Garrison is 5 - Grammy is 61

The week started out with me baking lots of "5" sugar cookies for Garrison's birthday.  I frosted 30 of them Tuesday morning for us to take with us to drop off at their house before I went to the doctor for a knee check.  I received an excellent report at the doctor - come back for a year check in April.  Ron and I went to Freddy's for lunch after my appointment and then stopped to buy him some shoes and to pick up a few things at Walmart before coming home.

Friday, Debbie Sieger took me to KC for my annual birthday shopping and lunch day.  We had lunch at Joy Wok and enjoyed delicious Chinese buffet.

Saturday, we went to Garrison's birthday party at their home.  He had an Avenger's themed party with many 5 year old guests, his grandparents and his parents (along with a few other parents).  He had a blast.  They had water shooter fights and played other games before taking aim at the panata.  Amanda and Chad did a great job of giving Garrison a wonderful party.  Peyton had a few friends/siblings of party-goers there to play with as well.  Garrison had so much fun opening his many fun gifts and then hot dogs, cheetos and cookie cake were served - all choices of the birthday boy.

After all other guests had gone home, Peyton and Garrison took a rest, Amanda and Chad ran a few errands, and Ron and I relaxed as well.  Garrison had a good time playing with his new toys.  While Amanda and Chad went to Pierponts for a date night, Peyton and Garrison took the birthday girl (Grammy) and Grandpa out for dinner to Chipolte.  Peyton had a great time "paying", carrying her purse and giving the money to the cashier.  Garrison "paid" at Burger King where we went for dessert and playtime.

Sunday morning, Peyton left with Angie and Haley to go to the first day of her 3 day Girl Scout Day Camp.  Chad went to play golf with a friend, and Garrison, Amanda, Ron and I went to Olive Garden for our final birthday celebration until next year.

It was a great weekend - we are so blessed!!!!

July 5 - July 23, 2016

On July 5, Amanda/family came back through Clinton from their Silver Dollar City vacation and had dinner with us at Pizza Glen before returning home.  During the day on 7/5, I finished the 2016 edition of the grandkids' Christmas ornaments.  On Saturday, we went to Overland Park and started our day with breakfast at the Egg and I with the whole family, and then we went to Garrison's final t-ball game.  I don't have a picture of him with his trophy, but he loves his trophy and slept with it in his bed the first night!!!!

I entered the stocking I made Amanda for Christmas MANY years ago in the Henry County Fair and not only won a blue ribbon (first place) in holiday cross stitching, but I also won a special purple ribbon award for best in show.  A whopping $18 in prize money which I will give to P.E.O. for our treasury as we entered things as a group to boost our finances.

Apollo has been staying with us while Amanda, Chad, Peyton and Garrison went to Branson on a summer vacation.  They had a blast at Silver Dollar City, Dixie Stampede, Riding the Ducks, bumper boats and cars, and much, much more fun.

Ron and I took a trip to Mark and Mary's lake home on Saturday, 7/16 and celebrated Nicole's birthday.  She reluctantly blew out her candles on her cake while we attempted to sing Happy Birthday to her, and then after a delicious lunch, Joe, Nicole and I went to the pool for a little sunshine and fun in the pool.  We had a lovely visit.  Joe and Nicole dressed up for a fancy dinner to celebrate Nicole's birthday just the two of them - a handsome couple.

Amanda and family came back to Clinton on Friday night, 7/22 for a quick 24 hour visit, but we sure packed the fun into those 24 hours!  While Ron and Chad were playing golf in the Ag Golf Tournament, the rest of us played cards, played games, painted sun catchers and made 70 mini-felt snow cones for Peyton to use as a share item at Girl Scout Camp.  They turned out very cute and were a joint effort.  After lunch, Peyton and Garrison polished their Mommy's toenails, I polished Peyton's fingernails, and Peyton polished my toenails.  There were a lot of giggles included!!!

Chad rested a few minutes, and then he, Amanda, Peyton and Garrison went back out in the heat to play more golf!!!  Garrison came back to our house after the 3rd hole, but Peyton played the entire 9 holes and had a good time, hitting it quite good at times, it was reported.  She was beet red when she came in and was happy to take a shower to cool off, as did her Mom and Daddy.

We had a nice dinner of ribs, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, cantaloupe, corn, hot bread and various desserts.  Following dinner, Chad, Grandpa and the kids went across the street to #17 and hit a few balls in the pond for fun.  Garrison was giggling so hard, he could hardly hit it.  Peyton had a couple of very good hits.

A quick 24 hours, but we sure enjoyed their visit, as always.  We are blessed.

Church tomorrow where I will play the gathering music on the piano, will play the hymns with the organist, and will play the offertory at the first service.  Then Ron is taking me to Donna's Drive In for a delicious tenderloin and onion rings to start my birthday week off right!!!!!

Camp Arthur 2016 - Olde Glory Days 2016

We had a glorious week with Peyton and Garrison here for 8 days - CAMP ARTHUR.  Ron took the week off, and the four of us enjoyed being together immensely.

Some of the things we had fun doing were:  Going to the movie to see Finding Dory - Breakfast at The Donut Palace - a trip to Warsaw to The Lost Valley Fish Hatchery where Garrison caught and released 13 fish - a visit to the Visitor's Center at Truman Dam where they saw replica dinosaur bones and looked around through telescopes, etc. - lunch at Freddy's in Sedalia - a requested trip to Dollar Tree where they each had $3 to spend and had a blast choosing "wisely" what they bought - a morning at playgrounds in town - a spaghetti lunch where they ate directly off the table with no plates, etc. and giggled and giggled - water play in their wading pool complete with water gun fights -  made red/white/blue popsicles in vintage holders (mine as a child) - a trip to the local Conservation Office where they held snakes and turtles and fed the fish in the aquarium - frosted and decorated their patriotic cookies for the holiday - made salt pictures - dinner at Wendy's with dessert at Dairy Queen for funnel cake sundaes - played 4 holes of golf having fun driving the golf cart - dinner at Square 109 - Olde Glory Days fun watching the cardboard boat races, hotdogs at Optimist Park while watching The Firequacker 500 Race and fun playing on the playground equipment, Garrison loved the tornado slide - rode the ponies - Peyton had a characature picture done - rode carnival rides - had fun with the Fishin Magician at the Sponsor Dinner at the Elks - more carnival rides including the trampoline jump.  Rain and more rain resulted in the OGD parade being cancelled, so we had a day at home playing games, cards, etc.  They fixed everyone's hair.  We had dinner at El Camino Real before taking the kids back to the carnival for a couple more rides between rains.  We drove by the tank at the National Guard building at Artesian Park one last time for Garrison - he loved that tank - and then did a few poppers firecrackers after getting home.  Chad took the kids over to #17 to hit a few golf balls in the pond.  Neighbors had quite a beautiful fireworks display that the kids liked watching before going to sleep.  On Sunday, Amanda, Peyton and I went to Walmart for a little shopping before fixing lunch and the kids made a flag sugar cookie pizza for dessert.

Amanda and Chad came to Clinton in time to go to the Sponsor Dinner with us Friday afternoon/evening and were here through Sunday lunch when all 4 of them went to the lake for a few days with the Todds.   Ron and I plan to go with the Siegers to the Olde Glory Days fireworks display and to have a quiet 4th of July.

We had a marvelous visit - we are blessed.