HATS OFF to SAVERS

Okay -We are NOT at the beach. We are actually at another HOT BASEBALL GAME.
Can you tell we are trying to stay cool?
It's only 111 degrees outside. (6 pm)

Well, we really dropped Jacob off and went back to watch the last hour of the game.
We had to find a really sure way of getting cool. We knew it would be at Savers!
So...here's... Hats off to Savers!


We just got the idea to try on any hat that just looked fun.
We actually found a lot of them!

Rachel is really "getting" into this posing stuff!

And we really did find the craziest hats - along with the craziest purses!

Anyone for tea?

Anyone for a march?

or how about an unexplainable hat with its matching purse....

Flashing back to Jacob's game. He hit the ball WAY OUT TO THE FENCE - almost touching the fence and brought in 2 runners. (they call it "a double") Then he actually bunted the next ball and again... brought in 2 more runs.

This is Jacob after he came in and collected the bats. Since my "real" camera is "down" I couldn't get any real -live -moving pictures.


So of course, I saved the best for last. After looking at this hat - I wondered why we didn't buy her a million baseball caps! I think she looks like a million bucks!

We'll just have to go back and get some!

Like Mother....Like Daughter....

I know - I know. This is a blurry picture. It's not Rachel's fault. She HAD to point the camera where she did - and the back windows made it too bright. Okay - now that we know that - well - can you just enjoy the shot? Judy didn't care what I was doing. That was the whole point of this picture! Can you even tell what I am doing? Look closer.

Okay - now that you can see what we were doing....
now Judy gets a chance to see what we were doing!

"Mirror, mirror on the wall...I am my mother....afterall". This keeps echoing in my head. Remember when Gina use to wear curlers!
Judy is saying...."is this me or my mother?"

"Oh yeah - it's just ME!"
She thought she was pretty cute!

Okay. I know - I know. I took the time to curl it but I pulled it back anyway.
I know. She knows...we all know...but afterall....we were just having fun!


Plus the fact that she knew it was just for the photo shoot afterall!

This is one fun girl!

THE HINTON Grandkids are HERE!

GUESS who's here at Grandma Cookies house???

You're right....THE HINTONS!!
This is Judy after 2 days of traveling from Utah. She must have really slept great in the truck with Caleb because she was not tired one bit.. but she did act so happy to have "landed".

Rachel is having a ball playing with these kids. We get to keep them overnight while Gina and Caleb continue to unpack and get their house in order.

Judy and Aaron slept in the same room last night. Amazing - they never cried or complained.
They went right to sleep and never made a peep all night! Jana - this was a cinch. I suggest that you use your huge closet as their bedroom. Put two cribs in there and you'll be good to go!

Aaron never complained at all either. This is too good to be true.
When Grandpa and I went to bed last night we asked ourselves...."Can you believe we are grandparents and babysitting tonight? No crying at all. What's up with that?"

Here is Judy when she got up from her nap today. We had to play beauty parlor you know!
Well, what else was there to do - Rachel was at the public pool with Ashlie! Judy let me brush and curl and play as long as I wanted. Grandpa came in and sat on the bed and watched. He couldn't believe it either.

Then Judy climbed right up onto the bed to ask Grandpa if he liked her hair!
The picture I took of him replying to her was too blurry to show. I'll catch him again with Judy!
But he said all the right things.....just like her Daddy says.
"Oh, YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL - I LOVE YOUR HAIR!"
She responded like a perfect little lady - she smiled!


Joey just came home from work and Judy is talking to him through the "bars".
"Hi Joey!"It's 6:00 pm and the phone rang...... "Hi Mom! Yep - it's dinner time."

Gina is talking a mile a minute to Judy. (I have her on speaker) Judy doesn't make a move while her mom is chatting. I am sure that Judy didn't want to miss one word of what her mom was saying - remember she hasn't seen her since yesterday.

While I am sitting on the floor taking pictures of Judy - Aaron is hammering on the counter so I don't forget about him. He is chowing down on green beans and mashed potatoes. What a guy!

and...I can't believe he ate the WHOLE thing!Well - Gina and I chatted about the day and I guess they got A LOT done! Caleb was really excited about how much they got done without the kids. In the meantime....we played and really had a wonderful day!
Good News!
I just talked Gina into letting them stay another night.
Oh... the JOYS OF BEING A GRANDMA!
"SWEET!"

Off to the MOVIES

Rachel really loves to see movies.
So do I!

One day we spent the afternoon at the theater.

Rachel really wanted to see the NANCY DREW movie - so did I!

Shhh - the movie is about to begin!

"Grandma - can you just come and sit down!"
"okay - okay. But I want a picture of you everywhere we go!"
"shhhhhh."

Take me Out to the Ball Game!

Jacob has a lot of baseball games that we have to go to!
Man - like we go to three or four a week!
Ashlie is a good sport and comes with us.

Jacob plays for Westview High School and with Little League.
This was a Westview game.
I think it's about 113 degrees right now.

Sometimes these games last 5 hours when he has a double hitter!

Grandpa always goes to every game and he stays for the whole 5 hours.
Grandma and I usually "wig" out after a couple of hours though. Getting home at
11:00 pm isn't very fun.

We caught a fast one when Jacob was in the dug-out and the game was over.

These games are hot and long. That's all I want to say about them.

Caught in the Action

Caught in the action. I just couldn't resist.
I'll probably get into a lot of trouble for this one. (from the boys)

Rachel just has to scrapbook this as part of our family fun! Right?
(they are watching Shrek 3-D)

Okay - so I'll tell you it was part of our Father's Day celebration
when Dad had his breakfast in bed!
Oh Happy Day!

Time to make a FRESH APPLE CRISP!

Okay - we wanted to make a FRESH APPLE CRISP!
So Rachel, Ashlie and Madison went to our tree and picked apples!

We scrubbed them really well!

The cutting part was a little harder than the scrubbing part!

Ouch - Madison cut her thumb! We didn't like THAT part of the project!

When the apples were all sliced - we made the part that goes on top! We used real oats, whole wheat flour, maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla. That's all. We wanted it to be "healthy".

Now it's time to spread it on top of the sliced apples.

Rachel figured out how to do it the fast way.

Now this is looking really good!

In the oven for about 45 mins.

We got so excited about it that we forgot to take a picture of it when it came out of the oven. So this picture is the next morning. Yep - we had fresh "healthy" apple crisp for breakfast! Mmmm good!


Rachel is becoming quite the little cook!
(well - she's almost 11 - so that's not so little anymore!)

We ate every single bit! Joey actually told Rachel it was the best topping
that he had ever had! (way to go Joe!)

PLEASE???

Can you listen to the plea of a darling 10 yr. old girl? PLEASE?

We have this 1,000 piece puzzle to finish...

All these games to still play...

We haven't had the time to do our nails yet.....and we HAVE to do our nails.....

I have to still listen to all these new Disney CDs.....

and we can't forget about all the phytochemicals my body needs.
We still have to eat all these tomatoes!

So can you listen to the plea of a cute 10 yr. old girl.
Can Rachel stay another week???
PLEASE??