A Visit to
Great Grandma Cooper's House

The whole group: William, Kate, Loralai, Michael,
Valerie, Jean, doggie Prudence, June (Great Grandma), Ruth Anne, Hannah,
Logan, Sue, Drew, Lily.

Hannah reflecting.

Valerie and Loralai playing.

Hannah gets her turn with Loralai.

Lily looking out the window at the squirrels.

Sue shows pictures to June on Drew's iPad.

Loralai cheering with William.

Drew and his mommy.

Prudence.

Ruth Anne poses by the Christmas tree.

Logan helps Great Grandma open her present.

Logan and Lily - First Time Sledding

Grandpa Cooper took Logan and Lily out for a walk one afternoon to burn off some energy and they ended up finding some snow piles in which to play. They hadn't ever played in large amounts of snow so they had a blast. When they came back inside after about fifteen minutes, their hands, legs and feet were so cold and red they had to be put directly into a hot bath to warm up. The England natives hadn't brought winter clothes and their wellies and jeans just didn't keep them warm enough. Even though they were very cold one can't tell in the video.

Biggest Christmas Surprise Ever!!!

William and Logan.

You cannot believe how wonderfully surprised Drew and I were when we arrived home the evening of Tuesday, December 7, to find our daughter Kate and her three small children in our living room. They had secretly traveled all the way from their home on an Air Force base in England to little ole Middletown, IN, to stay for Christmas with us.

Initially Drew thought Kate was Hannah with a new haircut or one of Hannah's friends, but when Kate said hi he knew that it really was Kate. Our disbelief came from the fact that there was no way she could be in our living room without telling us she was coming all the way from England; and I had just been to visit her in England the month before so I was confused why she was here. Was there something wrong? No, her husband Kenny had let her bring the kids for the month of December to visit us as our present. He was going to have to be working twelves at night through Christmas and knew he wouldn't be seeing his family much anyway. Why not let them be with family at this spiritual time of year? Kenny, you are a saint!!!

Kate and the kids had left on a military flight on Monday morning and landed in Wichita, KS, Monday afternoon after a ten hour cold flight on jump seats in a refueling plane. After getting a ride off base to a rental car office, Kate rented a car and drove (four hours) to a high school friend's home in Kansas City where they spent the night. Thanks Kameron and Anique for your hospitality!! (See that story here: http://aniqueandkamaron.blogspot.com/2010/12/unexpected-guests.html) Tuesday morning Kate and the kids jumped in the rental car (three car seats crammed into the back seat) and drove the eleven hours to Middletown. They were very tired by the time they arrived at our doorstep.

Kate and Loralai just after arriving.

S-o-o-o, at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, we began organizing bed assignments. We put Kate (with baby Loralai, 4 mo.) on William's bed and Lily (3) on a toddler bed in the same room. Logan (4) slept on the extra lower bunk bed under Valerie in Valerie's and Hannah's bedroom.

Kate reading to Logan, Lily and Loralai.

Thus began a very eventful month of hugging, feeding, bathing, and visiting with our grandbabies, and more grandbabies who came to visit them throughout their stay. Joey, Carrie, Audrey and Addison visited often, since they live in town. Andy, Amber, Jonah and Lucy came over from Lafayette to visit for a few days after Christmas and for New Year's. The seven cousins had a blast playing with our toys and the toys they bought each other for Christmas.

The cousins: Logan, Jonah, Lily, Lucy, Loralai, Audrey, and Addison.

Only Bobbe's family in Minnesota was unable to make it to Middletown this year. Matthew and Gregory had their own Christmas at home.

Gregory, Justin and Matthew sledding.

Logan, Lily and Loralai even got to visit their other Grandma, Kenny's mom, and their aunts, uncle and cousins on that side of the family. They even celebrated a couple birthdays with them in addition to celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lily being cute.

As of January 1, 2011, all the cousins have gone home. Maybe I'll write about Kate's trip home in a different post on this blog.

What a blessed Christmas our family had in 2010!!

Books I've Read Recently

I have a stack of books on my desk that I have read in the last couple months. Some of them I read to myself and others I read to William for school. I just wanted to list them on here so that I can file them.

• Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
• The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds
• Art Auction Mystery by Anna Nilsen
• Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
• Powers by Ursula K Le Guin
• Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg
• The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
• A Decembered Grief by Harold Ivan Smith
• Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey
• The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had by Kristin Levine
• Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller by Sarah Miller

and the first few books in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith:

1. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998)
2. Tears Of The Giraffe (2000)
3. Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001)
4. The Kalahari Typing School for Men (2002)
5. The Full Cupboard of Life (2003)
6. In The Company of Cheerful Ladies
   
7. Blue Shoes and Happiness

Charleston Visit April 2010

I am trying something new for this post. I uploaded my photos to Picasa and I am going to try to post them using links. Let's see how it goes.

From Charleston Visit

Michael and William accompanied Drew and I to Illinois Friday for our monthly visit to June and George.

From Charleston Visit

We had our tea/coffee party of McDonald's coffees, both hot and cold, hot cocoa, and teas, also both hot and cold. June always gets the table ready for us to talk and drink around. We looked at recent photos on Drew's new iPad. They are easier to see than on his little phone screen.

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

Next we went to visit George at the nursing home. He had had a shower that morning and was in a good mood and awake. He kept talking about First Class postage and needing to send a letter.

From Charleston Visit

On our way back to June's Drew stopped at Taco Bell to buy lunch for us. We ate at home around the table.

From Charleston Visit

Michael had made arrangements ahead of time to buy Grandma's 2006 PT Cruiser during this visit. He was very excited to have a newer vehicle and June (who can't drive any longer due to her eyesight) is happy to have kept the car in the family and not have to go to the expense of advertising it for sale this summer or keeping up on the insurance.

From Charleston Visit

Their transaction completed, we moved on to the next job at hand. June has been storing memorabilia in a U-Store-It facility and the monthly fee was dear. In addition to our visiting, we came to move the boxes and furniture to her garage, which Drew and his sister and I had organized the month before just for that reason. We borrowed cousin Travis' pickup truck and worked for two and a half hours. Everything fit in the garage. Drew turned in the lock for the storage unit and that chapter is finished.

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

At the nursing home there was a large glass cage with birds. The turtle doves were taking turns sitting on their nest. The finches were beautiful.

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

The view along Lincoln was beautiful with the trees in bloom. And the clouds were fluffy and white.

Portabella Pizzettas

Recently I downloaded an iPhone application called Big Oven (http://www.bigoven.com/). It is really just another recipe site but I like my app in my iPhone where I can surf while watching TV or while I'm away from home. The other night I found an interesting "pizza" recipe using portabello mushrooms for the "crust." Drew and I were especially interested in trying it because we are attempting to lower our carbohydrate intake; bread/pizza dough are high in carbs. Tonight I prepared the recipe and we found it to be very tasty and filling. I forgot to take a picture before we ate the mushrooms so you will have to just take my word for it or look at the photo at Big Oven. You can make alterations to the toppings if you like to add meat or other veggies.



Ingredients

5 oz. frozen chopped spinach
1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 t. dried basil, crushed

1/4 t. coarsely ground pepper

12 portabello mushrooms, 3 to 4 in diameter

4 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

2 T butter or margarine, melted

1/2 t. salt


Preparation

1. Thaw spinach and press out liquid, finely chop.

2. Combine spinach, cheese basil, and pepper in a mixing bowl.

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Clean mushrooms (remember to only wash the tops and not get water into the spore areas), remove stems.

5. Place mushroom caps top side down on a lightly greased cookie sheet, brush with butter or margarine.

6. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of spinach mixture into each cap.

7. Place four tomato slices on each mushroom and salt.

8. Bake for 12 minutes or till heated through. OR Place on the unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil 4 inches from the heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

9. Cut into quarters and serve. Happy healthful eating!

Drew and Sue Visited New
Grandbaby Boy in Minnesota



Grandpa with Gregory John Mann and Matthew.




Matthew showing his K'Nex creation to his mommy.



Matthew building his Lego police car present from Joey, Carrie and the twins.
He built the entire car by looking at the printed instructions without help from anyone.



Great step grandma Ann with Gregory for his first out-to-eat dining experience;
great grandpa Robert treated the family to dinner at the "Good Earth" restaurant.
The food was wonderfully organic and delicious.



Bobbe had been using an empty carseat box as an end table next to her rocking chair
so Drew and Sue bought her a real cabinet and Drew put it together with the help of Matthew.



The finished product shown by the assemblers.



Drew and Gregory resting. Gregory was a very quiet baby until he had his diaper changed.
He has a very pleasing disposition and he eats lots of milk.
By the end of the week he was over 9.5 pounds.



Drew helped Justin install white wire shelves in all the closets.
Matthew received the Colts jersey from his grandpa
Drew just in time for the playoffs. Go Colts!!



Drew also helped Justin install bookshelves in the office room.



Gregory wearing the 3 mo. outfit from Joey and Carrie.



Proud daddy Justin with one-week-old Gregory.

Matthew holding Gregory

Gregory John with Great Grandparents

New Boy Grandbaby

Bobbe and Justin are the proud parents of a new baby boy, Gregory John. Big brother Matthew is excited (as are mommy and daddy). Gregory was born at 2:20 a.m. this morning (January 10, 2010) in Minnesota. He weighed 9 lbs and was 20.5 inches long. His mommy is doing well, too. They plan to return home Tuesday.

Grandma and Grandpa have planned a trip to Minnesota later in the week to hold their eighth grandchild and celebrate Christmas and Matthew's sixth birthday.

Gregory John showing off his hair.

Trying to peek out.

Where's that food? I know it's somewhere around here.

Peacefully sleeping.

The un"Perfect London Walk"

During my visits to England to visit Kate and her family, Kate and I try to venture out on little day trips around London and its surrounding areas. For my birthday last year my friend Nancy gave me a little book called "The Perfect London Walk" by Roger Ebert of Siskel & Ebert at the Movies fame.

In May Kate and I decided to try the "walk" so we made our way to London on the Tube, found Belsize Park Station and began our adventure. Near the station we ate lunch at Tootsies where I had a wonderful grilled chicken sandwich and spinach salad. About 12:30 p.m., Kate and I began following the directions in the book and decided to take pictures of the landmarks along the way. Some of those are posted here for your enjoyment.

Some places have changed since 1986 and others are the same. We made it to the large park at Hampstead Heath but somehow inside the park we missed our turn and ended up going in a circle and having to stray from "the plan" just to get back on track quickly. We had fun until we got ourselves lost because by that time our feet were beginning to hurt. Needless to say, not all of the landmarks are still available. Once we got out of the park we had some VERY steep hills to climb to get to our second Tube station for our ride home.

Beware if you venture on this adventure. Also, it is a very, very long walk, AND they charge £3 admission to the cemetery now. "Walk" at your own risk.