An exciting year.....

Wow, has it been an eventful year. I finally became a grandma.....two times! It's the best thing ever. You can hold them and feed them and say "no" when it comes to changed poopy diapers. I love it. So here was our year.....








We bought a camper, that Gabby calls the "love shack", but we haven't used it yet....go figure.

Hannah was born the day before my birthday. And I flew on a plan the very next day, on my birthday, to go see her. A grandma's gotta do what shes gotta do to see your first grandchild. But I was fine....it was only an hour and fifteen minute flight.

Then I got to go to the fiber farm day right when I got home from Florida. Which I was happy about because I thought I would miss it because I was gonna be in Florida for Hannah's birth. But I guess she knew how much I wanted to go, so she decided to come early. Good girl, Hannah. I can't wait for next years fiber day.

Grew a pretty good garden this year. Still have green beans, tomato sauce and zucchini bread in the freezer to enjoy.

Gabby and I flew out to Idaho to surprise Heather for her baby shower. Boy was she surprised. Thanks Bill for helping us keep the best secret from her. And it was Gabby's first time on an airplane. She did quite well, wasn't scared or anything. While we were there, Gabby learn how to play golf. It was a great trip.

Then we weren't home but maybe a few weeks and little Bradley was born. He is the first boy born on Gary's side since he was born. That is 60 years. Oh yeah, Gary turned "60" this year.

Gabby started her junior year in high school and is driving to school so we don't have take her. Gotta love when they get their licenses.

While we were in Idaho, Bill got his next assignment. They got to go back to NC at Seymour Johnson Airforce Base. I was so happy. Heather and Bradley flew here and stayed with us while Bill drove across the country with the doggies.











Patricia and Hannah came for a visit. Heather, Bill and Bradley came back then too. We had an early Thanksgiving when they were here. I guess all the pictures we took of Hannah and Patricia are on Gabby's camera, so my next best thing is a picture of Gabby and Hannah.













Then my sister Diane and Becky came for the real Thanksgiving dinner. For some reason I can 't find that picture of them. Must be on Gabby's camera.




Gabby and I just got back from Heather's and Bill's. We went to take care of Bradley so they could go to their Christmas party and we got to attend Bradley's Baptism on Sunday.









And that takes us to a white Christmas this year. How nice was santa to us. I am hoping next year that I can keep up this blog regularly. I have been very bad this year, but as you can see I was pretty busy. I am thinking next year is gonna be busy too with Patricia and Tom getting married the beginning of April. But I wouldn't trade my life for anything. I have been truly blessed. I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year.

Happy 30th Birthday.....

baby girl! I guess I can't say that anymore because you aren't a baby anymore. But you will always be my baby girl even when you get old. And thirty isn't old, even though you have been saying "I'm almost 30" for 5 years now. We hope you have a wonderful day. May all your dreams come true. Love you!

Bradley William Johnson

Born Wednesday, July 14th, 2010.
Weighted - 6 lbs., 15 oz. 19 inches

Mommy, daddy and baby are all doing fine. Bradley was delivered via C-section 2 weeks early. Okay how weird is it that both my new grandbabies were breach, 2 weeks early, C-sections and born on a Wednesday. Weird......

I wish I had a picture of daddy with Bradley but these are the only ones I could grab off Facebook. So as soon as I get more pictures I will put them here. Bradley is the first boy born on Gary's side of the family since he was born. That was almost 60 years ago. And I am totally excited that Bill, Heather and Bradley will be moving back to this side of the country come October. Now I can drive and see them in 6 hours. How great will that be. Life is good!

Surprising Heather in Idaho...

Here is a video of our adventure to surprising Heather when we went to Idaho for her baby shower. I will post more about our trip later. Gabby put them all together. I just want to post the video's so you could see how surprised she was. It was the best!

Garden 2010

Our garden is thriving so far this year. We have had quite a bit of rain the last week so I guess the rain is doing it some good. We have already had radishes, green beans and zucchini. In fact mom is in the kitchen cleaning green beans again. And I guess I plant too many tomato plants, seven this year....and do you see how big they are already.

Look at all those tomatoes! Mom will be busy making sauce.

Potatoes are coming along nicely. Flowering already.

See the size of my zucchini plant!

March, April & May......

Moved the garden fence and painted it....Gary worked on it for the whole month of March and part of April. But it looks beautiufl now all painted and right off of my garden shed.











The beginning of April we went to Florida to have Patricia's baby shower. That was the 10th of April.

Then April 28th at one o'clock in the morning we get a call from Tom that Patricia's water broke and they are on their way to the hospital. Baby was breach, so a C-section was done and at 6:44 am, little Hannah Grace was born.

And I have to say that she is the most beautiful baby ever. Has a full head of hair and loves to snuggle. I just love this picture of her and her daddy. She looks so content just laying on his chest.

It's really weird being a grandparent....it's so unreal. Now we are waiting for our second grandbaby to come to Bill and Heather. Due the end of July.

Now we wait for that exciting day.

Half eaten...

that's what Gabby did to her Valentine candy. I guess cupid got the wrong kind. It was pretty funny watching her taste each one and seeing the expression on her face after the first bite. Needless to say they ended up in the garbage since both Grandma and I gave up sugar for Lent, boy was that dumb. I'm not gonna make it. I'm such a bad Catholic.

knitting books for sale

I am being over come by my knitting books. There is no sense in me keeping them if I won't use them and they are taking up too much room. So here is a list of the books that I have for sale. All are half off the orginal price that I paid for them and in excellent condition. And I will send them media mail to keep the shipping down for you.

Sock books:

Toe-up Techniques for Hand-Knit Socks (by Janet Rehfeldt) - $8.00

Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles (by Cat Bordhi) - $8.00 plus shipping

Getting Started Knitting Socks (by Ann Budd) $9.00 plus shipping

Simple Socks Plain and Fancy (by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts) - $8.00 plus shipping

2-at-a-time Socks (Melissa Morgan-Oakes) - $9.00 plus shipping

Knitted Socks (Anna Tillman) - $12.00 plus shipping

Other books:

Bags - a Knitter's dozen - $8.00 plus shipping

Scarf Style (by Pam Allen) - $10.00 plus shipping

Closly Knit (by Hannah Fettig) - $11.00 plus shipping

Crocheted Pursenalities (by Eva Wiechmann) - $10.00 plus shipping

Silk Knits (by Elaine Eskesen) - $12.00 plus shipping

Knitted Flowers (by Nicky Epstein's) - $10.00 plus shipping

I do take Paypal or personal checks. Or if you live near me I can meet you at one of our knitting meets.

Happy Birthday....

to Mr. Bill. Today is my son-in-law, Bill's, birthday. What a great guy he is and a wonderful husband he is to our daughter Heather. She found a keeper. "Happy Birthday, Bill". Hope you have a wonderful day. We love you!

Baby night gowns..

They just don't make things like when my daughter's were babies. I really don't know who the designers are but they are terrible. I use to get these little night gowns that the babies would sleep in. They came in packages and were either Carter's or Gerber brand. But the stores are not carry them, or at least I can not find them. I did find these two at J.C. Penney's. They are by Carter but they are not the light weight ones that they use to make. They do have the little part on the hand that turns over so the baby doesn't scratch themselves. I looked in my hope chest hoping I had kept some newborn stuff but I must of got rid of it all. How sad. So I'm telling you if you love certain things that your baby's are wearing then keep them for when they have children. Because things and styles (the good styles) change. What are my grandbabies suppose to sleep in? I need to find a Carter outlet or something because I need a lot of these with two grandbabies coming.

A few updates...

Well I have decided to stop going on facebook and just concentrate on my blogging and my projects. I was spending way too much time on there playing games and then it started giving me this error message and kept kicking me offline. It was a sign I tell you. Anyway, I am going to try and blog at least a couple times a week to let you know what is going on in the Petsch household. There's always something.

If you look to the left of my page here you will see some "widgets" (that's what they are called you know) that I just added. They are Patricia's and Heather's weekly pregancy updates. I think this is the coolest thing. It let's me know what size the baby is. Isn't that cute. I know Patricia has one on her blog, but I wanted one for Heather, and since she isn't blogging anymore, I decided to put both of them here so my blogger friends can see how big my grandbabies are getting.

Well I am off to making some more fabric bowls. I will post a picture after I am done.

Congratulations Gabby!

I just wanted to stop by and tell Gabby how proud I am that she got her license yesterday. I knew she could do it. She is such a great kid and I know she is growing into a beautiful woman, just like her sisters have. My only regret is that her experience in taking her test for her license was not as great as it should of been. Apparently she had a DMV person who was having a bad day, or life, and felt the need to disrepect, belittle, or whatever you want to call it, my daughter and make her cry. It should of been a great experience for Gabby but it wasn't and I am sure she won't forget it when she gets older. But I know it will make her a stronger person, at least I hope it will. I alway try and tell my girls that you should treat people the same way you would want to be treated, but sometimes that is hard since there are so many "mean" people out there. I guess that is life no matter what you do, I just wish it wasn't that way. I am so blessed to have smart, beautiful daughters and I hope they know how much joy they give me. Just wish they didn't have to grow up so fast.

Fabric bowls....

that's what I have been making the last few days. The only part I don't like doing is wrapping the fabric around the cording. But after it is all wrapped the sewing doesn't take that long. I am trying to work up to making a really big bowl or a basket. The one to the far right is the one Patricia made me for Christmas and I love it. It is the perfect size for your change or keys. The next one I make I want to put handles on.

More baby items...

I am having way too much fun making baby things. Here are some burp cloths, onsies, and some bibs I made.

First finished grandbaby things....

here are the first two things I have finished for the first grandbaby.....the pink little hat that I want the baby to wear when she is first born. Sorry but I want my grandbaby to wear a hat I made when she is born. Not that I don't appreciate all the volunteers who knit hats for newborn, I just want my grandbaby to wear one that I made. I probably will make more to donate to the hospital for other babies, time permitting.

And the other thing I finished is a security blanket. None of my girls really had one growing up. They just never wanted one. I do remember Heather having a bear that she sleeped with and Gabby use to sleep with Blue (remember "Blues Clue"). I don't think Patricia ever slept with anything. Well anyway, I have seen these in stores and really thought they were cute but wanted to make one instead of buying one. The blanket part is only a 18" square with a bears head and arms attached. Hope the baby likes it because I "love" it.

Happy New Year!!!!

Wow that year went by fast. 2010 will be a very busy year for our family. My oldest daughter, Patricia, baby is due May 11th and we found out on Christmas Eve that our middle daughter, Heather, is expecting too and is due July 31st. She doesn't really want us telling anyone until she hears the baby's heart beat but I am going to be a grandma (Dedee) two times this year and I can not keep quite about it. (sorry Heather :-) Not quit sure how I am going to handle all this excitement, all I seem to do now when I think about them is get teary eyed. It just seems like yesterday when I was giving birth to them. I remember everything about the deliveries. My oldest daughter, Patricia, called today to ask me what to do about leg cramps because she was getting them quite often. I can still remember being pregnant with her and laying in bed when we lived on St. Pete Beach and waking up in the middle of the night with terrible leg cramps, or charlie horses, as Gary calls them. I can still remember that pain. It just comes on you and you want to scream. I sure wish they both lived closer now that they are pregnant. I never dreamed I would live in a different state then my girls.

Then there is Gabby, my youngest, who is driving already. How the heck did that happen. It was just yesterday I was giving birth to her and Patricia and Heather were right there in the hospital ready to hold her right after she was born. It just blows my mind how fast time flys by.

So here it is 2010, a new chapter in my life, with very exciting things happening this year. I will try and be a better blogger to let you all know whats happening.

May you "Live...simply, Laugh...often, and Love...deeply" in 2010. I love you Patricia, Heather and Gabrielle. Thank you for giving me such joy in my life.....you are all mom's favorite!