Bye, Guy....

I closed every conversation with him with those words. Even the last.

My stepfather since I was 11 years old, Guy offered me unconditional love, support and guidance. He was a calm influence and he instilled a quiet confidence that everything would be alright, no matter what. One of the most influential things he told me over and over was that "nothing is cast in concrete" and whenever I found myself in a tough situation, he encouraged me to consider my options and to make a change. He was an easily satisfied, content man, very similar to my dear Eric and his late father, Bud. All three, gentle souls. Guy died quietly, in his sleep at the age of 95, after a lengthy, gradual decline in mobility and health, while supported constantly by the vigilant ministry of my devoted mother, Judy.

Go in peace, Guy. Say hello to Marion for me.

November 2003

November 2003

November 2004

April 2004

November 2004

November 2007

November 2007

April 2010- 94th Birthday

April 2010- 94th Birthday

November 2010

Halloween Fun 2011

Little Red Riding Hood

A very NICE lion.

A darling mouse.

Fitting Personalities

Add in a Vampire friend and you have LOTS of fun!

A deviled egg

And a Monopoly. Very fun. 

Counting the stash. A good night.

Fall Fun

Happy 13th Birthday, Mary Alice!! So proud of the young lady you are.

Columbus Day was a beautiful day for the zoo.

Here the girls are playing in the boat on the "canal" on the pretend farm at the zoo. They just love it.

They were both very intrigued with the tree on the zoo playground and they wanted to climb it.

Shanna is determined to do it.

She is very proud of herself!

Here is some perspective. She probably felt like she was up SUPER high. In reality, not quite.

 This video shows the typical dynamic that goes on all day, every day. Important work, important conversations, all in the context of mirroring and exploring the environment.

We are busy preparing a vegetable garden, with the help of a very enthusiastic older gentleman that I met at Lowes. He is really knowledgeable about everything and is guiding me step by step. We are all so excited to plant in the spring. Mary Alice is pounding in the stakes to level the beds. Eric is supporting. They built the frames together last weekend. They are each about 8'x3' with 2' in between.

Eric and Shanna, spreading the mulch over the weed barrier.

Megan was nearby, but not all that interested.

Shanna hung in there the whole time. It was really windy and cold, with slight rain coming down, but that didn't stop us!

This is a view of the whole garden from upstairs! So exciting!

Here is a closeup of one of the finished beds! The plants are strawberry, which are okay to plant now, compliments of my gardener friend, who grew them in his own garden and potted them up to share with Mary Alice, as soon as we told him of our interest. We are so lucky to have him to help us.

This may look like Minnie Mouse, but it is really a Lion in the making. The nose makes a roaring sound when pressed. We are sewing a sweatshirt out of orange felt for Shanna to wear over her jacket. Megan is going to be a Gray Mouse and looks equally as cute! Stay tuned for the finished costumes!

Shanna has been singing

Row, row, row your goat, gently down the stream.
Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary. Hum hum hum, spaghetti...

Brought a big smile to my face.

Then, tonight, Daddy sneezed downstairs and I happened to be lying right next to her in bed, so I clearly heard her say "Bletchew". I laughed and said "Bless you; as in God Bless You". She laughed and said "Bletchew!" and we went back and forth a bit, laughing at the silly sounding words! She's cute.

Look at Grandpa Tom

Today I got a cute surprise. Grandpa Tom rode over from his place to visit me!

Grandpa's New Bike. Go Grandpa!

Goodbye Grandpa! Come again!

We have been blessed with some very beautiful weather.

A nice day for a picnic.

Funny Conversations

Megan (to Shanna): So, are you busy today?
Shanna: Yep, how 'bout you?
Megan spreads arms wide
Shanna: Big?
Megan spreads arms wider
Shanna: Bigger!!??
Megan spreads arms even wider 
Shanna: So Big??? WOW! Lots of work! Busy everyday, every single day, too busy (big sigh)

Shanna (to Megan): Megan, my office near hospital. What's your office?
Megan: My office is near Wegman's
Shanna: I don't want to go to Wegman's. I go to hospital.

Mommy (to whoever is listening): Mary Alice had a big fly in her room last night.
Shanna: How 'bout me?
Mommy: You did not have a big fly in your room last night.
Shanna: Why?

Megan left her jacket on the bus (3rd day of school) and I found it in the bus garage "Lost and Fountain" as Shanna calls it.

While we were organizing the art table one day, Shanna asked to use the label maker to label the drawer with her colored pencils. She typed out "SHANNA'S PENCILS". I double checked her work and noticed that she inadvertently left out the "C" and the "L"...... :) Obviously, I fixed it before printing!

Shanna's language is growing everyday. I was telling her "Remember how you used to say "a neeny bit"? Now you say "A little bit"." She said "you mean when I was little?"  :)

Everyday, Megan gets off the bus with a note and a scrawled name and phone number of a new friend that she wants to have a play date with! There are some problems in the recording. 

It makes me smile. Every bit of it.

Just Catching Up

At the cemetery

the cousins

Friends I hadn't seen in a very long time, and love very much.

Iris's son and grandson

The girls loved playing with him!

Visiting Grandpa at his new place

Family Day at Grandpa's

Love that hair

Shanna wanted to be a pretty princess

Megan asked to be a monster!

The caterpillars have come and gone. We have one last butterfly still here. He seems to be unable to fly yet, so he may be a foster pet. This caterpillar is doing a "Happy Dance".

This shows all of the many stages; The dark chrysalis is about to hatch. The lime green is just turning from caterpillar to chrysalis. The pale green have been hanging between 1-10 days. The caterpillar hanging upside down is forming his J. and the 3 other caterpillars are getting ready to J. The white/clear things are chrysalis' that have already hatched. An amazing amount of stages in about a 6"x7' space.

For some reason two chrysalis' fell off their hooks. Matthew is helping this one to be born! His chrysalis was on he bottom of the cage, so he needed some help cracking open the shell because he did not have the help of gravity pulling him out upside down.

This one did not want to leave Mary Alice. What a pretty hair clip.

Summer school fun- classroom teacher

Student Teacher

English Second Language Teacher

Classroom Assistant

English Second Language Assistant

Our wonderful Nanny!

Dropping Mary Alice off at camp!

Our friends, adopting Lorelei AnXiang from Shantou. She was a very dear friend of Shanna's. We keep in touch through Skype, although right now in the transition, Shanna can't speak Chinese and Lorelei's English is just starting, so there is a lot of giggling and "showing" precious belongings.

Here are some videos we made and sent to Lorelei AnXiang just before she came home from China with her parents: Shanna is "introducing" us to her.

She is a joyful child.

I know Misty. It's busy.

and last but certainly, not least, a slide show of Marion's life.