Grandma Time in Texas

I spent a long weekend in Katy in March.  Lissa and Jason had planned an overnight trip to Austin, so I got to spend two full days of quality time with Kiera and Savannah.

 While Kiera was in school I took Savannah to the mall to go shopping with me.  She was a good little companion.  Here's a selfie (in the mirror) I took when we were in the dressing room at Old Navy.

Her reward for being so cooperative was to ride the carousel in the mall.

 I got to experience the process of dropping off and picking up Kiera at school.  The school has a very organized system in place.

 The girls in their church dresses.  Savannah's hair is turning more blonde and she's looking more like Kiera as she gets older.

 Savannah's hair was very red like her mama's when she was little, as you can see from this picture from February 2012.

The girls are good friends and play together pretty well most of the time.

Before I went to Texas Kiera had asked me to sew her a dress like the one Elsa wears in the movie, "Frozen."  I bought the fabric and pattern before I got to Katy, but didn't want to attempt to make the dress until I could fit it to Kiera to make sure it was the right size.  

I purposely made it a bit big so that Kiera would be able to wear it a couple of years, even if she grows. I felt like I was making a prom dress, and I certainly hope it holds up to being worn by a five-year-old!  Kiera was thrilled with the dress, and I'm glad I have the ability to make it for her. 

Introducing Grandchild #7!!

Adam R. was born to Garrett and Krystal on March 23rd in North Dakota.  He weighed 7 pounds even and was born just four days before his due date.

 This is Adam when he was eight days old, after returning home from his 1-week check up.

Big sister Makayla is more interested in Adam than big brother Daniel, is.

 We're so happy to have Adam join our eternal family and look forward to seeing what kind of boy he'll be as he grows up!

Loving the Lees

Adrianne and Sophia Lee came to visit us for a week in March. They were suppose to come here to get away from some of the cold weather in Minnesota.  Unfortunately we could not help with that (as you can see from the snow in the background)  The only sunny day they were here was the day they arrived, so we went to the National zoo in Washington, DC to see the new Panda, Bao Bao.

The baby panda and her Mama were both up and active when we got there.  Bao Bao wanted to get out the door, but of course could not.  Mamma was jogging around the room and twice came around and knocked the baby over.  But she was undeterred.

Mamma finally tired of her jogging and sat still to have a tasty meal of bamboo leaves.

We went on to look at some of the other animals, indoors when possible.

A moment of rest

Happy Grandma with her Granddaughter looking at the monkees.

Then back to a nice warm home.

Elaine took Sophia and Adri to the swimming pool one day.  Sophia really enjoys the water!

Sophia went shopping at Hobby Lobby with Mommy and Grandma.  She put some beads into the pink basket, but later carefully put the beads back where she'd found them.

 She helped Granddad with some gardening...

 and a few days later she was helped Granddad with the snow shoveling.

Sophia played a lot with different toysduring the week - some of the same toys her mom had growing up

Elaine and Adri made this cape so "Super Sophia could run around the house. She really liked having a super-hero cape!

As usual, the time went too fast.  But we loved having the Lee girls there while daddy Russ finished up his Masters Degree back in Minnesota.   They will be leaving there in early spring to begin his career with Chevron!  We look forward to seeing the whole family this summer as Sophia's baby sister arrives to join the family!