Birthday Week for 3 Grandchildren!

   January is an exciting month for birthdays for our 7 grandchildren.  This week especially, as 3 of them have birthdays.   Charlie's birthday was January 7th (Sunday) and we celebrated him with birthday cookies.  His gift from us was a black swivel armchair for his desk.  Tim made a work desk for both Charlie and Henry in their newly transformed room that they share. 

   Charlie was thrilled to get a new chair and asked Henry if he would like his old chair for his side of the desk.

  I thought that it was really kind of him to offer it to Henry since he didn't know that our gift to Henry for his birthday (4 days later) would also be the same identical desk chair.

Today is Saturday and our Canadian granddaughter Emma turns 17.  We are really missing her today but know she will be well celebrated by her friends and Becky and Danny.  Wish we could be a fly on the wall to view the festivities.  Happy Birthday to the Divine Miss Em.  I hear she is getting a new bed for her birthday.  

    Henry's birthday was Thursday and we celebrated with Mexican food from his favorite fast-food store and cookies with relighting candles. (The laugh was on Mom as she put the two candles in the cookie upside down and Henry was able to blow them out with one breath!) We all laughed about it.  Henry was very pleased to get his own new desk chair just like his brother's as well as a new bigger monitor from his parents.  Big brother Oz installed it for him on his new workstation/desk.  It's good to have a big brother who is tech-savvy.

    Henry shared a birthday with my mom, his great-grandmother who would have been 97 today.  Happy Heavenly Birthday Mom.

Missing my Emma Day

Emma on Canada Day with her art work!

The garden assistant

My new favorite picture of Emma!

Emma with their home grown squash!

I've been missing my Emma Bug recently. She is growing up much to quickly and changing almost every day. I loved these recent pictures. Thanks Beeks for keeping us supplied. Miss my girls!

Lint from my Brain

Lint from my brain.... nothing earthshaking just some leftover thoughts that got stuck there! Crown Me.....I went through the trauma of another dental visit. Mr. Wonderful knows how I dread going and thought it would be a good idea if I got it out of the way so one day after my original visit, he accepted a cancellation visit at 8 a.m. for the crown. I guess he was hoping I'd still be asleep and wouldn't notice. Wrong! It went better than it should have, and I lived through the experience with only shooting pains to my wallet.

   We have had some really lovely peonies blooming. I put some on our table. I love the big blooms and beautiful pink color. We are in process of getting our square-foot gardens planted. We are harvesting strawberries right now. Yum! I always think I need to change my hairstyle since I've basically had the same hairdo for the past twenty years. I let it grow till I can't stand it any longer and finally get it cut in the same style. Some people are stuck in a rut and I'm very comfortable in mine! There's a lot to be said about "my blow-and-go hairstyle!" Look at my Oscar. Is it me or is he growing up way too quickly? He is wearing his Mets Baseball Cap that Uncle Andy got him. What a cutie. We are making plans to meet up with his Mommy and Daddy for a visit with Grand Diva in Virginia Beach in August. It will be so much fun to see him take on the Atlantic Ocean and the beach for the first time. My mom has never met her great-grandson so it should be fun. Speaking of Oscar....this is a picture of Oz and me checking out the dinosaur's teeth. The Dino is a part of the child section of our local library and her name is Lucy. In case you can't tell which one is the dinosaur and which one is me...I have the cap on and glasses! Isn't this a great picture of my girls? We were able to have a video conference with Becky and Emma on Sunday afternoon. Emma sang songs for us and promised some new pictures in the mail. We were able to take some family shots while in Canada with the 5 of us. I love comparing them year after year to see how much we have all changed. That's all that's going on at the Daisy Patch!

Mother's Day Activities

Four years ago on Mother's Day we got an extra special present....the news that our first grand child (Miss Emma) was conceived and would be a reality sometime in January. What a wonderful gift that was and what a wonderful time we had celebrating our first mother's day together since that news.

Becky, Emma and I went to brunch at Becky's favorite cafe with her best friend and her mom. We had such a wonderful time and cafe was very pretty complete with linen tablecloths, linen napkins, and great food.

Emma was in one of her "princess" dresses and enjoyed being one of the ladies! Later that day, Jerry bought us an ice cream cake to celebrate the day. Miss Emma couldn't take her eyes off the cake! ( Can you tell she is definitely related to me?)


Becky and Jerry had some beautiful flowers in our bedroom. You know I love my daisies! Mr. Wonderful bought me a super humongous" Oh Henry "candy bar (my favorite and hard to find!) as well as letting me pick out a new bracelet at the Saskatoon Farmers Market. The bracelet is made out of Acacia seeds and dyed a beautiful purple color.

Becky also did an "upgrade" on my blog and also came up with my unique signature. That was a wonderful gift as I am so not technical !
I'm trying to be more diligent about blogging. I've missed it and it is a great record of our life.

Hope your Mother's Day was special too!

More Fun with Emma

Meet Emma's best friend Jack. They really like each other and I hope they will always be friends. We ate dinner last night with Jack and his family. It has been really nice to meet the friends of our family here.







Emma loves her sit and spin. Personally I'd be so dizzy I would be ill. She loves having an audience and Poppa and I make a great one.







We also spent a lot of time working on puzzles on the floor. Emma is quite good with 24 piece puzzles. ( Pretty good, for a 3 year old . )








Becky made gluten free muffins today. They were Apple Cinnamon with pecans and everyone liked them. Emma and Poppa liked them very much. Emma is showing me one.








Jerry and Becky gave blood today and came home with a bandage on their arm. Emma felt sorry for both of them and the next thing we knew she put a sticker on her arm so she could have a bandage too.







How many Poppa's love their grandbabies enough to play "pretty, pretty princess"?

More fun times tomorrow.

Missing my babies

Bet my little valentine is all dressed in green today.

I decided if I had an Irish name it would probably be ( Pattie O'Furniture) !

My thoughts head toward Savannah today, where today everyone is Irish, the fountains are spraying green water, the grits are green, schools are out, the parade goes on forever and a day and even McDonalds celebrates with green mint shakes!

Emma updates

I love my girl and the fact that she loves pink and rose colored glasses. Look how long her hair is getting. My toddler is rapidly becoming a full fledged little girl. She loves to sing, do crafts, loves babies, her best friend Jack and loves to show off for an appreciative audience (that would be Poppa and Diva via Skype).

She is composing her own songs that she sings to her baby doll. She loves to jump, run, and loves to be tickled.

We are making plans to come see her in Canada this summer. I thought it would be fun to celebrate her half birthday and have a day for each of the holidays we missed...we might have to invent our own holidays too. What do you think of "Pink Day"?

Miss you my Emma Bug! Your Diva XOXO

pumpkin time in Canada

Here's our divine Miss Em with her Mommy and Daddy check out the pumpkins.

Wordless Wednesday...Our Pigtailed Princess

Look who I'm missing!

Wordless Wednesday...anatomy of an ice cream cone

Oh Wow, my very own cone! I can't believe that I don't have to share it.

Too good for words....vanilla soft ice cream with rainbow sprinkles!

Diva introducing her baby to my favorite ice cream.

Throwing herself into the ice cream.

All done....she ate it all and is wearing most of it!

Wordless Wednesday..Coming Soon!

Miss Emma is coming to see us in June and bringing both her parents.

Wordlesss Wednesday...Gorgeous Grands

When I was a little girl I got a nurses uniform with hat and cape from my Aunt Aggie who was a nurse . I followed in her footsteps and became a nurse too. Who knows maybe Emma will be a nurse or doctor one day. She certainly looks like she is thinking about a puzzling diagnosis.

Our Oscar is a local celebrity and is on the cover of a newspaper in Scarsdale, New York. This Diva is getting excited about spending Easter with him, his parents and doting Uncle Andy. I'm anxious to see his great smile and hear baby giggles. Click on the picture to read the text.

Girls in white dresses....Monday Memories

I love pictures and especially ones of my grandchildren. This picture is our divine Miss Em in a white flower girl dress. Emma loves comfort clothes like her Diva but occasionally enjoys dressing up. This dress weighs almost as much as she does and she wasn't very happy when her mom dressed her up.

Now I ask you.....is this a happy face?

Becky works with the Girl Guides in Canada and co-leads a group of "Sparks" which are girls that are about 6 years old. Emma loves to go with mom to the Sparks meetings and the girls have adopted her as the troop mascot.

This is a happier Emma "Twirling" around the floor in her long white dress with the Sparks. I love this picture because it reminds me of my childhood. (Yes, Emma your "Dita" was once a little girl who loved to twirl in front of the mirror and watch my full skirt swing.)


Becky's co-leader Adriane rents out flower girl dresses and brought the dresses to a meeting so the girls could wear them. Isn't it amazing that girls like to dress in white dresses and dance and twirl around the floor? It seems to be something instinctive with girls (even little ones). Emma seems to be holding her own on the dance floor.

When I was in grade school full skirts with lots of petticoats (or can-cans) were popular. The fuller the skirt the more can-cans you wore. I liked the swishing sounds it made when I walked and twirling in front of the bathroom mirror at school was almost irresistible. It made me laugh to think that girls are girls no matter what their age and still enjoy the simple things in life.

Don't you just love the tights under the dress? Who knows....flash forward twenty years and this could well be the same little girl in a long white dress only with a veil and a groom waiting for her to waltz down the aisle.

Emma turns two!

The Divine Miss Em is two years old now. She had a Blue's Clues Birthday Party with her friends. For those of you who have forgotten or never knew...Blue is an animated dog that leaves paw prints (or clues) to her owner Steve. (Yes, gentle reader we prefer Steve videos to the current host Joe.)

Blue has animated friends.....Magenta (a pinkish version of Blue only with glasses) Periwinkle (a bluish cat) , Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper and their children Paprika and baby Cinnamon, Tickety -Tock (yes, a clock), Green Puppy, Mailbox, Shovel and Pail and many other friends. Em knows all the songs, and motions and loves to watch the show.



Her very talented Momma fixed a Blue's Clue Cake. A big blue paw print. Emma loves cup cakes so you know she enjoyed digging into the blue iced cake. I have to laugh at this picture of Emma with blue lips!

Happy Birthday To Our Sweet Girl Emma!

Wordless Wednesday...Every Girl is a Princess

No matter where you live....Every girl loves a tiara!

Thursday Thirteen...My Favorite Fall Pictures

Here are some of my favorite fall pictures .

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

Here's our Emma. Isn't she just the cutest? Not that I'm at all biased! I love to see my little ones in costumes. Mr. Wonderful is already talking about making a play area in the attic with a trunk of costumes for the grands to dress up. Emma loves hats (like her Diva and Mom).

Sunday Seven....Back in the Daisy Patch

Sunday Seven....Back in the Daisy Patch

1. I'm back home! Praise the Lord ( and my little sis) for the opportunity to spend a week with Oscar and his mom.

 Yesterday my day started at 3:45 A.M. and I found that Laguaria Airport is not difficult at 4 in the morning. Tim helped me with the electronic boarding passes and security isn't very busy early in the morning. What I thought would be my biggest hassle turned out to be really easy.

2. Most of my day was spent at Dulles Airport in D.C. There is only one flight a day that goes into our airport(Shenandoah) and after a two hour delay it was canceled. My sister (watching over me from Ohare's computer) got me on another flight to Charlottesville which left at 12:45. I arrived safely but my bag is still on vacation.

3. Mr. Wonderful met me at the airport and after reporting my "run-away-bag" took me to Chick-fil-a for a late lunch of chicken nuggets and a shared brownie with ice cream. That made me do a "happy dance" but he also surprised me with several home projects that he completed that I had almost given up on. I should go away more often! Yeah Mr. Wonderful!!

 4. It's good to be home with my cats, my bed, and my man! I got to sleep all night long! What a treat! I forgot what it is like when you have a new baby. I took the early morning shift so Suzy could catch a few winks. 

5. I have lots of pictures of Emma that Becky posted. Isn't she a doll? She looks so adorable. Becky says she kept the wig and hat on the entire time. Becky also had a small Raggedy Anne that Emma carried with her. Emma loved the attention and the chocolate (can you tell we are related?) I'm working on a scrapbook for My Little Raggedy Girl! 

6. Speaking of my Canadian Girls.....Becky and Emma will be flying to New York for Christmas. Jerry can't get away but we are so thrilled to be able to get both grands together. You know there will be lots of fun, food and photos. This is the last time Emma can fly without having to purchase a seat for her. Her second birthday is in January.

7. I got to be a part of some of Oscar's firsts. I got to be his first babysitter so his parents could celebrate their first date as mommy and daddy. I had a wonderful, fun-filled time that ended all too quickly. I'm looking forward to having both grands to love on and spoil rotten over Christmas. I love being a Diva to Emma and Oscar. Hope your week went well. I think I may have found my missing spirit of adventure . I still don't like to travel by myself but I don't think it will be my last outing. Dim the lights, cue the music, and exit thankfully for another busy and memorable week.

Halloween Revisited

Would you believe our Emma Bug is getting ready for her second Halloween. Thought you might enjoy a sample of her first Halloween.

Wordless Wednesday....Emma and the leaves

Don't ya just wanted to go rolling in the leaves with her?