BEAU-nus

I have a little book I had  given to my parents in          1993.   I came across it in my basement 
                the other day... it is called 
                          "HAPPiNESS"... 
          Lovable, Livable, Laughable Lines
                 by Marcia and Dave Kaplan 

Mariah in Beau's bumbo seat...
and Beau so close to crawling!

Beau holding his own bottle!

Princess Mariah!

A special picture Mariah drew here this
 morning while her mom had a cup of
coffee here on route to work!

I have been gradually going through some bags of stuff from my mom and dad's and
here is something from the little book of Happiness...

"You can give without loving,
but you can never love without giving."

"Happiness held is the seed;
Happiness shared is the flower. "

Today I am having a BEAU-nus babysitting day.
I normally have Beau on Mondays and Fridays, but this week Jana needed me today, too. She was taking Mariah to work with her in the morning and was the helper mom at pre-school in the afternoon. When Jana dropped off Beau, she had a coffee while Mariah drew me a beautiful picture of her
GREAT GRAMMA MARILOU.
Mariah is really taken with ANGELS it seems since my mom passed away. She asked me if ANGELS are only at Christmas time, and I told her that Angels are everywhere all year round.
She seemed quite enthused about that news!
She is really interested in printing now, too!
I LOVE her little picture she drew me...
it's things like that ... that make being
GRAMMIE D, so very SPECIAL!

Beau is almost crawling now. He loves to be walked while holding his mommy's fingers too!
He has been holding his own bottle for some time now on his own.  He still loves his jolly jumper and exersaucer as well.

I love being a grandma!

Here are some sayings from the little calendar I got from Mariah a year ago at Christmas...

"Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. "
- Alex Palmer Haley

"What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor,comfort,lessons in life, and
most importantly, cookies."
-Rudolph W. Giuliani

I have been really enjoying my many sources of quotes lately and find them to be uplifting.
 I do not read many books, but find reading quotes to be so inspirational.

On a different note...
I have also enjoyed watching this year's run of American Idol. I have watched every season so far. It is something mom and I used to enjoy and discuss on a weekly basis, until her final few years. My brother Brian is interested in it, too, being the musician he is. Both he and I think the judging is refreshing and more positive this year. I think it will be a good season!

I just drank a latte out of my
"LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT"
-Red Polka Dot Mug-
while writing my poem of the day

Today was a BEAU-nus, it's special, you see...
Jana brought BEAU, to hang out with me!
I love when he's here, he's my little sweet pea.
Mariah was here briefly and was cute as can be!
She then went to work with her mom today,
That's where she'll help out, and also she'll play.
Beau is with me, and is here to stay,
He'll play in his jumper and swing and he'll sway!
The wind is blowing and it's cold outside,
So I'm staying in, it's a good place to hide.
If I went out now, I'd just slip and slide.
My car's full of snow, not much good for a ride!
Today I'll stay in cuz I've no where to go...
I'll also stay in cuz I'm hanging with Beau.
When I look outside, there's nothing but snow...
So there you have it, that's all I know!