Christmas has passed and now we enter 2009

We all enjoyed such a wonderfully busy Christmas season and it flew by incredibly fast. We are about to enter 2009. The idea of the new year has always made me rather apprehensive about the unknown of the next 365 days. But, that is what life is really all about, the future! Faith and prayer will see us through it all.
Of course, you didn't think that you were going to visit here and not see any of my Christmas pictures did you?
We started off with a very nice Family Christmas Brunch on December 20th. It was a beautiful day and the fellowship of all was welcomed as well and the delicious food.
Christmas Eve was spent with the traditional Christmas Eve Service with the family and then returning home for our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner. I am finding out from the girls that this very special tradition means a lot to them and, since I was brought up with that very same tradition, it brings back many memories for me and it fills my heart with warmth for then and now.
Christmas Day passed very quickly, as it always does, but the memories will remain for years.
Here are a few pictures of course!

Audrey with Da and Nana after church


Let the opening begin


Rembe digging through her stocking


ELMO - Just what Audrey wanted!


Star War legos - just what Aidan wanted


WOW! Look at these cool tights from Rembe!


Fancy Nancy aka Rembe Leigh Groach

Christmas is just a couple of days away....

Sunday was the Children's Christmas Pagent and all of the children did a wonderful job with their roles and singing.
On Monday all of the grandchildren had a Gingerbread House Party and Christmas cookie decorating event. There really is not a whole lot to say except that these precious years are passing by quickly and I am trying very hard to pile up the holiday memories for myself and, hopefully memories these little ones will hold dear to their hearts.
It really is so much fun to watch them be so creative. Their Mommy's are always very near to lend each one a helping hand when needed. Of course, as far as these darlings are concerned, it is never needed, they have it all under control. Here are some pictures to help you share in our events.
Life is so good and God is so good to me!

Emma, Aidan and Audrey all together here,
Aidan's best buddy Garin is on the end. Garin
and Aidan were wise men, Emma and Audrey
obviously were angels. Mmmmm let's make
a joyful noise!


The icing has been tested, let the work begin!


Aidan and Emma at work on their creation!


Rembe and Audrey might be 2 years old, but they
are powerful together!



Mommy lends Rembe a helping hand!


Awww! Look at these tiny hands at work!


Of course, the Mommy's put their special touch
on the handiwork!

Okay Aidan, now it is time for the cookies!


Emma and Rembe working together.


Audrey likes to work from scratch!

The Christmas Holiday Season is Upon Us

I am afraid that I did not take any pictures of our Thanksgiving together. It was a wonderful day of Thanksgiving. We had both the girls and their families. Josh Mc's Dad, Mom and grandmother also joined us for the afternoon. It was a wonderful day for giving thanks for all the blessings that we have been given in the past year. God is good.
The first grade classes performed some Christmas songs at a PTO meeting on December 4th.
Of course, I have to post at least one picture of that event too!
We helped to host and attended the annual Christmas Party for the foster children on December 6 and this year we had about 360 in attendance. It is always one of the highlights of the season for Aidan and Emma. They love going with Da early in the morning and watch all the inflatable activities being blown up and everything being put into place for the event. Here are some pictures of the busy day.

Aidan's first grade performed for the PTO meeting
on December 4th.


CHRISTMAS GALA ON DECEMBER 6TH.
Emma enjoyed having her face painted! She takes it very seriously, obviously!


Rembe loved the pony rides. Heather wished she was
tiny again so she could ride too!


Finally, Santa arrives by firetruck!


Da and Audrey with her painted snowman face.


Rembe sits with Santa and gets her gift!


Aidan got some Star War Lego's from Santa!


Kyler anxiously opens his present from Santa.

Emma's Thanksgiving Feast at School

Lucky, lucky me! Kim asked me if I would like to attend Emma's Thanksgiving Feast and Program.
Since she has a 1st grade class, she could not attend, Josh had to be at work, so I was honored to be able to accommodate. All the kindergartners were dressed like Indians and Pilgrims, of course! They performed a song and were read The Night Before Thanksgiving, a new twist to Twas the Night Before Christmas! The school had provided a lovely feast of turkey and all the trimmings, including pumpkin pie. The only downside was that it was 9:00 a.m. just a tad early to try and stuff yourself!
Our family is looking forward to having our own Thanksgiving next week. The children are out of school for the whole week so they will be able to "help" us prepare for the season. Of course, it is part of my tradition to decorate for Christmas the week of Thanksgiving. It just seems that we go through so much time and effort to get the house decorated for the Christmas holidays, I like to make it well worth the while, so I decorate early. Plus, we all like to enjoy them and the festive mood that comes with them. Then, by the time that Christmas is over, I am ready to pack it all away for another year before New Year's Day.

The performance


Emma and Mommy - Kim was able to come in and give her a hug!


Nana, Emma and Casey

Finally - the campaigning is over!

Yes, the campaigning is over, the results are not what we (my family) had hoped and prayed for. But, we do have a President-elect who will take office on January 20, 2009 and we need to acknowledge the fact that the majority of the country has spoken. I find much solace and peace by reading Beth Moore's blog of November 5th, http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/. If you have not had the opportunity to read it please do. We trust God and know that He is in control and we will turn to Him in prayer and His Word to reaffirm our faith.
Life goes on, and on Election Day the children were on a school holiday, since the schools are used for voting. The students were off, but the teachers had a seminar they had to attend, so Kim worked and the children, except Audrey, spent the day with us. Audrey had a doctor appointment in the afternoon and Kim, so she was at daycare until Kim picked her up for her well-check. She is doing well and right on target with her health, growth, etc.
Barbara had Kyler and Maia, Heather had Rembe and I had Aidan and Emma and we decided to spend the afternoon at Noah's Ark. For anyone who does not know, Noah's Ark is a local facility here that takes abused animals, animals that no one wants anymore and keeps them on their refuge. They actually have lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) along with goats, deer, pot-bellied pigs, monkeys, emus, ostrich, buffalo, parrots, snakes, etc. Not much they do not have. The deer and pigs are roaming free most everything else is caged. It is a very neat place to spend the afternoon and the children absolutely love it. It Christian based an depends on donations from the public to take care of these animals.
It is hard to believe that in just a couple of weeks the holiday's will officially be here with the arrival of Thanksgiving. It should not be so hard to believe though, because all and I mean all the stores have everything Christmas out, including the music playing!
Here are a few pictures from our outing.

Maia, Kyler, Emma, Rembe and Aidan



Rembe

October went by quickly - - - -

Aidan has finally lost his first tooth. He was quite proud of course. Audrey is quite content to not have any loose tooth at this point. The training continues for Angel, that always seems like such a long process - because it is!
I was so sad this fall because it was the first time that I did not get to go along with the children when they went to the pumpkin farm. Emma's class went to a new one this year and Kim went along as a chaperon and was very impressed. They went back a couple of times since, once for Aidan's birthday with Garin and then again on the 26th with the church. We were out of town, so we couldn't go then. Oh well, maybe next year!
That brings us to Halloween. Rembe did not make it down to our neck of the woods. Heather and Josh said they had alot of fun trick or treating up their area. Said Rembe really enjoyed it. The only trick or treaters we had at our house were Aidan, Emma and Audrey. We stocked up on the candy and after having my fill of it, I froze the rest. The only problem there is, frozen Snicker bars really can be quite good!
Soon, very soon the 2008 election will be over and I cannot recall a more pivotal election in my entire life. I will be glad when it is all over. Whoever wins has their work cutout for them, they will certainly have to get this country back on it's feet again. Much prayer will be needed for our country with whoever gets elected.

Here are some pictures of the children in their Halloween outfits:

Rembe was a LOVELY Ladybug!


Da with Elmo Audrey



Audrey - Emma the black cat - Aidan the Star War Warrior

A birthday, a lost tooth, a new puppy and a princess

Cannot believe Aidan is seven years old already. Everyone enjoyed spending the afternoon together on October 11 (birthday actually is the 10th) and we celebrated Aidan's birthday with him and his very best buddy, Garin. Aidan is so into everything Star Wars from the Star War toys to the extraordinary Star War lego sets. It will be easy Christmas shopping for him. He did get some nice Star War additions and he also got a new bicycle.
Emma has wanted to get a new puppy for a very long time now and there were some precious cocker-poo pups available at a residence between their house and ours. Well, they went to look and Emma chose a cute blonde cocker-poo - she is more cocker than poodle and has the biggest, prettiest brown eyes. Emma named her Angel because she said she looks like an Angel.
Emma has had a lose tooth for about 2 months now and it finally came out on Friday. She has the new permanent replacement coming in already, so she will not have an open gap for long! She and Audrey spent the night here with Nana and Da last night as Aidan spent the night at his best friend, Garin's house because it was Garin's 7th birthday this week. Audrey loves to wear the princess crown and wave the wand......she is precious! This gave Kim and Josh a chance to have a whole evening together alone. Of course it gives Nana and Da the opportunity to have a special time with the girls. Heather, Josh and Rembe came by for a visit too so they could see the new addition. Rembe loved the new puppy.
Here are pictures to verify all the above information:

Aidan and Garin



Emma and Angel and then Emma and her missing tooth



Princess Audrey



Rembe came to get acquainted with Angel too!

Trip to Maine

Harvey and I went up to Portland, ME on September 24 and spent three wonderful days up there before the downpour from Hurricane Kyle moved in. We spent 2 days at Acadia National Park, which is absolutely beautiful. We went atop of Cadillac Mountain and saw some spectacular views! We were very fortunate to have done this on the first day since the clear views were getting dimmer due to all the cloud cover coming in from the storm system.
We spent one day walking through Bar Harbor, ME. There were a couple of cruise ships that had anchored on that same day, so it was pretty crowded. But they have plenty of lovely cafes where you can just sit, drink coffee, play board games, read or just people watch. We enjoyed the latte and played scrabble for awhile and after Harvey won (he always gets the triples!), we just enjoyed the views.
They have a lot of lovely bed and breakfast places and lots of cottages that you can rent. It is very, very busy in the summer they told us and for the snow lovers it must be a wonderful place to be too. While we were walking and driving around and seeing all the bed and breakfast's, all I could picture in my mind was the old situation comedy with Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette and I told Harvey I was sure that I saw Larry, Larry and the other brother Larry around there at a few places!
We spent the last afternoon, just as the storm was coming in on a whale watching boat. They forewarned everyone that it would be an exceptionally rough ride due to the arriving storm and they could not promise us if we would be able to make out as far as the whales were for that same reason. Oh, it was a rough ride alright, I upchucked once, but that was all. It was all worth it because we saw a fantastic array of hump back whales. There was a whale expert from the local marine biology school on board who gave us all the information about the whales and could tell so much about them as we enjoyed their antics. Here are a few pictures I was able to snap.

Emma gets her ears pierced Saturday 9/20/08

Emma announced that she was ready to get her ears pierced on Friday afternoon. Kim and I told her that Saturday morning we would spend getting her ears done and then we would have lunch together. (Are you all catching a pattern here......we sure love to have our lunches out - don't we).
Well, Kim advised me that Emma had awoke at 6:30 on Saturday morning and was ready to go and get her ears done. Emma did not seem to understand that the store did not open until 10:00 a.m. But, she was patient. She did really well, she never shed a tear and was quite the trooper for both ears, one at a time, (some places shoot both at once).
Here she is:

Aquarium Trip

Heather, Rembe, Kim, Aidan, Emma, Audrey, Barbara, Kyler and myself all enjoyed a wonderful morning at the Atlanta Aquarium. The children always love seeing all the different fish and the beluga whales are absolutely beautiful to watch. The different colored coral reef had the children's attention, the colors were so bold and bright. We were not able to visit the penquins or the seals due to their habitat being under reconstruction. Also, in 2010 they are going to be adding dolphins to the aquarium. We enjoyed the leisure walking, viewing and even playing in a little playground exhibit they have. It really is a wonderful place to take the children as they really loved seeing all the small, medium and large fish up close and personal. After our fun time at the aquarium, we went across the street and enjoyed a 50's style lunch at Johnny Rockets. It was a blast from the past for both the Nanna's!

Here are the pictures of the wonderful participants! Emma, Rembe, Kyler 1st;
Audrey 2nd; Kyler 3rd; Aidan 4th; Rembe 5th and a beluga whale 6th