Sshh it's a secret!

I'm in the process of making an anniversary gift for my Grandson and his bride. They were married in August of 2013. I've made several pages for them of the wedding using the pictures taken by my daughter and some of their friends. One of my favorite designers has made the most gorgeous kit for weddings so it inspired me to make them one. It's a huge kit so I can make at least 30 scrapbook pages. Then I'm going to purchase one of those gizmos that you have a slide show with a light behind the moving pictures. Hopefully I can put some music on it as well. I'm not that "tech savvy" but someone will be able to help me from my Thursday Nite gang. The youngsters that come with their parents all come with a lap top of some other device and they line up on the couch and we don't hear a word from them. My internet is wi-fi equipped so they just log in and play games or whatever they do all day long. 

Here's a couple of the pages I've done so far.

Great-grand

son Aayden who wasn't very pleased with all the fussing.

My daughter "Charlie" with her Grand daughter Kadence and a friend of Kaddie's named Sydni.  What a lovely trio of beautiful ladies.

"Charlie" with her Grandson Aayden.

All of these pictures were made with a kit  "Wedding Kit" by Miriam's Scraps. You can find a link to her web site on the side of this blog. Be aware, the kit is HUGE. 

That's it for today.

Families and Trees what a combination!

I didn't have any idea what was going to come rambling out of my brain this morning. It's been 6 days and I've been a little busy.

I'm getting one of the Family Trees ready for a member of that family to take over. I'll still pop in on it now and then but I think Terri will be a good one to give it off to. It does get a bit cumbersome when you start getting back to an era without Birth Control Pills.

Of course in the 1700's we were a land of farmers and a little manufacturing or "mills", so in order to work a few hundred acres you really needed 'free' labor and that could only come from your sons. But with the lack of 'electricity the House Frau needed some help in the washing and cleaning area of keeping a family together. Mostly sewing their own clothes fell to the older of the girls and the middle girls got dishes and washing clothes and making beds. I can relate to a lot of those chores. I was raised without the rest of my siblings in the same house except for a year with my older brother.I remember the washing machine was electric but the rinsing machine was a set of rollers on the end of a tub and it was cranked by hand. It really was a neat way to get the water out of the clothes before carrying the basket out to the clothes lines to hang them up. I've often thought it'd be a great way to roll out Pie dough but never had the courage to do it. My step father's wrath wasn't something I went looking for. That's enough of a history lesson.

We had a lovely Easter Sunday. I went to the 11 o'clock service and then back home. Sunrise service was sort of out of the question.  We went up to Bert's house for cake and she had all of her children (at least those that lived local and her sister-in-law to tell them she was moving in with her daughter Jackie in Idaho/Washington. Two towns that have sort of melded together. Most of us knew already but she wanted a formal announcement.

We didn't see any of the gr-grand kids this Easter. They were at their other grandparents houses for annual egg hunts. I gleaned a few pictures of their events from the facebook pages and I've made some interesting pictures. I'm not completely finished with the pics yet but it's close. I'll have a couple more after today. Here's a good start.

Youngest Great Grandson Aayden looking either ready to cry or just confused! Either way it's a cute face.

Youngest Great Granddaughter Kadence (Kaddie to us) is the pretty little one in front with her two sisters.

Great Grandson Aayden with his Grandpa Erik.

I took the colored eggs from a Dye Fest party and made deviled eggs but I dyed the whites first with food coloring. They were a hit on Thursday nite last week!

I'm off to make some more pictures before I start my monthly chores. This happens the day I get my Social Security check deposited in my bank. Then I pay bills, and get the essentials shopping done..

Have a great day and enjoy the sunchine!

Another Thursday Nite!

It's another Thursday nite and the gang is coming over for a Pot Luck. Tiphony is having a Birthday so she got to pick the menu and guess what "It's Breakfast".  I had Charlie stop by our local Cash & Carry" for a gallon can of Sausage Gravy to go with the biscuits I purchased and will bake this afternoon about 6pm (I guess you can call that early evening). Yesterday I peeled some hard boiled eggs for deviling. Before I made the yoke stuff, I dyed the whites so it's quite a pretty sight. I'll make an Easter page with the picture of the egg tray.

The table where every one put the eggs they brought to the "Dye Fest 2014" and then we turned the kids loose with the cups and dyes.

Zakiah is really enjoying this coloring activity. I'm guessing he colored the most of the many dozen eggs that were on the table.

Greg  is trying to find the 6 dozen eggs he put there for dying but not all are finished yet.!

This is the dozen I took minus a few so I cooked some more for what I wanted to do. After deviling the yokes I dyed the white halves and placed them in my pretty tray.

I've finished making Scrapbook pages of the pictures and posted them on FaceBook for my friends and my family on the East Coast and some in Texas. Now I think I'll look for a scrapbook kit for my grandnephew's prom picture. What a handsome young man he is. He's been accepted at a couple of the Ivy League schools but hasn't yet made his decision. 

Until the next time. God Bless our troops where ever they are.

What have I been doing.

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything for more than a week. I know how I get when I start on a new "Family Tree". I don't want to do anything else until I get some substance to the tree. The tree I'm working on is for my Great Grand daughter's mom. I was pleasantly surprised to find the name's origins. Would you believe Skeens comes from the "Clan Skene" in Scotland? I found a lot of information and have put together a nice little book for her. Found some pictures of her gr grandfather which she has never seen (at least I don't think she has). I printed out a lot of pages with information on the families and put it together in a notebook which I will give her next week when they come for lunch with Grandma Charlie and myself (I'm Nana) and I love the name.

I've posted on FB but not very much. And I've been checking my friend Kyra, (designer With a Russian Dutch Heart) and today I was delightfully surprised over on her blog.. She told us about a group on the So you think you can dance show in Holland and she posted the links to their u-tube videos. The kids had a group first and the Dads got to thinking they could do it too. So they did.  And because I enjoyed them so much I'm posting the links here also. Well I'm having trouble getting the links to work. All I can say is go to U-tube and look for "The Daddies". They are really a hoot!

Tonight is Thursday and it's backyard BBQ night. We have a pretty good sized grill and my Grandson and my daughter's boyfriend will be doing the grilling with the help of the other guys. Two weeks ago we had a crowd of 30 people and last week it was almost as large.  The neighbors have started to ask us to have them park a little ways away from the house and walk up. Being at the tip of a cul-de-sac makes for tight parking.  We'll see how it goes. We might have to move it somewhere else but in a few weeks it'll be time for "Live at Five" which is live bands at the park in front of the Federal bldg and everyone goes there with a picnic basket. There's a beer garden and a couple of vendors for hot dogs etc but our group like to take their own picnic basket.

Well my oldest grand daughter is moving to Wyoming this weekend which is a little closer to me but then in about 6 weeks after that they plan on moving to Las Vegas. i can't figure out what's going on but I'll be happy to have my Olivia a little closer.

Here's a couple of my favorites of Olivia!

Olivia's first Birthday before we went to her party.

Olivia at the town hall. She found the dirt flower bed and climber up to get a better view.

Olivia is growing up so fast. This is last November.

This is my youngest Grand daughter when she still lived in Alabama. Now she's in college and all grown up.

That's all for today.

What's Going On!

Not too much. Charlie and I went down the road to the Walla Walla VA Medical Center for a visit at the eye clinic. It seams that the cataract in the right eye has gotten twice as bad as it was in November so they put in the consult for the Surgery at the Spokane VA Hospital. Surgery is scheduled for 22 May with a pre-op appointment on 21st of May at 9:45 in the morning.  Guess we'll be getting up early that morning for the 120 mile drive up to Spokane. The clinic will get us a motel room for the Wed & Thurs nights and then a post-op appointment at 8:AM on the 23rd for the drive back. I will be covered with a bandage  so I guess I won't be seeing too much going back. Will have to enjoy the ride up there. I'm really glad to be getting this over with. It's really frustrating not being able to see real well what I'm doing on the computer.

And then in April we will be going to Seattle VA Hospital for an exam there for a 'gyn' problem that does need to be fixed. That one will be a couple of days in hospital I think. Don't know for sure. Hopefully after both of these visits the rest of the summer will be smooth sailing.

My grand daughter Bridgit is moving to Wyoming next week and will be staying there with her "Dad" and then sometime this summer they will all be moving to Las Vegas suburbs to start up a new business. Not too sure what but I'm sure it'll include her photography. She is an excellent photographer and I enjoy taking her pictures and making scrapbook pages of them.

This one is done with a kit from Raspberry Road. They went hiking up one of the mountains in the Grand Junction area and took the camera. What a beautiful picture with her daughter.

Darling Olivia was 9 years old in December and Bridgit just got the pictures to me. She looks like she was enjoying herself.

Last week I also posted many pictures of the family in Grand Junction. I sure miss them.

That's all for today. Got a couple of chores to get done and by then it'll be time for a little nappy!

A new book that is an easy read for the younger set!

Here's a web sight for a couple I know. They have a new book out for kids. Working on expanding the idea and she is already starting on a second. book. Check it out: http://www.surfsharks.com/SURF_SHARKS/Surf_Sharks_Home.html

If it doesn't work as a link, just copy and paste it in. You'll be amazed at the artwork. He has an emmy for some of his work. His bio is on the page.  Meet Chance Wolf and his wife Shelly Wolf. She writes and he draws. He has some video's on u-tube.

Good weather except for the wind.

It isn't raining or snowing. It isn't very cold, just cool but the breezes make it seem colder. The wind has blown the Gazebo curtains I have around the back porch up and over the roof. Most of them have been really tattered by the strong winds we have up here in Washington. Almost as strong as the "Hot Air" blowing around the other Washington. Just venting.

Thursday nights pot luck was a sort of grilling.

Saturday night was the first Spring BBQ at Connie's in the back yard. No hot dogs or hamburgers. but some Chicken KaBobs that were really good and baked beans with some salads. It was pretty good too. I made a pot of sticky rice just because I like to contribute something and that was real easy for me. I have been having trouble with my lungs in all this wind. This BBQ was on the back patio so I was in a bit of trouble so I left early and came home. They sent me pictures and I did up a couple of them. One went through PhotoShop and PhotoScape both. It started out looking like his face was covered with bees but I managed to get it cleaned up quite a bit. Here's the finished product.

You can hardly tell the guy on the left had quite a distortion. That one is Marc and the other one is Eddie.

Wednesday was a better day for pictures. It was my second daughter Denise's 50th birthday and her friends gave her a little finger food party. Leslie the lady in charge gets a little wild with the camera but there are many good pictures and I'm going to post some of them here. 

Denise & her Niece Bridgit

Bridgit & Leslie (the Hostess)

I really like this quick page so I tucked Denise into it.

My Great Grand daughter Olivia with her Aunty. Needless to say, Olivia is character.

A page I made for Denise called Then & Now. She was about 1 yr in the b/w and 50 in the other one.

Another good picture of Denise.

Denise's party guests and her cake.

Great Grand daughter Olivia with Leslie's two LabraDoodles (Moose and Mojave) with her new admirer Henry!

A close friend of Denise's Jeanette.

Of course I have pictures of Olivia. She's easy to work with.

I think she wants one of these.

I have given credit on the pictures of the maker of the kit I used when I knew it. There are places on the net where you can find graphics to use but no one to say thank you to. If anyone recognizes their work please accept my thanks and enjoy my pictures.

Time to take a break now. Excuse any typos...not feeling too chipper.