Flat Nena

Flat Nena

Flat Macy

Hi Macy and class,
Flat Macy arrived in Wilmington ,Delaware February 24th. Flat Macy celebrated Mardi Gras with us yesterday. They don’t celebrate Mardi Gras here but my mommy was born and raised in New Orleans! We even ate king cake which is like a doughnut. My name is Anna Cleary and I am 8 years old. I love your flat Macy idea. We are going to take some pictures with her! It is very cold here today. It was 27 degrees this morning. I wore a hat and a big coat to school. I am so ready for hot weather! We are going to New Orleans in April to visit my mom’s family. We are excited. I have a brother who is 5 , almost 6 and he is in kindergarten. I will take a picture of him too. I have two cats. Do you like cats? I live very close to the Amish people. Have you heard of them? The girls wear dresses and learn to sew and bake bread. I went on a buggy tour one time. They do not use cars. Just horse and buggies. Well, I will take some pictures of Flat macy with us this weekend. Take care.
Love,
Anna Cleary

Flat Jake

My name is Tracy and I work with Jake’s Aunt Mimi in Plano, TX. Mimi and I were going to NY on February 10th for a training class and this is when I met Jake and heard about his school project. I offered to take Jake with me during my trip to Illinois the weekend of February 20th.

Texas to Illinois (via Oklahoma and Missouri)
75N to 69N to I44E

Friday, February 20th
5:00am – It is early and very cold but we have managed to get in the car and start our trek North to Illinois. We are riding along with my brother Paul and my sister, Kathy, her son Neil, daughter-in-law Christina and grandkids Alyssa and Iain are in her car. We grabbed breakfast at McDonald’s in Atoka, OK. Jake enjoyed a bacon, egg and cheese McGriddle and a coke. We only stopped twice after that for gas and restroom breaks – Jake was great in the car and slept a lot. We got to Belleville, IL around 3:00pm, had a late lunch at Steak and Shake (club sandwich and fries) and then checked into our room at the Baymont Inn in O’Fallon, IL. We were able to unpack and get some rest before heading over to Schiappa’s Restaurant for a graduation celebration for my niece Kara who got her BA back in December 2008. Jake got to meet some more of my family there: Kara, Carol, Marc, Hank, Will and Hayden. 10:00pm – we are all exhausted and finally get to bed.

Saturday, February 21st
We had breakfast with Paul, Neil and Christina at the hotel. Jake enjoyed making and eating waffles. My sister and her family decided to spend the day at the hotel swimming and relaxing so Paul and I decided to go and see our brother John and his family. They live in Keyesport, IL which is about an hour east of Belleville. We stopped in some small towns (Breese and Carlyle) along the way to take pictures of Jake and let him play in a little bit of snow we found – he sure wished Aunt Mimi had sent a coat along! Jake met my brother John, his wife Lynn and their sons John, Jr. and Brad, their daughter Angie and her foster-daughter Jasmine. We went out to lunch with them and then just hung out and visited for the afternoon. We headed back to Belleville around 4:30pm so we could attend a ‘closing’ party for a business that my mom and sister own. The party was a great success and probably over 100 people were there – a good time was had by all!

Sunday, February 22nd
No major plans for today so we got to sleep in until 9:00am! We laid around the hotel until about 11:00am and then went on an adventure looking for Bert’s Chuckwagon, a restaurant we went to in our high school years; they have the most yummy, sloppy tacos. I looked on the internet and there was a location listed in Collinsville, IL which wasn’t too far from the hotel so off we went. There it was right on the corner ‘BERT’S CHUCKWAGON’ – no longer open for business! L We settled for a bacon cheeseburger and sweet potato fries at TGI Friday’s. After lunch we went to the Sprint store and got my mom a cell phone and then went to visit with her and my stepdad at their house. It was a lazy afternoon teaching her how to use the cell phone, looking at family pictures and watching TV. We left there around 5:00pm to go and meet my sister Carol, her husband Marc, my niece Kara and her boyfriend Nate for dinner at Casa Gallardo Mexican restaurant. The last time I ate there was after my high school graduation, in other words, a long time ago. We had a great dinner of chips and salsa, cheese enchiladas, beans and rice. We went back to the hotel, packed and turned in early since we wanted to leave early the next morning.

Monday, February 23rd
5:00am – It is 16 degrees outside but feels much colder with the wind. We have started the trip home and although I didn’t get to take Jake over to St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch he did get a glimpse of it from the car, he was really impressed. Sadly, it was too dark to take a picture from the car. It was an uneventful trip home; we stopped for gas and grabbed breakfast items from inside (donuts for me and Jake and an egg sandwich for Paul). For lunch, we drove through McDonald’s and stopped one more time for gas. We made it home by 2:30pm and the temperature was in the 70’s and sunny.

Flat Gracie

LOVE IS ETERNAL

Today is February 14, 2009 -- Valentines Day
The weather is cool and sunny -- a perfect day.

Flat Gracie had lunch today with Grandmom and Grandad and a few of their friends. We went to the Brick Oven in Kempner, Texas. It is a favorite restaurant for our Sunday School class to gather for food, fun, and fellowship. What better way for Flat Gracie to celebrate Valentines Day than with couples who have been in love for a very, very long time.

We have learned many lessons about love through the years. The most important lesson is that God is Love. We have learned that love can endure through good times and bad. We have learned to accept the faults and weaknesses of others, because we ourselves have faults and weaknesses. We have learned that forgiveness is essential to love as God loves. We have learned that it is sometimes hard to love as God loves, but we have also learned that God's way is always the best way.

The Scriptures say it best.

Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
It does not demand its own way.
It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
. . . love will last forever.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Flat Halle

My name is Betty Davis and I live in Bella Vista, Arkansas. You probably do not know where Bella Vista is because it is a small town of 26,000 folks. We are located north of Fayetteville, Arkansas and only 4 miles from the Missouri State Line. In fact, although I live in Arkansas, I work in Missouri. We are located in the Ozark Mountains which are beautiful in spring, summer and, especially the fall. We moved here from Texas 2-1/2 yrs. ago. I am a born Texan although we have lived in many places due to our work. We have four seasons - summer, fall, winter (with snow and ice) and fall.

While Flat Halle was with me, Arkansas experienced a damaging ice storm. I carried Flat Halle with me as my husband and I chipped away at 2" of ice so we could get our vehicles out of the driveway. This took about 5-1/2 hrs. Wish I could have given Flat Halle a shovel to help. Flat Halle went to work with me for a week. I work parttime at the Walmart near our home. Flat Halle was with me as I stocked shelves with groceries, water, juice, beddings and many other items.

Now that Flat Halle has visited with me, I am sending her to the daughter of my dear friend who lives in Colorado. I bet Flat Halle will have some fun adventures there.

Betty Davis
Bella Vista, Arkansas

Flat Gracie

FLAT GRACIE GOES TO THE RANCH

We are Flat Gracie's grandparents, Raiford and Linda Williams. We live on a 237 acre ranch in the city of Copperas Cove. We like to say that we are the largest ranch in town. Actually we have the only ranch in town.

We had Flat Gracie from February 9 through 11. We have had some rain this week. It was very welcome. The temperature has been rather mild, making us think that spring might be near.

Flat Gracie has been to the ranch many times to visit with Grandmom and Grandad. She especially likes to be here when her three cousins are here. They roam over the pastures to see what interesting things and places they can find. They have claimed and named several places as their "forts." They have brought some unusual things in from the pastures such as a turtle shell, golf balls, and an old bicycle.

Flat Gracie and the other grandchildren don't mind sharing the pastures with the cows, but when the bull comes around, they head for the house.

The tree house that Grandad built is a favorite place for Flat Gracie to play with her sisters and cousins. They even sometimes sleep up there.

At the first sign of spring Grandad starts getting his garden ready. Then he goes shopping for seed and plants. (Grandmom prefers flower seed.) Next it's time to plant. This spring and summer Flat Gracie and her sisters and cousins will get to help harvest and eat the vegetables that Grandad grow.

When work is done, the swing is a great place to rest with Grandad.

We always have fun when Flat Gracie comes to visit us.

Flat Jake

Lana Barnes (Nana)
February 3rd - 6th
Weather was cold or cool in the mornings and warm by noon - just like spring in the winter time
College Station TX
Home of Texas A&M University and the George Bush Library.

I am Flat Jake's grandmother on his dad's side. I got Flat Jake out of the mailbox on Monday night, February 2nd after coming home from his brother's basketball game. Too bad he did not get here earlier, he could have watched his brother Matthew play basketball.

Flat Jake visited with his PaPa and me for awhile and then we put him to bed on the couch. He enjoyed sleeping with our 2 cats, Jazzo and Dallas. They kept him nice and warm. He really liked playing with them too.

On Tuesday Flat Jake ate Honeynut Cheerios for breakfast with strawberries and drank all of his milk. What a great kid! Then we were off to the office for a full day of work. Flat Jake was a big hit at the office and all of my co-workers just loved him. He learned how to scan documents to a pdf folder...how to fax papers to others and how to review surveys of properties that are getting ready to close. Then we went off to "boot camp". This is an intensive workout program. Flat Jake was very surprised that his Nana could actually do some of the things she did. No one was more surprised than me since this was the first day. Of course, Flat Jake just laughed and laughed at all the ladies as they exercised!!! Flat Jake and I dragged ourselves home and I crashed on the couch while Flat Jake watched his favorite cartoon on tv before going to sleep.

On Wednesday Flat Jake went back to work with me and afterward we went to church. Flat Jake and I worked with the Cubbies in AWANAs. Cubbies are 3 and 4 years old and Flat Jake laughed and had a great time. We sang, did a craft and learned Bible verses. Flat Jake even knew the verses we were learning.

Thursday, Flat Jake and I were back at work and it was a fairly low key day. We went back to the boot camp after work. Flat Jake certainly had a good laugh all over again at us ladies as we struggled to jog and touch our toes.

Friday Flat Jake is off again to his next adventure. He is going back to Dallas to see his Aunt MiMi and they are going to New York!!! I am so jealous...

Love you Flat Jake.

Nana

Flat Gracie

Flat Gracie took a little road trip with Grammy, PapPap, Aunt Melinda, and Baby Colin to surprise her! She stayed in a hotel on the way and got to stop on the Alabama border for a photo op. Isn't she small? Can you see her?

Flat Nena

My name is Mac Mascorro and I am Nena's brother. I had Flat Nena from January 28th to February 2. On January 28th there was so much ice and the weather was cold that we had an ice day and didn't even go to school! The next day was a little bit warmer, and all the days following that were up to 70 degrees.

I live in Abilene, Texas. Abilene is not necessarily an extremely interesting place, but my house has a pretty view of "Texas mountains," or just large hills.

I took Flat Nena to my basketball games on the 29th and the 30th, and on the 31st I took Nena to buy a new pair of shoes and to a concert called ZOP'S. We also had fun at church and at school!
Thank You,
Mac Mascorro

Flat Halle

HELLO EVERYONE, MY NAME IS MARGURITE LAWRENCE AND I AM HALLE’S GREAT GRANDMOTHER. I LIVE IN GIDDINGS TEXAS. THE WEATHER HERE IS TRUE TEXAS WEATHER. IT IS COLD AT NIGHT AND EARLY MORNINGS AND HOT IN THE AFTERNOONS.

I TOOK FLAT HALLE TO MY SISTER DE DE AND WE MADE HOMEMADE CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS. WE MADE THEM FOR ALL THE SICK PEOPLE IN MY CHURCH. THEN FLAT HALLE ,DE DE AND I DELIVERED THEM TO EACH PERSON AND VISITED WITH THEM AWHILE. THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT ABLE TO GET OUT AND VISIT ANY ONE SO THEY GET LONELY. WE HAD A VERY GOOD VISIT.

I TOOK FLAT HALLE TO A BASKETBALL GAME TO WATCH HER COUSIN, KATLIN PLAY BASKETBALL. FLAT HALLE REALLY CHEERED HER COUSIN ON AND THEY WON THEIR GAME. THEN FLAT HALLE AND I AND KATLIN AND DE DE AND SEVERAL OTHER PEOPLE WENT TO MELS DINER TO HAVE DINNER. WE REALLY HAD FUN.

FLAT HALLE VISITED ME FOR TWO WEEKS AND WE HAD A GREAT TIME VISITING ALL THE RELATIVES THAT SHE DOESN’T GET TO SEE VERY OFTEN.

Flat Nena