A Long Overdue Post...Or So My Son Tells Me!

So, what have we been up to lately? Honestly, not much but here are some pictures, anyway.



Eden is getting so big. This was the night she tried real food for the first time.


Erin sent this of Kylie the night they decorated their tree.


Michelle on the night we all met to give her her Christmas gifts.


This is my BIL, Bill, who plays guitar and sings every Saturday evening at the Rolling Stone Libation Company. This is where we all met for Michelle's Christmas. She spent her vacation skiing with friends at Sugarloaf Mt. in Maine.



Eden and her brothers, River on the left and James (named for my dad).


Michelle and Tori put this collage together. This is who she went skiing with. They've known each other since they were babies but only saw each other once or twice a year. But, every time, they just clicked. So happy to see they are still friends.


We took these three girls, granddaughters of my FIL's caretaker, out for a day of boating and fun on Cayo Costa.


Bokehlicious!



This is my little word for 2014. And, it's working! I've written quite a bit and hope it continues.


Our hibiscus is doing well.


And here is my FIL, Bob, and his new ukulele. He's 88 and getting fragile but we're so lucky to still have him with us.

Dolphins

On Saturday we took a boat ride with Sally, Mike, and Michelle.


The ocean was calm and dolphins were cavorting everywhere.


Gary slowed the boat down when we spied some and they swam over and frolicked in our wake.


They were close enough to touch!


Such a thrill!

The Last Six.....For Now

Another page Kylie helped me with. We were going for an earth-tone theme.


As you can see by her signature, Kylie did the background for this page.


A beautiful design by Michelle. On the top right are my two favorite teenagers: Tori and Michelle. And on the bottom right is my favorite kiddo's second grade picture. When she brought them home, Erin said, "That's not the kid I sent to school that morning. She had hair fixed all cute!" But, Kylie took it out before the pictures were taken.


Michelle did the left and Kylie did the right.


This time Kylie did the left and Michelle did the right. That's the cake I made for my sister, Sally's, birthday. She's a Slotomania nut like me!


This is the last page done in Maine. We left on October 23rd for Florida.

Moving On...

Kylie did the left background and Michelle did the right one. I love the little design Ky drew on the upper left side. And, she's been practicing writing her name in cursive.

When Michelle got back to Florida to begin her junior year of high school, she decided on a new look: a dark dye and bangs. I love how current it makes her look.


Another left and right designed page by my two favorite girls. The poem Michelle wrote is from the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. I always showed that movie to my World Literature students when we were studying Shakespeare's sonnets since part of #141 is rapped by the main character's English teacher. The kids loved it and it helped make Shakespeare approachable for them.


I did the left side and Kylie did the right side on this one. I found the little tools and the circular thingies in my husband's grandmother's button tin. That Coast Guard 3-cent stamp is from 1945.


Just using up some stamps Anne sent me. Kylie helped and thought the little purse with the necklace coming out of it broke up the monotony of the evenly placed stamps. She signed her name on the bottom left.


When I was going through some old things, I found the 45 of The Beatles "Let It Be"

and that "We still like Ike" pin

and that weird shaped thing in the upper left.

Kylie begged me to take her to Monkey Trunks. It was expensive! $50 each! And, so hard! But, we had fun even though we both got stuck at the end of the zip line and hung there until they rescued us. Afterwards, Ky said, "I'll never do that, again!" Yay!

More

Kylie did quite a bit of this page. The paint we used was shimmery and not easy to write on.











Not much to say about these pages. They are pretty self-explanatory. It was summer. We were having a good time...'nough said!

Halfway

This one was designed by Michelle and her friend, Alyssa. The bookmark was made by my friend, Anne. I'm so lucky to have all these talented designers in my life!


This beautiful background is a Michelle design. The pics are from a boat ride to the beach when Erin and Kylie were here last spring. And the house on the left is a wine label. I should add more pictures but I hate to cover up the pretty background.


And, then, I didn't journal for a couple months while we were leaving Florida and heading to Maine for the summer. Finally, Kylie got hold of this page and did the whole thing herself. She even made up the alien story as if I was the narrator. The pictures on the left were a postcard of the inn in Snowville, NH where my niece, Alissa, had her wedding reception. Michelle's surfing photo came from when they were in Hawaii last Christmas.


This is a catch-up page.


The Kennedy stamp on the left was postmarked May 29, 1964 which was his birthday and also my dad's! My aunt sent it to my parents.

The sun rays are little cards my sister, Sally, gave me. They were in a matchbox covered with the paper on the left near the Kennedy stamp.

The other stamp on the left is from Kenya and came off a postcard my cousin, Dale, sent my parents years ago when she and her husband visited Africa.

The Bermuda stamps on the right were on a postcard, too, to my folks, but I can't remember who sent it.

And there's my beautiful Tuts on her 35th birthday this summer.

The Next Five

I messed the dates all up on the left. That's what happens when you're retired; one day blends into the next.


I can't believe Michelle is old enough to drive! This is the first page if my sixth journal.


Michelle did the design on the right. She was copying her iPhone cover.


Another Michelle design. The picture on the left is one she liked. On the right are pics of my cousin Donna's visit. It was so nice to see her and her family. It had been way too long.


Oh, yuck! I don't like this page at all!