Quotes of the Week

"Do Something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn't, do  something else."
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt


"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow  old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."
-- Samuel Ullman


"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close  the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your  energy, or any of your time, or any of your space."
-- Johnny Cash

The Life of a One-Year-Old

Spencer got his first turn to celebrate his birthday at the Ward family dinner party.

Even though he's now a year old, he isn't very big.

But he sure likes to eat.

He gets into every cupboard and drawer when he gets the chance.

He's become quite daring in his walking abilities.

But sometimes comes up short on his destinations--as evidenced by the goose egg on his forehead and the cut on the corner of his eye.

Spencer is getting more brave and adventuresome all the time. And all the time he's got that big grin on his face.

He's going places he's never been before. And Rebecca hopes one of those places isn't going down the stairs falling face first or rolling head over heels.

A Home Decorating Little Cookie Monster

This little girl LOVES to eat Oreos when she comes to visit.

So does her sister.

Another thing Brooke loves to do when she is here is redecorate the house. Each month when I put out new seasonal decorations, she always moves them around to her liking. Apparently she and I don't have the same taste in decorating...?

(Note the pile of bunnies on the bookshelf behind Caroline's head.)

One night when Rebecca's family was spending the night here, Brooke was coloring before bedtime and enlisted my help. "Come on, Grandma! Let's make some beautiful pictures for me to hang up!"

She instructed me that we were going to color people in bed sleeping. They had to have a pillow, their eyes had to be closed and they had to have zzzzz's over their heads.

We got quite a pile of pictures completed before she headed off to bed.

The next day I saw how she had beautifully decorated the bedroom where she had been sleeping--strategically placing each piece of precious artwork to her liking.

I'd say if she doesn't have a future career as an artist, she surely will be a very qualified home decorator. She's getting lots of experience at a very young age.

The Many Faces of Eli Excell

I wonder what Eli's little face will look like when he realizes what's inside his mother is very soon to come out and will soon be occupying a lot of his mother's time.

Which of the many faces will he be wearing then?