Evelyn's First Birthday Surprise . . . .

It appeared to be a normal first birthday celebration with grandparents and small children galore. But something big was about to happen. After digging into her birthday cake, Evelyn had to go change clothes. When she came back out, with her mommy holding her arms just right, we could see she was delivering a message: "Big Sister in Training . . . Evelyn"

That's right, Evelyn is going to be a big sister. And we, who are much too young to be grandparents at all (hee hee) are expecting grandchild #7. Praise the Lord.

Do you think she realizes that her world is about to be turned upside down?

Trick-or-Treaters . . . .

A kitty cat and a mermaid came to trick-or-treat at our house. Aren't they cute?

Goodbye to summer . . . . .

Goodbye to summer. I remember dreading the end of swimming season and yet being eager to learn which teacher I had and whether my best friend, Dianna, and I would be in the same room. Dianna (on the left) and I went to Fannin Elementary from 1st through 6th grades. Here are my 2nd and 5th grade pictures - the grades our granddaughters will start this week.

School starts this week for three of our grandchildren, too, and they've been assembling their supplies. Smelling a box of Crayola Crayons transports me right back to Mrs. Stockton's third grade. School supplies consisted of a Big Chief tablet, a package of colored construction paper, some glue, scissors, two #2 pencils and a box of 24 crayons - oh, and a cigar box - a real cigar box.

Visiting in Tampa . . .

Escaping the Texas heat, right into the Florida sun . . . well, at least it's been cloudy during my visit to see my little Tex-Floridians. We spent some quality home time. Here, Kate and Emma are watching one of the Princess Diary movies. Kate is recuperating from surgery so appreciates the diversions. I'm headed home tomorrow.

Our birthdays are only one day apart . . . . . .

Woo hoo! Look at all these birthday cards! Having back-to-back birthdays is terrific. These cards make up getting a year older. We celebrated with Marci and part of her family and with my twin brother, Mark. We don't get to do that very often, so really enjoyed it. What did we do? . . . . . We went out for Mexican food, of course!

A busy visit . . .

Favorite daughter #1 arrived with family a few weeks ago. What fun we had: cooking (or, as they recalled, washing hands), Jenga, a piano recital, a class reunion, and then it was over with, much too soon. Still, we treasured every minute.

Celebrating a straight A report card . . .

I made a deal with our grandson. Each time he brings home a straight-A report card, we have special date and it includes at least a fantastic dessert. Today we celebrated for the first time this year - he triumphed over that one pesky B. We went to the Rain Forest Cafe for its famous Volcano, then played indoor miniature golf and finally took in a movie, "Night in the Museum 2." We tried to do some shopping, too, but apparently 8th grade boys have no clothing needs. I'll bet our granddaughters won't need any coercion.