Yaya's Doodles

Valentine Party

2012-02-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

The treats

Waiting for party!

Bingo....love Daniel's excitement!

Tic-tac-toe

Boys! They spent 30 minutes playing with this.

The art!

More art!

The girls were busy!

Love bugs!

Today we had a great Valentine party. Daniel decided he wanted to be at this one, and though he was a little bored, he did a great job playing with the kids. We played Valentine Bingo that I found here (thank you Pinterest). It was perfect for my 3-6 year olds. We then played Tic-Tac-Toe that I found here. The girls moved on to our art projects while the boys kept playing their version. Daniel made it challenging by going way far away from the board. I really didn't pay too much attention to exactly what they were playing....all I know is they had a good time and Jamison was having fun. A co-worker had given me a container of Love Bug stickers. I had used the die cut machine at work and cut out a bunch of hearts from some of my stash of scrap book paper (making sure I had a few sparkles in there). I had the idea for them to make creatures (thinking Jamison would like that) from the heart shapes, but the girls were more interested in just making pictures. I printed off this for the kids to use the Love Bug stickers. We are going to do this for preschool too. The last art project was painting with a mixture of shaving cream/school glue/red paint. It makes it puffy. Jamison did do a little art project using the hearts and making monsters with lots of googlie eyes and large mounds of glue for the nose and mouth.
We came upstairs and had grilled cheese sandwiches on heart plants, their choice of chips and special soda. I bought the half size Wal-mart brand lemon-lime soda, opened it and put one drop of food coloring in it and it made it pink. They thought that was cool.
Yesterday I made some treats. I took a double heart cookie cutter, made rice krispie treats, adding some pink food coloring and molded them. I used this idea, though I didn't use strawberry marshmallows, for marshmallow pops. The favorite was the pretzel/Hershey Kiss/M&M treat. Everyone went home with a ballon, marshmallow pops, their plates and cups. It is so much fun being Yaya. It is always a little bitter sweet.....I don't get to do these things with my Utah Brewers. I think a "Party in a Box" needs to head their way this week. Daniel was upset the littlest Bell didn't come but I made sure she had a ballon, plate and cup. We will include her in our Easter party. Happy Saturday!

Felt Obsession

2012-01-26T17:14:00.000-08:00

5 Little Penguins

5 Eskimos

Felt.....I have never been a huge fan. I haven't enjoyed working with until lately. A co-worker started bringing in these cute felt board figures and so it began. I recently made these eskimos and penguins for our unit at preschool on Artic Animals. These turned out adorable. I am not sure why the single ones are turned the wrong way....they are not that way when I look at them on Windows Explorer. Next up on the felt board figures.....a train. Transportation is our unit next week.

Baby Shirts

2012-01-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

Check out these cuties! These are on long sleeve body suits. A pink owl is next. These are definitely going on Etsy! I made these for a friend's new grandson.

Second Annual Gingerbread House Party

2011-12-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

The Process

Proud Paige

He was excited!

The back side of Sisi's.

Papa had pictures to describe his creations.

Jill had the "real" gingerbread house - cool roof.

The Village

We decorated gingerbread houses last year and we enjoyed it so much I decided I want to make it a tradition. I still haven't figured out how to include our Utah Brewer's in the fun, but I am open to ideas. I fixed invitations and handed them out on Thanksgiving. The goal was to get my single adult kids on a day they wouldn't be working and catch Jason in town. We figured on the second Sunday in December. The grand kids asked me every time they saw me was time for the party yet. I made a made list of the candy I thought we would like and still forgot plenty. I am saving on the computer and adding the things we wished we would have had so hopefully we will do better next time. I spend several weeks, everytime I went to the grocery store collecting the candy.

I used Wilton boards I bought at Joann's in a pack for the base. I believe they were 10" circles. I used 2 boxes of graham crackers for the houses, but wished I would have gotten 3 because I had to piece a couple of walls in a few houses. There is always breakage in the packages. I used Royal Icing from Wilton for the cement for my houses. I doubled or tripled the recipe, and we almost ran out. I need to quadriple it next year. I built all the houses the night before.

Everyone came straight here after Church that day, we had a quick, but nice lunch of French dip sandwiches, chips, and a salad. Rick asked what dessert I was fixing....who needs dessert when you are going to be decorating houses and eating candy?

The best part was, though we missed her, Zoë slept through the whole thing. 16 month olds and a project like this, just don't mix!

Hint: I don't every decorate- though I keep planning to do mine ahead of time- you really need one person to be the helper, especially with the children. The parents helped the children too, but I like watching and seeing everyone...plus someone needs to document the fun! Merry Christmas!

Turkey Shirts

2011-11-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

Here is my fun project I am have been working on for the grandkids. I made a different one for Jamison and forgot to take a picture. I am sitting here looking at Caleb's and wishing I had done it differently, Oh well! Next time. Gobble, Gobble.

DUH!

2011-10-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

It's official......I am old and senile!. I looked at the dates from my September Post thought it was from a year ago. So sad.......just wanted you to know.....that I knew it!

Halloween Party

2011-10-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Wow! A whole year since I posted last! I promise- there has been lots of fun with Yaya around here....I will have to find some pictures.

My friend has a Halloween Party every year with her grandkids and the pictures look like such fun. So I decided to start that tradition. We had the First annual Halloween Party at Yaya's house. We decided not to invite Zoë - but she was missed. I especially missed Miss Claire! She would have made the party perfect.

We played Monster Bingo with MandM's, made a picture with Halloween foamies, played pin the Spider on the Web, made stuffed bats, read a Halloween book, ate candy, etc. Here are some pictures of the kids with their scariest face and the Dracula cape. I wish I had put make-up on them....next year....we will do costumes and decorate graham cracker Haunted Houses!

Family Pictures

2011-09-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

4 Generations of Brewers...Caleb carries the line.

A visit with Great Grandma and Great Deda.

My wonderful children...being them.

The Bells.

Jill.

Jacob

Just us 3 left in the house. Our "family".

The Utah Brewers.

Feet

2011-09-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

So Paige came up to me at the beach and put her feet together with mine and we took a picture. Paige was at the house last week for Daniel's birthday and we had matching flip flops, so she wanted a picture. The things a Yaya will do! Anything for that girl....and the rest of them too.

Beach Time

2011-09-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

The birthday boy...the one with the balloon..he dug into the cupcake! It was wonderful to be with him on his big day!

Jockey's Ridge right before a storm. The sky was unbelievable and breeze even better. Great kite flying.

Bodie Island Lighthouse...Jacob was hoping I could capture the picture like he was holding the lighthouse....I obviously didn't!

The whole crew. The picture isn't my favorite but people sure are! Wow do I feel blessed!

Uncle Daniel with Claire.

The one year olds....they were a busy pair but I enjoyed watching them be together.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse from the bottom and 248 steps later.

Papa in full "attire".

Loved spending time with these 2. I could eat them up. I saw a picture of Caleb/Bubba from the beach and proceeded to cry for the next 2 hours....I miss them.....

I want address being a slacker about blogging. I did want to share some pictures from our trip to the Outer Banks. We had everyone together for the first time in 4 years. We have added 4 new little ones since the last time. We have been together, just not every single person in the same place at the same time.

We went to Nags Head just before Hurricane Irene hit. Some places we visited will not be the same. We had a great time and I know it will be a while before we are all together again. I am glad I have pictures to savor the moment.

Yaya Week Part 1

2011-05-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

She was dressed for success.
Daniel rang the bell!

He made it pretty far for having crocs on.

Bowling with little balls.
Making brownies.
Making suckers.

To say that I haven't blogged in awhile might be an understatement. I am grateful Katie blogs every week - or I would miss out!

Laura and Jason took a little trip a few weeks ago and I got to keep the big kids - they took Zoë. We had a great time (I did at least- they might say it was "boring" - who knew they would know that word so young?). Sisi went to a birthday party during a bad thunderstorm - and Jamison, Paige and I went to Old McDonald's for lunch. It rained the hardest going out of McDonald's and retrieving Sisi from her party. I was drenched (she had an umbrella). Monday we went to Funnigan's with some passes Laura had for us. The kids had a blast. Tuesday we went to Reynolda (I confess-I have never been) and walked around the trails and pond, saw turtles, played in the creek, had leaf races, saw underwear in a tree - what more can you ask for? Here are a few pictures.

My card was full so I didn't get pictures of our big "adventure".

Yaya week part 2 coming soon.

A few more pictures

2010-10-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

I meant to find this one this summer after seeing the video of Claire in the pool. Claire is definitely her Daddy's child....and don't blame me.....blame Papa! Joseph was between 16 and 18 months here. He had no fear and even went off a high dive with his daddy.

Here are a few more when he was just a little older....not very much older.

My Squishy Face Boy

2010-10-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

What do you think? Does he look like his Daddy?(I don't know how to get them side by side.)

Please notice the too tight paper shirt. They finally realized they
needed to get him a bigger shirt.
So I have been meaning to dig out some pictures of Joseph so we can compare "squishy faces". Here are a few.

My Super Men

2010-10-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

We took a quick trip to St. Louis (Edwardsville, IL) to see Joseph, Katie, Claire and new baby Caleb. We stopped at a rest stop in Metropolis. Daniel came running out telling me to get my camera (couldn't imagine why). In the end Rick and Daniel took pictures of each other. They were cute....it was in the middle of the night, I think around 2am or something.

Recycled

2010-10-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

I have tons of things I should blog about....lots of fun things from the summer, especially 2 new babies, Zoe and Caleb....but not today.

I had a long list of projects this summer and didn't get to most of them....but this week I was able to check one off the list. I needed a new bag for preschool to take our First Aid kit, etc. out to the playground.

I couldn't find a picture of the original apron - but I turned it into a bag. My class is the Busy Bees, and I had been wearing this apron at work, but it wasn't working for me. I left the cute pockets on, used the straps from the apron for the handles, put some different gingham to line it and put a pocket on the interior made from the bodice of the apron.

I was pleased...what do you think?

Summer Fun

2010-07-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

Rick and Daniel left for a week of Boy Scout Camp on July 4th. I spent the evening with some of my favorite people to watch the fire works. The Bell family met some friends and let me tag along.

We are having a great summer. I have worked one week and will work another one starting tomorrow. We have been going to the pool a couple times a week, Daniel is playing golf some every week - with that picking up to several days a week. I have been walking everyday with my 70 something neighbor and even though it is still very hot at 7:00 am, it still does a body (and mind) good!

I have been cleaning out and have only scratched the surface - or I should say not even began to scratch the surface. I sold a bunch of fabric on Craigs List and then Laura and I went to Ikea one day and I got some cool things. I have more pictures to post another day.

Spring Break

2010-05-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

Rick took a day off and we went camping at Jordan Lake near Raleigh for one night and two days. The weather was perfect. Laura and the children joined us for a day. It was very relaxing just being outside. The boys did a little of unsuccessful fishing and Daniel rode his new bike a lot. I rode mine some and we even have a picture of Papa(Rick) riding. One of the children, and I can't remember which now, said Papa rode better because he "wiggled" when he rode.

More birthday

2010-05-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

Family and friends came for our party and it was fun. Laura and Jason always do a party up just right! Rick did this amazing "cake" for me. He took a vegetable steamer for the grill, turned it upside down and then taped some of my favorite candies all over it. It was very creative. I think he said it "came to him in a dream".

Catching Up!

2010-05-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

Slacker is my name when it comes to blogging. I seem to spend too much time in front of the computer for various other reasons..so sitting down to blog just doesn't happen. But several milestones were missed and need to be noted. Laura had a party for Rick and I as we celebrated new decades for our birthday. It is official, Laura put up a sign to prove it....we are both older than dirt now.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T16:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all. I enjoy Valentine's Day even though most don't. We had fun at preschool decorating bags and singing songs about hearts and valentines. Two year olds don't "get it" but still think it is lots of fun. I have asked the 3 "boys" in my house to give me a "hug a day" all week. We will see how they do!

Snow 2010

2010-02-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

Laura was in much need of "fresh air" so she went out and shoveled her driveway. Daniel came to help, he had already done two others that day.

Three Fridays in a row it has snowed and even Daniel said this week...."I'm tired of the snow." When Joseph and Katie were here at Christmas and we had that big snow, we didn't get a snowman made, so after much whining (on my part), Daniel talked me into going out and helping him make one. I also did some sledding down the side hill in our yard. There wasn't anyone but Daniel to notice my effort...which was just as well. It surely wasn't very graceful. The snow has been pretty and I have enjoyed some forced time at home, but I am ready for warm weather and sunshine. I got caught up on some projects, made 3 cute reversible jumpers for the girls and am continuing my d-junking efforts around the house. It is a slow and steady job but hopefully by the end of 2010 it will look better around here.

Children's Museum

2010-01-31T10:52:00.001-08:00

Sierra being a dog.

Where's Paige?

Sierra's on a Dig.

In Winston Salem we have a great Children's Museum. We made a trip there while Claire and company were here.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-31T10:30:00.000-08:00

I am delinquent in posting about our fun Christmas. We almost had everyone home and were sad Jill couldn't join us. We so enjoyed our time with Joseph, Katie and Claire. In December I asked the family to send me their wish lists for me to compile and send back out to everyone. On Daniel's list he wanted snow and to go skiing while JW and family were here. It started snowing on Friday afternoon before Rick was to go to Raleigh to pick up our BYU crew. Their plane was late and the drive home that normally took 1 hr and 15 took 2 1/2. They made it safely. Daniel was so excited that Joseph and Katie brought the snow (they had his name this year). Joseph played outside throwing snowballs, sledding and cleaning off the neighbor's driveway. After Christmas the kids all went skiing (except Katie, who was under the weather). I saw a paper Daniel wrote after Christmas for school and he said it was the "BEST DAY EVER". I regrettably didn't have anyone take a picture of all of us. I got a new Camera for Christmas so I can take pictures again. Thanks L & J! Daniel and I also each got bikes. He has been anxious for us to go on a big ride, but I can't make it up the hill going around the block. It will take some time and the weather isn't cooperating. Some of our Christmas activities: FREEZING ride through the Festival Lights, Christmas at Grandmama and Deda's with the Smith's, the kids had a sibling game night, the married kids went to Grandmama and Deda's for dinner, the kids went skiing, breakfast with the Brewer side of the family, and a trip to the Children's Museum. I cooked a lot and we all ate a lot and just had a grand time. My favorite part was watching all the grandkids playing together. The Bells loved playing with Claire.

More pictures

2010-01-03T07:22:00.001-08:00

Laura Pictures

2010-01-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

Our first family picture

Laura loves her Daddy!
I was clueless didn't think to provide her with real dress up clothes.

"My Baby Laura"

2010-01-03T06:44:00.000-08:00

My life lately is "a day late and a dollar short" as someone used to say. I have to end my year of blogs by telling "Laura's story". Her birthday was December 1, so better late than never, right?

Because Rick was OLDER when we got married, we immediately wanted to have a baby. It seemed to take forever....we were married 2 1/2 years when Laura was born and I was almost 21! Yea, forever is relative when you are young and clueless! We were so excited.

We had decided to wait to buy most things until after my baby shower. Laura wasn't due until December 14th and my shower was scheduled for the 5th. Plenty of time. We had been at Mom's for Thanksgiving I believe and I had just gotten a perm. I don't think you are supposed to do that in your last month...but again, I was clueless. I have quite the frizzy curly hair in hospital pictures. (not seen here). I started having contractions at 1:00 am or so Monday morning, we went to the hospital around 5 I think and I was dilated to 8 about 10 am when I was begging for an epidural. Laura was posterior or sunny side (she was coming out face up instead of face down) so they needed to turn her. Thank goodness I had the medicine first! What I do no now that I didn't know then, if I would have waited 10 minutes for the medicine, she probably would have popped out! Maybe not since she was sunny side. Laura was born around 1:00pm, which wasn't bad for a first delivery. Laura was 8lbs and 12 oz.

About the time Laura was born I had several friends who had lost babies and I was a little petrified. I used to go in and put my finger next to her nose so I could feel her breathing. I struggled with the whole nursing thing because my Mom didn't nurse any of us. At 2 weeks Laura weighed 6 lbs and something! My milk had never really come in and Laura had been born with a lot of fluid and she slept a lot. It took about a month longer to get my milk to come in and get her back where she needed to be. It was scary! I don't think there were the great books out that there is now that would have helped me.

Laura survived despite her parents! She had several close calls as a young child that we were blessed to have positive outcomes: high fevers, car door that flung open while riding down the highway, tasting oil, stitches and then several others when she was a teenager. Laura has been a spiritual giant most of her life. She has taught her parents many life lessons and character building experiences.

We had some rocky years while Laura was a teenager and it didn't help that when Laura was between 16 and 17 that I was pregnant with Daniel. Too many hormones in the same house. I do believe that while I was pregnant, though, I was given an extra sensitivity to the Spirit and had many promptings that made a difference. We survived those rocky years and I am blessed with a wonderful daughter and a wonderful friend. Laura amazes me everyday with her incite, spirituality, and grace. She is a great wife and mother and a beautiful daughter of God.

I love you Laura and feel so blessed that the Lord sent you to our home.

More Jacob

2009-11-01T12:24:00.001-08:00

Jacob was (and is) quite a cutie. To say that he was challenging as a little boy, would be putting it mildly. I was always one step to slow!

Jacob's Story

2009-11-01T12:02:00.001-08:00

Jacob turned 22 two weeks ago. My how time flies when you are old! Jacob was my first "baby" of the family and held that title for almost 10 years. He evidently still resents having his spot taken...but he needs to get over it!

Jacob was number 4. We moved to a bigger house in Clemmons that gave the kids more room to play. Rick worked furniture market twice a year where he was essentially gone for a month with premarket, market and post market cleaning for this one building. I had two deliveries where I barely made it to the hospital. Jacob wasn't due until Halloween, which was after market, but I had a history of going early. Rick didn't carry a pager or anything, so I generally had no way of getting in touch with him when he was in this building working. His dad kindly let him borrow his pager...which was helpful. It gave me peace of mind. I had changed doctors after Joseph so I had Dr. Anderson all primed for a quick delivery. On the day Jacob was born and it was during furniture market, I was having contractions all day and about the middle of the day, I felt my water was leaking. I hadn't done that before, but I paged Rick and got him to come home. The Dr. sent us on to the hospital in the early afternoon thinking we would be delivering pretty quick. This is where we learned how my labor really works. I had hard contractions, about 15 minutes a part....for quite a while (until time to push). I finally got to an 8 and my Dr. comes in and says he needs to take his father home (they had made a quick stop by!) and he would be right back. He no sooner got out of the hospital when I started needing to push. Thank goodness he lived close! He barely made it back to catch Jacob. Jacob was born on October 19th weighing in at 9lbs. 7 oz. I had gestational diabetes with him (and Joseph and Daniel) and even though I dieted correctly...he still was a good size. I have great memories of Jacob as a little boy. He did add to my gray hair though. At 18 months he could open all my doors and leave....and sometimes did. We had to put locks on everything....including the refrigerator. His favorite game was to take the eggs out and watch them break on the floor! I remember tying the front door closed because he had gotten up in the night and opened it and I thought he had gone outside! If you gave Jacob a handful of keys, he would figure out which went to what lock. He got into the vehicles a couple of times and used keys to knock them out of gear. I knew the Lord had a great work for him....because we didn't lose him when he was young. Jacob found out about the tooth fairy and thought it would be a great "get rich quick" idea. After he lost one of his front teeth, he forced the other one out. He didn't have any top teeth for a year! He found a dog skull in the woods and told his dad he was going to pull those teeth and collect money from the tooth fairy.

I am grateful for Jacob. He has provided much laughter and joy over the years with his quick wit. When Jacob was little he would read the encyclopedias at night. He has a great spirit, a great heart and great skill. I love you Jacob.

Daniel Meet Jenna

2009-11-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

I am not sure if this was really the first time Daniel and Jenna Hansen met, but it was pretty close. It was a shower for baby Jenna. I do remember Daniel being very jealous of Jenna with his Kathy. Kathy had a built in car seat that he usually sat in, and when we got in Kathy's car and Jenna was in it, he through a fit! It has been fun to watch them be good buddies. Now they are grown, (or they think they are) and are still friends.

Baby Daniel

2009-11-01T11:54:00.000-08:00

Daniel's first Halloween! So cute! I see some Bell baby similarities. Remember the chair incident? Daniel climbed through one of our ladder back chairs and we couldn't get his head out, so Rick had to saw a leg off.

Daniel's Story (belated)

2009-11-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

So I got ready to blog about Jacob's birthday and realized I had totally skipped Daniel (which says a lot about my state of mind when it was his birthday....August 29). So I am here to repent and tell his story.

Rick and I were open to having another baby starting when Jacob was 5 or so. It didn't happen, so we figured we were done. Around Christmas time one year I was walking through the house picking up toys and the spirit whispered, "You're going to have another baby" and I remember thinking..."wouldn't that be funny". You see, Jacob had just turned 9 and Laura had just turned 16, and I really thought we were done at this point.

So life went on and I didn't give another thought. I was teaching preschool 2 days a week and working in an office for CES every other minute the kids were in school. This was also the year Joseph's baseball and football teams had done so well and there had been tons of extra games in both seasons so they overlapped. Rick and Joseph had been to Florida for the Pop Warner Superbowl. It had been a crazy year! We had some teenagers who were pushing our buttons, to add to the mix. In February I was having all this trouble with my stomach and my hormones were a little out of control. I was tired all the time (I attributed it to my schedule, adding girls going to seminary, etc.). I took a work trip to Charlotte and wore lose clothes the whole time and even ate Mexican and my stomach didn't bother me. My clothes weren't fitting too well, but I wasn't gaining weight. I mentioned this to a friend who said...are you pregnant.....No...I think I am beginning menopause though. I came home from the trip and she met me at a cub scout function with a brown paper bag. She told me to take it home and take "the test" the next day. And I did........the rest is history, so to speak. Daniel was due September 18.

We had a ward picnic/FHE at Joanie Moser Park on a Monday night. One of the boys set my chair up for me...one of those old style beach chairs that the sections folded a bunch of different ways and evidently didn't quite get the leg up just right, so when I sat down I fell hard to the ground. It was only 6 inches are so, but when you are pregnant....that is a ways. I never felt quite right after that. On Thursday night we sat the family down and had a big name discussion. Evidently, even though Rick and I had successfully named 4 children, we weren't capable of naming this one by ourselves. I had had my first ultrasound and we new it was a boy. After much discussion (I wanted Caleb) Daniel Blake was decided upon. I finished covering the car seat with a new cover that night....I still had 3 weeks to go. Contractions started and the water started leaking and we got Laura up about 5:00 and headed into the hospital. Daniel was born at 7 something Friday, August 29. When I called my boss, Gary Delozier to tell him I wouldn't be at work....he teased me about being in the delivery room, and I had the pleasure of having a great come back---the baby was already here!

While I was pregnant with Daniel I had many choice spiritual experiences that were life saving and life altering concerning the rest of my children. It was a testimony to me of the Lord's tender mercies during trying times. I know Daniel was sent to our family when my other children were 17, 15, 12 and 10 because they needed him then. We have all been blessed by having him in our family....and continue to be daily. I love you Daniel.

Trick or Treat Bags

2009-09-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Check out these cute "Trick or Treat Bags". My children had some similar that are still used today (20 +) years later...so talk about "going green". They are lined with a contrasting Halloween print. The Black and Orange pumpkin is lined with a candy corn print. The Purple pumpkin is lined with orange and while dots. The bags measure approximately 14 x 10 inches with a 19 inch handle. These are for sale, so e-mail me at yayasdoodles@gmail.com if you are interested. FYI- these are not listed on my Etsy site.

Stay Tuned

2009-09-19T16:55:00.001-07:00

I really thought I had blogged sometime last month....but it is not showing up. Hmmm......well I am going to change the focus of my blog a little and get back to my first intention of starting one. So stay tuned and give me your feedback as I go along.

Garrett

2009-07-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

Guiding Garrett
Yaya loves Garrett
Garrett Douglas Bell
I have wanted to blog about these last 2 1/2 weeks, but there are still so many emotions. I am grateful for an all knowing and all wise Heavenly Father. I am so grateful to have met Garrett, had the opportunity to hold him and see his touch among so many. As his Yaya, I feel privileged that this precious, perfect spirit was allowed to join us for even a brief time. Watching his parents before and during his birth and short life, and since his passing has been an inspiration. I feel blessed to have raised such a daughter and more blessed that she found Jason.

More Jill Pictures

2009-07-05T13:34:00.001-07:00

I thought at first these were the same "accident" but obviously not. I don't remember how she hurt the first one, but definitely remember the older one.
I put this one in so you could see how skinny the Mama is.

Jill talks about how much she loves the beach. This is her first experience. It wasn't love at first sight.

All of my older pictures of Jill have been given to her to put in her memory books. Her facial expressions remind me of Sierra and Paige. Claire makes a lot of faces too, they remind me more of the ones Jacob always made.

We are so grateful that we were allowed to raise Jill!

Happy Belated Birthday Jill!

2009-07-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

First day home from the hospital: 6 days old
I did wish her happy birthday on her day.....but she kind of got lost in the events of the week....her cake was finally iced on Friday and that is the way it went. We love you Jill! With each child is a story and Jill has hers. About a month before Jill was born, I went to the hospital and stayed several hours, dilated to 2 and then they sent me home. Jill is child #2, but we were still clueless about what my labors were REALLY like.

They day Jill was born, July 1 1982, we had unexpected company that day who stayed for awhile. I had some canning to do and they had a lively bunch of children. I had been having contractions all morning, the kind that sent me to my knees when standing, but they were sporadic and not close at all. The company finally left and Rick and I had a huge fight about canning some beets. I believe he even called my mother to tell me to go lay down. So I did go lay down. It wasn't long until I was suddenly feeling the urge to push. (With Laura, she was sunny side, I had an epidural and had to be told when to push....never had the "feeling"). We called the Dr. and they had said come in but by the time we could get someone to the house (I can't remember now if it was Peggy Cranford or Phyllis Mecham who came), we were on a fast track to the hospital. Jill was born 20 minutes after we left home! That was scary! 9lbs., 2 oz. That was drama enough for one birth....but Jill likes drama....so that wasn't enough for her.

The next day when Jill wasn't quite 24 hours old, they brought her to me from the nursery and I noticed she seemed a little cold and blue on one side.....I didn't say anything....probably should have. (This next part isn't for the faint of heart, or stomach). She didn't want to wake up to nurse, I was jostling her back and forth trying to get her awake, when she gagged and threw up this huge blood clot. The rest is kind of blurry...but she kept on throwing up blood, they took her away and Rick followed them. She evidently then began to ooze blood rectally as well. Rick quickly got on the phone calling to find someone to come help him give her a blessing and those that were closest, we couldn't get hold of, but he did get Phyllis and Vern Mecham. Phyllis wheeled me into the ICU where they were giving Jill a blood transfusion with a hand pump as Rick and Vern began to give her a name and a blessing. The nurses thought they were baptizing her. She passed a huge amount of blood as I sat at her feet. We thought we were going to lose her. At that time the NICU was at Baptist in the fore runner to Brenner's Children Hospital. The last blood she bleed was while I was at her feet before they transferred her. Rick has his own experience with a prayer he had before giving her that blessing. As he prayed for guidance and comfort, he says he could feel the Lord's arm around him, letting him know, come what may, it would be all right. And it was. One of many great blessings for me was that my VT companion, Nancy Ray Goodyear worked in the NICU. It gave me great comfort and helped us when we needed to understand what was going on. They called her experience an "Upper GI Bleed" and treated her with Maalox! She was the biggest baby in that unit. It was sad to see some of those little ones and some had been there a long time. We knew then that Jill has a great work to do. And she has done many great things and still has lots to learn and accomplish. We love you Jill!

Utah!

2009-06-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

My camera is on the fritz again - so I don't have pictures from the last couple of weeks. I finally finished Claire's quilt (yeah!) and it turned out well, if I do say so myself. For my birthday, Laura and Jason were kind enough to give me a ticket to fly to Utah for a week to see Joseph, Katie and Claire. It was a great week. I had some down time from the whirl wind of the end of preschool and before the whirl wind of Daniel's last week of elementary school. I am becoming an old pro at the flying thing....no flutters as the plane took off and landed this time. I was most excited that I could take some crocheting on the plane. I finished a swaddling blanket for Garrett and another one to sell!

Claire was so much fun. I so enjoyed getting to know her little personality. She is crawling and is everywhere. She really likes to stand up best and she gets to her feet on her tippy toes. That unfortunately means she falls sometimes and usually bonks her head. One time Katie pointed to the back of her head as she crawled away from us and it was covered in little red places where she had hit her head on different things. I was worried when I first got there if she would like me. I had heard she didn't like new people at first. I decided to sit next to her as we left the airport....but she started screaming, so Joseph pulled over and I got in front. By the time the night was over, she could look at me and not scream. The next day, we were buddies. She let me feed her, change her and put her to sleep, and she would crawl up and give me hugs. That is always the best! We went shopping to several places....I was very upset when we went to Wal-mart and found out THEY STILL HAVE FABRIC! The stores around WS made us think all Wal-mart were getting rid of fabric. I saw some bee fabric and had to by some. (My class is the Busy Bees at preschool). I also gather fabric from places I have been....so what better than bees from the Beehive state? Joseph took me to where Lindsay (Katie's sister) works and I saw where she designs scrapbooking paper and things.
http://www.pebblesinc.com/main.cfm?categoryoid=27&productoid=247.
I keep hoping she will design some fabric that I can make something from. That would be exciting. On Thursday while Katie was at work we went up to Bridal Veil Falls and a point, whose name I can't remember. It was beautiful up there. I had to laugh because on the way home Joseph decided to take Katie something to eat and we looked up something close on his GPS. It said there was a Sonic near by. When we followed the GPS to the address....it was a house in a neighborhood. We thought we should go up and ask for an extra-long Coney with a Slushy! Friday we went up to SLC to see Sara, Shawn, Nathan and Ashley and we stopped at Ikea on the way. I have been hearing how great this store is......and I am sold. I can't wait to land some cash and head to Charlotte. I want to organize my sewing/computer/office room and found the solutions at a reasonable price. Can't wait to get there! It was great seeing the Dunlap kids too. My last day we got up early and went up to THIS IS THE PLACE monument and had a picnic. We made a quick stop at a great fabric store that Katie and her family have found. It was wonderful. I could have spent hours and lots of money there....but thankfully I didn't! I had a great ride home....empty seats on both planes. Thanks Joseph and Katie for a wonderful time. I also got to see Joseph play softball. It was great to see him hit.....I kept waiting for the slide across home plate during a pitch....but thankfully I didn't! That always made my heart stop!

Another year

2009-05-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that this is the last week of preschool. This is my first "whole" year in a long time....and I never taught 5 days before. The first part of the year was very challenging...but it did have a happy ending. We had a little boy who was so smart and cute but was such a handful. I prayed and prayed and read to know how to help in. His family moved away in February after a very emotional departure from our class. The happy ending part is because we stuck it out and worked with him, he was diagnosed with Aspberger's Syndrome - a form of Autism. He has moved to an area where they can help him. But the children are so cute and I enjoy their different personalities so much. As always, I am looking forward to the change in routine, but I am sad to see them go. They never quite remember you when they move up. They look at you and smile, but it is never the same as the hugs you get everyday. Goodbye, my Busy Bees.

Spring!

2009-04-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

I love the colors of spring in North Carolina. Some years the azaleas get in trouble with the frost and a few did this year - but one of my bright pink bushes has been beautiful. Rick gave me a pink dogwood several years ago and it has finally gotten big enough to bloom and you to be able to really see it. It has been wonderful to see. I have a lot of things I would like to do to my yard, and each year we plan for this to be the year, but it is doubtful once again. Maybe in the fall....but for now I am enjoying my azaleas and dogwoods. I have wild white ones spotted around the perimeter of our property.

I bought a few flowers this weekend and planted my hanging baskets and other planters on my porch. I have more I hope to do another day. I can only get so many flowers at one time when I go to the nursery. On Friday there was so many people they couldn't get the flowers restocked fast enough. People were waiting in line for them to bring the flowers from the back greenhouses!

Always a Teacher

2009-04-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

I love my daughter Laura (and all my children). I appreciate what a great job she does with the children....not just hers. I tried to capture (but they moved) a moment at the aquarium where she was showing things to her children and mine. She does a great job of being patient and "always a teacher", even when the situation and the children are challenging. Thanks for being such a great example!

Spring Break

2009-04-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Spring break was last week - a much look forward to change of pace. Daniel had to make up two of the days but preschool doesn't make up snow days unless it is more than five. Hooray! I know preschool Mom's don't agree. After MUCH coaxing - Laura and Jason ran away to the mountains for a couple of days and let me watch all three kids. It was the first time they had left Paige overnight. I kept them at their house so they were able to sleep in their own beds. Daniel and Rick "Bached" it for two days. Daniel always thinks that is fun. The kids and I had a great time, even though we didn't do anything exciting. We got out some eggs and hid them in the back yard for an hour. We finally quit because Sierra would hide them and then tell Jamison where she hid them and he got upset because he missed out on the "finding" part. Tuesday morning we went to the Children's Museum for a couple of hours. It was packed with some school groups from Davie - but the children had a blast. I decided not to take it personal when I got Paige up Tuesday morning and she took one look at me and threw herself down in the crib and started whining....I wasn't Mom. Sierra was fine when she came down, but Jamison came down stairs and saw me, and then he laid down in the floor and started crying. Oh well, I know they love me anyway!
Wednesday I did some sewing...still putting Claire's quilt together. Thursday morning we got up early and headed out with Laura and the children to Carolina Beach for a quick trip. Laura was kind enough to let Daniel and I come along. It rained all the way down there. The hotel had an indoor pool, so everyone had a good time. Daniel was into the 2nd book in the Twilight series and had his head buried most of the time. Friday morning we headed out to the beach where the wind was whipping the sand. We had more pool time and headed for the Aquarium at Fort Fisher. The children had a great time seeing the fish, turtles, alligators, etc. We went out to the beach at Fort Fisher where the sun was wonderful....but it was still windy. Jamison and Daniel played at the water's edge while Sierra dug in the sand until she couldn't stand the stinging anymore. It was a quick trip but a lot of fun. It was a busy week...but at least it was different. The last break until the end of the school year will be this week for Easter.....then 6 weeks steady.

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

2009-03-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

I can't spell success without doing in a "cheer" form in my mind. I think I went to too many basketball and football games at one point in my life :). Since I have been Activities Committee Chairman at Church - since June of last year-I have been worrying about the Teacher Appreciation Dinner we do annually in our ward. Last night was the big event. These events are scary when you are furnishing the food, and you are never sure how many people are coming. The numbers changed daily, and in the end, hourly. I told the Ward Correlation Committee - that if my committee was in charge, it was going to be a ward event. It turned out great. Everyone helped. Our theme was "It's Magic". Wayne Bills, a wonderful speaker, came and entertained us with a magic act. The children loved it. At one point we were expecting over 100 people, but people got sick and we ended up with about 80. We had over 20 teachers there, so that was great. We had youth do some "dinner" music as well as Marie Roth. We had planned to do Chicken Cordon Blue, but I bought the wrong chicken and ended up doing an Italian breaded chicken, an Asian Broccoli Salad, roll, and my(or should I say Jan Eckholdt's) Cream Cheese Potatoes. For dessert we did large brownies with a scoop of ice cream and drizzled chocolate syrup. It was all yummy. The youth served and did a great job. We ended the evening with the children standing up and telling something they liked about their teachers. The Activities Committee has had an event every month since October. We are taking a break. Next big event will be Pioneer Day. Today I am trying to recuperate....I should have taken the day off - but I forgot temporarily how wiped out I am after such events. Spring break starts tomorrow!! The clown is from something we did in preschool this week. The circus came to SPP.

Katie's Challenge

2009-03-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

So my daughter-in-law Katie put this thing on her blog - the first 5 people to comment get a homemade gift from her. The catch was we had to put it on our blog too - so I like to make things for people, so that is okay. I have lots of baby things made now - so if you have need - that would be easy. Katie put a year time limit to get the gift there - I can go for that too. Ready, set, go.

Happy Birthday Rick

2009-02-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Check out his dress. I wish we had a picture without him yawning so we could see how many babies looked like him.

Birthday week continues--we had a party for Paige yesterday- her mother will post pictures for that one. Rick's birthday is today. It is the 30th celebration of his 29th birthday (or something like that). After days of asking, he finally gave me his "menu" for his birthday meal--pork chops, these nice thick ones that his mother used to fix, turnip greens, creamed corn, and corn bread (fixed in the oven in an iron skillet). His cake with the Smith family strawberry cake. Rick's dad came over and Jacob joined us - so it was a small gathering, but he seemed to enjoy it. Daniel was somewhat excited about the cake - mainly because I didn't have any candles and we used sparklers. It definitely wasn't the same as having the grandchildren here! Rick has always said he married me for the strawberry cake.....so he gets it either for Valentine's Day or his birthday every year. I wander how many he has had???????

Happy Birthday Rick - I love you and appreciate all of your hard work for our family. You are the best!!!! I couldn't make it each and every day without you.

Happy Birthday Joseph!

2009-02-25T12:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Joseph, Happy Birthday to you!

One of my babies is 24 today. As births go, this one was one of the most memorable - but Rick had to tell me things that I didn't remember happening. Joseph was a week late because Rick kept telling me he didn't have time for me to have the baby. (In those days, we didn't know what we were having until birth). We had record cold temperatures, snow and ice and Rick was slammed with water jobs. I was HUGE! I distinctly remember Rick and Mike Ray coming in about 1:00 or so on this Monday afternoon and Rick telling me I could have the baby-he was caught up. Joseph has always listened to his "coach" dad over the years and it started here. We had planned to go to Chars (our favorite hot dog/ice cream place) for dinner. I wasn't feeling well and talked Rick into fixing hot dogs at the house. He fixed dinner and I went to lay down. He sent one of the girls to ask me something and I told them to get him. I think it was Laura who went in and said told her Dad I was going "he-he whosh" he-he whosh". We had been down this road before. He came running, we called my parents who lived in Kernersville at the time and thankfully they weren't home so he left a message, called a neighbor girl who had babysat occasionally and asked her to come and come immediately. I couldn't move! I thought I was going to die before we reached the hospital and they were asking me to get in a wheel chair (still couldn't move), take my clothes off (the nurse had to help me). She got me on the table some how, (they made Rick go move the car), checked me and ran me to the delivery room--this is where I don't remember a whole lot. There was a resident - Rick barely getting in the room--some yelling (my water evidently soaked the resident-so I hear) and major plop plop fizz fizz - a baby. Eleven minutes after we walked in the door. I remember thinking he was HUGE. They laid him on the scale and 13 lbs and 15 lbs was the conversation and I started into shock about then. The doctor came in to do some sewing and order something that started making me feel weird- Rick was trying to calm me down from the weight discussion. Final analyze - 12 lbs even. I believe the length was 22 1/4 not real sure about that one. This baby had BIG hands. I wanted to name him after Rick - but Rick had been wanting to name a boy after his dad - I told him this was the one - so there he was Joseph William Brewer. I love you son. You are a great man, a great father and are and have been a great son. I survived the toddler years (why I have 1/2 my grey hairs), riding on the back of my car as I go through an intersection, steals to home plate as the pitch comes across the plate, flying in little planes across a really big ocean, living on a small island during a tropical storm, and many other things, too numerous to mention. I still worry about you (as I do each of my children) every day and love watching you mature and be the best you can be. I hope you have a great day.

Tough Week

2009-02-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

The end of this week brings a mixed bag of emotion. It has been a tough one. Laura found out on Tuesday that she is having a boy! We are all happy to even out the boy/girl numbers with the grandchildren. I am sure Jason is glad to even out the hormones in his house. There are a few issues with our little guy, so fasting, prayer, and a priesthood blessing filled our week as well. We are all hopeful for a positive outcome. A feeling of gratitude for my Savior, His love for me and mine, worthy priesthood holders, and the power of prayer have all been strong emotions this week.

To add to our family emotions this week I had an emotional end to my preschool week as well. I have a sweet little boy in my class who has been having a hard time most of the year. His parents are wonderful people and we have tried to work together to help him have a successful experience at preschool. They are moving soon, the dad is already working and commuting, so this little guy has this to add to his challenges. Friday he came to school and within 45 minutes we had a full blown situation where he was out of control and I had to send him to be with the director. It was physically draining (he is a large 3 year old), and very emotional for me. It broke my heart for the director to have to take him screaming from me. I have prayed so hard to find out how to help him. Long story short, the director e-mailed me that he wouldn't be coming back. I cried most of the afternoon Friday. I am sure the emotions of earlier in the week with our family added to my state. I feel like I failed him. I hope and pray he will find a better solution in his new home. I especially hope that if he has some other health/emotional issues going on they can find out and get him the help he needs. He really is a sweet boy.

I did end the week with a great ward adult dance. Someone came and taught us how to Shag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Shag). I found out that after dancing with Rick for over 31 years, he has always thought I danced "too bouncy". He has never said a word! Megan Sebright took pictures of all the couples, the YW babysat at the building as a fundraiser for camp. We had about 17 couples and most everyone had a good time.

I was so exhausted on Saturday from the week's events, I could hardly go. I am posting our picture and my first attempt at a balloon arch. It didn't work too well. We were close, though. Birthday week is coming. Joseph is up first, followed by Paige, then Rick, then (skip), then Katie!

Sierra

2009-01-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

I like bears and I keep most of them on a bench in our family room. Sierra loves to play with them and they are her "babies" when she is here. Paige is starting to play with them too. I have one bear I keep in my room. It is the bear I got for my birthday the day Joseph left on his mission. It is called Laurabell. I found Sierra trying to put her clothes on behind the couch. Cute!

Sleep Over

2009-01-31T14:18:00.000-08:00

Daniel and Rick went camping last night with the Boy Scouts. Rick just recently was made Scout Master after being out of it for quite a number of years. Daniel is an 11 year old Scout. He is so excited. It was in the teens last night and I think they were pretty cold. Anyway, I had Jamison and Sierra over to spend the night. We had fun. They came too late for us to do much last night but they were cute. I have a tent that was Joseph's that is a perfect, "in the house" tent. I put it up in the computer/sewing room and they are together and cozy, if they wake up in the night. Even though they were exhausted it took them awhile to calm down and go to sleep. They kept telling me to "go sit beside the couch" instead of laying with them. They would get up and start playing when I did though. First thing this morning (by 7:30) we were playing play dough, then we had french toast for breakfast. Next we painted with these books I have that you just use water. We then played the Cherry game and then painted with real paints. They took the cars (our collection is 24+ years old) and had races around the edge of my couch. I couldn't get it on still pictures but captured it with my movie camera. I moved the tent into the big room and they took all the toys and dumped them in the tent and played in there for a long time. We had lots of fun. I can't wait until Paige and Claire and come have sleep overs! (Paige will be in the next month or two).

Slacker

2009-01-31T14:00:00.000-08:00

I get frustrated when the people's whose blogs I follow - don't update them regularly. I want to see what is going on---isn't that the point? It has been a month--so I thought it was time. The week after New Year's I made a commitment to myself to catch up on old projects before I start on Claire's quilt. I got the fabrics right before New Year's, so I am ready with that part. The getting projects done has been slower. I made these cute jumpers for Laura's girls. I haven't seen them on yet, but heard they were adorable. I have decided I like polka dots lately. My two year olds at preschool have some of the cutest tights that are polka dot. Wish I could find them for me. I am too old for that? I am sure - but the "girls" at work would like them. (And I mean the girls, not the teachers). Last Sunday I worked on Joseph's newspaper articles--there are a lot of them--trying to get them in a notebook. I had worked on them a lot before he came home from his mission but never finished them. I spent 4 or 5 hours on them Sunday and thought I was doing pretty good, then found a folder with another year I had missed. I will keep working on them. They may not mean much to him now - but his children will like to read them - or at least see how many there are. I thought I would make copies for Bill and Rick when I am done.

Toddler Aprons

2009-01-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

Check out these toddler aprons. They fit size 2-6. E-mail if you might be interested.

Pensive Thoughts

2009-01-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! The beginning of a new year has always been an exciting time for me. I think it is the hope for a better tomorrow. Every year has it's downside, even on the best of years. Regrets of things not done, change that was wanted and has never happened...all part of the past. Today is a new day and a new year. While I try to take this prospective each year, we really have the opportunity to do it daily. When I am not totally overwhelmed with issues in my life, I try to look at each day as a fresh start. Today can be a day to be different or make a difference.

We saw a great movie today, The Bucket List. While the language was offensive, it had a great message. If this year, 2009 was all we had left on this earth, how would we live it? It is definitely food for thought.

I go back to my Purpose: Experience, Learn (from the experience), Do (do something with what was learned-let it change you).

Over the years I have come to love our southern tradition for New Year's Day. It is a little different each year, depending on who is cooking. Today Mom cooked: Pork loin, collards, black-eye peas, corn bread, sweet potatoe casserole, and potatoe salad. Yum, Yum. We all over indulged, but hey, the food is fairly healthy. We don't cook with bacon grease anymore--so that helps.

Maybe soon I will let someone know that I have this blog!

The Plunge

2008-12-28T17:39:00.000-08:00

Well, I am taking the plunge. I have wanted to try blogging for quite awhile, but haven't been sure I have anything noteworthy to say....but the worst that can happen is.... no one reads it but me- and that's okay too. I have been terrible at writing in a journal, but this might work instead.

So here goes at the end of 2008....my first blog. Yaya is what my grandchildren call me. It is such a delight to hear them. What I didn't realize is that Yaya is one of the first sounds they can make as they form words. An added bonus...not to take away from their other grandmothers.

Doodles comes from my need to create. Creating things has been an outlet for me as long as I can remember. I have cross stitched many an item, of which I have only a few in my home. I stopped cross stiching when my children were too old and too numerous to allow me to concentrate. I used to tole paint and keep hoping to return to that someday.....but it has been about 11 years since I have done more than a piece or too, so it is beginning to be doubtful. Sewing has always been a daily or at least now, a weekly occurance. Quilting is something I keep close at hand as well. Making quilts for my grandchildren keeps me busy. I have a personal goal of having one of my handmade quilts on every bed in my house. I have one done. I have two baby quilts to make this year, so probably won't happen anytime soon. I have had some items for sale on Etsy for the past year and have had a little success. Etsy is such a large site, however, everything gets lost. One of my goals for this blog other than a new creative outlet, is to offer some of my "Doodles" for interested buyers.

This should do for my first entry! Have a great day!