Esme' Video II

Here is another video I took of Esme' and Shari feeding her when we were at their house in Tennessee this month.

Esme' Video

I took this video of Esme' when we were in a restaurant in Gatlinburg this past month. She was very interested in Mark's food! The person talking in the background is me - my voice sounds horrible!

TENNESSEE TRIP

Our trip to Tennessee was uneventful until we got to Kentucky and drove in the mountains. We got into a really bad SNOW storm! It was also very foggy and it was part sleet at times. Several cars had slid off of the road and one had rolled over. It was a very tense and quiet two hours through Kentucky. But it was worth it to finally be able to see Shari, Mark, and ESME'!  :)

 We had such a great time being with them! Esme' is just so beautiful and sweet and cute and funny! She has a really cute personality and I just loved playing with her! 

These pictures are not in any particular order because I have quite a few and since I don't have much luck with that anyway, I decided not to even try. Here is Esme' before she got her bath. She has discovered her feet and loves to put her toes right into her mouth! 

Shari is feeding Esme' squash  here. She likes squash and sweet potatoes, but prunes not so much. I just love her little chubby hands which you can see here!

Playing with bunny

Esme' loves to kiss people with her mouth wide open. She is also saying, "Da da da."

All dressed up for church. We went with Shari and Mark to the church that they have been going on Sunday. I think it is called Providence. They have been attending for quite a few weeks now and have almost decided to stay there. They have met a really nice couple there and have gotten together with them outside of church at least once.

Grandma giving Esme' some kisses.

Even though it rained most of the time we were in Tennessee, we had a great time. Saturday we went to Gatlinburg. We went to the aquarium there and then walked around the town for awhile and found a place to eat. 

Esme'  sitting patiently in her carseat.

This is the aquarium in Gatlinburg. It was not raining much and very foggy in the city. After dinner, we could barely see the mountains and it looked like the lift went straight up into the clouds! Below are some more pictures of Gatlinburg.

The aquarium was really nice. In the picture below, we were in a glass enclosed tunnel with fish all around us. 

Mark, Shari, and Esme'

Walking around the streets of Gatlinburg - This the back of Shari.

Below are some more pictures of Esme'.

This is a picture of Shari and Mark's townhouse. You come in on the garage level to a landing, then you go upstairs to the living room and dining area and kitchen. There is also a half bath on this level. You go upstairs again to three bedrooms and two bathrooms and a laundry room. It is very nice and much more convenient than their last place for having company because of the extra bedroom and bathroom.

 

We had a very nice time visiting and playing games and eating with them. They are always so hospitable and easy to be with. Can't wait to go again! When we got to the mountains, though, it was raining hard and it was very foggy and difficult to see our way. It was a relief to get into Ohio where it was actually sunny for awhile!

NOLAN IS THREE MONTHS

Time has flown by and our newest grandson is already three months old! He is starting to respond to us more and smiles and coos at us. He is so precious! My only problem is that SOMEHOW I call him " Logan" once in a while! I don't know why!!? Maybe we just go to Logan's too much! I know we do!

This week we took Shel and Bob and the kids out to eat to celebrate Bob's fortieth birthday. Nolan enjoyed it and we enjoyed playing with him.

I got to babysit a couple of times this week and spent a lot of time with Nolan and Matthew. He smiled quite a bit for me.

He looks like he is intently listening to a conversation here!

I finally got in a picture!

Nolan loves to stand up (with someone holding on to him). Here he is standing on the table at the restaurant.
Each little one has his own unique personality and we are excited to see what Nolan will be like. He is growing up so fast and we want to enjoy every minute! Grandchildren are a blessing from the Lord!

Mom's Birthday

Terry and I took a quick trip to Grand Rapids on Tuesday of this week to visit with my mom and Roy and my sister Carol and Don. It was a beautiful day to travel and we really enjoyed it!

We spent most of the day just visiting because we really haven't seen any of them since Thanksgiving at our house. So it is just nice to sit and talk and catch up. I didn't take more than three pictures because most of the people there don't like getting their pictures taken and I would rather just sit and visit anyway. So these are the two pictures I took - a couple didn't turn out so I won't post them.

Mom and Roy make such a great couple! We enjoyed the day with them. The six of us ended the day by going out to eat and then going back to Mom and Roy's to have some strawberry shortcake. It was good to see everyone again! 

BOB,

Happy Birthday!

Bob

Brother, Son, Husband, Daddy

Good natured, patient

kind, loving

Son-in-law

A poet I'm NOT!  :)

Technology is Wonderful!

Seeing Esme' and Shari twice in one week!

What fun to come home yesterday and find that Shari had left me a video message on tokbox!

I just can't believe I am going to get to see Esme' as often as I want! :)  This is how they look on my computer screen.

Shari said that they were getting a snowstorm in Knoxville and already had about an inch of snow. (Very unusual for them!) Well I am glad to spread the joy around!!

Isn't she sweet? This just made my week!

Tuesday Night at Cheli's

Tuesday night was a relaxing night out with the grandkids and Shel and Bob....

Cheli's is a sports restaurant partly owned by Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings. It is close by our house and it has become a favorite restaurant of ours. It has lots of TV screens and the guys like watching the basketball, hockey, and football games there. Not that we are there that often! This particular night the screens were all showing the Red Wings game that was going on. What we didn't know was that every time the Red Wings would score, a LOUD buzzer/horn would go off in the restaurant and everyone would cheer/ hold their ears. Did I say it was LOUD??? It was deafening!! There is no warning when it will go off because it goes off as soon as a goal is scored. We weren't prepared for it and, needless to say, neither were Matthew or Nolan. Matthew was scared to death and cried and then covered his ears the rest of our time there. Poor Matthew! Nolan was peacefully sleeping in his car seat when the horn went off. His eyes stayed closed but his whole face changed and his lip puckered up like he was going to cry and then he just fell back to sleep!

Terry holding Nolan

Here is Nolan peacefully sleeping with noise going on all around him! The place was packed and noisy and every TV (about 50 of them) were on full blast! Other than the loudness of the night, it was fun, relaxing (for me) and always a joy to be with Shelley, Bob, Matthew, and Nolan!

We Finally Figured Out How to Use Our Web Cam!

Web Cams are wonderful when you haven't seen your grandchild for over a month...

It was awesome! Shari was in Knoxville and I in Clinton Township, and we were talking on the phone trying to figure out how to get our web cams to work so we could see each other. We ended up leaving Skype and using Tokbox instead. All of the sudden Shari popped up on my computer! She has to wear earphones and hold a little microphone, so holding Esme' was awkward. Esme' had just awakened from her long nap and she was so cute. She kept staring at the computer screen. I was waving to her and throwing her kisses. She was so cute and getting so big! The talking was a tiny bit delayed and at times the picture of the other person would freeze for a couple of seconds, but it was so worth it! :) I can't wait to use it with Shari again and to try it with other people, too.

EIGHTY - NINE!

Happy Birthday!

Thursday, January 15, Dad (Grandpa or Great-Grandpa to some) turned eighty-nine. It was a very frigid day in the Detroit area. Many schools were closed because of the cold.We had gotten lots of snow in the previous week and it was so cold that it didn't melt at all. Icicles and hills of snow were everywhere and also slick roads. It was so cold that we kept the birthday celebration small. The little kids like Matthew and Nolan weren't going out in this cold weather! 

Dad looked great! We took him to a chinese restaurant on Jefferson near the nursing home at three in the afternoon - sort of a lunch/dinner. It was just immediate family this time.

Here we have Terry, Sandy, Ken, Dad, and Barb. I had to go around the table for another picture to get everyone in.

Here are Terry, Sandy, Barb, Ron (who had open heart surgery four weeks ago) and Aunt Shirley. I am the one in the mirror who is taking the picture! We had a nice time together eating chinese food, eating birthday cake (chocolate!) and reading our fortunes. We don't get together enough and it was fun to just have a relaxing meal and get to catch up on things. Dad got some clothes for presents and lots of cards. These birthdays seem to come along faster each year - it seems like yesterday that I was blogging about Dad's 88th birthday!