End of a long week

T.G.I.F.
Glen wore me out this week with all the field trips he planned.
I'll miss him going back to work tomorrow,
but I'm really needing to get back to my abnormal routine.
It's customer appreciation day at The White Hare so we'll be busy
handing out all kinds of goodies,
feeding people, and doing a silent auction to raise funds
for the St. Vincent DePaul Society.
If you're in the neighborhood stop on by!

Here's a shot I took this week at the City Museum
that I really liked.
I wish it was a video......this girl played really well
and I could have sat for hours listening to her
bang out show tunes on this old baby grand. This is me. This is where I spend a lot of my time.
That's a charcoal sketch of my dad in the background.
I feel comfortable having him there to watch over me.
I also like my Audubon clock that Amy gave to me. I know when the owl hoots
that another day has ended.
btw - Peyton took this shot of me. He rested his elbow on
the end of the desk for a human tripod. He knows I don't like flash.
pretty good, huh?

One more thing.

Tonight my cousin Bobby, who is 60, finally got married tonight. His lovely bride, Mary, has made him happier than I've ever seen him. It was a very touching ceremony and the reception was beautiful. I'm so happy for the two of them. Happy honeymoon Bobby & Mary!

nite.

Three quarters of a century

Look who is 75 today. My mom.
She doesn't look 75.
To me, she is still in her 40's, running circles around me.
But that's not actually how it is.
She has slowed down some.
But she deserves to.
She's worked hard all of her life,
and now it's her turn to relax.
Happy Birthday Mom.
We love you. Here is just a peek of our City Museum trip from Wednesday........
this place is incredible, awesome, and lots of fun!
There are so many things to see,
places to explore,
things to learn.

We did it all.

On all 5 stories of the old shoe warehouse building.

In 80 degree heat.

If you ever get to St. Louis, you've got to put this place on your itinerary.

It's hard to describe to someone who has never been there,

but take my word ....... it's definetly worth the stop.

To my future granddaughter

Dear little baby,
I am having this photo enlarged for your nursery so that every morning when you wake,
and every night when you lay your head down to sleep
it will be the image in your mind.
It will show you how loved and protected you will be,
not only by your mommy, daddy, and big brother,
but by all the other females in your family.
These are hands that will hold you,
feed you, give you a bath, brush your hair,
dress you up, put bandaids on ouchies,
push you in your stroller,
and pull you in your wagon.
These hands will teach you how to cook, color, clean, string beads,
peel candy wrappers, blow bubbles,
use a curling iron, plant flowers, make mud pies,
sew a coin purse, wash dishes (or throw away paper plates),
ice skate, and ride a bike.
These hands will be there when you are born,
they will watch over you as you grow.
They will hold your hand when you go off to kindergarten,
and clap for you when you graduate college.

But most importantly of all,
these hands will be there to love you.
Always.

Love Grandma Pam (who's hands will teach you to take photos)

The Corruption of Tommy

"Hey Tommy, what are you doing?"
"I just picked up my umpire's shirt and heading home."
"Want to meet me and Unk Glen at the race track?"
"Sure! How do I get there?"
As you can see the boy knows how to follow directions. Here he comes running down to meet us amongst all the other Tuesday hookey players.


Unk Glen was studying the racing forms while Tommy was checking out the crowd.
I like to look at the horses and pick the prettyist one. Tommy agreed that was as good a way as any after Unk Glen told him he'd lost every race so far.

This was a stubborn one. I think it's Glen's pick.
Out of the gate.......they're off! Looks like that stubborn one was anxious to get going.
And around the bend, in the number one spot (by three links) was the Pretty One.
Look at that Pretty One run! It paid off for Tommy and I.

It was fun, corrupting Tommy today. But I don't think we'll be worrying about him becoming addicted to gambling. He was more interested in the Coors Light girl. :)Happy Tuesday!

Tomorrow......the City Museum!

showered with love

On Sunday we all gathered at my lovely daughter-in-law's house to give Lindsay a baby shower.

Family, friends, and babies all came to celebrate and eat cake.

Abby and Joey really outdid themselves getting their home ready for the 30 some odd guests, not knowing if it could be held outside because of our unpredictable weather. So they moved furniture, set up chairs, tables, hung signs, streamers, made yummy food and tucked us all inside. My daughter-in-law did a wonderful job hosting this large event. She's a natural at it, but Joey gets a bit on edge. It's a good thing he has her to keep balance in his life. He is lucky. So are we! Thanks for everything, Abby!

Here's a group shot of the females in our family.

BFF's from grade school.....Lindsay is surrounded by her posse.

MY girlfriends. We raised our children together and are now grandmother's together.

What do these future babies have in common? Hopefully the love of football, as they sit with their dad's this coming season rooting for the Steelers and the Dolphins.
They will be kindred cousins.

My sisters. I can always count on them to help out with anything. And they do it with class.

Little Miss H charmed the crowd with her pretty blue eyes and sweet smile.

Here's one of the generation Y. Ellen brought her handsome little guy, Tyler. All you had to do was look at him and he'd laugh! He knows how to work the crowd.

Couldn't stop looking at these cute little baby toes! They are attached to my sweet baby Grace. The sun rises and sets on her in my mind.

And here's the lady that deserved a party! The mountain of gifts was a little overwhelming to her. This baby is going to have to change clothes 4 times a day the first 6 mos. of her life. I'm thinking there will be several fashion shows coming up here shortly. Stay tuned.
When Linz opened this gift from her sister, she commented how it looked like Aunt Amy. I love this shot of my daughters.
Grace got tired of watching someone else open gifts. She wanted some of those strawberries!
This baby is going to be loved and protected. Surrounded by her sisters and cousins, Lindsay finally let her tummy be touched.
And here we have the lovely Landolt girls. Haven't they grown up lovely?
I have about 80 more shots I could share, but this is probably enough for now.
Thanks to all who shared in this special day with us.
Now........all we need is a baby!

Fun with Nothin'

Since I overslept on Monday morning, we got too late of a start for the Science Center.
The kids decided they wanted to go hiking and to the playground at Klondike Park.
We got as far as the lake when they started throwing pretzel pieces to the fishes.
They were swarming!

Chloe decided she was going to go fishing. She found an old hunk of seaweed and tied a pretzel to it. Dipping her bait into the water, the fish came to her like crazy.
After scavenging around the banks, she found two tiny lures and a ball of fishing twine. (why can't people clean up after themselves?)
Peyton came up with two long sticks to use as poles.
They stood there baiting their lures with pretzels, raspberries, crickets and a dragonfly (caught by grandpa). They had the very best time that day. Peyton, who is forever bored due to his high level of intelligence, said "It's pretty fun doing stuff with nothin'." I'll have to get that boy Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn to go into his summer reading agenda.
Of course we had to go to McDonald's for our fish burgers, but they tasted as good as if we had caught them ourselves.
What a fun, fun day.

Field Trip

Glen was off today. That means FUN!
He took us to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to see the Niki display.
Peyton and Chloe stopped to gaze at the Chihuly that were left from last year. This is one of the Niki pieces. They are all made from mosaic tiles, marbles, glass, and mirror pieces. Unbelievable works of art!
Peyton went off on his own for a brief period of meditation in the Chinese garden.
Grandpa and Chloe found a bench while Peyton and I looked at another Chihuly piece.
A trip to the Botanical Garden isn't complete without stopping in here, which we did.
This place is an experience in itself and of course we found a few treasures!

It was a lovely day.

Now I'm ready for a nap.

Child Labor

These two got to go to work at the store with me for an hour today.
They were excited and thought it would be fun.
I told them they had to alphabetize the magnetic letter tiles.
No problem........until they realized that there were over 500 tiles.

Notice one of them decided he could get rid of 6 letters easily by spelling his name on one of the magnetic strips?
Notice the other one wore her pearls and pink eye shadow to work?
Don't feel too sorry for them. Miss S. gave them each a dollar to go to Subway (in the strip) for a suicide soda and chocolate chip cookies.
They had fun, but were ready to leave when their hour was up.

Then I come home this evening to find Great Gram sitting in the dining room surrounded by pink tissue, wrapping paper, and more baby gifts than I will be able to get in the back of a pick up truck! She is so excited about our new baby who is due in a few weeks. The shower is on Sunday.
Tomorrow Glen is taking me for that ear piercing thing to quit smoking. I'm trying to suck down the last of my pack tonight. I hope this works. Wish me luck!

After that we are going to the Botanical Gardens. I should have some cool photos to share tomorrow.

NINE is DIVINE

When God drew up the blueprint for this little boy he did some of his best work.

He is a unique piece of work.

Brains, sense of humor, creativity, big heart, loyalty, curiosity, an appetite for life, and brown eyes that shine.

Yes, he is one of a kind.

And on Monday he turned NINE!

He always comes up with a funny "finger" shot for his birthday for me to take a picture.

(using that creativity and big heart, knowing his Grandma gets a kick out of this)

Here is the shot for 2008, complete with the shark mask he picked out at our trip to the toy store. I still see a bit of his sweet little baby face showing through, but his darn hands are as big as mine! Oh, yes.....sense of humor.....the shark mask was to scare Uncle Joe when we went swimming at his house that evening for the birthday party. :) His mom and dad had a hard time keeping 9 candles lit with the summer breeze on the deck.
Aren't they a sweet little family? Pretty soon there will be four of them. Lindsay had been to the dr. that afternoon and things are starting to open up and move along. Everything looks real good. Baby has chubby cheeks and HAIR! That will be a first for our family, but Jeff said he had a ton of hair when he was born.
Here's my little buddy with his cookie cake, as requested.Amy was the first one out in her suit, so Joey assigned her the task of skimming and setting the vaccum. Pretty soon, Peyton and Chloe jumped in and that was the end of the cleaning!
That night, sitting on the deck I was thinking how grateful I was that everyone was together. Joey and Abby are such wonderful hosts and always open their home to welcome family. They make everyone feel so comfortable. I am very thankful for that. They are such great kids.
Happy Birthday to my #1 grandson.

You will always hold a very special place in my heart.

I love you.

G.P.

First Father's Day

I recently shot these two daddies with their babies.
Their tenderness with their children touched my heart.
Happy Father's day to all the dads out there.

And happy father's day to my own dad.

You are always in my heart.

one of those days

Today I feel like I'm living in a dorm and I'm the RA.
Everyone is in and out, asking me this and that.
I'm watching the clock tick away while I continue to fall behind.
Hope that tomorrow is better.

In the meantime, here is something that always makes me smile.
My fav photos of the day.

This adorable little guy just had a baby brother.

This one is learning how to grow a vegetable garden this summer.

This is her "sister garden". Native Americans used to grow veggies like this.

A lot of crop in a small plot of land. There are tomatoes, beans, carrots, peas, corn, herbs, and pumpkins circle the entire crop.

Since the day wasn't going too smoothly, I thought ice cream would be a good idea.

I don't even like ice cream, but aren't those colors pretty?

nite

p