The Adorables Annual Pose

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. :)

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!

Christmas Program

We attended our older kids Christmas Program tonight.
This is the Choir with our sweet Daughter Ivy singing the solo part.
Her daddy is the Choir director. Our daughter Emily is in the choir along with
several other family members. It was a beautiful night.



Then, our grandson Mr. Will, was in his First Christmas Program...... I think he had speed for dinner. LOL
He is the one..... yes, THAT one, who is being Oh so silly. :)

 Here is a pic of Tim and Joey after the program was over. :) So sweet!

Here is a pic of Mr. Will before the program started. :)

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. :)

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. :)

Shoes Compassion and Mr. Will

My little grandson Will, was listening to his mommy talk about children in other countries that do not have shoes. She was explaining a little piece of life to him, and he said, he wanted to send shoes to the boys and girls who don't have any. So his Mommy, Ivy, found a place that will send the shoes to the boys and girls.

If you are interested in helping Mr. Will, help other boys and girls who have sore feet because they have no shoes, please visit Ivy's Blog and she can give you more information.

Will, Ya-Ya is so proud of you. You have a good heart. :) And you have a wonderful mommy and daddy too. :)

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.

More Family pics

The Cousins
There is nothing like 2 2year olds running around. :)
Or in this case, enjoying Gumby! :)

Wrestling with Popoo


A tender moment with Anna and Daddy

Will's sweet face.

Dutch Christmas Cookie

A boy and his cookie!



Marco asked for the Dutch Christmas Cookie Recipe.....

Here it is:

1 cup of butter softened
1 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of honey
2 TLB of Vinegar
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
2 eggs

Combine all ingredients and mix well until creamy.

Add:

1 TLB cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups of flour

stir together mixing well....

Separate in half, forming two logs and wrap in wax paper
Refrigerate for a few hours

Preheat oven to 350º
flour surface and roll cookie dough out a little at a time.
cut with cookie cutters and place on cookie sheet
Bake for about 10-12 minutes
(If using for cookie ornaments for tree, bake hooks into cookies by
placing hooks securely in dough before baking)

Let cool on wire racks....
When completely cooled, time for decorating!

Icing:
powdered sugar
milk
vanilla extract
cream of tarter
food coloring
sugar sprinkles of all kinds.....

Pour 3/4 cup of powered sugar into cup
add about 3 TLB of milk to start
add 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tarter
stir, and add more milk to thin if needed
If it is too thin, add more sugar
Use food coloring liberally and stir....

Spoon icing onto your cookie, then top with favorite toppings
OR just enjoy the cookie with no toppings..... :)

This has been a fun tradition for us for many, many years!
It is an honor to share the recipe. :)

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.