Grandma Mae

Brian's Grandmother Johnson lives in a nursing home is Suffolk. We went to visit her Sunday afternoon following the reception for Wilbur and Caroline.

Grandma Mae agreed to go for a walk with us around the nursing home property. We looked at the ducks and geese swimming in a little pond below the home. Brian pushed her around in her wheelchair. Grandma said she had a nice ride when we brought her back to her room.

Brian, Bethany and Grandma Mae posed for a picture before we left. We had a nice visit with her.

Caroline and Wilbur Celebrate Fifty Years

Nana's brother Wilbur and his wife Caroline celebrated fifty years of marriage with a beautiful reception in a lovely old Victorian building. The girls enjoyed posing for pictures.

April, Gigi, and Victoria are sitting in the foyer of the building next to the front door waiting for the program to begin after a splendid meal. My favorite was the strawberries and white chocolate. April enjoyed these little puff pastries which were filled with ricotta cheese.

Mary Douglas is resting on a red velvet couch before we went outside to take pictures. Bethany is sitting in the flower bed in the front lawn admiring the geraniums.

Nana turns 81 on July 4th

Nana celebrated her eighty-first birthday this year with a party at Gigi's house. We had a traditional fourth of July picnic with hot dogs, baked beans, and potato salad. Aunt April made the best potato salad with her homemade pickles.

Family members present included: Doug and Mary Sue, Brian, Nellie, and Bethany, Scott, April, Victoria, and Mary Douglas, Lisa, Keith, and Andrea, Howard, Brenda, and Brenda's mother, Frankie and Bobbie, and of course Nana and Tom. We enjoyed cake and ice cream later in the evening. Nana opened her gifts.

Nana and Grandaddy Tom remembered that it was Independance day wore red, white, and blue. We were having so much fun at the party that we didn't make it to fireworks this year, but we heard them going off in town. Happy Birthday to Nana and our Our Country.

New Born Baby

Baby Andrea is the newest member of our family. She is a little more than a month old. Bethany was so very excited about the new born baby. She went through her baby toys and picked out a turtle toy and wrapped it up herself for the baby.

She wanted to hold the baby, which resulted in her asking me to ask Lisa if she could hold the baby no less than fifty times before the time was right for her to hold this sweet little angel.

Bethany loves babies. She plays mommy most of the time only occasionally mixing it up with wedding. Rarely, she will pretend to be an animal. She likes to put babies to bed. She makes beds for them on the floor in her room and covers them up. She whispers to them in hushed mommy tones. It is really sweet.

Sweet Victoria's Third Birthday

Our family travels to Suffolk, Virginia twice a year to visit with Brian's family. We arrived the night before Cousin Victoria's third birthday party this year. She is as sweet as an apple dumpling. She has a chipper little personality and an eternal smile. She likes to wiggle and sing.

Aunt April cooked up an awesome meal. She makes incredible pickles. She always remembers to make homemade macaroni and cheese for the kids. Nana and Grandaddy Tom enjoyed their cake and ice cream. Bethany did too.

After the main party guests departed, all the little cousins from both sides of the family went swimming in the neighborhood pool. The swimming party included: Mary Douglas and Victoria who are sisters, Dustin and Reagan who are April's sister's children, and Bethany. So, there were five little ducks who went swimming. We all enjoyed the evening swim. Jack Jack the dog went along for the adventure too. He accidentally went swimming too.

Natalie's Big Night Out

During the week home at grandma's house we watched the weather everyday because we wanted to have a camp out in Jeanne's backyard and we wanted to go swimming. The weather was in flux with thunder storms predicted everyday. We decided to have a camp over on Saturday. Jeanne and Matt went out on a parent date night. Natalie and Bethany had a big night out with me.

Our first stop on our big night out was Bethany's old daycare. She wanted to see the building. The actual daycare moved to a church somewhere in South Charleston. We then traveled over to Little Creek Park. We found a shady play area, and spent awhile swinging, climbing, and sliding. The girls liked to help each other swing. We went on a little nature walk on the edge of the trees. We found a couple of interesting flowers. Natalie and Bethany stirred a big puddle with some sticks. We became very hungry and went to Bob Evan's restaurant for dinner. I wanted to take the girls to a movie, but we had spent too much time at the park, or not enough time. So, we decided to have a camp over in Grandma's living room.

We stopped at Fruth on the way home purchased water color paints and some microwave popcorn. The girls painted grandma some masterpieces, while I set up the DVD player and sleeping bags. We got some bath time in. Two girls in a bath with toys can be an evenings entertainment in itself. When we were finally settled, we watched "Space Buddies" and enjoyed our popcorn. Natalie asked for her mom once. I pulled her in the rocking chair with me with her blanket. She was out in thirty seconds. She was a brave girl for her first night away from her mom. We all had a great "Big Night Out" at our camp over.

Water Ways of Fun

Water Ways of Fun is an awesome park. I wish we had discovered it years ago. Last year was our first trip to the park. We went again this summer. I can see it becoming a family tradition because it will grow with the kids.

For younger children, they have two wading pools with an elephant slide and shower. They even have swings for babies hanging on a giant gorilla. There is also a Lazy River for everyone to enjoy a nice relaxing float.

When the kids get bigger they have big water slides and a large pool for swimming. We went on a perfect day this year. It was Jeanne's birthday. It was incredibly hot and humid. The water was perfect. The girls had a splendid time, and we came home to a birthday dinner cooked by Grandma to celebrate our birthdays. Corn casserole, potato casserole, and chicken are delicious things to eat after a long afternoon swimming.

A Sparkling Summer Evening

Fireworks have always been a little scary to me. I've heard horror stories about people getting their fingers blown off and forests catching on fire. I've avoided fireworks, except for public presentations. I remember when we were little Dad bought some sparklers one year, and we looked at them in the drive way. Recently, I went to a restaurant called Muriales in Fairmont, which served birthday sundaes with sparklers. I just couldn't figure out how the carpet wasn't catching on fire.

One evening we were at Jeanne and Matt's house, Matt got out some sparklers for the kids. He showed us how cool the sparkles were by holding a sparkler in his hand. He said they tickled when they touched his skin.

So, under the watchful eye of two mothers and Matt the girls were allowed to hold the sparklers. They each held a couple of sparklers before a game of tag became more interesting. They chased each other around the yard, until the mosquitoes began to chase us.

The sparklers were a bit of summer magic. They made us smile.

Bethany and Lily

Our concern about Lily has been lifted a bit. Her last trip to vet resulted in great news about her kidneys. They are working fairly well again. We have no idea why they went into failure the first time though. She has developed an eating disorder. She refuses to eat dog food of any kind. She will barely eat any human food. She is no longer the swiper she once was. I could leave a pecan pie in the middle of the floor and leave for eight hours, and it would still be there when I returned. This is such a personality change for our little dog. In the past she has eaten anything that she could steal including a bottle of tums, brillo pads, and a rhubarb pie.

We tried not feeding her anything but dog food as the vet suggested, so that she would eat it instead of waiting for people food. She went four entire days without eating before I gave in and feed her an apple and some eggs on the fifth day. We tried again on vacation to get her to eat dog food. I've tried different brands, different flavors, different textures. I think she would starve herself instead of eating dog food. I could not go four days without eating. I am researching homemade dog food recipes, and heading to the store for ingredients today.

I am just worried about her getting enough of the right nutrients to be healthy. The recipes I found look like they might just solve our dilemma of an animal who won't eat. I am hopeful.