Beach Visits

In between trips this February, Tim took the family for a day at the beach in Galveston. Rebekah and I decided that would be a great way to spend her spring break...

So in March, I took her to Corpus Christi for a week. We had a very 'girly' vacation! Swimming, shopping, movies , getting our nails done, lattes, sunbathing, and eating out. It was a perfect reward for all of Rebekah's hard work and mom's too!
Dolphins near our boat at Corpus Christi.

This picture was taken on a paddleboat tour of the bay.

Here Rebekah is attempting to attract dolphins to pet. We took another tour with a group called "Dolphin Connection". The dolphins played and teased us, just following along side our little boat. It was amazing to see how friendly and playful they were.


Rebekah feeding the seagulls on her senior trip to Corpus Christi this March.
Rebekah was determined to get in the surf. We swam three days...the first day it took 20 minutes for me to get all the way in. The next day I heard the water was warmer---65! Brrr!

Ruffled Skirts and Ribbon flowers

Here's a cute project for Spring!
If you are following my blog and recognize these dresses, please don't mention it to the family who wore them as I wanted it to be an anonymous gift. I know hardly anyone is checking this blog. :o) Making skirts from cotton krinkle cloth makes a nice skirt with so little effort! I used a ruffler foot to gather these layers of a tiered skirt and a rolled hem foot to do the hem for each layer. It took quite a bit of practice to learn how to use the sewing feet which can be purchased at any sewing store. The ruffler foot costs 30.00--ouch! But we make a lot of square dance clothes, so it was worth it. (You could use a coupon at Hancocks to get 40% off.) Also, great for curtains and anything else you want a ruffle on.

This was so easy! I bought the beautiful scalloped cloth on clearance last summer. No hemming required! I roll hemmed the upper edge and than gathered the ruffle and then sewed it onto the bottom of an inexpensive baby t-shirt.
I had made yo-yo flowers before but found another neat way to do these flowers quickly. Just make a quick basting stich along the upper edge of a 12" strip of grosgrain ribbon, pull the loose ends to gather and then tie in a knot to make the circle. Then stitch it down really good, especially if it's for small children. I pinned the rickrack in place then topstitched it to hold it. The leaves were difficult. I had to fraycheck the whole leaf to keep it from coming apart. Grossgrain ribbon is not good for this! I pinked the edges and then zigzagged the leaves on to applique them to the shirt. I also decorated a cheap canvas tote bag with these flowers--so cute!! and quick! The blouses were on sale at Walmart and cost very little and coordinated very nicely with the krinkle cloth skirts.

A Day at Grandma and Grandpa's

Donna with Colin and Brennan. It's the first time I've ever gotten to hold Brennon! He's just over a year old in this picture.

Daughter-in-law Amanda, holding Elisabeth and Andrew's first baby Lena. The girls got to know each other better over facebook. Neat!
Grandpa Tim takes Amanda and Matthew's first little boy, Colin, on a lawn mower ride. He will celebrate his third birthday at our house on May 18th!

Baby Lena, only a little over two months old, needed a nap. What a precious moment, just getting to sit and watch her and make sure nothing disturbed her sleep.

My dear sweet daughter-in-laws, Elisabeth and Amanda Rodgers. Amanda is holding Elisabeth's little girl, Lena.

Uncle Christian, our baby, who is now 14, is showing nephew Colin how to work his matchbox race track.



Like father and Grandma & Grandpa...like sons. Tim and I, and Rebekah and Christian, all play the piano, as does Matthew. So of course, my grandsons made a beeline for it as soon as they could. Aren't they cute?
Colin so makes me think of Jacob, who was convinced he could ride anything that had a key. Thank goodness, Colin didn't have a key. :o) He's ready to roll though!

Of course, no day at Grandma's is complete without meeting her chickens. Actually, these are Aunt Heather's chickens which I am babysitting indefinitely. Her house burned down at Christmas and she didn't have time to drive back and forth to the homestead to care for them. Brennan and Colin weren't a 100% sure they wanted to pet a chicken even if it was covered in fur!

Getting to know the grandbabies again!
Amanda with her 1yr old, Brennan. These guys aren't afraid of the camera are they?


Watch out Matthew! You may have a 'budding' country boy on your hands!

Percy Sings with Christian's trumpet

Percy, Rebekah's puppy, loves to howl. If all of the family gathers around and howls (like pretend wolves), he will put his little snout up in the air and howl his little heart out.

When Christian began to play the trumpet, we discovered that Percy especially loved to sing with him. We thought maybe it hurt his ears, but we don't think so now. If Christian is in the back of the house when he starts to play, Percy will hunt him down and go join him. Enjoy!
Here is a picture of Christian taking his first trumpet lesson. Thanks to Klaus, he already knew quite a bit and had practiced 'buzzing'. He was so excited to be able to play music after only a couple of lessons!

And Another New Grandchild!

Welcome Baby Lena Marie Rodgers! Born February 5th at around 9:45a.m She weighed 7lb.4oz and was 20" long. (More pictures to come!)

Beautiful mommy, Elisabeth Marie Rodgers, and her daughter, Lena Marie.... like Mommy like daughter! Can you tell Lena adores her mommy??And proud Daddy Andrew--- I guess that's obvious-Ha!

And I'm sure you can tell that I am a thrilled and very happy Grandma!

Aunt Rebekah stole my grandbaby...but I can't blame her! I guess we can share. :o)