Thursday, October 02, 2008

Friday Fun Stuff

NOTE: The lovely new look is thanks to my incredibly talented, super busy daughter who took time to refresh my site. I have no ability to do this on my own. Thanks, toots!

Wow, another week has flown by. It has been a beautiful weather week here. But this afternoon a bit of a storm blew in and Feisty and I enjoyed watching the leaves raining down from the trees - while it was raining. I tried to catch a picture of them falling, but they were too quick.

I mentioned last week that my schedule had changed when Feisty began preschool. So here is what my week looks like now -

Monday and Tuesday: Drive to the gym around 7:15; push the stroller and meet Kristen at preschool at 8:30; push the twins back to the car and take them home with me.

Monday and Tuesday: pick up Feisty from preschool at 11:30, keeping the 3 girls until 12:30, when Kristen comes to get them.

Wednesday: Go to the gym (or not) really early; drive to Kristen's house, pick up Feisty and the twins, drive Feisty to school so Kristen can help in Care Bear's classroom with the kids' reading. Take the twins home with me. Pick Feisty up at 11:30; take all 3 home for another hour, or take them home around noon.

Thursday: Kristen has Bible Study, so she takes Feisty to school and the twins to the church nursery. I have my morning to go to the gym and do anything else I want to do. She picks up Feisty at 11:30 and brings all 3 to me, picking them up after Care Bear gets out of school at 3:20.

Friday: Feisty doesn't have school, so I go to the gym (or not) and pick them up at 10:30 for 11:00 story time at the library. They go home around 1:30 or 2:00.

I have them so much so that Kristen can "attend" her on-line courses and study - her last post tells about the horrendous assignment she finished this week - I had them more this week than usual to accommodate this unbelievable project's completion. (BTW - she has a perfect record of A grades on every assignment and test so far - YAY!)


Whew. I have to think about it every day to be sure we're at the right place at the right time!

Remember the guy who lost 57 pounds and won the contest at the gym? Believe it or not, he suffered a light heart attack while he was exercising on the stair machine. He ended up in the hospital and had a stint installed. The doctors have told him that if he hadn't been in such good shape from the weight loss and the work-outs, he might have died. Amazing! Talk about a blessing in deep disguise!

I just have to tell this funny story on my dear DC. There's a guy in our church who has the most fantastic garden every summer. He loves to share his bounty with us. DC brought home a very large bag of onions - Look at the size of this one!



The funny part - I opened the fruit drawer in the fridge and found the fruit sharing space with the onions! There were too many for the vegetable drawer. I quickly removed them, explaining to DC that I didn't think we really wanted onion-flavored apples, grapes, or cantaloupe!



Care Bear and Feisty are keeping busy with swimming lessons and soccer. Feisty is quite the little kicker and wants to be a goalie. Right now they're learning the game. She's the one on the right in purple.


Good save, Feisty!



Care Bear was practicing gymnastics instead of watching her sister - facial gymnastics, too!



Feisty is quite the photographer, too. Here are some of her better shots.


Her hand --


Her feet --


A couple of weeks ago I won Barb's giveaway of one of her books. I really enjoyed this book and would love to pass it on. Just indicate your desire to have the book and I'll draw the winner next Thursday, October 9. It's a very good read.


Have a great week-end!




21 comments:

Linds said...

I love your new look Dawn! I wondered if I was at the right place initially!

It is good to hear all your news - that was one huge onion - and see the girls at play.
Have a super weekend!

Midlife Mom said...

Love, love, love your new look!!! Did Kristen do it for you? It is terrific! Oh, speaking of Kristen, I can't get onto her site now. I could when she first sent the invite but tried today and yesterday and it wouldn't let me. What do you suppose is up with that?
You are one busy Grandma! I would have to write down every days schedule so that I would know where I was supposed to be! Your retirement sure came at the right time didn't it? God's timing is always right!
Hey that is one huge onion! You should make a blooming onion out of that one and it would feed a whole family! Yum!
We moved Mom to the rehab facility yesterday. She is not very happy and wanted to come home. Very hard and I bawled all the way home. There is no way we can take care of her at home at this point. We would if we could in a heartbeat but we can't. They have told us that she will probably be there about two weeks. Her knee incision looks good and the swelling is going down. Once they get her on her feet it will go down more. Please pray for her as this is very hard and she doesn't seem to understand why she can't come home. Knee replacement surgery is no walk in the park!
Love the pics of the girls playing! What fun! Give all the girlies a hug for me! xoxo

nancygrayce said...

I love you new look too!!! I wish I had the guts to even try! I don't, or the time. Oh, except times like now, when I'm on the computer instead of doing what i should be doing! :) The girls are darling. When my grandson is here, he loves taking pictures! Only, he zooms in for close ups of my face and those MUST be deleted quickly! Have a great weekend. You are one wonderful grandmother and I know Kristen is happy to have you to help!

Needled Mom said...

The fall colors are my absolute favorite so I love your new blog look. I like your grandchildren comment better than one I recently saw in a magazine that said "grandchildren are your reward for not killing your child." Guess that one could be taken several ways.

Perhaps the real prize for that gentleman was saving his own life. Thank goodness he had himself in the shape he needed.

Your schedule sounds very busy. Bet you are glad to not have a work schedule to also have to fit in there.

I, too, could not access Kristen's site this week. I went back to my old mail and re-invited myself. It worked great.

The soccer photots are too cute. It's amazing how quickly they learn the sport.

Have a good weekend.

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Very Fall-like, Dawn. I especially like the notebook paper for the main post area. Kristen did a great job!

Boy, you ARE busy! I'm quite a bit younger than you and just thinking about all that exhausts me. I'd have to have a written itinerary to keep up with where I was supposed to be and who I was supposed to have where.

Eww, onion flavored cantaloupe and apples! Blech!

Feisty and Care Bear seem so little for sports, but they're starting them younger and younger these days....

LOL at Feisty's photos! ;o)

Happy Weekend, Dawn!

Love and hugs,

Diane

Christa said...

Love the look!
Sounds like your busy with the girls, and probably loving it. Retired? Well maybe from you other job, but not from being a grandma.
Have a great weekend.
God bless

Sharon Lynne said...

I love the fall picture. Today, in Southern California, the weather FINALLY turned cooler and so I am pronouncing this day the first day of fall. 10/3

The girls are so cute. You are QUITE busy. I hope you have some nice time for yourself in the afternoons...on some of those days.

What's the book about? I'm not much of a fiction reader, but need an escape once in awhile. How'd you like The Shack?

Tammy said...

Your blog is just gorgeous, Dawn! How nice of her with all she has going on to do this for you!
But then...you're being equally wonderful...and busy! Wow, I guess you didn't have to wonder if you'd stay busy when you retired! LOL

I went and googled this book really quick since I didn't know anything about it and it sounds wonderful...please enter me into the contest!

I'll be having a little contest very soon too, so be sure to check back!

Have a great weekend, my friend...
Hugs,
~Tammy

Judith said...

A great time of the year for this beautiful blog change. Thank you so much for sending the autumn leaves.

Of course the grandchildren are just as lovely. They really do bless our lives.

Jess said...

I love your new look! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend, and please enter me into the contest.

SentimentsbyDenise said...

Hi Dawn! I really like the new look of your blog - so Autumn-ish!
It's amazing how busy you are now that you're retired, but it still probably doesn't feel like "work", does it?
Happy Fall days to you!
Denise

Barb said...

I have the kids a lot lately, too, Dawn, but I'm realizing after reading this, how lucky I am. Once they arrive we stay put!

It's nice to see photos of the kids on your web site again. I'm assuming that's all worked out now.

I have endless admiration for Kristin - it can't be easy going back to school with a houseful of little ones. I'll bet she thanks her lucky stars every single day, for you!

Barb said...

PS - I love this new look.

Mimi said...

wow!!
you had to retire to keep up with your schedule....
isn't it great to stay busy with things and people that you love!!!
Fiesty is going to be a great photographer if she keeps practicing!!!
Have a great (and busy) week...

someone else said...

The new blog look is lovely. I can almost smell the scent of cinnamon, fireplace smoke and something yummy cooking. Glad you got it done.

SentimentsbyDenise said...

Hey - I noticed that I'm no longer one of your "blogging buddies" - was it something I said? :(

Robin said...

I love your new look! I really need to get rid of that chair on the beach on my blog - I just don't have the time to figure it all out right now!

That is one humongous onion!

Linda said...

I too love your new look. It's a wonderful picture.
You are so busy Dawn! You have my absolute admiration for all you do for Kristen. I babysit only occassionally and when they go home I feel like I need a nap! You are such a blessing.
Looks like the girls are all having lots of fun. The pictures are great!
Have a good week Dawn.

Nancy said...

I need Kristen to do a makeover for me... I love your new look.

You are a blessing for Kristen and her girls. I don't know how you do it but what positive influence you will be in their lives!

It's starting to look a lot like fall in your area. The photos are great!

Carole Burant said...

Well geez...I'd been checking in on you to see if you had a new post up and this morning I check again and see you have TWO up! You snuck those in while I wasn't looking! lol I so love your new look, Kristen did a fabulous job again:-)

Sounds like you're very busy...are you sure this is called "retirement"?? lol I can well imagine, though, how much Kristen appreciates having you helping her, otherwise she may not have been able to accomplish everything she's been doing.

Loved seeing the pictures of the girls, quite the little characters aren't they! hehe Care Bear's photography skills are breathtaking!!! lol

Congrats on winning Barb's book giveaway, glad you enjoyed reading it:-) xoxo

groovyoldlady said...

Oooo. Your new fall layout looks MUCH nicer than mine. Much, MUCH nicer!

Not that I'm envious or anything.

You certainly are one BUSY retired lady. What a blessing that God timed your retirement and availability with Kristen's need for extra help.