Hope Your Holidays were as Great as MINE!

Uncle Ed ( can you believe he's 94)

Me an Aunty Sally, my surrogate Mom and friend

After a HUGE meal and lots of love from my Kids and Grandkids, and my Aunty Sally and Uncle Ed, we settled down for distribution of gifts and a little bit of "Shaking our Tailfeathers" as Amber demonstrated some of her hip hop dancing to her portable music player. We all did a little dancing and watching. We gave out cards with money to all for buying all the wishes that they didnt get from SANTA. Even the kids didnt know what else they wanted as gifts, and it sure saved a lot of wrapping and carting into the family cars.
I hear Sarah and Matthew got a few games they wanted for their game systems, and even got a Gynny pig and tank for each of them. Amber and Darin bought games and music and all is right in their world.
I went out and spent a little on a couple outfits and a new purse and shoes, and am in a hunt for a new Video camera. Come on Sales!
I hope that everyone had a great feast and will be ready to welcome in a bright and beautiful new Year for 2007!
My camera decided to fail me as the batteries died for Christmas Day. So I didnt get to take all the pics i wanted. Wendy took one of me and Aunty Sally and then one of Uncle Ed. Caroline took regular pics of the pics, so I have to wait till they get developed... but a great time was had by all! Hope yours was the same!

Heres the gynny pigs the kids got.

I guess I'll follow lthe meme bling too! LoL! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to ALL!

Thanks Momma's corner , AND my Caroline for the meme's! It was fun.
1. What is the worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Im not complaining about anything really, but I did get some ugly clothes from my hubby one year, that got returned ) ( Hubbys dont usually have the same taste as we women)

2. Two weeks before Christmas you win $1 million. You have to spend it all by the end of this year and you cannot buy anything for yourself. How do you celebrate the holidays?
Send as many friends and family the money , Im sure they would use it.
3. Do you have any family traditions? What are they and do you continue the tradition in your own household? -
When My kids were little, they stayed up all Christmas eve, just waiting for Santa to come, so we began with making go to bed, (and try to close their eyes). then when we got all the gifts under the tree, we would slam doors, and stamp out feet like he was making a rukus as he left. Then we'd call the kids to tell them he had come and went. Later as we had Grandkids, my hubby would dress in a fake Santa suit and ask each kid if they were good little kids and SLOWLY give one gift at a time for them to open. They love getting treated to Poppa Claus!

4. What is your favorite smell from this season?
I love the scent of Pine trees and Apple pie spices.

5. Do you regift? (That’s when you get something you hate and give it to someone else on another Christmas later) -
No, not as though i had actually bought it for someone, but i would offer it to someone if they thought they could use it.


6. If you have kids, how hard do you try to preserve the myth of Santa Claus? What do you do to keep the Fat Man “alive?”
I tried hard when the kids were little, and since we didnt have someone to watch the kids while we shopped, they would see us buying stuff they wanted, but we would tell them that these were for cousins and stuff. Later when they were older and knew better, we would find inventive ways to give them money, because they didnt like our choise of clothes and stuff. One year i made a bare tree and wired they money like leaves all over it, another i made a 12 days of christmas mobile and hung the money in evelopes decorated for each day, and finally i filled helium balloons with bills and made a big bouquet of them. They had to pop each balloon without using their hands or a sharp object. It was hilarious! Specially when the balloons would stretch and distort instead of bursting.

7. When do you decorate your house and tree? When do you take everything down? I put it up as soon after Thanksgiving as my daughter can help me. I put a lot less now than I did in years past. I just cant climb ladders and do as much anymore.

8. Do you sing along with the Christmas muzak in the stores? What’s your favorite Christmas song and which is the one that you hate so badly that you go postal and run amok in the aisles of Walmart when you hear it? - Of course i sing to music, "it's beginning to look alot like Christmas" and most of the fun oldies. I dont have any I dislike exept for crazy new age stuff coming out.
Joining in the fun of Christmas!


Time for a Meme. Let’s do one about Yuletide. This one has been bouncing around on various sites so I figured I’d do it:

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Chocolate all the time.

2.Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Most are wrapped. and then set under the tree.

3.Colored lights or white on tree/house? Some white lights, but plenty of more color the better!

4.Do you hang mistletoe? No,

5.What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My stuffed cabbage! I look forward to Christmas just because of that!

6.Favorite holiday memory as a child? The year I got a tobaggon for Christmas was great, Nothing else stands out. Later we got so hurt doing down the hills with that sled, that we sold it to a younger family to enjoy.

7.When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I really cant remember the age, but somewhere about 11 the other kids told me.

.Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When the kids were young it was on Christmas day, then they started staying up late in waiting, so we did the fake santa stomp and jingle, now with the family we do it Christmas day after the big dinner party.

9.How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? After putting it together i string on chasing lights, followed by red garland, then gold and red beads and white bead., then I put on bows and the ornaments that have been gathered thru the years.

10.Snow, love it or dread it? I love to see snow, but hate having to shovel it or drive in it.

11.Do you know how to ice skate? Not very well, was pretty good when i was a child, but now i would not put skates on at all. I dont even have a pair of skates.

12.Do you remember your favorite gift? I have many favorites, but I really love the glass and wood knick nack shelf stand my daughter bought one year.

13.What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Being with my kids and my grandkids and my elderly Aunt and Uncle.

14.What is your favorite holiday dessert? Cookies and Cakes.

15.What is your favorite holiday tradition? Having the family all together.

16.What tops your tree? A big star with mini lighte.

17.Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I love giving gifts.


18.Favorite Christmas Song? "It's beginning to look alot like Christmas" Here comes Santa Clause

19.Favorite flavor of Candy Canes? peppermint is the best

Happy Holidays to all and Good Tidings for the New Year!

Sarah in Christmas play

Sarah was chosen from her class to be in a musical christmas play about a Moose who wanted to fly like raindeer with Santa, and how miracles can happen. Some of the kids taunted the Moose to say that it would never happen, but it did. Great show Sarah! (Sarah is in the center with a red sweater and black skirt)

Amber and her class won Silver Medals

Amber and her Hip Hop dance class won Silver Medals for their dance routine at a competition in Lansing. They did a great job! Congratulations Amber! (shes on the left with the white hats)

Halloween was great!

Here's Amber dressed up for Halloween as a Flower Child/ Hippy. The whole school had a parade around the school showing off their costumes. I got some shots of some of the great ones as they passed through the lobby of the school. Even some of the parents dressed up in costume as well as the kids. Enjoy the cute ideas some of them had:





















































Amber's teacher was dressed as Fred Flintsone- he really looked the part!

Subserviant CHICKEN! FROM Burger King

This is so COOL! There's a chicken guy in a chicken suit who does whatever you type it to do! at: http://www.subservientchicken.com/
You just got to try it.! Make sure you type taco bell, because he dances with a girl in it.

I got to go to a party!

My Aunty Sally was invited to a 50th birthday party for some neighbor friends at a hall and they had a troop of Polish Dancers do some classis folk dances to entertain the whole audience. They were great. I drove her because her husband was feeling under the weather, so we really enjoyed the dinner and the entertainment. They even had a band and lots of polka music. Reminds me of the day, when my Polish grandma wheeled me around the dance floor in a fast polka many years ago........ I know my toes were tapping!

A Beautiful day at the cider mill !

Amber posing with Grandpa
and a display of storybook land


DARIN WITH GRANDPA AT BARN -ANIMATED STORY LAND


Grandpa and Grandma with Amber in front of musical display. Blakes Cider Mill





It was a great day and the kids got to pet goats, baby chicks, and ponies. This place does a lot of animated animals and characters doing singing. There were a LOT of people there and lots more coming in when we were leaving. The pumpkins looked a little small, and sort of green yet, better to get one at the local grocery store than there. Theres a corn maze and a straw pile maze and pyramid to climb on. Great to watch the young ones, but us older guys just watched. Even got a hayride into the fields and back. My poor legs ached SO much after all that walking! Thank God I made it back to the car.

Happy Birthday Darin and Amber

Here's a pic of Amber on her 11th birthday last week and a pic of her about 1-2 years old, what a fine young lady shes become. I'm wishing her many more wonderous years of happiness. Aww! how cute they were.


















HERE'S DARIN ON HIS 12TH BIRTHDAY CLOWNING IT UP FOR THE CAMERA. His was in August. And Darin, at about 2 years old in one of my favorite pics of him playing in a tire swing. My how the years have flown! Hope you have many more great years!

THE KIDS SAW ELEPHANTS AT FAIR

SARAH SHOT A BOW AT FAIR

MATTHEW CAUGHT A FISH AT FAIR

SARAH , MATHEW, AND AMANDA AT FAIR

i CAN'T BELIEVE ITS OVER !

I can't believe the summer's about over- where did it go>???!!
In the middle of summer, it was too blazing hot to go out and really enjoy and now, all of a sudden, its turned wet and cool and yucky outside. I didn't even get a dip once in the pool, the kids did, some, but even they didn't want to go in when it was sooo hot! Now I can look forward to cooler, hopefully nice weather running around the cider mills and enjoying a little of what they call Indian summer before it starts to get really cold and miserable. Let's hope anyway.

The hubby and I spent a few weekends fishing off our boat and messing around fixing it. The grandkids had a ball teasing me with all their accomplishments in the game of Runescape and I got to say, that I'm quite proud of the progress that I made in the game. I'm a level 60 combat and have done a lot of the quest within my range of doing. The grandkids all have made one trip to the State Fair and they love seeing the animals and all the rides and stuff there.

School starts next week for all of them I guess and I am really sure that the Moms are glad of that. (Awww! for a quiet day while the kids are in school) Wink wink!

I have shut down and covered the pool already with the help of Caroline, and when the flowers start to die off, Wendy will be there helping me chop them down and clean out the flower beds for me. ( I dont know about you, but it seems that this year has just flown by and I dont remember what I did for most of it.)

I did go out and get a short haircut this summer and had the hairdresser color it and put a few highlights in it. Always had pretty long hair, (passed the shoulders) but this time I went for a very short hairdue. I have some longer parts at the top and I have liked it for a change. Seems that that old gray hair wont curl or style like the old real hair used to.
Well I hope that everyone has a great and safe Labor Day ! Have fun, but not TOO much fun! lol!
See ya all later........

A FISHING WE WILL GO!

The whole family loves fishing, and Matthew and Sarah got to swim and fish at Metropolitan Beach this weekend. Too bad, Matthew caught a big one and lost it! The kids are all having fun swimming in my pool and fishing this summer. Time will tell who's the best fisher of them all yet!
My biggest was a 10 lb carp and Darin's is a 10 lb rock bass. The contest is still on.......................!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!

family picnic
Happy 4th Everyone : Here's what we did this holiday.
Our family, Caroline, Frank and the kids all went to Stoney Creek park and had a nice picnic with us on the 3rd. Surprisingly, there were hardly anyone else at the park on this warm and beautiful day. Too bad, Wendy and her family couldn't come, their car needed work on it and they couldn't risk driving this far to meet us. Hopefully we will have more nice summer days like this in order to have another picnic in this nice park. The kids got to do a little fishing and Amber swam in the lake a little. It was a really nice day.

barlow at boat

On Tuesday, we went out to our boat and checked it out. It was really hot and we didn't stay long, but he was glad to get out there and see the water for a little while. Ahhhh! Back to our air-conditioned house!
Hope everybody had a safe and wonderful holiday!

Honor roll students

WELL ALL MY GRANDKIDS GRADUATED AND RECEIVED THEIR AWARDS FOR HONOR ROLL AND GREAT ATTENDANCE. Here's a few pics dedicated to them. Sorry I didnt get one of Sarah, but she is going on to 4th grade and she was on honor roll and had perfect attendance too.




Darin at awards ceremony for honor roll, he's going into 7th grade next.

Amber getting award for special Michigan presentation her school did. She's going into 5th grade next.






Here's Matthew , he graduated Kindergarten into 1st grade.

Grandma's a Ruinscape junkie

Gammamom is caught up in a fantasty world my grandkids brought me into. It's a game of knights and witches and all kinds of Goblins and other scary stuff and I am on a meriad of quests walking through a dreamland of wonderful places. My daughter, Wendy talked me into joining for a mear $5 per month so that I could build a house and enable me to participate in much more of this dreamworld. Grandma's got the bug, and as I see it, millions of other people also have it too. Why don't YOU stop by a www.runescape.com and see what all the fun is about.

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I thought this was so funny and I just thought that everybody would like to take the time for this to load and watch. It's a skit of the evolution of dance and this guy can really dance like crazy :
http://www.funnyjunk.com/movies/173/Evolution+Of+Dance/stream
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This has been a busy month

Boy, this has been a really busy month for me. On May 1st we, my husband and I, celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary. Really doesn't feel like it's been that long, but as I look back, I guess it has been that long. A lot of things , good things, have happened in all those years.

On May 7th, last Sunday, I celebrated my 57th birthday. I want to say that this will be the last birthday that I WANT to celebrate. After this, I don't want to add any more years onto myself, because I can't bear to even think of looking at the big 60. So I declare that I will remain 57 for the rest of my life.... how does that sound? Tee Hee! Think I can pull that off? (didn't think so.)

And tomorrow is MOTHER"S DAY and I want to wish all the mothers and grandmothers out there a wonderful and gloriously happy and wonderful day.

It's Amazing!

I was reading these facts and was amazed:

Amazing Facts About Your Body

50,000 of the cells in your body will die and be replaced with new cells, all while you have been reading this sentence!

In one hour, your heart works hard enough to produce the equivalent energy to raise almost 1 ton of weight 1 yard off the ground. (I'm just glad that I can still put one foot in front of another and still walk, some.)

Scientists have counted over 500 different liver functions.

In 1 square inch of skin there lies 4 yards of nerve fibers, 1300 nerve cells, 100 sweat glands, 3 million cells, and 3 yards of blood vessels.

The structural plan of a whale's, a dog's, a bird's and a man's 'arm' are exactly the same.

The world`s first test-tube twins were born in June 1981.

There are 45 miles of nerves in the skin of a human being.

In a year, a person`s heart beats 40,000,000 times.

Most people blink about 25 times a minute.

Each square inch of human skin consists of twenty feet of blood vessels.

Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour. (or slower, if you have a slow brain like I do sometimes, LOL!)

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it will digest itself. ( EEEK! what a thought)

Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.

You use an average of 43 muscles for a frown.

You use an average of 17 muscles for a smile.

Every two thousand frowns creates one wrinkle. (ooops, gotta remember to smile more.)

The average human blinks his eyes 6,205,000 times each year.

The average human produces a quart of saliva a day or 10,000 gallons in a lifetime. ( even more if you have a delicious meal in front of you , he he he)

Every person has a unique tongue print. ( He, he, lets get all tongue prints on record, NOW)

The average human's heart will beat 3000 million times in their lifetime. ( let's hope we live that long....)

The average human will pump 48 million gallons of blood in their lifetime.

You burn 26 calories in a one minute kiss. ( gotta kiss more often I guess.)

The average human body contains enough: Sulphur to kill all fleas on an average dog, Carbon to make 900 pencils, Potassium to fire a toy cannon, Fat to make 7 bars of soap, Phosphorus to make 2,200 match heads, and enough Water to fill a ten gallon tank ( at least on me, they could probably multiply these time 2 each)

Among the first known "dentists" of the world were the Etruscans. In 700 BC they carved false teeth from the teeth of various mammals and produced partial bridgework good enough to eat with. ( I think my dentist went to this old school)

Ophthalmic surgery was one of the most advanced areas of medicine in the ancient world. Detailed descriptions of delicate cataract surgery with sophisticated needle syringes is contained in the medical writings of Celsus (A.D. 14-37)

A sneeze zooms out of your mouth at over 100 m.p.h. ( Remember to cover your mouth, why don't you.)

If you were freeze-dried, 10% of your body weight would be from the microorganisms on your body. (BLECH!)

According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 100 million acts of sexual intercourse each day. ( NOT in THIS house there isn't, no way)

Your ears and nose continue to grow throughout your entire life. ( Now they can just Quit that growing, RIGHT NOW!)

When you eat meat and drink milk in the same meal, your body does not absorb any of the milk's calcium. It is best to have 2 hours between the milk and meat intake.

Only humans and horses have hymens.

The tooth is the only part of the human body that can't repair itself.

Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.

One human brain generates more electrical impulses in a single day than all of the world’s telephones put together. ( And some I know are more busy lines than others!) tee hee

Fishies

Last Saturday was a good day for working on the boat. We have a 24 foot Four Winns cruiser. It needed work on the Teak wood and the marina got it into the water before we had time to work on it. So I was varnishing the cabin door as it was in the water.

Here's a picture of the captain- Barlow, my husband posing at the wheel. Darin rode with us and decided to fish off the back of the boat, sitting on the swim deck. Barlow was so worried that he'd fall into the water and he'd have to dive into the cold water to save him, so Darin moved to fishing off the docks. He caught two bluegill fishing this way. The first fish of the season! Darin's lucky that way. Usually gets the first fish or the biggest fish every time. He even beats his Dad in fishing, ( to his father's dismay).
Darin's father, Frank is from New Jersey, and he is used to deep sea fishing. He has'nt been so lucky here in fresh water. My girls were lucky that way too. They'd always catch more or the biggest fishes on our fishing excursions.


Here's Darin with fish #2 smiling big, because he was having so much fun.




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Here is a picture of my only little sister, Nancy's son- Robbie getting ready for his Senior Prom with his girlfriend. Can't believe that my sister's kids are all grown up too! (she's 7 years younger than me) They live in the St. Petersburg area of Florida, so we keep in touch with emails all the time. Don't they make a cute couple?

Happy Easter EVERYBODY!

Happy Easter and Good Tidings to Everyone!
The Grandkids and our daughters all met us for a Noon lunch at Country Buffet and we were glad we went early. The line was later, outside the door and waiting was long for the goodies we all ate at the buffet. (Poor Caroline, her battery went dead in her car, and she had to call us for a ride to the restaurant) Her husband stayed with the car, and he and a neighbor went and bought a new battery and fixed the car. Sorry he missed the dinner with us though. The dinner was grand, and o'l Grandma didn't have to lift a finger to either prepare or clean up the mess. We met my aunt, uncle and cousin at the restaurant, and when they were leaving, my cousin invited my grandson, Darin to go to a movie with him and his son.

After dinner, we all met a my house for the kids to pick up their baskets from me and Grandpa. Matthew got a little wheelbarrow for his basket, and the girls got regular baskets with little necklaces and coloring sheets, they all got a couple shorts sets. We took some pictures and sat and visited for a while.


Sarah and Matthew, happy to get their baskets.







Amber's got her basket!
Doesn't she look cute in her new Easter outfit? Pretty in pink!








And Grandpa and Grandma get a nice leasurely Holiday out with the Grandkid outside in the backyard! Only Darin's missing, since he got to go to the show with his cousins. Can you believe the grandkids are already asking us when we are going to open the pool?!!!!! Kinda rushing to get to summer, if you ask me! Guess we'll have to think about it in the next month or so, though.