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Due to the time frame it takes to upload pictures I will not be updating my blog until further notice. I have posted some pictures on Facebook for now

Where Oh where has the TIME gone!!!

I wish I could honestly say, "I have been using my time wisely" but that just isn't true! Yes, I have been very busy between work and family and very little time for myself and that means I have neglected the most important person in my life, My Lord and Savior. I love love Christmas but like everyone else I get caught up in the tornado and that is the first thing to slide.
I have tried to get a few Christmas cards off but this year it's honestly only going to be a "few". With the cost of postage these days, the money could be used some where else.
I last posted in October right after Bryson's birthday and Halloween. So what happen after that.......
November brought us into the beginning of a busy pre-holiday season. We celebrated Audy's birthday in "shifts". The kids had their things to do so we had a get together with some friends and then a family event. If anyone knows anything about Audy, he LOVES his birthday:-)
November also brought us a challenge of "change". Skip lost his job! In many ways we were thankful because it was so stressful for him and he was ready to move on but didn't know when the timing was right. Well the Lord fixed that for him! Thank goodness Jessica was working a part time job and it's turned into a full time job for the last month. Skip has had a tremendous opportunity to bond with Molly Anna and it's the sweetest thing. He's always appreciated Jessica and her role as a wife, mom and keeping up the day to day operation of the home. Well now that the shoe is on the other foot he's REALLY appreciates her!! Jessica's mom and I keep Molly Anna at least once a week so he can continue his job search and his errands.
Katie and her family left the week before Thanksgiving for almost two weeks to spend some quality time with James family. The weather was beautiful so the kids got to roam the property with their cousin Elijah and from the stories I hear they had a blast! They got to spend a wonderful time with Grandpa and Grandma and of course aunts and uncle too. I just know Grandma Toni was soaking it up to have her kids all under one roof!
I must say the kids were more excited to get home to their precious Nellie who is now 6 months old. She did real good while staying with us. It took Maggie a few days to be reminded she lost her throne in the house as thee Queen!
We had a quiet Thanksgiving with Skip's family, Stacey and her friend Becky.
Katie's family arrived home the day before Jessalyn's 7th birthday. We had a celebration when she got home.
So now the ages are, Bryson 9, Jessalyn 7, Dawson 4 and Molly Anna 22 months.....
Now I will get some pictures uploaded in the next few days.....

October

Katie, Molly Anna and Dawson

Katie, Molly Anna and Jessalyn

More of October

A couple of post's ago I announced that the Padilla's had a new addition to their family and her name is Nellie. She is now 16 weeks and the sweetest girl. She is a Labordoodle. Yep! Poodle and Lab mix! She smart like a poodle and such a good girl. Of course she is at the puppy stage full of jumps and licks! She has to be put in her bed when Molly Anna is there because she weighs more than her now and she's quite overwhelming! Nellie and Jessalyn are very close too.

When Bryson came down with his outfit on the look on Molly Anna's face was so funny. Her mouth hung open because she knew the voice but could only see the eyes! We said, "Bryson hurry uncover your face"!

Little "Miss Clemson" taking notes of her cheers! GO TIGERS!

Dawson is on the right and his buddy Ethan on left as James rolls balls for them to catch. It is so adorable to watch 4 year old learn T-ball!

BUBBLES AND BUBBLES AND BUBBLES

September-October

I can't hardly believe tomorrow is the beginning of a new month! September and October were just so busy!
HIGHLIGHTS....Anniversaries and Bryson's 9th birthday! James was out of town and both Audy and I had to work that evening so we were met at Gattitown with Jessica and Molly Anna. The room we were in was playing Finding Nemo and Molly Anna didn't know what to think about this HUGE screen TV and the noise so loud!!!

His favorite game: STAR WARS

Papa and Nana "scored" we got the right Bionicle:-)

Jessalyn has been going through the pains of growing out her hair! Now Nana is putting her old fingers back to work practicing french braiding.

BRYSON, JESSALYN, and DAWSON....growing up so fast!

Claire Sims Birthday and sharing her new bike!

Claire Sims (Mathew) is Dave and Rhonda's granddaughter who turned 2! Rhonda and I went in on a tricycle. She was so sweet share it with the girls.

Lani Kohler (Melissa) is Dave and Rhonda's granddaughter and she's 18 months.

And then there is Molly Anna....they all had such a good time.

Cooking and Sewing with Nana

Jessalyn and Nana had some precious time making one of Great-Grandma Jessie's Peanut Butter Oatmeal no bake cookies. I have started her a recipe file for her own use and especially some of mom's recipes. We used her math skills and I explained what a cup, teaspoon and Tablespoon was. She learned how to measure and read a recipe. She is always helping her mommy in the kitchen and this added to her knowledge.


The end results! She thought that was so neat that the cookies didn't go into the oven!


Next I cut out some quilt squares and had them ready for her to sew together. Her first statement was, "Nana do I get to use a REAL needle". And the answer to that was yes...but let me tell you it's a Cross stitch needle which is a round tip and not sharp!!! She really worked hard and did such a good job. When I was her age my Grandma did this with me on school breaks. I had no clue until she handed me a finished quilt of all the pieces I had put together over the years!

Meet Nellie Padilla

This is the new addition to the Padilla's and they named her Nellie. She's a Labordoodle and just so adorable. The kids have waited along time for a puppy and they have been so excited about Nellie. This was taken on Saturday and 3 or 4 days later I have already noticed she's grown some. I think she is going to be a big girl. The nice thing about Nellie is she doesn't SHED....just my kind of in house dog!!!

Bryson 3rd and Jessalyn 1st Grade

Once again God has blessed Bryson and Jessalyn another year of being home schooled with Katie. This is something we don't take for granted and especially the blessing of Katie being a stay at home mom. Thanks James for the hard work you do to provide this privilege.
The first few days were very rough getting them back into a routine. I think Jessalyn had the hardest time. I stopped by on the second day and Katie was ready to throw in the towel and said, "forget it, they are going to school". According to Jessalyn, "it's too hard, I am tired and etc..." Well after an "attitude adjustment" things have gotten better. They go to the Calvary Co-Op on Wednesday so with all three in school it makes for a nice break for Katie on Wednesdays.
Bryson has started his second year of piano and will be moving up to a Classical Book. Katie was telling me she rarely has to remind him that he needs to go and practice. Mr. Garrett says, he's doing very well. It sounds good to me too;-)
I have a few things planned in helping Katie with school and that is a cooking time with Nana. Tuesday will be Jessalyn's turn and we are going to make Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies. And I am going to teach her how to hand sew quilt pieces together just as my grandma did with me.
Bryson will get his turn in a couple of weeks and I am not sure what we will do yet. He's not interested in the kitchen but he needs to learn the math of cooking so we will at least make something yummy!

Dawson starts K4

Isn't this little buddy cute! He's got his book bag and his cute little doggie lunch box with his name on it from Uncle Skip and Aunt Jess.
As I walked him in just as I have in the years past with Bryson and Jessalyn I got so choked up! Where has the time gone that we are now on # 3! He held my hand and took me down to the sign in station and I signed him in and he got his pass for class. Then when I got to his class, just as in the years past Mrs. Karen West greeted him with the sweetest smile and guided him along. But first he remembered to give his Nana some love. As I watched him go and put his folder on Miss Karen's desk my heart swelled with such pride! He is also blessed with a wonderful teacher's helper, Miss Denise who like this Nana takes great pride in being a grandma:-)
Now that he has been in school for several weeks the newness is slowly wearing off. Everyday he says to his mama, "is school over yet"? Boy does he have a long way to go!! Katie asked him what it was he didn't like about school and he says, "the coloring and the writing"!!! Well honey what is it you do like and he says, "play time, play ground and lunch." We had a good laugh over that one!

Washington D.C.

We had such a wonderful time in D.C. visiting our dearest friends Pastor Dusty and Sandra Gray. It was a weekend of good counsel and uplifting fellowship among our brother and sister in Christ. Bryson requested a picture of Abraham Lincoln.


This is the Pentagon Memorial.This memorial was quite touching for us because it's the first memorial of the 9/11 we have been to. Sandra and I decided to sit on the wall and just visit while Dusty and Audy walked around.

This is Mount Vernon the home of George Washington. When we made our plans to visit we knew we were coming at the hottest time of the year BUT that day was so beautifully cool. Sandra said, "she's waiting in line for at least 30 minutes just to get in the gates and then it would be packed with people touring the house. Well besides cool weather that day we were the 2nd family in line to get in the gates and the tour was a total of 5 people. Even the tour guides made a comment!! The grounds were beautiful and we rested on a bench steps away from the Potomac River. Sandra noticed a "Hawk" dive into the water and pulled out a fish and was squawking above our heads. Audy took out his binoculars and we watched it eat it's lunch. Really interesting! From there we toured the museum and all of the history of Washington's time. They went as far as taking his DNA and making a wax person of what he looked like as a young man and older. It was really well worth finishing off lunch at the Restaurant.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAWSON

Meet Scooby Do aka Batman!

The night before.....

As I sat here looking over the pictures from Dawson's early birthday party at Chuckee Cheese (will post them tomorrow) I am amazed how time has flown by. It's hard to believe he will be 4 years old tomorrow. I remember the day Katie told me the news and it came something like this, "Well mom are you ready to be a grandma again?"....Of course we were very excited as we waited for his arrival in August. As with the other two children she end up being induced. She wanted so much to have this baby natural as she was beginning her studies as a Douala she knew it was the best way. Well I honestly believe God had other plans because when he was born (her biggest baby yet!) Katie and I both noticed he had a raspy cry. But the doctor didn't say anything about it so we didn't think anymore about it. Well I had been down to the nursery because Katie was patiently waiting for them to bring her baby when I noticed he wasn't breathing right. So I hurried back to the room and not wanting to alarm Katie I said to James, "bring the video camera and take some pictures of Dawson while Katie is waiting." I showed him what I was seeing and he saw the same thing. He alerted the nurse and a long story short they diagnosed him with Chemical pneumonia. Not sure exactly when he attracted that but it was serious enough that he spent 9 days in (can't recall how to spell NIQ). It was the hardest thing for Katie to have to leave her baby behind and tell Dawson's big brother and sister their baby brother was very sick. A lot of prayers surrounded that baby and it was a great day when he got to come home. The side effect to all of this he struggles with asthma attacks. the first year and half were horrible but to this date he gets a treatment now and then. We keep praying he will out grow them and seems to be slowly.
Michael Dawson has a real sense of humor and more so than the other two children.He comes up with the funniest things. He is Katie's most observant child. If she wears something new he's the first to notice and will say, "that top is so pretty mommy". He's a finger sucking (the pointy finger) child that loves tags on anything but has special blankets. His favorite toy is his stuffed dog. Papa and Nana along with Bryson and Jessalyn made him a puppy (Scooby Do) at Build a Bear and dressed him in his favorite character...BATMAN.
As Katie was lighting his candles on his cake he looked over at his little best friend, Ethan and said, "Happy Birthday to ME"....He takes after his Papa...loves his birthday period....
Until tomorrow.....

Miss Molly Anna

On the days she goes to her other grandparents she has the same job. She will be our future gardner at the rate she is going.

I need to get her the kids size broom.

Such a little helper with the big broom.

Isn't she the cutest thing!

Summer FUN....July

We went over to Katie's for a movie on the lawn. It was actually rather chilly for a normal summer evening.

All the kids watching the movie.

Dinner before the movie. They were too funny with their faces

The puppet show has begun

Bryson is giving us a presentation of the story...he did such a good job.

The Last days of June

Another BLESSED month is behind us and as you can see each of the children are growing up so fast. Molly Anna loves it outside. She is so sweet natured and so much loved by the Padilla children.

Bryson has grownup so much this past year. One of these days I will get him to smile a natural smile that shows his beautiful front teeth coming in. I think it's tomorrow he "might" get his retainer out. They put that in because he has inherited the "big" teeth and a small mouth. He will be having some teeth pulled soon just like his mama did to make room.

Molly Anna taking a break for a juice box....such a big girl with her own one too.

The children introduced Molly Anna to the red Jeep and she loved it. Bryson has too much legs to drive it anymore and we would only let Jessalyn drive her around. She thought she was something else sitting in the drivers seat with Dawson.

It is scary to think it will be a "real" car in 10 years!!! These two are so closely bonded....we see a true friendship in the future.

June has arrived, FUN FUN FUN

We introduced Molly Anna to our favorite summer spot downtown yesterday. After Molly Anna's nap, Nana and Molly headed over to Aunt Katie's and we loaded the van up with the Nana Wagon and headed to downtown Greenville. The first stop was to meet Skip at Greenville News so he could show her off at the office while we parked and loaded up the wagon and headed to our water spot. I later heard from Skip, "we are ready". So Nana went back upon Main Street and picked her up from her daddy. She came prepared, a pink bucket! Skip said, "they were having a promotion and she got the prize". As it is shown here, she is Sissy's shadow!

This was so funny....she hates for you to pour water in her face so the spray is hitting her smack in the face and she's "yelling". I am standing in front of her telling her, "Molly look you have your face in the water". She looks at me and sees that no one is torturing her and LOVED IT. We had a good laugh over that.

Molly Anna! She is who she is....full of LIFE and LAUGHTER!!

Isn't this a cutie!! Batman saves the day!

Someday she won't appreciate her "protectors" but Mommy and Daddy will...beware now little men!