Through the Eyes of a Child

The Spirit of Christmas is Seen Through the Eyes of a Child

To see the world as they do, through their eyes, with innocense, excitement, and great anticipation.

I watched and felt pure delight!

To witness that sparkle in their eyes.......

.....everything seems magical.

We had a wonderful Christmas......

""In the eyes of children we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts we find its meaning.”"

Author: Leland Thomas

We celebrated Allison's 30th Birthday. You could just see how proud Jackson was when we sang "Happy Birthday" to his Mom. He made eye contact with each and everyone of us.....

Pictures in front of the tree...Jackson - 29 months, Lauren - 11 months

Jack was so excited to get his hair all moussed up!!

A special shared moment with Aunt Tami

According to Jack, Tami was sitting next to him at the dinner table!

After Church, we shared our gifts to each other.

Uncle Brian and Jackson handed out the gifts.

Give Jack a puzzle and he is content for hours.

Jack HAD to have the Lincoln Logs opened.....

Thank you aunt Tami!!

Santa came!!

A little boy woke up very early and could not go back to sleep.

He and his Mother slipped downstairs to see if

Santa ate the cookies he had left the night before .

Santa even left a "Thank You" note!

Lauren is starting to stand on her own.....

she is brave...and I am sure in no time she will just take off

She has the cutest smile and chuckle all her own.

She likes Lily....leaning her head in for a kiss or two!

Tami brought a special friend ~ Steve~ to Christmas this year.

Allison said he was sucking up.......Steve brought us a box of chocolates. Not just any box of chocolates either. They came from Hughes!! I grew up on these chocolates. My mom and her sisters always bought these chocolates for almost every Holiday.

What a special treat...Thank You Steve

And what a nice picture!!

Steve, Tami, Rhea, and Jack

Allison, Lauren, Curtis and Jackson

Where is our picture you ask......on Allison's camera!!!

The best of all gifts around the Christmas Tree

is the presence of Family

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Favorites!!

Thanks to a TAG from Allison, you get to see a few of my Favorites!!!

Favorite Flower

By far, the Spider Mum is my FAVORITE......

.

I especially like the Lime Color.

Favorite Color Combo... that's a hard one. I guess I will go with the combos I have been

choosing for fabric lately. I have so many favorites..

The bright colors have been appealing to me ...... I guess they are colors I can not

choose for decorating.

.

Favorite Celebrity Couple

Edith and Archie Bunker

Favorite Song

Could I have this Dance, by Anne Murray.....someone needs to help me upload a you tube song!!

Favorite Food "I had a terrible day"

A chocolate truffle

Lipstick or Lipgloss

Most of the time----neither one..

Favorite Magazine

Where Women Create

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Favorite thing about Fall

Everything....Love..Love...the FALL..

Thanks for the Tag...it was fun to share.

This I know for sure..

Grandparents and grandchildren,

Together they create a chain of love

Linking the past,

With the future.

The chain may lengthen,

But it will never part.

~Author Unknown~

Every day is a Blessing.....

But the past week we had with Jackson and Lauren has been

more than a Blessing.

Each day was a surprise with Jack.

Either it was "The Look"

You know the one, out of the corner of his eyes!!

One night I was in the kitchen, and Jackson and Papa were at the table

eating ice cream, out of the blue it was "Hey Mama.....and then "The Look"

Then it was giggle giggle between the two of them.

Prayers before meals and bed time were precious..."O'men"

"Eyes wide open Mama?" every time we would drive down the road looking for deer.

I could go on and on.......

Friday night, our last night, we went to eat at the Black Forest

Jackson enjoyed some games with Papa

On our way down to Madison~we were serenaded!!

Lauren, a bright eyed, content little girl.

That is until she is in her chair.....

Rock and Roll does not even do justice to what she can do in this chair!!

We had to prop her against the hutch, just so she would not go backwards.

She out-smarted us and started to rock more forward!!!

All week she worked on getting up on this toy basket.

With a little help from Grandma.....her wish came true!!

She watched my every "La La La" and tried to copy it with her own tongue.

The moments she and Jack would share were precious.

The giggles......makes one's heart swell.

Savor the moments that are warm

and special and giggly.

I guess that sums up our week.

Post Card from the Lake

Jackson gets very excited when Papa comes home. He helps Papa pick up sticks and get the water out of the boat. As you can see....we are not wearing any of the shorts you packed!!!

It has been very cool up north.

This morning it was PLAY DOUGH Grama!!!

Look what Jackson made!!!!

Lauren is trying so hard to get up into the toy box.

It's the first place she heads to.

Such a young whipper snapper...teasing Papa!!

And READY or NOT here I come.........

Dear Diary....

Today be the Day.......

Lauren is ready to explore new things, that's for sure.

Her Mama warned me that she tries to pull herself up to anything.

You can only guess......with this comb over.......Jack must have had a bath!!!

It was bedtime stories with Papa..... Papa, what's this?

or was it Papa, what are you doing?!!!

Such a beautiful Sunday, Jack helped me make Hard Salami and pickle sandwiches.

We ate our lunch at the park in Three Lakes

Look Mom, a new lunch box!!

I found a Kite for Jack in Canon Beach, Oregon.

With Papa's help, Jack flew his Kite today.

He only let it go once!!!

A sleepy girl.....our sign to head home!!

We had fun.

A Grandparent Adventure

The trip from Minneapolis required a few stops along the way. Here Papa and Jackson look at the BIG Train in Antigo. We were too late to go inside the train, but at least we could get a few pictures.

While Papa, Uncle Brian and Clint went fishing....... Jack helped Grama make some chocolate pudding...YUM says Jack!! And of course Miss Congeniality had to be close too!! That's a million dollar smile!!

The guys are back with a feast of fish. Brian caught a 13" Crappie!! Jackson had to watch Papa clean the fish.

2010 Sisters Vacation

I thought I was ready to start the 2010 photo book of our trip......

only problem ........

I'm just not MAC ready yet!!!!

Am I just and old dog who is hard to teach new tricks??

Nope, just cautious and taking my time. It's like a creative assignment. I am embracing it with a willingness to learn. I worked so hard in my old laptop and had all my pics ready and had just uploaded Chris's pictures...and POOF.....they were gone in a flash.........laptop bit the dust....

Well I'm craving self expression....

hope this book lives up to my initial vision.

*~*~*~*~*