Lowery Park Zoo and Grandkids

Adam and Jullian walking the zoo together.
Grannie and Eden checking out the Twiga's (giraffes)
Jullian feeding the giraffe a cracker. He was grossed out by it's tongue.
While Adam and Jullian checked out the kangaroos in the petting zoo, Eden checked out the water. She loved it.
By the time she was done she was totally drenched but man did she have a blast. She was mad at me when I put her back in the stroller.

Eden's 1 yr. Pictures

She loves to sit in big girl chairs. She didn't want to get out of the white wicker chair.
Had to get this one because it shows her cute little chubby legs.

She was talking gibberish to the lady taking the pictures. That's the look.

Her shirt say's Miss Independant. And she is
What can I say? Her Grannie loves her tons.

Working Hard

Our new path from the screen porch to the garage slab.
Our new landscape for the screen porch area. We had to dig up all the grass (what was left of it), and then plant the plants. Dean made the borders to keep the mulch in.
Of course can't forget to add Dean's office doors to the home repairs.

We've been busy the last two months doing some work in the house and the yard. I feel pretty good about the accomplishments. We have a huge yard and anything we do will add to it. For the most part the back yard used to be orange groves, so it's just sand and weeds at the moment. We've slowly been adding some pieces to our landscape. I'm working on a butterfly garden area. I took a picture, but it turned out looking like a bunch of weeds, but I"m pretty proud of the effort. And the butterflies love me for planting the plants.

Dean of course added his office doors this year. Which look great and I'm thrilled with. Then last month we finally got the house painted. It's no longer salmon pink! Yeah, We painted it a nice green with cream trim. I love it. What a difference it made. In November/December we got our screen porch added to the house. We added two more concrete slabs and put on the screen porch. We now have our weights and bike on the porch. Dean has been faithful about using the equipment every day and has lost about 20lbs. I think I've gained his 20. Boo!!

And we had an area in the back that had the dog run, a bench and a birdbath out back. The birds love us, but it looked terrible. So we have put some vine to cover the dog run, planted two trees and some sea grass. I added some butterfly plants around the bird bath and Dean got some stones to make a small patio slab out there. It looks pretty good. We want to put weed preventing material down and then cover it with some pea gravel so it will finish that area off.

My next goal is saving enough money to buy a wood swing set for Eden and making a nice play area out back. We want to add some fast growing trees for shade back there since it's just open and sandy. So, the home improvements will continue, but for now I'm pretty please with what we've accomplished so far.

25 YEARS

25 years ago June 24, 1983, Dean Kevin LaFollette married Mary Kathryn Rambo at the Oregon City courthouse.
Crazy kids that were 20 & 17, people said it would never work out, but 25 years later here they are, married with 3 children and 2 grandchildren.
What God has joined together let no man put asunder.

Ahhh... the difference one year makes

Celebrating Eden Rae Jennings.
Born June 22, 2007
8 lbs. 6 oz.
21 " Inches long

One year old and still making us smile.

Happy Birthday Eden

Dora was in Eden's balloon bouquet. She kept pushing her down on the floor and telling her to stay down. We were laughing so hard because she was frustrated because she kept floating back in the air. So she'd continue yelling at Dora to stay down.

This is Eden's new rocking horse. She stayed on all night.
Eden is "These many" now. She loved eating the frosting. But she is such a little lady she only wanted to get one finger dirty.
I think this ribbon was one of her favorite things to play with.
Eden loves to clap her hands and have everyone else clap with her. We all said Yeah and she claps. What a happy little princess. We don't know where this first year went, but we're glad we got to be part of it. What a joy and a blessing she is.

She walks around now and calls Adam "Dum dum" . She tells us to stop now, and she loves to feed us things. She got a little tykes piano and she loves to play it. She is very musically inclined. She claps to the beat of music and she tries to sing songs now.

She's HOME!!!

My girl is home from Belize and Cancun. I am so happy! She was glad to be back to her normal routine. She is tanned and walking all over the house. She is still wobbly, but she goes completely across our huge living room all by herself. And no she hasn't bitten me yet. We had a great day and I can't believe she will be ONE on Sunday. Where did that year go? Will post birthday pictures next week.

Fathers Day

I can't say enough how much I dislike this holiday. It's the hardest holiday to celebrate for me. I hate having to go pick out a card for my dad. It makes me completely sick to my stomach. I can sit there and look at cards but they all say " you were there for me", "how much time we spent together doing things", "what a great dad you are", " what you taught me as a kid". I have to find a generic card that says Have a great day. I just cringe every year when it rolls around. I get sad about having a dad that live just two miles down the road but had to be forced to call, or to come get us to bring $50 for child support. For years I tried to call and see him to have him ignore me or ask about my sister. For years I had to endure the cruelty of my step-mother.
Don't get me wrong, I love my dad. I send a card every year. I remember his birthday. But I gave up visiting and calling years ago. I just got tired of being the one who cared. The pain is there every year.
I had a next door neighbor that I loved dearly. He was a single dad and he and my mom took care of each other kids the best they could. I felt closer to him than to my own dad. So when he got bone cancer a few years ago it was the hardest thing I've ever had to endure. I miss him so much and I am so grateful that he was part of my life and that he cared enough to call me his daughter.

On the other hand I appreciate a bible study I did with Linda Stanco a few years back on the Lords prayer. It taught me that I have a Father that loves me. That I can climb into his lap anytime I want and cry out and he hears me and loves me. He gives me the comfort and the strength that I need to get through the tough times. So this Father's day I was extremely thankful for my Heavenly Father for always being there for me.

Safe in Cancun

Ashley called last night to say that they made it to Cancun on Sunday. They are staying in a nice condo and are having a much more relaxing time. Stress was abounding over in Belize. Travis stuck up for Ashley and he even made the decision to leave the rest of the family. Praising God for that.

Ashley says that Eden has started biting everyone. So if anyone has any suggestions on how to get her not to bite, let me know. I'm praying it's because she's away from her normal routine and with people she didn't know or like very well.

They fly into Orlando Wednesday night at 6:00 pm. I'll be glad to have them back on American soil.

PRAY!!!!

Ashley called her daddy late Sunday night to wish him a Happy Fathers Day.
Well, I guess things have not been going well in Belize. I don't know if I told you but Travis's parents bought all the kids tickets to Belize because they have a friend who has a house down there and they would have a place to stay. Well.... things have not gone well at all.
Their plane landed in Cancun and then they had to take a bus to the border and then catch a comuter plane over to the Island of Belize. Well, Travis's family all decided that wanted to take a cab to the border instead of walk. So the ask the driver how much money. He tells them $200 so they decide to go. They get to the border and he tells them $1000, they argue over the money, police are called and they are threatened to go to jail if they don't pay the $1000. They pay and now are all cranky and tired.
They get to the house, and there are no provisions there what so ever. So they have to go to the store and spend even more money that they didn't plan on. No toilet paper etc... They decide to do some laundry and then they all go out to tour the town, they get back and the hose comes off the washer and water is all over. Everyone's luggage is soaked. More stress and more anger. Ashley has to go to an internet cafe to do school work for college and the family all starts ganging up on her saying she isn't being part of the family. I guess the meaness has been going on for a couple of days so Ashley decides it's best to just take Eden and stay off to herself and not get into the fray of the tension. Well, yesterday it all blows up and Travis's mom rips into Ashley as soon as she gets up and the whole day is spent with mom, the two sister in laws yelling at Ashley. Travis has made plans to leave today with his family to Cancun and stay there and catch the plane back on Wednesday.

Please, please, please pray for their safety traveling alone. They are just kids in a foreign country where everyone thinks Americans are rich. Pray for their safety as they travel with two little kids. Dean and I are so worried about them and their safety. God is good and when two or more are praying for the same thing things happen.

Still Scrapping

This is how my table has looked since Wednesday
Getting closer to having the year complete
The keeper of the extra paper-- Tessa Sue
I have the table, chairs, piano, floor and even Eden's high chair covered in scrap stuff.


Well, it's Monday morning and I still have scrapping stuff on my kitchen table. I guess I'm no Lora Ebeling on the scrap stuff. That girl can scrap like no one else I know. She can do 20 pages in an hour. She is an amazing woman. Me on the other hand I have no creativity. I struggle to come up with cute page idea's. So every page in the book is thought out and well planned. God didn't give me the creative genius. I guess I will stick with cooking at least I know I do that well. But I have about 20 pages left to go and then her first years worth of Grannie pictures will be done. I hope she knows how much I love her.

Baby Gone...

Well, I don't know how to feel. At first it's I'm relieved to have a break, but then I'm worried about my girlie being gone to a foreign country for a week.

Travis's parents bought all the kids tickets to Belize for a week. So Travis, Ashley, Jullian and Eden all headed to Orlando to catch a plane with the rest of the Jennings clan down to Belize. I am praying they remembered to take everything they needed for the baby. I'm concerned because my poor granddaughter is with Travis's mom. She's not a nice lady and she doesn't do real well with kids. I know I never finished the wedding fiasco tale, but let me just assure you that my concern is valid. Dean and I are praying fervantly for our girl. I pray for Ashley to get along with those people. They are so mean to her and she doesn't have anyone that will stick up for her when they all gang up on her. And let me tell you they do that too. Her sister's in law aren't very nice to her and the mother in law just tells her she is aweful. So poor Ashley... a week with the in-laws. Then I have the worry about what Eden's attitude will be when she returns. She has a different personality when she's with her parents over the weekend. I don't want to even imagine what it will be like after a week.

So.... what am I going to do for a week without my playmate? Hmmmm.... I'm going to scrapbook like crazy and get that poor little girls first year in a book. LOL I'm going to clean off my poor memory card. It's got over 600 pics and mostly of Eden Rae. Needless to say I'll be working my buns off to try and get it completed. I think I'm on week 4 of her life. LOL Do you think I'm a little behind?

Pray for my baby. Pray God keeps her in his protective care. Pray that Ashley will have a good time with Travis and the kids. Pray that they remember to sunscreen my girl. Pray for me to have peace of mind. I don't get my girl back until next Thursday. Sigh....

New Shoes

Eden Rae's brand new thongs.
Eden and Papa walking in the front yard
Eden's first walk in the front yard in her new shoes
She is just so big. Trying to figure out what to do with the hose.
Our little girl taking a walk outside



Grannie went shopping down in Ellington this past weekend. I was shopping for some new clothes for the girlie for her birthday. I saw these cute little jellie thongs and decided to try them out with her. Well, the princess loved them. And struggled with her right foot for awhile. But she learned very quickly that she has to pick up her foot and not drag it. Everytime I tried to take the shoes off, she would sit there trying to figure out how to put them back on. She kept telling us she was a big girl. So papa put his sandles on and took her for a walk in the front yard. I ran out with the camera and got these shots. She was so excited and was talking gibberish the whole time. When Dean turned her around to go back in the house Eden turned herself around and tried to make a break for it. She loves going for walks outside, whether in the stoller or like today actually walking.

Sooo Big

Eden is eleven months old. She will be one year old on June 22. What a cutie pie and she is doing so much now.

She likes to walk as much as possible. She is taking about 7-8 steps on her own now. And she walks holding onto your pinky. Now if I could get her to wear her shoes.

She's talking big baby sentences of gibberish. It's great. She thinks she is talking to you. I love it. She asks you where're your going and tells you down and bye bye. She talks to us about the kitty cat Tessa. Which she does say. She loves to have group hugs with her Granddude and Granny and to mooch with them.

She even throws little temper tantrums. She loves to play in the bathtub or her swimming pool. She loves to kick her feet. She helps granny water the plants in the backyard. I can't wait to see what's next for this little bug who has her Granddude and Granny wrapped around her little finger.