Grandma Ginny visits Makenna for her 2nd birthday in December

Visiting the Phoenix Zoo, Makenna learns from Daddy Chris how to drive a tractor.

Mommy Maria and Makenna

The sign says this is a chicken. I saw a lot of chickens on the farm, but I can't remember any that looked like this one.

I have never seen 5 strong, healthy, clean giraffes in one place. Majestic and interesting to watch.

Makenna, Chris, and Maria after the carousel ride at Railroad Park

Makenna and I went "shopping" many times during my visit.

"OK, tell Grandma whose birthday it is, Makenna."

When the boys are out riding their bikes down the street, Mak hops on her big wheels and joins them.

Time to blow out the candles at the party. Delighted that the boys and their parents came too!

Cheese!

Makenna and Chico with the birthday balloons the next morning.

Getting ready for Christmas in Arizona

Catching up from December, January, and February in photos....

The first 5 photos here are from Hannah's birthday party. I posted them after I finished writing captions, so these 5 are out of order. But I think you can clearly see what's going on!

Blake's high school soccer banquet--Blake loves the microphone, as you can plainly see....

I got my Charlie Brown Christmas tree up and a few decorations with the help of the grandkids. O and Kitty helped too.

Later, I found Kitty sleeping under the tree just like in the storybooks.

Mario and I at Ray and Judy's front door. Judy and I did the cooking for the QND faculty Christmas gathering this year, and they liked the food. We did an Italian meal, and it was very good. So good that we had two cheesecakes leftover, because everyone was full from the tortellini, mostaciolli, and giant pasta shells.

Cora baked some festive cakes and shared with Hannah and Nolan.

Kitty with Chico's favorite toy at Christmas. Lots of teasing went on between the two of them over this toy. We had to put it in the trash, though. As Kathy told me, if it has a noisemaker of any kind inside, the dog will chew on it til he gets it out.

Celebrating my 59th birthday on Jan. 17. Once again, Cora made the cake. :o)

Celebrating Hannah's 8th birthday the next week at Stoney Creek Inn with an overnight swimming party....

Tony took photos from the top bunk.

The girls eat their pizza and cake and ice cream before swimming the night away.

Happy Birthday girl.

The smallest person in the hotel room somehow got the biggest, most comfy chair. Prince Nolan.

Mommy Carrie and Grandma Ginny...only Tony goes in the water at the pool and gives the birthday party group lots of underwater rides. OOPS I just accidentally deleted that photo!
I will add it at the end.

The animals provide lots of entertainment for all of us.

Grandpa Mario and Sweet Kitty

Chico's new buddy Taco. They played and played for about two hours, then both went sound asleep.

As the above biography says, Cora got one of the lead roles in Baldwin's school musical this year. She was an excellent queen. She got to sing by herself and also danced with the rest of the cast. I was totally entertained and could not believe the drama coaches could pull off this musical with 4th-6th graders.

Carrie did her hair and Grandma Mary Lovell made her queen dress and cape. She was a pretty little queen, I'll tell ya.

Here she's singing and dancing with some of the other cast members. I am looking forward to seeing more of this when she gets to high school.

And last, Mario celebrated birthday #60 with a visit from little brother Frank. Well, he's not so little, but the two of them had a great time together. I am going to make sure these visits happen more often. The kids decorated the cake.

Mario didn't want a party for his birthday. So I kept thinking and thinking....what could I do to make his birthday special this year? And I came up with just the right idea....call Frank and see if he can come for a few days. Within a couple of hours, it was all arranged. Mario couldn't have been a happier birthday boy. :o)

I have much to say about the three weekends I spent at the retreat center, but I will wait to write about that until tomorrow. Mario needs the computer now for his ISD job.

BOTB!!!

I have had some remarkable experiences since I last blogged, and I am now ready to get my behind back in the chair to blog again. And there will surely be photos to post as well. I missed writing the blog, but in the meantime, I had lots of writing to do for other activities. My plan is to send an email to everyone who has mentioned that they read my blog and to those from TEC who have asked for my blog address. I know the blog helped me get through my year of cancer treatment in 2007-8, but what I like the best is sharing the stories and photos of my family and any inspiring things I come across that might be inspiring to others as well. So beginning tomorrow, March 2, I am BOTB!!! (back on the blog) :o)

Moving on down the road....

I have had a great time blogging. As I recall, I began at Marty's urging shortly after I began chemotherapy and my hair was gone. It has been a great therapeutic experience, and I have loved documenting the growth and the antics of my grandkids and the animals. Now I find that I am ready to move on to a new project. So this post will be my last. I hope by sharing some of my life experience, I might have made a few readers smile here and there. I know Aunt Margie and brother Eddie and a few friends liked keeping up with family activities through the blog. I will try to keep you posted by email in the future.

Goodbye for now, and "God bless us every one." (Just saw The Christmas Carol this weekend; I don't recommend it though. Too violent and ugly for me. I will listen to David Archuleta's Christmas CD instead! Beautiful and the arrangements are great.)

:o) Ginny

Celebrating Birthdays

Marty and Mary Stella are the birthday gals.

What happened to Charlie's rolls???

Presents! Lots of presents!

Dotty and some of her daughters....

Dotty and some of her granddaughters....

Dotty, the birthday girls, and some of Dotty's great-grandchildren (Blake is the oldest at 16)

Ryan has himself some birthday cake. Yummy!

Last Saturday, Carrie's family and I went to Springfield and joined in the celebration of Mary Stella's and Marty's birthdays. Carrie and Tony have a new van, and the ride was a most pleasant one. Lunch was terrific at Charlie's, but there was one little disappointment....those wonderful rolls that everybody likes are now about 1/4 the size! Another sign of a bad economy?

Catching up....

Autumn in Quincy, October, 2009

We saw this blue heron in the field behind our house a few days ago. I am told it is an endangered species. Apparently he is looking for food. Mario got close enough to see him nab a mouse and scarf it down.

Chico and Kitty fight like cats and dogs, then wear each other out and go to sleep at my feet on the couch.

They also like the rocking chair.

Sometimes they like their own space.

Get back to your homework and phone calls Mario!

Chico likes his puppy bed.

Mario tries to scare the grandkids with his scary mask.

" Cora's Creations." That is the name I suggested to her for her future business, whatever that is. She loves to cook and bake. She made this cake with pudding in the middle without any help from me, and I heard it was very good.

Trick or treating....last stop at Grandma Ginny's. Cora as a baby, Nolan the fireman, and Hannah the leopard.