Snow Selfies

It is much warmer in Breckenridge now than a month ago, but I think skiing has not ended. Therefore I don't feel way out of line posting this layout of Julia and her  mommy lying in the snow for selfies while they were there at that time. 

I love Julia's jacket. It really adds a splash of color to the photos in the snow. And  I haven't seen prettier smiles!

Easter Geode

What a cool thing to find in your Easter basket. Oliver and his siblings found geodes on Easter.
It was quite fun to break open the geodes and find the beautifully formed insides...all unique.
It was also an educational moment of fun. Oliver was  pleased.

What a Difference a Month Makes

With sun overhead and snow underfoot,  you can suspect you are in Colorado. And that is where these pictures were taken just last month.

Is this Princess Rapunzel?

I do believe this is Princess Rapunzel. Our great granddaughter is a Disney Princess. Who would have ever guessed?

Hoping that all our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren have a wonderful Easter and that they know why we are celebrating the day...Jesus came out of his grave to live forever in heaven, where he waits for us to come to him.  All we have to do is love Him and our fellow man, for if we do, we will want to follow His example and love others as he did.

Happy Easter to all.

Time for a Break

Our granddaughter, Lauren is a hard worker, a very hard worker; so it is great to see her take a break.

She  finally took  off a little time to visit her very good friend Britt. She even got to play  with Britt's very cute little son Camden.

More Breckenridge

You've seen that  Julia skied at Keystone, near Breckenridge. Well Breckenridge is a great place to be for more reasons than just skiing.  There is a really nice children's  activity center there, called Mountain Top Children's Museum. While Caleb skied, Oliver and Julia had a good time experiencing the compilation of learning activities.

I'm not sure exactly what Oliver was  doing here, but by the pictures  I would think he takes after his great grandfather, my dad. He looks like a natural chemist. 

Oliver always impresses me by the way he studies everything carefully. I can just see the wheels turning in his head.

Choosing Joy with Jane Drummond

Our church ladies  have had some very inspiring  Ladies' Retreats starting in 1975. Some of my favorite were held at a local National Park and lasted two days, so we slept in the park facilities. I'll never forget those times that knit us closely together with our Christian sisters.

Over all those years, we generally hired a speaker from outside our midst, usually from another state. However, I don't remember a speaker who moved us like Jane Drummond did this year. 

She is one of our own and one who has spoken in other locations, mostly at marriage encounters.

This time, her serious subject paired with her sincerity and humor really got the point across that she wanted to make about joy.  Joy is what God wants us to have, not just happiness. Happiness is based on the right circumstances; but joy is a choice and can be held through whatever the world throws at us.  I wish all of you could some day hear her talk. Again,  It is the best I've heard.

By the way I must tell you that Jane and I are both members of the group ORU that  you've most likely heard of  right here on this blog.

Learning to Shave?

Can't believe I'm posting a layout of Maggie.   Oh well, at least she is pretty and a good dog. She does deserve a little attention.

I saw Maggie in the bathroom, tilting her head from side to side and watching Ron shave. I suppose she has not seen that before, although I don't know how she has missed it.  It really did look as if she were interested in learning how.  If she learned, it could possibly save us a lot of money.

I sent off another book to the publisher last night, so now  I'm working on number 64. I had a fairly good start. Hopefully,  I'll have a brand new layout for tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy looking at this fluffy dog, because it is time to take her for her springtime cut.  She will be going short and  she'll not only be cooler, but she'll have to endure a lot less combing. That will be something we will both appreciate.

Fly Away Hair

This layout is not one to show that Julia is a beautiful little girl. She is that, but this one is to celebrate her fun loving, carefree self. At three, she can do anything, well it seems so anyway. Here she is in her backyard jumping for glee on the family trampoline. And look at that hair. Evidently it was even more dry than usual in Colorado.

This picture in the top corner is quite pixilated. It didn't have the quality it needed to be blown up that big, but I  found it such a fun picture that I did that anyway.

Julia, I hope this layout makes you laugh for many years. We surely do love you!

Fun App

Ava was playing with the big girls and their phones.  Her mom was in on it as well.  This is my favorite pic from the mix. Didn't think she could be any cuter.  Good one, Ava! Love you.

No Bark

Maggie and I have our own language, and we call her collars, neckies.  She is not fond of  them, particularly now that she has one that keeps her from wandering away, by sounding off if we transmit a signal to it. It also shocks her if she fails to heed it on the first call. Now she has a new one that buzzes her if she barks.

Her method of welcoming guests is barking. That is fine in many cases, but when we are expecting friends, I really don't want her sounding off as I open the door.

I have taught her that talking ( barking) is bad manners when she rides in my car; however when in Ron's car, she barks at everyone.  I really hate that when I'm in the car with her...she doesn't listen to me in her daddy's car. Anyway,  that is the reason, we put this 'neck' on her tonight...and other times we expect guests.

This photo was taken  a couple of weeks ago when we first got this collar. She was not one bit pleased. Poor baby.  But it does work quite well.

The funny thing it, when her dad has put it on her,  sometimes he forgets to take it off  when it is  no longer needed. She will  come to me  and ask me to remove it. How does she do that? She will get right in front of me and lift her head back so that I can see  she is wearing it, then she lies down right there so that I can remove it.

Flashback Memory

Above is a Flashback layout of a picture taken of the triplets in 2010 at the same place in Rocketown where yesterday's blog photo was taken this year. This was 9 years ago. Instead of 16, like they are now, they were just only 7. What a fun memory.

Rocketown Talent Show

Rocketown was the venue for the talent show.  Aussie had tried out on a whim. Wish  I could have been there. The excitement would have been  something this grandmother would have dearly loved. However,  I was happy to be able to see it's video on the web and go back and watch it again.  One thing I missed were his humorous quips. I couldn't hear the video well. 

Aussie's humor is even more entertaining than his excellence with the Rubik's Cubes. 

It was cool  to see him hand one of the judges his 3X3  to work while he solved the 6x6.

It was fun to see the judge fumble with the cube just as I would...while watching Aussie's fingers fly through the moves. The judge gave up and in just a short time, Aussie had the solve. He didn't work it as fast as he  would in a Rubik's cube competition, since the lighting was bad.

I was thrilled when he was judged number 3. And it was interesting to learn that while the talent came from all over Nashville, he and the girl who took first place, go to the same school.

As you can see, his fellow triplets Ashley and Mason were there to cheer him on that night.

And after the show, they all posed at a wall where they had been photographed  together  9 years ago.  I will likely post a layout with that picture here soon.

GOODTIME III

Ava's Mom and Dad took her to the Great Lakes Science Center on  Saturday, March 23rd and then on to the GOODTIME III. It was a great trip. Ava had a good time and learned a lot. 

I have  pictures of activity at that museum for another layout; but today I chose to do this page of  pictures from that outing because a scrapbooking sight I follow offered a free mini scrapbooking set today. I looked for pictures  I might use with it and came up with these above.

Cool Competition

It was a big week at Caleb's school. Parents were invited to see the progress made by their children's classes. 

The kids have been encouraged to read and they have done well. Calebs team for Battle of the Books came in second  out of five and they were beat by just one question. It was a fun competition and all members of his team were very composed. 

I'm very proud that Caleb loves to read. He has a good teacher at school and a great example at home,

a mother who has a degree to teach and who is a great example when it comes to reading.

Ski Lifts and Physics

When  I'm using pictures I have not taken myself, I like to know as much about them as  I can, so I generally do some googling. I knew Beth and Julia were on the Keystone ski lift in Colorado...so  I googled Keystone gondola ski lift. And was really surprised  by what I found...there were several mentions  of it in relation to physics. From what I gather, this ski lift has found its way into physics tests around the country. 

One of the questions asked was the one I mentioned here on the page:  "The gondola ski lift at Keystone, Colorado is 2830 m long. On average, the ski lift rises 14.6°above the horizontal. 

How high is the top of the ski lift relative to the base?

Not only do  I not know how to find the answer, but I did not find out any other information about the ski lift. As you can tell.  It was a beautiful ride up the mountain there to the ski slope where Julia got to ski...

 I  don't know physics, and neither do I know how to ski... So Julia, who skied that day is way ahead of me and she is only 3.

Anime Character Natsuki

Ashley has a new character. She is dressed at Natsuki. Her dad was able to take her for a photoshoot one day last month. This is a product of that shoot.  


Well this doesn't have anything to do with the layout above, but I just have to tell you what we did tonight. We went with our life group to see a movie, which is something we do occasionally when there is one that is worthwhile playing near-by.

I would recommend it for everyone old enough to see it.  It is rated R for violence, but in my opinion,  shouldn't be.  It is a true story which was told very well and the acting could not have been better, it was excellent.  The movie is Unplanned.  If you were not planning to see it, you will be better off if you do. You may even be able to help someone  else sometime with all that you will learn. I highly recommend it.

Keystone

They were staying at Breckenridge and skiing at Keystone. Here is John and Caleb catching some selfies on the slopes. Good looking guys and they love to ski.

John confided in me that Caleb is doing more now than John himself feels comfortable doing. I agree that he shouldn't push himself, since it wouldn't be a good idea as the bread winner of the family to break his leg.

Just thought of this. I wonder if when you send your  family members out to ski you tell them to break a leg.  I guess that would be appropriate only if they were 'acting' crazy.