1 John 4:9-11

Mother's day at Heather's house.

Grammy and Grandma watching the sunset over the ocean in Hilton Head. How Grammy loved the ocean. I have such wonderful memories of our time in Maine and our trips to the ocean.

Look at that smile! The doctor's couldn't tell that she had a beautiful smile, and that was one thing that made me sad seeing her in the hospital. When Grammy smiled, her whole face smiled, especially her eyes.

I will sure miss you Grammy, but my memories are there. I only wish you had a chance to write your best memories down for us so we could tell your wonderful stories over and over to our children. Elli loves her Grammy too and will miss her.

My sweet Gammy went home this morning at 3:15. She entered the hospital on Monday the 21st thinking she may have had a heart attack. It ended up that she had a blood clot that passed through her heart and was in her lungs. From that diagnosis, it seemed everyday was getting worse. We were able to visit with her on Christmas Day and give her presents. The next day she was moved to ICU and we were able to spend a little time with her then. She seemed to be improving. Then, Sunday morning, she knew things were not quite right and she asked her pastor to come down as well as Marlin who was sick. We got there just as she was going into cardiac arrest. From that point on, there were only little points of recognition, but we had a wonderful time singing and reading scripture to her. We also enjoyed visiting with each other as all four of her kids were there, their spouses and several of us grandchildren. I will miss my Grammy as will all who knew and loved her. She was a woman of the Lord and if she said she was praying for you, she was! She left a legacy of prayer and scripture reading as she always wrote scripture in our cards, letters, or told us on the phone. Some of her favorites were 1 John 4:9-11 and Psalm 139. Over the years there were many others, but these were recently in my birthday card:) I know I will see my Grammy one day. She will be able to see clearly, walk without pain, and hear without the use of aids. Right now she is in the presence of her Father. "O Happy Day!"

Christmas Day

One last Christmas Eve picture of Elli and dad playing with her new doll house from eather and Leah. She has played with it so much already!

Yes, Elli got a violin for Christmas. She had a wonderful list for us to work with like a blue Christmas tree, a new barbie with two legs, a guitar with strings on it, sucky things, chap stick, and several other small things. So we got her a couple of things on her list, but then she asked for a violin and wouldn't talk about anything else. So, last minute, we found a $12 violin on ebay and it came in time. She loves it and claims she already knows how to play it. It is very sweet.

Look at that face of surprise.

All of our presents to each other, I mean, from Santa. Brent got me a jewelry box and two sweaters. Elli and I got him 3 new outfits and the Bible on CD. Elli got a book, an outfit, a game, a camera and the violin. Brent actually had the game for her a month ago, but she said she couldn't get anything new until Christmas, so it became a present. Crazy girl. We had a great morning together, then we went to my grandma's house. Dinner was fun and we enjoyed a time of opening gifts together afterwards. Then, we went to the hospital to see my Grammy. She went in on Tuesday and was hoping to be home for Christmas but is still too sick. After our visit with Grammy, we went to Aunt Sharron's house to spend time with dad's side of the family. Very fun day overall. We love you Grammy and are praying for you. Merry Christmas.

More Christmas Eve

Elli's one present for Christmas Eve were her new jammies. How fitting for our candy girl:)

Elli and Matt playing in all the wrapping paper.

I love this picture of dad in his new coat and Elli picking up all the paper.

"Where are my presents Gonga?

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Heather and Gary

Leah and Matt Mom and Dad

Elli in front of all the presents. She could not wait!

Elli loves to help me cook. She has really mastered the art of rolling out the dough. It was so much fun baking these cookies with her.

Christmas Eve began with a great morning of baking and ended with desserts and coffee at our house. What a wonderful day. Elli and I enjoyed baking cookies of reindeer, trees, stars, candy canes, snowmen and bunnies. There was flour everywhere and some cookies lost their parts. Other cookies were not even distinct cut-outs, but we baked and iced them anyway! We danced to Christmas music, played, and had the best morning! After her nap, we went to mom and dad's for dinner and presents. We then went to our church for the service. It was an excellent service.

I turned 33 on Dec 18th

What better way to celebrate a birthday than to play Duck-Duck-Goose? I love that Elli has her hand up trying to get me to pick her. We played for about 20 minutes. Some of the most fun I have had!

Love you mom and dad.

CHeesy grin for our family photo, but so cute:)

Before the present opening began!

Tha birthday gang minus Heather who was taking the picture and Kyle, Meg and Seth who came shortly after dinner, which was P. F. Chang's by the way. Delicious.

Elli's Preschool Christmas Party

Santa came to the party. Elli wasn't nervous today. She hugged him and told him what she wanted...

...a violin. Uh oh. This is not the present we got for her, but she has mentioned nothing but this the last few times we have talked to Santa. We have now had the discussion that we don't always get what we ask for. Sometimes we get other fun things:)

The pastor of the church where Elli's preschool is, gave the best explanation of Santa at Christmas that I have ever heard. He explained to the kids today at the party that Santa was a man named St. Nick and that he loved Jesus. He knew that Jesus was a gift from God to us and that those who believed He was God's son could receive even more gifts such as love, joy peace, and even eternal life in heaven. St. Nick was so excited about this that he wanted everyone to experience the joy of the gift of Jesus, so he took gifts to others and told them about Jesus. Now, today, we remember the joy of St. Nick when he learned about Jesus and we give gifts to each other as well, in celebration of the greatest gifts given to us by God. Isn't that great?

Some of my favorite moments

"Mommy, since I didn't get you a present, I'll give you a present hug."

"Mommy, when I grow up I will marry a prince. But not Prince Daddy because you already married him."

Elli, how many presents did Jesus get for his birthday?
Three. Gold, Franken and myrrh.
Right, so how many should you get for Christmas since it is Jesus's birthday?
Three, or maybe five?

"Hurry mommy before the "struck night" gets us. (Cinderella-struck midnight?

Fergi

Posing against her will:)

I thought I needed to post about our dog Fergi. (aka fergs, fergus pergus, bad dog...) She has been knocked down a few noches on the "important" list in our house since Elli came. She doesn't get as much attention but I still love my doggie. She loves to sit on my lap and snuggle, chase her toys, and run around like a crazy dog just because. I am choosing not to mention the "bad" thing she does. It would take too much room. Love you Fergi!

An evening at the Greene

Cheesy smile with daddy as we listen to the horns play "Sleigh Ride."

Love that big tree!

Th Greene is so fun this time of year. The Christmas decorations are very pretty and the carollers and musicians make it exciting as well. We went last night again for a little visit. Elli likes the big tree and these fun presents. We also found these beautiful poinsettias.

Hollywood Florida

The hotel was decorated very pretty for Christmas. This tree was huge!

The back of our hotel. We are the room 5 floors from the top on the left hand side, but against the middle section. 3145

Our last night we ate at Hollywood Prime, in the hotel. It was absolutely delicious. I got a 3 1/2 pound Maine Lobster and Brent got some of the most tender filet ever! We ate salad, bread, asparagus and cheddar mashed potatoes as well. We were waited on by three servers so that not even a crumb fell to the table without being wiped away:) We ate so much we could hardly fit in our suits for our evening hot tub visit, but boy was it good!

This is the view from our balcony. The center pool in an infinity salt water pool. The other pools go underneath it and there is a waterfall on either side of the infinity pool. The hole in the center has a glass bottom through which you can see the pool below and vice-versa. So fun! The hot tubs are hidden by palm trees, but there are two of them. We found out way into them each night.

The morning of our last day there. It was supposed to the warmest and sunniest day reaching a record of 90 degrees possibly! So sad to leave and come back to the cold Ohio weather. We tried to soak up as many rays as possible in those last few hours! Thank you Brent for such a good present for my birthday!

Brent planned a surprise weekend get-away for us to Florida for my birthday. We went the 10th-13th and stayed at the Westin Diplomat. We had a great time relaxing, swimming, shopping, and eating. We had some plane trouble before we could leave which resulted in us arriving 4 hours later than planned but we got two free tickets out of the deal:) It was 80+ degrees each day with part sun and one tremendous downpour! (we got caught in it while trying to walk the broadwalk. It just added to the fun:)

Preschool Praise

Singing and doing the motions.

She really got into these motions.

Playing right on cue!

Brent and I were in Florida for our weekend getaway when Elli sang in front of church for Preschool Praise. So, I took pictures and video at their practice the Wednesday before the performance. She was so sweet and did a great job playing her bell, singing, and doing the motions. My little performer:)

Our First "Snow"

We woke up Monday morning to this dusting. We went straight downstairs in our jams and played on the deck. Elli's hands got cold. She still doesn't understand that you need gloves to keep your hands warm.

Elli saw this piece of snow and said, "Oh my goodness, Mommy. I found a sea shell." Hehehe

I hope we get a lot of snow this year for her to play in. What fun it will be!

Ginger Bread House

Elli using no hands to eat this house!

Evidence of the "digging" in.

The completed house gets a big thumbs up from these two.

Elli trying to decide just where to put all the delicious treats.

Heather and Elli put together this ginger bread house. She ate lots of it as it was going together and then she could not wait to dig in once it was done. It is a constant question at our house these days!

Thanksgiving

Aunt Cindy and Grandma Donough on Thanksgiving. Delicious food and great company.

Some of the 33 people playing after dinner.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Elli and I put up this tree. She had fun putting on the ornaments. She was showing her baby all the lights.

Emily's princess party

All the princesses at the party.

Cinderella and Arial. Such cute little girls.

Gary's Birthday

Elli was helping Gary open his presents.

This was quite the rousing game of "Duck, Duck, Goose!" Notice that AnnaBelle has to play too:)

Elli sure loves this precious dog, as do the rest of us.

We enjoyed dinner at Amber Rose and then had great cake and ice cream at Heather and Gary's house. The presents were a highlight as were the games. Happy birthday Gary.