Ready or not....

Here we come! 

Those were the resounding words we heard through out backyard last night as Cade and Grandpa, and Hannah and I paired up for a game of Hide & Seek.  We have a lot of nooks and crannies in our yard that make the best places to hide. Mind you, this grandma couldn't quite squeeze into some of the "holes" that Hannah could, and she couldn't understand what grandma just couldn't do it LOL!

Cade is so funny....he can't stop talking or laughing, so he made it very easy to know where he and grandpa were hiding, but I told Hannah to pretend we were having a hard time...hehehe!  What fun. They didn't even want to come in for bath time!

Once they were bathed, in pjs, with snacks in hand, we all settled down to watch Spooky Buddies. Hannah was so tired she fell asleep before it was even over, and Cade decided he and grandpa should go watch the hockey game in the bedroom LOL!  Didn't take long before he had grandpa taking him to bed.

Both kids slept well all night and at 7:30 the first thing from their mouths was "pancakes grandma" :)  Blue ones this time!

Mom called around 9:30 to say daddy would be here to pick them up, and both yelled "no, we're not ready....we have to have another sleepover" LOL!  Cade is such a little smartie pants.  When grandpa said he should get his shoes on, the panic was evident in Cade's voice...."no, daddy not here yet". As if it would prolong his time here if he didn't have his shoes on when daddy arrived LOL!

Time goes so quickly...for the grandkids and especially for us grandparents! And as tired as we are when they leave, we can hardly wait for the next visit :)

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

Let The Music Begin.....

Seven year old Hailee absolutely loves to dance...to the beat of her own drum...but she still loves to dance :)  A few years ago she took a few dance classes, but didn't enjoy it, so she quit...one of many things she has tried, and has refused to continue with.

This year our DIL decided to try again and brought her to a different dance school last night.  Poor Hailee kind of freaked out when she realized she was going to be in a class with some 10 year olds.  So the owner of the school gave her some hugs and said she would see how she does and then place her in another class next week once she saw what she could do.

Well, she loves it!  She did very well and is very flexible, so she's dropping down one class with kids that have already been dancing for a couple years, but are more around her age.  Quite the accomplishment Ms. Hailee!!  Grandpa and I look forward to attending your recital at the end of the year :)

Lucky us, while Hailee was at dance class (just across the highway from the subdivision where we live) we got to spend some time with Hailee's little brother, Cade!  LOL...as soon as he comes in the door and goes to find Grandpa, the very next thing he always wants to do is eat!  "I want eat Mama"....he's called me Mama since he started to talk, so I'm wondering if it will stick :) So cute.

After some snacking, play time and a bath, mom, dad and the girls were here to pick him up. It's amazing how much you can cram into an hour LOL!
Tonight the girls have swimming lessons.  Not sure if I'll be going as I have a darn head cold that is making my life miserable today.  Regardless, I'll make their little lunches for them and Grandpa can take it to them :)  Think I'll go have a big bowl of homemade lentil soup that I made this morning.

Grandma love you
xoxo

Feeding the Ducks...er...gulls LOL!

As if my Birthday weekend could get any better, we had Hailee, Hannah and Cade for the day yesterday. Yipeeeeee!  A beautiful sunny, cool Fall day, 3 kids who had energy to burn....it all added up to "we need to get out with them" LOL!  So naturally that meant feeding the ducks.
 

  Off the kids and grandpa go...Cade struggling with

a loaf of bread under his arm...to see if the swans

were back at another section of the lake.

 

    

 

   
The kids were all excited and so were grandpa and I. It's always such fun.  However for some reason today there seemed to be more gulls flying around screeching, than there were ducks or geese.  It didn't matter though. We were loaded down with 4 loaves of bread as well as a big bag of buns, and whatever was able to get to the pieces thrown out on the grass and into the water, was more than welcome to have it.

We all had a good laugh when one gull grabbed a half bun from the water and tried to take off with it....s/he was followed by a dozen or so other gulls, all trying to get s/he to drop the bun LOL!

I'm not sure though who had more bread....the kids, or the birds LOL! 

Everyone say cheese!

Funny how kids are always attracted to "rocks"!

   

Can it get any better?

 

Pretty good smiles considering the sun was shining

right into their faces :)

 

All in all it was a great weekend!  I had packed lunches for the kids, which they could hardly wait to get into. Food always tastes better when you're outside :)

When we were done at the park, we took a little drive to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa.....

 

It was time to leave and get back home.  More plans...the playground is calling...but not before everyone has a snooze LOL!

You can just get a glimpse of Hannah sound asleep

in the back seat....ahhhh....quiet :)

 

Hmmmm....maybe this grandma will stop counting birthdays this year and I can be 60 again next year!

To add even more excitement to the weekend, our little Hannah lost her very first tooth This morning!  Yup....it had been loose for a few days, and she was quite upset that it hurt and was bleeding a wee bit. So I convinced her to let me look at it and then convinced her to let me flick it.  She wasn't too sure, but I talked her into it as this happened before we left to feed the ducks.  She, or none of us, would have a very good time if she had a wet paper towel in her mouth the whole time. So bravely she opened her mouth and let me take it out.

 

See.....hehehe....it's right there on the bottom left :)
 



Pop....just like that. Out it came....sooooo tiny. Wonder if the tooth Fairy will be able to find it LOL!

 

Grandma loves you

xoxoxoxo

60? Already?

I know I've said many time how time flies...especially when you're not looking. But wow, on Friday, Sept 16th I turned 60.....already! Where did all those years go? I can remember it all like it was yesterday. Can I possibly have three grown sons, grandchildren and still feel like I'm "much" younger? LOL!
After telling hubby and our DIL for weeks that I did NOT, repeat NOT want a birthday party, I have to admit that I had loads of fun and it will be a weekend to remember. It was perfect, absolutely perfect. So a great big thank you to our dear Angele for putting so much time, planning, energy and love into making my birthday weekend just that....perfect :)
 

 
Great family, friends and food....who can complain about that? Our DIL's parents did a fish fry...yummy!  I LOVE fish and they worked hard, frying up 80 fillets which disappeared in record time I believe. Thanks SO much Sue & Eddie. It was very much appreciated!

All the kids were excited because any birthday is a big deal to them, let alone grandma's 60th...hehehe!  Balloons, cake, playing, laughing...what more can anyone ask for :)
   

This was too funny! As I was lifting Cade onto my

lap for pictures, his left foot ended up in the cake LOL! 

  A very special gift made by Hailee (grey sweatshirt).

A lovely card and an empty pudding cup container(washed LOL)

with beautiful flower stickers placed perfectly around it,

 and wrapped just so.

Gifts from the heart that grandma will treasure forever!

Something a little funny, and frightening at the same time....

the gift bag that Hailee had her gift in, had somehow been placed

in the trash bag.  Yikes....we had to go over to their place on Sunday to

dig through the gift wrapping trash to find the gift!  I would have

been SO heart broken had it been destroyed....and so would of Hailee!

 

Getting comfy and star gazing around the fire with Hannah after

all the festivites were over with. Yes, that is a winter jacket

I have on.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but it was cold!

Hannah ended up falling asleep in her chair and had to

be carried to bed by Uncle Warren!

 

Grandma & Grandpa, after a very fun day!

Believe it or not, Hailee took this picture. I think

she has a future in her hands!!

  

So after all my complaining and saying NO party, I have to admit it was a wonderful time. I received lovely, heart felt gifts that I will treasure for a lifetime....and by gifts, I don't mean just the kind a person can open. Thanks to my family and friends for making my 60th so very, very special :)

P.S. As an added bonus, we had the 3 grandkids the day after my party.  Hannah had her very first loose tooth and it was bothering her to no end.  She finally let me look at it. I knew it HAD to come out or it would ruin her whole day.  I quickly flicked it a couple times and out it came. Just as quickly she ran to the bathroom for water and more water as she didn't like the taste of blood LOL! 

Her very first tooth fairy visit! How special!

  

Grandma loves you

xoxoxoxo

 

Swimming, Swimming.....

....in my swimming pool!

Ms. Hannah learning how to take a flip

 into the pool! Well done Hannah!     

Yes, it's Thursday night and swimming lesson time.  I was able to snap a few quick pics before I was told that NO picture taking was allowed :(  Times have changed.
 

Our Ms. Hailee was so afraid of the water a couple

years ago. She has since turned into a fish LOL!

Great job Hailee!

You'll notice that I'm playing catch up with my posts.  It was a very busy week/weekend, and I have no idea how to change the date on my posts, so everything is happening today LOL!

Grandma Loves You
xoxoxoxo

Teddy Bears, Bunnies & puppies....

All stuffed of course LOL!  This is what I played "catch" with this morning when I drove over to pick up our DIL and her friends to bring them golfing for the day.  The GK's were at the top of the stairs and could hardly wait to show me their bounty from the Family Day at a local church yesterday.  Everything at the Family Day is free, including hotdogs/juice etc for the wee ones. The games are "rigged" LOL and make sure everyone wins a ticket, then the ticket can be exchanged for the stuffed teddy bears, bunnies and puppies LOL!

So the three GK's stood at the top of the back stairs by their back door and started throwing their 'Prizes' down to me and I would throw them back up the stairs. Lots of laughs, lots of teasing that I was going to bring the prizes all home with me...hehehe!

After dropping the girls off at golfing I stopped to quickly say "Hi" to the GK's and once again they came running down the hallway with their "bounty" to play our game of catch.  Daddy was getting them ready to head to town to do some errands and of course, none of them wanted to go...pleading to come home with me.  I couldn't stand listening to their little (okay, loud) voices asking if they could come with me, so this grandma does what she always does, and said "let's go" LOL!

A couple hours later as we were having lunch, daddy called and said he was on his way home....again, as usual, there was a big groan, and 'can we play just for 5 more minutes grandma?' :)  Once dad came in they packed up to go to another Fun Day at the local mall...face painting, cotton candy...everything that makes a child's day.  Grandpa also went up with them and about half an hour later Grandpa came in with little Cade. It was hot, Cade was tired, and hungry LOL!  He still isn't feeling up to par...but that's another post later in the week when he sees the pediatrician!!

Something to eat, something to drink, some cuddle time on the couch and daddy and his sisters came in. But how can these be our GD's that just came in the door??  My goodness, a big blue butterly and a big pink butterfly were looking up at us with sparkles on their wings.  Gotta love face painting...hehehe!

 

Our little Ms. Hannah decided to use a laundry

basket as her new puppy's (prize bounty) cage LOL!

                                                                               

A bit more play time then the lure of Dairy Queen was all it took for them to drop what they were doing, get their shoes on and away they went for their cool, creamy treat! Oh to have such energy once again!

Have a great week kids!

Grandma loves you

xoxoxoxo

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting.....

It's been a long few days since getting the news of Cade's abnormal bloodwork. The pain in his leg is still there and he seems to be getting weaker and weaker, and more tired....listless.

After the bloodwork results they sent him for a Bone Scan on Tuesday...more waiting...anxiety....stress. Yesterday the results came in and weren't good.  They said an MRI had to be done to make sure they know what they're dealing with and if there's much damage to the bone (from the right knee down to the ankle).
   

 Sleeping it off after the Bone Scan!

Wake up little guy, wake up!
 

The poor little guy was admitted last night and awaken this morning at 6:00 to have the IV inserted for the MRI. He should be having the MRI as I type this. He was not happy :)  I'm sure the fact that he couldn't eat had something to do with it too...hehehe!

I must admit we did have a bit of relief from the stress when he woke up from the bone scan. He was a happy little "drunk" LOL!  He was swaying back and forth, humming, singing, just being silly and totally relaxed. Everyone was in stitches...hehehe! 

So, we sit here doing more waiting, waiting, waiting....and hopefully the MRI results won't take too long and the doctors will know how to treat him.  They think it's osteomyelitis....fancy name for bone infection...and that would mean staying in the hospital for a few days on IV antibiotics.  Hopefully they are dealing with a bone infection and nothing worse, that there is no damage to the leg bone and that it hasn't gone to his blood.

Only time will tell, and in the meantime we are waiting, waiting, waiting :)

On a happier note, Hailee and Hannah got to spend the night with us while mom and dad were at the hospital with Cade.  The girls had swimming lessons last night so we brought them there and a nice surprise was that mom, dad and Cade were able to come watch for a while.  Cade was able to get a pass for a few hours to leave the hospital...yeah!

This morning was a whirlwind getting the girls ready for school. I forgot how much "fun" it was to make lunches again LOL!  Grandpa drove them to their place to catch the school bus....they didn't want to get a ride to school, but wanted to see their friends on the bus :)

Counting down the minutes til the phone rings!

A couple hours later and just heard from our dear DIL.  It took Cade an hour to fall asleep after being sedated for the MRI. He just fought it.  Then she had to crawl into the machine with him when he woke up before it was done. Little stinker LOL! We should have results within the hour! Good thoughts please :)

Unbelievable!  This afternoon around 3:00 little Cade was discharged by a Medical Student....saying all the tests came back "okay". How can that be? What about the limp? What about the pain, the fatigue, the falling?? How can they say there's a blur near his ankle on the MRI, yet say it's due to him moving...and not check it out further?  Sigh.......

Our son and DIL are NOT happy. They let the staff know and were told one of the Peds will call them. So many questions, and no answers.  Can we blame it on hurried staff who wanted to just get home on a beautiful Friday afternoon, not giving the MRI results a second glance?

Hopefully they are right and whatever was bothering the little guy, is gone...for good!

Grandma Loves You
xoxoxoxo

School Days, School Days.....

Good old golden rules days.....Okay, okay, so I'm dating myself with that little jingle LOL, but all these decades later it is still appropriate. Although I'm not sure if they still have any Golden Rules now a days.

A cold, overcast Fall morning with frost in the air and two beautiful granddaughters dressed in their special "first day" outfits, filled with excitement for what this day, and year, will bring...old friends, new friends, new teachers, new classroom, new things to learn...it all adds up to growing up way too quickly :)

When our second GD, Hannah, was contemplating about not going to school a couple weeks ago I asked her that if she didn't go to school how would she learn all the things she needs to learn in life.  She looked at me with her innocent beautiful brown eyes and said "from you grandma". Plain and simple....she could learn everything she needs to know in life from me...grandma!  Everything is so simple in a child's eyes.

 

Okay folks....as you can see in the first picture, the

girls look cold...that's because it was cold. Back into

the house for warmer jackets!
  

I have to admit that when our three sons were young and in school I hated, yes hated, Labor Day weekend. I loved having our kids at home all summer and the thought of having to send them back to school in September made me very sad. Maybe it's the control freak in me....hehehe...but Labor Day weekends for me were full of hidden tears, no sleep, anxiety, restlessness...you name a negative response and I felt it all on those weekends. It's not quite as bad with the grandkids thank goodnes :)

Of course once a few days passed and we got back into the routine of lunches, homework, sports, earlier bedtimes, earlier wake times Labor Day weekend became a faint memory until the following year when it started all over again LOL!

Added to the anxiety of this weekend for me was a phone call last night saying our Grandson was in the ER waiting to see a doctor about some problems he's had the last few days....swollen knee, spiking fever, paleness and falling because his right leg would give out. I bet any parent or grandparent reading this is letting their mind race to exactly where mine has been racing too all night.  Sigh.....

After many hours and many tests the verdict is he has to see the Pediatrician this afternoon as a couple abnormalities showed up in his blood work showing inflammation. I'm trying to be positive and hopefully it's something as simple as an infection that can be taken care of with medication. If it's something more serious we will deal with it as families do...with lots of love and support.

Our DIL dropped him off this morning while she ran some errands and he came running up to me at the back door, the biggest smile on his face, and all I did was worry that his leg may give out and he could fall in the driveway :(  Stop it brain, stop it!
 

Our little guy doing one of his most
favorite things....Eating!

   

Another favorite thing to do....

fill up grandpa's jar with tea bags!

He's gone to the dump with grandpa at the moment to unload a bunch of junk we cleared from the garage over the weekend....second trip LOL!  Hopefully in the next decade we will get our two car garage cleared of all the junk that hubby was asking himself all weekend..."why on earth did I save this for all these years?" LOL!

Time to bake the pizza-pan oatmeal cookie that has become a tradition for the GD's first day of school. Cade wants to help so he can add the flour/oatmeal and then sprinkle the mini chocolate chips around the edge of the "cookie". The little bum said that grandpa and I couldn't have any when we bring it over...hehehe!
 

"Cheese"
Or should we say "chocolate chips" LOL!
It all tastes better with a little help from little hands! 
  

When can we have a piece?

   

 

Hey, we can't forget little brother....after all
he did help make it!

 

Oh, by the way...Cade did change his mind

about grandma and grandpa having a piece of cookie LOL!

    
We have two things to look forward to this afternoon....seeing the girls after school to hear all about their first day, and anxiously waiting to hear what the Ped says about Cade. Wish us luck!

Update:  Just got off the phone with our DIL. Cade is going for a bone scan tomorrow morning. The Ped feels it may be a bone infection as the fever he had last week had no other symptoms, and he is limping a bit. She said his femur above his right knee is very tender. So, keeping our fingers crossed that all turns out well :)

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

Happy Half Birthday To You....

Happy Half Birthday to you,
Happy Half Birthday dear Hannah,
Happy Half Birthday to you :)

Yes, another tradition this grandma started when our first granddaughter Hailee was born.  We just HAVE to celebrate their half birthdays. I mean really...does anyone need another excuse to have more cake? LOL!

I usually make just half a cake for these "special" occasions and decorate it, however in this instance, it's a Jello "Cake"...hehehe!  Hannah is really not into cake, if you can believe a five year old not liking cake, but she really loves jello.
 

Just look at that smile!
Someone is growing up waaaaay too
fast for my liking! 

       

Not only is she at her halfway mark between being five and six today....and most definitely needed to have it celebrated with green jello and the half birthday song....but she is going into Kindergarten on Tuesday! As I said....growing up way too fast.  Hopefully she will always love to celebrate her half birthday though for many years to come :)

I must say, it didn't last long once we all got into it, and as you can see, Hannah made sure every last bit was gone LOL!
  

    Can we say yummy?

  
As it was raining today....rain on Labor Day weekend, imagine that LOL....and both our little Sparkles and her brother Mylo (who owns our son/DIL/GK's) were in the backyard playing during our visit, they were completely soaked/muddy from top to bottom...hehehe...kind of cute actually. They looked like they'd been living on the streets for months.

We have a "wild" back corner of the yard that has huge brush piles/trees and has been left to go wild for bird/small animals. There's a path all around the wild area that is just dark earth which equals mud when it rains.  We're going to get some wood chips soon to lay down in the hopes of keeping both dogs and kids clean!
 

Bare earth, running dogs, add a bit

of rain and it equals a big mess!

Hopefully the woodchips will be coming soon!
 

Anyway, I couldn't see sending Mylo home the way he was and Sparkles most certainly was NOT coming into the house looking like she did, so I thew both muddy little dogs in the tub and scrubbed/bathed/rinsed/conditioned each until they sparkled! Nothing smells as good as a dog freshly washed with Pantene shampoo LOL!

Once dry the little family packed up dog, kids and off they all went for various sleepovers tonight. One going to a friends, the other having a couple friends in for a sleepover...all such fun at that age.  This grandma and grandpa can now have a nice quiet evening :)  Well, not before grandma has a shower. Those dogs really do get a person wet while bathing them LOL!

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo