7th Heaven

Aaron 8 days

Our 7th grandchild, Aaron Robert Thomas, arrived on Friday, Feb.11 at 12:02 pm.  He weighed 8 lb. 6 oz. and was 20 in. long.  He came very quickly and easily, thank goodness.  I made it to the hospital with less than an hour to spare.  He is beautiful and healthy and the family is all doing well.  Mom is feeling fine and up and running.  Dad is an old pro and handles any situation with either boy with ease.  I think the best way to describe Logan is neutral.  He doesn't seem to mind Aaron being around, but isn't very enthusiastic about him either.  Marlie said he asked to be let out of the car a day or so ago when baby Aaron was crying.  I would have paid to see that.  SOAP hasn't met him in person yet, so we are going up this week for some Poppy and Nonny time with the little boys.

Big brother kiss....from a distance

Also this week is the 15th birthday of #2 granddaughter.  Happy Birthday Lauren!!!  

Very Important Visitor

A snack just after arriving

Flat Stanley has come to visit from Mr. Wayne Johnson's Life Skills class in Manor, Texas.  He will be staying with SOAP and I in San Antonio for a while.  During the time he is here he will 'visit' many of the tourist sites in town and report back to the class.  We have already seen the Alamo and the River Walk and shopped for an appropriate outfit to wear to the rodeo.

Hopefully he will be going with us to Ft. Worth VERY soon.  We are anxiously awaiting a call to jump in the car and go for the birth of our 7th grandchild.  Aaron Robert Thomas should be coming any day.  As cold as it is, he would be wise to stay put for a few more days.

Shopping for boots




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Weekend with the Sisters

Cute rain boots

I am back from a great, but wet and cold weekend in Blanco and Fredricksburg.  The Sisters met on Friday for food, fun, shopping and a little bowling.  We had a fantastic time and I got to see some old friends and make quite a few new ones.  Camping was at Miller Creek RV Park in Blanco.  I would recommend you have a self contained bathroom if you are going in warmer weather and are going to need a shower.  They have a cowboy shower.  That's CO-ED with NO stalls or heat, for the uninformed.  The owner said the women usually wear their bathing suits. Needless to say there were no takers in our group and the gals with newer trailers and bathrooms had a lot of friends.  

After shopping at Fredricksburg Trade Days on Saturday, we invaded the Blanco Bowling Club.  What a hoot!  It's a vintage bowling alley with 6 lanes and pin boys.  The food was the typical yummy bowling alley fare featuring chicken fried steak and hamburgers.  We played 9 pin.  None of us were familiar with the game.  All six on the team get 2 tries to knock down the 9 pins.  I am embarrassed to say how often it took all six of us to get the pins down.  We decided the lanes were so old that they were warped and that our skills, or lack thereof, had nothing to do with the horrible scores.  The pin boys had a pretty easy night.

All but about about 6 of the gals who came

Everyone hooked up and headed home this morning, looking forward to the next trip.
                        

Just in case you missed it....

If you slept through New Year's Day or don't care at all about football, you might not have noticed that TCU won the Rose Bowl.  It was a great game.  The Frogs and Coach Gary Patterson are a class act and certainly deserved this huge win.

Christmas #3

Last Sunday morning we headed to Conifer, Co.  to see our oldest daughter and her family.  The snow was beautiful but I could have used a little more oxygen than you find at 9000+ feet.  SOAP and I had a great time shopping and eating out with the kids and celebrated Chloe's 15th birthday with her on Tuesday.  Chloe got to choose what we did on Tuesday.  Silas got a little tired of hearing "It's not your day".  Wednesday was the boy's day and we ate at the food court in the mall.  They thought the Cheesecake Factory was just too fancy for them.  Conifer is a beautiful little town just a few miles southwest of Denver.  SOAP made me a little nervous driving up the snowy, winding roads but he kept the rental car on the road.  If you get to Conifer visit the Angry Llama Diner and have a hamburger.  The diner is owned by Journey Community Church pastored by our son-in-law.  BTW...no dog sledding this time.  They were all booked up.....really.

Chloe and Amy at the Cheesecake Factory

Silas and Titus

Christmas #2

We spent Christmas with Marlie, Andrew and Logan in Ft. Worth.  Logan understood quite a bit of what was going on, so we really did have fun with him.  He loved looking at the tree and showing us his favorite ornaments.  Christmas morning he was excited about his presents from Santa and more than helpful to the rest of us by opening our presents for us.  After breakfast we bundled up and went to the Gaylord Texan to see their fabulous displays and ICE.  ICE was 9 degrees but the rest of the displays were nice and warm.  Logan was especially thrilled with the trains.   I think a visit to the Gaylord should be on everyone's list of things to do next Christmas season.  It certainly will be on ours.

Inside the Gaylord Texan

Charlie Brown's Christmas all in ICE

Beautiful ICE nativity

Logan would have watched the trains all day

Christmas #1

SOAP and I are doing Christmas in three parts this year.  It just seems easier for us to get to all the kid's houses than for them to all come here.  After all, there are just 2 of us and we travel pretty light.

This weekend we went to McAllen to see Phil, Trish, and the girls.  Lauren and Lenzy opened our presents and Lenz managed to finagle to open another one as well.  She also charmed SOAP into buying her a tiny white dwarf Lions Head bunny.  He is such a pushover where the grandkids are concerned.

At Phil's church this morning we had great home-made tamales and the church was beautifully decorated.  Lauren played and sang during the offering and Lenzy accompanied on bass.  Lauren is all into the performance and the crowd and Lenz is very serious about her playing.  It's hard to believe they are growing up so fast.

Christmas #2 will be with Marlie, Andrew and Logan.  #3 will be with Amy, Michael, Chloe, Titus and Silas in Colorado and may involve some dog sledding. There could be a real story there....