My Birthday With My Sisters

Since I was in South Carolina for my birthday, my sisters waited for me to get back so we could celebrate it together. Sisters always include my sister-in-laws and other female members of my family who can come. We do allow some males under 21!!! Like my newphews. Since my sister Carol has moved back from CT and living in Beloit, WI. she can join us in our birthday celebrations. Carol made me this delicious giant oatmeal date cookie. Sorry, you can't have any...IT'S G O N E GONE!!

My sister-in-law Venita knows I love Mrs. Fisher's! Sorry! That's also G O N E GONE! But I'm enjoying the indoor plant she gave me.

You may wonder why I have two pictures that look the same...they're not! The one above was taken by Ann-Marie and

this one was taken by Candice!!!

The fun part of any birthday can be the cards! Some make you cry. Some make you laugh. Some just make you feel so fuzzy inside that family truly cares about you. I still have some almonds left that Tammy gave me. The delicious candy bar...sorry G O N E GONE!!

I hadn't see Brielle in such a long time. She just prettier each time.

My sister, Louise knows I collect wooden red-handled kitchen utensils!

Louise made me the most delicious carrot cake you will ever eat!!! Some of us were able to takes some pieces home to our husbands.

We all gathered at the Bee-A- Roo on North Second! Just got to love that look on Aidan's face! Sheila had made me a jar of the best homemade applesauce you would ever want to try. In fact Gary put it on his pancakes one morning!! Poor Jan-- she celebrated my birthday with TWICE!!! She says I have this CD coming that I just love...but I haven't seen it YET!!! According to her, it may become my Christmas present. LOL But she did give me $$$! I'm sure I will think of something to buy.

It was so much fun. Enjoyed seeing my family again. Talking, eating, opening gifts and eating a piece of that carrot cake. We all missed my sister-in-law Judi who forgot the date! But when I had gotten home from S.C., there on my table was a card from her. She included a gift card to Kohl's. So one day I'm going shopping!!

And the celebration is still going on. My daughter will spoil me one night with dinner and the movie, Letters to Juliet.

Thanking the Lord for my big wonderful family!

My Trip to South Carolina - Part #3 - Activities

I'm so blessed to have so many sisters all with different gifts! The first morning alone with the kids, even while she still had her PJ on, she had the kids making charts! They all really got involved in making their own charts. She kept it simple. Only three catag0ries: Obey, Be Kind and Be a Helper. Whenever they did one of the following, they would get to put a sticker in that square for that day. Great idea.

Isn't she just lovely in her PJ? Jan and I were both amazed how much we really got to do with the kids. Especially with me being sick. Here's some of the fun things we got to do with them.
There was the Easter Egg Hunt. Bryant hid the eggs for the two younger girls. Above you have Mikayla enjoying her find.

Jan and I took turns hiding the eggs for the three older kids. Bryant and Mackenzie enjoyed the hunt.

Madyson and Mackenzie check out the goodies inside the eggs.

We took time off from cooking one day and took the kids to a place called Chick-Fil-A. It was nice they had a play area for the younger kids.

Before we took the kids out to eat, we stopped by a very nice park to let the kids play for awhile. There's Madyson-really into swinging with her head down.

Mackenzie just relaxing !

And of course, I needed to enter into the action.






My sister Jan is such a wonderful Grandmother. She is always involved with some activity with her grandkids. Like the game...

Red Rover, Red Rover, send Grandma right over!!

You can tell by the look on all the kids faces, that they think Grandma will not get through their line!

One day while I was home with the two younger girls, Jan picked up the older kids and took them shopping to find an activity they would enjoy doing that evening. She named it : ACTIVITY NIGHT. I tried to help Bryant, but we ended up leaving the details for his dad to help him with. But at least we tried.

Oh, and perhaps this one activity was one of the most funniest of all. LOOKING FOR FOUR -LEAF CLOVER. When I was young I use to collect four-leaf clovers. I even had a nice book that I kept them all in. Some were small and some were very large. Even had a few five-leaf clovers. So knowing this, I thought the kids maybe might find one or two in their backyard. Well low and behold I think some leprechauns were working in their yard the night before. At first Jan said, "I'll give you one dollar for every four-leaf clover you find." I kid you not they just kept finding four-leaf clovers. She finally had to put of limit of $5.00. And several of them would had doubled that if she had NOT put a limit on them.

One day I painted the girls finger and toe nails.

Mackenzie had a special kit with nail polish and little stars, hearts etc to put on her nails.

Jan, The grandma kept the kids busy with games and reading stories to them. I wished I had done a video of her singing, "I could have danced all night..." with each one of the kids except Bryant. Those kids love being pulled up into the air and singing right along with her.

So we did enjoy spending time with those precious 5 grandkids of Jan. And I,of course are their GREAT AUNT!

It was work! It was fun! It was time to come home!

My Trip to South Carolina - Part #2 My Brithday

Danielle had informed me that on my birthday, I was to eat on this special plate! Which I did...because on May 11, it was my birthday. She had planned to have chicken Enchiladas for Tuesday!!It must be on of the kids' favorites, because we ate almost all of them.

My sister, is a great planner! She had the kids trying to blow up balloons! We had those party blow horns...not the noisy one (Thank you.) She made a three layer (via Bryant request...who birthday is this anyway?) White cake with white frosting!!!

And they all sang "Happy Birthday to me." It was so much fun. The kids gave me great gifts! McKenzie had made me a great bookmarker. Bryant had given me a dollar and two of his four-leaf clovers. Got a box of Milk Duds and of course a box of Suzie Q's!!!

And what's a party without pin the tail on the donkey! Bryant was the winner. Of course I realized how ahead of time he figured out from the white flower on the wall where to pin the tail!!! Then I showed the kids how the game really should be played....

As you can see from their faces, they know I'm way off the mark. I should have been playing pin a pedal on the flower.

It will be a birthday party that I will truly remember!! Thanks gang!

My Trip to South Carolina - In Three Parts - Part #1

"Do you want to get away for ten days? All expense paid?" asked by sister Jan so long ago that I don't remember what month she asked me that question. Of course the little wheels in my head are turning. Somehow I didn't think this was what one might call a fun vacation. By that I mean no responsibilties. Then on top of that first question, she asked me if I would be willing to fly! FLY! FLY!! Like in an airplane? "Not really." Was my first reply.

Well, to make this story short, I did decide to fly to South Carolina only because I know the drive would truly wear her out. And that's not a good thing when you are going to watch five grandchildren. (Ages: 2,4,6,8,10) Plans were to leave the 6th of May and get back the 16 of May. The day before we were to leave I started getting a sinus cold. But I wasn't going to let that stop me.

We fly from Milwaukee to Cleveland, Ohio and then on to Anderson, South Carolina. Flight - Okay or I wouldn't be writing this. Let me tell you that Danielle is one very organized mom I know. She had written out everything that Jan might need to know PLUS planned and froze all our evening meals!!!

Since we arrived on Thursday and the Senior Trip didn't start till Saturday morning, we got to spend a little time with Michael and Danielle. And their dog Maggie. Along with their five great kids.

Saturday morning they were off before I even got out of bed. Jan of course was up to see them off. Then Sunday was Mother's Day! What a great surprise to have these kid shower their great aunt with bath products. I am one of those people who loves to spend time in the bath tub and read. Thanks for these great gifts!!!

And of course Grandma got showered with some great bath products also!

The only thing going awry was that my cold was getting worse. Hard to breathe at night. Started losing my voice in the early evening, wasn't sleeping well....etc. Each day I just prayed that I could help Jan in someways. She was in great health and I think that's what got us through.

Tinker Swiss Cottage - May 04, 2010

On the first Tuesday of every month, we have Senior Saints Prayer Breakfast...usually at Jessica's in Roscoe. But this time we decided to have an activity after our breakfast so instead of Jessica's we went to Stockholm Inn. And as you are all aware of...they have a great menu for breakfast. Are activity for the day was to visit Tinker Swiss Cottage! I don't think that I have ever visited it before. But if I had, a lot of changes have been done to the cottage and continue t0 be ongoing.

Can you believe that this tree is over 300 years old?

This photo is actually the back side of the cottage. I'm standing on a suspension bridge which the older people loved jumping on and making the bridge move...me no like that feeling!!!

They of course had a shop to purchase some items of interest...like Gary getting my a York mint patty. He said it was for my birthday!!

They showed us a video before going through the cottage with a lot of history behind the home.

There is so much to see in this cottage. One must go and see it to get a great appreciation for what Robert Hall Tinker did for his home along with his wife contributions.

Here we have a photo of some of the people who where there. Some had to leave early because of work.

So if you want a fun activity and learn some factS about Rockford...GO SEE TINKER SWISS COTTAGE.

Mother's Day - Before Mother's Day

With out much thought, I had committed myself to go with my sister Jan to S. C. to help her take care of her five grandchildren. Not a hard task for us. We had done this before when there were only four grandchildren and one more wouldn't matter. The dates were May 6 - 16th. Not thinking that I would be gone not only for my birthday but Mother's Day also. And I didn't even give it thought that this was my first year as a Grandmother.

So when I told Ann-Marie the dates, she was glad she knew about these plans because she had been planning something special for me. OOPS!!! So before I left for Anderson, S. C., they gave this beautiful bracelet. As you all know Robert is my first husband's name. What a blessing to wear.

And even I didn't think about being a grandmother via my wonderful daughter. Oh, I enjoyed my grandchildren Andrew and Brigitte via my marriage to Gary, but to think that God would allow Ann-Marie to become a mother and then me a grandmother is words I can't express.

And of course, my daughter know me very well....I love chocolate...not just any kind...but chocolate with carmels. So she hand picked these at Fannie May Candies.

So I did indeed celebrate Mother's Day early. Got to wear my new bracelet on the plane to S.C. Ate some candy...but also left some behind so I could enjoy when I got back. THANKS! THANKS! Ann-Marie, Brett and Sam! Thanks for these wonderful gifts.

An Evening with Kathy & Judy 4-29-10

I always look forward to an evening out with my daughter. So when she found out that the talk host girls from WGN. Kathy and Judy would be speaking in town, she called me immediately and asked, "Do you want to go?" "Yes! Let's go." So she signed us up quickly because she knew the tickets would sell out fast...which they did. We had only heard Kathy and Judy on WGN. I didn't hear them alot when I was working. But after retirement I got to hear them a lot more.They are not believers but we would enjoy the different topics that would come up on their show. They even at times talked about what different people at the radio station believed about God. And since of the people who work for WGN are true believers, Kathy and Judy would actually tell us what those people believe. Which I found very interesting because it was the gospel in a nutshell.

At any rate, Ann-Marie and I were able to meet some really great ladies at our table. We even had a Kathy and Judy at our table...just not the ones who worked for WGN.

Both Ann-Marie and I were wondering if Kathy and Judy would mention why they were fired from WGN. Which of course they did but were very careful of what they said because they were still under contract...ending soon. But perhaps one of the reasons they explained was due to rating. Now, I'm not sure how that could apply to them, because they seemed to have a huge following. But at the same time they both expressed that there is life after radio and express different directions they might be taking.

After a delicious dinner and various FUNNY skits by different people we finally enjoyed just listening, crying, laughing as Kathy and Judy caught us up with what they both were doing. The photo above is us with Judy.

And here we are with Kathy!

Now whenever we hear of Kathy and Judy, we can say, I saw them both in person. It was a wonderful evening and I'm so glad that we attended an evening with Kathy and Judy.

Garage Sales - Footville, WI

Finally I was able to download the photos from my sister's Jan's photos to show you just how full you can pack a car that already has five passengers. (Fours sisters and one niece.) We heard that there were alot of garage sales in a small town called Footville. So Carol, Beth and I met my other sisters, Louise and Jan near Footville, WI. And there certainly were alot of garage sales. I saw this old antique oil container that I thought Louise might want. She did purchased it and found out from her husband that indeed it was used to put lamp oil in.

My sister, Carol who at that time would be moving back to WI from CT saw a vacuum cleaner that she felt she could put to great use.

With the five of us we packed the trunk FULL! Now I wonder where would we put that vacuum cleaner Carol had purchased?

Never fear! With Louise big old card, Carol just placed it on her lap. No problem !

Oh, and what about that piano bench that our sister Carol purchased....just let sister Jan and me hold it on our laps.

It was indeed a fun filled day. We did stop for lunch at a small place right in the big town of Footville. Then continued on to finish a few more garage sales. As you will note from the photos above, it was time to head home.