A Swimming Wordless Wednesday!

Last week was a great week for using the pool; hot muggy and in the 90's. This week has been much cooler but the kids just couldn't wait for the temperatures to get any warmer, so even though it's only 74 degrees out, they jumped in! Aunt Kinsey having fun with Caitlyn and Billy

This Little Piggie

When our first grandchild was born, my husband Gary bought a plastic piggy bank and told me that he was going to started depositing all the coins and money he would find laying on the ground into this plastic piggy. The purpose of this was to save it for Billy's college education or wedding!

We all thought that it was a fun idea as he truly has a hound dog nose for finding coins wherever we go; parking lots, isles of stores, parks, you name it, he will come up with at least a penny every time!

So in 1999 his project started and at the time we questioned him if he was going to do this for each grandchild, and how? His response was, "I will worry about that when it happens." Three years later Caitlyn was born and a third grandchild was on the way. Gary counted up the change that was in the bank and he had over $100!! So, he decided to start by buying a $50 savings bond for each of the grandkids and continued collecting "ground change" for the next one.

Here we are 11 years later, and so far he has collected enough money to buy savings bonds for Billy, Caitlyn, Tate and Connor. He is close to getting Addie's and then will start on Easton's and grandchild # 7 due next month! Now, even the grandkids are picking up "ground change" and saying they want to put it in Grandpa's piggy bank and asking who it is for now? How wonderful is that?

On each of the savings bond envelopes he has written their names with the date, stating that this is to be presented to them to use for college or their wedding:) How special is that for these kids to someday receive this gift from their grandpa? This will be a story I hope they will someday pass on to their children about "Grandpa's little piggy bank." Who knows, maybe they will do the same for their grandkids someday:)

Tears For Toys

Toy Story 3 came out in the theatres on Friday, and I have already gone twice to see it! I know, get a life...On Father's Day I went with my husband and daughter (his choice); and today I went with three of my grandchildren and enjoyed it just as much!

I love the Toy Story movies; they are so well done and obviously entertaining enough for people of all ages. Number 3 however, brought me to tears at the end. I don't want to ruin it for you in case you haven't seen it, but honestly there were three different times at the end that I cried, and at one point I had to fight really hard not to let out a big sob:(

To tell you how poignant it was, it affected me the same way the 2nd time I saw it, only 24 hours later!! My gosh-get a grip Peggy!! Needless to say, I highly recommend you see it. It is full of laughs, excitement, great graphics, and a wonderful story line about how life goes by so fast.

I only have one suggestion, take a Kleenex:)

Happy Award:)

Thank you to Robyn for passing on the Happy Award to me!!

She is a wonderful blogging friend who has a beautiful family and takes amazing photographs. She has just received her 100th follower so take time to congratulate her! http://oneofthejonesat.blogspot.com/

Here are 10 things that make me happy!

1. Laughter

2. Smiles

3. Babies/children/young people

4. A good book

5. The feeling of a nice breeze on my face.

6. A good movie

7. Hugs

8.Spending time with family

9. Music to sing and dance to.

1o. God, who reminds me each day what a wonderful world I live in.

When you receive this award you are to-

1. Copy and paste the award to your blog

2. List who it is from

3.List 10 things that make you happy:)

4. Pass it on to another blogger and let them know about it!

I am passing this on to someone I just started following. Tiffany has a busy life with her children and writes interesting and warm posts. Check her out at --http://howaretheharmons.blogspot.com/

Necklace Giveaway!

Notice a new button on my blog site...my daughter Tyne just put one out and is having another necklace giveaway for those of you who enjoy decorating yourself with 4th of July jewelry:)

Tyne started her blog over a month ago; at first it was basically about her jewelry making but now it has grown into including fun and interesting comments and stories! I am so proud of her!
(I did a post on Tyne in May called- Somewhere Over The Rainbow... if you are interested in reading more about my thoughts on her.)
Take time to check out her blog at http://tynebodennecklaces.blogspot.com/

Pool Time!

With summer finally giving us some warm weather, our attention has been focused on using our pool. However, after 21 years we were in need of a new liner. We considered ourselves pretty lucky to have gotten so many years out of this liner; last summer we had a few leaks and repairs so decided that was warning enough that things needed to be replaced.

We put our pool in 1989 to help occupy our 5 kids, then ranging from age 2 to 16 years of age. It was one of the best decisions ever and we have never regretted it. Now 21 years later, our kids still use it, as do our grandchildren. Two of them, Billy and Caitlyn are with us during the day while their parents are at work, so they swim every single day. We also have a second generation of our neighborhood kids bringing their children over to swim when they come back to visit us. It is a busy place from June thru August!

This picture shows the instillation of the pool in 1989. (The pool is 4 ft. on one half, with a 6 ft. deep end on the other--to accommodate all ages.)

Here is my husband and oldest son, Boyd putting a deck around it that same week.

This shows our kids, their cousins from Milwaukee and our neighbor kids a few days after it was filled.

Here is Tyne and Kinsey floating around in their new pool that first summer.

This photo was taken this week with the old liner removed and the men leveling out the sand.

Here is the new liner, and finally the pool filled and ready for chemicals and sun to warm it up!

Hopefully, weather permitting, I will be sending you some photos of us using it in a week or so!

Staying Family

After spending a fun weekend with our 5 children, their spouses, and their children, I become reflective... I always knew I'd love my children...but what I really enjoy is watching them love each other:)

It is inevitable, someday I won't be here and my wish for them is to stay close to their siblings; as brothers and sisters offer an irreplaceable perspective. In one another, they can remember where they have been and who they are.

As years go by and life becomes hectic and busy with families of their own, I hope they continue to pick up the phone and call each other on their birthdays, get together to share what is happening in their lives and reminisce about the days when they were young and the only family they knew was each other:)

Pictures originally taken 1996 & 1997

A Precious Treasure

A couple of years ago a dear friend of mine lost her husband. She had been a childhood friend of mine. Her younger sister was actually my best friend growing up, but somehow, Phyllis and I always stayed connected. We got married around the same time, had kids around the same time and just kept in touch because we had so much in common; a real history of knowing the same people and being raised in a very small town atmosphere with the values and moral that families had back then. It was a quiet, quaint way of growing up and when we get together we do a lot of reminiscing:)


After her husband died suddenly, she gave me a little teapot with this poem. I look at it every day and think of her. It means a lot to me...


The handle represents caring arms to hold you
with understanding and support.
The spout stands for the pouring out
of tears and laughter.
The porcelain signifies the beautiful
relationship we share-
a rare and precious treasure.


Thank you Phyl, you are a very precious treasure to me too:)

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

This Friday we will be heading off to Milwaukee to see the Brewers play the Texas Rangers! This has become a family outing for our family these past few years. This picture was taken in '08 - Son Boyd, wife April, kids Billy and Caitlyn (the 2 taller kids in middle); son Blake, wife Beth, kids Tate(now they have baby Easton); Gary and myself; daughter Kyrstin-(expecting Addie,) (hubby Nick fishing in Canada that year), their Connor; Sitting-- daughters, Kinsey and Tyne. Pretty soon we will almost have enough to have 2 teams...working on that:)

On game day we all don our Brewer's shirts grab our gloves- in case we catch a foul ball, and head to the stadium early to do some tail gating. This includes playing catch in the parking lot along with grilling brats and hot dogs.

There is something so exciting about the atmosphere of a baseball game; the sounds, smells, vendors, and fans all add to the 'ole ballgame! I always get nostalgic and think of my Grandpa and Dad when I go to games.

They loved the game of baseball and were very good players in their day. My Grandpa was a catcher for the local hometown team as a young man in the early 1900's.

Pictured back row -last one on right holding catching gear

My Dad was a pitcher and it was told that he was asked to play on a semi-pro team as a young man in the mid 1930's but his Dad needed him at home to help farm. Always made me wonder what could have been...
Baseball holds a special place in the lives of my family, including nieces and nephews alike. I truly believe it is in your blood and if that is the case the love of baseball will go on for generations...I hope so, I think my grandpa would be pretty proud:)

Say As I Say?

"Give Away Necklace"-Check out my daughter's first give away!http://tynebodennecklaces.blogspot.com



I ran across this little story the other day while rummaging through some papers.
Hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.


After all her dinner guest were seated, a woman asked her 6-year old daughter to say the blessing. "I don't know what to say," her daughter replied.
"Just say what you hear mommy say." Replied her mother sweetly.
The child bowed her head. "Dear Lord," she said, "why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"


Have a great weekend, and remember to be careful what you say in front of your child:)

I Promise:)

This past Friday we spent the day helping our daughter, husband and kids move out of their house and relocate to another town. It was a busy day full of lifting, shifting, moaning, groaning and cleaning, but we got it done.

In the midst of all of this their son, our grandson, Connor was experiencing a new change other than the move itself. During his kindergarten check-up they discovered that one of his eyes was weak and he needed glasses! To put it mildly, he was not very excited about this, and there were many tears, folded arms and bottom lip pouts.

Friday morning our daughter called and warned us to not mention his glasses when we got there as it was his first day of wearing them and he was struggling with the adjustment.
When we got there,it was hard not to say anything as he looked absolutely adorable, kinda like the little guy on Jerry Maguire!

But we said nothing and all seemed to be going well until without a thought, I reached over to push his glasses up on his nose a little. Suddenly there was this pause...he looked at me and with a very firm, accusatory expression he said, "Grandma, how did you know I got glasses?"
Remembering my daughter's warning, I quickly responded with, "I didn't know about it!"He looked at me over the top of his lenses and suspiciously said, "Grandma... how did you know???"I very casually said, "Well, when I came today it was a surprise!"He worked his way around my chair saying, "Well, I don't want anyone to know that I have glasses, so DON'T tell anyone, OK?" I told him that I wouldn't tell anyone, and he said, "You promise? 'cuz I don't want ANYONE to know."

I could barely contain my laughter as we carried on this very serious conversation, looking at his big, bright blue eyes framed by those cute little round framed glasses. But if he felt secure that his glasses were invisible as long as I kept my promise and didn't tell anyone, then so be it. I kept his secret for the rest of the day:)