So little time!

It seems that while taking care of Emmitt, I have less time for all the other things I used to do, blogging being one of them!

It is so much fun though, watching this little guy grow up before my eyes! A few weeks ago I had to take him for his 6 month check up! Yes 6 month's, where did that go to. He got 3 shots in his legs, poor guy. I had decided as well to take him to the Mall & get his picture with Santa! He cried in the car, I got him to the Mall, gave him his bottle & bless him he was soon asleep.

Santa was taking his lunch break, he wask checking on his reindeers too, I think! When he got back I got in line, poor Monkey was crying, we got to Santa & I sat Emmitt in his lap. I went to stand by the photographer, who asked me to call his name & get his attention. He looked at me & beamed, this is one great Santa with baby picture!!



Brandy & Gareth took Rion & Emmitt for their Christmas pictures too. As Emmitt waa 6 months & Rion is 5 tomorrow. Oh these were wonderful!







He's now started teething too, poor baby is drooling so much & really loves taking a chunk out of your shoulder! Now we have his first Christmas to look forward to. His Mommy & Daddy have just brought their first house & close on December 23rd :) Now they have so much to look forward to & lots of happy memories to make there too!



I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my fellow bloggers a very Merry Christmas & a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous 2011 :)

What's been going on with me!

It's been a while since I blogged. I've had that nasty cold/cough/sinus problems, that Dayquil, Tylenol & Mucinex DM hasn't been able to shift! I'd forgotten that when your with kids, you pick up EVERYTHING!!

I got a great picture the other day of my Son's dog & Brandy's Sister's dog Gareth's dog is the black & white one, his name is Apollo. The other dog's name is Reya, ahhh doggy love!



Emmitt is gorwing up way to fast for me! He's enjoying his food & wants to hold the spoon now! As you can imagine he wears more than he eats, but he's happy. Can't believe that on December 7th he will be 6 months old!!



On Saturday I took part in the first Charity walk in Tampa for St Jude Chidlren's Research Hospital. It was a 5K walk, I did it with a friend we did it in 55 minutes & I raised $165. It was a great day & more than 500 people turned out!



My Mum goes in for surgery tomorrow in the UK to replace her other knee. It's so bad that her kneecap has almost turned sideways. She should have had surgery last month, but she got bronchitis. So to my Mum, I am thinking of you, praying for you & hoping it all goes well.

Making Baby Food!

Now that Emmitt at 5 months old is on rice cereal & oat cereal, i thought it would be good to make him some baby food.

There was a book being featured in our Newspaper called Baby Love, written by Norah O'Donnell & Geoff Tracy. Husband & wife, he is a chef & she is a news reporter.



I was so impressed when it came, on how easy it all was. So far I have made Peas, Carrot's, Apple & today I am making Sweet Potato. Tomorrow I am going to do the pears.

This picture shows how nice & bright the food is, compared to the baby food you see in the shops!



Putting them in ice cube trays makes for easy storage in zip-loc bags. It turns out 2 ice cubes defrosted & heated is just right for him at the moment. You give the the same for 3 days, to make sure they are not allergic. He has had 3 lunches of peas & been fine.

I like that it is just the veg & water, or fruit & apple juice. When he is 8 months old he can have pom-pom apple, that's apple with pomegranate juice!

As you can tell from this picture, he enjoyed his peas!!

Hosted a Baby Shower :)

On Saturday I hosted a Baby Shower, for my best friend's daughter. It was such great fun, we had 18 people attend including the Mommy-to-be! Here are a few pictures from the special day :)

Me & my Best Friend :)



Me & the Mommy-to-be :)



The diaper cake I made, Daddy-to-be is a surfer & babies room is going to be surfboards & boats!



My Bestie made the door wreath, it's wonderful!



My beautiful pre-daughter-in-law with my Grandson :)



One proud Nana:))

Nana loves her little man!

I am not getting to blog as much these days, but I am getting to spend quality time with my beautiful Grandson! Emmitt has now reached the 4 month mark.

My hubby told his boss this week, that he had it on great authority (from me) that he had the most beautiful Grandson in the world! Well Nana's can brag can't they!! LOL

I brought him over to our house this week & he got to play with a Monkey a friend brought for him. Having not seen him for 2 weeks, due to vacation, he can now hold things & everything goes in his mouth.



Then I took a video of him in his play exercise toy

Vacation Pictures :)

A week today we returned from our weeks cruise, so why does it now feel as though it was months away! I have downloaded the pictures, & have some funny shots to show as well!

We sailed on the Carnival Legend from Tampa, to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Roatan & Belize. We have done this cruise many times.



On Cozumel we went to a bar called The Three Amigo's. They had what we call in the UK as a chamber pot on the table with the kitchen roll & sauce in!



They also had some BIG TABLES & CHAIRS you could eat at. I didn't try them, but I wouldn't want to be drunk when I got down!



They also had a guy going round making balloon hats, being the exhibitionist I am, I had to have one & wear it back to the ship too! One lady said she wanted to pop them! I told her she wasn't popping mine!!



As you dock in Roatan now, they have their own purpose built dock with shops. It was nice, but I missed docking in the town itself.



The man made beach was pretty, but it was 111 in the sun!! Needless to say we sat in the shade at the bar!



I know all the terminology for the ship, this next picture shows our cabin at the blunt end of the ship! The other end is the pointy end!! Our cabin was one deck above the flagpole.



This is me on one of the dressy up nights! I must admit I do scrub up well!!



Hubby & I celebrated our 33rd Wedding Anniversary onboard too, this is us 2 love birds :)



This was our favorite Bar Waitress, Stanislava, who made me my Chocolate or Tiramisu Martini every night after dinner.



My new camera has a panoramic setting on it. I took this when I got up, after we had docked back in Tampa. Downtown Tampa, back home & another vacation over :(

Been on Vacation!

That time of year has been & gone! 2 weeks ago our friends arrived from the UK.



The following Sunday we went down to the Port of Tampa & boarded the cruise Ship for a week's cruise!



Then we had a week back at the house with our friends, before they return to the UK today.

So if you should have missed me, you know where I have beeen, living it up, soaking up the sun & enjoying myself!!

On a sadder note, yesterday my Husband's Brother-In-Law passed away on vacation. They had only been in Cyprus for 2 days. I'm thankful they went with friend's & his Sister is not on her own out there. RIP Mick, you will be missed.

Poem for Myrtle ( a good friend who passed away)

Friday September 10th, I lost a very good friend to Pancreatic cancer. I have known her for 5 years through the computer. We had never met, but she was the sweetest, most wonderful lady I have had the honor to know.

This Poem I wrote today, I love you Myrtle, RIP.

You left this earth on the wings of Angels,
No longer in pain, you are now at peace,
You left so many friends & family,
We mourn for you, but know your in a better place.

I will remember your voice,
Your joy, your love, your understanding,
These things I will hold dear,
As will others who remember you.

One day we will meet again,
friendships renewed & tales to tell,
Until that day, you will be in my heart,
Love you today, tomorrow & always.

I had a Birthday!

Yesterday was my Birthday, Verizon were very nice to be working at the entrance to our road & disrupt the phones & Internet!! Unless anyone knew my mobile number they couldn't call & I couldn't check my e.mail! Of course it came back on when it was time for bed!

Anywhoo, I started the day taking care of my precious little man :) When I got there I had a beautiful cupcake waiting for me from Son, I haven't eaten it yet, it looks too nice to eat!



While Lil' SweetE was sleeping I went onto the computer at their house & I had a e.mail with this attached that Brandy had made for me :) This really made me smile :))



In the afternoon Rion came home from School with Brandy's sister Natalie & he had the most beautiful bocquet of flowers, that this little 4 year old had picked himself! They were called a rainbow bocquet & they are daisies that have been colored, so sweet & he gave me a hug & a kiss with them too!




Then it was time for me to go home, my love is away on a business trip, but he left my gift for me to open! It was the compact camera I so wanted! Now I can take lots of pictures!! It can even do panoramic shots where it stitches the pictures together!



I can just see a tiny machine inside with thread, stitching away!! lol My friend took me out to dinner, then it was home to a glass of red wine before bed :) It was a very nice day!

I haven't blogged in a week!

I started my first week taking care of Lil' SweetE. I do Tuesday to Friday from 7am to 4.30pm. It was great fun getting to see him for so long each day. It's amazing how much he has grown since he was born & changed too!

Tomorrow he will be 3 months old, how can those 12 weeks have gone by so fast already, if I blink he will be crawling, then walking!

He's not easy to get to go to sleep, he fights with you, cries, pushes his feet into you, then goes to sleep out of sheer exhaustion. You would then expect him to sleep for at least an hour, no, not Lil' SweetE, he sleeps for 15-30 minutes. Then you hear him making noises, you creep in to check on him & he gives you a great big smile :)

He has me in awe every time I see him, those chubby legs, that sweet face, that cute smile! So these are a few pictures from the lat 12 weeks. Happy 12 weeks old Lil' SweetE :)

Sad weekend :(

It's been a sad weekend, a friend lost her manager to a brain aneurysm he was 49.

My Son lost a friend he worked with & went to lunch with every day. He was killed by a drunk driver, who pulled out in front of his motorbike, he was 25.

I believe we have to live for today, for we don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. No one knows what God has planned for us, but I know he got 2 special Angels this past weekend.

Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.
Author Unknown

Poor Bird :(

We were having our weekly conversation with our friend's in the UK via Skype this afternoon. I let out a shriek & flew out of the front door! One of the cats from across the road, had just jumped up the trunk of the tree & snatched a Red Cardinal feeding from my bird feeder.



It had been raining, but I chased the cat across the road in my now squelching socks, to see if I could save the bird. Alas it was too late, the cat had killed it. We are going out to buy a pole to hang the feeder from. I cannot let any more birds lose their lives to the cats.

My other "babies"

When Keith & I decided to let Gareth have a pet, it was a dog. We never liked cats or wanted cats. So how did I end up with 6 of them!!

Before we lost Jordan & our other dog Denver, a stray Tabby came into our lives. Gareth found her outside one night hungry & thirsty. She spent the next 2 nights under a bush by the garage door. Then made her way in via the garage, utility room, then family room!!



Tabby is such a sweet cat, we were told she was about a year old when we found her & had been spayed!! How did she go & produce a litter of 5 kittens then some months later!! lol. She had quite a menagerie too. One like herself, one tiger stripe, one siamese & two pure white with grey tails & noses!! The 2 white one's got adopted, the tiger one got adopted too, only to come back the next day as his owner had asthma!!

We ended up keeping the other 3, Tiger, Little Tabbby & Simeze.



Tiger is the biggest of all the cats & also has the nickname of the Wussy Pussy!! He is scared of loud noises & will run from anything. He loves having his tummy rubbed & was the only one to play with Harley when we took her in.



Little Tabby is not so little, she is bigger than her Mom!! She has been tested for thyroid problems & numerous others too. She is overweight, rarely eats & doesn't excercise much, unless she has her little fluffy ball! She's not that social either.



Simeze is the most vocal, she will carry a toy mouse around with her miaowing the whole time. Only when you tell her what a clever cat she is, will she stop!! She is slightly cross-eyed too, so you are never sure what she is looking at!



Harley is a stray, dumped in our local park at 6 weeks old! 2 boys found her & took her to their neighbor. She knew we had cats & brought her to us. The first night she was terrified. The only way I could get her to go to sleep, was lay her on my chest inside my dressing gown. She is terrified of storms. She would have been out in them for at least 2 days when she was dumped. I just love her, she's affectionate & will tell you everything the other cats have done when you get home!! Once she has finished tattling, she goes off!

At the time Harley was brought to us, we had just lost our last dog to old age. We have their ashes in urns in my work room. I went in & asked the dogs if they had sent Harley to me & to give a sign so I would know. Jordan used to open doors by standing on his hind legs & pushing the handle down. The next day Harley, even though she was still tiny, jumped up, landed on the door handle & opened the door to the work room. I cried, knowing the dogs had sent her to me.



Garfield is the last one we took in 3 year ago. His owners moved & left him behind. A neighbor found him injured & you guessed it, brought him to me!! We got his leg fixed & had him neutered at the same time. He loves to get on your lap, nead away with his eyes closed & purr like crazy! When he is finished kneading he curls up in your lap. I never thought I would be a cat person. The oldest, Tabby now has diabetes & needs shots twice a day. They each have their own personalities & I wouldn't be without one of them!!

Here's to looking this good!

My Mother-In-Law is quite a lady, 2 years ago she lost her husband after 69 years of marriage. He was quite a character, always making jokes & he was a wonderful husband, father & Grandfather.

I love this picture of him, he was 94 years old when he passed away.



But back to my Mother-In-Law, she has a very social calendar these days. She has a lunch club she goes to every other Tuesday, also a lunch club every Friday. She has been on numerous coach trips & has made quite a few new friends!!

Last Christmas she traveled for the first time by herself to fly out to Florida to spend Christmas with us. The following picture was taken at her Friday Lunch Club before she came out.





My Mother-In_Law never goes out without foundation on & lipstick. She always dresses smartly & makes sure her perfume is on:) I hope that by the time I reach 92 I can look this good too!!