A Lovely Christmas

Early on Christmas morning Jim and I helped Santa by placing the gifts under the tree. We were supervised, as always, by cats and dogs, with rabbits looking on and adding comments in their silent rabbit manner. Without a doubt, my best gift was our little grandson, Kayden. I was able to spend most of his first week at home helping Heidi and Ashley as they adopted to life with a newborn. As planned, my duties were mostly housekeeping, but I was able to spend time holding and feeding Kayden. He is adorable and I am totally smitten by him.
We have our home, our children and our animals as wonderful treasures who make our days full and happy. Ashley, Aaron and Kayden were added to our family, as were Jessie- forever in our hearts, and Tabitha, Ernie, Annie and Patrick to our furry family. I am thankful, with all my heart, for my best friend, Jim, who makes my days happy. And last, the chocolate in my stocking was just the tastiest! Blessings to everyone!!

Unto Us a Child Is Born

Kayden Lavelle Miller came into the world this Christmas Eve morning at 9:04Am EST. He and his mother, my daughter Heidi, are healthy and doing well. Kayden has dark hair and baby blue-gray eyes. This picture was taken when he was about 15 minutes old while his Daddy, Ashley, was holding him for the first time. Kayden's little fingers were almost in a prayer pose as he was quietly absorbing his first moments of life as a new baby. His birth is, I hope, the last big event of what has been a tumultuous year. There could be no better Christmas gift.

A Lady in her Finery

Lady's Summer Grace, our collie's registered name, is our only furry friend who was purchased from a breeder, almost 11 years ago. Jim had always wanted a collie, having read a book about a regal collie (Lad, A Dog) as a child. Lady is a beautiful dog, which we attribute to her lineage. She must have liked the line for looks so much that she decided to get in that line twice and skip the "smarts" one. She is, as they say, not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But, like people, no one has everything. So we love our Lady and attribute to her our love of animals. She will be 11 years old next week. Given her still youthful heart, she doesn't act much different than she did as a puppy.
Happy Birthday Lady, and many happy days ahead.

Flying by

I have missed my blog very much. Logging the simple events of my life helps me to remember little details and to relive happy memories. The past weeks have been so busy and so filled with living that it would be an injustice to try to relay it all at once.
I am simply happy to have the time to post this tonight. This photo is a bit fuzzy, but still captures the beauty of a red-tailed hawk soaring overhead during one of my very few rollerblading sessions this autumn. His simple elegance was a gift that day.
Kayden, Annie, Patrick, school, and daily life will be the topics in the next few days. It's good to be back.