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I had Wednesday off work, SO I asked if I could take Brendan downtown to the Grand Rapids Public Museum to see the whale exhibit and the Charlie Brown exhibit and just hang out down there for a few hours.
We always have a ton of fun at the museum. This grandparent membership thing is really a deal. Brendan caught a few magnetic fish at this little play area ... and bowled a little bit too. The Charlie Brown exhibit was upstairs on the second floor. I think it was mostly for older children because it required a lot of reading of the comic strips framed nicely and hanging on the walls ... Brendan got to play Schroeder's piano ... I think our favorite part of the exhibit was Snoopy's dog house. It was just so perfect, and INSIDE there were two puppets: Snoopy AND Woodstock! This little sweetie LOVES puppets ... He was quite taken with both of them! We went all the way to the 3rd floor to see the whale exhibit. There was a bunch of stuff to see and do--again, I think mostly for older children and adults. Also, I didn't like the science part of it because it assumed that everyone was an evolutionist--I'm not! But the exhibit was well put together and worth seeing. There was a GIANT heart model that kids could actually crawl inside--they claimed this model was LIFE-SIZED!! This was also the ONLY place in the entire whale exhibit where photography of any kind was allowed! Just a few more pictures .... I love the gift shop at almost any museum ... such fun and interesting toys to play with!Naturally, we rode the carousel too! For some reason, Brendan wanted us to SIT on the chair part of the carousel instead of on the animals this time. That's okay--just a bit unusual--Brendan usually always picks the giraffe to ride.After the museum, we went to Culver's for lunch so that Brendan could get a FREE scoop of his very favorite chocolate ice cream for dessert. YUM.
Christmas fell on a Sunday this year. I love it when it does that! Calvary Church has been going through its Grace Beyond building project and last Sunday (December 18) was our first Sunday back "home" to worship after spending the last eight months over at the field house at Calvin College. So Christmas day was our second Sunday back in our newly renovated, not-quite-finished building.
I picked Nana up and we went to church together. It was a "family" service, so all of the little children were IN the service and had a special message given to them too. Pastor's message was about Jesus becoming a human and what that meant--that laying aside of His glory and becoming one of us. Pastor also talked about what that transformation meant for Jesus for eternity. It was a very thought-provoking sermon. I loved singing the Christmas Carols, too, with nearly 3,000 people all back together at our church again.
After the service, Nana and I came over to my house and ate lunch together (I had it all nicely cooking in the crock pot). We visited for awhile and watched some of "Home Alone 2" (just because it is a funny movie), and then I took Nana back to her house and drove over to Dylan, Kelly, and Brendan's place where we celebrated Christmas. Shane was there too.
Weeks ago, I had asked what I could get Brendan for Christmas that would be SPECIAL. !! So Dylan and Kelly were kind enough to let me get Brendan his very own rainbow ukulele! Brendan is very patient about opening presents. At one point, he had gotten most of the wrapping paper off and said with his sweet voice, "It's a box!" Ah, but INSIDE the box was this very pretty ukulele for our Little Fellow! Look at his little face! And Dylan's too! Priceless. Dylan tuned up the strings, attached the rainbow strap and made sure it fit inside the very cool carry case. Everything was Perfect! :) Brendan has had quite a Christmas this year! His grandma Julie and grandpa Pat sent him a Polar Express lionel train with sound effects galore, remote control and everything! Brendan is absolutely thrilled with it. Kelly's family called and Skyped with us for awhile too. We had a really nice afternoon just relaxing and watching Brendan's JOY. So thankful to be with family on this beautiful day.
The designing of my Christmas card is a challenge every year. After it is finished and at the printers, I say to myself: NEXT year, I'm going to get this finished in October! But I never ever START working on it until the week of Thanksgiving--so you see how that doesn't work out very well.
I am thankful, though, for the process of making this card each year. Actually, it has become my Christmas. You see, I am an artist ... and I have ideas and visions and desires for what I want this card to look like and to communicate ... but I am a moody artist (at best). Anyway, here it is:
I LOVE the Christmas carols, old ones and new ones alike. "Down from His Glory" is not a traditional Christmas carol by any means. I have a file folder with lyrics from dozens of carols. I had included this one in my file a few years ago because the lyrics are SO perfectly the Gospel ... they just say everything. But since the song itself isn't really recognized as a "carol" (and the tune is sung to "O Solo Meo" ... not my favorite music by far), I had rather cast it aside as a card possibility.
Last April, the first weekend actually, we had quite a bunch of snow fall. I was on my way to work in the early morning, and driving down the little road that leads outside my house to Cannonsburg Road, I looked to the right and saw this scene ... the sun was on its way up for the day ... the snow was glistening, and the beauty of it just took my breath away. I am SO glad I had my camera, because I stopped the car, pulled over, stepped out, and snapped this picture. When I uploaded it later that day to my computer, I KNEW I would use it on this year's Christmas card. The lyrics to "Down From His Glory" matched this little scene so well, I decided to use it, traditional Christmas carol or NOT!
I did alter this photo on my Photoscape program and I loved the result. Two of the four pictures on the card are altered, the darker two are NOT edited, other than to clarify color. I mailed out nearly 70 of these cards to friends and family this year, as well as some of my neighbors. The only phrase I did not use from the song was this: "Born in a manger, to His own a stranger--a man of sorrow, tears and agony." Even though those are perfect Christmas lyrics, there is only so much room on a Christmas card and I wanted to be sure to include the verse: "What condescension, bringing us redemption ... " because that is the GOSPEL ... it IS Christmas! I hope and pray this card was a blessing to those who received it.
PS The card was printed on bright white linen card stock and I was very happy with the result ... moody artist that I am!
It was kind of a slushy-weather Christmas Eve this year. I picked up the kiddos at 2:30 and we headed over here to celebrate the birthday of Jesus at The Beach House.
This little Nativity set (Fisher-Price) has gotten a lot of mileage around here. I had it under my tree for several weeks and, especially with the younger two grandchildren, had fun re-enacting the Christmas story adding several of our own animals around here to come and worship the baby Jesus. We ate a little meal before opening our presents, but then we got right to it! Everyone pretty much knew what they were getting, since we had ordered it together on-line a few weeks prior. However, I did go to Dunham's and pick up some warm hats and gloves for the kids that they were not expecting. Matthew was very pleased with this face-mask knit hat with Christopher asking me why on earth I didn't get one for him! Actually, there was only one left in the store and for some reason, I just thought Matthew might like it best. Chris got a nice warm knit hat as well, but it was not a face mask. Sweet Kaity got a little lion (whom she named "BOY") with its very own back-pack. She had so much fun with it too. The boys, however, got quite a few complicated LEGO sets to assemble. They spent the next few hours ... assembling.Kaity got a warm snow suit, gloves and hat so that she and I can go sledding on our Monday afternoons! She was very excited about it!I wasn't able to snap any other pictures of Ems because she clearly did not want her picture taken, AND she was nicely playing with Kaity while the boys were LEGO building. She received a LEGO set too, but decided to build it at home in her cozy upstairs room. She also got some movies she had wanted and a little $$ (cash) to spend on her own.
I had intended to go to Calvary's Christmas Eve service, but ... by the time I returned the children home at 7:30 I was to tuckered out, so I went back home instead, put beautiful carols on my CD player and just soaked in Christmas beside my pretty Christmas tree.
Last week Monday (December 19), it was Kaity-Girl's usual afternoon here. I picked her up over at her house, we came here to The Beach House and she wore me to a frazzle (!!) for the next three hours--I say that with a smile--because if you could be a fly on the wall around here when Kaity is over, you would understand completely that I am NOT exaggerating when I say she is a bundle of energy.
About 15-1/2 years ago now, I purchased this wooden tool set in preparation for Emma's coming. It was $57.00 at the time and it was a LOT of money for me at the time. But I am so glad I bought it when I did. It is sturdy, full of activities to do, and every one of the grandchildren have enjoyed it thoroughly. We decided to race cars for a little while this afternoon too. We decided to beef up our track a little bit! We made our very own slinky tunnel!Naturally, we had to try ALL of the Matchbox cars to see which ones could go the fastest through the tunnel and off the ramp without crashing first. That took awhile ... thankfully ... because while we were doing that, Kaity was focused to ONE activity instead of three at a time ... We were expecting Brendan to come over and play mid-afternoon and were looking forward to it. However, Brendan did not get dropped off until LATE afternoon. So we made the best of the time we had together. Kaity and Brendan are polar opposites--but they do just fine together and seemed to enjoy that hour that they played.However, all good things must come to an end ... ah, until next week!
Last week when Brendan was over for a visit, I asked him if he would sing "Mary Had a Baby" for me BECAUSE the day he sang it in his church program, I did not video it.
Brendan is a performer, you have to know this about him. He did not hesitate even one second. I barely could get PhotoBooth up in time and get him situated in the right place before he was singing his little heart out ...
Also, I did not understand there was a second verse to the song! You see, at the end of the first video, Brendan is doing a little segue into verse two--I thought he was finished and cut him off--but then I realized my mistake and turned the video back on. He leads in by saying (sweetly) ... "Let's get the shepherds ready ... " I posted these videos on Facebook and my friends went crazy over his sweet little voice. Oh my word, I love this child.
Having been the darling-est sheep in all the world LAST year in the Christmas program, this year our little sweetheart was an angel ...
Here he is with his darling sparkling halo, his wings, and everything. His mama told me she saw him stretching his arms and attempting flight earlier that morning ... I think (naturally) that he is the most beautiful angel I have ever seen .. The Pre-K and Kindergartners sang, "Mary Had a Baby" and Brendan knew every word ... you could hear his voice above the rest--very confidently singing with his perfect pitch notes! Look at the JOY! Brendan was excited that his Grandma (me) and his cousin (Ems) were there to see him perform. We got front-row seats too! Aren't the halos too much!?? Yikes--SO cute. After they sung THEIR number, there were many other numbers that followed. Brendan enjoyed each and every one and had this little angelic smile throughout the whole program ... until ... Brendan's friend, Reuben, leaned over and whispered, "The program is over!" Brendan bowed his head, covered his eyes with his hands, and broke into tears! Oh my goodness ... I thought my heart would break for him! He was SO into the performance, he simply wasn't ready for it to end! Brendan answered Reuben, "No it's not! It CAN'T be over!" Reuben repeated that indeed the show was done, without knowing Brendan's little heart was SO sad. I tried to cheer him up. He wiped his precious eyes and did his best to give me a smile.I was able to catch these two pictures of him out in the hallway. I asked him: "What DO angels say, Brendan?" They say, "Fear not! Do NOT be afraid!" was his very apt and accurate reply!
There is nothing super about any of these pictures ... except they are of my beautiful grandchildren, who have made my life full of purpose in these last few years. I love them dearly, and they love me too. I'm thankful for them every day. Kaity really truly loves each one of my stuffed animals (and I have a LOT of stuffed animals).
This is Christopher studying the LEGO catalogs to try and decided what to order for Christmas. And this is Emma, showing me one of her early Christmas presents. I hope she is able to get this to work ... it is a door alarm for her bedroom door at home.Here is Kaity re-arranging my Nativity Calendar. She doesn't quite grasp the concept of an actual calendar yet, so she is just arranging the characters in whatever fashion she chooses. I'm just glad that she likes it as much as she does! I bought this Nativity calendar before Emma was born! I was on a short "sister's vacation" with my sister Ruthanne and we were somewhere up north ... Charlevoix I think is where I purchased this. Brendan came over and WE designed our very own layout incorporating a few lighthouses for extra benefit.Brendan loves trains like nothing else! He can make pretty authentic train sounds too ... constantly actually! :) Rudolph got to take some special rides in Brendan's Police car ... This is Matthew playing our bean bag game, the one Emma made for me out of an old box I had in my shed. Matthew and Emma video-ing our bean bag game. Grandma was the Victor with 165 points!
It has been astoundingly gorgeous around here for the past two weeks. It is almost too much for me at times--seriously! The pure beauty of fresh show ... outlining trees, fences, wild grass, fields ...
I found a new little area to explore about a week ago. I was walking just beyond where I live and found a little opening in a fence (yes!), so I walked on through and took a few pictures. A beautiful deer bounded past me ... I was so shocked I didn't even aim my camera at her! Here is the "gap" in the fence that allowed room for me to most likely trespass on my neighbor's property ... These following pictures are from Townsend Park ... one of my favorite places, no matter what season in Michigan ... it's just the loveliest spot ever. And this is the view from my "deck" on my little house ... And the front of my house ... sure wish I had taken down the flower boxes before all of this snow arrived ... sigh ...
I love preparing for Christmas, decorating my house, designing my Christmas card, telling the Christmas story to my grandchildren, and having them over to share the joy and beauty.
Kaity and I built a nice layout the other day and she actually played with it for an entire hour, calming enjoying herself, before deciding that all the trains MUST crash, the tracks MUST be destroyed ... wherein, we put them back in their storage box for another day's play. But still! She played for an HOUR, and we had all sorts of scenarios happening with our little wooden trains that did involve crashing at all!Emma's choir concert was a Tuesday night, December 6 (I believe). It was actually a combination of ALL the Comstock choirs grades six through twelve, including their special singing group ... the one I can never remember the name of! It was a really nice concert. The eighth grade choir (the one Emma sings with) sang TWO numbers. The first was in French, the second in Latin. Emma did a wonderful job singing these songs. I was/am very proud of her. Brendan has been over quite a few times. He and I have read and acted out the Christmas story using our FP Nativity set quite a few times. He loves the story and I LOVE telling it! I love this little hands-on nativity set. There is nothing you can do to harm it and it is a wonderful tool to use with the narrative of Christmas. Beautiful music in the background also helps! Brendan loves the music of Christmas. Me too. One of the days, we lit ALL of the candles available in my little Beach House. Brendan is fascinated with fire. We turned all other lights OFF and just enjoyed the candlelight. Brendan entertains himself pretty constantly. He loves to make-believe and act stories out.There are more pictures to come ...
Hi Robin--Just a word of explanation ... I edited some of the favorites and much of the editing is subtle--either brightening up faces, or lightening shadows, etc. So it might look like I have uploaded the same picture 3x--but I haven't--honest! Also, I just played with a few near the end with different framing--just for fun.
So ... in theory, you should be able to click on the picture and then right click and Save to your own files on your computer. I hope this works. I have had other friends that have copied lighthouse pictures, etc. by just going through my blog ... so--it was FUN! I love these pictures!
Technically, we had a little dusting of snow a few weeks back, but nothing that accumulated or stuck around for more than an hour; so I think yesterday, could be called our first official snowfall of this winter season.
As always, I really could NOT stay inside when it was completely beautiful outside. I played up (and down), grabbed my camera and walked out into the blissful beauty ...
Yesterday was its own kind of beauty. The sky was completely greyed over and the snow was falling hard and fast--very heavy and very wet.
I am not opposed to grey days whatsoever; however, I know that I like the blue sky, bright sun, shadow-laden days very much too.
This is the golf course just down the road from where I live. I can't even think of the name of it! It is fenced off and I usually do not trespass there--but when there is no possibility whatsoever of interrupting a golf game, and there is a gap in the fence wide enough to step through--I could see no reason not to take a little walk.
I think this picture (below) is my favorite from the afternoon. You can see the snow coming down at an angle, and I love those amber plants in the foreground.
I'm happy and thankful I have so many nice places where I can walk to in my neighborhood. I need the exercise too!
It's almost like I was shooting in black and white--there is so LITTLE color! What a beautiful and refreshing hour!
Last Thursday's date night with Brendan was to Breton Village Mall to see their fabulous train layout. Brendan had been to see if 2x prior, but he wanted to show it to his grandma! So we went.
Brendan was SO excited. He was running around and around and around the layout pointing out all the cool stuff he could find. It is a very nice set-up actually and you can even get involved in a scavenger hunt (see Brendan's list?) We climbed the stairs to the second level to get a bird's eye view. We stayed upstairs quite awhile so that Brendan could point out each and every train. We spent a very easy hour watching the trains go around ... ... and horsing around on anything we could find at the Mall. THEN, we drove back to Brendan's house and ate a yummy dinner with Dylan and Kelly--some kind of super delicious Greek lasagna!So thankful for these Thursday night dates with this sweetheart and his family!
Another Saturday night sleepover with Ems. The four kiddos had spent Saturday evening here at the Beach House, and then Ems spent the night. She and I stopped at Best Buy and picked up a couple of movies to watch in the next few weeks. We watched "Father of the Bride" and laughed and laughed and laughed ...
After church Sunday morning, Emma helped me assemble and light my Christmas tree (no pictures). We drank hot chocolate, listened to beautiful Christmas songs, and got the job done!
And we still had enough time for a short walk at Pickerel Lake!
Since today is November 30 and I haven't posted in several weeks, I'm going to try to run a few memorable pictures/occasions this evening and narrate them later (hopefully).
It's difficult to choose a favorite day for me around here. My life is happier than it has ever been these few years living in this little space I call home. I love it here ... and I love playing with my little children when they come over. Mondays are Kaity days. Today we got all geared up to go on a bug search. Kaity strapped on her "goggles" (this is what she calls the binoculars), her microscope, and her bug cage. She was ready!
It has been a little bit chilly for bugs these days ... after all -- it IS November! So far, no snow. We have truly had a gorgeous and rather warmer than usual Autumn. We caught TWO stink bugs, put them in our bug "cage" and explored around outside. We were actually IN and OUT a few times during our afternoon. We spent much of our time with our little animal friends. Kaity shared her brand new hooded vest with Mama bear. Doesn't she look so cute? We also read: "Turk and Runt" loud enough so that all of our animals could enjoy it along with us. Kaity played quite a lot with all of our little stuffed animals: Ollie, Fernando, Mikey, Beatrice, Clara, Alayna, Dee-Dee AND she got our horses out to play too: Luna, Dusty, and Nico! We played for quite a long time in a huge pile of leaves out back. Kaity is a master of chaos. No matter what ... you can have every leave raked in a beautiful pile and she can destroy it in a matter of seconds (with a huge smile on that cute little face too!).I love you, dear Kaity. You are precious.
The kiddos came over to my house Saturday afternoon. Our main mission was to order Chris's birthday presents. You see, we are pretending it is Chris's GOLDEN BIRTHDAY this year because ... well, he turns THIRTEEN, which is kind of a big deal; plus, since he was born on the 29th of November, he will have to wait until he is TWENTY-NINE to celebrate his golden birthday. And who knows if I will still be alive by then?
While I was getting dinner on, Christopher grabbed the LEGO magazines so that he could narrow down which sets to order. Meanwhile, Ems built a nice marble run ... Sweet Kaity got out the stamp container and made pretty pictures ... The boys went back and forth about what to order for Chris ... Matthew was very helpful and gave his opinions when asked. And we actually accomplished ordering the gifts on-line! YES! We enjoyed a nice taco dinner together and then we had to zoom Matthew back home so that he would not be late for THREE MILE, and Christopher was going to a friend's house ... so we went back to their house.
But Emma came back to the Beach House for a sleepover. We had such a nice time together. We talked and snacked and did a little reading. We surfed the internet for awhile and watched silly videos.We decided to watch a very serious movie, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" that was playing on Netflix. We discovered that the same boy who plays Bruno in that movie is the exact same boy who played Hugo in "HUGO." What a sad sad story. But we loved watching it together. Emma is SO insightful about sad things, and her heart is so sensitive to what is right and what is wrong. I am thankful for that.
Sunday morning, we ate a nice breakfast together and went to church. What a blessing to worship with my sweet granddaughter. It is my favorite thing to do ... to have her there beside me as we sing and hear the teaching. We also went to LOGOS and then we came home and ate a yummy salad and just enjoyed being together. I am very blessed, aren't I? So thankful, so happy, to be grandma to these dear children.
I'm a week late in posting these pictures of Brendan dear. He came over, I think last Wednesday (instead of Thursday) and since it was SUCH a lovely autumn day, we enjoyed the beautiful outdoors.
Brendan LOVES my lawn mower (so does Kaity-Girl) ... He decided lawn mowing the leaves was the BEST way to get them cleaned up ...So while I raked, Brendan mowed ... The mower kept getting stuck in the twigs and the leaves ... but no matter! Brendan persevered. He has strong arms and is a hard worker! When we had worn ourselves out with all the work we did (hardly any actually), we came inside and rested. We relaxed on my couch, read stories, and told knock-knock jokes. Brendan! You are SUCH a love!
Since I had fallen on my face Saturday evening, I was quite wiped out Sunday. It's never a good idea to pick a fight with concrete! I had seven stitches in my head, had received a tetanus shot, was bruised everywhere and my eye was getting more gross by the minute!
But look who showed up to check up on me!Kelly-O! Dylan! Brendan! They brought pizza with them, and even a ukulele! Oh my word! This is the best. SO, we had pizza and breadsticks, piano and ukulele, laughter and love--the best medicine of all! I felt blessed right down to my toes, and my head even stopped throbbing for a little while.You guys were wonderful medicine! Thank you so much for coming over.
Date: November 5, 2016
This is MY pier out at Grand Haven. MY pier WITHOUT the cat walk. Completely dis-assembled and SO sad looking! But what a beautiful night to visit Grand Haven.
My brother David and Carol were in town--such a nice visit too--and we took mom out to Grand Haven to eat dinner and look at the beauty. We went later in the afternoon so that we could see the beautiful sunset after we ate. I took my usual too-many-pictures of ... everything. I love it out here so much. I have never seen the pier devoid of the catwalk. I am super glad they are restoring it and returning it to its proper place, hopefully next spring! What a gorgeous fall day--perfect in every way. My brother and Carol love this place too. They used to live not far from here (Fruitport) and would visit here lots and lots--they call it their "Happy Place." Mine too. After we ate our dinner (at Culver's), we drove around to the Northshore (don't you love that name?!) and decided to view the sunset from that angle, making pictures of the lighthouse much prettier.We were all set to get some really nice pictures. Since the sun was getting low and it was super bright, AND since I was the driver and was already wearing my sunglasses, I just jumped out of the car with them still on my face. Bad idea. You see, I NEVER wear my glasses (unless I absolutely have to) and mostly I wear them only for driving. This newer pair has bifocals in them, which make me feel unsteady when I walk. But I was talking to my brother, enjoying his company, and before I knew it ...I fell super hard on the north pier ... concrete ... knee first, then elbow, then shoulder, and then my FACE. My camera went flying, my glasses went flying and I just laid there with my hand over my forehead. My brother coaxed me into removing my hand so that he could see just how bad the wound was ... and so ended our sunset viewing for Saturday evening. Ouch.
David drove us back into town so that we could take mom home before we went to Urgent Care. David gave me one of his shirts to press against my head to contain the blood (yuck) and then everything turned out just fine.Seven stitches later, not too bad for being such a klutz! [However, Sunday morning I woke up with quite the black eye, and Monday it looked even worse.] David and Carol spent the night with me Saturday and then flew back to Florida Sunday morning. I loved having them come over and felt badly to have wrecked our evening. :( It could have been worse, though--no broken bones, no broken teeth ... even my camera was unharmed! I am thankful for all of that.
There was really nothing very remarkable about my time with Brendan this week ... except it was a WEDNESDAY after work instead of a THURSDAY. We just came home to my house and ... played with every little thing--mostly the stuffed animals.
We had a lot of fun with Paco the Pig. All of the kiddos love this little puppet so much. We ate a nice dinner together--pasta, naturally--and had ice cream for dessert. But mostly we just enjoyed being together. It's not at all difficult to spend time with this chummy little fellow.Doesn't Brendan have the best smile ever?
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