Happy 13th Brooklyn!!!!

I love this picture of Brooklyn. Sometimes when I face time with Brooklyn, she is still sitting in this cute chair.

Our Mansfield Thiots
January 27, 2007 was one of my very favorite days in my life.  It's the day my Brooklyn Ann Thiot was born.  Thirteen years ago tomorrow Miss Brooklyn turned me into a Grammy which is my very favorite thing to be called.  Saturday night she had a birthday party with friends and played games, ate cake and watch the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  Soooo fun! I'll never forget the day her daddy, my Ricky turned 13.  Skyler and I had gone out to lunch at Burger King and there were lots of noisy teenagers there having lunch too.  Skyler turned to me in the very most serious voice and asked if I thought Ricky would be a Good Teenager or a Bad Teenager.  I told Skyler that I was sure that Ricky was going to be a Great Teenager.  He truly was and I feel the very same way about our Brookie Cookie as I love to call her.  Brooklyn has such a dear soft heart.  She loves animals and knows so many details about them.  I love that she has an ipad and often during the week, she will message me and I love getting to visit with her.  She makes my heart happy when ever we are together.  How I love you Brooklyn!  Happy Birthday to you.  I'm looking forward to getting to go to dinner with her tomorrow night.

I love these two American girls holding Bitty Babies together

I love these two in their luxury lounger

Miss Penny made these darling paper dolls for Gracie

I love Max holding Simon for his first time

Our Medford Granges
This has been a good week.  Aunt Lani went home early Tuesday morning and Tatia is so grateful that Jake has one more week of vacation to be her right hand man.  He's been wonderful to help in every way imaginable.  Tatia is enjoying these sweet babies and is pleased that they are able to sleep for longer times during the night.  She got four straight hours of sleep one night last week.  Hooray!

Another day on the slopes for Charlie, Keelie and Callum

Charlie skied without gloves so he could send me videos.  Oh I loved it!

Dick saw this cute machine at an Indian grocery store on Saturday.  Reminded him on the Philippines transport Charlie used to send us photos of. 

Our Carmichael Thiots
From the editor, I just got an e-mail from Charlie who noticed that I had put in photos with captions in for the Carmichael Thiots, but not any article about them.  Uggggg.  Sometimes when I am trying to get our Thiot Times written on Sunday morning before church, I blow it.  I thought I was doing so well.  Now you know the truth, I'm getting old.  It's kind of fun that I always learn more about Charlie by talking to my sister Lani.  Lani is much like my Mother who was the best interviewer in the family.  I used to learn more about Charlie by talking to my mom, but now that I can't talk to her, Lani, is taking the place.  I love to hear who he went to eat sushi with and who he watched a Dallas Mavs game with.  Somehow, Charlie prefers sharing with Lani over me.  She's good and I'm glad she shares with me.  Love you Charlie Jay!

My sweet Jackson Boy playing on his play rug.  Pierce said he loves to play on it.  That makes me happy

Our LA Thiots
Pierce is almost ready to lay sod in his back yard.  He spent every spare moment which is mostly in the early moments of the morning.  He has literally moved a mountain of dirt to other areas in their  yard.  He took a video and shared it with me.  I wish I could figure out how to put them on the blog.  It was great to see the wall he's built and it won't be long before it's done and he can get to the enjoying part of the yard.  However, I'm sure he would admit, that all the hard work and new skills he's learned has been enjoyable.

Sky outside of his hotel in Lima Peru

Miss Elie doing do a dot painting, she loves it

Elie picked a bag of TRIX as big as she is

she loved drinking the milk out of her straw bowl that her daddy used too.

Our Oak Lawn Thiots
At that very last minute, Sky got invited to go to Lima Peru to participate in a survey and study about the traffic system in Peru.  The Dallas Inc has been wanting to help alleviate the bad traffic in down town Dallas and is hoping they can incorporate some of their good ideas in Dallas.  I got to have Elie for some extra time which was fun for me.  She is fun to shop with.  She has grabbing hands, you have to watch her like a hawk!

I hung a pretty wreath on Miss Cindy's front door.  I will miss her 

my friend Alice made me a  Rice Cake for Chinese New Years

Nacho Salads at Taco Bueno are a hit any day

We Plano Thiots
I got some sad news on Tuesday, my neighbor Cindy Davis passed away.  She had hernia surgery last Friday and she couldn't recover from it.  I was sooooooooo sad for her family.  Her sweet husband and her daughter and her mom.  Loss is so hard when unexpected too.  Seminary was good this week and I got to teach about forgiveness and this statement to Frankly Forgive has brought new meaning to me.

Happy New Year!

Our Mansfield Thiots
Our skiff of snow we got last weekend is long gone, but our snowflakes we cut out are lingering longer.  Brooklyn, Addison and Harper have some sweet skills when it comes to cutting snow flakes.  I got to make snowflakes with our Medford kids when I was there after Christmas and we loved it too.  What fun to create something that will last for a while.  They make me smile when ever I look at the window at the snow:)

Happy 1 month old Simon & Gracie

Our Medford Granges
While we were looking at paper snow flakes, Medford got the real deal.  The big kids were a bit disappointed when they got home from school and the snow had all been rolled into their snowman.  They weren't allowed out side for recess to play in it at school.  Kind of sad, but the little boys and Jake had a grand time.  Just yesterday, nearly a week later, I looked at their window and he was much skinnier and shorter, but he was still there.  Once there was a snow man ....

Our Carmichael Thiots
What a great week in Carmichael this week was.  Keelie and Charlie and Keelie's Grandma Smith were able to attend the beautiful Sacramento Temple together.  Keelie recieved her first reccomend and was so excited to go and serve.  Callum turned 9 the next day and had fun going to eat In and Out burgers and drive go carts with his dad.  Even though it was COLD, they managed to have a great time.  Keelie and Callum and their mama are on a field trip this weekend exploring Santa Cruz.  Keelie's school report this semester is about Mission Santa Cruz.  What a fun experience to get to experience it in person instead of just reading about it!  Callum gave his presentation this week about the Pueblo Indians.  He did a great job!

Looking out our hotel window at the sunrise!

Our LA Thiots
Pierce and Stacy and the kids had some good friends in town and so they took them to Disneyland for a couple of days.  Adelaide didn't even mind  missing a few days of school.  It was for a good cause you know.  These friends are getting ready to move back to Austrailia.  Our LA Thiots will really  miss them and have already got a trip to Australia in the plans for this summertime.  WOW!!!

Our Oak Lawn Thiots
Miss Elie came for an early bird play date this week, and in the rush to get everything ready for her to come, Sky forgot to pack up her shoes.  We had a fun trip to Once Upon a Child and found some blue sneakers with flowers on them.  We both fell in love with them and they were a good fit.  Then with shoes, we could go to the library for story time and out to lunch at McDonalds.  So fun!  Thanks for coming Elie!

We Plano Thiots
When Tatia found out she was having twins, both of my sweet sisters wanted to come for a week and help her.  This was Lani's week and I have been smiling thinking about her enjoying our babies and the big kids have had a ball.  She has always been known as such a fun auntie and now as a Great Auntie, it's even more true.  Thanks for all your love and care Lani.  She's cooked all her favorite meals for them and even made SNOWMAN Pancakes which were a hit and may be reequested at every meal.  They have gone to the children's museum and McDonalds knows them all by name.  They went to the dollar tree and simply could not decide on one item, so Lani said, no problem, let's choose TWO things.  Oh my goodness they could not have been happier.  I loved hearing how much fun they are having.

After 26 years of officing at 500 north Central Expressway, Dick has moved Maverick Systems along with DCS to a new office building which they have built in McKinney.  It was a HUGE undertaking to move everything out and up the road but he is starting to feel settled in to his new place.  Way to go Dick!

I think I have gotten kind of caught up with our Thiot Times.  When Blog to Print had a special at the first of the year, I sent off 2017 and 2018 to be printed.  Now I'm just one year behind in print.  Not bad for this gal.  It's fun to look back and remember all the wonderful and not so wonderful times in our lives.  Hope you've had a great week.  SLY Robynn

Let it SNOW!!!!

Our Mansfield Thiots
To celebrate the first snow fall of the year, Brooklyn, Addison and Miss Harper decided a royal tea party would be most appropriate.  They loved dressing up and sipping some nice water in their darling tea set.  There were cookies too which made it even better.  Recently, Miss Harper lost both of her front teeth and another on the bottom.  What a beautiful smile my Harper is sporting.  I love you Harper Gracie! I also love how Harper was so willing to share her beautiful middle name with our sweet new baby girl in Oregon.

Sister Ence sent a gift for the babies and also spoiled the big kids too.  They were thrilled at being remembered too!

The School kids got to take a poster to announce the new babies.  Oscar especially loved taking it.

I love Penny and Gracie having some "sister time".  

Our Medford Granges
Yes, the babies arrived on December 20th, just in time for Christmas.  They truly were the very BEST Gifts of Christmas this year.  What blessings they are to us all.  I loved being in Meford for three weeks.  One week prior to their arrival and then two weeks afterwards.  Jakes Parents arrived as I left and will be there until Tuesday.  Jake has taken vacation time to be there until Lani arrives and then Laurie will follow Lani.  Tatia is feeling good and if she could get a bit of sleep would be even better.  The Granges are all loving these babies.  Miss Penny wasn't sure she wanted to go to school but she did it.

Our Carmichael Thiots
For Christmas, Charlie's family got a ski day and what a day they had yesterday.  Callum's birthday is this coming Wednesday and he was THRILLED, when the #9 chair lift came by and scooped him up for his last run down the mountain.  Lucky #9 is going to make for a great year for Callum.  He is such a fun guy and a great skier just like his daddy.  Keelie loved being there too and it's funny how no matter how cold it is, it does not spoil the fun.  They went back to school on Monday of this week and are enjoying it.

Our LA Thiots
Our LA Thiots spend three glorious weeks in beautiful Utah enjoying their Christmas vacation.  It was Adelaides idea to spend Christmas in the snow and they sure did enjoy every minute.  Adelaide got to have a special sleep over with Aunt Lani who we all adore.  She loved eating Snowman Pancakes in BED!!! How could life be much better.  Miss Gabi was a very fun sleep over buddy.  Thanks Aunt Lani!  When they arrived home, Adelaide discovered a new bed in her bedroom.  Oh my goodness,  it looks much like a princess bed and guess who got moved to the top bunk?  Yes Jackson boy is a top bunker and he could not be happier.  King of the mountain for Jackson!  What fun!  So glad you had a great get away and now back to school and work!

Our Oak Lawn Thiots
I do believe Miss Elie's face says exactly how she feels about Snow!  It's enchanting and even though we didn't get much, she loved catching the flakes on her tongue.  What fun to get to bundle up and go play in it until it melted away.  I loved getting to spend Wednesday with miss Elie.  It had been a month since we had a special time and I loved it.  I was afraid she may have forgotten her grammy but she did not.  We loved going to the library and she was thrilled to try the Ipad games just like my Harper loves.  We had fun looking at valentine books and playing with friends there.  Every time she sees another child, she says, hi friend!  I love it.

We Plano Thiots
It was not easy to get Grammy out of Medford Oregon and away from those sweet SIX Grands who live there.  Oh my goodness.  I still find myself at night tuning my ears to listen for those sweet babies cries.  I miss you all!  I'm so grateful for Tatia sending me photos nearly daily and getting to face time and e-mail with them.
Friday night, it was the Annual District Recognition Dinner.  The past two years, I've been very involved in the event.  It was really NICE to go this year as a guest and not have to do one thing except eat a delicious meal.  Dick was given an award and our Church was given an award as being the Best Sponsoring Institution.  Dick has chosen to stay involved with the BSA and we have four units that have formed with Scouts and Cubs who want to stay involved.  Way to go Dick!
We woke up early Saturday morning to a skiff of snow.  I was face timing with Miss Adelaide and Jackson boy and we went outside and built a snowman on my picnic table.  Pretty fun!  It wasn't long before he melted away.
It's good to be back to Seminary and Back to the Temple too.  I have to admit, I did learn to sleep in a bit during the 3 week break.  I promise I will come back and document our Christmas break.  I think I took 560 photos and need to week through them and choose some to share.  I hope your break was great and Happy New Year! SLY Robynn