Today is Monday~!

This morning Tracie called me and told me she was running late. She asked me if I could come and take Ben to Donna's house.. I said "Sure, I'll be right over".. Ben was out jumping on his trampoline when I got there. He loves his trampoline. We need to get the sides ordered so he will be safe... There is a star painted in the middle and we told him he needed to jump as close to the star as he could. He jumps so high and it's a energy buster for him... He has on his favorite shirt.. All the Mario family. Luigie, Toad, Bowser, Princess Peach, and ect.. Can hardly get it washed and he has it back on to wear... What a boy. Something about favorite things that just feel comfortable.

I gathered all his stuff to go to Donna's and we got in the car. Yesterday while we were at Walmart, he bought strawberries and blue berries to take to Donna's house for snack.. He said that Donna would like that. He helped me get the tops off the strawberries and we got them sliced up and put them in a plastic bag along with the blue berries. He was so cute when he walked out to get into the Benny Mobile.. Nibbles in one hand and his snacks in the other.. On the way to Donna's I told him we were going to go see Aunt Jodie that lives in Michigan in 4 days.. He said "Aunt Jodie lives along way from our house".. I said "Yes she does."...

HE was quiet for a minute and said "GranAnnie? after I'm at Donna's house today it will be 3 days until we go to Aunt Jodie's house".. Then the next day it will be 2 days and the next day it will be one day and the next day it will be zero days".. I couldn't believe he could fiqure that one out~! I told him how proud I was and how super smart he was> He was just beaming. I was surprised when he fiqured that out and told me that. WOW~! what a boy.

This afternoon at 3 I went over to my friends house. Her name is Carrol. She had taken her computer to Staples to get fixed.. They cleaned her computer to when it came to her brand new. Boy did we have lots of problems getting it set back up and have the internet back on. Staples had put everything that was on her computer on a Flash thingy.. We had to call the company that her computer was hooked up to (a router ) and we talked with someone from India.. Oh my goodness when this guys voice came on I was doubtful that we would be able to understand him... Well, we were ablt to do that and he helped us get her computer connected to the Web.. Yikes~! I have never done this so everything he said was new to me.. But we mastered that project. We then connected the flash point to her computer and ta da we were able to download everything back on her computer.. After 3 hours of working to get everything complete we were done and her computer was working fabulous.. Yeah~!~! I need to get one of those flash points (I think that is what they are called) to download everything that is on this computer so just in case this computer fails I'll have it all backed up... Oh I would hate to lose my pictures.

It was a busy day... the sun was shining all day and it got up to 80 degrees today.. Hardly any humidity and it was just a nice day. Going to read my book I got from the library Saturday.. Shanghai Girls written by Lisa See.

Have a Blessed Day ~~ ta ta for now from Iowa:)

It's a Tiggeriffic Day~!

Here is my friend Holly and her daughter Caryn. If you read Saturdays blog I wrote about Jackie and her two little girls.. They lived in Holly's basement.
Jackie and her boyfriend Chad were in church this morning with the two girls.. I was so surprised to see him. It was just wonderful to see them both. Praying for a complete healing in their relationship and they can finally come to Christ and be a healthy family. The girls just love Chad which is their Dad.


The sun is shining today and it's so nice outside.. 77 with no humidity.. How nice is that. Sure beats all the rain we have been having and the cold temperatures.
My garden looks so good~ needs a little weeding but that won't take long.. Can hardly wait for it to start producing..




I love this picture of Ben eating his ice cream cone. Vanilla "Please" he will say.. He loves his ice cream.. Here he is with his favorite hat, The Seminole Vally Gas Engine Tractor Show.




Ben is at Donna's house playing DSI games with his friend, Blake. I went to Wallgreens and got all the picture transfered from my phone to a CD , which I then put them on my computer.



These two boys were focused. So cute. Twywin was sitting near by patiently waiting for his turn.

This is my favorite picture of Ben. Sleeping with his best friend "Nibbles". Just precious.
Have a Blessed Day~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Blue Sky and the sun is trying to shine:) POP there it is~!

Good Morning~!

It is 54 degrees this morning and the birds have been fed.. I got the Oriole feeders filled and they were waiting in tree near feeder to have breakfast. Glad they don't have sugar diabetes. That grape jelly is loaded with sugar. :) I see that something heavy was on my platform feeder under the lilac bush , the legs were tilted badly~ when I came home last night from my sewing group I did smell a Skunk. P-U~! Guess when you feed the birds you get to feed the other animals that come at night. I'm sure the raccoons are out there too. Bless all their souls.

One of my favorite bloggers asked me what happened to the girl that my friend Holly and I helped out in January.. Her name is Jackie and she has two girls. Emma age 2 and Abigail age 5, pictured here on the left. Abigail has her hand in the air waving at me and Emma has her finger in her mouth.. Sweet little girls. Jackie lived in Holly's furnished basement until first of April. We helped her get her things out of her boyfriends house and got her settled in Holly's house in January. She was so grateful because she just didn't know where she was going to live. She just sat and cried and cried. She said that no one ever helped her and she was a mess. She couldn't believe that someone would take her and the girls into their home and show her such genuine love. She came to our bible studies on Tuesday nights and eventually asked God to be in her life.. What a change we saw in her ~~!

We nurtured her and helped her get a car so she could get to the community college to finish out the school year. In March we told her she would have to be looking for a place to live and get a job. She really didn't want to do that and was a little stubborn about moving on with her life. Who wouldn't want to stay, she had a very nice place to live and someone to help her take care of her kids and a place to sit down for meals.. Very Comfy.. She found a job at a Casey convenient store and a 2 bedroom apartment for her and her girls and we got her moved in the middle of March. She is so happy. She comes to our church every Sunday , she has a new job that pays well and she is looking forward to moving to a better apartment. But for now she is happy and working very hard to have a better life for herself and her girls. The boyfriend keeps in contact with her because the girls are his too. He has gotten a job doesn't drink or do drugs anymore and is trying to get his life back on track.. Jackie won't let him stay overnight or live with her. Good girl.. But he does get to see his girls and he really is trying hard to be a better person. So Holly and I are happy it turned out so well and we just think God had a part in all of this. Jackie is a very happy young lady who is so much in love with God, and she thanks us all the time for all the help .

Oh my~! That sun looks so wonderful ~! After having nothing but rain and cloudy days for a week now this is really uplifting.. I'm going to have to get dressed here soon and go outside and tackle those pesty weeds that think they can live in my garden. Get my tomatoes and snow peas tied up. My friend Carrol wants me to come to her house today and help her with her tomatoes. She has never had a garden and not sure what to do with them. We are going to take her Shepard's hook that she has bird feeders hanging from and move it closer to her house. She makes the best tea and has the most beautiful flower garden so I'm sure we will be able to sit out there in her garden and have some tea after we get things moved .

Ben is coming back to Tracie's tonight. Tracie called me and asked if I could pick him up.. Gladly~! He has been with his Dad for a couple of days. He is so happy now and talks all the time. I taught him how to play Old Maid and he loves that game. So I'm sure we will be playing a few hands of Old Maid. He also likes the game Battle Ship ~ he loves it when I tell him he has hit one of my ships. It's so cute he rubs his hands and just smiles big and of course a big Ya-Hoo comes from his mouth.

Have a blessed day~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)

The Sun is peeping out of the clouds~!

Here is Ben at his favorite person's house. Donna has a daycare and this is where Ben loves to go. The boys names are Tywin and Blake. They are 5 and Ben is almost 5. Wish I could get the pictures off my phone this morning . I have a cute picture of Blake and Ben playing with their DSI games. Blake is the boy with black shirt. Ben used to go to another daycare and he just hated it~! They didn't understand his busyness and he acted up for them.. I would of too if I felt they didn't like me. Donna loves him and she understands him. I wish Ben could of been with her before this.. He loves her and she loves him.

I'm so tired of cool weather and rain. Goodness to be 60 degrees this morning with the promise of being 65 later.

I would hate to be part of swimming lessons right now. Brrrr~! There is always something good that comes about with a irritation. Don't have to run the AC..electric bill will be low. Garden is looking good. Broccoli loves this cool weather plus the lettuce. As I look out my window the flower garden and vegetable garden is flourishing. Looks like the Preen I sprinkled on both gardens is holding back the weeds.. I worked so hard on both gardens to get those blasted weeds under control. I haven't canned in years , but am considering in doing that this summer. I love canned green beans, peaches, tomato sauce with green pepper/onion/garlic chopped into the sauce. We use a lot of salsa so I'm considering canning some of that. With food getting so expensive there are a few things I can can or freeze to save money for this winter. I planted a lot of seeds that can be saved for next year. Organic seeds.

Found a great pastor to listen to on my Ipod.. His name is James MacDonald and is from Elgin,Illinois. His church's name is Harvest Chapel Bible Church.. Oh my goodness, he preaches right from the word of God and his message is so good. The other pastor I listen to is Bill Hybels from Barrington, Illinois.. Willow Creek Community Church.. my son and his family go there and Bill has some really good sermons too. Just type in google their names and churches names and city and state.. that should get you to their websites.. When I go to bed at night I listen to their sermons. James MacDonald has a weekly message and a daily message.. His daily message is called "Walk in the word".. It's just good to hear God's word daily and this is a great way of settling down for the evening before you go to sleep. You can watch a video on their website if you would rather do that. You won't be disappointed~! When my daughter gave me this Ipod for my birthday in Feb.. I told her I didn't need one of these..and told her to take it back.. She showed me what to do with it and now you will have to fight me to get it away from me. I really enjoy all the Christian music I have on it and my podcasts.. I even have a podcast about knitting.

If you get time and want to hear some powerful messages from two great pastors please take time to listen to James MacDonald and Bill Hybels..

OH NOW THIS IS A GREAT IDEA~!~! The other night we had a bad storm and the electric went off. I got out my candles and got them all set out to burn safely. Went and found the flashlight ~ only to learn batteries were low.. Thank goodness I had batteries . Well, I went outside to take a look at the storm and saw my solar lights that I have lined up next to the driveway just glowing so brightly :) I brought them inside and put one in the living room, bathroom, kitchen and the hallway.. I was so happy with the light they produced I blew out the candles. If I wanted something from another part of the house where it was dark ~ I just took one with me.. Da Ta light on the go..no more flashlights, no more burning candles. This is so much better. Just to see how long they would stay bright I kept them inside the house. They lasted for 2 days and 2 nights. How about that,,I was surprised. They are outside now lined up next to my driveway getting recharged and glowing brightly again. Ben loves to carry them around at night in the yard. I told him if he stays all night at my house again this would be his nightlight in his bedroom where he sleeps when he comes to my house. He liked that idea:) When Ben and I were at WalMart last time we bought some for his house.. He said "GranAnnie my sidewalk glows just like yours". Lol...

Have a blessed day in the Lord.. ta ta for now from Iowa~!

Happy Fathers Day~!

This is my hubby, Dave on the left and his twin brother on the right. Don lives in Pa and over Memorial day he came to visit us.. It was fun to have Don here to visit with Dave. They were busy each day, golfing, going out to breakfast, riding around the countryside of Iowa and just having a great time being with each other. As you see them standing here , this is how they walk down the street together , stand together , if they are sitting on a couch Don is always on this side. If one of them is really ill ~ one will know this and call , sure enough something is going on with their health. Or if they are trying to call each other and the line is busy, it's usually because they are trying to call each other at the same time.. Twins are so funny in the way they are connected, so in tune with each other.
So Happy Fathers Day boys.. Dave in Iowa and Don in Pennsylvania..:)


The sun was setting and the clouds were so big and so colorful. This is looking Northeast from my house. I can remember when I was a little girl, my sister, Lynn and I would lay out in the yard and look at the clouds. Those clouds actually were in formations of dogs, cats and all kinds of things. Those were the days.
Happy Fathers Day to all the Dad's today.. My Dad has been gone for 15 years now and I miss him. He would of been 104 this year. But I have a lot of grand memories. My Dad was so happy and had a great positive attitude. He passed on the "You Can DO IT~! challenge to his children and onto the grandchildren. My Dad was a great encourager. When the Seigfreids got together they were all a bunch of happy relatives. Have you ever read the book called "The Relatives Are Coming".. It's a children's book. That book always reminds me of when we went to Marion, Ohio to visit Gramma Seigfreid and all the relatives.. Lots of hugs ~kisses and how you doin~! When we went to bed at night we could always hear the train whistle blowing in the distance. Gramma was always there to tuck us in, give us kisses and help us say our prayers. She was a godly woman. She loved us so much.. I miss her too. But thank goodness we have wonderful memories to draw back on and it makes me sometimes laugh out loud but mostly smile.
Have a Tiggeriffic Day~!~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Seminole Valley Engine Show

Ben is standing next to a big ole Gas Engine that was at the Seminole Valley Engine Show. He has on his brand new blue hat that he was just drooling over and of course GranAnnie had to buy it for him.. He loves his hat.. I thought it was so cute he was hunched down watching these men try to get this gas engine started.. He sat there for along time watching , watching watching. They never did get it started. So off we went to take a look at the next thing. He loved all these engines putt putting and spewing steam. I told him " You know Pa Pa Dee Dee has these same engines in his shed.. " You
know you need to ask him to show you where they are and start them up"

Beb Gilchrist owns this Case Steam Engine. He let Ben get aboard and gave him a ride. He even let Ben blow the whistle.. He really liked that a lot~! He was just beaming.

I love it that his one hand is waving and the other hand is in his pocket. He loved being here and was so fascinated with all the gas engines and the huge steam engines.

He even got to be in the parade of engines and got to ride on a wagon pulled by a old tractor.

We are getting ready to leave and Ben is doing a happy dance.. He had a great day~!