Lots of pictures--it's a long one

I've been off for a few weeks, but still taking pictures.  Today I'll just post pictures and their discriptions.

We went for a walk down at the Marina on a very sunny windy day early in May. I want to continue to do this regularly this summer just for a change of scenery. Of course we have a stroller with a baby in it that A. pushes herself. She rotates her babies constantly. I think today was Pink Baby's turn.

We have a play structure just off the Trail, next to an ice cream shoppe.  We played for a little while on the structure and then enjoyed an ice cream cone.  A. loves to swing most of all.  Good shot of those new teeth coming in!!

A. loves to read books, even though she may not remember what the story is about. She makes up the story for herself. Sometimes she just looks for letters and  makes that the story. She can get very animated when "reading the stories" to her babies, or just to herself. Sometimes at night, before going to bed, she will pick out the book and then tell me she will read it to me. She really enjoys that and can get pretty silly with her stories.

Then there was the first really hot weekend in May and we took out the water table with all it's water toys. A. had a great time, and I put the water table on the back patio in the shade so she could play as long as she wanted without getting sunburned.  I discovered a few popsicles left over from last summer when I cleaned out the freezer. It was perfect on the hot day and she loved eating it, but she has to learn to eat it herself. She would be happy if I would hold it for her all the time. We lost a chunk of it while she was trying to push it up and she was sad. She'll get more practice this summer. The next day I cleaned off the table and chairs and let her do the rinsing. She got a little crazy with the hose, but no harm--she had fun.

Spring Concert was May 22. A. got dressed up, and, of course, took a baby in the car with her. There are 3 pre-school classes: A.'s ECP class, regular Pre-School and Ready 4's. You can find A. by looking for the one with the white ball on top of her head. It's a flower, but just looks like a puff ball. The only picture I took of the class turned out fuzzy--I hate that! The concert was adorable. You have the kids that are about 2 beats behind (which was what A. did), the ones who just stand there and do nothing, and the one who knows every word and sings as loud as her voice will carry. I videoed the concert with my phone and still get teary eyed when I watch it. I love watching kids perform.

A.'s teacher has really focused on teaching the letters to the children this year, and A. really soaked it up like a sponge. A. is proud that she can tell me what the letters are. When we are on our walk she points out and identifies the letters on the Stop sign. She is also excited to tell me the letters on the orange sign on the side of the trail.

After living in this house for almost 13 years, I have finally taken control of my front perrenial garden. It has a watering system, and I have been challenged to understand it. This is only because I haven't taken the time to try to understand it. Some of the sprinkler heads need to be replaced each year and it has confounded me as to how to do it. I finally took the time (because I have time now that I am not working) to figure out the heads, went to the local company that installs Toro sprinkler systems and bought the correct pieces. Home Depot did not have what I needed. I spent less than $10 and now have all my sprinkler heads working. As I was changing heads, I would turn on the system to check to see how they were working. A. loved this and loved putting her hands next to the heads and getting wet. She even stuck her head down so the water would go on her head. Then proudly showed me that her head was wet. Her skort was so wet that I had to change her when we went in for lunch.

I've been working hard at getting flowers planted, weeds pulled, and setting down patio blocks to clean up the front garden. Here are a few pictures of my hard work. The first picture is in the back patio. The plant stand was my Mother's, as were several of the pots, which she either gave to me or I inherited. The fountain has been working well this year, so far. The kids are having a good time walking around the garden on the patio blocks. I just set them down without cleaning the myrtle out from underneath yet. I have a couple of ground cover bushes that died, which I haven't dug out, and placed the blocks on top. I'll clean them up as the summer goes on. I'm happy with this configuration. Again, after 13 years, I finally feel I have control of this garden. Many of the plants have runners and the plants just pop up everywhere. I pull most of them out like weeds just to keep them in check. The last picture shows my front door and steps. The flower pot on the top step was a Mother's Day present from A. via my daughter in CA. Also, most of the rest of my flowers were thanks to my daughter here in TC. I'm a lucky Mom and Grandma.

That's all for now. I still have pictures of Grandparent's Day at my grandsons' school, and pictures of A.'s class visit to Moomer's farm, where they make the best ice cream in the states. I hope this is not too long, but I wanted to make sure to get all A.'s pictures out there.

Have a great weekend!

Mother's Day 2012

I had a lovely Mother's Day. Aaralynne brought home a gift on Thursday that she made in school and I opened it on Sunday. She was proud to give me a picture of her and a hand-made card with her hand print and a lovely poem. It was laminated and I will keep it forever. 

I have a Jasmine plant that my oldest daughter gave to me in 2007. It is blooming now and my house smells wonderful when I walk in the door. If you look really close you can see some blooms. Christine also gave one to my Mother and I remember the day. Our family met at a restaurant to celebrate my Mother's 87th birthday. We later went to my sister Karen's house for Mom's birthday cake. So much fun to remember these times.

Christine and 20 month old Matthew.

Mom and sisters, Kathy and Karen.

Only 1 candle on the cake. :)

I had a great lunch with my youngest son, Aaralynne's father, but forgot to take a picture. We then went to Christine's to play and have carry-out dinner. The boys and I put the dessert together (chocolate trifle), A. couldn't be bothered. I don't think she'll be much of a cook. Matthew, on the other hand, loves to help in the kitchen.  Daniel and Nickolas were good helpers, too.

Nickel and A. almost always focus on playing in the fire truck when we are there. The battery was low on Sunday and watching the two of them trying to solve the problem without charging the battery was fun. They finally realized the fire truck would work a little on the driveway as the resistance on the grass would not let it move.

I did get a few pictures of A. and me before we went home. Christine took a pic of her (Christine) and me, but it is on her camera.

Mothers's Day was a beautiful day for me.

Walks and Warm Weather

I've talked about our walks previously, and they seem to be a big part of our day. Sometimes we go after A. gets off the bus. But then we don't get home until past noon and we both are starving for lunch. Most of the time we walk after lunch. Still cool weather on this day. We continue to walk to Pirates Cove Adventure Land, about 1 mile each way. A. has her special things she likes to do, and here is learning to balance by walking on the curb. She talks to everyone. The guys recognize us now and even ask us how we are doing today. It's been a long time since we haven't brought a baby in a stroller with us. She pushes it the entire time.

We played around the yard, which we do most days the weather is good. On this day we were waiting to go meet Christine, who will watch A. so I can get a much-needed haircut. I had a busy morning and maybe not enough coffee, and was a little out of focus. So I sat and read my current book (John Grisham's The Litigators) while she played. A. has started sitting and laying in the grass, so I went in and found a beach towel for her to lay on while she eats her snack. The first picture I took showed a little too much butt crack (skinny girl will always have a hard time keeping her pants up). She is getting a little picky as to whether or not she will look at me when I take a picture. Today she wouldn't look.

There is a second miniture golf/race track funpark on our way to Pirates Cove and those guys are getting ready to open, also. One day we saw them riding the go carts around the track--getting them ready for the open. A. thought that was cool. Of course, A. talks to them, too. Here she got closer to them working in the garage to have a more in-depth conversation. The walk can get warm on the way home. A. asked me to carry her, which I immediately said no, I couldn't. She said "but I fink I have a broken leg." That girl will still do anything to be picked up.

Home again and walking on my new garden project--a walkway for the kids to enjoy, and for me to access the weeds. Also to help keep the myrtle from taking over, which may be a little too late.

In the house so I could make dinner. She was so quiet that I had to find out what she was doing. She has always loved cars, trucks, anything with wheels. She hasn't played with the airplane in a while, so it was like a new toy for her. I made a new recipe--pasta with snap peas, basil and spinach with a creamy parmesan sauce. I wasn't sure if she would eat it, but she loved the cheesy pasta and the snap peas. It was the first time I have made a creamy cheese sauce. Must remember to turn off the heat before adding the parmesan cheese. It took forever and lots of scrubbing to get the pot clean after the cheese adheared to it. *sigh*

It looks like the warm weather is going to stick around, in the 70's for the better part of the next 10 days. Up here in Michigan, that's warm--and very pleasant. One thing I like most of all about warmer weather (as opposed to HOT weather) is being able to have the windows open. I love to see the curtains blowing in the breeze.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!!

Weekend snuggle, soccer, walks and Monday baby

Our weekends are 3-day weekends as A. doesn't have school on Fridays this year. On school days I have to be in the shower at 5:15 and A. gets up at 6:15 (if not sooner). I look forward to weekends so we both can sleep in. She woke up a little earlier that I would have liked each day, but since I wasn't up, it allowed for us to have some good quality snuggle time.

If the weather is good, we spend a lot of time outside. On Saturday we went to my grandson Matthew's soccer game. They're beginners, so we have fun watching them run around the field and even get to see a few scores. A. just likes to run around. She played alone this week as his brothers did not attend. She likes to be around people, so she can always find someone to play with.

I got a few pics of Matthew in play. He is the one with the red mohawk. He and his brothers got their hair cut before the game and Matthew opted for a wild look.

We almost always go to Christine's for dinner on Sundays. I often stay outside with the kids while Christine is cooking dinner. This week was rainy, so the kids played inside. A. and Nickel play well together. But this week they decided to take apart a car raceway set and throw the pieces at each other. A. lost out on this one as one of the pieces hit her on the side of the head. She was crying a lot and as I was comforting her, I saw a trickle of blood coming down the side of her face. I quietly took her into the bathroom and cleaned her up without her seeing the blood. If she had, she would have really freaked. It was a small injury, and frankly I can't even find it now.

On Mondays we watch Amelia and if it is nice we go for a walk when A. gets off the bus. When Amelia arrives at my house at 8:15 she is very cranky--not happy that her Mom is leaving and very close to needing a nap. She cries almost all the time before she goes down at 9:00 am. But she wakes up a happy girl and loves to go outside. She also loves the walk.

We've been walking almost everyday, as long as it doesn't rain. We head out on the Trail and walk down to the Pirates Cove Adventure Park. They are cleaning it up to start the season Memorial Day weekend. They have water slides, bumper boats, miniture golf, race cars, a zip line, and other things I can't remember. A. LOVES to check out the place and says she wants to go down the water slide. But, of course, she isn't tall enough and wouldn't have the nerve to go anyway. It is a good walk, I think almost 2 miles round trip. She likes to get out and I need the exercise. We're both happy. A. almost always brings a baby and pushes it in the small stroller. She talks to everyone who we pass, thinking they care about her baby, and whatever else she thinks to say. Pretty much everyone is kind and tolerant of this beautiful little girl. We have run into a few less-than-savory characters (homeless or whatever) on the trail and I try to tactfully encourage her to just move along without talking--not easy for a chatterbox.

It's been pretty challenging to remember to take pictures of our everyday life. I hope to get better at it as time goes on. We don't live a very eventful life, but we're happy.

My time, lunch and pictures

I must say, this extra time I am getting each day because A. is riding the bus is kind of nice.  It's adding up to a little over an hour, which includes the time it took for me to transport her back and forth to school. I used to watch the clock closely so I would not be late to pick her up. Now when I check the clock I find I have lots of time left.  She is out the door at 7:30 and home by 11:10.  It is not much time in the big picture of life, but given that she is rarely out of my eyesight, it is a lot.  Everyone needs a little alone time.

Yesterday, during lunch, I opened a small bag of Sunchips to eat with my salad. A. had her beloved cheese sandwich (string cheese rolled in a tortilla), apple, cucumbers and chickadees (cheese crackers we buy at Target). She decided my Sunchips were too interesting to pass up, so ate most of the bag. The interesting part of this is the Sunchips were Garden Salsa and has just a little kick to it (my sister Kathy would probably challenge me on that as Kathy eats stuffed jalapeno peppers like they were candy).  A. is not known for eating much that is spicy, so I was surprised when she took the second chip and continued to eat them. After I took a picture of her eating her lunch, she decided she needed a photo shoot. Then she doled out the chickadees to her babies who were eating lunch with us, chattering to them the entire time.

We went to Target so her babies could ride in the rocker seats. When we got home, we took a mile walk on the trail with A. pushing both Pink Baby and Brittaney in the stroller. I make a good dinner of baked chicken, roasted peppers, smashed potatoes and corn cut off the cob, which we will have leftovers tonight.



It took A. a while to fall asleep as the sun came out and blazed into her room at bedtime. I have room darkening shades in there, but it is still light when she goes to bed at 7:30. She was still talking to me at 8:15. She has to go to bed early so she can get up at 6:15. But Mother Nature sent a very loud thunderstorm to us at 4:00 this morning. A. woke up after a particularly loud boom at 4:30, and we have been awake since then. Hopefully it will be cloudy tonight when she goes to bed and she will go right to sleep.

Happy Thursday to all, wishing everyone a good day.

Bubbles, bussing and quotes

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Aaralynne has discovered bubbles this year. Last year she just couldn't get the procedure of putting the bubble stick close to her mouth and blowing. She often put it in her mouth. She had fun the other day playing with the bubbles she received from the Easter Bunny.

                                                                                                           

She was doing well, having a good time, when I needed to run in the house and take care of some laundry. I came back out and she was finished playing with the bubbles. I saw a puddle on the driveway and asked her where the bubbles were. She said she dropped them and so threw the bottle in the trash. And so it goes.

A. decided a few weeks ago that she should take the bus to school. She is in her 3rd year attending the pre-school and the bus has been available for her to take, but she was not ready. This year there were several field trips in which the class took the bus. This experience has made A. decided she was ready to ride the bus. It started on Monday and she has been doing very well. This bus only transports pre-school children, so she is not amidst any older children.

Also on Monday, I started watching the 10 month old daughter of a friend. This friend was there for me when I first took in A., watching her and giving her much needed attention as I worked. Now it is my turn to give back. It's only 4 hours on Monday mornings, and A. is only home the last 1.5 hours. They get to eat lunch together. I have to keep telling A. she cannot pick up Amelia as much as she would like. They had a good time, and we are looking forward to these Monday mornings. She has asked me every day since if Amelia is coming today. 

I want to make sure I remember some of the quotes A. says to me, so I'll end my blogs with those I can remember.

Quotes this week:  As we are brushing teeth together, she looks at  me in the  mirror and says "Grandma, you have a big nose don't you." Me: "Yes I do."  A.: "I don't."

While sitting on the toilet: A.: "I love going to Target." She then proceeds to tell me all the things we do at Target: put her babies in the rocker seats (her name for bouncy seats, swings, etc.), look at baby toys, and, best of all, see all the babies that are there shopping with their mommies.