Saying Goodbye....

  Yesterday my granddaughter,Sierra , had to catch her flight back to Florida. It's been nice to see her home. I went to spend a bit more time with her yesterday.  She's a strong girl, who tries to stay up beat about life.

  Grandson ,Korey, and his sweet wife Ashley will be catching their flight back to Utah, today (Fri)  They were on the go most of the week in Indiana. Going to all her family's  and then coming down to see us for a visit. From our house to Korey's father's....then back up north to his mother's (my daughter Kathy) It is wonderful to see them , and sad when they leave. They snapchat lots. and face time with Kathy.

  This is the sunrise of Thursday morning.  Off in the distance between the grouping of trees and the stand of three is our town of Tipton. It was a beautiful morning turning colder with snow squalls in the late afternoon.

  I love the colors in the clouds, with a promise of a gorgeous day.

 Well it did get pretty with blue skies and sunshine. Here's the old one room school house , not far from our house.  I took pictures on my way home from Angie's.

  I have been watching this old house on the corner 1 1/2 miles from us.  It is leaning more and more. The roof has caved in on the south side, the back of the house has collapsed.

  Hanging on among it's dying scraggly trees.  I drove slowly by to get these pictures. :) Looking at this house as it fades into time....makes me feel sad.

  I have to change to a happy note here. My daughter Kathy gave me this little plaque as a part of my Christmas gift. It's reads, " I often daydream that my life is just as it is now...Only I have well behaved hair  & I live in Paris."  LOL    I laughed and read it out loud for everyone. There's a wee patch of white under the tower that says"it is not uncommon for her to dream in perfect French." So funny and cute. I love it and hung it in the bathroom. :)
    We have blue skies and sunshine again. Oh I am loving this for winter. Wishing all of you a great Friday. XO

Time To Slow Down.....

    Today Sierra and her mom Angie came , and Savannah and her mom Karen.  Karen came to town and joined Angie , they ate out for lunch. I was serving lunch for Kathy and her son Korey and his wife Ashley.  I wish they had all just came here for lunch. We certainly had plenty.  This is Sierra, Ashley, Korey and Savannah.

  Ashley, Korey, me(nana) Ted (papaw), Savannah and Sierra.  I kept all the house decorated for today. I will start taking it all down in a few days...as my feet are killing me. So much standing and walking , for about a week.  I need a rest. I enjoyed all the gatherings of this beautiful Christmas time.  Family time was the best part.

 Karen, Angie, me and Kathy. Kathy lives in Northern Indiana , so she couldn't make in for our Christmas dinner at Karen's this year. That is why we had a gathering today.

  These next photos are from Christmas day at Karen's.  Liz, Angie and Karen....Liz and Karen are the twins..One looks like me and one looks like their father. 

  Here's a shot of me and Teddy Bear.

  Emma growing while I am taking this photo...growing and growing.  Savannah in the back ground playing drums.

  Here's Max looking at Karen's dogs.

   Layla walking away just when I wanted to take a nice photo of her in her princess dress and furry shrug.

  Angie holding Max , while Karen over looks to see if it is all ready to eat.

Me, Liz, Angie, Karen and Sierra.  I don't know why it is so hard to get pictures of the individual families. I would love a shot of Brock and his family, Lynzie and hers.  I said next gathering I will wait by the door with my camera and get pictures as they come in. Babies just won't pose too often. LOL.
  I had a fabulous Christmas, hugs, laughs, stories to remember, gifts and food. We are so very blessed. I hope and pray you all had the same. This year is almost gone. Diet time. LOL.
  Wishing you all well. XO

Grandkid Fun...

 Here are  my two oldest granddaughters with their cousin's wife sitting in between. This is  Sierra(grand), Emily (Brock's wife ), and Margo (grand). I call all of them granddaughters.

 Yesterday at Angie's, we had a gathering of two daughters, four granddaughters, And the two precious babies.   Lynzie is holding her son Max and Emily is holding her daughter , Layla.  The lighting was awful with the window in the background.

 Sierra was holding Max and I got in the picture.   Sierra loves the babies. How could she not? LOL

 I wanted a picture of me holding Max and Layla , as we were wearing red plaids. But It was like a had a bad Santa plague...as soon as I sat down with them. They squirmed, wiggled and yelled to get down.  Emily started laughing. Oh they will like me come Christmas, I hope. :):)

I loved this nativity scene , from Horton's store in town.

  Sweet baby Jesus lying in the manger.  We are loved.   I am so thankful for  family, friends, and my blog family. Please enjoy your special day. Drive carefully. Merry Christmas to all. XO

Cold & Pretty

  Things are thawing here. The birds can sip the water now , even though there's that big ice flow in the bath.

  Thursday 's sun is starting to set.

  The afternoon and what evening there was on the second day of winter...was so pretty with blue skies.

  As the sun set more through the neighbor's apple trees.

  Clouds are good for sunsets, as they reflect the colors.

 Here showing a bit of lavender in the clouds.

  This is Wednesday's sunset. More clouds , more color.

  It's still cold at this time of day, but with no fierce winds, it is bearable outside.

 You can see that on Wednesday evening we still had snow. It melted on Thursday. Today is maybe some rain here and there. It will be in the low 50's on Christmas day with rain. That will be easier traveling conditions than snow .
  Having lunch today at Angie's to be with my two oldest granddaughters.  I hope I remember to get some photos.  I am hoping all of you are starting to relax and enjoy this glorious Christmas holiday. You only have today and tomorrow to be good. :):)  Bless all of you. XO

School Christmas Party.....

  It was party time before school lets out for the holidays. The halls have so many interesting decorations. Celebrating 200 years for the state of Indiana.

  Lots of encouraging messages for the children.  Kids will learn many social skills in their daily school lives. Hopefully skills that help them throughout their lives.

 The murals are just the best, showing the history of our state.

 It's always very clean in the hallways. The class rooms are also.

  My daughter Mrs. H...unwrapping some gifts from the children. Bless their hearts, they are all so excited for her . It's good to see the joy on the children's faces.  Some made homemade gifts and ornaments. One boy wrote a song and wrapped it. Some made special cards. The loving kindness touches your  heart.

  This is the class lined up to perform for their parents and guest.

  Each child recites a couple lines from ," Twas The Night Before Christmas " They do so well , it's fun to watch them .

  This is some of the delicious  items the parents make and bring in for the party breakfast . It's casseroles, bacon, biscuits  fruits, muffins, and cinnamon rolls. There's milk and juice also.  This year it wasn't milk and cereal, as I have seen many times. I think most kids eat cereal for breakfast, so these types of food items are a treat. Less sugar. :):)

  The very pretty and young mommies. They look too young to have a  child in the 5th grade. It is so sweet of them to make and help with the breakfast.

 My daughter makes up a bag of goodies for the children. At this time of year, some can have chapped lips. She got them all some chapsticks. This young fellow traded with the girl next to him and realized the girls got a colored chapstick. I took this picture of him so he could see....he wiped some off and then said, "I am fabulous, so this will do. " You gotta love his attitude.  No one said mean things and he didn't seem upset...so all's well.  This is a very good class. I am looking forward to seeing them again at the end of the year class picnic. I wish them and their families the best Christmas ever.
  Hope all of you are ready for your holidays . It is a wee bit warmer here now.  Enjoy your day. XO

Cold But Sunny....

   I had to take a photo of the pink clouds this morning. It's still cold here , even though the temperature is a bit higher that yesterday.

  This is yesterday's sunset. It was a clear day Monday and the sunset was so pretty.

  I love the red glow on things when the winter sun is setting.  I can't get this snow off the porch because it is actually frozen.

  You have to watch your footing right now.

  I have a long shelf in the dining room, where I lean pictures of our town. Now I have photo Christmas cards leaning.  Max , his mom and dad, along with Madison the dog.

  My niece and her family.

  More pictures of another niece and her family. Her son in the Santa hat when he was a baby.

  Friends that live near Vegas and some angels.

  It's cold out, you need a pot of soup. I made this beef,veggie and rice soup. We have had a couple bowls the past few days. Tomorrow is the winter solstice. ...let the count down to spring begin . LOL.

 Here's the napkin holders Ted made for my sisters. I think they will like them.   I have a few things to wrap today and I will be done. :):)
  Wishing all a good day, stay warm. XO