The Adorables Annual Pose

SPIDER MAN

Isn't he the cutest Spiderman EVER?? :)
This is our 3 year old grandson Charlie.  You can read about many of his adventures along with his brother Will and baby sister Olivia over on Ivy's blog.

This picture brought back a memory of our family when I was much younger.  Our oldest son was just 3, just like Charlie.  He too was fascinated with Spider Man, but he didn't have that fanstastic fancy shirt! LOL
He settled for capes with clothespins for Super Man, and Spidey just had to flow from his imagination.
One day, it was time for his nap.  He REALLY didn't want a nap; what three year old does!
I had put the baby down, and the other baby down and it was time for him. 
Sometimes I wish I had let him stay up just to spend extra time with him.... But he really DID need his naps.
I was walking over to scoop him up to put him to bed and he did that famous hand motion..... "HA! You're in a web!"
I could have done two things.  I could have seen his reluctance as disobedience, because he really was trying to get out of taking a nap.  Or I could buy into his playful moment, enter his world, and capture his heart.
I chose the latter. 
Pretending I was stuck in his web was actually quite fun.  He laughed with sheer glee at the sight of mommy on the floor, stuck under his powerful web. 
And after a few minutes, I broke free and he obediently went to his nap, very satisfied that he was a real Spider man for just a moment, and his web action had finally worked. :)

I'm very excited to be spending the day with the Adorables on Thursday! :)

Some of My Favorite People

 Charlie in all his Charlieness....

 Marcus and Will spinning the dreidel..... Can't wait to learn about this fun game. :) Hint Hint.....

Olivia just looking Olivia like.  Anna says Olivia is cute no matter what... smiling, crying..... :)
And of course the unseen Ivy, who is behind the camera! :)

Olivia Grace Minich

Our youngest grand daughter was baptized today.  Marcus picked out her gown as soon as he found out that he and Ivy were having a girl! LOL  And today, she got to wear it.  What a special time...... 
 Olivia and Papau: Pink bib worn before in case of unplanned vomiting. :)

 Ya Ya and Olivia

 Marcus

 The Adorables:  Marcus, Ivy William, Charlie and Olivia

 A little tired of pictures. :)

Now, our video camera TURNED OFF right at the time he was going to baptize her! But I love how they do this.  It was very special. :)

I Just Love The Adorables

I call Marcus and Ivy, Will and Charlie, the Adorables.  Soon, little Olivia will be here to join them, and she will be just as adorable as they are.  Ivy wrote a very important post tonight and I wanted to share it.
You can read it HERE.... and I'll put in in repost here:

Sweet dreams

One thing that is very important to me as a mommy is to make sure my babies go to bed feeling very loved and very secure.  I find that night can feel lonely and I don't want my babies ever feeling alone.

So other than praying with them, cuddling and giving tons of kisses.  I have special little things that I do with them.  Every night I say to Will
"I loved you today more than I loved you yesterday.
And tomorrow I am going to love you even more than I loved you today!
Every day I love you more and more--
More than ever before!"
And now that he has it memorized he repeats it with me.  Then I always act surprised and ask, "how did you know?!"  "because I am so smart!" he says.

Charlie's language is just not there yet for something like that.  So I just tell him every night that he is a gift from God to me.  He laughs and says, "noooooo..... Will gift!"  He is just so precious; I could eat him up.

My children really are a blessings and I love each one so so so so much.
Oh how I love my daughter in law Ivy. :)  She captures motherhood so very well, and shows that mommys are so very important to their little ones.  She leads them in rituals that to some, don't seem important, but in reality..... She is having a very powerful effect on her babies. (our babies) :)

I read an article today on brain function and how children who are not snuggled, cuddled, nurtured are forever changed in the brain.  It was a NYtimes article.
The article states that the lack of nurturing and care in the early years, can have catastrophic effects on a person.
I am SOOOO GLAD that Will, Charlie and Olivia, will not have the experience of a lack of love or attention, because Marcus and Ivy fully recognize their role and responsibility as parents.
Raising emotionally healthy children is one of the most important things a person can do.... Those children, will rule the world someday.... :)

Who knows, between all those grandsons I may know who to vote for eventually! :)

I'm Thankful For

Grand Children. :)

 Katie and Lilly

 Joey and Chris and Ilse

I

 Sam and Truman

 And Will and Charlie

and: Baby Olivia.... and her mommy Ivy too. :)

One Of Those Wonderful Days

Today was just such a wonderful day.  We started out with Vacation Bible School. Erika, Anna and Sarah are all helpers this year, and Miss Alli, was in the 9-11 group.  Erika is a helper for her group, and she was very glad to have a sister with her.

Alli made a FRIEND! She was sitting and chatting with her, and they gave each other a hug before we left. Yea Alli!

After VBS, we headed to visit Mr. Charlie for his second birthday. He is SO cute. I just love that little guy.
On the way there, we had a VERY interesting talk in the van.... it was about babies and marriage.
Most of the girls do NOT want to have a baby because it will hurt A LOT. 

Sarah said, "I'm not going to marry, because if you sleep with your husband, you'll get pregnant!
Alli corrected her, "No, you have to do something else, not just sleep!"
Sarah said, NO! You just have to sleep!  LOL

Mommy interrupted and said, NO, you have to have sex. Yep, the S word. :)
There were giggles.... and then Anna piped up..... "Well, if you don't want to marry, and you don't want to have babies, but you want children; you can't argue with one that is already here!" LOL
So now, everybody plans to adopt.... and since you can SLEEP with your husband and NOT get pregnant, well, that is just a bonus. LOL

I have to say, I am much bolder with the girls than I was with the boys about this topic.  Somehow I got stuck on plants and fertilizer with the first group, and didn't explain things very well.   Looks of confusion abounded.  

Oh my.....

And then tonight..... Alli came and got in my lap in the rocker. She was in a very contented mood. She said, "Mama, I'm so glad all my paper work is done.... I'm so glad it is final. I was always worried I was going to have to go back, and now I know I won't have to.  I get to stay forever.  I trust you mama."

Her words sure did bring joy to my heart. :)  It was like fresh water flowing....... 

WILL and CHARLIE

Just a few pictures of the grand guys....and Ya-Ya

 This is Will in his space helmet.

 Will took this picture of me. I am a Ya-Ya. :)


This is Charlie in his Fox shirt.   Holding Charlie is like Holding Marcus all over again. I cannot believe how much they look alike! (the bottom picture is Marcus at 4. He is smiling in that picture, but they have the exact same chocolate brown eyes!)

AND THEN.... this is a really special Ya-Ya night....:)  I was given this photo! Isn't it precious!!!
The caption was "Double Cousins make the best friends!"
The boys and Ilse are double cousins because sisters are married to brothers. :)

The Adorables Visited

I love it when my family visits. Today, Marcus, Ivy, Will and Charlie came over. Marcus is done with school for 5 weeks and then he has 1 more class before he gets his master's degree! Yea! I know a beautiful young bride who will LOVE having her man home! :)

The girls played restaurant with Ivy and Will, and Marcus and I took Charlie on the teeter totter.
He really likes it.  But when he is ready to get off, you have to watch him. He has no concept of height.
He will just try to get off in the air! LOL
He also discovered the dog, ran to see Papau with Will, and Marcus had fun making Charlie's hair stand on end. :)

Will had fun playing with balloons, with the kitchen on the porch and looking at the water globes.

And they BOTH had fun playing the piano.

Grandsons!!!!

Becca sent this video to me of Sam and Truman at the park....

Ivy posted this one of Will, Joey, Bam Bam and Charlie.... Em's is in the hospital, perfectly preggo in every way.... except high blood pressure. :(   So Ivy has the boys. :)
I must say, Baby Charlie is the spitting image of his daddy. :)

Love all these little guys. :)

My Grandson Will

FOUND THE WORLD! :)
You can read all about his adventure here, on my daughter in law Ivy's Blog. :)
Will is such a sweet heart.... and so is Charlie.   But I just love Will's curiosity and sweetness.
He is at the wonderful age of 3, soon to be 4 and just exploring his wonderful world.... and his mommy, is such a WONDERFUL mommy. She enters his world and shares his excitement.

I am such a blessed Ya-Ya!

Thanksgiving Weekend part 4

This is dedicated to Baby Charlie....who is 16 months old now.

  We were so happy to see busy little boy hands today.  We adore our little grandsons.
We have 2 more grandsons on the East Coast that we were very much missing today.  We look forward to seeing them in the future.

We hope you all had a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Weekend Part 3

Timothy and Emily and Joey and Christopher came over along with Marcus and Ivy and William and Charlie....and it was a boy filled evening!

Here is the Gingerbread house the boys made.

Charlie was too young to make gingerbread houses.

 The boys really concentrated for about 5 minutes. :)

Mr. Adorable jr.

Our Sweet Grandson Charlie.... his daddy is our youngest son Marcus. Someday, Charlie will know how GREAT of a daddy he has. :) He is awesome, and looks exactly like his daddy. :)

Charlie Is Turning The Big ONE!

Our youngest grandson Charlie is going to be one year old next week! I can't believe it!
He is so adorable and so is his big brother Mr. Will!



Now Mr. Charlie likes to smile for his mommy and daddy especially if they do this!

"Through The Eyes of a Baby"
That one even makes me smile! :) Thanks Marc and Ivy. :)

Good Friday

We attended Good Friday Services with our older children at McKinney Bible Church.
It was really a neat time. There was a pot luck and then a singing time. We enjoyed the Adult Choir and Children's Choir. What a nice group of people. We especially enjoyed seeing our children and grand children.

A Day of Visiting

Mr. Will


Baby Charlie
Mr. Sam
Baby Marcus
Joe and Sam and Marc and Will (Lord help the teeter totter) :)
Cousin Stuff
Brothers and Sisters

More Cousins

We had a full day of visits. It was so wonderful to see the little guys interacting with each other.
They got along grandly. I was so happy to see them run and play and kiss and hug.
Sam pulled me in the wagon (strong guy) and then I got to pull him in the wagon. When Will came over, Ya-Ya was replaced with Will, and those two played all day long!
We missed seeing Chuck, Jodie and the grand girls today. (hopefully their coughs will be all better tomorrow!) We are so blessed as a family.
Those two little grandboys remind me of the two bigger ones together when they were little.
I am so happy today.