We are so excited and blessed that our daughter and son-in-law are expecting their third child in September.  Their oldest, J, will be five years old by then, and their youngest at the moment, C, will be almost three and a half.  
If J had a choice and the baby turns out to be a boy, he would like to name him “Ninja.”  A dear friend of mine said, “Well, if it’s a girl then they could name her “Ninja Jane.”  (Wanda is so funny!)

It will be interesting to see when the baby is actually born because our daughter’s birthday is also in September.  Oh, how I remember being great with child during the very hot months of August and September!  I was so very thankful for air conditioning, and I know without a doubt that our daughter is very thankful for AC, too!  

We are a family of  musicians.  My husband is a musician, and so we’ve had several different instruments in our home since we’ve been married.  We don’t have any Fender PA Speakers but we do have a couple of guitars, a violin, and even a banjo.  My husband doesn’t play the banjo now but did teach beginning banjo lessons years ago.  We also have my piano which I haven’t played in ages.  When our son is home then he has a keyboard and he plays percussion, mainly steel drums, in college.   As you can see, my husband and our son are the real musicians in our family.

There are a lot of people making jewelry these days.  A dear friend of mine makes beautiful jewelry using beads and has had quite an extensive selection of beads to choose from.  I’m not sure what she has now, whether she has any clear glass tiles or any other type of beads, etc., but I do know that I am enjoying wearing the pieces of jewelry in my collection that were made by her.  She’s very creative in her jewelry making and in any artistic project she undertakes.  In fact, she used to be an elementary art teacher so you can imagine how creative she must be.

We have really good neighbors, but I miss getting to see our old neighbors who moved away.  I miss getting to see their kids several times a week and hear what’s going on in their lives.   We did get to see them recently, and their kids have really grown a lot since they moved.  Their daughter loved to ride horses, and so I imagine she’s interested in riding helmets and everything else needed in horseback riding.  Their son is not the little boy he was when they moved.  Now, he’s elementary school age and interested in the usual things that interest boys that age.  One great thing, though, is that we can still keep in touch with our old neighbors through the Internet every now and then.

Valentine’s Day is not far away.  Wow!  Where did January go?  The weeks are flying by and in just a week and a half, a lot of people will be giving flowers for Valentine’s Day or some thoughtful gift.

We’re sending jewelry to my mother-in-law because that’s something she really likes a lot, not that she doesn’t like receiving flowers too.   Some people like to give and/or receive candy and some like stuffed animals, age making no difference.  The old saying still holds true, “it’s the thought that counts.”  Knowing that someone cares means so much!

For our family, February is such a busy month for family and friends’  birthdays plus Valentine’s Day.   I was at the mall a few minutes ago and got a necklace and earring set to mail to my mother-in-law for Valentine’s since she loves jewelry, so that gift is taken care of.

Some people have even more gifts to think about such as having godparent gifts delivered, anniversary gifts, etc.   Fortunately, we don’t have any of those to think about this month.  We have enough as it is.   It’s fun buying gifts for others, don’t get me wrong.  It’s just nice to not have too many to shop for during a work week.  I guess that’s what makes shopping online so nice!

Our young grandson had to go to the emergency room this week because he tripped and cut his lip.  Wish I could give him a gummy bear gift and a kiss and hug from grandma.   He is doing well now which is a blessing.  Kids can fall and get hurt and then in no time be playing as if nothing happened.

When our son was just 15 months old, he had out-patient surgery.  Later that day when we got home, he was playing and climbing on things as if nothing had happened.  I was a nervous wreck, though, because we were supposed to make sure he was careful since he had gotten stitches.  Oh, the joys of being a parent!