The world isn't so bad after all.

After a couple of months of looking like he'd rather be anywhere than here, Mr. Simon cuts loose with this beautiful smile.  He's been holding out on us.

Introducing....

Grace Vera Bird was born May 26, 2011 to James and Suzanne.  She is a precious, delicate and sweet baby girl and they are both smitten.  So are we.

 We think she looks a lot like her mother.

She weighed 5 pounds 14 oz. & was two weeks early. Anxious to hang out with all of us, apparently.

We are THRILLED!

From three to seven in 6 months!

Picture pilfered from Jo's blog.

Just this March, Simon joined our family as the fourth grandchild, making it three boys and one girl (all Rich & Jo's).  But......

Any day now, James and Suzanne will be welcoming their little girl into the family, AND...

Sept./Oct. brings TWINS for Ben and Laura; one boy and one girl.

By then we'll have four boys and three girls. 

Pretty cool, huh?

Feet Thoughts

I love this time of year!  Yes, for all of the obvious Spring reasons, but also because months of covering up the piggies with socks & shoes has come to an end.  I struggle with casual footware in the winter.  I never feel totally content with what shoes go with what pants and so on.  It seems that everything goes with a sandal or a wedge heel. 

I am a little frustrated, though. I have weak big toe nails that chip easily and beccome ingrown, as opposed to the rest of my toenails that could cut metal.   This week I chipped not one but two big toes, just after their Spring debut, after months of carefully nurturing them all winter long.  The chip goes so far down that a mere file job will not do.  I have to clip the whole nail and start again.  Now you know my toenail woes.....

But.....

These are my new spring sandals.  Notice the wedge heel.  Usually you have to wear flats to have this style, but the wedge heel is in this year.  This is so good, since flats and my 5'1" stature don't go together well.

Feet make some people in my life get the heebie jeebies.  They don't like feet.  For instance, I suggested that one of my sons give his "really good friend" a foot rub after running a marathon and he said, "No way!  I'm not going to touch her feet."  Several in the room agreed that it was gross to touch each other's feet.  Even if they do take care of them.  It's true, keeping feet nice takes some TLC, but it only takes a minute or two a week to buff the dry heels and apply some vaseline before bed (and polish, if you are a girl). Or, heaven forbid, spend $25-$30 for a pedicure. 

All in all, I love feet.  Good, clean feet - feet of those I love and like.

Some of my favorite people are named Foote. 

Sunday was a wonderful day.  It was the blessing day of Simon Sterling Bird.  He is such a mellow little guy that you barely knew he was around.  He doesn't seem to all out cry - he just grimaces and grunts his dissatisfaction.  He is a special one.

We were blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa Bird join us for the occasion, and to spend the weekend.  Rich & Jo put on a fabulous spread afterwards and, with the sunshine outside, and family around, it turned out to be the perfect day.

(Jessica was feeling queasy so she missed the picture)

Four Pea's in a Pod

To say any more would be bragging:)

Sunday Dinner & Wrestling With the Kids

I love the Sundays when the whole family gets together.  We don't have a scripted family home evening, but lots of good discussion, good food and lazing around.

 Gordon remembered he hadn't given the grandsons their "birthday spankings".

 That launched an all out war.  Gordon loves to wrestle with the boys.

Even Miriam was getting in on the action, not to be left out by the guys.

Yep.  Sundays are the best.

Secret "Twin Baby Talk" Language

The word is out - Ben and Laura are expecting TWINS!  This such exciting news, our family can barely contain ourselves.  It has been torture for this Baca not to say anything for the past couple of months.  Here's what they have to look forward to - and so much more:

The Star of the Show

 First family picture of Rich & Jo & their four kids. 
What a sweet family.

 So far, Miriam loves her baby brother. 

 He definitely looks like a Bird baby, but can't wait to see what unfolds.
                                     

I think he's going to be "Grandpa's Boy".

Newest member of the Bird Family!

Born this morning, March 24th at 9:42 a.m.  7 lbs. 8 oz.  21 inches long, brown hair.

Simon Sterling Bird

Welcome!

I just can't help myself

Might as well call this the Bird grandkid blog with the amount of pictures I put on here, but how could I resist this?  The boys spontaneously grabbed their little sister to play choo-choo train around the kitchen.  Their mom and dad have done such a good job with these kids - they love each other so much.

They are having a new baby brother in the next few weeks and James & Suz are having a baby girl the end of May, so even more for the blog!

Next:  The other reason I went to I.F.  and it's good.

My baby turned 19!

Last week I went over to Eastern Idaho for a couple of reasons, one being that Jessica turned 19.  I read once that your children's birthdays make you feel older than your own.  It's true.  My oldest, Richard, turned 30 this year.

 Jessica and four of her five room mates.  They are great girls, all of them.  We celebrated at Red Robin for dinner.

 When I went to Rexburg Jessica and I ate lunch on campus, shopped at a little boutique and shopped in Idaho Falls. We had a great time together.
                          
I think she had a good time - What do you think?

Love for Sendai

Gordon's heart is heavy today with news that Sendai, Japan suffered an 8.9 quake.  He served there on his mission and loves the people and places there.  All Japanese missions are reporting missionaries safe; however, all communications are down in Sendai and a count of the missionaries is not possible there right now.  Our hearts and prayers to everyone involved.

Just Dance 2

One of the many great things about having grandchildren is the fact that you have new little buddies to play all the fun new games with.  The boys love to play "Just Dance 2" on the Wii. 

 Miriam was happy to join in and I think there is a strong possibility she will be a great dancer.  I love joining in and it really is a great workout.  I feel a little less silly doing it with them than by myself.....
                          
Couldn't resist this picture of Eli playing MarioKart.  Isn't he the cutest?

Fighting the Inevitability

It happened today.  When I walked into my house it smelled like a Grandma's house.  Don't get me wrong, I love being a grandma, but my house and my body sure better not start smelling that way.

In my defense, I have been pretty much working full time these past couple of weeks.  Not that I'm complaining here...Real Estate has been too slow for too long and it's really exciting to be this busy again. 

But back to the house; as I think about what causes this smell, there are several things that it could be.  I haven't cleaned much in the last two weeks.  We don't generate much of a mess and its pretty easy to keep up with dishes, etc;  But I'm talking about mopping the floors so they smell like Pine Sol and dusting with Orange Oil and cleaning like that.  I also have garbage in the garbage can for longer because we don't generate that much.  AND - it is nearing the end of a long, stuffy winter. A cool breeze would work wonders. (Sounds like justification for the smell......but NOT).

I show lots of homes in the course of a day and they all smell different.  I am able to pick out the Grandma smell pretty quickly.  But its not as bad as the not cleaning toilets and smells like a wet diaper smell and some others. 

But for now, a healthy spray of Febreeze "cinnamon bun" on the main level and emptying the garbage will have to do.  Until I can get the deep cleaning done.  My hat is off to the women who work full time every day and still manage to keep up with things.

I won't blog about the Grandma body smell today; but soon, because it's a subject all its own but I can't wait.

No Words

These pictures really don't need any words.

Problems with the blog

I want to post these darling pictures of Miss Miriam but my link won't let me retrieve pictires from my files.  Anybody know why?  The picasa option is still available, but won't connect to my files.

Thoughts on Birthdays

The older you get, the less enjoyable birthdays are.  At least that's been my experience and it seems to be the opinion of most people I know. 

On Richard's 30th birthday last week, we had our family dinner and I decorated with a little bit of black.  Not totally black because you have to save some for turning 40 and 50 and so on.  After we sat down and began eating, he said the black confused him and that he thought I was always so positive about birthdays; "Don't interpret the black as negative," I said. "It's meant to invoke humor".  Humor is one of the best ways to get through any of life's experiences, I believe.

I've always been one to see the bright side of things, like 40 is the new 30 and then 50 is the new 40.  I didn't feel quite so humerous a year ago when I turned the dreaded 50, though.

Never having been one to dread big birthdays, I woke and found this one to be different. 

All day long I thought , "This is just so wierd, everyone asking how it feels to be 1/2 a century old.  I'll be so glad when tomorrow comes."

 

And now a year later, I'm happy to say that turning 51 was a joy - for many reasons.  One, because it wasn't # 50, two because it marks 38 years that I get to live for my mother and myself, and three because my family made it such a special day. 

 

It was on Sunday, and Ben offered to fix dinner.  When we drove up to his house, I could see that all the kids (sans the college coeds) were there.  He and Laura put on this beautiful spread and we had a wonderful time.

One of the great things about living 1/2 a century plus one year is that the blessings get more and more bounteous.

I liked my 51st birthday.

Birthday Week

 Laura made a Boise State cake.   She does the neatest cakes for family birthdays.

 Because Gordon is 53 and Rich is 30, we put 5 candles for Gordon to blow out and then 3 candles for Rich to blow out.  I was laughing so hard I blew out most of Gordon's

 The boys really liked Gordon's old man cane that he got out to celebrate Rich's 3-0.  It has a rearview mirror and a horn.

Cam loved playing the "old man".

We really haven't celebrated mine yet; Ben is fixing me dinner this Sunday and it should be a great day.

Lots of Christmas Pictures!

                      Family Dinner on Christmas Eve

       I love this picture of Cam & Eli playing Christmas Bingo; they are so obviously in different moods.

           Little Miss Miriam wearing her animal print gloves & hat on Christmas Eve.

 It's fun to still have two "kids" home for the holidays. 
Although they fancy themselves adults, and rightly so.

        Cam gave me the honor of having my picture taken (by him) holding his prized Boise State football.

                  Eli opening a card & some cash from Great Grandma & Grandpa.

                 The boys opening their family gift; cache cookers. (Ben already had one, so we got
                 him a dutch oven table and griddle to go with his cooker).

                 Christmas is wonderful and it is so great to spend time with family. 
                 Its almost enough to get one through the Januarys and Februarys coming up:)