Grandma-ing With the Big Girls

It is Wednesday and the world is white once again. Very little accumulation, but everything looks so clean and fresh. It began to snow just as I was leaving rehearsal for the Christmas concert last night. We have one more rehearsal just with the choir, then rehearsal with the orchestra, then dress rehearsal - then the real thing next week-end, 4 performances. It has been a lot of work, but I have been so blessed as I sing the wonderful songs of the season.

Now I really MUST get motivated to make it look like Christmas around here! I can't seem to get in the mood. I wish I could just sing, go to other concerts, go caroling, and forget shopping!

Thanksgiving was enjoyable - a really small crowd for a change, just 11 of us. My dad is 83, and has always enjoyed feeding large crowds (as opposed to cooking for the family!) So he wanted to do the turkey and dressing again this year - I was happy to give up that task for this year - and have the meal at their house.

The day before Thanksgiving was Grandparents' Day at Care Bear and Feisty's school. I am so thankful to be able to participate in these special days. First thing in the morning I went to the kindergarten room. Feisty has a wonderful brand new teacher who absolutely adores her students. I watch her hug the kids every morning as they come and every afternoon as they leave and am so thankful that she doesn't worry about being accused of anything inappropriate - which is such a sad thing that has happened to kids and their relationship with their teachers. She was born to teach little kiddoes.

One of the little girls in Feisty's class is a friend she made in preschool last year. She came right up to me and told me her grandparents couldn't come. I told her I'd be glad to be her grandma for the day. She and Feisty had fun working together on their pine cone turkeys.






At the end of the school day, I headed back to Care Bear's classroom. This is the first year she has had a "seasoned" teacher. I used to work with this teacher back in the "olden days" when I was the school lunch lady at a different school. Care Bear loves her teacher - she says she likes her because she's older and she's funny.




Care Bear made me a card for the occasion. The front was a turkey whose feathers tell the many things she is thankful for. The inside was a letter to me. It just made my day - well, maybe it made my year!






The church across the street from the school has a passion for reaching out to the neighborhood. Every semester they have what they call "Club 182" - the name based on Psalm 18:2. They invite the kids from the school to come over every Wednesday after school (early release day). They have a variety of classes the kids can sign up for - just for fun.

Feisty signed up for "Wacky Science Projects." On the last day of the classes for this semester, they hosted an open house. Feisty showed us some of their fun experiments - here she is standing on rows of paper cups, proving something about distribution of weight - one cup can't support your weight, but distributed over many, they can. I think I see a spiritual application - we can't bear the weight of this world's burdens all alone, but with the support of many others, it is doable!

She also showed us a project that sent pepper scattering to the edge of a bowl of water when you put a tiny bit of soap on your finger tip and touch the center of the water.




This semester Care Bear chose "Autumn Crafts." They made some really cute things.







The adorable scarecrows they made (upper left of the table) were used for centerpieces for the dinner they provided for all the kids and their families on the last Wednesday of this semester's session.

I have so much admiration for all the people of this church who have given of themselves so selflessly to reach out to the kids in this part of town and provide them with a safe, fun place to be on early release day.

This coming Sunday afternoon, the same renovated theater where the concerts will be next week-end will be the site of a community carol sing. I'm hoping Kristen and the girls can all join us there for a fun time of celebration.

I told you in my post about my visit with Louise that I would show you what I was able to order from her family's Christian book store. I had a lovely conversation with one of the employees as I ordered this new addition to my nativity collection. I must get down to the basement today to get the other pieces so that it can join them. Thank you again, Louise!!




Have a wonderful Advent Season!

Grandma-ing With the Twins

It's been quite awhile since I've done an update on the littles. They will be two soon - can you believe it? They are very busy little people and, as I've probably said before, caring for them is somewhat like herding cats!

They're still little for their age, but are as healthy as can be. Their vocabulary is increasing daily - we can even understand some of it! They definitely have their own language with each other.

We're thinking it would be a good time to start potty training. I bought a potty chair the other day so that we'd have one at each house. I decided, watching them, that having fun with the equipment was a good start - hopefully we'll make some progress soon.








I love watching everything they do, everything they learn. I love how young kids catch on to the technology of our world with such ease. The girls love cell phones - real, toy, or even a calculator can suffice.








I love that they can make a toy out of anything that catches their fancy - even an empty plastic bottle from the bathtub.




They have fun with anything - I heard giggling and found them in my suitcase, which I had not finished emptying after the trips.




They love to "help" with the dishes - and the laundry, though I didn't get a picture of that.

They're trying to start learning to dress themselves --





Their latest passion is shoes - and their favorite word. I caught all of these in a couple of days at my house.

We love to go to the library. Miss Lolly has so many fun things to do every week.

Ball time --

Learning to pick up is an important part --

Putting Humpty on the wall every week --





A new game this week - something with rubber duckies, fishies, froggies --

Big fuzzy friends --




And, the finale - bubble time!

Coming up next - Grandma-ing with the Big Girls!

Oh, My, If I Only Had a Brain!

A mind is a terrible thing to lose. ;-o I sometimes whimsically reflect on how I kept so many balls in the air when I was employed. How did I get all those students through to graduation? I am in awe of how organized I was in those days, all the stuff that was in my head and that I instinctively knew what needed to be done and exactly when. I can barely get my checkbook balanced these days!

So here's the story. It was Wednesday, one of the days I have the babies while Feisty is at school. I pick them up when Kristen brings Feisty to school - we switch from her minivan to mine, and I'm on my way home.

We had some breakfast and a bath and headed for a 10:50 appointment with the doctor. They were both coughing and had terrible runny noses. Kristen and Care Bear both had strep throat, and Kristen had a sinus infection besides. Going to the doctor is a way-too-often occurrence, but we couldn't take any chances.

The twinnies both had wax in their ears - they did NOT like having it removed. They also didn't particularly care for the strep test - that swab in their throats was not fun. The test was negative, which is good, but they still had the problems they came in with. They have improved greatly since, and it's always good to be sure.

As we left the doctor's office, I realized that Kohl's was just across the way. I had seen an ad for some really cute Easter dresses, and Care Bear has been asking me when I was going to be getting their dresses (which has become a tradition). Did you know that between size 4T and size 5, there is a significant price difference?? How silly! I didn't end up getting anything - the girlies were getting a tad impatient.

As I left Kohl's, I was near Panda, so the thought of some orange chicken really appealed to me. I once more took them in and out of the car, into the stroller, and into the restaurant. I was sitting there somewhat enjoying myself when I looked at my watch - 12:30. Yikes - I was supposed to pick up Feisty at 12:00! What in the world?? This isn't something that is new to my routine. I do it every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Good grief!

I called Kristen and asked her if she could call the school to tell them I was on my way. I got there at 12:45, only to find that Feisty was in no mood to leave her playmates at all! Thank goodness this is a day care center as well as a pre-school, so they serve lunch and have kids all afternoon. It wasn't like someone was there waiting with her, or they would charge extra for this slip of my sanity. In fact, the director got quite a kick out of it - I called it my April Fool's joke. She excused my lapse by saying I knew Feisty was safe, fed, and well taken care of. They're really nice to work with.

All of this wouldn't be quite so bad if I hadn't done a dumb thing the day before. Kristen was really sick on Tuesday, but I guess I thought she was going to get up out of her sick bed and go pick up Care Bear from school at 3:20. I was visiting my old office (the one in which I used to be so organized!), it was 2:50, and we were 15 miles from home - through slow moving traffic. Kristen had to call the school office to let them know I might be late. But I drove up at exactly 3:20, as the bell was ringing. Whew!

So that's confession time for today. It is raining a nice spring rain - I'm hoping it rains all night instead of turning into the predicted heavy snow. It sounds and smells so good!

Here's a final cute picture of that sweetie who got left at her school and didn't even know it.




Have a fabulous week-end!

The Week-End in Review

It went well. I am really tired, and have yet to get the kids to school tomorrow, but it was a good week-end. I have to say that I have a great deal of admiration for Kristen as she handles this sweet chaos every day - and I even have good help. I haven't been to the grocery store - we have "made do" all week-end with meals. But I just didn't have the energy to take all 4 of them grocery shopping. We did have to go to Wal-Mart to get a birthday gift for one of Care Bear's friends - the party was at Chuck E Cheese at noon today. Whoever heard of a birthday party at noon on Sunday?? We had to rush from church to get her there. Then we went ELSEWHERE for lunch - anywhere else! My word, I can't believe how many people have birthday parties at that madhouse of a place on a Sunday. She had a good time, and that's what counts. I just hope that I never have to step foot in there on a Sunday ever again. It wouldn't hurt my feelings to never have to go there any day ever again. But I am off the subject. It's always a challenge taking all those little girls shopping for a birthday gift. They have a price limit, so watching them make choices is entertaining (and nerve-wracking). The bad news is that they want one of everything for themselves, too. I keep having to remind them to "focus" - remember why we're there. I never did make it back to the grocery store. Saturday was full of photo ops. Here are a few.

Sure I miss Mommy, but Grandma's okay!

Hey, clean towels make a pretty comfy bed! Maybe I'll sleep here tonight!

Hey, that looks like fun - put me in a basket, too!

Hey, Grandma, that pbj was delish!






Good grief - I thought when Grandma found out that gate didn't work, we had full reign of the steps! This is the pits!





I am SO BIG!!



Let's see if we can pull everything from the closet and the shelves and put them in the middle of the floor!!







Since we made such a mess upstairs, maybe we should help Grandma with the dishes!

They're all in bed sound asleep. Here's hoping and praying they stay that way all night.


Last but not least, here is a bonus that the photographer gave me - she put all of my picture choices into a collage - the picture of the picture isn't the greatest, but you get the idea. I just love it.




IMPORTANT: Please hop over to Smoke Free Mama for a recap of her first 72 hours of nicotine-free life!

Have a wonderful week.