Alice Goes to Church

Sunday, Alice and her granddaughter, Beth, went to the Jubilee Service at Eastminster Presbyterian Church. This was Alice's second visit, but the first with the paparazzi in tow.

Reports are that Alice was singing and clapping on the front row, and that she was somewhat of a celebrity!

Alice and Amos Disasa, one of the ministers at EPC.


Alice and two friends from Eastminster. (That's Martha Mason on the left!)


Alice and Barbara McArthur, a member of Alice's "Care Team."

Alice at the Elliott's Christmas Party

Every year, the Elliott family has a Christmas party on December 23. Alice hadn't been out of the hospital long, but she had a new outfit and was determined to go, and go she did!

John Douglas escorting Alice (and Frances Anne) into the party.

Some great shots of Alice and Shorti.


And Beth and Alice.


Gramma certainly had her appetite back!


Alice with France Montgomery, Mary Elliott's mom. For those of you reading this in NC, Frances is from Sanford.


In case you can't tell, Alice had a GREAT time!

Alice Out on the Town

Tonight, the girls took Alice to first performance of the Forest Acres Winter 2010 Art Series at Midtown at Forest Acres. Tonight's performance was John English, who the girls actually knew when they lived in Greenwood.


He did some kids songs and some adult songs, including some that taught sign language. Here, Alice and Mary Pat are sign singing "We all love Saturday night."


Alice and John English...


The concert was held at the Columbia Children's Theatre, and afterwards, Alice and the girls visited with Jerry and Jim, who run the theatre.


Alice and Jerry...


We had lots of fun trying on hats and acting silly...


...and Mary Pat even tried to do "wheelies" with Alice's new tripod walker.


After the performance and clowning around, Alice and the girls went to Zesto's. Alice got a hot fudge sundae and started eating it before even leaving Zesto's. Beth got fries; Mary Pat got a dipped in chocolate cone. We took back a banana milkshake for Rick and a hot fudge sundae for Shorti.


Next Tuesday's "Gramma and Girls" adventure will be to the second performance, a magician! Stay tuned!

Alice: Our Christmas Miracle

It's odd to see that our last post was in July, 2009! Let me explain and also apologize. Sister and I went to Chicago in late July, and when we came home and through late December, Alice experienced quite a few health problems. It seems like during that time frame, she was in and out of the hospital every three to four weeks, and even when she was home, wasn't feeling too hot. It seems like once we all got back on an even keel, she'd get sick again. Her health problems, along with Dad's, kept us quite busy, and the blog suffered!

This last hospital visit in mid-December was quite scary, but Alice came out of it stronger and better than she's been since before she moved down to SC. We call her our Christmas miracle! It's hard to believe, but she was actually out shopping at Wal-Mart with us on Christmas eve!

Now that things seemed to have settled down again, and hopefully for a while, we'll try our hand at the blog again! We have some great pictures of Alice enjoying the Christmas season and visits from friends. I've gotten a new computer, which I'm still getting set up, but this week I promise to download the pictures and get them on the blog!

Tonight, Alice and Shorti went by the Elliott's to pick up Will, and Alice told Scott that she wanted to go to church with him - and off they went. We look forward to hearing about her adventure with Scott; maybe I can even post it to the blog - without pictures unfortunately!

Alice Visits Kilbourne Park Baptist Church

Last Sunday, Alice visited Kilbourne Park Baptist Church. It has been a while since she went church visiting, and she was excited about going!


Alice and Beth. Beth took Alice to church; Mary Pat slept in this time. Beth is such a good granddaughter!


Alice always makes a grand entrance!


Alice's friend Frances Montgomery, goes to Kilbourne Park. France is the the blonde on the right.
The bulletin. It was July 4th week, and the music and bulletin were beautiful.

Alice Has a Plateful!

For those of you who know Alice well, you know that she has a light appetite! It amazes us how little she eats, especially compared to our healthy appetites! But that wasn't the case during our last visit to the Original Pancake House. Alice ordered Strawberry French Toast, and as the pictures show, nearly joined the "Clean Plate Club." The Strawberry French Toast was a hit!

Alice is a MONEY MAKER!

On Saturday, Beth and Mary Pat took Alice to United Way of the Midlands (UWM) pancake breakfast, a neat fundraiser! United Way volunteers cooked and served as waitstaff, and all tips went to the United Way.

Alice has always supported United Way and has been particularly concerned with results in this economic climate. At least once a week, she asks Beth how the campaign is going and sometimes sends ideas for fundraising.

In January, Alice started saving change to give to UWM. Once a week, she asks Shorti to empty her change purse. When people come to visit her, she asks them for her change. When family friends come over on Sunday evenings for dinner, she asks them for change. She picks it up off the ground, too.

Alice is very proud of how much she has been able to save/collect without any financial hardship whatsoever. She says it is a great lesson in how a family can work together to contribute to United Way with just a (very) little effort.

On Saturday, Alice took her change - which added up to $53 - to the breakfast. She not only donated that money as a tip, but also challenged UWM CEO Mac Bennett to match an additional gift she made of $20.

The breakfast was at Fatz, and we all enjoyed breakfast and the fun! Alice said their coffee was the best she's had in Columbia, so the owner gave her some to take home.Here are some great pictures of the event. Enjoy.

Beth and Alice, the two redheads, dressed in their United Way t-shirts, ready to go!


And even though she is NOT a redhead and was not wearing a United Way shirt, they let MP go, too!


Alice arrives at Fatz.


Breakfast was good, too.



Alice enjoyed the coffee so much the owner gave her a package to take home!


Alice showing United Way CEO Mac Bennett her change. But she wouldn't let him have it until he matched an additional gift she made. She wanted to challenge him again, but decided not to since "he still has a child in college." She said he probably needed his money. (See, he's reaching into his wallet!)


Then Alice got out MORE money...


...and challenged Mike Gray, UWM VP for Resource Development. He matched her, too.


This may LOOK like a can of beans, but it's a safe the girls got Alice for Christmas. You're supposed to put your valuables in it and store it in the pantry, but Alice started collecting her change in it and kept it in her room.


Alice got a VIP tour of the kitchen from the owner, and Richland County's Stephanie Snowden - an S&S friend of Alice's - surprised her with a kiss. Look at the smile on Alice's face!

Alice and Bruce, Fatz owner.


One last money shot! Alice with Mac Bennett, Scott Shockley, General Manager, Lamar Advertising and UWM Co-Chair and Pamela Lackey, President, SC AT&T.