JUST HAVE TO SHARE

Here is my niece's daughter, little Viviana, in her Halloween costume.  She is the cutest little witch ever!

I think she must be a good witch!

BROGAN, GRANDMA AND NANA ROSE--OH MY!!

Recently Sue and I co-babysat with Brogan, Sue's grandson.  We had a great time, as usual, for Sue and I always enjoy ourselves.  Toss Brogan into the mix and it is triple the fun!  We decided to go to OMSI.  All children have fun there so we figured we three-1child and 2 child-like adults-would have a blast!

Professor Brogan showed us how to weigh things on a scale.
Let's see...if I put this here it should work.   Hmmm...one side seems too heavy.  Uhh, Grandma, a little help here.

Professor Brogan showed us how to use a magnifying glass to look at animal paw impressions.

You just hold it over the footprint of the animal and...holy cow!  This is a big one from a bear!!!
Note to self:  Avoid Bears!

Now I am going to perform a feat of prestidigitation.  That means magic, Nana Rose.  See, I hold my hand over this yellow thingy and Voila! it floats!!!!
What's my secret?  A good magician never reveals his methods.
Note to self: Figure out how I did that!

Now watch what I do with this green bouncy ball.    Whoa!  I got a little too close.   This thing sure blows!

 Ha ha ha!  This is fun!

Wheeeee!

TA DA!!

I made the ball float in the air.  I am so talented!

Now when you are driving, you always check your and buttons and thingies and make sure that you are not going to fast. 

And NEVER fall asleep like this when you are driving.

That is a big NO NO!

Brogan decided to pursue his artistic side.

This stuff is soft and feels cool.  Let's see, I think I will try making something.

That thing over there looks interesting.

I gotta put all my muscle behind this and push.  UGH!

Try another piece...

Hmmmm...interesting, very interesting!

Let's see...if I put this here,

and this one over there, and add this one in this spot.

Look at what I made!

Isn't it cool.

Uhh, Grandma, what are you doing back there???

You can tell when Professor Brogan is in deep concentration on a project by looking at how he holds his mouth!

I can make this better! 

Let's see...if I put this

over here, move this over there...



Then we moved onto the water area.  Thank goodness Grandma was well prepared with extra clothes!

Professor Brogan demonstrates the uses of various gadgets.

You can use this thing to pour water, like on plants or a dog...

or you can pretend it is a telephone...hello???

I think I hear the ocean!

Here is one of those bears, and look there in the water...a shark!

OOPS!

I dropped the bear and the shark ate him!

All right, Nana Rose...enough with the camera!

I am going to have permanent spots before my eyes!

Sigh...it is like having my own personal paparazzi.

Wow!  This is the coolest mirror I have ever seen!!  Can I get one of these for my room, Grandma...please!!!  Nothing like a little snack to energize a guy.  Hey, look at that cute girl over there.

It seems to make grandma laugh when I play with these.  And when grandma laughs, I laugh.  A never ending circle.

Hey, look what grandma can do.  She is smarter than I thought!

I wonder

what

this button

does??

White button

makes it

shake, red

stops it.

HA HA HA!

This is so much fun!  I am creating an earthquake!

I am powerful! 

We have to go home???

When can we come back??

I had fun!!

Grandma Sue and Nana Rose had fun, too!!!

JOYS OF CHILDREN

I know that Halloween was awhile back, but I just had to share these photos!
This is little Emma Rose, the daughter of my niece, Jessica.

She is an absolutely adorable little cowgirl!  She is the spitting image of her mother!!
Here she is with her horse and her daddy, John.
He is a very proud papa!!

Here is little Evangeline Hope, the daughter of my nephew, Brian.
She is dressed as a little monkey!

Cutest little monkey I ever saw!

Here is the whole family ready to trick or treat.






I just have to show my son in his costumes!
Jimmy first went trick or treating when he was 21 months old.  He was a cowboy!

The following year he was a Dalmatian dog!  Notice the collar around his neck. It had a leash attached and we took him for a "walk" door to door so he could bark for treats.
This costume got lots of wear as he thought it was fun to pretend to be a dog.
When I find the photos of him as ET and as a firefly I will scan them and add to the blog!

I can show these photo's of him as a teen.  He was a ballerina!

The costume was one of those inflatables with a fan inside to keep you from getting too hot and to keep it inflated!  I was so surprised when he wore it!

BABYSITTING BUBBLY BROGAN

Last weekend on Saturday evening I babysat Brogan once again.  He was in a good mood.

Can you get a sense of mischievousness from this face??
He was full of giggles.

He kept wanting me to take his picture and then show it to him on the camera.  Sometimes I would pretend and show him the same picture I had showed him prior.  I know, but it is so much fun to trick kids sometimes.


What a ham!!

We worked on building a castle. Brogan is a perfectionist.  If he did not think it was right, he would knock it down and we would rebuild it.  Or maybe he was just knocking it down for fun...
either way, we rebuilt it!
Eventually he liked what he saw, so we left it up for mommy and daddy to view on their return. Here he gives a big "cheese" smile for me.

Here is another of his "say Cheese" smiles.  Now he is laying in the recliner waiting for Nana Rose to read the bedtime books to him.  He is definitely going to have to make more room for this bountiful woman if he wants to hear any stories!

Teeth are all brushed, stories told, and one last drink of water before saying nighty night.  What a cutie!!

BEING CREATIVE

One of my Internet Scrabble friends said I should do a post showing the needlework I do,  I thought that was a good idea!  I love to do needlework, especially needlepoint.  I have designed and sewn many needlepoint Christmas stockings over the years and just about every family member has one! I get ideas for patterns from pictures, coloring books, Christmas catalogues, etc. Needlepoint is fun to do and helps me to relax.  I cannot just sit, my hands must be busy!  You should try it sometime!  Here is a sample of my work.

Needlepoint doesn't have to be for stockings. There are many pattern books or pre-printed things to do with needlepoint.  I have made pictures with needlepoint...

Using plastic needlepoint canvas you can create shaped items:

The hummingbird pictures here is from a pattern guide book, and using 14 count plastic needlepoint canvas.  It is about the size of a real hummingbird!  Not a project for a beginner!!  There are a number of plastic canvas crafting books out there with patterns to make things like grandfather clocks, eagles, cats, dogs, Noah's ark, dolls, etc.  Many can be found on Ebay! And you can usually get them for only a couple dollars!



I have even made a few needlepoint quilt pattern squares and hope to eventually make more for a wall hanging needlepoint quilt!

Try it, you may like it!!