Happy Easter..

What a glorious morning......I wish the blessings of Easter to each and everyone that reads my blog. We all need to center our thoughts and lives on the meaning of Easter and rejoice in this beautiful day!
The absolute worst day in the history of the world was on the Friday before Easter Sunday......and yet, look what a miracle happened just three days later....Jesus arose from the dead and now lives in Heaven to give us each the understanding and blessing of life eternal.
I hope your day is just fantastic!

We Need Spring!

I haven't posted for awhile because we have basically been running an infirmary here at the house. There is a horrible flu that has hit KC, and it turns ugly before you start to feel better.
All the males in our family have had or do have this bronchial stuff ~ Mike started to take a turn for the better last night and this morning. I will certainly be happy to see blue skies ~ like Patsy, I have lost track of the last day I saw the sun. However, I did see a robin yesterday!

What a sigh of relief.....

Finally heard all the election results when I awoke this morning. Went to bed feeling pretty good about Texas, but I sure was glad to see the totals this morning.
Good Morning America is running a line that says Hillary is hinting at a Clinton/Obama ticket. Now that would be an aswer to prayer!
Go Hillary!!!!!!

Holding my breath.....

I can hardly function today......it's hard when you are holding your breath!
All the polls show Hillary in a dead heat.....I just hope and pray she can hold him off in Texas and Ohio. If she does, we have a race that I think she can win.

First Round..

I just got home from our caucus - Hillary actually had twice as many people there for our county caucus.
I threw my hat in the ring to run as an alternate delegate and I will be moving on to the next step which will be March 27th.
At our caucus we elected 11 Women and 11 Men to be delgates for Hillary and 11 alternates, just in case one of our delegates can't attend the next round.
Barack will have 8 Men delegates and 8 Women delegates from our county to go to the next round of selection.
See...all my work paid off in our county......we have more delegates because she carried our county.
After the 27th, then you move to the state level for selection. I will really be ok about not going on, I just love seeing the process and seeing so many people still excited about Hillary.

Congressman Emanuel Clever

Emanuel Clever is a really great fellow here in KC. He is a retired Methodist minister, he was Mayor of KC for two terms and now he is our Congressman from Missouri. He is a black man that is one of Hillary's super delegates.
He had an interesting article in the paper today.....he said that he is receiving a hurricane of emails questioning why he is not backing a black man.
He is a real man of his word and really believes that Hillary is the best candidate and wonders if the other candidate is elected.......will we be wondering what in the world did we do?
He says that people look at Barack and think they see miracles.......Emanuel does not believe he will be able to accomplish miracles. For me......enough said.

Threesome Sleepover...

What a week we have had. We have had snow and ice, our 2nd photography class, field trip with Sam, Valentine Party with Sam and then last night we had a sleepover. This was the first time we tried all three and it went really well. The only problem is....we kept them up until 9:30 and they still got up at 6:30 like they do each morning for school.
My only comment.....I forgot how much little boys could f...t and burp for endless hours and think it is the funniest thing that ever happened.
We will have Sam all day and Dawn is coming to pick up the other two pretty soon.....I'm almost thinking I am too old for sleepovers and I'm sure I will have to take a nap latter this afternoon!

Very late night...

I awoke early this morning after a very, very late night last night. Schools were once again called off because of snow and I'm sure glad it didn't happen yesterday.
The final call for Hillary was that she lost MO last night 48% to 49% and since MO is not a winner take all like the Republicans, she will take almost as many delegates from MO as Obama will.
I had been laying the ground work to be elected as a delegate from MO to the National Convention in August (it falls over my birthday)- after our tough battle, I have changed my mind. I think I would rather watch on TV. I do believe, at this point, that it will go down to the convention before we make a decision.
I was absolutely delighted that Hillary carried all the counties in MO except for 6. She carried my county by a large margin.......but then the St.Louis City vote came in (they have a hard time counting) late last night and then she lost her margin. I thought the other interesting thing about my county was that Romney carried the vote.
In case you all don't know - St.Louis is a very "black" city as well as South Kansas City and they were 3 of the counties that put Barack over the top.
It was exciting to see record numbers of voters for a primary-we will see if they stick with it for the National Election.
If Barack gets the nomination, I will vote for him.....but it is not my plan to work for him. Maybe that is just my tired talking this morning.

Remembering Aunt Winnie...

I use to talk to Aunt Winnie almost every weekend....I thought I would share the last picture of the two of us. This was taken at Cindy's wedding shower in St.Louis. At this point I had both Jim and Aunt Winnie.... we really had many, many "giggles" together. Aunt Winnie passed away December 31, 1998. Skip flew Mike and I to St.Louis and I did her Eulogy. It was cold, icy and I just remember tears freezing to my face.

Finally.......

The computer tech from our service was here for 2 hours and finally figured out what the problem with our computer was.....the firewall that comes with our service was not recognizing our Vista program and was blocking everything. I told you Mike and I were about to put our foot through this new computer......well, now we don't have to. All is well and we are happy campers with our computer once again.

Here's my latest Sam story.....he had been very curious about where he came from and Cindy has been giving him a little correct information here and there. So, as Mike was giving him a bath the other evening he looked up and said, "Pop-Pop, I just can't find my uterus, do you know where it is?" After a little explanation, Sam looked right at him and said, "well Pop-Pop, whose uterus did you come from?"
I just love it because Mike was always away coaching and he didn't get to experience all these type of questions from our own kids!

Two of My Guardian Angels...

Here is a special picture of two of my Guardian Angels.....I miss them both so much. Jim would have been "The Big 60" today also. It was always so special that he and my cousin Fleta shared the exact same birthday. Know that I am thinking about you today Fleta, and hope you have a fun, fantastic day!

Saga continues.....

Well~ Betty had a good idea about the birth date, if Wed. fell in 1916 then Mom must have been born in 1916. Mike and I just looked up Mom's death certificate and we did put 1916 on her death certificate - So, Happy 91st Birthday Mom!
I have been down with the flu since Sunday night - I'm ready for this to be gone!

The Saga of the Name....

When my Dad was getting ready to retire from McDonnell Aircraft he had to also submit information about my Mom. Well... they wrote to Little Rock for Mom's birth certificate and low and behold one did not exist for Fleta Alleen Powell born in 1917. So, since Grandpa had written in Mom's Bible that he gave them in 1947 that she was born in 1916...they sent away for that birth certificate with the same results. Since all her other brothers and sisters had birth certificates, Mom really couldn't understand why she didn't have one, but then decided since it was so close to Christmas it just must not have been recorded.
For those of you that remember Dad, he was a follow the rules kind of guy. He went about proving Mom's birthdate with three other documents showing her age and name being Fleta Alleen Powell, born December 27, 1917. This statisfied the retirement people and he thought...all is well.
One night, just before they went to sleep... Mom sat up in bed and exclaimed...."I know why we can't find my birth certificate... my name is not Fleta Alleen it is Trellamae." She went on to explain that she remembered being told along time ago that when she was born the doctor came to the farm and when she was born she was given the name Trellamae. Well...as the story goes, Great Grandmother Powell was there to help (our Grandma was not very found of her) and every time she went to change Mom's diaper, she would make a comment that it was time to change "Trell's" diaper again. When she left, Grandma and Grandpa changed Mom's name to Fleta Alleen, but obviously never did it officially.
The next time Mom and Dad were down to visit at Uncle Cotton's home, Mom asked if he remembered ever hearing that story and Uncle Cotton confirmed the story.......Dad's response, "I just know it could not be true, because I would never have slept with a Trellamae."
Dad would never let us send for a copy of a Trellamae's birth certificate.....some how he was afraid it would mess of Mom's benefits. After all....Mom graduated from High School, was married, gave birth to me, had a Social Security Card and Driver license all under the name of Fleta Alleen. The best part of the story is that every year after that, there was a gift under the tree from Skip and Jim marked to Trellamae. Also, note the spelling.......all one word and this led to many, many giggle times.

Let the New Year Begin!

This editorial cartoon was in the KC paper today~I can not think of a better tribute to my Mom's Birthday remembrance than to post a picture of the President she actually hated the most. I can't imagine what my Mom would have thought of "Bushie", but I'm sure she would have gotten a kick out of this on her 90th birthday. It's hard to believe that my best friend would be 90 tomorrow, or it could be 91 depending on which version of birth years you use. There has always been a dispute as to Mom's birth year and Dad would never let us write for her birth certificate. You see - Fleta wasn't her real name.

Waiting Patiently!!!

My three boys waiting to open gifts. I call this their "Angel Look" - they could hardly wait and I certainly didn't blame them. Our rule is that you have to wait for everyone to be ready to open gifts - youngest goes first. Guess who got to go last?

Sam is one happy boy!

Sam loves to push the button on the Santa and hear, "let's jump for Christmas", I always try to get him to take this one home, but his mom says that it is a "Grandma thing" and it need to stay at my house.

What a Joyous Time!

Everyone had a fantastic Christmas - it is so enjoyable to see the boys really old enough to enjoy, and yet still believe in Santa. This year no one was "crabby" or "whinning"~ everyone laughed and had a great time. My favorite line was from Cindy when she told me she took Sam to see Santa on Saturday, he took one look at the line and said, "no thanks, I will just go home and email Santa". That is exactly what Sam did.

Chocolate~Chocolate!

Tanner and Sam loved the big bear and rocker outside the Chocolate store. They were really all smiles this afternoon and they were so good~I think Grandma and Grandpa will have to take the three on more outings.

Boys and Trains:

It was so much fun to here theme talking about each of the train layout areas. This particular corner was called the junkyard.

Grandpa with boys!

This afternoon the boys were off school, so we took them down to Union Station in Kansas City to see the huge train layout. We really had a great afternoon with the boys.

The Candle of Hope

This candle has been circulating around with so many of my friends. I think and pray for each of you that this cancer has touched, may the strength of our Lord surround you. The percentage of my friends that have had Breast Cancer is almost overwhelming ~ I pray that in '08 they find a cure and then maybe our daughters, grand daughters , nieces and friends may never have to deal with this disease.

Merry Christmas

This Christmas Card reflects warm and beautiful thoughts for each of you that I hold so dear. Reflections of a time of our youth, with memories I hold so dear. I pray that '08 brings you each the peace of our Lord, good health and the enjoyment of family and friends. Each of you have touched my heart and you bring me such joy each and every day through your blogs. May the Lord bless and keep you through these holidays.

Jimmy and Katie

Finally, I have their pictures to post -

Paxton and Tanner

This is the best I could do~ they just kept moving because they wanted to be with their friends. You do have to admit that I can claim these two guys. Paxton looks just like his Dad at this age - I have no idea where Tanner got the redish hair.

Tanner and His Best Bud!

Here is a picture of Tanner and his best bud, Cadin. These two are inseparable and it was fun to see them being so angelic.

Paul's Family

Tonight my grandson's, Paxton and Tanner had their Church Christmas program. I am so thrilled that Paul's family is now very active in their church. The program was darling~ especially the 2 year olds that came in on their Dad's shoulders and were dressed in white robes with red bows and they were flapping their wings. Tanner's group is led by Dawn ( my daughter-in-law) and they sang "Away in the Manger" and Paxton's group(3rd Graders) sang "Joy to the World". It was a really enjoyable, fun evening.

Mike with Santa in 1948

My Mother-in-law gave me this picture of Mike right after we got married. Here is Mike with the same Santa, the same year. It looks like we were about 1,000 children apart, but I guess this was just fate that we would be there the same day. You will notice, that Santa looks so much more pleased with Mike and of course, his mouth is shut!

1948 visit to Santa

When I was 6 years old, a visit to Santa at Famous and Barr was a really big deal. Mom and I rode the Street Car to downtown St.Louis and waited in a very long line to see Santa. Also, it was a very big deal to buy a picture of me sitting on Santa's lap. I remember when the picture came, Mom was really upset because I had my mouth open so big, and I told her~ "well, Mom, I had to tell him everything on my list"! This was the last time I had my picture taken with Santa.

Our mantle - '07

The big Santa picture is new this year. I found him down in St.Louis and put him up right when we got home. The stockings are hung by the chimney with care (Sam put them up for me and arranged them the way he wanted them).

Our Christmas Tree - '07

I haven't got the hang of cropping yet, but I will get better. I have collected Santa's for a very long time, and my tree is filled with Santa's. This is the tree that Mom bought for us back in "82. I just love it because it is a pre-lit tree. Now I have the tradition of my daughter helping me renew the tree each year - we usually end of laughing so hard that we have to stop to catch our breath. Betty - you said you were a visual learner - so, finally, here it is.

Skip and LouAnn

We spent the evening with Skip and LouAnn enjoying pizza and laughter! You will have to notice the picture of Laura and George on the refigerator (which was for my benefit)! I just ignored it and they didn't say a word.

Jimmy and Katie

Katie and Jimmy are growing up so much. Katie is in the 5th Grade and Jimmy is a 7th Grader. I am so happy that they are family!

Snow, Snow and More Snow

I have just finished cleaning off our double wide, steep driveway for the second time today~have I told you all how much I would love living in Florida. I love to walk on the beach and collect shells~ I do not like shoveling snow and chipping ice!
I'm hoping with our new 4 wheel drive that we can make it to church tomorrow morning and then attend Paxton and Tanner's Christmas program in the evening. There have been so many things cancelled over the last week, but my family really can count there blessings because we have all continued to have our power on. I have several friends up in St.Joseph, MO that have not had power for a week. I think I heard something about winter starting on the 22nd - I don't think Old Man Winter has looked at the calendar.
I hope all my family and friends are warm and safe this December night!

I'm thinking a Miracle!

This new program surely has a mind of it's own - maybe while I am iced in I will be able to figure it out, it sure likes to block everything and this old dog is not smart enought to jump over the firewalls. The kids are all out of school today and so many programs cancelled today~ I just hope it all clears out before the Christmas break.
I just enjoy all of my cousin's pictures so much - I am determined to master this. Right now everything I scan to blog comes up as wallpaper, so I am enjoying the pictures of Jimmy and Katie - just can't get them to you all.
Hope you are staying warm, we have dogged the big bullet like Oklahoma and right now it is just raining and melting away the 1/2 " of ice. The temp is staying above freezing right now and should drop back down this afternoon - it is really pretty outside right now ( you just have to take my word for it)!

Welcome to my 2nd Retirement!!!

I finished my long term sub. job just before Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful family gathering here at the house - just our kids and grandkids. Then on Friday we headed down to St.Louis for a great visit with family and friends. We did go over to Skip and LouAnn's house for one evening. I just can't get over how their kids have grown and we sure enjoyed our evening with them.
I have a new computer and at this point I'm not greatly impressed with the new Vista program. It is really giving me fits, but I will try to post this and a couple of pictures of Skip and his family.

Today is dedicated to my special Cousins!

ATTITUDE IS EVERTHING

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and noticed she had only there hairs on her head.
Well, she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today", so she did and had a wonderful day!
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed she had two hairs on her head.
"H-M-M" she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle." -so she did and had a grand day!
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed she had only one hair on her head.
"Well" she said, "today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did and had a fun, fun day!
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head.
"Yeah!" she explained, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"
ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING
Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly~
Leave the rest to God!

I'm Still with the 5th Graders!

My long term sub has been extended to November 20th - then I will consider that I am retiring for the 2nd time. I really think this is God's way of telling me..."Winnie, your really do not miss teaching!"
Thanks to each and every one of you for your blogs - I do read them daily at school and they are the highlight of my day....I love each and every one of you cousins, and I really appreciate your humor. Please bear with me while I try to finish this teaching commitment...I will be back to blogging when I can stay up later.

Smarter than a 5th Grader?

This is my second full day with 31 5th Graders. They have started a new math series and I can tell you all that I AM NOT SMARTER THAN A 5th Grader!! Mike taught Math for years and this new series uses terms that he has never heard. Would you believe ~ I had to "google" for some definitions of math terms - oh give me strength!

Oh Happy Day!

I guess until this morning on Patsy's post I didn't realize that a very special cousin was a Virgo with me. Happy Birthday Helen!!!!

Early Time with Prayer:

I awoke early to pray for friends and family that are going through so many things this day.
May God give them strength and hold them tightly and uplift them at the moment there is a need. Through him I can do all things because no matter what "I know that God Loves Me!" Of course you know that he loves you too!

41 Years Today!

Today is our 41st anniversary - that almost seems impossible. It looks like we are going to have a beautiful day today, much nicer than the heat we had 41 years ago. The fun part is that I can truly say our love has grown and we are learning to communicate better this last year - God is just awesome when you ask for help. He has truly blessed our marriage and our family.

Just a Little UPDATE:

Last week I loved the cooler weather and decided to work out in the back yard pulling weeds, killing poison ivy and just doing some general upkeep of the bird feeders and bird bath. Well - my foot and knee stayed in one position and I moved in another which caused immediate pain and a "POP" which is not a good thing at my age.
So...... I've had my turn at the Dr. thing, knee brace and a cane. They haven't decided exactly what is wrong yet through x-rays and a MRI. I should hear about all this tomorrow.
Today involved a test called an EMG to see if they can figure out why my feet hurt so bad and are always numb. The test was truly not pleasant but I survived and now know for sure that I do not have nerve damage to my feet and legs.
Monday I saw the vampire lady and I will get those results some time this week - honestly, you go for one little thing and the next thing you know you are having every test they can think of. I really don't think they want to believe I am cancer free -

Here are some great ways to deal with the burdens of Life:

*Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
*Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
*Drive carefully~ it's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
*It may be your sole purpose in life to simply be kind to others.
*Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance!
*Since it is the early worm that gets eaten by the bird~sleep late!
*The second mouse get the cheese.
*You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
FINALLY:
*We could learn a lot from crayons~Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.....I did!

Friendship is an AWESOME thing!

Being with friends that have known you almost all your life is an AWESOME thing. Laughter really heals the soul and refreshes you. Below are some of my dearest friends ~ Becky, Ruthie and Pat.
We all gathered after a year of planning and we had a fantastic time - I use to think my parents were old at this age - but most here are over 65 and they are not old physically or mentally. God has been good to each of us!

Happy Father's Day!

To each any every one of you wonderful fathers - Happy Father's Day!
I think my husband treasures being "Pop-Pop" more than words can ever
say - he is so giving and loving to this family. It is wonderful to see the children
light up when he comes into a room - I think part of his secret is that he usually
has some type of treat in his pocket!