Pictures from Grandpa's Birthday Party...

I think there are enough balloons...

Cousins...they all do so well together...

All of us together with Grandpa

Family shot with Adam

Andrew and Great Grandpa

The grandkids with Great Grandpa

Aleisha, John and I

Grandpa and Monique

Grandpa and John

Grandpa and I

(one of my favorite pictures with him)

Grandpa's Surprise Birthday Party!!!

John set up a very special surprise for Grandpa that brought tears to his eyes.  It's been very hard with the loss of Grandma but we want Grandpa to know how much he is loved.  I think John (we all) succeeded in showing him that today.

Happy birthday Grandpa!  We love you so much!

Aliyah and Adeline

These two sweet little ladies with their two Rebecca's in-between them.

Fun Reconnecting

John and Diane Mayes both played a very key role in my life during a very difficult time.

Dave Sonnenberg always loved and cared for my Grandma Bonner.  He always would show up every Sunday there was a potluck.  We always picked on him for that.

Norm hasn't changed a bit.  Always smiling and full of personality.

My college roommate Jackie

Dad the "Candyman"!

We all went to church with Dad this morning.  I don't remember the last time I was here at church with Aleisha.  Probably before she went off to college.  Such a nice time reconnecting with those that influenced our lives and prayed for us as children.

Rootbeer Floats!!

After connecting with an old friend at Jerry's funeral we were invited to his house to catch up.  Joel's two younger kids were the perfect ages for Adeline and Andrew.  They all connected right away.

Olivet vs. Lake Odesa

We had tonight planned to go to the game with Jerry and the girls.  Not knowing that Jerry would no longer be with us.  We still wanted to spend this time with the girls and Cindi.  The Lord provided a nice night and a good time just being together.  He sure has two great girls.

Sailor Pride Day

Both kids supporting their Mona Shores Sailors!

Crazy hair, mismatch, and Crew Blue...

This was a fun day!  

Hooray.....Andrew gets to go!  

The kids were pretty pumped with their awesome hair.  We had a bit of left over colored hair spray from Adeline's birthday party which we were able to use today.

Fun!  Fun!

Peace Out

The second day of spirit week was tie dye.  

Poor Andrew is still sick today....hopefully tomorrow!

Beach Day!

Because all beach girls wear cowboy boots!  And of course Andrew is home sick :-(

(Adeline's first day walking to school). She was proud....I watched until she got all the way there....it's one block.

LOVE!!!

This was not posed.  I came into the room to find her and Rebecca like this.  I love it.  Matching outfits and both enjoying playing the piano.  So cute.  I love this little girl.

The REAL last beach day...

Beautiful day...a little windy but that didn't stop these kids from getting in the water.

Football is my favorite sport!

I had Andrew pose for a picture for his All About Me board.  He says football is his favorite.  We'll see how he feels once he gets tackled for the first time.

Monkey Bar Fun

A fun time at the park with Andrew while Sissy is at piano lessons.  He doesn't slow down except to eat and sleep.

Sunday afternoon run with my sweet girl...

I hope times like this continue through the years.

A sweet package in the mail....

Thank you Aunt Erin for the fun Back To School package in the mail today....  We love you!!!

A rainy pick up

Turned out to be a great first day of school.  Both kids still smiling even in the rain.  Now let's see how tomorrow goes!

First Day of school 2015

This may go down as one of my favorite "first day of school" pictures of Andrew.  And to have such a happy, bright eyed sister there to comfort you.

Adeline Kay

9 years old

Fourth Grade

Mrs. Charron's class

Andrew Thomas

6 years old

First Grade

Mrs. Vanderwall's class

He's starting to smile....just a little bit....

Addy Kay with some classmates.

The girl on the left is Danika.  She is new to Lincoln Park and Adeline met her at her open house.  I am very proud of Adeline pulling her and befriending her.

And the smiles came and stayed when he saw his buddy Karter.

A night to decompress...

Thanks to my Dad instead of going home we headed to a hotel to relax and decompress.  This was much needed.  Thank you Dad for your generosity.  We needed this....especially James.  We love you!

Remembering a Great Friend...

I posted last week both James and my thoughts about the loss of Jerry.  Today was an incredibly hard day.  I was proud of my husband who spoke during the funeral of Jerry and his testimony.  He chose to read what he wrote because he knew that if he looked up and saw everyone that was there he would not make it through.  The church was full...it was standing room only.  We watched just a small clip of Jerry (a video he made when he was first diagnosed not long ago)...that was hard but yet so encouraging and comforting to know the Jerry is with the Lord now.  There is no doubt.  What a comfort that is.  Thank you Lord for the gift of eternity.

There are some missing from this picture that was there.  This is a good shot of some of our core group.  This time also made us remember and miss what we all shared at one time.  Hopefully we can do better and stay better connected.  What we shared was extremely special.