my new favorite photo ... (-8b

THE most blessed grampa and his 4 grandbabies ... thank you Terri, Adam & Jenn and especially Evan, Isaac, Janelle and Jalene !!!!

one last holiday celebration before THE move ... (-8b

we had an awesome time with Terri and the kids on the 4th ... THANKS guys for being the best photo subjects any grampa could be blessed to have ... we miss you already and you haven't even left yet !!!

a flashback to Oct 2005 ... i think i remember Jalene saying then that she couldn't wait to have a little brother to share this special car with ... (-8b ... Ev rode for over an hour ... til the battery died

what would a 4th of July celebration be without corn on the cob and watermelon ... HEY ... we forgot the watermelon ... ???

Jalene was awesome as usual ... when Ev wouldn't put on his [ special ] PJ's for a picture ... Jalene thought if she put her [ special ] PJ's on ... Ev would follow ... it was a great idea ... but it still took a little more convincing.

it took a super team effort of Super BIG sister Jalene and Super Baby sister Janelle to persuade Ev to wear his PJ's for a pose or 10 ... [ thank you ladies ]

and here is our favorite Super-man -Boy himself ... [ great birthday gift Uncle Adam, Aunt Jenn and Isaac !!! ]

me and my sisters Kay and Beth ...

we got to spend some Quality time with my sisters and their families a couple of weeks ago ... i'm the much younger sibling in the middle ... Kay [ who lives in nearby West Henrietta ] is on my right ... Beth [ who lives in Herndon, VA ] is on my left ... (-8b

btw • my t-shirt is from Blue Springs South high school ... [ a suburb of Kansas City, MO ] ... which just happens to be THE high school that recent american idol winner David Cook attended.

Evan's 3rd Birthday celebration ...

Ev had a great time celebrating his birthday ... as we all did ... everything was awesome Terri and Paul ... THANKS for having us ... (-8b

Ev sure is blessed to have 2 fabulous sisters like he does ... Jalene and Janelle ... these pictures say it all ... how cute are these 4 grandbabies ... how blessed are we ???

Isaac thought it was a pretty good party too as he sure didn't lack for any attention ... he's crawling now and had lots of fun trying to get at Ev's stuff ... (-8b

a FANtastic father's day weekend ...

what a wonderful way to enjoy a Fathers Day ... 3 very happy CUBS fans watching their team win yet another game in the afternoon ... and then watching part of the Celtics game at night ... [ which i guess they just want to win the NBA championship IN Boston tuesday night ... very understandable. ] this very blessed dad / grampa got to spend time with all 3 of his kids and all 4 of his grandkids ... plus his 2 sisters and most of their families on saturday night ... (-8b

we love having our " Princess Jalene" over for a saturday night sleepover ... we are SO going to miss these when they move out to phoenix ... )-8b

everyone LOVES grammas peanut butter cookies

Thea is not a big fan of the water or she would have jumped in and joined Jalene ... she LOVES when the kids come over ... she gets a little too excited at first and her barking is not always a big hit with them ... thankfully, she only barks for a few minutes ... (-8b

while Jalene was enjoying her bath ... Thea couldn't resist trying out her sleeping bag ... and ... meeting Dora the explorer ...

Isaac finds a fun new playmate ...

Thea was thrilled to have Isaac come over yesterday and they had a good time getting to know each other ... of course, Thea loves to lick whoever will let her and Isaac had fun trying to grab her tongue when she licked his hands ... i think they will grow to be great friends over the next few years. Isaac was so cute with his "chicks love a boy in uniform" t-shirt on and this was yet another photoshoot this grampa couldn't pass up.

when i told Isaac about the pictures of Jalene, Evan and Janelle i posted yesterday ... he said he wanted to see them ... isn't he cute here trying to do just that ... of course he is ... don't be silly.

on their way to the valley of the sun ...

i LOVE to combine watching the grandbabies with a photoshoot ... as i have said many times ... i feel like i'm THE most blessed grampa in all this world ... we are going to miss the Mackmers while they are in phoenix ... but ... i'm sure Terri will be sending pictures and videos like she did when we were in kansas city ... i hope you enjoy these images as much as i and the kids did while we were taking them ... (-8b

the ONLY ok thing about any snakes in phoenix are the "diamondbacks" ... Uncle Adam and i sure did enjoy their world series win on november 4th in 2001 while we were in green bay !!! hmmmm • will Ev become a D•BACKS fan ??? time will tell ... i do hope we can visit sometime in my favorite "season " ...

thank you Jalene, Evan and Janelle for letting this grampa take SO many pictures of you ... you are 3 of my all•time favorite models ... i love you all !!!

hangin with the suttons ...

steph and steve have been great with our little miss thea ... and she LOVED getting out and visiting them and sarge at their house last night ...

this is SARGE ... steph and steve's awesome dog ... their cats BUSTER and MISSY hid the whole time we were there ...

sarge and thea had a great time getting to know each other and playing together !!!


kc's oldest and youngest daughters ... (-8b

the kids had a great time in the backyard ...

kc's 2 favorite fellow CUBS fans ...

opening day !!! 1 of my favorite days ever ... sadly, i missed watching all the games because of my new job ... i sure wish i could have been watching with Adam and Isaac ... oh well, maybe next year. GREAT photo Jenn !!!

this was super bowl sunday nite ... just me and Isaac watching the game together while Adam & Jenn were hanging out with their community group ...

i sure do miss my wednesday nites with Isaac ... but ... Gramma Ruth is doing a FABulous job on her own with him ... (-8b

"grampa•nanny•ing" ...

what a blessing [ for me ] that i was asked to sit with the kids a few days a week before i go to work so Terri could go back to work ... i know Terri would rather be home full time with them but ... her low has become my high ... it's awesome how God works these things out ... i LOVE my grampa time with the kids ... and as i'm adding this i'm realizing my low of not being able to watch Isaac on wednesday nites anymore ... Gramma Ruth gets that pleasure full time now all to herself ... i just have to stop by on my and adam's off days and get some time with Isaac ... (-8b ... btw • adam's off today • i'm off today • the cubs are on tv in little while ... hmmmm

Janelle was 2 months on the 15th ... she is such a joy and she smells SO good too

2 of my favorite "reality league" baseball players ...

it's hard to believe Evan will be 3 in just a couple of months ... he's got so much character and he's quite a character at times ... i love it when he gets a little disappointed and pouts and then he magically waves his hand in front of his face and a BIG smile appears ... (-8b ... he too helps grampa out ... he LOVES getting Janelle's diapers.

Jalene is a BIG help to her grampa ... she knows ALL the do's and dont's [ mostly for Ev ] and where everything is ... but ... when 11:30 comes ... it's ALL about "word world" ... the other day i got an envelope in the mail from her with a couple of words she just learned ... nothing else ... just the 2 words ... crown and gown ... ask me in 5 years what those 2 words were and i'll remember them for sure ... (-8b