The Many Celebrations of Evan's Birthday

Friday, Ralph and I decided we'd do what our good friends, Jeanne and George Houston, do with their grandchildren. Everytime a grandchild's birthday comes along, they take them to lunch or dinner, and then take them shopping and let them buy whatever they want for a certain amount of money. That way, the child gets what they want, and they have their grandparents' undivided attention. The picture above is Evan playing with " his purchase ". He bought a batman tower and the latest fad called a Bakugan. After giving him many restuarants to choose from, he chose Chick-fil-A! That wasn't even one of the choices, but it was what he wanted. We had a very special time together! We returned him back home at bedtime, and then, went back to the hospital to see Granny.

Saturday was the big kids' party! Amy and Corin came up with something really unique this year. The party was at a rock climbing wall in Decatur. Most of the kids had never done that before, but they all really got into it!

It was a new experience for Evan, too, but he loved it.

The theme of the party was " Teen-age mutant ninja turtles ". Here is Amy's latest cake.

All the kids enjoyed the neat cake, the ice cream, and the "goody bags".

Little Miss Sweetpea had fun, too.

After the party, the family went back to Amy's to watch Evan open his gifts.

Today, we took a short time away from the hospital to celebrate Evan, Amy, and Matthew's birthdays.

By the way, I didn't mean to say that Granny was our "Patriarch". I know that I should have said "Matriarch". Duh!!!!

Life's Ups and Downs

Our "Granny" is in the hospital, so that has taken some of the excitement out of our celebrating this weekend. She had surgery Thursday for an abdominal obstuction and is still in Dekalb Medical Center's ICU. She wanted us to go on and celebrate the birthdays together, even though we weren't going to the lake, like we had originally planned. Matthew's 36th birthday is today, Evan's 5th is tomorrow, and Amy's 37th is next week, so we are going to get together at our house at 2:00 today. Mother has always been our rock and very much the " patriach " of the family. Even at age 88( almost 89 ) she is interested in everything about each child, grandchild and great-grandchild! So, in addition to being with her at the hospital as much as possible, we have tried to continue our lives, as well as we can.

Friday morning was Abby's kindergarten graduation. Poppy attended that and got some cute pictures of Abby and her friends graduating. Then, yesterday, Amy and Corin had Evan's birthday party with his school friends at a wall-climbing place in Decatur. It was a new experience for Evan and most of his friends, but they all seemed to have a great time! ( My blog is giving me some trouble, but I'll try to post some pictures from both events).

Please be in prayer for our sweet "Granny". She still has a way to go in her recuperating process.

Evan is Growing Up! And Pressley is Too!

This weekend and next, our focus is Evan. Our younger grandson, is growing up! Friday was his Pre-K graduation! He has attended the Frazer Center since he was a year old. Before that, he stayed with me--and I enjoyed every minute with him. That seems like yesterday, but here he is graduating--in cap and gown!

Just like the big kids, as each of their names were called, they went up to receive their diplomas.

In addition to their diplomas, they each received a small graduation bear. How cute is that?

Here Evan is showing off his little bear, and the autograph bear Poppy and GranNan gave him.

During the ceremony, they shared many things they had learned in Pre-K. They sang the spelling of each number up to ten, they counted to 20 in both English and French, and recited several poems. It was SO cute! Evan has really learned a lot at the Frazer Center, and I can't believe it's time now for him to move on to Kindergarten. He'll be going to public kindergarten in the fall.

On Saturday, Amy and Corin hosted a wedding shower for their friends, Jim and Laurie. They will be married in June. We got to have Evan and Pressley for the evening and overnight. We took them to Toys R Us and let them each choose a small toy. But our main purpose in going, was to look for the game Hi Ho Cherry-O. Their Mommy and Aunt Beth used to love that game. We found the game, and it was a hit, but Pressley had chosen a little "Princess" cell phone. We got such a kick out of watching her with that phone! She talked and talked--and it was hard to believe it was just pretend! She told her "friend" what a LOVELY time she had at their party. It was too cute!

After taking them to church and meeting their Mommy and Daddy, and having lunch together, we had to say our goodbys for now. Boy, does it seem quiet around here, but what a fun weekend we had!

Gymnastics, Anyone?

Our grandchildren keep our life so interesting! With both grandsons in Soccer, Abby in Gymnastics and Pressley taking swimming lessons, there is always something fun to do on the weekends. Today was Abby's gymnastics " Under the Big Top ". She takes lessons at Gymnastix in Buford. It was a real extravaganza!

There were groups on the balance beam.......

While other groups were doing floor exercises, etc, etc......

Abby doing bars.......

While her brother watches all that is going on. At least for a little while!
( Beth had to remind him of all the soccer games Abby had sat patiently

through for him.)

Abby receives her trophy

and is so proud!