Laps of Luxury

Laps of Luxury is what we're calling our pool. Summer is in full swing around here and hanging around the pool all day leaves little time for much else. That's the reason for the gap in blogging. If I'm not up by 7:30 to get the yard work done, shopping, cleaning, errands run and food in the crock pot, my time at the pool gets short-changed. Rachel and the kids come over as much as schedules allow and that makes my days even better. Reagan likes to play on the step pouring water in the water wheel as well as jumping from the steps into our arms. Gideon loves the water too and fell asleep twice yesterday in his float. Someone said the water swishing and gentle movement made him feel like he was back in the womb!

We celebrated the 4th of July with a birthday party for my brother, Chris. Scott and Wendy helped with the decorations and helped pull the "dark shadows" party theme together. We celebrated with a few friends and family. He was quite surprised with the theme as it is one of his favorite shows to watch. We ended the night with a party with the Bassett Court House Church. We watched the fireworks around our campfire. Never in the eleven years we've lived here have we had a cold 4th of July. We watched under umbrellas and had a good time.

Mom and Chris were here for 2 weeks and Chris is spending an additional 2 weeks with us as a surprise birthday gift from Mom. He is enjoying the pool and playing ball in the pool with Tom at night.

We're now anticipating our trip to Boston to visit Michael and Maggie. Can't wait for that. It will be the first time we will be there together. We've each visited there separately.

Much more to add but need to get going. I'm thinking about getting on facebook but am hesitant about learning new things! Blogging was a big step for me!

"What's That,What's This"?

If you don't answer Reagan within a split second of her asking, "what's that", she will go right into, "what's this"! So it goes like:"wussat,wussis"?It's her most favorite question. Even when you give her an answer, she may not believe you and ask again. If she agrees, she'll then repeat what you told her it is.

Gideon is smiling and "talking". He loves to look at the bear mobile that plays "send in the clowns". You may ask why aren't there clowns instead of bears. Simple answer: I saved the clown mobile because it was Rachel's when she was a baby. My crib theme for the grandkids is bears, sun, moon and stars. So I cut off the clowns and attached the bears that came with my bedding set!

Reagan says"OH GAMMY" because she hears me say it to myself whenever I'm having trouble getting the diaper tabs to pull apart from the diaper or when I'm trying to get the carseat, high chair or stroller buckles to "click" into place. I hope that's the worst she hears coming from my mouth!

So many guests so many memories

We had a wonderful time with family these past 2 weekends as they poured in from all over the map. The first weekend we had Mom, Chris, Scott, Wendy and girls join us for Annie. We were all amazed at the talent of the orphans and leads. Becca owned the stage with as she portrayed the mean character of Miss Hannigan. We watched in amazement in her "Little Girls" song as she tore off the head of a doll and threw it behind her on stage. In "Easy Street" she dazzled us as she sang with her partners in crime. That song brought back many memories of Michael and Maggie when they performed with their own Miss Hannigan back in 2001.

The following weekend we got to meet Isabella for the first time. Abigail and Joe drove from Lynchburg to see the musical. On a whim Abigail called Lydia Friday around 4:30 and told her she and the kids should drive on up to join the family fun. By 5:30 Lyd was on the road with Elijah(23 mos) and Haven (1 month) in tow. She gets the "mother of the year" award for driving that distance alone. We kept Lydia's arrival a surprise from Becca. While the cousins were playing cards into the middle of the night, Lydia arrived and the plan to surprise worked out very nicely. Becca was truely surprised and honored that her cousin would go to all the trouble to come. We wish Eric could have joined us as well.

It was so good to see Michael and Maggie again. It meant the world to Becca to have them here for the musical. We cherish every moment we have with them and look forward to every visit they can make to Dayton no matter how much or little time they can spend with us.

Uncle Al came from PA to join to the fam in our weekend maddness. We enjoyed lots of food, games and noise. It was impossible to get a group picture without babies crying and towards the end, some adults were on the verge as well! Poor Elijah didn't make the picture. Naps were an important part of the weekend. When Elijah would be done with the crib it would be Reagans turn and so it went.

There were babies everywhere! Al was in for quite a shock. He would try to find a room that was free of noise and found the outside to be the place to be even though he was trying to avoid the outdoor pollen.

I was honored to have so many here and to share in the lives of my neices and their precious children. What a blessing to see parents who want to raise their children to love the Lord.

Special Times

We loved having John and Heather join us for Easter Sunday. They were making the rounds visiting relatives before they move out to CA. John treated us to some rum and instruction on handguns.

Scott, Wendy and the girls were here for Easter as well. The girls love to play with Reagan and she loves to have other kids to interact with.

Becca searched hi and low to find her Easter basket this year. I think being able to find a new hiding place in a house we've lived in for 11 years pretty good.

This week we have Mom and Chris here to see Becca in ANNIE and next week we will have Michael and Maggie, Alan, Joseph, Abigail and Bella here. Can't wait.

As always it my delight to spend time with my sweet grandbabies. Just love them to pieces.

Overwhelmed with Joy

On Wednesday I was the recipient of some very generous gifts from our house church family in honor of my birthday. You may be thinking they were a week early and you're correct. Tom did his best to make sure he was giving our co-leader the correct date but gave Rachel's birthday (mar 22) instead of mine (mar 26). Abby was glad it wasn't her mistake! It is humbling to be on the receiving end of such gifts. They showered me with cards, flowers, gift cards to 2 different Italian restaurants as well as a VISA credit card with $100 on it!

This Sunday we will be celebrating Rachel's 26th birthday with a roast beef dinner and plenty of mashed potatoes. I know Maggie's mouth is watering for the potatoes. (Maggie, I'll try to have a new batch ready when you come next month).


Last night I got to babysit for both of my grandchildren while Rachel and Jason had a mini date. Gideon took to a bottle without a thought. He actually had his eyes opened for half the time he was with me. We're starting to bond. Reagan loved eating her vegetable soup and watching her baby Einstein dvd. We replayed the "twinkle, twinkle little star" song over and over again. Her top teeth are almost fully in and she looks so cute.


There is much excitement ahead in April as we get to spend time with family from PA, VA, FL, MA, GA, and OH. What a blessing.

Great Photography

If you want to see some great pictures of the Wings you'll want to check out Amy McSwegin's blog. She currently has the Wing's maternity pictures on her blog as well as links to other photo sessions she's done of them. Amy has been very generous in sharing her work with us.

photosbyamymcswegin.blogspot.com

More Gideon Pics

Here's Gideon

What a joy to add another grandchild to our family. Gideon Justus Wing arrived on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 1:44 pm, weighing in at 7lbs. 30z. He is the calmest baby I've ever seen. He's in no hurry to engage with us and is content to sleep and eat. He folds his little hands and hardly cries. He's such a tiny bundle of love.

Ragan is doing great with Gideon and shows little jealousy with each day. Whenever she hears even a little peep from him she will go to him and touch him gently. She loves her little brother already.

Rachel is bouncing back quickly and functioning well on little sleep. She is a great Mom and is great at multi-tasking. Today we got an extra blessing or chocolate covered fruit from Mike and Maggie. It was for Rachel and Jason but I was there and was happy to partake. Don't want the fruit to spoil!

I can't get this blogger server to post my videos. If I ever can get it to go through, I'll post them.

What a weekend

This past weekend was filled with special things to celebrate. The weekend started off with Becca and Roy going to Xenia Christian's homecoming. Becca sang the national anthem with a small group to kick off the game. The next night was the big homecoming gala. She said this was the best year yet for homecoming and really enjoyed the evening. Here are some pics of she and Roy before the evening got on it's way:


On Sunday we had a baby shower for Rachel and Gideon. We were so happy to have Jason's mom and grandmother here for the surprise. It was very hard to keep the shower a surprise but we did pretty good up until the last day. Gideon received so many cute things. Maggie and others made sure Gideon wouldn't be dressed like a "girly boy". The camo blanket and burp clothes Maggie made are a witness to that. While the women were partying, the men were at Rachel and Jason's house hanging window shades, doing electrical outlet work and cutting wood with a chain saw. Thanks, Scott, for helping with the projects.

Sarah, Amanda and Reagan