Happy 16th Sam

When did this little person

become this big person??

When did this little personbecome this big person?

And when did this little person

become this very grown up young man????

I have no idea where 16 years have gone. All of a sudden he is 16 and I don't feel a day older than the day my first born placed his first born in my arms.

Sam, without embarrassing you we would really like to let you know how very proud we are of you and how much we love you and love who you are. You are becoming an amazing young man. We just want to wish you a wonderful life filled with happiness, fun, friends, success and love.

Happy 16th with love from Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Chuck.

Ruby Tuesday-Grandkids in Red

Not only do I like the color red but it would appear that so do my five grandkids. So here they are in order of birth in all their red glory!







OK, I know you are all busy checking out everyone's Ruby Tuesday but take the time to bookmark me and drop back to check out my blog. I am a retired Special Ed teacher who now spends most of her time on Sanibel Island, Florida which is a Sanctuary Island for wildlife. I volunteer for a wildlife hospital. I am also the proud grandma of 5 wonderful grandkids and brag about them often!! I also have a blog called Branches and Roots where I talk about genealogy and my ancestors. OK, enough about me. So if you really want to see red go to Work of the Poet

Happy Birthday Sam

Fifteen years ago today, I heard my first grandchild's first cry. Then 15 minutes later, my son placed his son in my arms. It is a feeling that I will never forget. Here it is 15 years later and Sam is now a freshman in high school. Where does the time go? I just want to tell my oldest grandson how proud I am of him, how much I enjoy spending time with him, and how much I love him. Sam, you rock!! Ok, now for the embarrassing pictures. Hee hee.

Here he is at l week old.

Sam's first birthday.

His mom always made the most amazing Halloween costumes. Here he is with his daddy.

Here he is as a Bee.

He is a life long Cleveland Indians fan. Here he is with Grandpa and his Slider doll.

Batter up.

He was also a hockey fan--thanks to his grandma and grandpa. Here he is gazing longingly at a picture of Brian Holzinger, a friend of Grandma and Grandpa when Brian was in college.

Sam and his little sister.

Unfortunately, like a lot of boys, he got to a point where he hated having his picture taken. This is the look I generally get when I point a camera at him.

This past summer he went to San Diego with us to visit his Aunt Karen and his cousins. Here are my oldest and youngest grandsons.

Here he is on one of his favorite places in San Diego--the Midway.

Oh look, the teensiest, tiniest hint of a smile.

Ok, Sam, I hope I didn't embarrass you too much. I hope you have a great birthday and I hope it snows soon so you can go snowboarding.

Love, Grandma and Grandpa

Congratulations from a Proud Grandma

I just want to congratulate my oldest grandson, Sam, and my only granddaughter, Erin, for getting straight A's on their report cards. Way to go guys. Grandpa and I are soooo proud of you.

Wordless Wednesday-Contemplation

This is my oldest grandson watching his little cousin. I love this picture!

I know you are all busy checking out everyone's Wordless Wednesday but take the time to bookmark me and drop back to check out my blog. I am a retired Special Ed teacher who now spends most of her time on Sanibel Island, Florida volunteering for a Wildlife hospital rescuing and rehabbing wildlife. I even dumpster dive for injured Raccoons!! I am also the proud grandma of 5 wonderful grandkids and brag about them often!! I also have a blog called Branches and Roots where I talk about genealogy and my ancestors. OK, enough about me. Back to Wordless Wednesday.

Enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays at Wordless Wednesday and 5 Minutes for Mom

My Weekend in Pictures

The weekend started with a Friday night Barbecue and concert. We met Alex at the dinner then proceeded to the concert where we helped sell his CD's. This is what a teenager does during a Celtic concert when he is bored.

This is my beautiful friend, Jan, who I wore the pink bracelet for last year. She is with her hubby and daughter.

Here are the 4 Scotsmen from Crieff. One of these is the father of Ewan McGregor. Wish I could read their nametags to figure out which one is the guy.


Here we are with Alex. Since he had a couple of other friends also selling his CD's, we were free to wander the grounds and see other things.

In our journeys around the grounds, we found Danny the Clydesdale. He and his buddy, Diamond, both sported red hats. Don't you love it?

They also had some "Heeland Coos" or "Hairy Coos" or in Americanese--Highland Cows. Here I am petting one of them.

We then wandered over to the Clan Area and visited our booth--Clan Montgomery. Here is Mr. Snowbird with President Hugh Montgomery.

This is Clan Montgomery's president, Hugh Montgomery, with his wife Karen. They always have a fantastic booth with lots of things to look at. While we were there some kids were having a ball trying on armor, playing with swords (toy of course) and chasing bubbles from the bubble machine.

After stopping by the dance building, looking at a few vintage motorcycles and cars made in the UK, watching a pipe band march by and looking at all of the vendor booths, we wandered back to Alex's booth. This was the nametag they made for him this weekend. He LOVED it.

Here are Alex and Mr. Snowbird clowning around a bit.

Here is Alex with Sister Mary Assumpta. She is just adorable.

Alex--up close and personal singing one of his more serious songs.

We left the games, drove to our son's house to change clothes, then headed to Erin's playoff game. We set up our chairs and then this happened!!!

Here is our son who is one of the assistant coaches with a drenched team. Since the downpour only lasted a couple of minutes, the coaches managed to get the field back in shape and get the game underway.

Here is Erin at bat. I believe she walked on this "at bat" but she did get a single another time. The pitching from the other team wasn't the greatest so she didn't get a lot of pitches she could try to hit. There were a lot of walks during the game. Erin also made a heck of a play when she was playing shortstop. Her team won by quite a lot and were supposed to play in the championship game that night. Due to weather and some scheduling problems with the other team, the game was moved to tonight so we won't get to see it. Erin was also one of 4 chosen from her team to be on the All Star team which plays Tuesday night. She definitely is our little athlete.

Here is how Erin practices! She even got Grandma up playing Wii. I did pretty good in bowling and I loved playing with the Wii. Great exercise but unfortunately I managed to mess up an already bad knee playing baseball with her. Can you believe it??

Last but not least, here are Erin and Sam playing Super Mario racing on the Wii. We had a great weekend despite threats of severe weather most of the time. I took lots more pictures but I think I've bored you enough!!

A Day With The Grandkids

Just a short post to say that Erin and I went shopping today and had a great time. We went to the mall in Streetsboro which is about an hour away. Great mall. She got a control for her Wii, some candles, and a Webkids frog. I got Yankee Candles--I LOVE Yankee Candles and they were having a sale. We had lunch at Panda Express. For $6 a piece we got HUGE meals. Neither of us could finish. I didn't get to go to her game tonight but her team won 22-5 so they play tomorrow at 4. If they win then they play at 8. All of this is contingent on weather though since severe thunderstorms are expected tomorrow. UGH.

Sam went with us to the concert tonight at the Scottish Festival. We met Alex Beaton at the Barbecue, then went and chatted with our Clan Montgomery president and his wife for awhile. Then back to help Alex sell CD's. They moved the concert inside due to expected rain and storms--which never occured. We got out of there about 9:30 and opted to come on home (about an hour's trip) rather than go to the Ceilidh (Scottish music and entertainment). I'm not sure how that was different from the Concert!! One interesting thing though, when we got there Alex had just sat down to eat with 4 guys in kilts and white shirts who looked rather important. He, however, got up and came and sat with us to eat. He introduced these guys later to the crowd at the concert. They were all from Crieff in Scotland. Crieff is the sister city of Wellington, Ohio where the games are held. Anyway, one of the four is the father of Ewan McGregor!!! Alex actually left him to eat with us. How cool is that??

Anyway, we have to get up early and head back tomorrow to sell more CD's and brave the expected massive thunderstorms. UGH. NOthing worse than wet wool kilts!

And We're Off Again

Man, it's great to be retired. You can just take off anytime you want--and we do. We are headed to the other side of the state today. We will stay at my son's in Twinsburg, Ohio. Tomorrow my granddaughter and I will go shopping. Several years ago when I asked what she wanted for her birthday, she said that she would like to spend the day with me, have lunch, and pick out her own present. So, this kind of started a tradition with both her and her brother. Her birthday was in early May but since we were in Florida and she was in Ohio, we couldn't do it then. So tomorrow is the day.

Then tomorrow night, Mr. Snowbird, Grandson Sam and I are heading to Wellington, Ohio for the Barbecue and concert for the Ohio Scottish Games. Erin can't go because she has a softball tournament which starts tomorrow night. She is really bummed. We will also be manning the booth for our friend, Alex Beaton who will be entertaining at the games this weekend. (By the way, if you go to his website and click on gallery, I took many of the pictures appearing in the Scotland tour section. Cool huh?)



On Saturday, Mr. Snowbird and I will head back to the Games to work in the booth all day and to enjoy Alex's singing, Scottish food, pipe bands, some chatting with Clan Montgomery members etc. Neither of the grandkids can go because both have games. We are hoping that Erin's team win all of their games (Championships) so that she will have a game Saturday night. That way, we can at least see one of her games. Unfortunately, we will miss Sam's.

I promise to take some pictures. I'm afraid, though, that many of the pictures will be of thunderstorms!! Ugh, the weather report looks lousy for the weekend. HOT and STORMY. Nothing like being in a tent when a storm arrives and having no place to run to. Let's just hope that the Scottish gods look down on us and protect us--although they sure don't do a very good job of protecting Scotland from lousy weather. Oh well.

Gotta Brag about the Oldest Grandson

I meant to post this last week and forgot. Sorry Sam!! But, when we were wandering about the San Diego Zoo last week, I got a phone call on my cell from my son. He said that Sam, his son, had something to tell me and put Sam on the phone. After finally having to ask what he had to tell me, he told me that he had taken 3rd place in the all school spelling bee (6th-8th grade) and would be going to the all county spelling bee. If he wins there then on to state. Apparently, though, the girl who got first place is a "super speller" and will probably win. But, I am sooooo proud of my Sam. And not just for being a good speller.

I'm also proud of him because he loves his cousins.

I'm proud of him for running the steps at The Ohio State University Stadium

I'm proud of him because he can drive a big boat.

I'm proud of him because he can drive a little boat.

I'm proud of him because he has dreams.

I'm proud of him because he still finds joy in the little things--and the big things like Halo 3.

I'm proud of him because he still hugs his mom.

And---I'm proud of him because even though he won't admit it----he loves his sister!! Come on Sam, admit it. :-)