Bonnie’s Birthday and Dining Room Windows

Today Dad worked on the hall heater some more and he and Paul worked on the dining room windows.  This is the big picture window before,

And these are the two other dining room windows before being replaced.

Paul had started to work on the two side windows yesterday afternoon.

So he was able to move onto the two other windows this afternoon.

He has about an hour’s worth of work left on them to do in the morning and then the dining room windows will be all done!

Hard to believe that 28 years ago today my miracle baby was born.  Here she is in the Neonatal ICU.  The last month of my pregnancy the sonogram picked up something was wrong with her.  She hardly kicked and the doctor’s told me they thought her abdominal organs were on the outside of her body, they told me not to expect her to live.

When she was born she weighed 9 pounds, 4 ounces.  She ended up having her right ovary and right tube removed due to a cyst that was so large it had displaced her abdominal organs.  She spent a week in the Neonatal ICU and then came home.  Here she is at her baby shower at our church.  My mom and Grandmom are with us in this picture.

I had to show this picture.  You can see half of me in the red dress, my sister Cindy and my sister Lyn is holding Bonnie.  And that lady, well, she is my wonderful Mother-In-Law.  But at this time she did not know that she would one day be my mother-in-law.  Jerry and I both miss his mother terribly.  She was one special lady.  The little girl in the front of the picture is my other daughter, Kym.

Here is Bonnie beginning her lifelong fascination with making oneself look beautiful.  Hmmm… what are these funny looking things?  Bonnie was always my little fashion model.  My Aunt Irene is the one in the curlers and my Mom is holding Bonnie.

Bonnie on her first birthday.  I always tied bells on my kid’s shoes from the time they started walking until they were about 3 years old.  Do they even making walking shoes for babies anymore?  I don’t think I have seen any for a long time.

I know this picture is a little dark, but that’s Bonnie and me on the Merry-Go-Round at Disneyland when she was 3 1/2 years old.  I was 25 years old.  It was nighttime.

When Bonnie was in 5th grade she wanted to play either the saxophone or the trombone for band.  She didn’t have the ‘umph’ to play the sax (her son, Christopher is now taking saxophone lessons), and the music instructor didn’t think she would have the arm span to play the trombone.  She just b-a-r-e-l-y made it.  Here she is in the junior high marching band at the Wartburg College Homecoming Parade in Waverly, Iowa.  She is the middle one in the front row looking at the camera.

Someone once said that Bonnie was born with the phone attached to her ear!  She was a popular girl in school.  She played volleyball when she was in junior high. 

Bonnie and Kyle both had/have the biggest hearts when it came to animals.  Bonnie found these two kittens abandoned in a box under a tree when they were barely a few weeks old.  She brought them home and nursed them along until they grew up strong.  These two were the best cats ever.  She named them Alexander and Cossette (I am probably spelling that wrong).  She took French in high school and Cossette was the name she chose for her classroom name.  You can barely see the other kitty over by the table leg.

Bonnie played the trombone all through high school. 

Bonnie and her friends relaxing after spending all day at marching band competitions.  Bonnie is the second one from the right standing in the back row.  Her friend, Julie, is leaning on her.

I love my Aunt Irene and Uncle Jim and when the kids and I lived in Iowa, every chance we got we would drive the 7 hours to visit them in Indiana.  Here is Bonnie and Uncle Jim cutting up.  Yep, as you can tell by the yellow line down the picture, this was taken at the end of the roll – I am glad the picture took!

Not only did Bonnie play volleyball in junior high, she played soccer and tennis in high school.

Bonnie was a wonderful teenager, she never gave me any problems, never gave me any lip or grief.  As you can tell by the pictures here, she was always smiling.  I think she had a teenage attitude only one time in her growing up years and here, I caught it on film… this is her ‘don’t you dare take my picture, mom’ look.

Bonnie also cheered in high school.  She is the girl in the left hand corner (first girl in the back row).

When Bonnie ordered her wedding invitations, she and I were watching the old Spencer Tracy movie “Father of the Bride”.  I cried through the whole movie.  You know, I could not watch that movie for years… I think a few months ago is the first time I could force myself to watch it.  Yes, I got a little choked up even 10 years later.  Here, Kym and Bonnie are getting their hair ready for the wedding.  Kym had blonde hair then.  This was our kitchen in Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. - Adam and Bonnie.  Adam is a wonderful son-in-law.  After 10 years of marriage, they still have a strong union.  Adam’s sister, Kim, is the bridesmaid in blue.  Bonnie’s sister, Kym, is the bridesmaid in green (blonde hair), and Bonnie and Adam’s two friends Nick and Nick (oops!  I meant Jason!!) were the groomsmen. 

Happy Birthday Bonnie… I am so proud of you.  You were my miracle baby.  God made you strong at 9 pounds, 4 ounces so you could breeze through your first surgery at 23 hours old.  You have always worn a smile on your face.  I love you very much!