Happy Easter!

Family

Last Saturday (April 16) Mandy & Jim celebrated Charlotte's 2nd birthday. They had a party at their home for her and her 2 year-old cousin, Leyton. I think he's 5 days older, I always get that mixed up. I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked to but here are some that I took.

Charlotte opening one of her cards. Mandy had a circus theme for the party so Charlotte's all dressed up for the ball! Isn't she a cutie??

I got Charlotte some summer lawn toys. A sprinkler snake, a new swimsuit (with skirt) and some sunglasses. She tried them on immediately!

Mark, Sandie, Josh, Jerett and new baby, Griffin Starr were at the party too. It was great seeing all of them and I got this great picture of the boys! Isn't Griffin a sweetie? He never woke up once during the whole thing!

I got to hold him. What a thrill! It's been a long time (at least 2 years) since I've held a real little person. He's such a sweet little boy, but I still don't know what color his eyes are??? Glee, myself and Sandie took turns. It was so much fun!

Grandma Sandie and her little darling.

Jim joined the fun with the 'red' nose. There were a lot of them around that day.

Jim and his darling daughter (with her hat!!!).

We had pizza for lunch and Charlotte enjoyed her a lot!

April 3rd I was invited to Glee & Ron's to celebrate??? Beth's birthday. I didn't get any pictures of Beth but I did get this one of Tristan. You ought to see him motor!!!

Grandma's always have time for their grandsons. Glee and her boys.

Jackson likes being in Grandma Glee's lap.

We're back in Urbandale and April 16th. I don't seem to get together with my brother and sister very often so we took the opportunity to have our picture taken together. Sandie you did a great job! I love it.

The pictures are worth a thousand words. And any of you out there that read this blog, if you have some of Charlotte's birthday party would you consider sharing? Just send them in an email to happy4fridays@yahoo.com. I missed a lot of the good stuff.

It was a poopy day for a birthday party, but the Davis house was jumping when Glee and I got there. Jim and Jesse were trying to put a bike together for Charlotte, the little ones were playing under the big top and the adults were congregated around the dining room table. Mandy had a great looking table in the dining room. Lots of goodies to eat!

Jim & Mandy made Charlotte's playroom into a tent. They hung red and white plastic tablecloths from the ceiling down to represent the sides and had banners all over the place. It was really cute. Balloons all over the place. The little ones had a great time. Charlotte and Leyton were both dressed for the circus. Charlotte had her little tutu (red) with a black and white striped tank and a cute little black jacket. Leyton had on red spenders with a big red bow tie and white shirt and black shorts. He was really cute.

We ate a lot of pizza and watched the kids open their gifts. Spent some time visiting with Sandie, Mark and Josh. That was cool. Glee and I left around 1:30 to do some shopping. You know we don't get to the big town very often. Jim called us around 5:30 and wondered what we were doing. I had told him I wanted to take them out for supper and spend a little quality time with all of them. They were all pooped so we decided to just go over for a couple of hours and visit. Jackie was staying the night and there with us. I had a great time with Charlotte. We fed her baby in the kitchen, read a bunch of books and I got kicked out of the chair by my darling granddaughter!! When we left she had pooped out in her Mom's arms. Hope she slept the whole night. It was a big day for such a little girl.

Glee and I headed home (Barb's house) and picked up something to eat and watched some TV before we gave up for the evening. Sunday brought up bright sunshine (finally) so we had to stop and get Glee some sunglasses. We stopped for breakfast and got to Dubuque around 4:00 (I think). Glee helped me drag my stuff upstairs and took off for home. Beth was bringing over the boys' pictures and she didn't want to miss that. We had a nice weekend together. I guess you call that sister bonding!!

I forgot Charlotte's Easter basket here so hope to get it to her this coming week. I have a meeting in Des Moines on Thursday. If nothing else I can leave it at Barb's so at least it will be in the neighborhood. I'm not sure yet if I can stay for the weekend (I'd sure like to). We have federal monitors in the office for our Head Start Program and it will depend on how everything goes Monday - Wednesday. Jim & Mandy were originally going to Chicago for a ballgame on Saturday and Sunday and were going to stop here for a break. I was really looking forward to seeing them here, but maybe some other time.

Happy Easter Everyone! It's spring, time for renewal. God Bless.

MY GRANDDAUGHTER!

Grandma did some shopping and bought Charlotte a CD player. She's busy putting the CD's into it. This is just Charlotte being Charlotte!

Charlotte loves books, but get bored real fast. She'll sit down with you and let you read to her (about 2 pages) and then she says, "Good-Bye." Then you start another book or she's off to find something else to do.

Barbie took her turn reading.

See, she found her own book. Grandma went on a shopping spree and the Elmo book came out of that adventure.

Enjoying her teddy grams and CD player.

Having ice cream after her bath!

We're socializing at the dining room table.

Another book shot!

Charlotte showed me how she changes her baby's pant!! Cute.

Playing with the toys at Barbie's house.

Reading a book at Aunt Barbie's.

Charlotte and her beads from New Orleans!!

February 24 I had a meeting in Des Moines with my Planners group. Since I'm the chairman it's one I don't miss. I usually stay overnight at Barb's and if time permits stay for the weekend. The 24th meeting I had more than enough time in on my timesheet that I was able to stay for the weekend. It was great sleeping in on Friday morning and spending time with my children.

My meeting was over early so I headed to Barb's. I was just settling down for a quick nap when I heard the garage door opening. It was Jim. He ate and I visited with him until he had to go back to work. Barb made supper on Thursday night. She made tacos! They were good! Mandy brought some homemade dipping sauce and it was fun watching Charlotte. She'd ask for a chip, and then demand dip, dip, dip!!

Barb had been in New Orleans a couple of weeks before this visit and brought back Charlotte some beads! She sure had a blast with them. She's such a girlie girl!

Friday I slept in. I remember saying good-bye to Barb and turning over and sleeping some more. It was great. I wanted to do some shopping so headed out for Target, etc. I spent a lot of time and cash at the Ankeny Target. Got Charlotte a couple of outfits, a couple of toys and books. Got some stuff for me too! I don't see her or her parents very often so probably spoil her real good when I do come.

Friday night it was Mandy's turn to cook. She made stuffed shells! Boy were they good. We were welcomed by the dogs and Boomer! That Petey -- he's one big dog and loves attention. And you can't miss him as he's so big already! I gave Charlotte her gifts after supper. She really liked the CD player.

Jim & family were heading for the Omaha area on Saturday so Barbie and I slept in again. When I got up I could already smell the bacon and eggs. We had a leisurely breakfast and took off. Barb had a couple of errands so we took care of them first. It was snowing slightly!! We went to the fairgrounds to a big craft show. I didn't buy a lot but certainly enjoying looking at everything! Talked to a couple at one of the tables and they sent me free passes for the craft fair in Dubuque the first part of April. That was cool! We did more shopping. Barb found some shoes and other things. We spent some time at Valley West Mall. That's a nice mall in Des Moines.

I took laundry, as usual, so finished that up on Sunday morning and headed back to Dubuque after lunch. It was a nice weekend. I hope to do that again soon. Charlotte's 2nd birthday is coming up so I'm sure I'll spend another weekend in the area. Hope the weather is nice. I'm tired of slush, snow flurries and rain. Guess I should be happy with the rain and not ice or anything associated with it. It was a good weekend.