Birthday photos

Today is Jennica's third birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNICA!!

This photo was taken about a month ago. She is such a cutie.

It is also Buzz's birthday this month. He was a humane society dog so our kids picked out his birthday: 1-23-97 or January 23. I actually took a picture of him on his made up thirteenth birthday:

He is a dog full of allergies and is always licking, chewing, or biting himself...hence the bandage. The only way we could get him to leave hot spots alone was to wrap in self stick elastic bandage but even that wasn't stopping him for this spot so we had to reinforce it with athletic tape. We have had it bandaged for over a month now and luckily we will be able to remove it later this week. We are waiting for his hair to grow back over it so he will hopefully leave it alone. ANYWAY: his allergies are so bad that he has been on prednisone since he was a puppy. We heard all the bad things that pred did to people and animals but that was the only thing that halfway helped. We thought that it would really shorten  his life so when he hit 10 years we were ecstatic. Now I figure he is on borrowed time because he is 13!! Love that puppy!!

These next pictures are of a sunset that we had a few evenings ago. I thought it was beautiful but I'm not sure that the photo gives it the proper justice.

Wedding cake

I just completed my largest cake ever...a five tier stacked cake. I thought it turned out really good. Here are a couple pictures:

 

I'm tired. I'm heading to bed. It's been a long week. I'll be gone to my grandpa's funeral the next couple of days. Read about him in the next post.

James Arthur "Art" Stewart

My grandpa passed away this morning 11 January 2010. He was 104 years, 1 month, and 1 week old...UNBELIEVABLE!! I last saw him in December when I was there the weekend before Christmas. He was doing quite well for someone who was told on Thanksgiving Night that he had pneumonia and wouldn't survive 48 hours. But he had always beat the odds. He was funny in December; my sister's family was putting on a Christmas program at the Masonic Home where he was in the skilled nursing unit. My mom asked him if he would like to move up closer to the front so that he could see better. He was sitting next to his lady friend and said he wanted to stay by her!! So thoughtful was he and still looking out for the ladies. He will be missed by all of us. I was very fortunate to have 2 grandfathers living until just the past couple of years. We had a double 5 generation for about 5 years. I will post a few pictures as a tribute. I am not that good at knowing who is who in these pictures but I can tell you that my grandpa was the oldest of 7 children. Now there is only the youngest remaining. He had 3 children and 2 step children. He was married 3 times with my grandma Blenda passing away when my dad was 4 years old. My father was his third child and my dad's best friend growing up ended up being his step brother. He has 10 grandchildren and 5 (I think) step grandchildren. For our side of the family he has 32 great grandchildren (all through my dad) and 6 great great grandchildren. Now for some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure that the above pictures are all from his growing up years.

Below are some pictures with Blenda, his first wife and their kids.

 

 

 

In the picture above are left to right: grandpa, his mom (I think), uncle Ben, and my dad, Jim.

This picture is Art with his second wife, Gladys. The baby in grandpa's arms (on the left) is me and the other two are my cousins Kathy and Tommy.

In the picture below are Kathy, Tommy, me, my sisters Kerry and Krista as well as my grandpa and Gladys.

The picture above is my grandpa with his third wife, Esther. The kids are me an my sisters and two of Esther's grandsons. Grandpa was married to Esther for over 25 years and she is the only grandma that I remember and I always called her grandma. She and I were close as well and I really miss her too.

My grandpa loved to hunt. He is the man on the right. I'm not sure who the others are but I'm pretty sure one is my uncle Tom as he likes to hunt too. Look at those birds!! I think they are pheasant but I'm not good enough to know for sure.

This is a 4 generation picture taken when Diane and Julie were little. Ahhh...to be that thin again!!

This one was taken in Kansas City. It has the Stewart's as well as the Laisure's (my aunt Bette and uncle Tom, cousins Kathy and Tom) plus uncle Tom's mother, Lena (she is sitting on the couch to the left). 

This one is my grandpa (on the left) with three of his siblings. Great uncle Neil (in the blue shirt) is the only one left now.

A double 5 generation when Elisabeth was a baby (she is 7 now).

This is probably my favorite picture of him...he just looks so happy.

 

This one is at their 25th wedding anniversary (I think) behind them are their children: L to R-Ben, Bette, Jim (my dad), Mary Esther, and Bill.

Grandpa with left to right: my mom and dad, grandpa, Inez and Ben, and Bette and Tom.

grandpa's 100th birthday party with siblings, kids, and then most of the grandkids.

 

101 years old!!

 

102 years old!!

Another one of my favorite's of my grandpa. This was taken outside his apartment in about 2008 or so.

 This was taken January 2009. 5 generations with all 6 great great grandchildren!! Grandpa was 103 and still getting around good. He was in assisted living at this point BUT lived in his own apartment until shortly before this...amazing!!

 

This last one was taken in August 2009 at my parent's 50th wedding anniversary party. Here is grandpa with his kids; Ben, Bette, and Jim (my dad).

Grandpa...until we meet again.

Castle cake

Yesterday I baked and this morning I decorated this castle cake for a 5 year old's birthday party. I thought it turned out really cute...too bad they get eaten up so fast!!

This one I took part of the way through decorating it. If I had to do it again I would put the pillars in/on last.

The cake finished (at least as much as I could do with the pillars attached)

It's a New Year!!

2010...hard to imagine but then again I think that every time a new decade starts. But this year Wayne and I will both turn the big 50 which just doesn't seem possible. It should be an eventful year. There will be the birth of a new grand baby and it looks like maybe even a wedding not to mention a move. Lots of big, life changing events.

I should be busy but don't really feel like it. I went to tie quilts for our RS humanitarian aid thing this morning for about an hour. They already had one done by the time I got there so there was only one left. She is hoping to have 3 ready to tie next week. I am making cakes the next couple of weeks, one for a birthday party and one for a wedding. That will definitely keep me busy. I need to start on Jennica's quilt but first I need to cut out more squares. That is what I will do after updating my blog. I need to go down to Sarah's house and pick up her castle set for the birthday cake I am doing later this week. I need to apply some knock down texture to Michael's ceiling and then prime and paint. There is probably more but that is all that I can think of off the top of my head.

We took Linda to the bus depo this morning (actually in the middle of the night last night) and she is on her way to Arizona. She had good news that her disability came through. She applied in 2002 so it has been a long time in arriving. That was a terrific Christmas present to her as she found out a few days before Christmas.

Sorry, no new pictures today. I actually took 2 of the birthday cake that I made for Linda but forgot to save them to my computer when I downloaded them and they were lost when I deleted them off the camera. It was a really cute cake too with daisies, a yellow border, green stems and leaves, and a message in green and yellow.