. LOL

 Even so, we were some pretty proud parents to say the least! Emily was born on my FIL's birthday, and he was one happy man. Unfortunately, he passed away when she was only 17 months old.

 This is a picture of Emily in her coming home dress (made when she was about a month old). It was a Martha Minature brand, and we couldn't button the top button. We paid $11.00 for it!

Below is Shelby wearing the same dress, and it swallowed her. LOL

 Below is a scanned picture of Emily at 5 weeks old beside one of Shelby at 5 weeks. You can see the hairline is definitely the same. LOL



 We are so proud of our daughter for the mother she has become. We love you, Emily!

 Thanks for sharing in my moment of memories. I know you will understand!

Out of the Mouths of Babes....

 Sometimes a child can really knock you to your knees!

 I picked up my grands today, and on the way home Cayden said, "Friday is going to be a really sad day."
I asked him why.
 He said, " That is when Jesus is going to die on the cross."

 He is in kindergarten at a Christian school, and they have Bible class every morning. He has really been listening. His mom and I both tried to explain that Jesus has already died, and he is understanding the concept somewhat. He does know that HE rose again too!

 Then in some ways,  I think it's good for us to look at it the way he does. It seems to make it more real to imagine that Friday is the day that Jesus will die for all of our sins!

Happy 4th Birthday Shelby!!

 I just can't believe Shelby is 4 years old! It just seems like she jumped from a baby in arms to a prissy little girl. Let me tell you, she is one prissy lady!

 Saturday was her birthday party. She shared her party with her friend, Claire. They were so darned cute wearing their gymnastics outfits as their party was at Jill's Gymnastics. It was a great party place for the kids as the workers did all of the work. They let them tumble and jump for an hour, served pizza and icees, cut and served the cakes, passed out the gifts, bagged up the gifts, and were just so sweet to the kids. All the moms had to do was take pics!
  This is Shelby before the party with her cake PawPaw had made for her. It was soooo cute and soooo good!

It was hard to get many good pics at her party. As you all know, kids this age are not still for very long.

I gave Shelby the outfit and the swimsuit I made her, and this is what she told her Mommy tonight. I was so tickled.


Shelby: "Mimi is cool."

Mommy: "Really?"

Shelby: "Yeah, because she makes cool clothes for me."

  That makes it all worthwhile! Mimi will keep sewing for her as long as she wants to wear what I make.
  This is the swimsuit which is the pattern I used last spring from Sew Beautiful # 130. I also made one for Claire as we all go to the beach at the same time.

 I will be joining Shelby, Cayden, and my daughter for lunch today on her real birthday. I always try to see my grandbabies on their birthday no matter when their party is scheduled. These are the most precious memories a Mimi can have!!

Can't Blame the Squirrels this Time!!

 We've been doing some spring planting in our yard. I will post more pics after things start growing a little. We are very pleased with our plantings and arrangement of various yard art. (our lingo, lol)

 We bought 3 little oregano plants to put in one bed mainly because we liked the color and shape of the plants.

 Lo and behold, I looked up, and our smallest little dog, Mollie, had eaten half of one of the plants! The dog! What is she thinking?

 You can see the size of the one she ate. It used to be as big as the other two. Then I turned my back, and she was nibbling on the little purple vine. I snatched her from that not knowing if it is poisonous or not. I guess it's NOT, or she'd be dead by now!

 I'm glad I caught her because I would be blaming some little innocent squirrel!
 Maybe when we add the red bark the odor will keep her from going back around there.
 Anyone else have a problem with their dog eating their plants???

ShirleyC

Finally back online!

 We had a wind storm come through on Monday, and it knocked out our phone line and internet.

 It was just repaired this morning. I'm so far behind on everything - not just emails and reading blogs! I was also on the road for 2 days traveling in circles picking up my grands and taking care of them. We got caught in a terrible storm on Monday, but we made it safely to their house where my daughter was also without internet.

 I haven't been able to read any blogs so I have a lot of catching up to do! I'm missed my blog reading!

 ShirleyC

Bear Fight at the Zoo!!

 This is no April Fool's joke!!
   I went with my daughter and son to take the grands to the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, TX on Tuesday.
   I was kind of lagging behind, and I saw my daughter start running. As we were approaching the bear sanctuary, the two bears started fighting.
  We had never witnessed anything like this - LIVE! The kids went nuts too! It was sort of scary as they kept hitting the glass enclosure in the front of the pen.
 Emily took the first shot, and the I took the others. You can see one of them prancing in front of the glass. One time he slapped his tongue on the glass right in front of Shelby. She jumped a mile! He also kept spitting at the other bear - oh wow, was he mad!

 Finally, one of the zoo employees came and started talking to them through the fence, and they calmed down. Emily said she was the "bear whisperer". LOL
 We were so surprised that I totally forgot to turn on the video part of my camera.
 We had a fun day even though it was sort of chilly considering it was back in the 80's here today!