Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I hope we were able to spoil you a little bit.

Brent rigged his Christmas gift from Rick - a deep fryer for turkeys. Of course, he needed all the proper geeky attire to avoid the 350 degree boiling oil. You know what a putz he is - I was afraid he was going to end up wearing it!

How many guys does it take to determine if da boid is done? Three apparently!

Mother's Day for me was great too. Saturday Kera, Chris, and Gwen spent some time and gave me a great "Grandkids Spoiled Here" flag for the flagpole. Sunday Travis came for dinner and brough me some lovely flowers. And, my brother brought a hanging basket of flowers.

I like being spoiled!

Time to Play

Gwen loves to walk down to the playground, and Saturday was just a beautiful day to spend a little time there. I need to go back and look at some pics from last year, but in my mind, Gwen has grown 2 feet!

Gwen and I have a certain routine we follow when we go to the park. First, she climbs the rocks, then plays peek-a-boo through the slats in the tunnel

That's often the time when I run and hide. Now really, there aren't many places to hide here. She certainly knows the two or three places, but she still delights in the whole thing.
Then it's on to the emergency vehicle. She's really almost too big for it and can rock it until the front end hits the ground. I love this pick of Gwen and Grandpa. Brent grabbed the back end when Gwen came to a stop. She was trying to make the thing rock when she finally realized that silly Grandpa was the reason nothing was happening!
This one is always fun...for Gwen anyway. We take turns spinning each other until we're so dizzy we can't stand upright. Grandpa didn't seem to think it was nearly as much fun as Gwen and I do though.

I'm going to be really sad when Gwen is either too big or loses interest in the playground. We've had some really happy times here. Time to enjoy the child in me and time to enjoy Gwen as a child. That's what being Grandma is all about.

Something to Think About

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

Abraham Lincoln

Easter Day

Easter dinner is the one holiday meal my Mom still makes. Let me tell you, it's fabulous. A standing rib roast, incredible spicy twice baked potatoes, asparagus with a shitake port sauce...mmmmmm. Mom, you outdid yourself again!

We got to my parent's house early so we could hide eggs for Kylie, who is not quite 3. She came in with a big, "Hi guys. See my booful dress!" I actually bought this dress for her last summer - I think it's fitting her better this year! She loved twirling around to make the dress flare out.

Kylie really likes my Dad, and my Dad just thinks she's a hoot.

I'm happy to see that the Disney Potato Head we brought Kylie is still a big hit.

When Travis arrived, we headed outside for the egg hunt. What a difference a year makes. She was really into it this year. She was just all smiles as she gathered the eggs. Yeah, she knew what goodies were hidden in those eggs!
Oh man, is that ANOTHER egg there?
Kylie had quite a haul from the Easter Bunny. She was pretty good about only eating a few pieces of candy before dinner too.
I am so sad to say that this was the point where my camera battery died. I am so upset that I wasn't able to capture Kylie's after dinner show. I think we laughed until we cried! With her little microphone, she announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Now presenting Kylie!" She proceeded to dance and when we all clapped, she bowed in every direction saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you," in her cute little high pitched voice. I don't know if we'll every be able to recapture that adorable moment.

Easter Egg Hunt With Gwen

Saturday morning was just plain ugly. It was raining, a bit foggy. Certainly not conducive weather for an outdoor egg hunt. Since Kera and Gwen were coming over for an Easter egg hunt and dinner, it looked like we were stuck hiding eggs indoors again this year. Brent and I had all 50 eggs hidden inside and sure enough, the sun came out and it got a bit warmer. Figures. So, we gathered all the eggs...at least the 48 we could find...and Brent hid them all outside. He did a great job!

Gwen was very excited to dress up in the beautiful dress her Aunt Stacy bought for her birthday. She accessorized with a beautiful pink pearl bracelet that had been Kera's as a little girl and a pretty pink necklace. Topped off with the cute bunny ears she made at school, she was beautiful!

It was time for some serious egg hunting.

Grandpa Brent did such a good job hiding them that, after we counted the eggs and knew we were short, so we came back outside to hunt for the stragglers.
You can tell Gwen is really having a great time!

Then, it's back inside to open all the eggs and see just what the Easter bunny put in those eggs. I think Gwen enjoys this part just as much as hunting the eggs!
We finally found those 2 missing eggs that were hidden indoors. I think you can tell Gwen had a really good time.

Moon Dancer Winery

Once a month we go out to dinner with some friends affectionately known as "The Gang." In March, Drew and Ginny Bitner made arrangements for us to tour the Moon DancerWinery. What we didn't realize was it was the weekend of some big wine event in York County and the winery was packed. That didn't stop us from having a great time though.

There was a band playing so we moved up to the porch trying to get closer to the chiminee.

Hey, a little music, a little wine, and who cares if it's a bit nippy!

Gwen Turns 5

Oh my. Where has the time gone? It doesn't seem possible that this little girl is already 5. It seems like yesterday when I stood in a hospital room and watched her being born. Hard to imagine that she'll be starting kindergarten in the fall.

We planned a small family celebration at our place, and you know, it's not a party until there are hats!

One of Gwen's favorite meals is pizza - and that certainly made things easy for me! I ordered in some pizzas, made rootbeer floats, and had some chips and it just doesn't get any better than that. I made the cake. When I was a little girl, I had a little figurine with a lamb that always sat atop my cake which was white with white coconut icing. My mom bought this figurine to use for Kera's cakes, but I can only remember one or two years where I used it. I decided to bring it out of storage and use it for Gwen. I'm not much of a baker, but it turned out pretty cute I thought.

For some reason, known only to Gwen, she wasn't too keen on blowing the candles out. But, after a rough start, she finally made an attempt. Then it was on to the best part...the presents! She enjoyed the cards and loved ripping into the gifts.

If you've been following Kera's blog, you know that Gwen is really into bird watching. She has a little guide book where she looks up the different kinds of birds that come to her feeders and birdbath. We got her some binoculars so she could check them out from afar.

One of the best gifts Gwen received was a beautiful aquamarine (Gwen's birthstone) that my Dad faceted and set. He's been looking for a good piece of rough to facet for her for quite some time. It was worth the wait. The stone is absolutely gorgeous.

And of course, there's just one in every crowd isn't there.