Kaity and I go sledding

It's been a super weird winter here in West Michigan. It had been predicted to be a cold and snowy winter, but it certainly has not lived up to that--at least not in my opinion. We have had SOME snow, and sometimes it added up to 10" but the most it ever stuck around was two weeks. Here it is the middle of February, and we barely have any snow at all!

Last Monday, however, we did have about 2" of fresh snowfall--it was in the upper 30's and Kaity and I decided to venture outside and find a hill or two to slide down.

We drove over to Cannonsburg (naturally) because it is close-by and has smaller hills ... and a beautiful creek, etc.

Kaity was "game" for this snow adventure. She loved every minute outside. I bundled her up like a mummy just to be sure she would not be chilled. She is still recovering from a head cold.

We had a great time together. I love being with this little pixy. She is delightful in so many ways.

I've been trying to teach Kaity about God ... starting with the basics, i.e. telling her that God made her, that God made the trees, that God made the flowers, etc. I thought I had been making pretty good progress until the following conversation:

Me:  So, Kaity-girl, who made all this beautiful snow?

Kaity:  God did, grandma!

(Me, smiling to myself, at how wonderful it was that

Kaity could answer that question with such confidence)

We walked along for a little bit and then this ...

Kaity:  I met God once, Grandma.

Me (dumbfounded): How did that happen, Kaity?

Kaity:  Well, he lives at my grandpa's house.

He didn't have no where to live so ...

(she shrugged her shoulders) so... he lives

with my grandpa!

Me:  No words. I gave her head a little pat

and we continued our walk.

It really was a perfect afternoon to be outside. There was no wind whatsoever. All was quiet. So peaceful.

Dear Kaity. You are such a sweetheart. I love sharing life with you, dear!

I pushed Kaity on this bench swing for a little while, and then she found the highest hill to climb. She made it to the top, I brought the sled around and DOWN she went!

LOVE you, sweet Kaity!

Brendan's fifth birthday (last week)

Brendan is FIVE. Can you believe it?! How is that possible?! Oh my. If I could only hold back time and keep this precious boy little like this for many more years. He has been such a gift, such a joy.

This is Brendan's family's special occasion plate that he got to use for his special birthday pasta dinner tonight. He was very pleased.

I brought over just a few gifts for this beautiful boy to open. Here are some pictures of him opening them up.

He is looking at a small lantern that I had taped to the bigger package. Brendan loves playing with flashlights, laser pens ... anything that his little hands can control. He has always loved switching lights on and off, on and off ...

I got him TWO Hot Wheels trucks because he absolutely loves the 4 Matchbox trucks that I have at my house that I have had for 15+ years. He was very excited to open these.

Although I will say that it was difficult to take a picture of him because he kept blocking his face out with the trucks ... 

Inside the bigger box was a BED TENT. YES! I knew he would love this and he DOES! It's pretty nice actually. Brendan loves tents. He grabbed his baby Jesus and his Michael doll and a few other "friends" and crawled right in and cuddled up. 

Brendan had this particular birthday cake picked out months ago. Kelly said he saw it at Meijer and requested it way back ... so here it is ... his very own Snoopy ice-cream cake. It was very delicious.

This child. I could just eat HIM up. He has the sweetest little heart. And Kelly too. Love her.

And look what Brendan got from his mom and dad! A huge box of vintage Fisher-Price CONSTRUX. My boys had a ton of these when they were boys and got hours and hours of fun play out of them. It was so much fun to watch Dylan build different vehicles for Brendan out of these parts.

I thought I took a picture of Dylan building, but I guess I did not. Well, take my word for it--Dylan is a good builder and Brendan really enjoys building with his daddy.

Happy birthday, beautiful boy! Love you right down to your toes. :)

I've been super busy ...

I have been "keeping up" this blog for 10 years ... almost 11now. Lately, I've hardly been maintaining it! I have been SUPER busy, happy, and life just has flown by. I've taken some pictures of the littles but not as much as usual. Anyway, I'm just going to run these pictures right here and make a comment or two.

One of our Monday lunches ...

 You can see I feed Kaity super healthy meals ... yikes.

 Playing chutes and ladders the other day.

Kaity won!

 See her happy smile?

This is Brendan's baby Jesus.

Last week, he was showing me how

snuggled and cuddled and

well-fed Jesus was!

This boy is ready to be a

BIG BROTHER.

 Kaity trying out a "game" on my new computer.

She was just so pleased that I let her do this.

I'm still looking for better games,

something that teaches good stuff ...

 Matt and Chris playing on our new

Hot Wheels rug ...

 Emma and I went downtown on Sunday

so that she could try on a pair of ice skates ...

 Emma was not expecting it to be THIS slippery!

She was truly disappointed that she

wasn't able to "take off" and skate.

 That's OK, Emma. I'm glad you tried it.

Perhaps we'll do it again soon.