Time with the great-grandparents

Jonas's baptism provided us with a special bonus, in that some of our extended family drove up from Missouri to visit for the weekend. We got to spend time with Poppop's sister, Aunt Cindy, her husband, Uncle Billy, and my cousin, Ross, as well as the ever-popular Great-Grandma and -Grandpa Ross.





Enjoy Grandpa's hat? Thank his stylist, Rap Master Jacob O'Neal.

The boys ADORE their Grandma Ross. I swear, that woman is like baby crack. No child can withstand her smooches. Here she is, reading to a captivated audience.



She brought along a recent copy of the Southeast Missourian, an article of which prominently featured her sister, Aunt Carolyn.



This is the same Aunt Carolyn who was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer almost a year ago. Earlier this year she underwent a physically taxing and risky stem cell transplant in St. Louis; now her cancer is IN REMISSION. She is doing so well that she's busy again with one of her greatest loves, her garden. Her environmentally friendly techniques with native plants are featured prominently in the article. As we read the article together, Meemaw told yet another story of Carolyn's legendary green thumb -- her husband, Larry, picked a few seeds from a beautiful flowering plant in the gardens around the Indianapolis Art Museum when they attended our wedding. Carolyn and Larry cultivated this flower, from seeds, and it now blooms in their own garden.