Macro Monday home

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign Mr Linky. Don't forget to visit each other. :)

I have always loved this little bird toothpick holder. It sits on my parents' kitchen table and it's a sign I've been 'home'. It doesn't matter that they live in a different house than the one I grew up in.

Home is family surrounding you, laughter, love, and noise.

And for me a pink bird offering toothpicks.

What are things that make you think of home?

The blessing of grandchildren

The man of the hour, our grandson Cole. I took these photos of him over Thanksgiving. He has grown so much in just two short months. Look at his cute little chubby cheeks, so kissable!

Grandpa made him smile tons.

We found the little sweater while Christmas shopping but sent it to him early because they only had 6 month size – yeah, at 2 months he's wearing 6 month clothing! Marissa found the little pants to match the patches on his sleeves and the sweet little argyle socks.

He's dressed and ready to come visit Wisconsin and play in the snow.

Grandpa's always willing to share his Canon 5D.

Too sweet.

And because I haven't shared any photos of Tristan lately and I came across many from October I hadn't yet shared. . . I'll show you how much he loved the leaves.

Pure Joy! (he's 20 months old here)

I even snuck in a photo of mama while she watched Tristan play. My granddaughter is growing. Britney is down to going to the doctor every week. This past week she was dilated to 1cm and 25% effaced. She's not due until Christmas day but we are thinking our Christmas present may come early. Should we do the guess the date game/giveaway?

Grandchildren are the biggest blessing of my life!  Just two and a half years ago I sat here going through chemo wondering if I would ever get to meet my future grandchildren.  Then Britney was diagnosed with PCOS and I wondered if she would ever have children.  I celebrated my 40th birthday right before Tristan was born and now I will be a grandma three times over by my 42nd birthday.  I love the ride of life!  I only wish all of our grandchildren lived in the same town so I could play with them all every week.

Soft and Hard (Opposites attract?)

When I was a child I would hold dear anything made of rabbit fur. My favorite toy in the whole world for most all of my childhood was a cat made of rabbit fur and I rubbed it on my face for comfort and soothing. This precious bunny looks soft enough I wouldn't mind taking him home.

The zoo we went to a while back had two small areas that you could go into with the animals. The first cage was the bunnies but there were so many I was afraid I'd step on one. In the second cage was a lone tortoise and I tentatively stepped in. However, I had my huge honking lens on and the requirements of that lens is a minimum focusing distance of about 5'.

Well, that was a bit of a challenge in a 10' square pen with a tortoise that kept wanting to touch me. Boy he was fast!

I think he needs some chapstick.

Sunset on the lake

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Yes, the ground is now white in my neck of the woods and will remain so for many months, but I just discovered a folder of photos I never got around to sharing so I will be throwing some from warmer days in for a while.

So, there I was waiting for the boat to come to shore and take me out and I thought the sky was really pretty.

It didn't take long for the sun to start setting. These two photos were taken 13 minutes apart. Amazing!

And 9 minutes later it was still beautiful! It was chilly out there, but I imagine now that lake is frozen, and unboatable.  So here's to remembering warmer days and reminding myself they will come again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I participated in the Christmas Ornament Swap over at Abbily Ever After again this year and Chris over at Ms Cellania sent me two magnificent ornaments!

The little propeller really spins!

My heart has a soft spot for snowmen. Both ornaments are made of metal and I absolutely love them! They were accompanied by the cutest card!

While decorating the tree, I did learn one thing to never say when your three young adult sons are in the room. I was nearly finished when I said to my husband, “Later you can hide the pickle.”

The Christmas Pickle

I promise to show you photos of baby Cole soon, he is growing so much and is simply precious! It's hard to believe that sometime this month I will be a grandma for the third time! My granddaughter is due to enter the world on Christmas Day but we think she will come early, maybe on her Uncle Mikal's birthday (Dec 16th).

Rudolph Crossing?

Bugs & Blooms