Memorial Day Weekend 2013

Friday of Memorial Day weekend was the last day that I stayed with Rachel, Copeland and Jonathan.  Here are a few pictures before we left their house:

 

 

 The kids then drove me to Bella Vista to my sister and brother-in-law's lakehouse where I would spend the holiday weekend.  My Mom was there and got to meet her newest great grandson:

 Aunt Kaye and Uncle Rob meet the little guy....

 A four generation picture in the front yard

 A good picture of the little family

 The kids stayed for dinner and the evening.  The lakehouse is so relaxing and the weather was just beautiful!  We love the screened-in porch.

 Copeland seemed to like it too!

 Later that night, Adrienne, Mike, Lincoln and Graham arrived to meet their new cousin, Copeland

 And then much later, Papa made it.  Jeff had a commitment at church that night, so arrived for a short visit with his grandson before they headed home.  This picture includes Copeland's "lovie" that we gave him for Christmas and then had our friend, Jessica Hall, embroider it for us.  She had sent it with Jeff to give to him that night. 

 Papa feeding him a bottle

 Jeff and I enjoyed a very relaxing Saturday at the lakehouse.  The rest of the family all went to Kaye & Rob's granddaughter, Ellis' first birthday party.  We ate dinner together that evening, then headed home for church on Sunday.

After services, we headed back down to Bella Vista.  The family had all gone to our son, Andy's services at Metro that morning.

This is a picture of Kaye's family that afternoon.  We are so appreciative that they shared their family weekend/lakehouse with us!!

 We were thrilled when Andy called and said that he, Carman and the girls would come out for the afternoon/evening.

 Kristin and the birthday girl, Ellis

 Ellie and Ellis are just a few weeks apart....and yes, with very similar names :-)

 Enjoying visiting

 

 And out on the porch, Grandma, Lincoln and Laine are all playing with their electronics :-).  It was much warmer out there, so that is one of the reasons Grandma was out there!

 Getting ready to go on a boat ride!

 Uncle Rob let the Bug drive for a short while

 

 

It was a gorgeous afternoon for a boat ride - so pretty! 

 Back to the house

 Ellie practicing her walking

 Great Grandma with Lincoln and Graham

 We were thrilled that Laine got to spend the night with us at the lakehouse.  We are so thankful she is finally recovered from her surgery and doing great.  She does have a higher, sweet little voice now :-).

We took Laine home on Monday, visited with Andy, Carman, and Ellie, then went over to Rachel and Jonathan's to see baby Copeland for a little while...then headed home to resume life here in Kansas. 

 

It was a wonderful weekend!

Spending the first week with Baby Copeland

One last posting for a while......this is miscellaneous pictures from my week staying with the kids and helping with Copeland.  As I said at the end of the posting on Copeland's birth....our first night at home was very stressful!!  This picture was before all that stress started....just minutes after getting home.  Rachel was so glad to be in her own home with her sweet baby boy!

Her puppies were sure glad to have her home, although they didn't quite know what to make of that new little addition.

Within 30 minutes after getting home, the tornado sirens started blowing!  After the horrific events of the day in Moore, Oklahoma, we didn't delay in getting the little family in the bathroom!

Jonathan kept checking on the weather on his phone.  This bathroom is very small -- what you can't see is that there are five adults, 2 dogs and a newborn in here--Jonathan, Rachel, Copeland, Jeff, Jennifer (J's sister) and myself for an entire hour!.....

Poor Rachel.....hurting so bad and sitting in a hard tub with much concern over her baby boy.....not a fun night (but what a memory for that baby book!)

Thankfully the storms passed without any damage at the kids' house, however the power went off just about the time we got out of the bathroom!  So we packed up and headed over to Andy & Carman's.

After about 2 hours there, Jonathan's neighbor called with the news that the power was back on, so we came home (and Jeff headed to Kansas).  Rachel was so, so glad to be in her own home and her own bed that night!

 

Copeland has been a very good baby.  Of course, we've had the normal newborn mixing up his days and nights.  We have figured out that the one thing that makes him cry is when he is cold.  He loves to be all snuggled up in his warm blankets.  He is nursing well and last night (which was night 5), he slept all night in the little bed in his momma and daddy's room, only waking at the urging of Momma to eat.

 

He is falling asleep in his bed and/or seat without being rocked which we know is essential to a contented baby.

 

On day 2, he got his first bath.  He didn't like it but we sure loved how he smelled afterwards!

Miscellaneous pictures over the week

One night, Carman and Andy brought over a delicious dinner for us

 

We tried a bottle feeding with momma's milk and he took it great!!

 His first outing -- making a quick run to Momma's school to turn in some papers

Back home on my last night with him. 

Bath #2 -- still not too crazy about it :-)

But very content afterwards

Friday morning - getting ready to head to the doctor for his first check-up

Sure do love this precious baby boy!!

 On their way to the doctor.....

The kids will be taking me to Kaye's lakehouse in Bella Vista later this afternoon to show Copeland to Kaye, Rob and Great Grandma (also to cousins, Adrienne and her family).  I will remain at the lakehouse the rest of the holiday weekend where Jeff will be joining us late tonight (we will travel home Sunday morning for church services but back to B.V. Sunday afternoon until Monday evening).  Jonathan's parents are coming late tonight to spend the long weekend with their new grandson.  We will make a trip back into Rogers at some point on the weekend so Papa can see his boy and a side trip about 3 miles over to see the granddaughters.  Sure going to miss all these grandkids when I head home next week.  Spending two weeks with one or the other of them has been such sweet bliss!!  So very thankful for the opportunity to do so!  And hopefully, there will be many other opportunities in the future to help out as needed.