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!

Thanksgiving Memories

Here is a not-very-clear picture of the bird bath and the robins I mentioned in the last post. They are so cute out there with their bobbing little heads.

Thanksgiving Day was really nice. We ended up with 9 adults, the two bigger girls, and the getting-bigger-every-day twinnies. Everyone was in a good mood (most of the time), and the food was great. I was so busy hostessing that I forgot to take a picture of the table and the food.

The Thanksgiving goodness began on Tuesday when I was blessed to be able to go to Grandparents' Day at Care Bear's school. We all met in the gym/cafeteria until the kids were released from their classes to come and look for us. Care Bear is quite the little social butterfly and spent more time running around greeting friends than hanging out with me. But then we got to go to her classroom and then the fun began. The first graders have been busily learning about the Pilgrims, the Indians, the Mayflower, and all of the things we all learned about - I was really glad to see that. They did a little play for us --

The Pilgrims

The Indians

Care Bear pointing at something - I can't remember what!

The teacher had made a turkey out of brown grocery bags (wish I had taken a picture!), and she served the kids either white or dark meat - yellow popcorn and white. Really cute. We were served some nice cookies, and then they were to show us the room or read to us, or whatever they wanted to do. Care Bear, who's the highest reader in her class, read the easiest book she could find. The teacher commented on that. When I asked her why she chose that book, she said she just liked it.

Care Bear was excited to show me the inside of her desk --

Her teacher told me, when Care Bear wasn't around, that her desk didn't always look that good!

Wednesday I had so much to do to get ready for company, but I had the girls for quite a bit of the afternoon. They really like to help, and so we found ways for them to do that - they really did help. They actually were anxious to dust - and they were funny in their comments about how much dust there was! They were right.

Then everybody washed their hands really well and helped me make the rolls. They did a remarkably good job of rolling up the crescents --

Care Bear is the ultimate event planner. I see a great future for her in one of any number of areas. She and Feisty made all of the place cards. She wanted to set the table right then, but I talked her into waiting to come early and help me yesterday. She changed the table arrangement several times, after she had helped set the table. But back to Wednesday - she was upstairs busily doing a project, which turned out to be directions for everyone to follow.

Greeting the guests as they arrived at the front door.

Above the food table.

Pointing the guests to the dinner table.

Two wonderful shots that I can't resist sharing -

Care Bear reading a story to Aunt Sema (who had braided her hair)

Katie exploring her other grandpa's mustache.

I hope you have all had a wonderful week - let the Christmas decorating begin!!

Tuesday Trivia

It's Thanksgiving Week, 2008 - Yikes! Where has this year gone? I have been mentally writing my Christmas letter and it's going to be a doozy this year! It's been almost a year since we took that awesome trip to Hawaii. I never did do the final post on that trip!

Thanksgiving Day will be quite a bit less hectic than in the previous several years. We'll only have 10 at the table, with the two babies doing their thing, being passed around from person to person who wants to hold them. I'll do the turkey, dressing, potatoes and gravy, and my home made crescent rolls. Everyone brings a part of the meal and it turns out to be scrumptious.

Christmas will be an adventure for sure. My MIL turned 90 in October, and we will be celebrating that milestone with 90% (well, 88% if you want to be technical!) of the family here - only one grandson and family will be unable to be here. So we'll have 30 people here for a week, staying with all of us who live around here. Should be a very busy, very fun week.

I have decided to stick with glasses, at least for now. I really hate glasses, but contacts don't work for me any more and I've decided not to spend my savings on Lasik surgery. Several suggested transition lenses to avoid the problem of changing in and out of sunglasses. I tried them once, but they didn't lighten up quickly enough for my liking. Have they improved over the years, I wonder? Thanks for all the caring.

Several of you have written about your snow storms. We've had ridiculously warm weather so far this year. It is so dry that the humidifier is running 24/7. We have hoardes of birds taking advantage of our bird bath for a drink. I want to get a picture, but they get spooked with the least motion, though my patio door is a long ways from the water. Picture a ring of robins standing on the rim of the bowl, taking turns bobbing their heads into the water as if they are being very polite. I'm going to keep trying to get a picture.

I was watching a re-run of "Touched By an Angel" the other morning when I saw an episode that first came out in 1995. I was happy to see it again because it contained something very exciting for people from our town. I have told you before that this town has become a mecca for artists, particularly bronze sculptors. I've shared a few of my favorites with you, and there are many more, some of which I'll show you later today.

But back to the story - this was a very touching episode - Gerald McRaney played a heart transplant specialist who refused to do the transplant on the patient who was up for a new heart. When he heard the patient's name, he realized it was the man who had killed all of his children in a drunk driving disaster. He was finally able to put away his anger (with the help of Monica, the angel, and God, of course) and do the surgery. The end of the episode showed a wonderful sculpture which had been created by the doctor's wife in memory of their 5 children.

The sculpture was created, in real life, by an artist who lives here. I did some research when I saw the show last week and called the local Art Council, who gave me his name and phone number. I called him to ask how his piece had ended up on the show. You may or may not know that "Touched by an Angel" was filmed mostly in Salt Lake City area. At the time, in 1995, the artist, BLAIR MUHLESTEIN, was living in Park City, Utah, and had a studio there. The producers and writers of the show had written the story line with 3 children. They went looking for a sculpture that would fit in with their plot. In the window of Mr. Muhlestein's studio they found the piece pictured below. They changed the story to have 5 children rather than 3.





It lives in a park less than a mile from my house. I have always loved it, and was so happy to find the story behind the story. When I talked to the artist on the phone, he invited me to come in for a visit. I'll let you know when that happens.

When I went to take these pictures, Feisty was with me. She and Care Bear love this park and their mom and their Grandpa both take them there often. She wanted to pose for all of these pictures, so I'll share them with you -- they were all from the children's section - I'll have to show you some more someday - they are wonderful. Better yet, come visit me and we'll go for a walk in the park!









This is one of those that I don't quite "get" - Feisty thought it was pretty funny. I've included the name, if that helps!

Remember the tree over my neighbor's house that glowed in the early morning sunshine for so many days? Here it is at sunset on a recent afternoon.

A few minutes later, I tried to get the final rays - I love the deep blue still showing above the mountains.

Wrapping up - people are always asking if the twins are identical. They haven't been DNA tested, but the evidence is pretty overwhelming that they are. They do the same things at the same time, have the same facial expressions, cry the same, laugh the same, and on and on. They fell asleep in their car seats the other morning - what do you think?

Their favorite new activity at my house is to play with the radio/CD player - opening tape decks, pushing buttons, messing with the volume, trying to put CD's on to play. Quite technologically advanced! But there's nothing like a good ole Evie record (what's a record???)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!