Vaughn

There is a town somewhere in New Mexico called Vaughn, I always try and take pictues of the sign when we're passing through the area. This is for our precious little Vaughn!

Brionna's Chiketa Bite

Brionna told me she needed to go to the Dr. for her "chiketa" bite, she was saying it so cute, I taught her how to say mosquito but it sure was cute to hear her call it a chiketa bite. She's such a cute little girl.

Emily and Randy's Sweet Maryann

I babysit Maryann today, she had a couple of owies from a dog fight yesterday. I love this puppy dog, she barked and cried if I left the room. There is nothing like dog kisses.
I didn't mean to post 2 pictures of me, I didn't think the 1st one posted so I posted the 2nd one and I'm not sure I know how to delete one.

Dick's new Truck

Jaden's Birthday Party

We took Brayden and Brionna to Jaden's 1st birthday party. Jaden is Shelly's youngest little boy, He is such a little cutie. Jakai is Jaden's older brother, he is 2-almost 3 and he is Brionna's BEST FRIEND (so she tells me!!!) Coby is the oldest brother and he is Brayden's best friend. They have been friend since kindergarten. We love Shelly, I am her mom away from home!
I made the cupcakes and the little cake for Jaden. I hope I have a picture, if I do, I'll post them.
I had taken more pictures of the playground but I lost them on the computer, maybe they will show up! We love this family!

Chocolate Fried Pies

I have two friends who post beautiful pictures of prepared food, also of them preparing the food----I am going to try to duplicate their idea.
I was looking on the computer trying to find out how long to microwave corn in the husk in the microwave when I ran across a recipe for Chocolate Fried Pies and I love chocolate, I love fried pies.
The recipe is so simple,
1. 1 can of flaky biscuits
2. 1/2 cup of cocoa
3. 1 cup of sugar
4. butter
5. oil
The only directions was to mix the cocoa and sugar together, put a pat of butter on the rolled out biscuits and fry in the oil, spoon a spoonful of the dry cocoa mixture on the inside of the biscuit, then seal. Fry in the hot oil until brown.
I didn't have flaky biscuits, in fact, I had the small cans of buttermilk biscuits so I put two biscuits together to roll out, I then followed the directions. I was so thankful that the smoke alarm didn't go off as Dick is going to sleep.

Our Alley Flowers

Dick's Anniversary Present

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

Out of the mouth of babies----is this a compliment---or not???

"If I know anything about your cooking----it tastes better than it smells."
spoken with a cheerful little voice---by Brayden

When you thought I wasn't looking.....

WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING

A message every adult should read because children
are watching you and doing as you do, not as you say.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my
first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately
wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a
stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind
to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my
favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little
things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a
prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always
talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make a
meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I
learned that we all have to help take care of each
other.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of
your time and money to help people who had nothing,
and I learned that those who have something should
give to those who don't.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you take care
of our house and everyone in it, and I learned w e have
to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw how you
handled your responsibilities, even when you didn' t
feel good, and I learned that I would have to be
responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw tears come
from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things
hurt, but it's all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you
cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking I learned most of
life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and
productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked at you and
wanted to say,'Thanks for all the things I saw when
you thought I wasn't looking.'

I AM SENDING THIS TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE I KNOW
WHO DO SO MUCH FOR OTHERS,
BUT THINK THAT NO ONE EVER SEES.

LITTLE EYES SEE A LOT.

Each of us (parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher, & friend)
influences the life of a child.

How will you touch the life of someone today? Just by
se nding this to someone else, you will probably make
them at least think about their influence on others.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Leave the rest to God.

.

Happy Birthday Julia!!!

My baby is 28 today! Happy Birthday, Julia, we hope you had a good day today. We went out to eat at an Asian restaurant, yummy! Julia has worked the last several days in a row---4 days, then 2 days in a classroom taking her ACLS, then 3 more days (or nights, as it would be in her case) she is now off for a few days and I hope she gets to relax and have some fun. Happy Birthday, I remember the day you were born and how happy we were, you were so cute and healthy! A chubby little "almost 9 lb" baby! Quite the surprise!!! We love you!

Miller Family Blog

Mikala has posted new pictures on her blog! Check it out.
Jake and Mikala on my friend list
I love my little Belgium grandchildren and miss them. I hope I get to see them soon!

The Park

Brayden, Brionna and I went to the park after we went to Story Time at the library. Brayden is such a good big brother. He was worried because we didn't have sunblock on, (he is VERY sensitive to the sun). Brayden sat in the shade for about 15 minutes, then decided to help her with some of the equipment she was too short to play with by herself. I am going to put sunblock in my car so we can freely play at parks! Brayden will sunburn, get blisters and hives in 15 minutes in the sun without sunblock, poor guy. We are having a blast this summer! Brionna LOVES Story Time at the library. She loves to sing and dance, jump and bounce around, she loves being around other children. I love to watch her. Brayden loves to watch her also, she makes us laugh!

Library Time

Story time is over----next stop: The Park!

Brionna said "my brother is so cute"


Brionna is getting ready for the story time!

Julia's new boat

Julia's the proud owner of a new (to her) boat, I'll take pictures as soon as I get to see it!

Tornado Siren

I was shopping at Walmart this afternoon, (about 3:30pm) when I walked out of the store it was very dark and stormy, I decided to go to Kirklands to buy a birthday present and when I reached their parking lot the tornado sirens started going off. I turned the radio on and headed home. There was a tornado in the eastern part of Amarillo. As far as I know it blew part of a hangar away at the Amarillo International Airport, it also hit the Flying J truck stop. They also had baseball size hail. This video is annoying because it's almost a minute long, you can stop it way before that, you don't get to see a tornado dip down!
If you want to stop the play list, (songs) just click on the sideways equal sign on the left hand of the top of the play list.

Marygrace, Marygrace and Mikala

Wonder Boy

Jake posted this on myfamily.com
I don't know if Mikala mentioned this anywhere else as I am pretty far behind, but last week I got off the plane and went directly to a neighborhood park to witness something pretty crazy.

Elston's entire elementary school was "competing" against the local Flemish school in a run to promote fitness. Anyway, they were doing kilometer-long laps around this lake for sixty minutes. Elston was really running fast. Then at the end, I went over to congratulate him and all of his classmates were exclaiming "Elston a gagné!" or "Elston won the race!" I don't know that he won out of all the grades, but his teacher showed me that he in fact ran 10 kilometers in one hour, more than any first grader from either school. 10K in an hour is a very tough accomplishment for daddies, much less a six-year-old boy. I was quite amazed.
I'll post a picture and more later.........
I'm so proud of our little guy!

Our Life This Week

We have been so busy, for starters, I am still trying to get used to working nights, I don't if it's Monday or Tuesday, I don't know if I should sleep or stay up. I don't know if the sun is shining or not. I think I'd know if it rained or not but I'm not sure----it might just be the water sprinklers have been on. I will get used to it, I just need to find out what works for me.
Dick is busy with work and grandkids, Brayden is still busy with soccer. which means Dick is busy with soccer. He's also working on the treadmill and stationary bicycle right now. He has a fun summer planned, he has a soccer tournament next weekend. He also has lots of swimming planned. Brionna is also busy planning some swimming activities. We bought a new swimming pool for our back yard for both of them to play in while they're over here. I think it's pretty safe to say she's now totally potty trained, I'll even take her out in public in "big girl" attire. On the days that she is over here I plan to take her to the library for story time. She will love that, she loves to socialize. She LOVES to sing. she sings all the time, she makes up songs about everything but she loves to learn new songs. She's such a fun little girl. Julia is busy, busy, busy, working on her new home and at the "other" hospital. She's still working in ICU. She bought a new home a couple of months ago, we love it because it's less than 3 miles from our home. It's on a quiet street with a hugh yard that has made it lots of fun for the kids and her to just "hang out." Lots of room to play and relax. Randy is going to WT this summer and Emily is working at WT. He is also busy building a deck for his backyard. He also has plans to paint the outside of his house this summer. They spent 2 weeks in Europe this summer, they had a lot of fun, saw lots of sights and brought back lots of souvenirs and lots of pictures. They are also busy with family and Church activites. Dustin is working at the ice company, he also has a very sweet girlfriend. Our grandson Aaron graduated from high school this past week, he's going to play football for WT in the fall. We're excited to watch some college football this coming fall! He's an awesome football player, I shouldn't say just football, he's an all around great athlete, he excels in everything he does---track, etc. He's a little guy, 6'5" and 280 lbs. We're all very proud of him. Jake (other grandson, not sil Jake but gs Jake) is still at Bivens NH and loves his job and from what I understand from other employees---they love him.
Mikala is posting pictures on her blog! Yeah! You can read about her family on her blog!
Emily and Randy are posting pictures on their blog! Yeah! You can read about their trip on their blog!
I love this blogging business!!!

Marygrace

I loved this picture of her pointing to her little flower. She is really into pointing at her toys or books with that pointer finger of hers. Mainly it is just how she touches things. So different than my boys who would just grab it with all their fingers. She holds things and just points to touch it. OH, here she is wearing her blessing dress.

Mikala just sent me these pictures. Marygrace is just sooooo precious! She's so beautiful and dainty. A perfect little baby.

Little Lady

Brayden: Brionna, do you want a hot dog?
Brionna: No, Bubba, it's a warm dog!
Brayden: No, Brionna they're called hot dogs.
Brionna: No, Bubba, they're called warm dogs!

Ginny: Brionna, little ladies don't say they've farted, they say, "excuse me"
Brionna: I don't want to be one of those little ladies that don't say they farted, I want to say, "I farted!"
Ginny: But Brionna, nice little ladies don't talk that way.
Brionna: I don't want to be one of those nice little ladies.

Ginny: Brionna, they have really nice Strollers at Kohls, you can ride and rest your legs while we shop.
Brionna: Wow, how cool is that, look at that stroller Ginny, you get in and I'll push you.

Eiffel Tower Family

Precious little brothers!

The guy with the funny hat is one of the Three Musketeers. they were in Paris this past weekend with Randy and Emily.

Generous Brayden

Brayden had a big week at school this week, he had a program on Tuesday, the 5th graders were putting on a program for the other students and parents. They each made posters about the person they were portraying and dressed like that particular influential person in history. He wanted to portray Patrick Henry. He already had his hat (from the fall when he was going to school in Canyon and he portrayed Patrick Henry for their wax museum) He was worried about a coat, he was OK with a dark blue lab coat I was going to let him use, but he said he'd like a coat with cufflets and gold buttons in the front and on the cuffs. I was able to score one at the 2nd hand store. When we went to see the program, he had loaned his coat to the little boy next to him who didn't have a costume at all, Brayden still had his hat so he looked the part and the little boy next to him was portraying Bill Gates so he looked nice in a suit jacket. I was proud of him for being so generous and helping a friend in need. The very next day his class put on another program for the younger kids about education, after that program his class had a "coffee shop" poetry reading and each child read a poem they had written. Coffee and cupcakes were served. He was dressed like a little beatnik, he was cute. We had a red beret but he didn't think it looked "the part." He did a great job.