Suprises from Grandmama and Papa

I received an email this past week from my Mom and Dad.  They wanted to know if we would be at the family reunion.  They had a surprise for Little Princess.

She was suprised.

 

Her first wheels

 

Grandmama's bike

She isn't riding anymore, so they thought of Little Princess!

Helping Papa put it back together.  They had to take the wheels off to get the bike in the trunk.

 

and finally testing out the wheels.... her legs are long enough!

 

 

 

Such a blessing to Little Princess.  She has outgrown her bike and well, we have been busy and not searched out a new bike for her. 

THANK YOU Grandmama and Papa!

Saturdays at Grandpa's...

Grandpa has acerage.

There is golf swings to perfect.

As well as archery skills to work on.

Horses that come to the fence to feed.

Popsicles to eat.

Trees to run around and climb on sometimes.

And space, lots of space for exploring.

Wii, when you are a little hot and need to cool off.

Or maybe, western movies to watch with Grandpa.

 

And then the drive home, always ends like this....

 

 

Another Flutter Nutter Quoteable

Dinner at IHop with Grandpa before church. 
Plates are being cleared and I see Flutter Nutter's almost perfectly empty!
Me:  Wow! Flutter Nutter, you were hungry, you ate all your dinner.
FN: I wasn't hungry, but I fell in love with it.

Guess so, cause I had a long day and fell in love with this...

and I ate it all up! 

Ordered it in place of my salad. 

Best salad I ever had.

Why it seems nothing ever gets done at home...

Lately, I am trying to keep from losing my hair.  Gray hair, no problem.  Hair loss could be a problem.
I look around my house and it seems to be in utter disarray. 
Then I have a day/night like I did today. 
Up early, got around for the day.  Took care of some paperwork.  Answered some school questions. 
Met realtor to review inspection list for house my dad is buying. 
Get ladder to inspect a roof.  We were having trouble believing the roof was okay.  Seller said the roof was replaced in 2009.  We happen to know there was softball size hail in the neighborhood in 2010. 
Big O Daddy O climbed up and all was well.  Matter of fact, he was greatly impressed.
Off to get a Pepsi, cause I am fading now. 
More paperwork, phone calls, count up popcorn sales and money for Cub Scouts, it is due tonight.
Whoops, missed lunch.  Time to teach English.  High school English and discuss MacBeth. 
The time quickly passes. 
Time for allergy shots, schedule a handful more and then post some packages at Dillons.
Home once again.  Just in time to start thinking of dinner. 
Fortunately, Fun Mom offers to prep dinner, while I lay down and work on Cub Scouts with Daddy's Buddy and Awana with Little Princess.
Little Princess is off to do her research now that I have her pointed in the right direction on the Awana website.
Daddy's Buddy is brushing teeth, lotioning hands and personal chores thanks to the Cub Scouts' section on caring for one's self.  Then, we discuss character trait: Faith. 
Close the eyes, but it is time to eat and I have to choose between snooze or eat.  Did I mention I missed lunch, and instead ate a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and a few handfuls of Cheez-its? 
Fun Mom has made chicken noodle soup from the basic of ingredients.  A great job she has done.  No canned soup for this girl. 
Time to leave:
First drop off Fun Mom for a play performance, featuring several home school friends. Then, a stop at the library cause it is only 2 or 3 blocks from Cub Scouts. 
Next, Daddy's Buddy has Cub Scouts and Little Princess and Flutter Nutter will hang out with us there.  Hockey Player will be picked up and taken to the rink by a teammate. 
Blink, blink, notes here, notes there, a little flag folding, wiggling, election, debating, and snacks Cub Scouts is over. 
Late heading out, a few phone calls while driving, pick up Hockey Player, pick up Fun Mom, and take the long way home around because the short way is closed due to construction!  Home sweet home and it is 9:45. 
10:30 and everyone but mom is in bed. 
Leftover Braum's and a bit more paperwork, computer work.  The day is done. 
But wait, just in case I can't remember why my house looks like it does in the morning, I will blog a reminder of the day(s) before. 

The Long Wait is Over.... (pictures)

The Long Wait is Over....

Timing is everything. Sometimes the timing is long in coming. The kids, their dad and I have been talking for a long time (4 years long time) about going fishing. Not living in the same town, it gets a little hard to coordinate such an endeavor. Add in emphysema, weather, health, and schedules....well time has flown by. But with Grandpa's latest visit, we made a point of it to go fishing. Only one fish was caught. We give credit to Flutter Nutter. It was his line. This fish ended up being half as big as him. I had the privlege of reeling in the catch of the day. Of course. as it always goes, there is a story to this fish. We had been catching lots of rocks and brush. So when I took the line I was convinced he needed help freeing himself from a rock. A tug, a little slack and then a big tug.... A FISH! Well we had been watching the kids on the shore and what they were catching. They weren't anything all that exciting big. An exciting catch but nothing to run and go get a camera for. The line was really pulling. I was trying to not be wimpy. Then this fish surfaced. "HELP" "HELP!" I am hollering. Then realizing dad can't help, he is connected to his O2 tubes. Big O Daddy O is busy with 3 other kids and their fishing poles. "HELP!" "HELP" They are all laughing, until they take a look. Quick as he can BODO is getting the net. A little bit of comedy there, trying to maneuver around children, fishing poles and the mom, yelling, "HELP!" "HELP!"

We defintely took pictures and the kids quickly turned to Grandpa and asked what kind of fish it was. It was definitely not crappie. DRUM fish. The kids were quick to say, "Of course, it is flipping around in the boat and it sounds like a drum." I got a quick lesson in freeing the fish from the hook and putting him on a string and hanging him off the boat. Back to fishing we went. With a little convincing the kids agreed to free this fish back to the waters till next time. Disembarked the boat with stories to tell and dreams of the one that got away were still to be had in their sleep. Looking forward to the next adventure!

It worked!

Grandma's Stories are on my IPOD! !
Takes 1 hour to put each cassette onto my computer.... 2 down, ? ? to go !
But they will be saved.
Can't wait to suprise the kids.
First Sleep!

So excited about Grandma's Stories!

There's been a lot of discussion over the last year or two among the children. Who gets the latest tape of Grandma's Stories first? The competition is great. During the fall and winter months, Grandma Stories are a bedtime ritual. They gotta have them on before the lights are out.
(sidenote: Grandma's Stories are recordings of Grandma Mac and sometimes Grandpa Mac reading books to the children.)
My two youngest guys share a room and they can never agree to what they will listen to at night. Grandma's Stories or Bible verses for Cubbies/Sparkies. Over the last 2-3 weeks I have been researching on how to transfer these recordings onto my computer and, then, eventually onto the ipods/mp3 players. If that could be done, then maybe MP3/Ipods would eliminate some of the competition/rivalry over who gets Grandma's Stories first. I declared Thanksgiving weekend as the time to attempt this project. My first attempt bombed! Not the right kind of cords. However, while waiting in line to pay at the Black Friday Sales, early in the morning, BODO discovered the cord I needed. He may have been sleepy to start with, but he did wake up in the hustle and bustle of deal finding. He did GOOD! The cord is just what we needed. And now I have Grandma's stories on my computer. They have even synced to my Itunes... Next to see if I can load onto my IPod!

Happy Birthday Papa!

Recently we celebrated Papa's birthday!
We put out a fire, and it wasn't on the cake!
We watched Big-O-Daddy-O rescue a glider with a softball.
Papa had fun with Frick and Frack (aka Fun Mom and Little Princess)
Fun Mom thinks she can take Papa on, he very gently reminds her who Papa is.
Little Princess has a tendency to talk so fast, we wonder what language she is speaking and Papa gets big-eyed and confused!
Ribs were well-done but delicious. 4 little ducks hovered around Big-O-Daddy-O sqwacking for the next bite. One bite for BODO, 8 for the ducklings, and so on...

Thanking God!

Thanking God this morning. My parents' home sold yesterday. In a market, where they expected to wait at least a year. They aren't even moved yet and it has sold!
What a wonderful gift from our heavenly Father this week, a great big answer to our prayers.
Thank you Lord!

Granpa's newest ball player in training!

A couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to go to Granpa Mac's ballgame. He coaches one of the city's high school soft ball team. They wanted to charge me $20 to go in with the kids. But it pays to be related to coach. It pays for the coach to be Grandpa. Cause, shocked and wondering aloud, I asked the ticket lady if we could just go in and see Grandpa. Cause that is all we are there for. Explained Granpa was coach. Well, of course for Mr. M's, you can go on in! ! Moving on...
While we watched the game, D decides to do some "training". He starts running back and forth. Then he begins to drop and do push ups whenever he gets to the storm drain. Quickly, got our new resident photographer to take pictures. Can I say he slept ever so well that night!