A week ago today, on Tuesday, April 23, my Grandma Evelyn passed away.  She was 90 years old and had lived a very full life.  My sister and I, along with our two youngest munchkins (Khloe and Ethan) were able to go visit her a few weeks ago - a visit for which I will forever be grateful.  I got to look into my Grandma's beautiful blue eyes and tell her just how much I love her and I got to hear her talk about her excitement to finally see Jesus face-to-face.  She was at a point where she was done with everything here - there was no more reason to eat when she could be feasting in Heaven.  I am so thankful that she had Jesus in her heart, which means that we will see each other again!

Growing up, we would visit my Grandma every Saturday (as we lived only 15 minutes apart) and we would spend time together playing 'Kings in the Corner' and eating Pinwheel cookies (which were my favorite, once upon a time).  We would listen to "Wheeler Dealer" on the radio and watch "The Andy Griffith Show" and "The Waltons" on TV.  My memories of her are priceless and she will forever be in my heart.


I love you so much, Grandma!  Enjoy your reward, dance with Jesus and eat the feast prepared for you.  I miss you like crazy and can't wait to see you again!

My darling little boy is now almost 29 months old.  Funny that I put it that way when I promised myself I wasn't going to count his age month-by-month, so allow me to correct myself: my darling little boy is now two-years-old.


He is a ball of energy and excitement!  He loves to play outside, to "drive" my truck (in other words, to sit in the driver's seat and hit every button and switch he can find!), to chase each other through the house, to play, but most of all he loves to TALK!

Here are some of the precious things that come out of his mouth quite frequently (that I'm blogging about because I don't ever want to forget them!):

"My Rumple-Tum-Tum" - this is what he calls his belly!  It's my fault, really, because I started telling him that his stomach was his "rum-a-tum-tum", and that changed into rumple-tum-tum.  It's incredibly cute, though!

"Christmas Clear" - if the kids are in trouble and Monte is correcting their behavior, he often ends with asking them if it's clear to them how they're supposed to behave.  They say yes, he then asks them "How Clear?".  The expected response is "crystal clear", but Ethan has this one just a little confused!! :)

"The Forte Giant" - this comes from an episode of Little Einsteins.  In the specific episode, there is a giant (called The Forte Giant), who sings "Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum".  Ethan loved this so much that he often will go and put on anybody's shoes, stomp his feet and sing out "FE-FI-FO-FUM! ... I'm a Forte Giant!"

He's also a truth teller (which is great!).  For example, last night Monte saw him eating a piece of chocolate right before bed, so he (Monte) asked me, "did you give Ethan this chocolate or did he just take it?"  Before I had a chance to say anything, Ethan looks Monte square in the eyes and says, "I just take it."  :)

He's such a silly little boy who makes me laugh all the time!  I'm so grateful that he is mine :)