Mcbud or Miss Boo

This amazing, spunky, smart, funny and lovable girl became a teenager today.

13

Can you believe it?  It seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital and had no idea what to do with her.  I'm not sure we totally do now though but we are sure learning a lot and enjoying who she is becoming.

She had a Harry Potter birthday party with three of her closest friends.  It will be in the next post if all goes well.

I am grateful to be her Mother although I think she might have done better with someone else.  All I know is that I love her and I will do my best to help her grow up into the person she dreams of.

I love you Miss Boo.

She really does have some good friends that came and celebrated with her.  I think these kids are amazing and it surprised me to think that it wasn't a kids party...it was full of teenagers.

Happy Birthday to the Coolest Dude Ever!

 This not so little guy is so wonderful.  Incredibly sweet, quietly smart, adorably funny and full of life.

We are so blessed to have this kid in our lives.  For the surprise he started out...has turned into the greatest blessing in our lives.

 I am reminded of that song, "Unanswered Prayers".  He is definitely what Heavenly Father knew we needed.  So glad we weren't in charge...

He didn't want anything fancy for his birthday.  He is happy with a cupcake with no frosting.

I couldn't ask for a better son.  Happy Birthday to the cutest boy I know.

Free Falling

Well, not quite.

We did give the kids "Experiences" this year for Christmas versus physical gifts.  We wanted to get them out of their comfort zones.  I guess you could say we accomplished that.

  Neither of them was overly excited, but Rose figured it out and was doing great.

 

 Ryan was paranoid that there would be an "equipment failure" so he wasn't really into the moment.

 But Miss Boo loved it.

 And he may say he hated it but...

I am hoping we can find more ways for them to stretch themselves.  And...I want to do this.  It looks like so much fun.

Family Trip

The kids and I got to spend two weeks with my oldest daughter, Nyoka and my favorite grandchildren.  It was a lot of fun.  They live on a lake and it was beautiful.  Got to hang with the kiddos one on one and bake for them.  I miss doing those things for them.  

Westin is the baby and he spends quite a bit of time alone as the other kids are all older.  At this point they were 5, 9,10,11,12,13,14.  Boys are younger.  Works good for the kids as they have those their age and they all get along pretty well.  Such a blessing.

Maya got Miss Boo out one time only on the kayaks and it wasn't because of the hard work, it was the spider that made a home in the kayak and freaked her out because there was nowhere to go.  Her face pretty much says it all.  Ha Ha

She did try a smile for me but I knew it was a scared one.

I love that Maya and Miss Boo have a pretty tight friendship.  They just get each other and make each other laugh.  Sure love these girls.

This is my daughter Nyoka.  She makes me laugh.  Sure love her and grateful she is part of my life.  It's pretty cool to see how Heavenly Father works to create families.

And here is the worlds dirtiest dog, Rocky.  He drove me crazy, but he was kind of cute.

I am a little obsessed with Maya.  She is so quiet and introspective.  She can sit and be happy doing nothing but hanging her feet in the water.

These kids will play all day in the water if you let them.

Garrett has grown quite a bit in the last year.  He will talk to me and look me in the face.  Was the first one to give me a hug when we got there.  Sure melted this Nana's heart.

As I said kind of obsessed.

See?

And this little boy... Ian.  So adorable and loves his Nana.  Not that they all don't, but he makes sure I know it all the time.  I love hearing him call me Nana.

Love that they play together.  Garrett, Ian, Ben (their Dad) and Konya.  Not sure why I don't have more pictures of her.

It was the fourth of July and I was proud of Miss Boo for not letting the bugs get to her.

My little dude wasn't having the best time.  It was not and lots of Michigan buts.  At least he was looking patriotic.  lol

Miss Boo was all about the sparklers this 4th.  She really had a good time.  

I love my grandkids.  This little boy is so sweet.

Have you ever asked yourself the question, What happens when you throw the dead christmas tree on the bonfire?  Absolutely spectacular.

First time ever that I watched fireworks in the trees by a lake.  It was pretty awesome.

I love nature in action.  Caught this out the window one morning.  Nothing like a blue Heron to make you appreciate life.

The Dude does so much better indoors.  Not ecstatically happy, but content.  Love this boy.

We had a good time visiting.  First time for us to stay longer than a couple of days.  I read a lot and cooked, and laughed and spent time with the part of my family that I don't half as much as I should.

So grateful for them.

Christmas 2016

When we got home from Dad's funeral on Saturday night, I knew I was never going to pull of Christmas, so my dear friend Soraya came to save the day.  She flew in Sunday and helped me get the tree decorated and the house put together.  She also helped put me together before she left as I was an emotional mess still.

 When we weren't preparing the house, we took a factory tour on how to make sausage.  Those hair nets do nothing for facial recognition or quite frankly, anything else!

 The tree turned out beautiful.  I told you she was a beauty.

 The kids aren't so much into pictures anymore.  This was the only one I was allowed and it's not the best.

 The cat, on the other hand, seemed ok with it.  After all, it was her job to mess with all the presents first.

 For some reason I feel the need to photograph Mr. Finn sideways.  Hmmmm.  I bet Freud would have a hay day with that.  He got what he wanted and was happy.

 But sadly, our beautiful, perfect tree had died while we were in Arizona and Christmas day it became evident that it had to come down immediately as it was a serious fire risk.

So Sad!

We enjoyed our quiet Christmas.  We gave the kids experiences this year versus presents.  They were too thrilled at first but got behind it later.  I feel they have so much stuff and it only holds their attention for a brief period of time.  This way they have an experience and can hold the memory forever.  They will be going to a parachute/fly school.  I am envious for sure.  They also got gift cards to Dave and Busters so they could get their electronic fix and leave it there.

I hope it was a Merry and insightful Christmas for all.