Friday, Dec. 21st... Grandmother's Birthday!

It began with a wonderful breakfast at "Flappy Jack's" on Route 66 in Glendora... The owner gave her a birthday cheese blintz Brenna helped her eat... Then of course when Maureen went over and wanted a big hug and picture with her and she was totally taken off guard with the traditional "butter on the nose"!!! The people in the restaurant thought it a bit strange also... hahaha!

Here you see us enjoying the birthday blintz... A very yummy time... Sorry about the side version of this pic... Will edit when I have more time...

Then in the afternoon grandfather arrived... He cooked chicken and rice and made a salad with ranch dressing... ummmmm good... Brenna had 2 helpings.... Yikes I can't believe it! Chris and Shaye clicked in and did a live cast from China and we played with ShaeLynn and she mimicked us... It was so a

wesome to see her actually feel comfortable enough to play with us... Chris and Shaye sang "Happy Birthday" to grandmother... A very special moment... that even miles could not rob... We are so blessed!

After dinner and our family chat we all watched grandmother's video for the evening... "It's been a hard days night" starring the Beatles... It was a reminder she is getting older and we heard the stories of her teen time in love with "The Beatles".... Interesting?? haha!

After the video came the battle of the pirates in the game "Dread Pirate"... Right in the middle grandmother blew out her homemade candle on her lone brownie hot from the oven... (we were out of candles so grandfather made a paper one.... hahaha...) We Leeper's are so innovative.... and will not be defeated!! Ha!

The game was a blast and Brenna was voted the best dice roller...

Even tho' grandmother was the first to become Dread Pirate Praying didn't help for it wasn't long until she became loser pirate... hahaha... Grandfather stole her flag and stormed the seas until he met up with Mighty Mo who blew him out of the water... No one paid much attention to the Blakemaster until his rolls of sixes became obvious... Although, he became Dread Pirate in at the end of the game it was too little too late and Maureen Kelly the famous Irish Woman of the high seas won the entire game holding the most in gold doubloons... It was exciting to the end...

The evening was topped off around midnight with a special show of talent from the grandkids... Maureen did her famous rap dance with Brenna by her side... Then Blake did his tremendous song of "My Way" complete with all the drama and projection

Both Brenna and Kelly showed their individual talent at the grand piano and truly they played their version of masterpieces... Especially to grandmother and grandfather's ears and hearts... Blake showed us a special fast step and Brenna did a short ballet of what she is preparing for the recital in January... Kelly finally shared with us a turn in jazz dance and we all ended the evening with grandfather sharing his special cross arms and touch the nose act from Laurel and Hardy... You had to be there!! Hahaha... When grand mother opened her gifts she cried and read the card aloud from grandfather because he shared his devotion and love to her and thinks she is beautiful inside and out... and has loved her since she was a teenager... She was so thankful to God for her life and hopes He will give her the wisdom to win the most souls she has ever won to the Lord in this next year... Along with guidance in her job at the church and in missions... Tomorrow we head to Hemet for the major Leeper/Anderson Christmas extravaganza week end... Stay tuned for more exciting posts...

Thursday Night FUN!

Of course the fun couldn't start on Thursday until the house was picked up and ready for our house keeper to come in the morning. So when we all woke up around 9 everybody went into pick up mode and got the house ready for Penny =]. While the laundry was getting folded and the back porch getting swept Penny did a great job in deep cleaning everything. I had a few errands to run the afternoon and when I got back home from the HECTIC post office and the grocery store dinner was put on the stove and everybody sat down to relax. 

Brenna's friend from down the street came over and spent the night. We all had amazing pot roast with corn, biscuits, mac & cheese, and mashed potatoes made by the wonderful Grandmother and afterwards Blake and myself cleaned up the kitchen.

And afterwards came COOKIES! Yum! I made them...cough cough...and they were good! Definitely hit the spot. Blake enjoyed them with milk...and I enjoyed showing them off =] hehe.

And RISK AND HOT CHOCOLATE finished the evening! Brenna and her friend Samantha weren't really in the mood to play Risk so they enjoyed playing the Wii together and I made Brenna some Hot Chocolate and Grandmother some coffee and sat down to play Risk with Grandmother and Blake. Grandmother dominated the game and I came in second and Blake in third.

Maureen Kelly

SHOPPING

[Tuesday the 18th and Wednesday the 19th] We shopped, shopped and shopped. Pretty much until we dropped! =] hehe. It was alot of fun and we got many fun things. It was kind of interesting because on Tuesday night I (Maureen Kelly) drove and we got lost. Of course! We weren't far from the Covina mall, just two exits away, and Aunti Lyn came to the rescue! Blake was like, "WHERE IS YOUR HEAD?!" But I mean can you blame me? My parents are in stinking China while I am still here in boring ol' Southern California! O well, what can you do? 

Maureen Kelly

GOTCHA DAY!! Yipeeeeee!!!

[Gotcha day was actually on Monday the 17th, but we have been running around for three days now with things that need to get done =] hehe...so we are just now catching up the blog]

Gottcha Day simply means this is the day we actually received our precious little ShaeLynn.... We were in Hemet so we had a good breakfast at "JR's Restaurant and then headed out to Glendora to rendezvous with MomMaw and Kelly.... Grandfather is with us he is behind the camera...

Then just after we arrived we had our live feed direct from China... It was awesome!! The seven of us stood there literally ga-ga over our new addition to the Leeper family... We were teary and joyful and silly... Each of us taking our turns at making faces to impress ShaeLynn of which she responded by staring at us and making us feel silly... hahaha...

Then it was off to the Chinese Buffet

that read the referral letter as told about

on the website... It was a great celebration with a wonderful discussion about our joy...

After dinner Grandfather tried to work his magic at the stuffed animal machine




He wasn't successful which is strange as he usually gets several... But it was so special when the server saw what happened she quickly brought out a little stuffed animal for Brenna... She knew it was a celebration...

It was fun and she touched Brenna so much with her act of kindness... Of course Brenna has plans to give it to her new little sister... That's just the way we are thinking these days.... ShaeLynn, ShaeLynn, ShaeLynn...

After dinner we came home for Kelly to make her special "Dump Cake"... While she started the cake we went to see the house of the famous prize winner of Christmas decorations for the community of Glendora... Andy Garcia lives here and his house was outstanding... Well after that aunt Lyn fell asleep on the couch and Renee took her video snoring and we all giggle... but not loud enough to wake her... Grandfather and I enjoyed the cake and MomMaw went home... By the time aunt Lyn woke up we all had went to bed... hahaha... Truly a full day! A happy day! A memorable day in Leeper history! Yipeeeeeeee! We are so blessed!

Church on Sunday.... Kelly and Mommaw

Under Construction

The Christmas Program at Faith Tab

Our group after the program... Totally stars to the max... Grandma got to attend both the morning service and the program in the evening... Random!

Grandmother and Grandfather were all smiles at the end of another successful program...

Blake is taking off with a hot chick... His aunt Christy who has just realized he'd be a great baby sitter!

Ok... After the program it's a tradition to go to "Jack in the Box"... Yahooo... It was great!

Just a bunch of those crazy kids... Anna, Adyson, Brenna, Aidan and Chloe

Aidan and Chloe with big smiles...

Take a look at the pose of a great martial artist... Now that is a great pose...

Do you believe that random guitar playing? If you only could have heard it!! WOW! Eat your heart out John Mayer!!

Suck it up Aunt Christy... Good to the very last drop...

A weekend at Grandmother and Grandfather's

This is our first week end while our parents are gone... We went to Hemet because our Grandparents are pastors and have to be at their church over the week end for sure... This is the Sunday for their church program... Anyway, Maureen Kelly went to Mommaw's and is posting her own things... Meanwhile, here's what we did... First the ballet recital of the Nutcraker at cousin Anna's ballet... It was great... Here you see us posed and then auntie Lyn enjoying a Christmas Cookie... Then of course just the two cousins, Brenna and Anna...












While us girls were busy Blake and grandfather went to a SCARY movie... "I am Legend" starring Will Smith... and it really freaked them out... They were glad we have bars on our windows so they could sleep at night... hahaha!!! Especially, grandfather!! Brenna spent the night with Anna and so the three of us went and did a bit of Christmas shopping...

Church was great at Faith Tabernacle very Pentecostal!! It was awesome to have grandma and grandpa Anderson at church today... We were blessed to go to Mexican food with them and aunt Lyn... Here are some pictures...

It's Almost Time

My goodness I can't even begin to think that I...ME!!!...am going to be a big sister AGAIN around this time tomorrow! I am so excited I don't even think that I will be able sleep tonight! Shelley (my best friend) just texted me and told me that I should be going to sleep and I am thinking...ya right! =] =] It's so amazing to me and incredibly surreal that it as finally come! ShaeLynn will be in my parents arms tomorrow! Wow. I am pretty much speechless when I really start to think about it! =]
*Sigh*

Maureen Kelly

Maureen Kelly is enjoying her time at Mommaw's.

When I woke up this morning sometime around ten, Mommaw and Uncle Jeffrey were already awake and had started getting ready. So when Jeff and I were finished getting ready we sat down and started messing around on Mommaw's mac. We took some interesting photos....








...and later we went out to lunch and I had pizza and so did Jeff and my Mommaw had a salmon salad...yummm...When we got home We decorated Christmas cookies, but now looking back at the pictures I am the only one who was in the pictures lol.




After the cooking decorating Mommaw, Uncle Jeff, and I enjoyed several hours of America's Next Top Model and now that I am out of the shower and all clean I am getting ready for bed...or maybe a couple hours of playing video gams with Jeff ;]!


Maureen Kelly