New Addition

We are so excited to report - of course, the only people who reads this are my kids, and they already know about this but it's fun to write - that our daughter Jessica, wife of Derek, mother of Caleb, is pregnant, due April 14th (or thereabouts) will be having a BOY! How did we get all these boys. He will be grandson #4 in 3 years I might add. Unbelievable. We feel so blessed to watch our daughters become mothers. I know how my mother feels now when she said how proud she was when Brian and I had our first baby. You just can't describe the feeling of deepest joy. Now look at pure joy on Caleb's face! I don't have to describe it - I can just show you. Caleb is 2 1/2!

Greg and Lindsey's son, Cole, is ll months old in three days. Where did this past year go. He is walking holding onto your hands. By the time we see him at Christmas, he will probably be walking on his own. We cannot wait to see him. We are also very proud of Lindsey. Lindsey just ran a 1/2 marathon in 2 hr. 10 min and 44 sec. I don't know how she does it, but here is her picture at the end of the race (that is, if I can find it!) This is Greg and Cole - so happy to see Lindsey with her medal!

And now we have our grandson #3 (Jackson) living with us with his mother, Amanda, while her husband Matt, is in Afghanistan. Jackson is 4 1/2 mos. now and is cooing, and laughing. He just smiles all the time now. Very laid back and easy going. I can't imagine how she is feeling right now with her husband gone, but we are praying for him daily for his safe return. Matt, if you are reading this, we love you! Come home safe Daddy!

As I finish on the eve of Thanksgiving Day, I think of the many blessings that Brian and I have had this year and realize that our blessings are in the pictures above, not to mention each other.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Time to Catch Up!

Well, folks - it's time to catch you all up in the Tischendorf household. Lots to tell but since I'm a woman with few words, it won't take too long. Here's a synopsis!

Oct. 21 - Left for CA to be with Amanda and Matt during Jackson's surgery. He had a cleft lip like Lindsey's and Greg's Cole. Jackson did great. A pretty rough week after surgery, but we all knew that going in. He is doing fine now - loves to eat, sleep and ...... In that order! Amanda will be posting before and after pictures of Jack soon so some time in the next week or so you can look for pictures on her blog!

I spent 10 days in sunny San Diego. The weather was really really nice. Much better than Chicago weather. I also helped them pack up their apartment as Matt was leaving for Afghanistan and Amanda was moving back here with us.

October 30 - Said goodbye to Matthew - he was leaving for Afghanistan Nov. 4. Such a hard goodbye but proud of our marine.

November 3 - Brian left to say goodbye to Matt and to drive Amanda back here to leave while he is gone. He will be back in June from his deployment.

November 4- Matt left. Convoy to another base, flew to Maine, flew to Ireland, then to Krykstan

(sp?), arrived yesterday in Afghanistan. Amanda heard from the commander in chief (or whoever is in charge of the battalion) letting families know that they had arrived safe and sound and they will be over there for about 200 something days, which brings him back in June. Hopefully, there will be no extensions as sometimes there are.

November 5 - Brian, Amanda and Jackson started driving home from San Diego. Beautiful weather the whole way and now Brian wants to rent an RV to do the trip again to see the sights along the way.

November 8 - They arrived safely home. What a relief, however, November 6 I went to our cottage for a little R & R and came home Monday morning well rested and ready to face the next 7 months with a daughter and grandchild home. I must say, Jackson is a very good happy baby. Just keep him fed, enough sleep and changed diapers and he is a happy camper. Mom is doing well too considering the circumstances. Can't imagine how she feels right now but we all will stand behind her during this time.

Exciting News in the Tischendorf Household

I'm sure everyone knows by now that Brian and I are going to be grandparents again. Though, I think the only person to read my blog are my kids, and one of them definitely knows that she is pregnant! Yes, Jessica and Derek will be having a baby April 14th and Caleb will be a big brother/sister. I'm sure he is soooo excited about this - well, maybe not, but he will be by the time he/she is born and he understands that a new baby will not be going home to Lindsey or Amanda. Mommy and Daddy can hold Cole and Jack now without him getting upset so he will be fine in April, I'm sure.

September has been a relatively quiet month - (Since I wasn't allowed to talk about this baby) - we just putsed (sp? is this a word) around the house, babysat Caleb which is always a joy, went to our cottage, oh yea - this was exciting. Louise went with Jane Velander to Garner, Iowa for their annual quilting camp. We had sooooo much fun - learned a few techniques, got a lot of patterns. Mary and Connie, the owners of Country Threads, designs and makes their own quilts, so we have a lot of original designs. I'm very anxious to get started quilting, however, I have accumulated a lot of projects for Christmas presents and for my kids that I don't have time to quilt.

October is here and winter will be as well. I leave for CA for Jack's (my grandson) surgery in CA on October 21. He has a cleft lip. I will be going out for 10 days to help and to help the kids pack. Matt is leaving for Afghaniston sometime in November and Amanda and Jack will be coming back here to live so she doesn't have to be a single Mom for the 6 to 9 months that he will be gone. I can't imagine the feelings that she is going through right now nor his mother and what she is feeling.

Here is a picture of Papby with Caleb, Cole on the beach and Jack with Nana!

Life is Calm - Scene 2

Time has come and gone these past 3 weeks and life was hectic but enjoyable with the gang all here. If you want to keep up with my kids, I sure can't, read their blogs about their vacation when everyone was here. They have certainly captured the highlight moments of it and great pictures to tell. However, I can't pass this one up. Brian retired, I believe we have mentioned that several times this past year, well - he was showing Matt how he sits on a chair on a saucer skiing behind a boat. It's hilarious, so here is a picture of him.

Do you think he loves retirement or just showing off?

BTW - he is holding a Pepsi can!

Needless to say, we enjoyed our vacation with our kids, the baptism of our grandson Jackson, watching our grandson Cole crawl and our grandson Caleb saying - "I big boy - I do it". He cracks me up.

Life is Calm?

Just got back from vacationing at our cottage in Wisconsin. Two beautiful weeks of calm, serenity, a little rain, leaks in roof (a new roof added while I was there), scrapbooking, quilting, eating, reading, contemplating life.  Life couldn't be better.  Can life get any better?  Of course, Amanda, Matt and Jackson are coming in tomorrow night for two weeks, Lindsey, Greg and Cole are coming in Friday night for a week.  Life is good!

Brian came up for the weekends which was nice.  He worked really hard on getting our bathroom done.  We  now have a shower, toilet and new sink, new floor, new water softener and tankless water tank.  The egg smell is now GONE!  We can take a shower now and not smell like eggs when we're done.  It's great!

While I was up at our cottage, Brian babysat Caleb on our usual Thursday.  I have to tell you a story he told me.  It is sooooo cute - nana bragging here.  Mom & Dad (Caleb's Mom and Dad, that is) are doing a great job of raising him and teaching a little structure in his life.  By the way, he is now almost 27 months old.  He had all his toys out in the living room and he was getting hungry.  So all of a sudden, he puts all of them away, his little people in the farm building, cars away, and anything else that he had out.  Climbed up at the dining room table on the chair and said, "Papby - I'm hungry, can I have a waffle!"  This is after Papby bought doughnut holes and that is what he had for breakfast.  Papby didn't get the concept of not having two breakfasts!  LOL!   Mom & Dad trained Caleb well for cleaning up his toys before lunch.  Papby didn't say a word - he just did it!

What's coming up this week - well, I have already said the kids are all coming in.  There is a Sutton/Petersen Reunion on Saturday (Brian's side of the family), Baby Jack Jack is being baptized on Sunday, family picnic at our house after the baptism, (Matt's side too), leaving for the cottage after the picnic to spend 3 or 4 days.  All 11 of us - let's hope it doesn't rain - pray for NO rain!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

On Wednesday, Amanda, Matt & Baby Jack will be driving to Minnesota with his mother for a family reunion, on Thursday, Brian and I will be babysitting Caleb and Cole so their parents can go to a Cubs game.  They are really excited about going to that.  Lindsey and family will be leaving on Saturday, Amanda & family will be leaving Tuesday.  

Well - that's all folks - enjoy your week but as I just said to Jess - I'm a monthly blogger, so see you next month!!!!!!!

Here's Jackson!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the promised pictures of my GRANDSON!!!!!!!!!!!

About time Nana writes!

Hi Friends:  Where has the time gone - guess I could say that at the beginning of every post.  But all I know is, I seem to have missed spring and summer is here already.  July is half over - I can't believe it.  

It's a little bit late to publish but here is a quick synopsis about our trip to Alaska. Above is a picture of Mt. McKinley, one of many highlights of our trip.  If you can ever go, put it on your bucket list.  It's a must see adventure.  We saw many beautiful and awesome sights.  We

 walked on a glacier, 

dog-sledding (we actually rode behind the amazing dogs), 

historical sites, and Denali is fabulous.  We saw four of the "Big Five" animals that everyone wants to see in Alaska.  A moose, a wolf (very rare to see in the day time), Dahl sheep (also rare to see - they live on cliffs so unless you hike you don't get to see) and caribou.  We missed the grizzly bear but did get to see a grizzly bear and her cub at a wildlife conservation park.  Enough about Alaska - just wanted to get June out of the way and on toward the good stuff!

Now onto some even better news than Alaska.  Our youngest daughter, Amanda and her husband, Matthew (married last August) had a son on June 30.  Our third GRANDSON!  Two grandsons born in one year. I guess Dec. 28 is last year but they will be 6 months apart (plus two days).   It takes my breath away! We have been so blessed this year! 

We are out in CA with our kids and our newest grandson! His name is Jackson Trygvie Rau and he is a adorable!  He was 6 lbs. 12 oz., 21 inches long with lots of brown hair.  Matt, Amanda and Jackson are all doing fine.  He is growing like a weed!   He is sleeping well (for the most part), eating well.  So, basically, he is doing what babies do, eat, sleep and poop!

He has a cleft lip like our Cole and will have surgery in 3 months to correct it.  It is only his lip - it doesn't appear to be his palate so one surgery should do it.  He won't have it until 3 months old so sometime in October he will have his surgery.  I need to upload pictures from my camera so as soon as I upload, I will add them to this blog or the next blog.  Stay tuned!

End of May - so soon!

Back from the cottage and had a wonderful, peaceful and quiet time at the cottage. It's hard to believe that Memorial Day was here at the lake. No one was around because Friday it rained all day so it kept weekenders away. Little did the people know that Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days - warm weather, sunbathing time and eating! What more could you ask for Memorial Day. Only one skier was out and very very quiet. I caught up on my reading, sewing a little bit and played Nintendo DS (backgammon and maj jong) alot! Monday was at least sunny but not as warm. We were still able to sit out and read, etc.

Dad was busy demo-ing (sp? sorry folks) the bathroom. What a great time he had with the sledge hammer - sorry Derek - you would have totally enjoyed it - Greg & Matt too! The bathroom tub is gone and most of the old wall board is gone. Plumber and electrician coming tomorrow to redo everything. We are very excited. We might not get up until the end of June, but we are excited to get the shower in and see what they have done. Even though this was a working weekend for Brian, he still got out to fish, helped neighbors put in their lift and dock and then in return they helped him move our lift out farther so we could get the boat out and of course, enjoyed talk and beer with the guys. It was fun crusin' on the lake again.

See you all next month!

Whirlwind May

I cannot believe that the end of May is here. What a whirlwind month it has been. After Amanda's and Lindsey's and Cole's visit here the beginning of May, I flew out to CA to stay with Amanda for 10 days while Matt was in the field. It was so much fun getting ready for the baby! BTW, have I told you lately, I'm going to be a "Grandma - Nana" again! If I haven't, well, I am going to be a grandma - nana again!!!!!!!!!! The end of June.

What did we do in CA? Well, we tried putting a dresser together - women power after all - so much for that - it didn't happen and Matt came home early and he had it together in an hour. We just couldn't get things flushed together on the sides so we stopped. Hence, we figured we couldn't do a bookcase either. Matt came home had the dresser done in an hour, the bookcase done, then he put together the crib. Oh well - everything is put together now and ready to go.

Amanda went to the doctors yesterday and he told her to pack her bags that the baby is in position to come out. Freaked her out I bet because she really has 6 weeks to go. Dad mailed a box back already for her with things she needed right away - like her diaper bag. He was very efficient. He also mailed Nina's gift from Amanda and myself, so now she has to mail them back to me by May 30. I might be going out and buying something else. Hopefully, I will get it by May 29.

We are babysitting Caleb today - I haven't seen him for two weeks and he was so excited when we pulled up to their home. He just kept yelling - Pappy and Nana. He loves playing outside and we took his "rocket ship car" for a ride. He likes pushing it down the hill and chases after it and it is such "hard work" pushing it back up the hill. We then went to Home Depot and Lowe's and saying "zoom zoom" in the cart. Then we went to lunch at "Zippy's" and he had a hot dog or should I say he had ketchp with a hot dog! He watched a half hour show and immediately took a nap. He was such good boy today! Did I mention how cute he is!!!!!!

We're off to the cottage for 5 days for Memorial Day weekend and do some demo work on our bathroom! We redoing the bathroom and I cannot wait to get rid of a 30 odd year bathroom. Have fun everyone on this holiday and stay safe! See you all when we get back!

Bad Grandma

Hi:  My daughter told me today that I have not been a very good blogger.  I don't know where the time goes but it's almost the end of May and it seems like the beginning of the year when I started this blogging.  Life, kids, tv, facebook, phone calls, church, etc. (not necessarily all in that order all the time) gets in the way.  I believe the last time I said I would blog about our vacation in Destin, FL with our kids, but that was back in March and this was May and a lot has happened between now and then.

We did have a fabulous time with all the family.  If you want to see pictures at this point, you may go to either Jess's picasa album or Lindsey's or stop by our home.  The kids got me a wonderful book with all the pictures of our trip to Destin for Mother's Day.  It is wonderful, and yes, I did cry.  Not to mention, it was the first time in years, we had all our kids here for a holiday.  It was so special!!!!!

Next, came Amanda's baby shower.  Lindsey and Cole flew up from Tampa, FL and Cole is oooohhhh sooooo cute!  So precious.  If you want to see pictures of Cole, please go to Lindsey's picasa album.   Amanda flew in from Oceanside, CA and we had a wonderful weekend.  There were 35 people here for the shower.  She got some awesome presents and will start with everything she needs (Matt too!)    

That evening -  Jess had Caleb's second birthday party at the Augsburgers.  Only 25 there - what a day.  Caleb is sooooo cute tooo!!!!!!!      He had so much fun when he realized that we were there for him and that all the presents were for him.  He had an Elmo Party.  His mother did a great job on her first decorated cake.   He knows what presents, cake, etc. are now.   Brian and I got him a sandbox that will be kept up at the cottage and he couldn't wait to play with it - or so he says.  Don't think he really knew what it was at that point.  Brian's Dad and sisters and cousins were there and they all got to meet Cole.  So much fun!

Sunday we had to say goodbye to Lindsey and Cole.  That was so hard.  I barely got to hold Cole - everyone wanted to hold him and I had to share.  But they left and Lindsey wasn't as nervous as she thought she was going to be.  She was very distracted by a cute little boy.  I can't believe we won't get to see him until August.  

Monday, Brian and Amanda met Derek and Caleb at Brookfield Zoo.  Caleb loves the zoo and Amanda loves Dinosaurs so they both had a great time.  I wasn't feeling well so I decided to stay home.  Boo Hoo!  I'm sure pictures will be up soon in Jess's blog.

Tuesday brought another baby shower for Amanda from her P.E.O. Chapter which was fun.  She got gift cards which will help even more with what is needed to start a family.  Wednesday brought goodbyes to Amanda, however, not for long.  Louise leaves on Monday for 10 days with her so she doesn't have to spend so much time alone since Matt is out in the field until the end of May.

This weekend brought Jess and Caleb up to our lakehouse for the weekend.  Derek was at his sisters graduation in New York and Brian was at a Men's Retreat with our church so Jess and I (& Caleb) went up Friday morning.  We had so much fun with Caleb.  He found out what a sandbox was and he loved it.   Water and sand, cars and trucks and cranes - what more could a little boy ask for.  We had such a blast.  And yes, Jess, even with those temper tantrums.  Amazing though, Pappy came up Saturday night and Caleb was as good as gold.  No tantrums at all, no time out corners.    Sunday,  Caleb helped Pappy burn sticks - he carried one in each hand to the pile but he helped.  Pappy taught him how to fish.  He held the fishing rod, shook the rod up and down and said, come fishy fishy fishy.  It lasted about two minutes but he fished.  Fish really wasn't biting for anyone though.  He was one tired little boy by the end of the weekend. 

I think this is up to date for now.  See you all at the end of June by the time I do it again.  LOL!

Battle of the Bottle

Brian and I have been visiting Lindsey, Greg and our newest grandson, Cole. He will be 3 mos. old soon and he is growing so fast - a little porker and he loves his milk! However, he only wants his Mommy. In 3 1/2 weeks he goes to day care because Lindsey goes back to work, so Papby and Nana have been trying to get him to take a bottle. He takes it a little bit at a time in between fighting tears - oh my, when his lower lip quivers, it breaks your heart but he does have to get use to it. We try to tell him that it's the same milk, but he doesn't quite get that picture yet. He's so funny!

Tommorrow, we leave for Destin, FL to meet up with the rest of our family for a week's vacation together. This is actually Brian's retirement gift from last June. For those of you who don't know this, but probably you do, we have a daughter in Hoffman Estates, IL, one in Tampa, FL and one in San Diego, CA so it is really hard to get everyone together. Everyone is looking forward to being together and Brian and I are very excited to have both grandsons and 3 girls and their husbands with us.

Stay tuned for our next blog on how our vacation turned out. In the meantime, enjoy my pictures of Cole and Caleb!

Cole - oh so sweet on St. Patrick's Day!

I just love Caleb's smile! My little imp!

Don't you just love their faces! I swore I would never be a bragging Grandma - now I understand other grandparents - you can't just help yourself - I love them!

Cole's Big Day

Today is a very special day - our grandson, Cole, Lindsey's and Greg's son, is undergoing surgery as we speak. Please pray for him and for the doctors for wisdom and skill as they operate on his cleft lip. If you have kept up with Lindsey's blog, you would have read yesterday about the wonderful testimony she gave as a mother. You always pray for your children for happiness and strength that comes with growing up in today's society hoping for them the hope that Jesus Christ gives to all of us. It's hard to see your child in pain no matter the age of that child. Today, Lindsey are Greg are showing their courage as they wait in the waiting room for their loved one. Please read her blog - you may get to it from this page on the lower right side. It is a wonderful testimony of her love for her child. I just sat there in tears and was in awe of her writing and her ability to open herself up the way she did. It is wonderful to see her come to Christ and to have Him into her life to help take care of Cole. Though, we could not be there in person, our love and spirit are with her. Greg's parents are there to give them support as well and most importantly, our Lord, our Savior are with them. I would post a picture of Cole but I'm on Jessica's computer and can't find a picture, but you may get to one from Lindsey's blog. In the meantime, God Bless You all!

What a weekend!

I love reading blogs so I just had to have one but now to keep it up and figure out what to write is hard. I don't know how my kids do it. I don't think much has happened the past few weeks which is why I haven't written anything. Brian and I went up to our cottage this weekend and it was a wonderful, relaxing and quiet one. It is so good to get away and just be around the cottage and water (even though) it is frozen over. The snow was gone Friday afternoon and Brian actually raked the small willow branches. He only got about half done when the snow started coming. We got about two inches and it just made everything beautiful and the hoarfrost on the fields was amazing. God's creation was just awesome. It's just so peaceful and serene!

There was a fishing tournament on our lake and there was about 20 vehicles and ice huts and many holes in the ice. Don't know how it went but of course, Brian went out to talk to a few people. All I got to say was "NUTS NUTS NUTS". I don't like walking on the ice let alone in a car with all the holes around and you can't see where the holes are because the snow that came. Oh well - I'm just not a fisherman.

We walked out on the ice - Yes, Brian actually got me out there (about 5' only). We were just looking at the shoreline to see what we can do about it and as we took one step off, Brian's foot went in. Didn't help my security blanket at all. But I ventured out and it was ok once you got out about 3 foot or so. Bailey had a ball on it. She liked slipping and sliding. We would like to take our grandson on the ice. Maybe next year, by the time we go up again, ice will be gone.

We just had lunch with Jess and Pop Pa. Jessica had a home visit in Lindenhurst so we met her up at Pop Pa's and took them to lunch at the Lake House. It was nice and nice seeing his Dad and Jess together. Lindsey was out yesterday and Greg had Cole duty. They are doing well and you can see how big Cole is getting on Lindsey's blog. Cutest picture of him with a white bear! And Amanda is doing well. Just moved into an apartment this weekend. Yea - she is off the mountain. They were supposed to get another two feet of snow so hopefully they moved out before the second snow came.

Ground Hog Day

Today is Ground Hog Day and tonight I will be going to a friend's house for our circle meeting and will be eating Ground Hog cookies which is a tradition of Polly Egan's. They are gingerbread cookies that she makes every year to commemorate Ground Hog Day. She is from Poxatony, Pa (I know the spelling is very wrong, but can't find the correct spelling now. Her sister was Poxatony queen for a year and we have named Polly, Ground Hog Queen of our circle. She gets teased every year, so I'm looking forward to those cookies and ice cream.



Our trip to Florida was wonderful. We loved being around Cole, hugging him, just staring at him. He certainly is a gift from God and very special little boy. It was so hard to come back home and leave the kids in Florida. And after this weather, I'm ready to move to Florida. Jess & Derek were down in Florida last weekend and had a blast, though, Caleb is not too sure about Mommy holding Cole. Check out Jessica's blog to see a picture of them together. I can't pull that image up. Having technical problems here. What else is knew.



We had some good news from Amanda last night. They found a condo by the ocean, 5 minutes from the base and will be moving mid March. So relieved. She will be posting pictures up the end of the week, so check out her blog Thursday or Friday. They are very happy. They also have a squatter living by them in the mountains in a crate between their house and someone elses. He threatened the neighbors so they are trying to figure out what to do. Amanda is alone most of the time as Matt is doing his "Marine" thing, so we're pretty nervous with her being there alone. Amanda goes to the doctor's tomorrow to have an ultrasound done so we will be anxiously awaiting to see if we are having a grandson or a granddaughter.



If you want to see up to date pictures of Cole and Caleb, please go to their websites. Maybe next week, I'll learn how to go to their picasa album to get up to date pictures. In the meantime, visit their blogs. HAPPY GROUND HOG DAY!

24 Hours away from Cole

Hi: Reality has struck home! Back to the grind, washing clothes, grocery shopping and believe it or not taking down Christmas decorations! This month has been going by much too fast.

I miss Cole (and Lindsey & Greg too) so much. It was so hard for Lindsey and I to say goodbye! Fortunately, we will see them again in two months. Now, watch, the next two months will go by very slow, not like the last two months.

Update on all my kids, Jess, Derek and Caleb are trying to stay warm. I've missed Caleb a lot but get to see him on Thursday. J & D came up Sat. and shoveled our driveway for us so we didn't have to slosh through a foot of snow. THANK YOU! We really apppreciated it.

Lindsey & Greg are doing great with Cole! I love watching them take care of Cole! Cole is soooooo precious - he is holding his head up, hates to be changed, likes his bath if he is sitting up, but don't lay him down, likes to cuddle at times, and at times, just leave me alone. He is really a chowhound, that's for sure. Lindsey is doing great - you would never know by looking at her that she had a baby 3 weeks ago. She looks great. Greg is back to work and missing Lindsey and Cole - he can't wait to get home to help take care of him!

Amanda and Matt are fine. Snow is almost gone in the mountains. Her landline phone is not working so she is basically in communicado. We tried last night and had to call back 4 or 5 times just to have a conversation. Matt isn't being deployed so she won't becoming back to live which is great because Matt will be there for the birth of their child. Due June 30th. Hard to believe, that all my children will be parents and we will have 3 grandchildren soon. I'm getting old.

Brian is loving staying at home - he is kept pretty busy. I'm used to it by now and love having him home. Will end this now with a picture of our newest grandchild!

LAST DAY AT COLES!

Sad day today! Tomorrow Brian and I will be leaving Tampa and will have to say goodbye (but only for a few months) to Lindsey, Greg and Cole! Even though I have been sick, we have a had a good time in FL. You cannot describe the feelings you have when you hold a grandchild. As I said in my Christmas letter, as you watch your child take care of a baby, you realize that your child has fully matured as you watch them take care of a little one. It is with much joy in our hearts to see the journey they will be taking in raising this new little boy. Lindsey and Greg will be such wonderful parents as Jessica and Derek are! It's hard to believe that in 6 months, Brian and I will be in CA with a new grandson or granddaughter! Life is full of surprises, that's for sure.

Our other big news is that Matt is NOT being deployed! Prayers are answered! They will be able to come on vacation with us in March and Matt will be there for the birth of his child.

I just tried to get a current picture of Cole but was having problems. Technicality issues and couldn't do it. I'll put one up next week.

Our Bailey girl!

Everyone knows of our Bailey, the beagle, and how she makes us laugh and how she is always finding things to chew and eat. Well, she went a little bit too far this time.

Just before I took her to the Kennels last week (still in FL by the way - only 65 degrees outside sorry about that our northern friends), she threw up. Nothing gross, just choked a little bit. Late that night, the kennels called us and said she threw up again and this time there was blood in her stool, so they were going to take her to the vet the next day if it happened again.

Long and behold, 10 minutes before our plane was leaving, they called us and said it was really bad that they were taking her to the vet. Do we not get on the plane or do we when your dog is really sick. However, they said it was up to us but they wanted to make sure she was ok. So, we left and I called the kennels when we landed and as it turned out she had all kinds of tests, exrays, blood work done and she ate something she wasn't supposed to but we don't know what that was. She had pancreaitis (sp?) which can be fatal if not diagnosed soon. She ended up staying two nights at the vet, antibiotics, etc. They were going to pick her up the second day but bad weather set in so she stayed that second night. Oh my, poor poor Bailey.

We almost lost her but she is happy as a clam now which we're glad. Now, we just have to figure out what she ate!

New Grandson Update!

We are so thrilled to be in Florida for 12 days. Our grandson was born Dec. 28, Cole Gregory. There is such a special feeling when you see your daughter across the room holding her baby. Such warm fuzzies you get! Greg & Lindsey are making such good parents. It is so much fun watching them! Below is a picture of our new grandson.

I finally was able to hold him today - oh soooo precious! My cold is better so with my mask on, sanitizing my hands, I walked him during dinner (isn't that what you usually do with a newborn - they are always fussy during dinner) leaving Mom & Dad eat. I could have held him all night!

On another note, I hear we have had 6 to 10 inches of snow - sorry about that friends. Brian and I read our book out in the sunshine today for a couple of hours - oh so nice!