COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS

So few days left before Christmas and it seems like still so much to do!! I had the bulk of my Christmas shopping done in October, no lie!! Then it seemed like things slowed down and I just couldn't get the rest of it down until this month. Just yesterday I got two of my last presents online and hope they get here before the big day!! Yikes! I'm trying really hard to just concentrate on the here and now and not what the week after Christmas will bring and then into January. I sure don't want to see half of our family move away, but God has ordered their footsteps and so off they go with God's blessings and ours too :-) After all, it's what we've prayed for all their lives, right? Right.
If only I could keep my "feelings" and my heart out of this!! Merry Christmas everyone!! And a bright and happy New Year!!!

GRANNY'S NEW HOME

Who wants to move this time of year? Granny sure doesn't want to, but she has to. We will be moving her to Countryside Care Center on Friday afternoon. It will be hard, for all of us. She has to have a roommate and share a bathroom. That will be hard. I don't know, maybe she'll like it better because she will get more attention and she doesn't have to be alone! Please pray for a good roomie and maybe she could be a Christian!!!! Wouldn't that be something? Another change in life. Sometimes we balk so much about change. It never gets easier. It's just another adventure!!

A NEW SEASON

It begins with Black Friday and ends with Cyber Monday!! What silly titles. Who new years ago that it would come to this?? It is a fun season of the year though! Lots of tinsel and twinkle and the grandchildren all excited about Christmas day!!! You just have to be excited because they are!! Lots of changes going on in this season though for our family. You won't be surprised if I don't blog about all that though because I can't stand anymore tears. So, I'll just say let's be THANKFUL for all we have and have had and be in that constant frame of mind!!!! Bring on the cranberry shrub!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

I'm so excited that Thanksgiving is finally here!! We will have 28 people this year, that's minus Eric, Tonia, Cameron, Clarice, Chandler, Cailee & Caden :-( We will certainly miss them. But they'll be here next year, RIGHT???? What a super celebration we will have! Granny will be here who is 83 1/2 and the youngest being Alathia Kotulski who is 7 months!!! What a variety of family!! All our favorite dishes will be served and lots and lots of dessert!! We'll talk and talk and look at all the day after Thanksgiving adds!! The cousins will play and play and love every minute of it. Grampa and Gramma will sit back and enjoy all the commotion and probably shed a few tears just thinking of how fast the years go by. Our oldest grandson, Austin, is graduating from high school in May. His first Thanksgiving was in 1992! Holy Cow!!! My thoughts also go to Thanksgivings long, long ago at Granny Barlow's house. I will never forget those days!! And I sure don't want my children and grandchildren to forget Thanksgivings at Grampa & Gramma's house at 164!!! We are so, so thankful for God's gift of children!!!!

ASBURY GARDENS CONVO

This is how it went today ~ I was visiting Granny Pat this morning and spent most of the time talking with her about how she was all packed up and ready to move. . . where? Not sure. She told Kevin she was moving to Geneva and told me she was moving down the street. Maybe, secretly, she was moving back to her own house at 600 Parker!! However after giving it much thought, and hearing voices (she actually said that!) she decided moving was not the wise thing to do right now! She she's staying put at AG, even though she thinks most of the people are ugly and mean :-)
So we had lunch together at AG and was it a hoot!! We sat at table #4, her normal table with 2 other ladies. One was Jeanette and one was, well, for lack of knowing her name I'll call her Lady M and there's a reason for that!! Ask me, I'll tell you!! Anyway, the lunch convo was like Abbott and Costello and "who's on first!!" No lie, I had all I could do to keep from laughing at these ladies including granny who was certainly a part of the talk around the table!! Jeanette mumbled through whatever she was saying and once in a while a clear word would come out! Lady M just shook her head and agreed with everything. She also just ate the frosting off her cake. She said that's the best part :-) Granny ate a WHOLE plate of chicken parmesan, fruit, vegies and dessert!! I couldn't believe it! It was probably the best lunch conversation I've had in a while!! (That's because I normally eat lunch alone!) So, I talked with Granny about Thanksgiving thinking it would encourage her to know that was coming and she said, "wait a minute, what about St. Patrick's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (That's how every conversation goes!) She said she wanted to wear her St. Patty's Day green hat!! So, I think we should do corned beef & cabbage for Thanksgiving, what do you all think??

TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY!!

So this is what dad's doing on this dull, rainy Friday! What else?

DULL, RAINY FRIDAY!

So, my comments today are about sitting around waiting for the Comcast guy to come and help us hook up our "had to have" digital adapters for our TV's. Couldn't do it ourselves you know. We're just not tecky minded. Just don't get it, no way, no how. What's wrong with us? There's only 4 easy steps and we can't make it past Step 1 :-) Sure hope the Comcast guy is nice and easy to understand. I'm going to follow him all over my house because it is a little creepy having someone walking all through your house. That's because we have TVs in every room, well almost! What happened to the days when there were NO TVs in our house. TV was evil!!!! Oh well, I'm glad those days are over. Kevin says we need to buy new TVs because they are all digital already. Okay Kevie come up with the bucks. So, that's about it for now. Have a good one!

YES, IT'S FINALLY HERE!

I am loving blogging about my favorite season of the year!! It starts tomorrow, at least that's what the calendar says!! I wish it lasted all year long. Can't wait to play in the leaves!! That's right, or at least shuffle through them!! Come on over kids and help me rake! Happy Fall to all of you!

SCRAPBOOKING

This post is about all the scrapbooks I have completed since the end of July, 2009!! That would be FIVE, yes, you read it right, FIVE!! I completed Cameron's, Clarice's, my grandchildren book, a brand new granddaugher book and am almost done with my grandson book!!!! It's amazing how once I REstarted with the scrapbook thing that it just took off in my head!!! Once I'm done with the grandson book I'm going to start another grandchildren book because the first one is full :-) I wish I had a camera like Kym's and could just take a picture of all the books laying out in the grass or something. No, wait, they'd get wet out there, so maybe on the couch or table! I might try it we'll see!!! So happy scrapbooking to me! Can't wait till you all can see them!

Love
Gramma

FIVE OF OUR SIX GRANDDAUGHTERS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYM KRYSTINE!

Since it's my only daughters birthday I felt I needed to express my love to her on this beautiful birthday blog site!! I will never forget July 31st, 1967. I was home with my mom, living with her because Frank was on his way to VietNam. It was horrible. However, I did survive, but I don't know how. My inborn stamina and positivity I guess. I didn't know God back then. My one insane comment as my water broke and we were on our way to the hospital was, "this isn't so bad. It's just like in the movies!!" Little did I know. It was pretty bad having a baby without a husband there, but I did make it through with my mom and my best friend, Joan. Kym was born breach, with only a 12 hr. labor, not too shabby :-) I was put under though just right before she was born. Crazy what they did back in the day!! So my little girl, I will be forever thankful that God gave you to me. We had the best of times together, you and me, during those days that your dad was gone. I don't know how it would feel not to have a daughter, I'm so glad I don't have to know. Precious, loving, tender, caring, creative, sweet, awesome, god fearing, wonderful mom and wife. . . you are all those things are more. What did I ever do to deserve you?? God only knows!! Happy Birthday sweetheart!!

MY FAMILY

Don't you just love "gadgets?" What else could I have put here? I wanted little stick people so here they are!! I guess I could have added 14 granchildren but not really because it wouldn't let me do that!! So laugh away, it's pretty funny!! (Don't you especially love the halo!!)

MIDDLE OF JULY!

Could it already be the middle of July? How did that happen? I think I closed my eyes. I guess that's life. So, it's summertime, fun, fun! Lots of birthday this month, but that's not unusual either. We love birthdays in this family! So let's enjoy all that God has for us this summer!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

God has shed His grace on America!! We should be forever grateful for that! Happy Birthday America!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

I want to say Happy Father's Day to my "dad" who will never see this because he doesn't even know how to turn a computer on, however I want him to know how much he means to me!! I love him with all my heart and he's been my "dad" for almost 46 years!! I'm talking about Frank Russell Koehler of course. He's a whole lot more sentimental and loving than most of us think, you just have to bring it out in him! He kisses me and calls me sweetie every time we visit and everytime we leave. I treasure that. I will never let anyone say that he means more to them than he does to me because he truly is my "dad." He's been more of a father figure to me than my own dad and I'm so thankful for that and thankful to God for him. I am praying for you dad!

TIME FLIES

Wow, it's been a while since I've had a new post, 1 whole month to be exact! So a lot has happened since Mother's Day, let's see:
Dennis & Kym's anniversary
Joshua and Abi's anniversary
Eric & Tonia's anniversary
And Sunday, June 14th is Dawson Campbell's 4th birthday -)

We've had TONS and I mean TONS of company, our friend has been in the hospital, granny's house sold. . . I feel like I could go on and on, but that's enough for now!! Hope your spring is going well, just like mine :-)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY GIRLS!!

Mother's Day is such a special day and I want to wish all my special girls a very happy one!! Hope your husbands and children treat you special today just like they do everyday :-) You are all a huge blessing to me! I am so, so thankful for each and every one of you!! You are awesome mother's and God has blessed you richly with the best children in the world!!!! Keep up the great work!!

I Love You!

APRIL. . . A BUSY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!

We certainly do celebrate a lot of birthdays in April ~
4/10 Uncle Kevin's birthday
4/14 Joshua's birthday
4/16 Emerson's birthday
4/21 Malia's birthday
4/21 Eric's birthday
4/21 Cameron's Spiritual Birthday

There's also additional birthdays:
4/1 Alathia Liberty!!
4/3 Elizabeth & Rich's birthday
4/17 Jessica Mason's birthday
I believe Tom Delany's birthday is somewhere here :-)
Also John O'Carroll's birthday

It's just hard to comprehend, isn't it? Happy Birthday to the Awesome April people!!!!

HAPPY EASTER FAMILY!

We're about to celebrate a wonderful holiday, Easter!! What a wonderful time of the year and my daughter's favorite holiday :-) We'll be gathering as a family and celebrating together! Hallelujah, the Lord has risen from the dead!!!

NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!! What a marvelous time we had in Florida with out "Florida family." They are amazing! Graeme had a wonderful attitude about my "bumping" his little truck and Linda is still a wonderful sister-in-law!!! Dennis is funny to watch work, 10 to 1pm, that's his work day!!! Tina goes all out fixing dinners for everyone. She works hard and I love her. Tom & Deb are enjoying their empty nest and Deb is waiting to get her pink slip :-) What a great bunch of siblings!! Dad is going to be 87 in May and spry as ever!! He's a sharp cookie indeed! Mom is like the energizer bunny, she never stops going! She gave us some good laughs on her "go-go" this time, dragging Penny behind her!!! She has good days and bad days and so it goes. Thank you all for a very wonderful, memory making time!!! We are glad to be back home, even though you have to get back into the grind, there's no place like home!!

FLORIDA VACATION

Well maybe this trip we'll get some good pictures!! We'll see. We will miss all of you :-( Wish we could do this together something!! What do you think Grandma & Grandpa Koehler would think!!!!! Ahhh!!! It will be fun walking on the Naples beach and Naples pier. Strolling along 5th Ave. and having a Starbucks!! Sitting in the spa at 10:00 at night, that's the best!! The 86 degree weather, that can hardly be beat!! But at the end of the day. . . there's no place like home! I'll be clicking my red shoes :-) Love you all!!!

ST PATTY'S DAY!

I don't really care that much about St. Patrick's Day but I love the little green shamrocks and I am Irish!!!! Whoppee! Well, it would make Granny happy to see this! I'm such a good daughter :-)

I REALLY CAN DO THIS BLOG THING!

Hey, after weeks and weeks of figuring out how to change the background on my blog I finally did it!! Aren't you guys proud of me? Now I'll have to get back to this by Sunday because then the whole hearts theme will be over! Next thing I want to learn is how to add music :-) I love the music aspect, although I will have to borrow some of Kym's secular music!!! Send the comments about my new background!!

THOUGHTS & PONDERINGS AT THE BEGINNING OF 2009

This has been a month of change and it all has to do with Granny Pat. Lots and lots of changes going on in her life. She started out in 2008 going to the hospital and has wound up in 2009 at Asbury Gardens. No more home, no more car, no more bills, no more lonliness or anxiety. At least that's the way it would seem. She still carries the lonliness and anxiety because she's lived with that all her life. Not a very happy life, but now at 83 years of age she could be happy if she'd let herself. There are so many lessons to learn about old age. So many things I've learned about how NOT to grow old! My life is far different than my mother's life was however. I'm thankful everyday that I found the Lord and He has made my life whole. He has given me more than I could have ever asked or thought about. I may not be rich monitarily but I have more than most people in this world and I will rejoice for He has made me glad!!!!