Post Christmas Fun

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. Our Christmas was a lot of fun. We spent an enjoyable time together opening gifts, relaxing and eating lots of food. Cami, of course, had twice as many presents under the tree as the rest of the family put together. Unfortunately for her, most of them were clothes (larger sizes as she continues to grow A LOT). I am not posting any pictures on this blog, but am posting a couple of short videos. The first one is something that I have been trying to capture for a while - Cami ruling over the dogs. The second is her interpretation of playing with her rocking horse - a gift from one of the neighbors. Enjoy!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Whether you are traveling, staying home or having friends and relatives over, here is wishing you the merriest of Christmas'. Each and every one of you are in our thoughts during this holiday season and throughout the year. I still dream of the year when all of us will be together for Christmas. What a grand time that will be with all the new family members.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Love - John, Deb, Jason, Sara and Cami

Crazy Weather!

Let me just start out by saying that I really do love living in Texas. I love the weather, the people and the culture. However, these past three or four weeks the weather has been absolutely crazy and it makes me wonder if I am just as crazy as the weather for loving it here. We woke up this morning to temperatures at about 26 degrees with a wind chill of 16. And this after having an absolutely gorgeous, get-outside-and-do-things Sunday with a high of 79. Both Cami and I have been dealing with drippy noses for so long, I don't think we know what it's like any more to not worry about having some Kleenex handy. Now mind you, I don't mind chilly weather (after all, I did live in Michigan for 20 years). It's this darn up and down stuff that makes me a little nutty. All I can say at this point is that I hope we have this temperature for Christmas. Even after being in Texas for almost 27 years, I still miss having cold weather and snow for Christmas.

Here's hoping the next week and a half leading up to the holidays, and the holidays themselves, bring everyone all that they wish for. And that everyone is able to enjoy their families and time off from work and/or school.

Twenty Four and Counting

Where do the years go? Hard to imagine that yesterday John and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. We didn't do anything yesterday, but on Sunday we went to the West End in Dallas (it is a part of downtown Dallas) to have dinner at one of the yummy steakhouses. Then a short (mile) walk to the American Airlines Center to watch the Stars play the Edmonton Oilers. And, yes, the Stars did win!!! All in all, it was a pleasant day and we enjoyed just hanging out together. Kind of hard to do right now with our overflowing household, so it's nice for just the two of us to get away for a few hours.

Yesterday, I did receive some absolutely gorgeous roses from my husband. All the other girls in the office were jealous! :)

Regressing

I just had to post some of the pictures above. These pictures were taken by a good friend of mine back in the spring. Then she left town with her husband to live in Las Vegas. They are back now and she was nice enough to give me a CD with the pictures that she took. These are just a sampling of my favorites. I was really surprised to see how well they turned out since Miss Cami was not being very cooperative during the shoot.

Halloween

We tried and tried to get a good picture of Cami in her Halloween costume, but she wouldn't hold still for it. Here is the best one that we were able to get, along with one of Jason in his (doesn't he look goofy?). Cami had a good time trick or treating and came back with lots of candy. Luckily for us, Sara took it over to a friend's house later that night and forgot it so . . . . no candy to tempt us.

Other than that, there really is not much new happening in our household. We are all just keeping busy with work, Cami and our outside activities.

She's Certified (or Certifiable?)

Saturday was Sara's last day of Dental Assistant class. She is now certified to be a dental assistant. She passed the class with a 94 average, and we are very proud of her. She has spent the last couple of days looking for a job in a dentist office. Her plans are to start taking some of her college classes in the spring (if schedule and finances work out), with long-term plans to get her degree as a Dental Hygenist. She knows it will be a touch road with a little one, but she is very determined and we know that she can do it.

New York Pictures

As promised, here are some pictures from my trip to New York.

These first three are in Central Park. The first is a few of the pond when you first enter the park from the South end and the second is Belvedre's Castle. Belvedre's Castle is now used as a weather observation tower. The third picture is under the Bethesda Bridge. The 'interior' of the bridge was totally refurbished to it's original state.

This picture is of the Flag of Heroes at Ground Zero. It contains the names of the emergency personnel that lost their lives during 9-11. This was the only evidence that we were able to find commerating that awful day.

This picture was taken on the subway on our way to Greenwich Village. The gentleman in the picture is Glenn. Glenn is a good friend of John's brother Jim. We met him in Louisiana when we went down there for Jim's memorial service. He became an instant friend and I am so glad that we had a chance to get together while I was in New York. He told me that the next time, I needed to make my flight home a couple of days later so he can show me Connecticut.

There are so many more pictures that could post, but I chose some of my favorites.

New York, New York

For those of you who I haven't talked to in a while, I had the amazing opportunity to go to New York City for work last week. It was amazing! We (myself, my manager and a co-worker) left Wednesday morning for New York to attend lots of meetings and meet some of the people that we work with in out of our corporate office. My manager and I were able to stay over Friday night so that we were able to see more of the city. I will try to get some of the pictures posted later this week, but wanted to get a post out there.

Wednesday after our meetings, we headed to a Korean restaurant for dinner (yummy food) and then spent a couple of hours wandering around Times Square. We saw Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, St Patrick's Cathedral and Grand Central Station. Since it was later at night, we didn't actually go into any of the buildings (except Grand Central Station), but the sites were unbelievable. Grand Central Station is, I think, more beautiful in person than what you may have seen on TV shows.

Thursday we went to Little Italy for dinner and had a scrumptous dinner on the patio of an Italian (what else) restaurant. Afterwards, we went to a place called Ferrara's for some really delicious Cannoli and espresso. With all that food, we had to walk a little bit, so we went over a couple of blocks to Chinatown. Unfortunately, since it was after 9pm, most of the shops were closed.

Friday was a pretty short day for us, so Bridget (my manager) and I left the office about 1pm after the other Dallas people had left for the airport and headed to Central Park. Let me tell you, that it is amazing what a beautiful area it is! We hardly could believe that we were in the middle of a large city. It is huge, and without the help of a map and some friendly people, we would have gotten lost in the middle of it. We went back to the hotel for a little rest, then headed over to Grand Central Station to meet a friend who was coming in from Connecticut. We went to Greenwich Village for dinner (found another great restaurant) and then spent some time wandering and people watching. We had a wonderful visit and didn't get back to the hotel until about 2:30am. Would have been later, but Glenn needed to catch a 1:49am train back to Connecticut since it was the last train of the night.

Saturday we headed down to the World Trade Center site. They have started construction on the site, so there wasn't as much to see as I had hoped. Got some great shots of the Statue of Liberty and visited the Irish Hunger Memorial. This memorial is an actual Irish cottage brought over from Ireland and reconstructed on the site, with native Irish foliage. Then we headed back to Chinatown to see what we had missed on Thursday night. It was very crowded with all of the "bargain" shoppers and the booths were very tiny. Had another great meal and then headed to the airport to catch our flight out.

All in all, it was a wonderful time and I hope I get another opportunity to visit New York again. Don't think I could live there, but definitely could visit more. We ate a lot of good food, but also did a ton of walking and were exhausted by the time we left. Both Bridget and I were asleep in the plane before we left the ground.

Finally!

Well, the Munchkin has finally decided to cut some teeth. She now has two on the bottom, one on the top and one more coming in on the top. I kind of figured she would get a bunch all at one time since it was taking a while. It is very difficult to get some pictures of them, but here are a couple of tries. She doesn't like people putting their fingers in her mouth, even to rub on her gums. Strange, I know, since my kids loved to have their gums rubbed when they were cutting teeth.

Bits and Pieces

Not too much going on in the Whitehead household since Cami's birthday other than the usual everyday stuff. Sara and I continue to play indoor soccer together on Monday nights. She also plays on a co-ed team at Blue Sky which I sub for, and I play for a co-ed team at American Indoor. Outdoor soccer is supposed to be starting in a couple of weeks.

Sara is still working for the Allstate agent, but is going to be starting Dental Assistant school on Saturday. It is every Saturday for 10 weeks. She is carpooling with a couple of other girls from the area and Nona gets to keep an eye on Cami while she's in class. Her plan is to finish this class, get a job at a dental office, then go to TWU (Texas Women's University in Denton) to become a dental hygienist.

Jason is still working as a leasing agent for an apartment complex that is only about 13 miiles from the house. He and I played together in a softball tournament over the weekend and had a good time. His best friend, Ryan, is now back from the Marines, so I imagine that they will be spending as much time together as they can.

John is stilling delivering bread for Sara Lee. He and Rod Miller, Ryan's dad, are getting things ready to go for their deer lease this fall. They have spent a couple of Sundays getting an old camper trailer ready for the lease. He has also 'adopted' a kitten that was hanging out under the trailer. I warned him not to feed her, but he did, and now she has been hanging out on the front porch for the last couple of weeks. I have asked him to take her to Animal Control since we do not have room for another pet.

Cami continues to grow and grow. She still has no teeth, but has no trouble eating most of the foods that she wants. She is starting to learn some words although she doesn't always use them at the right time. She loves bossing the dogs around, and they seem to understand what she is telling them. I have tried to get some video of her "ordering" them into their cage where she likes to join them. We have caught her several times just sitting in the dog cage playing with her toys while the dogs look on. I'm sure we'll start losing some of those toys to their chewing.

All in all life goes on and things are good.

She's One!

Has it really been a year? Must be, because we celebrated Cami's first birthday yesterday (Sunday, July 20). We had to do it a day late as I was playing in a softball tournament on Saturday. Boy was it hot out!! It was hot for the party too, so it was a good thing that we planned it for inside. We had about 25 close friends come by to help celebrate and Cami received some wonderful toys including a wagon, money in a college fund and lots of clothes. We cooked some burgers and brats on the grill and had plenty of cake and ice cream. The cake even came with a smaller one just for the birthday girl. Here are some pictures of the birthday girl herself: getting ready to eat "her" cake, eating the cake, feeding Poppi and Uncle Jason adding in some ice cream. She was on quite a sugar high for a little bit, then totally crashed. Sara had to wake her up from a two-hour nap and she still went to bed easily.

Back Home Again!

What a wonderful time we had up north with the family! A huge THANK YOU to Cindy and Joe for putting up with all of us. Imagine - nine adults and six kids (all under 8) in the same house. If you have already read Dad and Rich's blogs, then you know all the fun we had: eating ice cream and watching fireworks; going to the lake and working on our tans; entertaining ourselves during thunderstorms; going to the lake again and eating delicious fish; and getting together with mom's side of the family for the 4th.

I'm not sure that we have gotten back into our normal (do we have normal?) routine yet, but we're pretty darn close. My manager is stressing out right now because I was on vacation last week, in a training class all this week and she is on vacation next week. We have several projects that we are trying to get into production before the end of the summer, so she stresses. Me, I'm not too worried about it at all.

Sara is back to work and Cami is back to day care. By the way Paula, we had to buy some chicken nuggets to keep in the freezer for her. She loves them with some fruit or just by themselves. And the trick of putting the fan by her bed works just as well here as it did in Michigan. We are now trying to get a small birthday get together done for her since her birthday is in less than two weeks. I still can't believe that she is going to be a year old already.

John and Jason were glad to have us back home. Even though they might not admit it, I think they were lonely without us. :)

Here are just a few pictures from the last week. I'm not posting a lot since Dad and Rich already did that.

Cami and Gabi got along well and shared the double stroller during most of the week:

Dad taking (another?) nap:

Sara and Paula with Cami and Gabi enjoying Lake Michigan before eating fish:

Getting ready to eat good fish (not the one Bart 'caught'):

The beautiful Lake Michigan shore line from the picnic area where we ate the fish. Isn't it gorgeous?

Graduation & Walking

What a busy weekend it has been so far. Friday night we went to watch Jason play softball and then went out to dinner for his birthday. It is hard to imagine that he is now 22 years old; doesn't seem that long ago that he was a young boy. Saturday was spent cooking and cleaning to get ready for graduation party. Sara and her best friend, Lauren, decided to have their graduation party together. Seems fitting as they have known each other since they were babies. Don't know if you can really see the picture in the tan frame, but it is one of Sara and Lauren when they were about six years old.

It was a good time by all and we had tons of food, margaritas and good conversation. The young ones gave out earlier than us "old folks". Monday night is the actual graduation ceremony. It will be interesting as the ceremony is at 8pm, and both Sara and I hope it will be done in time for us to go play our championship soccer game at 10:45pm.

I'm going to try and post a short vido of Munchkin walking (you can ignore the fat lady). This is the first time I have tried this, so hopefully it works okay.

Three more weeks before we are in Michigan!

Just a Quick Update

Sorry guys, but the computer is on the blink right now, so I can't post any pictures. I'll get some up just as soon as we can get it working properly again. I think we just need to dump the thing and get a new one.

Life continues to be hectic around our house as usual. Just a couple of highlights: 1) yesterday (5/27) I started a new job. This is a permanent position that is closer to home. I won't go into the details of what happened with the last one, but let's just say that I wasn't very happy there; 2) my darling son is moving back home AGAIN. Yikes, it's going to be a little more crowded around here. There was an issue with his roommate, so he is moving back home and looking for a job closer to us. He is hoping that he will not have to be at home for very long; 3) Cami is walking (almost) like a pro now. We have to really keep an eye on her as she gets from one place to the other before you know it.

Well, that's about all that I have time for right now. Love to all!!

We're In Trouble Now!

It's official - little Miss Cami has found her "legs". She started out a couple of weeks ago getting her balance; then taking one or two steps and using furniture to lift herself back up. Well, last night, she was walking all over the living room. When she fell down, she just stood right back up with no help from anyone or the furniture. We are going to have to be on our toes from now on. I'll try to get some pictures, or the short video Sara did, on the site as soon as I can figure it out.

In other news, the memorial mass for John's brother Jim was very nice. It was difficult for the whole family, but hopefully it has provided some closure for them. Cami did very well on the road trip and during the whole weekend. I had gone to the doctor Thursday afternoon, so he did the Epply exercises on me, put me in my neck brace and the vertigo was mostly gone by the weekend (thank goodness). We spent some good time with John's family and a friend of Jim's who had come down for the service. Saturday night, some of us went into New Orleans and had some beignets and cafe au latte; and a hurricane toast to Jim. Sunday morning we got together with John's brothers and his parents for breakfast for Mother's Day then got on the road for home. Considering the circumstances, it was a pleasant weekend.

For now, we are working on Sara's graduation and looking forward to the trip to Michigan for us girls.

I'll try to get some more news and pictures on the site sometime this week.

Spinning Head

Talk about bad timing. We are heading to Louisiana early tomorrow morning for Jim's memorial service. And wouldn't you know, Tuesday afternoon my head started spinning on me. (For those that don't know, I was diagnosed with Vertigo last year.) I spent most of yesterday flat on my back as still as I could be. When John got home, he helped me do my head exercises hoping to get it straight. It helped a little, but today I am home again and waiting for my doctor appointment. At least today I am not spending the day laying down as there is laundry to finish and packing to do.

For those not familiar with Vertigo, here is a quick easy description. In our inner ears we have tiny crystals that act as balances for our equalibrium. For some people, these crystals come loose and just "float" causing a spinning sensation. Sometimes it is very mild and goes away in a few hours, others it can last a couple of days. My longest episode has been seven days, although it was very mild and I could still function pretty normal. In more severe cases, like the one I am experiencing now, an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist can do some special exercises with the head to get the crystals back where they belong. Of course, the last time I had to go see him, I had to wear a cervical collar for two days to keep my head straight. Wasn't that fun?!?! I told John once that it was like having too much to drink without the drinking.

Time to Write?

Okay, I know it is time for a new post, but between work and mom and dad's visit, and family, I really haven't had a lot of spare time. So here is a little something to tide you over until I can get something more up with pictures.

We had a wonderful visit while mom and dad were here and I was sad to see them go. I told Sara on Sunday night that I couldn't believe we only had one more day with them. She reminded me that I would get to see them again in a couple of months.

The three of us (mom, dad and I) had a wonderful day in Dallas on Monday. I revisited a couple of sites I have seen before, but more importantly, I saw some things that I have not taken the time to see before. Hopefully dad will get some pictures of the 'cattle' up before too long. We did a lot of walking as the only times we were sitting down were on the train, on the trolley and eating lunch. The trip to the Sixth Floor Museum was incredible. I'm not one for museum's, but I enjoyed the whole presentation there.

For now, I have to look forward to Sara's graduation. She and Lauren want to do their graduation party together, but have not decided on a date yet. They have already told (not asked) John that he has to cook. We also need to get her senior pictures done. Hopefully we can do that within the next week. There is a studio here that can turn the pictures around within an hour. We used them for our Christmas pictures and were very happy with the way they turned out, and the price.

Until time permits more, love to all!

Counting The Days

Only five more days until mom and dad are in Texas. The girls at work can't believe how excited I am that my parents are coming into town. I guess it is because most of them have parents that are only a couple of hours away so they get to see them on a more frequent basis. The only drawback to them coming is that I have to clean the house; and all that know me know that is one thing that I really don't like to spend time doing. And do you think I can "recruit" the husband and kids to help? Ha ha!!!

We don't have things planned while there are here except for on the 28th. Since they have not been to Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum yet (the spot where Kennedy was shot), and I have not been to the Sixth Floor Museum, I thought we would do that. We'll just take the train into downtown Dallas and walk around. There is plenty to see in downtown and it will be some good exercise and hopefully some good weather. Other than that, we'll spend the time visit and just 'going with the flow'.

Sara, Cami and I are really looking forward to coming to Michigan in the summer to see everyone (except Priscilla, Craig and Melissa, darn it). Unless things change within the next couple of weeks, I am going to look at flying us up there. I really don't like the idea of us driving that distance, especially with gas prices the way they are.

And for anyone that is interested, even though she officially graduated in October, Sara has decided to walk the stage with the rest of her class. The ceremony is scheduled for Monday, June 9 at 8pm. Whoever came up with that date and time must not have been thinking clearly!!! We are going to have a combined graduation party for her and her best friend Lauren, probably that weekend. For those of you who don't know (or have forgotten), Lauren is the girl who lives across the street. She and Sara have literally grown up together as Lauren's parents moved in across the street before she was born, so the girls have known each other since they were babies.

So, all said and done, I am counting the days until Mom & Dad get here; counting the days until Sara's graduation; and counting the days before summer vacation. LOVE TO EVERYONE!!

Catching Up

Ok it's time to start catching up on news and pictures since it has been about three weeks since I've posted anything. Not a lot has changed except Camryn continues to grow. She is crawling, "walking" around the furniture and standing for short periods by herself. I figure it is only going to be a couple more weeks before she tries walking. She continues to be a joy to have around the house.

Here are a couple of pictures of Camryn in her Easter dress. Unfortunately, it got chilly, so we had to put a sweater on her after the pictures were taken.

And who knew that a toy basket could be such entertainment for the adults. I was cleaning up the kitchen when John hollered at me to come into the living room with the camera. He had been keeping an eye on Camryn and watching TV, and suddenly saw just feet sticking up in the air. I guess her balance is still a little shaky, but she did manage to get where she wanted to be - inside the basket with the toys.

Sara, Camryn and I were able to meet up with Cindy and Joe at the Dallas airport yesterday (Saturday), and we spent about an hour together. If I had gotten up a little earlier and checked the flight arrival information, it could have been longer. I think yesterday was one time that American managed to be early instead of on time or late. Their flight got into Dallas about 30 minutes earlier than it was scheduled to. By the time the girls and I got out the door and to the airport, we made it there when the flight was supposed arrive originally. I am going to see what I can do to meet them on their layover Friday. It will be a little more difficult since it is in the afternoon and work gets in the way.

Later this month Mom and Dad will be here. We are looking forward to that visit as it has been since Dad's surgery since we have seen them, and a couple of years since they have been to Texas. The early part of May will find us heading to Louisiana for a couple of days to attend Jim's memorial service. That will be a difficult trip, especially for John. He is missing his weekly talks with his brother terribly. I know time will ease his pain, but it is still very fresh for him.

Other than that, life continues on and we take each day as it comes. Love to everyone!

Goodbye Jim

All, it is with a heavy heart that I write this update. This morning at approximately 2:45 CST John's older brother Jim passed away. John is holding up, but I know that the next few weeks are going to be difficult for him, and the rest of his family. At this time, we do not know what the plans are. John's parents will stay in Connecticut for a little while longer while they, and Jack, settle some of Jim's affairs. Sometime in the next few weeks, a memorial will be held for Jim, most likely in Baton Rouge. Jim was loved by many and will be sorely missed.

Where Do I Start?

It seems forever since I last posted something, and I really don't know where to start. February (and so far March) have been difficult times emotionally.

As you know, John's brother Jim has been fighting cancer since the first of February and John's parents have been in Connecticut giving him support, and just being there. Jim has some wonderful friends that have been there for him and his parents during this trying time. John flew to Connecticut on Sunday, March 2 and the kids and I followed on Monday, March 3. We did not tell anyone that the kids and I were going to be there, so it was a wonderful surprise for them; especially since they have not had a chance to 'meet' Camryn yet. She and Dad have been spending quite a bit of time at the hospital with Jim and are worn out. We were all prepared to see a different Jim, but I was still amazed at how thin and frail he appeared. As of yesterday, Jim has decided to stop all treatment for the cancer. He will be leaving the hospital on Wednesday to spend what time he has left at home. His spirit remains upbeat and he is comfortable with his decision. We are going to get John back up there within the next 2-3 weeks again. If you want to keep more up to date with Jim, there is a web site set up. It is http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jimwhitehead. Here are just a few pictures that I took while we were there.

Camryn with Nana &PopPaw Camryn with Nana

Four Whitehead women

We all returned home late Wednesday night, and I spent the early part of Thursday unpacking and doing laundry as John and I were flying out to Phoenix on Thursday night to visit an old high school buddy of John's, Roy, and his wife, Tracy. We were a little concerned about whether we were going to make it out or not since mother nature decided to throw some snow at Texas for the second time that week. We ended up with about 4 1/2 inches of the beautiful white stuff at our house. Luckily flights were still getting in and out of DFW Airport and we landed in Phoenix only 30 minutes later than scheduled. We spent the next three days relaxing at the hot tub and pool, going to spring training baseball games and enjoying the wonderful cooking of Tracy. John and I both needed the break and it came at a perfect time. We are back home now and facing going back to our 'normal' schedule.

From the back patio (pretty isn't it?); Cami "enjoying" the snow; good friends Roy and Tracy Courtright in Phoenix.

Update on Jim Whitehead

Please pray for John and the rest of his family as they go through a very difficult time. We received word last week that his Aunt Sarah, who lives in England, had passed away on Monday. Since John's parents had gone to England during the summer to see her, and they are dealing with Jim's cancer diagnosis, they did not go back for the funeral.

Also, John's older brother Jim is not doing well. In addition to the lung cancer, he has tumors in his back and neck and they believe the cancer is in his legs as well. He is currently in the hospital getting radiation treatments and drugs for the pain he is in. John's parents have been in Connecticut with Jim since February 8 and do not plan to go back home any time soon, and his oldest brother Jack got there over this weekend. John is heading to Connecticut on March 2 and we are trying to get the whole family up there. Jim (and his parents) have not seen Cami yet, and we feel that we need to make this effort. We will keep you posted with any new developments.

Another Rough Start to the Year

Well, we managed to get through the first of last year without going insane, and it looks like we are starting out rough again this year. Please pray for John and his family as they are going through a tough time right now. As most of you know, John's mother (Betty) is from England and that is where most of her family still is. Her sister, Sarah, is currently very sick with Alzheimer's and lung cancer and she received word earlier this week that Sarah is now in a coma. The priest has already been to see Sarah to say the prayer of dying (they are devout Catholics). Then to top that off, John received a call from his older brother Jim on Saturday to say that he had just been diagnosed with lung cancer. Jim does not know how advanced it is yet; he went in for tests on Tuesday and will be meeting with the oncologist later today. He seems to be in good spirits, but says that the waiting on the test results is the worse part right now.

Fortunately, every one here has finally gotten over the stomach virus that we had. Everyone came down with it except Camryn. On Monday, Sara fainted while she was at work. I came home to take her to the doctor, who checked out her lungs, ears, etc. I asked her if she could run some tests to check for low blood sugar or low iron since this is not the first time it has happened, although it has been over a year since the last "episode". Well, the glucose test came back just barely in the normal range and this was after Sara had had some oatmeal, strawberries and TWO Dr Peppers. Obviously, her sugar was low when she fainted. On Tuesday, we got the results of the iron test and she also has low iron. So. . . .the doctor has told her to start taking an iron supplement, eat first thing in the morning and try to eat something every two to three hours to keep the blood sugar level.

I thank God every day for my good health. I know I can stand to lose some of the weight I've put back on, but my blood pressure, sugar and everything else are in good shape, so lots to be thankful for. John has now gone over a year without smoking. I AM SO PROUD OF HIM!!! He continues to have trouble with gout, but the medicine helps keep it at bay a little.

Love to everyone out there! There are days when I get homesick for Michigan (not too much during the winter), but think of everyone almost daily.

Pictures (Finally)!!

Okay, so I haven't gotten the Christmas pictures developed yet. But I have (I think) figured out how to get the pictures from the new digital camera to the computer. I think it would help some if one of the kids was here to do it for me. Oh well, I'll give it a try. The pictures here were taken as a "test" with the new camera, so they are not from anything in particular. There are, of course, pictures of Camryn and one of the cats. I'll bet you all can figure out which cat is Tigger and which one is Kali.

As you can tell, she is teething and likes to spend as much time chewing on the pacifier as she does sucking on it. Sara took her in for her six month checkup, and this little bugger is now up to 19 pounds. The doctor said that she is in the 95 percentile for both her height and weight and that she is advanced in her motor skills. Hmmm - I'm betting she'll be walking within the next couple of months. Yikes - that means cleaning up all of the little and breakable stuff in the house and putting those outlet plugs in again.

The cats and the dogs are still pretty much ignoring her, but they do go up and smell her ocassionally. Bear is already protective of her when he is in the house, but Elmo is too hyper and we keep a close eye on him so he doesn't accidentially step on her.

Here are some of the other shots from the Christmas shoot that we didn't send to everyone, but they gave us a disc with all of them so why not share here.

I think John is in love with his granddaughter!

That's all for now. I'll try to get some more things posted in the next few days. Love to everyone out there and hope to see most of you this summer.

Just Some Notes

Okay, I "promise" to get some new pictures up (and updates) this weekend. It will be a challenge as I will be watching Camryn Saturday and Sunday while Sara is working. She and I are going to have a fun time. We already have a lunch date with a girl friend and her daughter on Saturday. Then Sunday we are all going over to a friend's house for the football game.

I found this quote on my niece's website and loved it. Wish I had had it to fall back on last year.

"I KNOW God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much!" - Mother Teresa