Where did this week go??

I can't believe it's already Friday. When Monday is a holiday it always throws me off for the whole week. I hope everyone has a great weekend! It's really pretty in Cincinnati this morning, the sun is shining and it's a little cooler outside. Just wanted to share a few collages(okay, I never tire of making them, LOL). The first collage is of the "gals" playing with Sydney's new water thingy(don't know what's it's really called). They love this water thingy and I added a few photos of them eating ice cream and cupcakes.

This collage is of the butterfly show at Krohn Conservatory in Eden park here in Cincy. This show last from April to June, but it is always best to get to it early because the butterflies start to die off by the end of the showing. We happened to be there on a day when there were lots of school groups there, so it was hard to get good photos. Maddie and Sydney loved looking at all the butterflies. Really if you are ever around Cincy in April through June come and see this show. Have a good weekend everyone, maybe I'll go and play with the water thingy with the "gals" this weekend. :-)

Happy Birthday Melissa!

It's our daughter Melissa's(also known as Maddie and Sydney's Mom) birthday today. Everyone go over to Buttons and Sas and wish her a Happy Day! Happy Birthday Melissa! We love you! I am going with her while she has the girls photos taken(hopefully both girls will cooperate) and we are going to lunch at the Olive Garden afterwards. Lunch at the Olive Garden is always fun! :-) Have a great day everyone!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial day. I am off to the store to get some goodies to grill out today. I always think that Memorial Day is the start of Summer and Labor Day is the end of Summer even though the calendar doesn't officially see it that way. LOL We might be getting some rain today so I might be grilling in the rain, oh well............. Have a great day and I am getting back into the swing of things and will be around to visit everyone this week! Be safe!

Brenda's Photo Challenge ~ Doorways ~

Okay so I decided to join in on Brenda's Photo Challenge at the last minute. Here's a few photos of doorways, which is a great theme! This first one is an old church not too far from where I live. I love the red doors. (Now if only I can learn to take photos that are straight). LOL This looks tilted to me.

This photo is of the old church in Bluffton, South Carolina and my "gals" sitting in front of the door. I loved how worn and old the doors of this church are.

This door was also in South Carolina. It was in Beaufort, it just had so much character and I love old things with character.

I'm not sure this qualifies as a doorway, it's probably more of an archway but I love the curve of it and how pretty it was. Anyway, a quick photo challenge post for me. I hope to see everyone's photos and I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday weekend!

Hanging with Cameron!

I got to hang out with my little grandson Cameron the other night and it was so much fun. What a joy he is. He has this cute little laugh that I will have to tape someday and post because it is so funny and it will make you smile. It was a beautiful Spring evening and we had fun. Here are a few photos! This first photo is my son Jim and the little guy taking a walk. Don't you love Cameron's plaid shorts?

Here's my cute little guy just hanging on the bench. He is always smiling.............

Here's Gommy(me) and Cameron.

This was so funny because Cameron kept trying to get to the pool and every time Jim would block him but he would try again. We'll have fun this Summer taking him swimming.

Here's one last photo of my two special guys. Hope everyone has a great weekend and Memorial Day! Do you know I forgot it was a holiday? Ha! I have made my way half way down my blogroll but my laptop keeps turning off on me in the middle of doing things on it. Doesn't she know I will trade her in for that pretty pink one if she doesn't stop it?? LOL Have a good one!

Weekend of 1st's

I just want to thank all of you guys for all of your love and prayers as I go through this hard time. You will never know how much they mean to me. I hesitated to even put my last post up there but the truth is that sometimes life is hard and sometimes we need to be honest and say we are having a rough time. So many of you have sent me private emails and are checking in on me and I really appreciate it. And through it all I see God's hand on me and that is where I put my hope and trust. But life being life goes on and this weekend was all about little Miss Sydney and her first haircut and birthday party. Anyone who reads my blog knows how crazy I am for my little grandbabies and her first birthday party and haircut were fun to watch. Here's a few pics of the big events! I will be around to visit soon, I really miss seeing what you are all up too!
Thanks again for everything. I said this before but am still blown away by the fact that even though I have never met any of you guys in "real" life I feel like you are my friends and I hope that someday we do get to meet in the "real" world!


Here's Sydney getting her first haircut. It was a beautiful day outside so she got her first haircut on her back deck from Aunt Christina!

Here's her first birthday party. It was a princess party! Don't you love her crown? She had no idea of what was going on and completely passed out after everyone left.

Here's I am with my hubby and the birthday girl. I never like photos of me but I love this one of all of us. Look at her little face. That's it for me today, I am hoping to get to visit everyone later this week. Have a great day!

Psalm 86.7

Some of my dear blogging friends already know I am in the midst of a storm right now. Details aren't important to write about here but I am trusting God to get me through day by day, sometimes minute by minute and sometimes I lose sight of God and think He's not here(just being honest here). But I know those are the times He's right next to me waiting patiently like any good Father for me to come to Him. Through all of this I have become closer to His word and His promises and for that I am so grateful. So if you don't see me around much or if I don't post as much it's because God and I are working through this hard thing together and I know who will be victorious in the end. Thanks dear blogging buddies for your prayers and love, I feel them and am so grateful.

Insomnia

Just checking in with everyone and hoping you all are having a good week. I am still suffering from the lack of sleep. I think it is time to call the doctor and take care of this. Does anyone remember a movie called Insomnia with Al Pacino and he just couldn't sleep? His problem was he was in Alaska at a time when it was daylight almost 24 hours a day. Not my all time favorite Al Pacino movie but still Al Pacino is always fun to watch. Anyway, not sure why I went off in that direction.............:-). Oh yea... it's because I make no sense without sleep....LOL

Also my hubby was in a car accident Monday afternoon. Someone hit him right on the driver's side of the car. His guardian angel must have been looking out for him because the car is in bad shape and he walked away. His shoulder is hurt and he might need some physical therapy on it but he was so lucky. We don't know if the car is totaled yet but am so happy he was not hurt badly.

The collage is from Mother's Day. That cool chick in shades is Maddie. We grilled out chicken and chopped sirloin burgers, had the first corn on the cob of the year and I made strawberry shortcake for dessert. I love the food this time of year. Have a great day and I'll be around to visit soon.

I'm off jumping in mud puddles...............

I know I missed Brenda's Photo Challenge but the truth is that I just couldn't get my act together this time. It's been crazy busy and I have been having a heck of a time with sleeping at night. I had only one good night of sleep this week, the rest consisted of 4 to 6 hours a night and they were not uninterrupted sleep when I did sleep. So today I am exhausted and in need of sleep because this chick does not operate on this amount of sleep. I get all weepy and emotional, so I am probably going to take a few days and try to sort this thing out before I become a walking zombie. So if you don't see me around for a few days I am probably(hopefully) sleeping or off jumping in mud puddles with Maddie. I'll be updating on twitter. I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! Why do I have photos of me in Alaska on this post?? It's because I am giving a presentation tonight about cruising to Alaska! Yikes!!! No it'll be okay, it's my sister and her friends and they all want to do an Alaska cruise in 2010. This group likes to plan ahead so they are fun to work with. An Alaska cruise can be a little more complicated then a Caribbean cruise, there are many options to pick from so mainly I will be helping them pick a cruise that suits most of their needs. I am planning on going along with them next year because I loved Alaska when I went a few years ago. Alaska was a complete surprise for me, I knew going in that there would be beauty but I didn't know I would be completely blown away by the beauty of this wonderful state so I will be excited to go back with all of them and take it all in a second time. So I am bringing my scrapbook I made of my trip and hopefully they will be excited about this wonderful trip. My sweetie is not going to the presentation with me tonight, he has a hot date. HA! Maddie(our granddaughter) and him are making popcorn and watching the pig movie(Charlotte's Web) and she is spending the night. So busy, busy weekend! It's seems like all of our weekends for the next month are filled with holidays(Mother's Day), graduations, birthdays etc...... I need to write it all down to keep it straight. Anyway, Happy Mom's day to all the Mom's out there. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

A Little of This and That

I've been waking up early everyday this week. Not sure what is going on but was able to sleep in late today and didn't get up until 430am. :-) Hey one morning I was up at 2am and never did fall back to sleep so 430am seems like sleeping in. I sure hope this stops soon. Anyway, I am still in my Picnik collage state of mind. I went to a beautiful cemetery here in Cincinnati on Saturday and took a few pics. Click on the photo to see it better. In the top middle photo is a picture of two geese with their baby in the middle of them. It's kind of hard to see because the baby blends in with the water and this was as close as they were going to let me come. Boy are these guys vocal when you come near their babies, I really thought I might be attacked by one of them. I guess they thought I was the paparazzi and they were Brad and Angelina and their baby was Shiloh. Anyway, it's weird but I love taking photos of old cemeteries.

And this is just something I thought was interesting about our eyes and blinking. I seen this in a magazine and had to share. Click on it to read the whole thing, blogger wouldn't let me make it any bigger so click on it so you can read the full article. I think it's kind of fun and interesting trivia.

Not much going on at the home front these days, been working in the yard planting flowers and going to the gym with my hubby. My hubby does personal training on the side and I have resisted doing weights and workouts for so long so I have decided to let him train me and here's the funny thing. I totally like it! Shocking because I didn't think I would. I find the hardest part is just driving to the gym, once I am there and doing the workout, it's great. So I am sore today but it's not a bad sore and I am looking forward to our next session. It's funny because the dynamics of my husband training me is so different than if some stranger was training me. I am also finding out that I LOVE the elliptical machine. I really do! I am just hoping that I keep it up! My hubby is a good teacher and I am grateful he is helping me! So that's it for me today. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Learning Lessons from Little ones..........

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday. Last weekend we stopped by Maddie's house to visit and Papa and Maddie spent some time playing with bubbles. There is nothing this little girl loves more in life than blowing bubbles or maybe playing with her talk chalk(sidewalk chalk). Maddie is now saying to me "I love you Gommy" she says it over and over and then she runs into my arms and gives me a big hug. Sometimes she will give me a big kiss too. It melts my heart and makes anything that is bothering me go away. Why can't we bottle that feeling and feel it always? Kids are so open and honest with their love and affection. If they feel it they say it or do it. As adults we learn to be more guarded and afraid that we will be rejected. Maybe as adults we can learn from little kids, like spending more time blowing bubbles and telling people we love them when we feel like it. Have a wonderful week!

Happy Weekend!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! We went to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past last night. I was all prepared for a bomb of a movie because everything I had read about it said it was lame and yea it was a pretty predictable romantic comedy but it still was fun and who doesn't like to watch Matthew on the big screen?? :-) We went to an early show so we were starving when we got out of the movie. Is it just me or does popcorn just not fill you up? LOL So it was prime dinner time and crazy at every restaurant we tried to stop into after the movie so we just went to a little Chinese place we like and got carry out and brought it home. Yum!!!!! So here's what my fortune cookie said:
"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone"
Downer of a fortune cookie message(LOL) but very true. Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!