Mercy & Thunder. She was very happy to get her pony.

JT loved his Jeep.

Little JT is very excited to see Santa.

I believe Bobbi has never seen Santa before tonight....

Can you tell who watches QVC???

Favorite Cousins - born 10 days apart

Sunday Morning

4:45 am Sunday morning I awaken to the sound of a loud crash. I sit up in bed and ask Louie if he heard "that sound". We both get up and look outside to see a large chunk of the tree in our front yard laying on our patio. It broke our picture window, smashed our screen door, broke our picnic table and smashed a part of our roof. A big chunk was laying up against my car, but no damage what so ever. It has been a weird weather week and I think with the snow, ice, rain, and wind it just snapped off.

A Horse named Thunder.

Here is a picture of Mercy with her horse, Thunder. Her very favorite Christmas gift this year. I will post more pictures of Christmas Eve and our family get together later.

Sleeping in

Girly Girl

Mercy is so excited to have her ears pierced. Last night at JT's graduation she asked me for a mirror so she could sit and look at her ears. She didn't seem to notice the pizza smudged on her face. I took out my "nice" pocket mirror that folds up from Bath and Bodyworks and handed it to her. I look over a short time later and notice she has taken a pen and wrote HER name on MY mirror. She thinks what is mine is now hers if I let her use it. Guess I will have to get MYSELF a new mirror for Christmas. Granddaughters, how did I ever live without one???

Graduation 2008

JT graduated from Paramedic school last night. Here is a picture of us with our son. Louie & I are so proud of him and all he has been able to accomplish. He really is a wonderful son.

Friends you can count on.

I am so excited! I have been looking all over for a toy horse for Mercy. The price on the Fur Friends Smores Pony is $269.00. Way out of my price range. This horse will turn it's head your way when you speak. It makes horse sounds and when you sit on it, it makes hoof clopping sounds. This morning my boss told me that today on the Toys-R-Us web site they had it for $99.00, but it was out of stock. I called the store and they were also out of stock. I called Target and they don't honor competitors coupons. I looked on-line at the Wal-Mart website and they had it in stock, but not at the sale price. I was going to call and see if they would honor a on-line sale ad when my boss called and said she was in the check out lane at Wal-Mart and had the last Smores pony in the store in her cart. They would honor the on-line ad. I can't wait until Christmas eve, I will have her unwrap all her other gifts, then I will bring that horse out last with a big red bow around the neck. I'll need to borrow a video camera from someone.

Letter to Santa

One evening last week Mercy called me. She wanted to know why her brother got to come over and see the presents under my tree and she didn't. I told her that she was sleeping when Dad came over so she had to stay home with Mom. She then told me that she wants a "real" horse for Christmas. I tried to explain to a 4 year old that there are laws about how much land is needed to keep a horse and their yard didn't meet the required acreage. She knows that I had real horses and her dad had a horse when he was young. You could hear the disgust for me in her voice. But Grandma, I want a real horse.....I asked her if a toy horse would do, and she sighed and said that is ok.
My sister called me last night to tell me that she called Mercy. Mercy has come up with a plan to get her real horse. She is going to write a letter to Santa and have him bring her a "real" horse.
Now I have some shopping to do to get a life like toy horse. I can't have a disappointed granddaughter on Christmas morning.

Proud Mama

I am amazed by the son I raised. I worried for so long while he was in high school that he wouldn't have a clue what career path to take. He never seemed to know what he wanted to do with his life, beside hang out with GIRLS. Then he wanted to join the Marine Corp instead of going to college. For awhile I wasn't happy with that choice either. Then I came to accept his decision and was very proud of his service to his country.
Now he is a Firefighter with the Elkhart Fire Department. Because of his background in Iraq and knowing he had to handle the bad stuff, they offered him a chance to become a Paramedic. He has been attending school 2 nights a week for the last year and a half. He called me last night to tell me he passed his FINAL exam and has two practicals to complete before he can get his license. He was so excited and I am so proud of him.

Our Tree

This is our tree. Soon it will have wrapped gifts all around it.

December

This is my favorite month of the year. I love everything about Christmas. The decorations, the Christmas carols, the smells of baking cookies, wrapping gifts, but most of all I love the Christmas Tree. Here is a picture of the tree we put up at work.
I was every busy this past Saturday. I cleaned the house from top to bottom as is tradition in my family that everything be perfect before the tree is put up, cleaned the carpet in the grandkid's room, then put up our Christmas tree. I think one of my favorite memories from when I was a kid, was after we were done with all the cleaning and decorating, my dad would have us turn off all the lamp lights & sit in the living room with only the lights of the Christmas tree on. I miss my dad most of all during the holidays.