Happy April

April means Charlotte's birthday . . . and that's just what we celebrated on April 20th.  As usual my pictures are not in any order, but they're all great memories and I wanted to share them with my blogger friends.

I drove down to Barb's on Friday night.  Got a little bit of a late start but still got to Barb's before 9:00 p.m.  She even fed me!!!! 

We slept in on Saturday morning.  Barb had an appointment to get a mirror fixed on her car so that was one of the errands we did before the party.  Also got in a little shopping . . . there's always time for shopping!  Before you knew it, it was time to head to the Davis household for a party!

 Grandma with her favorite granddaughter! 

 Check out Charlotte's shirt!  The theme of the party was Daisy Duck! 

 Getting ready to blow out the number 3 candle!  What a cute birthday girl!!!

 She did it!! 

Opening presents is so much fun!!  A present from Mom, Dad & Ollie.

 A hug for Grandma Joy!

 The birthday table.  Doesn't Daisy look great on top of the cake!!  The table was beautiful.  All very colorful.  Purples, pinks, yellow.  Wow.

 Barbie & Ollie.

 There was a craft table for the kids and Charlotte loves crafts!!  She had a great time!

 Grandma and Oliver had a little chat!

 Ollie and his new hat!  Sunday Mandy had a couple of photo shoots so Jim and the kids came over to Barb's for a few hours.  What fun!  Barb presented Ollie with this hat.  So cute.

 Charlotte showing off her driving skills.  Unfortunately she ran right into the mulch, and as Tim said, just like a woman . . . has an accident and leaves the scene.  Jayke was happy to drive Buzz back to the garage.

 Charlotte made Play Dough cookies at Barb's.

 Oliver had a Donald Duck shirt. 

 Cutest grandson in the world!!!  He sure looks like his Daddy.

 Barb and Charlotte worked on crafts on Sunday too.

 Just a little conversation with Grandma.

 My grandkids.  Aren't they beautiful.

One of the things Charlotte likes best when she goes to Barb's is the Disney books.  They spent some time reading stories.  Even got Charlotte to let me take her picture.

It was a great weekend.  It was March weather in April, but then it's been like that all month.  Cake and ice cream for all the guests that attended.  Jim put the trampoline up in the garage and Charlotte, Jayke and Leighton had a great time.  Great Uncle Tim helped out there.  He dumped a bunch of balloons in the trampoline and the kids had a ball trying to throw them out as fast as the adults put them back it.  Great exercise . . . for the kids and the adults!!!  Charlotte got lots of cool gifts.  New clothes, new toys!  Gave Charlotte a few pushes in the swing.  Petey and Odie were left out in the yard.  Thank goodness Jim was out there, Petey is a very friendly dog, but he's a big dog!  Glad Jim gave him a yell or I think I probably would have been on the ground and under Charlotte's swing.  What a BIG pet!!!  Charlotte and I had a great conversation while she was swinging.  She told me that I was Grandma Joy, just grandma.  Deb is Grammie Deb and lives with Papa.  Jackie is Grammie and lives with Papa Frank, but I'm just Grandma Joy.  Told her I was more than happy to be just Grandma Joy! 

A number of us went out for supper together.  We're quite a group when we go someplace.  Ended up on two different tables (back to back) because they couldn't find a big one for all of us!!  Had BBQ at Jerthro's!!  (Did I spell that right?  Probably not, but you get the meaning.)  The children (all of us) were pretty tired!  I slept through a movie I wanted to see and went to bed early.  Took me Kindle with me, but didn't need it.  Went right to sleep!!!!

Sunday Jim and the kids came over for a visit.  What fun.  Ollie slept through the majority of the visit, but Charlotte kept everyone busy.  She loves books and knows just where to find the Disney books at Barb's.  I got to hold the little guy again and spend some time talking to Charlotte.  She made all of us Play Dough cookies!  She's quite the 3-year old.  Love her to death!!  Jim was really tired and took a couple of power naps.  Couldn't have been very comfortable sitting up, but he did it!!!  Got pizza for lunch.  Everybody loves pizza!!  Jim and family left around 3:00 p.m. and so did Grandma.  I love seeing my family, but that really is a long drive.  My butt is always tired by the time I get home!  The drive home was nice.  Traffic was busy on 35 but when I got to 20 it was smooth sailing.  Went to bed early and am still trying to catch up on my sleep!

That was my Charlotte weekend!!  Was fun and got some great pictures for memory books.  Best get at some of them now. 

Down Memory Lane

When Barb was here for the weekend we got to talking about past Easter's (when you get old you do that a lot!!!) So, I went back into some of my pictures that I have scanned and found these. It's just a trip down Easter Memory Lane!

Guess who? Jackson 2008 on Palm Sunday @ Grandma's.

Jackson got a lamb for Easter!

Easter Sunday @ G & G Baade's (1980). Barbie, Beth, Jackson & Jim!

Great Gram Baade, Gram Baade and Grandpa Baade in background!

Easter 2005. My children made dinner!

2005 -- hard at it in the kitchen!

Easter Sunday 1976.

Easter morning 1979. Barbie got a glove!!

Dying Easter eggs (1979).

The children having a great time. (1979)

Jim's first Easter (1976).

Easter Bunny brought Jim some gifts! (1980)

Easter Sunday. (1976)

Easter was celebrated at Barb's place. Beth just found her Easter basket!!

Jim & Ron were happy to show off their prizes!!! Isn't Easter fun??

Wasn't that fun???

Happy Easter!

It was a bautiful Easter for me! Barbara got here around lunch time on Saturday. She always calls before she comes so I asked what she wanted to eat . . . homemade pizza or meatloaf. She took meatloaf hands down!! I think we left two slices leftover for my lunch!! I love having my kids here on weekends! I don't do much cooking with just one and it was fun doing some actual cooking for once!

We did do some furniture arranging. I explained what I wanted to do and we were off. Off to Menard's to find a bigger table for my craft work. Luckily we found a folding 8 foot table that works great. Just gives me more space to add more junk that I use when scrapbooking! We retired my old, tired card table. It was my folks' so you know how old (and beaten up) it looked. I now have all kinds of room for all my goodies! I also have decided I need to invest in some more plastic containers to keep my 'stuff' in. Boxes are great, as long as they are not in sight fo everybody that might see my craft den!! So, that's on the list for the next major shopping trip. I'm sure both Michael's and Hobby Lobby can more than accomodate me!! We also releived the room of a stero set (the CD player won't work anymore) and an old printer that wouldn't print anymore. Next on my agenda is to organize my closet in that room so that I can find things and put them away better. That could be a week's worth of work!!! But it's all finally coming together.

We slept in on Sunday morning and then went to church services at Lord of Life in Asbury. I think I've found a church that I could be very comfortable at. It was crowded (but it was also Easter Sunday) but found a place to sit . . . right next to Valarie Grimm. I haven't seen her for absolutely ages. I had to ask Barb who it was! Talked to her a bit after services. Her family has certainly grown, but then I guess mine has too!!!

We had the traditional Easter dinner. Ham and all the trimmings! Got a little lazy after lunch. I received an early Mother's Day gift from Barb. She bought me some new red dinnerware. I buy and use a lot of Temptations and was looking into buying some dinnerware from them. The pattern I have for my bakeware is pretty busy (and beautiful) and I haven't been able to afford the set from Temptations that I wanted. Barb found me a set of red! They look great and we set the table with it for dinner. The bakeware looks great with them. Wow! What a wonderful gift. Something I use and pratical as well. Thanks so much Barb! Love you very much. You are such a thoughtful daughter!!

Had a wonderful surprise later in the afternoon . . . picked up the phone to my beautiful granddaughter's voice telling me Happy Easter! We had a short conversation about Easter and Daddy's new car! She's a hoot! What a wonderful surprise. Thanks Jim and Mandy for remembering me. I'm anxiously awaiting going to Charlotte's birthday party. My gosh, Charlotte's going to be 3! Time certainly does seem to fly!!!

I actually helped Barb pack her car (she took back the old dishes - garage sale items - a bunch of recycle stuff, some big bag of garbage, and I don't know what all). Glad she doesn't have to drag everything upstairs when she gets home!!! It was a great holiday.

Easter

It's Easter weekend . . . or almost. I am so blessed to have the family and friends that I do. God has been good to me. My daughter is coming 'home' for part of the weekend. She'll spend Saturday and part of Sunday with me. I hope to be able to find a small ham to bake and all the other goodies that go with an Easter Sunday dinner. She suggested that we have leftovers for supper before she leaves for her home. Sounds good to me.

I wish that my son and his family could be with me on a holiday and since this is Easter it would have been so nice to have them here. Mandy is busy on Saturday with a photo-shoot and her brother and his wife will be there. Sunday they wish to go to the church they have been attending. I am hoping that Barb and I can go to Lord of Life here in Dubuque for Sunday services. It's a lot like Hope in West Des Moines, only smaller, of course, but just as friendly and welcoming as Hope.

I truly miss seeing more of my grandchildren, but then I think of some of my friends who get to see their grandkids once or twice a year. Compare my 4 or 5 times a year and I certainly see mine a lot more! Charlotte's birthday will soon be here and I hope to be able to attend her party and maybe spend a little extra time with the rest of the family. Little Oliver is growing so fast! He's such a cutie!!! Guess I better have my camera ready and get some shots for my memory books!

The weather has been wonderful. A little chilly today (we're so spoiled with 75-80 degree weather). It's nice to be able to open the windows and get some fresh air in the house. With Barb coming Saturday I have some extra time to get some forgotten(??) housework done. Have to admit I get a whole lot more done when I know someone is coming to stay! She doesn't know it yet (unless she reads this before she comes) we're moving furniture this weekend! Time for a change.

Blessed Easter greetings to all. God Bless.