Easter Sunday Pics

My son bought a new camera and he is having a hay day taking pics of his little ones. I am so glad that I don't have to worry about getting pictures myself because he is doing it -- with gusto!

Here are a few pictures he took of the kids Easter Sunday morning.

The first two were taken after the church Easter egg hunt.

Look . . . his little hands are in his pockets.

(That's Grammie's little man!)

He was facinated with the flowers -- ahem . . . weeds.

At home before church -- and the arrival of the Oklahoma wind!

She got a hair cut for Easter.

It's the first time she has had her hair flipped.

After it was cut and styled, she kept trying to straighten it out.

This was the day before her 6th birthday. She's a sweetie Pie!!

My two favorite girls!



She looks so big in this cute outfit.

This was his first Easter egg hunt.

He wasn't yet one last year and was sick and did not get to go to church,

but this year was a difficult story. :)

She's such a sweet big sister.

She was giving him some of her eggs for his basket.

I know they are my grandchildren, but . . . . I think they are the cutest ever! :0)

Kudos to the photographer! I proud of you son!

I hope that you had a glorious Easter as you celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!

Love,

Sherry

Good Friday ??

Today is Good Friday -- a very special day to Christians. It marks the day that the plan of Salvation for our sins was completed! Christ himself said from the cross, "It is finished!" Well, this was a very unusual Good Friday for me.

Yesterday I had lunch with my dear friend Valerie. We had a nice visit and finalized plans to go visit another bloggy friend, Carol, later this month. I ran some errands and went back to the office. I finished and left about 6:00 P.M.

The next morning I returned to work to find that thieves had broken in to the church. One of the things they took was the money from the children's "Buddy Barrels". The money was being collected for missionaries. There was several things taken from our youth center as well. It wasn't a large sum monetarily, but the fact that someone would be brazen enough to do this is sickening.

I snapped some pictures of the little table of barrels before I checked touched anything. Here are the sad little barrels stripped of their money:

A few minutes later two men from the high school across the street came by to told me that the school had been robbed as well and that the thieves had been caught and confessed breaking in at the church, too. Thanks to the schools surveillance cameras and the police piecing information together, they were arrested.

Now for the really sad part, the thieves: one eighth grader and two sixth graders! Babies with felonies on their records. They would have been locked up in Juvenal hall except it was only able to take those who had committed violent crimes.

These boys need our prayers. Without Divine intervention, they don't stand a chance for a happy life -- they desparately need a relationship with God.

I hope your Good Friday was . . . good!

Love,

Sherry

Our own kind of party

On New Year's Eve, my son and DIL decided to go out for the evening an see the New Year in as a couple. Part of their plans was to go see a movie. So. . . . hubs and I kept the kids overnight. Our granddaughter came up with the good idea . . . for us to watch movie like her mom and dad were doing and to have popcorn, too :) She picked "Mary Poppins".

I popped some popcorn, fixed something for us to drink and got everyone seated and then started the movie. The little mister sat by me on a little stool with a little bowl of popcorn and his drink. I was so surprised at his participation in our movie event. He enjoyed his popcorn and as you can see, he was really into "Mary Poppins". He made it all the way to the end of the movie!

I had so much fun with these little munchkins . . . I think it might have been my best New Year's Eve . . . ever!

Blessings,
Sherry

PS Oh, yes, we did see the old year out and the new year in -- barely.

New year blessings to all my bloggy friends!

Love,
Sherry

....and after the presents have been opened.....

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We were extremely blessed this Christmas, but our blessings go far beyond the holiday.

After all the presents have been opened and the mess has been cleaned, we are left with the most precious gift; family, friends and our precious Savior. Things are nice but when it is all said and done, the love we share is what will last.

Here are pics of two of my precious jewels:

She's so interested in words and trying to read.
If you look carefully out the patio door in the upper right of the pic
you can see the white of a blizzard blowing snow.
It was reported that we received 14" of snow.

The wind was so bad that I had to put an old bedspread at the door to prevent

snow from coming in -- yeah right! I was shocked a short while after when Iopened the front door to see so much snow INSIDE the foyer!


Yummy suckers from their stockings.

And here is our sucker-eating-expert. I took this pic with my phone and he was hopping around so it's a little blurry, but notice the chunk of candy on his nose and on the front on his sweater. How he managed the candy on the nose, I'll never know! He's a never ending source of entertainment and sweeter than the sucker he was eating!

I am so thankful for the love that God gave us through the gift of his Son. Because Him, I have life -- abundantly!

Blessings to you,

Sherry

Getting ready for the holidays

I just love Christmas! I wish that the decorations could stay up as long as autumn does. I try to decorate as early as I dare so I can enjoy them as long as possible.

I have two tree themes (I only put up one tree -- I rotate from year to year). The themes are "Toys" and "Victorian" -- one for children and the other more for grown-ups. However, I haven't used the Victorian theme since my granddaughter's first Christmas. Children love the "Toy" tree because of all the toy ornaments. Also, I have some old fashioned toys under the tree and kids ARE allowed to play with them. The airplanes, a set of red bicycles, a red wagon, a train, nutcrackers and a train are among our granddaughter's favorite. My grandchildren will have fond memories of Christmas at Grammie and Pa Pa's house.

Last Wednesday, B stayed overnight at our house. Earlier that day I had cleaned the patio (which is made like a walled courtyard) and decorated it for Christmas. That evening she and her Pa Pa snuggled on the loveseat in front of the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate and watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" while the Christmas lights sparkled in the darkness. And me? I was in the kitchen preparing our Thanksgiving desserts -- and serving hot chocolate. Next time I want to snuggle with her on the love seat -- and be served hot chocolate! ;)

I have almost finished my Christmas decorating. I only lack the tree and dining room table. The front door (inside and out), piano, mirror, coffee table and end tables, grandfather clock, pation and kitchen are finished. I may decide to sit out a few things in the bedrooms and bathrooms. As I said, I love Christmas!

Simple things can make the best memories. We are blessed with some wonderful memories. Some that have been captured on film, but many more that live only in the realms of our minds.

Love,

Sherry

Getting into the spirit . . .

Last week we took off a couple days and headed to Branson, MO. We wanted to see the Christmas decorations and shows because after Thanksgiving we will barely have time to come up for air -- the calendar is full.

We had such a great time. We spent one day at Silver Dollar City. One of the shows wet saw was Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", a live production that was amazing! It far exceeded our expectations. They did a phenomenal job. For example, when Mr. Scrooge went to his front door the night of his visits from the spirits of Christmas, the carving on the door spoke to him and "stretched" outward toward him. Also, the Spirit of the Present flew out over the audience and there were many more surprises. At the end, the actors were singing and the snow was falling. All of a sudden, it began snowing over the entire audience! And, in case you've never been to Silver Dollar City, the shows are all included in the price of admission to the park.

Since we were going to be there while it was all decorated for Christmas, we decided to come prepared to have some pictures taken that could be used for our Christmas card. We had a few taken professionally that will used for the card, but here is one that a stranger took of us -- and we returned the favor.

You might think that I'm rushing it a little since Thanksgiving is still a week away, but let me say that I am thankful for our country and all of God's blessings -- I thank Him everyday. However, I am even more thankful for the birth of His Son and what that represents -- the plan of salvation! So, I'm ready to begin the Christmas season now.

Love, Sherry

. . but have you ever . . .?

July the 4th -- family -- friends -- food -- fun -- fireworks -- thunder storms ? ? ? You read right -- thunder storms -- severe thunder storms and wind!

Our small town has a city-wide celebration complete with fireworks. The day began with overcast skies that lasted the entire day. As darkness began to set it, we heard the fireworks begin. The festivities were across the street from us, so we stepped out on our front porch to watch the show. Very shortly after the display started, it began to rain. Did you know that a fireworks display can be quite beautiful even in the pelting rain and wind? Here are a few pictures. (For all you Photoshop gurus, sorry, but they are unedited.)

The raindrops were falling and the fireworks continued.

The rain began coming down much harder.
I turned on my camera's flash and it captured the rain drops.
The red spots in the center are the fireworks. The white spots are the rain.

Then . . the wind began blowing.
You can see the fireworks slanted to the right (east).
The wind was coming from the west.

This picture is very blurry in part due to the pelting rain but you can see
what the wind was doing to them.

Notice the how the top of the tree on the right is bent.
We were surprised that they kept setting them off.

This was near the end.

I'm not sure if this was their planned finale
or they were just trying to complete the job.

Fire drifting in the wind.

After the storm.
The sky was so mysterious and beautiful. The camera fails to capture the beauty.

This sunset reminds me that we may go through storms in our lives, but God has a golden "sky" waiting for us in the end. He has new mercies for us each and every day.

Love,

Happy Birthday, America!

Happy 233rd Birthday, America!

Love,

To Mothers

Happy Mother's Day

Love,

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentine's Day

to all my friends!

AND
Happy Birthday Valerie!

♥

Happy New Year

New Year's celebration at the Chateau in Branson.

Happy New Year from Branson, MO.
May God bless you and yours in 2009.
May you have a closer relationship with Jesus and never before.
I pray that you will be able to look back on this year that is yet to come and find that you have grown and made big strides forward in the Lord.

Love,

Santa came for a visit!

Yes, he did!

Even after his big Christmas Eve night,
he stopped in to spend Christmas Day with us!
See!

I was too busy to realize that I didn't get a good pic of his Santa suit that came complete with belt and boots! He was such a little charmer. Great Grandma enjoyed holding him.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas with family and friends that you hold dear. We had a wonderful and fun Christmas! This year, we had a Christmas morning brunch. Our kids and my MIL were all there.

Then it was time to open the presents. The gifts were overflowing out from under the tree. To say the least, we were very blessed.

Breanna's big gift from us was a Grand Doll House with 7 rooms of furniture and accessories. She really enjoyed playing with it -- ever before we got it completely put together.

It has 4 stories.
The doll house came with mom, dad, twins (boy & girl), swing set,
BBQ grill, picnic table, kitchen table & chairs.
We gave her 7 rooms of furniture. She opened two of them to play with and
waited to open the rest when she got home -- lots of pieces.
This is something she will be able to enjoy as she grows.
The rooms are so detailed and fun.
What little girl doesn't like a doll house! ?
Next, we need to find a table for it to sit on.

Bryce's big gift was a Leap Frog driving thingy. It's a lot of fun. He is inheriting some of his sister's babyhood toys such at the Leap Frog learning table we got her when she was a baby. So, not to overload the playroom with duplicates, his gift wasn't as "big". He received two other Leap Frog toys and lots of clothes. (Mommy said he needed them.)

I didn't get any pics of him opening his gifts. I'm going to have to put Hubs in charge of the camera more often. (He took so many when our son was small and during vacations that he has retired from cameras. :) That's what he says anyway. ) Afterward, we had mountains of wrapping paper,bows, boxes and tissue paper to pick up.

Here are a few more pics from December 23 when we had Christmas at my brother's home.

"Hey, Grammie,
I think I like this thing called Christmas!"

She's into posing now!

Three loves of my life!

Two of my favorite guys!

Cousin Colton. (My brother's grandson.)
He was getting a guitar for Christmas so he asked Brent to
give him some info such as the name of the strings and chords.
This little guitar was given to him by a friend. There's a big hole
in the back and he has taped some paper over the hole. He really does need a guitar :)


"Let see, a quick overview of the instructions and then it's play time!"


A new form of "paper dolls". This is so neat.
It's made of flexible rubbery material.
Cinderella's shoes are so tiny.

There's nothing like the love of family!

God gives the best gifts of all.
The gift of His Son is the most priceless and one that I have been so grateful to receive.
I trust that you, too, had a blessed Christmas.

Love,