Alexa Christine

Well this summer has flown by and both Mommas are tired of waiting.. After Amy and Eric had Ella on August 23rd, Bill and Laura were right behind them awaiting their special bundle. After many trips to the hospital with pains and contractions, Laura did make it to her scheduled due date of September 23rd. Laura had a C-section and at 1:51pm weighing in at 8lbs 2oz, little Alexa Christine was born.

Alexa joins her oldest sister Alana who is 7, Ava who is 6, and their brother Andrew who will be 3 in November. Both Mom and baby are doing well. Bill stayed home all week and helped out, it is a busy household and just got about 8lbs busier. Alexa has strikingly black hair...maybe the Greek in her ? not sure but I do expect she could have curly hair like her father. I have yet to actually see her with her eyes open, but I am told they are blue. She is a very peaceful and quiet little girl. Good luck and God bless all of them as she begins her new life on the outside. This makes Mom's 25th Great Grandchild and my 7th Grandchild.....we are all blessed to be a part of their life...

Tough break!!

What would summer be without all the mishaps of fun...well is you consider running into the bathroom to take a bath and falling hard enough to smack your leg against the sink cabinet and break your leg then I guess that would be a mishap.......Brooke again fell and broke her leg.

This time is was the other leg. She broke her leg the first time when she was 3 and now at 5 she broke the other leg. Her brother also broke 2 bones in his foot this late spring...they sure don't make kids like they use to. When my kids were growing up the broken bones they had were usually caused by themselves doing things they shouldn't have or a sibling helping them break something.

All of my natural grandchildren have broken the same leg and all under the age of 3. Katie, Brooke's mom found out from the doctor that they have seen a larger number than normal of young children with broken bones and have tied that to sun screen. Apparently the sun-screen depletes the vitamin D in their system. That and the fact that kids don't drink enough milk to

truly strengthen their bones....wierd....

so now Brooke not only needs more milk but a calcium supplement as well. The bad news is she starts kindergarten this year and if that isn't

hard enough, now do it with a cast thigh high and a walker. Well after successfully wearing the thigh high cast for 6 weeks, they then switched her to a walking cast for another 4 weeks. Finally after summer faded, school began and enough sitting on the side lines watching recess go by, Brooke finally got the cast off and is walking slightly slower but on her own...no more casts, walkers or crutches....we'll hold our breath when she turns 7......

Ella J.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity...painting the baby;s room, washing more clothes than I have ever seen a child wear...Amy was due on August 24th and went into labor on August 23rd. ...

Amy tried to go as natural as possible and held off on the drugs....I am proud of her, when she got pretty far along the pain was a little to intense and chose to go with the drugs..I remember having my own children and the first child we were all prepared for natural childbirth...after the first menacing pains kicked in I was all about the drugs...next to the baby it was the best part of childbirth..That really didn't help Amy any so I just observed and waited....Well at 3:12 weighing

in at 8lbs 14 oz. (thus the drugs)...Ella J. was born.

Ella in Greek means "come" and if ever there was a most anticipated child this would be it. Amy has waited her whole life to be a wife and now Mother. She and Eric have stepped into the parent role and both participate in almost every aspect of her care. The "J " as her middle name is for Eric's middle name and Amy's brother Jonathan. Somehow I think Ella knew him before she came here and sent her and his blessing on to his sister. Here in this picture Ella is the 24th Great Grandchild for Mom and my 6th grandchild. She also joins the 4 -Generation club with her cousins who have been lucky enough to meet and greet their Great YiaYia.

God bless them all and welcome, baby Ella........

We have been Blessed...

This year we are blessed to have 2 new arrivals to add to the fold. Amy and Eric are expecting their first child in August and Bill and Laura are expecting their fourth child in September. This has been a long hot summer for both Mommas...We had a baby shower for Amy and Eric in June, with lots of friends, family and gifts...

As Amy and Brooke get ready for the day, we decorated the outside and got ready for the people.

The Mommas in waiting...and waiting and waiting.....soon.....it will be over.....

My how Time flys

With the end of the school year approaching, it is an action packed Spring..

Brooke has finished pre-school and will be headed to Kindergarten in the fall...it seems like just yesterday she was a baby....we watched as she received her certificate to move on to Kindergarten.

Congratulations!!!, two down and another 12 years to go until the next graduation......

The kids entertained the adults with song and smiles....it is strange to think my own kids sat in the same gym some 25 years ago and now their own children continue in the same classrooms and even have shared the same teachers.....yikes...

Mason was completely overcome with emotion as he watched his sister take a giant step into the world of higher education...

mmmm??

This has been quite a Spring and Summer and now we move into Fall, so I need to catch up on my life. It has been crazy, hectic, filled with babies and waiting., so here goes the catch up time.

We caught up with this crazy character at the Park for a dusk Easter Egg hunt...Did I ever give my theory on the Easter bunny?? Well here goes. I have come to the conclusion that the Easter bunny really is a thief...he sneaks in steals the chicken's eggs and to disguise his deed, he paints the eggs different colors and styles and then to cover up his crime he hides them in other people's yards...hummm clever little guy......

We celebrated Spring and Easter at Mom's. We had our traditional Easter egg hunt with all the kiddies and then it

was time for the bigger kiddies to hunt for their own special eggs. It has been more of a challenge every year to come up with a system so all the kids get the same things. It never fails there is always one missing egg....so this year they were color coated and that seemed to produce a more favorable bounty.....the adults on the other hand always have special lotto treats in their eggs and they search just as hard as the kids.....

Next on our Spring journey we went to Ada Michigan to see my sister and her son Craig and his family. What a great place, very quiet and filled with things to see and do. We went to the little downtown area where they have turned older houses into shops. Around here sometimes I wonder about people, they prefer to tear them down and build up more concrete stores or malls. It was nice to step back in time a little and check out their area. We went into one shop that was all knitting accessories. They had yarn of every type and color and I found some knitting needles to bring back for Alana, she is the oldest grandchild of 7 and wants to learn how to knit. So I bought 2 pairs, one for me to refresh my memory and one for her to begin her memory....we'll see how that goes....

When we got back to the house Craig was bar-b-queuing lunch....yummmm..one thing is sure about our family...food is our favorite hobby, subject, pastime or lively hood.......

This is my sister Kathy, guarding lunch....and preparing it along with Amy, Craig's wife....while we waited, we checked out some interesting ideas from one of the many magazines Kathy has...I have yet to try them but thought they were worth snatching a picture of....

Well after great eats...lots of conversation, some shopping...and just plain enjoying the day, we got back in the car and headed back home to Chicago land area....until the next adventure....