The Hunt

Our family Easter celebration was postponed until yesterday.  We had a good turnout with everyone but Matt. (missed you Matt)  After lunch it was time for the main event, the Easter Egg Hunt.  Sadie had said the one she had at church was not the real one.  The one at Mimi's house was going to be the real one.  

There was a good herd of Easter bunnies to hide all the eggs.  Then it was Sadie and Allie's turn...

And, they'er off!

I'm not sure how many eggs where hidden but it was probably well over a hundred.  

There was lots of running.  

And there were some special surprises.  Emily and Keiran had given them musical instruments from their trip to Peru.  

Then it was time to find out what else they got.  

Lots of candy, money, stickers, toys and nail polish.  

But then there was this special egg.  Mike told them Mimi needed to help with it.  I could not believe what was inside, an ultrasound of our next precious granddaughter!  It was a special egg indeed.  

 

Happy Birthday, Almost

With lots of love and family we celebrated Sadie's 5th birthday (2 days early).  After a meal at Cracker Barrel, her choice, we reconvened at my house for cake and presents.  

Sadie and Allie have had colds recently and no one wanted her blowing on the cake.  So she got 5 candles on a cupcake. 

She may have gotten more presents than Christmas.  A big hit was the special jewelry from Gigi. 

She did not get bongo drums.  Those are Joe's from Christmas.  

I think Allie knows that she will get to play with everything too.  Plus, her other grandmother brought her a big bag of gifts.  

Mike tried out the "wall walker" trying to get a spider web off of the ceiling for me.  

Linda and Ann helped Sadie was her "rescue" pet, a stuffy wrapped in a net that dissolved in water to reveal what kind of animal.  Then there was a lot of towel drying, blow drying and combing.  

But the most time was taken up pickle hunting.  I hid it really well this year.  

Virginia had set up a family survey and presented the results in a very professional and humorous format. 

Joe won, "who would last the longest without their phone".  Now that he has a new iPhone 16e, we will see if that holds true.  

More blow drying of the stuffy.  

And Matt was the pickle champ.  His persistence paid off and he was rewarded with a cereal box Spiderman watch. 

 

Simple Request

We didn’t get Emily and Keiran this Christmas, but they did stop by for a few minutes on Tuesday.

I just wanted a nice family picture.  Virginia suggested we try Chat GPT.  So, Tuesday I took Keiran and Emily’s picture.

Then Christmas Day I took a photo of the rest of us.  Then I asked Chat GPT to merger the two.

From a distance it doesn’t look bad.  But zooming in, AI changes how we looked and our expressions. I asked again, specifying no facial changes.

How many mistakes can you count?  

Next, Virginia tried.  Now Emily and Keiran are squatting for some odd reason.

Her second try magically produced Keiran’s brother, Cord.  

Last try, Virginia went to the professional, her friend Jordan.  With her premium subscription to Canva, she was able to do what AI could not, give me a decent family picture.  

Thank you Jordan, you’re the best!

 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 25!

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

12 

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 24

I have spent all month getting everything ready. I think it’s time.  

Looks like we are ready for Santa. 

Or, maybe he has already been here. 

 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 21

Allie woke up this morning saying her head hurt. She had a fever of 100.5.   After much discussion and negotiation, we decided that I would stay home with Allie and Virginia would come pick up Sadie and take her to her regular church. Sadie was very upset to not be able to go to my church. But she finally got over it. 

Allie sat in my lap for a lot of Netflix.  Sher said I was comfortable.  Then she wanted to put on her matching dress that Sadie had worn to church.  She also ok'ed me taking her picture.  

She was a very good model.  

Sadie came back after church and let me take her picture too.  Allie had already changed again so I didn't get their picture together, yet.  Virginia took Allie back home and Sadie stayed to do some crafting.  

Today's crafts involved beads, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, paint, hot glue, glitter, markers, wooden ornaments, gems, paint and wire cutters.  I found out that 1:15 minutes is about Sadie's limit on crafting.  But the next thing she wanted to do was ride Clyde!

                                           

She wanted to lead he to the barn, then do lot and lots of trotting. She is getting so much better at posting.  I may or may not have a saddle update for tomorrow.  

 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 17

Santa’s Mail!  Everyone in my family knows this one. 

Mama made this one from this Bucilla kit 60ish years ago. As children, it was always special to write our letters to Santa then put them in the Santa’s Mail. They would magically disappear overnight. I’m sure flying  straight to the North Pole.

Then in 1997 I decided to continue the tradition with my girls. Not surprisingly, Mama still had the original instructions. But since it had been a kit, I needed to round up all of the supplies. 

Now my Santa’s Mail is one of the first things I put up every Christmas and the last thing I take down.  But I did not stop there.  

I made one for Linda, 

Ann, 

Mitchell, who is always a little extra, 

and Carol.                                                                                                                                                        

Then, when Virginia got married, I made one for her. 

And last year, after Emily got married, I made one for her. 

The cutest one however, Carol made for Mama's stocking.  I am in love with the miniature proportions.  I also think it would make a fantastic Christmas tree ornament.  Just for fun, before writing this post, I ran the Santa's Mail picture past Google Lens. 

This odd thing appeared.  I don't know what is going on with that mustache and eyebrows.  But when I clicked, the link is said it wasn't safe and to go back.  So I don't know the story on that one.   

But I found this one on Ebay.  You can see with the original Santa has a pompom on his hat.  I substituted a bell and left the bells off the bottom.  The original also used trim to write Santa's Mail.  I did a shortcut and used glitter glue.  

The one on Ebay is selling for $35.61.  I found where one sold for $44.99.  

 Mine however, is priceless.  

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 15

Today I tried a photo shoot with Kit Kat.

First, I tried during the day.  He looks mad but he is actually very happy to be getting some attention.  He wasn't very good at staying still though.  

Then I practiced at night with a stand in.  It is a lot easier when the animal stays still.  

After multiple times of telling him to stay, scooting back, setting the camera, squatting down, just to have him get up and come over to be petted, I finally got a decent picture. 

This one wasn't too bad either.   I would like to try to photograph Sadie and Allie at the tree the next time they are here.  

As for Kit Kat,  I think he is done.