A FEW FUN DAYS BEFORE SURGERY

AUSTIN SURROUNDED BY A  LOT OF LOVE!   Gray thinks its funny….He needs to make a call….






I will update after surgery on Thursday….Thanks for all your prayers.


And for a laugh….Jack, AKA, Woody is designing a new clothing line….called “I choose my clothes”!  Coming soon to a store near you.
                              

GRAYSON TURNS ONE and A WINNER

First of all, thank you for all the great comments on the last post. I know lots of bloggers were waiting to read the helpful hints and learn the ways that other bloggers handle reading other blogs. I copied all the tips and am planning to revamp my system, which ultimately was no system or plan.

This post should be titled shots from a family Sunday afternoon. Dana has the best pictures of Grayson's birthday celebration on her camera. I need to get her to send them to me...I promise to share that little man and his cute pictures with you later. I can tell you that on Sunday what was most on my mind was just GRATITUDE. A year before we were spending every hour with him in the NICU and praying that he would be fine. Today he is a HEALTHY one year old, walking everywhere and learning new words everyday. Today I am just sharing a few random shots from the day. They will speak for themselves.. You will see that Jack liked EVERY toy that Grayson got and in his little mind I can see him plotting to sneak some out the door. I think he did..as he was clutching a Buzz and a Bob Bob (Sponge Bob).

Amanda and Dana swap babies in a couple of pictures..and Parker and Austin have had two days of fun at Austin's house. Cousins having fun cannot be beat. There are a couple of pictures of Micah and Amanda and from the looks of them they really like each other.

THE WINNER is SOMEONE I did not recognize at first. I WAS THRILLED to see which blog it was and to realize who it was. I already had her daughter's picture on my blog. I think this drawing may have been a GOD thing.

The SURPRISE PACKAGE....goes to Cathy at The Stylish House! I will post a picture of it when I ship it. PLEASE stop by her blog and read her story. Her beautiful daughter has a GREAT need. I would love it if you would leave her a WORD of ENCOURAGEMENT.

On a side note, Parker is a HAPPY CAMPER tonight, as his Mom and a friend are taking him to the midnight showing of the new TWILIGHT movie.

A RARE POST

There will be very few times and this may be the only time I will post the same thing on both blogs. I am so humbled and flat out dumbfounded at all the sweet comments. The Blog Party was fun last year, but this year between my two blogs I got 449 comments. PLEASE do not take that as bragging...I visited lots of blogs, but no where near that many. So many of the comments were long, thoughtful and very personal...And I would guess that well over half of them were from blogs I had never heard of before. It really left me speechless, which my kids would say happens far too rarely.
On top of the comments, it looks like there are over 150 new followers, whatever that is. I am still not sure I GET THAT, but then there is a lot in life I don't get. I am in AWE of all the GREAT blogs that are OUT THERE in BLOG LAND. I almost skipped the party, as I had several things going on this week, but at the last minute, decided to JUMP IN. I am really just a new, one year old blogger that knows very little about blogging.
There is really nothing spectacular about my blogs..the Christmas blog may be a little unique, because you probably don't know many people that do what I do as a business. But other than that and really cute grandkids, I cannot fathom why anyone would read my random ramblings.
I don't cook, so you will never get a recipe from me. I don't sew,I don't work in the yard, I don't set a beautiful table, mainly because my table is usually covered with books and paper work, I don't home school, I don't teach a Bible study, I rarely ever post anything very spiritual. I don't have any big CAUSES, I am a LOVER of DISNEY and FOOTBALL and those two things really don't even go together. I don't show a lot of my home because it's full of STUFF and the older I get the less STUFF matters. I love to look at your stuff, but over the years mine has become more kid friendly and less formal...My kids will SO laugh over that statement. Their favorite story to tell is as they were growing up, I vacuumed everyday and I would vacuum or have them vacuum us out the door so there would be no foot prints on the carpet, just in case we were in an accident and someone came in. Now I am laughing...as that sounds
SO DUMB! With the little men in my life now, it's a totally different story...I still make sure everything is picked up at night before I go to bed, but during the day balls, trucks and little Star Wars people can be any and everywhere. That's called GRAMMY! Whatever makes them HAPPY. It's a standing joke that they don't have to take a bath EVERY day when they are here. They can EAT when and IF they want to and they can eat in their rooms; JACK at 2 CAN have a bottle or anything else he wants. PARKER can stay up as late as he wants to. Get the picture...with the grandkids LIFE IS DIFFERENT. My kids remind me of that OFTEN. So my only claim to fame in the blog world is that I am head over heels in love with my family and ESPECIALLY my grandkids. I thought I was an OK Mom, but I am positive I am a good GRAMMY. It's my mission in life. My BOY and
MY GIRL are BOTH HAPPILY MARRIED to 2 of my FAVORITE PEOPLE, so that makes ME and MY MAN happy beyond words. That's when you feel like your days of parenting were successful.
BUT please don't get the idea that we have always had the happily ever after fairy tale family. WE have had the same bumps in the road as some of you and if you read the beginning of my blog, you will read about some of them.
NOW to the PRIZE, it is going to take me a day or two to get all the names together to draw from. ONE PRIZE is NOT ENOUGH, so there are going to be SEVERAL and maybe more than SEVERAL!I will do my best to post the winners by the end of the weekend.
I had a SUPER FUN day today, and will post about it next week. I also got something in the mail today that is an ENTIRE post in itself. I need to get permission from the person that sent it to me to share it. I still need to post our EASTER pictures and tell our lunch story from that Sunday, so next week I will try and post everyday and do a little catch up. PLUS the football draft is coming up and maybe there is one other person out there that cares...but I'll admit I WATCH IT. And of course I am on
FAVRE WATCH and hoping to hear him say the first GRANDFATHER IN THE NFL is going to PLAY
one more year.

So the sincerest of thanks to each one of you that stopped by. I am going to do my very best to stop by EVERY blog that commented. Please stop by anytime as I record our family
DOING LIFE. Some days that's easy, some days tough, but I am so glad to be doing it with the people I write about. We laugh a lot, we play a lot, and we make GREAT MEMORIES. BLOGGING is just a great way of recording them.

THIS POST WILL EXPOSE OUR REAL FAMILY and HOPEFULLY GIVE YOU A LAUGH

This post is for anyone that thought our family never had an off night.....

I need to give you a little background. I am having Bunco at my house on Tuesday and have a "to do" list three pages long. First thing on it would be cleaning out all the Christmas
I am working on so people will have a place to sit down. So a bit stressed to begin the day....We left the house at noon, let the puppy out, thinking we would be home around 7:30.....planning to meet the entire family at OUTBACK at 6:30 for a family BIRTHDAY supper for AMANDA. Then we would bring JACK home to spend the night with us, so Amanda and Micah could go to a BIG BIRTHDAY party that MICAH had planned downtown. Easy enough...or so I thought!

Greg and his family were going to meet us. Greg had a little male surgery yesterday (let's just say they are finished having babies), so I am assuming he was moving a little slow, BUT they live about 40 minutes from where we were eating. WE along with Amanda and family arrive at the restaurant about 6:20, get in line for a table....Jack is acting like a hellion.....

Do these pictures just give you a glimpse of Jack's personality.

His Dad trying to keep him from throwing the pager...He was not successful at least 10 times....Jack wanted to run, he wanted no one touching him, and he wanted everyone in OUTBACK to know the pager was HIS....He was repeating MINE over and over. .....I just knew that everyone in the restaurant was thinking, "Please do NOT sit that family by us"!

Then Greg calls and says they are running an hour late.....Parker had planned to go home with them and spend the night, so he had a MAJOR breakdown because he thought they were not coming. So his Mom is having a heart to heart with him.

"The first heart to heart had to be repeated"

Parker is NOT a HAPPY CAMPER and neither was I by NOW. Remember we need to let Bella out at HOME.....We have now had 2 appetizers, which Jack has promptly thrown on the floor. He DOES NOT want to sit in the high chair...and so we pass him around the table....Little 20 month old boys do not WAIT well. FINALLY GREG and family arrive, him walking a tad strange, everyone looking stressed. The poor waitress is probably thinking of quitting or at least praying for a LARGE tip....She was lucky that both MICAH and GREG have waited tables.....They TIP TOO good. Grayson is starving, and Austin has had a breakdown in the car, because he thought they were not going make it in time to get Parker to spend the night. As soon as they arrive Pop takes Grayson and Jack has a TOTAL BREAKDOWN. HOW DARE Pop, hold another BOY!...THIS picture below just cracks me up...Can you see how violated Jack feels...and Grayson looks like he has seen a ghost. I am sure in his heart he was saying, "Please give me back to my MOM"! We finally have our MEAL...by then I am not even hungry and am thinking we need to get home and let the dog out....We say goodnight....Amanda, Micah and Dana laugh as Greg hobbles to the car. We leave with a whining, very cranky and tired Jack, Parker and Austin leave happy to be getting to have a cousin slumber party, and Amanda and Micah head downtown to a her FUN BIRTHDAY party.

So if I have ever portrayed our family as always "in tune", please take this as an admission, WE ARE NOT!...Hop over to the Christmas blog and check out the winner of the Tree skirt. You can still tell me your favorite Christmas song. Mine tonight would be "Silent Night"!

My Boy Holds His Boy

Grayson is improving each day. He is a little jaundice and still has to learn to eat and breath at the same time.....Seems he is so eager to eat that he forgets to take a breath......but the improvement that has happened over the last 72 hours is a miracle. This little man is going to be fine and will probably go home early next week.

This is our little MIRACLE baby!
A Kodak Moment....for this Mom..

Greg holding Grayson for the first time.....
a dream come true for him

Is that the sweetest little face?
He is a little doll and getting healthier each day.
One of the sweetest moments EVER! ...and the answer to so many of this Mother's prayers !

Stay tuned...this is baby day....

Looks like Baby Grayson is going to take his time. Dana is hopefully going to get an epidural SOON. This has been a long morning. Thanks for praying.....

Stop by later today and I hope to have some pictures of our new grandson....They just got to the hospital and Dana will be induced early in the morning.....This is an exciting day for us, as Dana and Greg have wanted a baby for so long. They have experienced miscarriages, etc and really did not know if this day would ever happen. Please pray for a healthy baby and an easy delivery.

Happy Birthday Parker!

If I typed everything that is in my heart tonight, this would be a book and not a blog. Maybe this is just for Parker to read in later years, maybe it will bless someone in the blog world, but my heart is so full tonight that I have to write.

Dear Parker,
"You are the best thing that ever happened to me"!
That's something I have told you everyday of your life.
Ten years ago tonight, I had no idea how our lives were about to change the next day. Being a Grammy was something I had always looked forward to, but I never dreamed I would get a Parker!
Just the memory of those first days bring me to tears.
The moment you were born, I remember looking in your Mom's eyes and saying "thank you" !
I remember the first time you looked at your teenage Mom and it was love at first sight.
I remember the moment I held you for the first time.
I remember that first night we had you at home when we thought one of us needed to stand over your crib and watch you all night. (Just to be safe)
I remember your dedication! It was one of the most beautiful services I have ever been in. Pastor Denny not only prayed over you, he made you the sermon. Then DeAnza, our pastors wife and close friend, not only sang after Denny prayed for you, she held you throughout the entire song as she walked across the stage singing "He's Been Faithful"! That old Brooklyn Tabernacle song never sounded so beautiful. There was not a dry eye in the house and it was a BIG house (church)!
When they called for the family to come to the platform, not only family came but all your friends.
No three month old ever had more friends...I can still see the picture of over 60 people crowding the stage and gathering around one little baby and praying. You were so loved by so many. Your great grandparents were on the platform and one of my favorite pictures is of them holding you.
You have such a strong name. Parker Benjamin Powell..a name that represents three strong men, your two great grandfathers and your grandfather. I remember holding you and watching Good Morning America when 9/11 happened. I knew then that you would grow up in a different America than I had.
I remember every fun birthday party you have had...How can it be number 10? Wow we have crammed a lot in the last 10 years.
You gave a new meaning to grandparent trips. You began going to market with us by the time you were two and have always had a Junior Buyers tag. You have always loved a good hotel.
We have seen the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, spent time at the beach, spent summers in Santa Fe. We have visited Mickey more times than I can count...you always remind me how many times . You have traveled so many places with Pop. You have met professional athletes, spent a little time with Shaq, and you have traveled to more states in ten years than I have in my 50 plus years. What memories we have made.
Pop has the privilege of taking you to breakfast every morning and then to school. He treasures those times...and then you come home to our house in the afternoon.
No words are sweeter, than your favorite line..."Grammy, your boy is home" ! I am always glad that you are...
Watching you grow up has been so much fun. You are fun, kind, caring and everything a Grammy could want. Now you are a Big Brother and you are excellent at that job...That always makes me smile. Jack adores you.
Happy Birthday Parker....I love you more than you can ever know,
Grammy

Please continue to pray for Maggie and grab her button...

Meet Micah....What Can I Say? I WAS WRONG!

This
picture
tells
the
story

Greg, Micah and their boys

two buddies

Amanda and Micah right before Jack was born

Micahs first attempt to teach Jack to drive.

It is very comforting to pass a driver with a

pacifier in his mouth

Jack's favorite place to be, snuggled in his Dad's lap!

one of my favorite shots..teaching Parker to fish I think they love each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meet Micah.....The WORLD'S GREATEST HUGGER! a great golfer, a good cook,

a laugh a minute, a guy that has had some hard times in his life, but has chosen to move on and live life to the fullest!

Micah was my sons best friend during their (wild) college days!
He was my son's best man in his wedding. I have always loved

Micah but I did not love Micah for Amanda's husband and Parker's stepdad.

At least that was the story for many years. Micah has always been in love with Greg's little sister! He might or might not admit that, but he was.

A mother knows those things.

Micah and I have HISTORY. Some good and some not so good...but he was not the person I wanted to be the stepdad to "the greatest thing that ever happened to me!" Period! He and Amanda dated when Parker was 4 and he was in NO way ready to parent. Another period! Thankfully Amanda got that too, although there was no doubt she was in love with him. This is a place I need to pause and bow my head in thanks!

Fast forward another few years and Micah graduated from college. Still not ready to parent...he needed to get a REAL job. He needed to leave the bartending business. That was a great job for both he and Greg during college days, but it is not for a man with a family.

When Parker was 7, Amanda was in her own house, totally taking care of herself and Parker, she had a great job and was attending college.

Micah enters the picture again. No doubt they loved each other...
We had invested so many years making sure Parker was an emotionally healthy and MUCH loved little boy. We did not not need a rookie to come in and tell Amanda or us how to parent and grandparent. We had it it down. Can you feel the emotions rising?

And then it got serious! I knew Amanda was going to marry him. I can remember praying that I could keep my mouth shut (hard) and just maybe I would be wrong. Please remember this is a boy, kid, and now man that I loved...but I loved him as Greg's friend.

I wanted to be WRONG..and guess what ...I WAS........from day one of this round of the romance, things had changed. Micah began to spend lots of time with my husband. I began to see him emulating in him in little ways. He and I had long talks about how we had longed for and had prayed for Amanda's future husband and that he would fall head over heels in love with Parker.

I could cry as I type the next line..Micah is not only madly in love with my girl, but he is so in love with her boy! Then we found out they were going to have another boy...and he and I stood side by side on a cold January day and saw Jack Strother enter our world. We shared a rather historical moment. I call those HOLY moments.

He has a great job and is a very hard worker (that always gets you points in our family). I am constlantly amazed at how seriously he takes, caring for his family.
He is a hands on DAD and over and over he amazes me with his love and care of his family. He is a wonderful husband to Amanda....and he is an awesome DAD and STEPDAD...So again I want to repeat, I WAS WRONG!!!!!!

He is all that and more in what I had dreamed for in a son-in-law. I am sure glad that Amanda saw what I did not see. Micah...In case you do ever read this...This Grammy thinks you Rock!!!

We are coming to the end of my family introductions ...so now you have the

main players....Jack and I are the Mom and Dad, Amanda and Greg are our kids, Amanda is married to Micah and they have Parker and Jack, Greg is married to Dana and they have Austin and a new little boy arriving in June...so meet the Powells has come to an end....and you are probably glad!

Dana and Austin...Perfect for our family

DANA...THE PERFECT WIFE FOR GREG and
AUSTIN, BETTER KNOWN as PARKERS BEST FRIEND!


A Dream Vacation
Dreams Do Come True!

One Tired Boy

3 Buddies visiting the MOUSE

Downtown MGM

IN

LOVE

When Greg married Dana five years ago, we got a bonus boy....She had a little guy we fell in love with. Austin was 3 and quickly became Parker's best friend. They spend every weekend together. Austin has always referred to Greg as Daddygreg... that is ALL one word. You would NEVER know he is not Greg's biological child. Although he has two other sets of grandparents that love him, we just consider ourselves as his bonus set. Austin is so excited about his new little brother arriving in June. When baby Jack was born, he was mesmerized by him. He loves for his Mom to "keep" Jack. I have so many sweet pictures of him loving on Jack.

Dana...is every mothers dream for her boy. She loves him and she confirms that to me over and over. The best words to describe her other than beautiful, would be LOW Maintenance... She is just agreeable to whatever and whenever...
She and Greg have dreamed of a baby since the day they married and it has been a long road. At times it seemed like it would not happen. Dana has a hard time with pregnancy and the sadness of miscarriage has been a part of their lives. And then that "happy day" happened again..the day after we returned from our family Disney World trip in October...she found out she was pregnant. For the first 4 months, none of us took a deep breath. Today she is 30 weeks and we are anxiously awaiting a new little guy the middle of June. Dreams do come true. I remember standing in front of the castle during the "Wishes" fireworks show late one night, praying that God would give them a baby. Little did I know, he had already taken care of that wish!

My boy will have a boy and that just makes me smile...Dana and Austin made Greg's life complete and then God just added another treasure to their family. Makes me want to sing that song.."How Great is Our God"!

A BOY NAMED JACK

Remember every comment in the month of April adds your name to the "card box" drawing for the month.... This is just a little side note. I have had several emails from bloggers wanting to order a "card box"! It is by far the most requested order in my gift basket business, especially for Mothers Day and has been for years. I do not have a business website, but you can email me if you are interested. They come in three sizes, $35, $50, and $75. We ship everyday and I would be glad to help you if you need a Mothers Day gift. You can email me at annah99@aol.com.

NOW READ ABOUT JACK

THE LIFE OF JACK

Icing is the BEST!



VERY SERIOUS JACK

My crib ROCKS














Meet Jack...Large and In Charge

January 31, 2008 brought us a miracle boy. Another baby changed our world..He is named after his Pop and I will tell you his Pop is a bit proud.
He was born on a perfect January day, easy labor, (again I got to cut the cord). I thought sure his Dad would want to do that honor, but I think he thought I was better with scissors, since I use them in my business.
No experiences in my life have been more precious than being in delivery with Amanda during Parker and Jack's birth.
She is cool and calm,so they have been more like parties. Parker now had a brother and he was so proud.
Absolutely everything seemed normal...He looked fine, was full-term and seemed totally healthy. He knew how to nurse from day one. Amanda and Micah brought him home on a sunny Saturday. Sunday he came over to our house to watch his first Super Bowl. I even noticed that he was cheering for Eli at 3 days old.
Amanda was a tad sleep deprived, so our plan had been for Micah to go back to work on Monday and for her to spend the day at our house sleeping.
On that Monday morning, she called my husband and said that Jack had not wanted to nurse during the night and he looked a little jaundice, so would he come and get her and run her by the pediatricians and let the nurse look at him, JUST to be sure he was gaining weight and that he was not jaundice. Thank you Lord, that she went with her gut "mom" feeling that something was wrong. Days later we would know just how crucial the timing was.
In the next hour the nightmare began....the nurse excused herself to find another thermometer, as she could not believe his temperature was so low. After locating another one, she said "I need to get the doctor"! Within just a few minutes, Jack was in the NICU and it seemed that every nurse and doctor on the floor was in his room. By the time I got to the hospital, they were asking Amanda to sign consent forms to do a spinal tap. One look at the nurses faces told me this was not just a baby there for observation, this was a VERY sick baby. For the next 3 days he was critical and for the next two and half weeks he was in the NICU with many drugs going into his tiny little body.

Somehow our little man had contracted meningitis. We stood over that little crib, day and night, begging God for a miracle. Not until the day we brought him home, did the NICU doctor say to Amanda, "If it had not been for your gut feeling and quick reaction, you would have had a funeral"! Sobering words.

Once we brought the little man home, he has been the center of attention and a laugh a minute. He has the deepest little laugh and cutest little personality...He immediately began to gain weight, thus his name "large and in charge"!
We have never taken for granted how close we came to losing him. Just like his brother, he is "the best thing that ever happened to us"!

We took him to Disney World in October when he was only 9 months,
(do you get a sense that we love the Mouse) and though he will probably not remember that trip, etched in my memory is that little guy in awe of all that was going on around him..and that smile. We are taking him back in May and I have an idea that he and Mickey will become close friends.

Parker is the best big brother and Jack cannot get enough of him. When Parker walks through the door from school, a smile from ear to ear is on his little buddies face. Even thought they are 8 years apart, I have a feeling that they have a really special bond.

So as we celebrate the miracle of Easter today, we also celebrate the life of baby Jack!