Saying Goodbye

On Sunday March 15th 2009 my Uncle Jerry (my mom's sister's husband) passed away. He lived a very full and eventful life from doing magic shows to dropping out of a helicopter dressed as Santa Claus at the local mall every year to kick off the Christmas season. Since he lived so far away (Indiana) Sam was only able to meet his great uncle twice. Unfortunately, Molly never did. Here is Samuel with him in August 2006. Sam was 5 months old. This was one of the first times that Sam gave us a huge belly laugh, not sure what it was, but he thought uncle Jerry was hysterical.




We went back up north in January 2008. Sam was 22 months, Molly came as well, only about 21 weeks along. Aunt Shirley and Uncle Jerry came over to visit as we were staying in Ohio to visit my grandparents. Sam enjoyed chatting it up with Uncle Jerry.
good bye uncle Jerry, we are so happy that you are in a MUCH MUCH better place now. See you again someday.

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Amazing as it may sound, just 3 short days later on Wednesday March 18th my grandpa (my mom's father) passed away to see his Lord and maker, Jesus Christ. He was 88 years old and enjoyed every year to the fullest. Thankfully he was healthy and able bodied to the end. He was very active in his church and busy all the time whether it be counting the offering each week or maintenance on the many, many things that needed attention at the church and home. He proudly served in the Air Force during WWII and was honored at the graveside with a flag-draped casket, folding and presentation of the flag, and taps was played as the airplane flew overhead in his honor. Unfortunately I was unable to go to the funeral, but hearing it described just brings tears to my eyes. What a special way to pay tribute and say thanks to those who served our country and helped keep our freedoms.
Again, since Ohio is just too far away, Sam was only able to meet his Great Grandparents twice. Molly has never been there (except in my belly) -- I sure wish grandpa could have met her, he would have loved her big 2-toothy grin! The first time we went up (Aug 2006) it coincided with my grandpa's 86th birthday so my mom, Sam and I were able to help him celebrate. This was taken right as grandpa and Sam met in person for the first time. The next day, Sam and grandpa relaxing
Right before we headed back on the big airplane . Great-grandpa holding Sam with great-grandma Betty.
As you can tell, the next time we came to visit it was COLD outside. January in Ohio= BRRRR. Here is grandpa, Sam, my dad, Betty. No one would have ever guessed that just over 1 year later we would be saying good-bye forever. Good bye grandpa. Being an only child and father of 2 daughters, your last name continues as middle names in your grandson (Rod) and his son (Ethan). Your first name (Walter) continues as a middle name with Jeffery, your great-grandson. Your Christian legacy continues with both your daughters, their husbands and your grandchildren, all being Christ followers raising their children (your great-grandchildren) to love the Lord and to be actively involved in church. You have lead a long, full, healthy life and now you get to be in Heaven celebrating with Jesus. i am so excited to know that I will one day be able to see you again.

Free Movie tonight (WED)Redbox

Today only you can get a free DVD rental at your local Redbox. Simply use code: JBG123. This can be used once per debit/credit card, so you can rent more than one for free by using different cards!

'c' is for cookie, that's good enough for me

Here he is ladies and gentleman.... Chef boy R-Sam
Sam has been so into feeding us 'food' that he has 'cooked' for us that I finally decided to have him help me in the kitchen.

Here we are gathering our supplies (notice, Molly needed to be involved in the process as usual)
Dump in the sugar (being careful to have more go in the bowl than spill on the counter)
Give it a good stirShow your pleasure when you realize that there are 'chocolate candies' in this recipeTime to enjoy the fruit of your labor, a warm, perfectly baked ooey gooey chocolate chip cookie Yummo! Thanks little buddy, it was fun, next up homemade spaghetti sauce.....

Free Carmel mocha

I know that some of you that read this have Bob Evans in your neck of the woods (lucky you!). For those of us who don't will just have too look at the picture full of envy (it looks yummy!) click HERE to get your FREE caramel mocha. This expires March 11 so hurry and get one each day until Wed! Best part... no purchase necessary, dine-in OR carry out! Enjoy

More free food at Jack-in-the-box

On Wed March 11 ONLY...
click here to get a coupon for a FREE small fry and small drink. No purchase necessary, 1 coupon per person. Sounds like a good deal to me. I don't ever eat there (except when Danna and I were travel nurses and we ate the breakfast croissants there after a long nights work) hmmm, that brought back some fun memories and I do remember that it was yummy, wonder if they still have that?! Maybe this free drink and fries coupon might actually do what they are hoping and get me there?!

swangin' the day away

What do you do when it is almost 80 degrees outside on a February afternoon?! you go swangin' Again, I can't tell you how much I LOVE having a swing set in our own backyard. It is great when there isn't a ton of time to go to the park, but we want to get out and play before supper. Anyway, Sam had a great time going down the slide and swinging in HIS blue swing. Somehow I was finally able to convince him to get out of the blue swing and go on the yellow one. Miss Molly then took his place and had a BALL swinging.


It was so fun to see their happy faces and hear their sweet giggles. Of course I could never get Sam high enough, but it was fun anyway. They even enjoyed being there together! (of course Molly LOVES watching and being with Sam regardless of the chore)

Cwoaf on

On one of our "let's stay in our PJ's today since everyone is sick" day, Sam decided he needed to go in search of some cwoafs (clothes) to wear. He left the family room telling me that he "be right back" and returned like this:
When he appeared he said "amuel put cwoaf on" (aka: Samuel put clothes on) quite an ensemble huh? Not quite the outfit I would have chosen , but hey... he did it all by himself, right down to the spiderman socks. And yes, he did get to wear this lovely outfit all day long. How could I refuse a boy who did it all. (and besides, we weren't going anywhere.... that definitely would have made a difference!!)

Redbox free movie codes

Free movie codes, (expiration unknown):

1) REDBOX (first time customer; USE this code first!)
2) BREAKROOM
3) DVDONME