Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Yes, it's that time of year again for us north of 49!  Thankgiving weekend, which usually mean lots of over eating, more over eating, and more over eating LOL!  Saturday was no exception, and neither was today!

Yummy!  Pumpkin pie is always a favorite
at our house!
     

Our weather has been unbelievable this Fall, so after stuffing ourselves on Saturday, the grandkids, daddy, mommy and grandpa went outside to have a fun game of road hockey! It's a good thing we saved all those old wooden hockey sticks from days gone by. Cut down, they make perfect sticks for the kids :)

Finally when the street lights came on and it was getting too dark to see the ball as it travelled out of range of the street light, it was time for a bath to get the days "dirt" off  LOL!

As it turned out, all 3 kids were going to stay overnight, then it slowly dwindled down to only one, Hailee, and as the rest of the family was pulling out of the driveway, even she decided to go home to sleep....hehehe!  Hope you all had a great night!
    

Oh my....when was the last time we were

able to do this on Thanksgiving weekend?
  

This afternoon we headed out to another relative's home for the whole family gathering. There should be around 35 people....more food, pies...over eating LOL!  What more can a person ask for on Thanksgiving weekend :)  They live on a small lake in the city and it was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon.

   

It definitely doesn't get any better than this :)

  

Perfect picnic weather with grandpa!

       

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

Bend, twist, groan.....

Wow....I'm feeling the pain and I didn't even do anything LOL!  Last night was Hailee's 3rd dance class and I went to "spy" on her and see how she was doing.  I don't think I was ever able to get into the positions that these young girls were able to get into! Absolutely amazing.

They're preparing for their spring recital, so are wasting no time is learning the moves, bends and twists that will be on display for all the eager parents, grandparents, friends to be witness too in May.

Hailee just loves her class and we're all so happy. She's rather shy and this will be great for her to come out of her shell :))

This afternoon Grandpa went to school for a treasure hunt with Hailee and her class. He said it was a lot of fun :)  They sure are growing too fast for our liking. Before we know it they'll be graduating!

See you girls at swimming tonight!

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

Field Trips......

Having been a stay at home mom for our three sons, I was able to spend lots...and lots...of time helping at school, going on field trips with their various classes each year, and baking lots and lots of cakes for all the holidays. That's one decorated cake for each son, for each celebration LOL!

I've been very lucky to be involved in the same way with our two oldest grandkids, Hailee and Hannah :))  Grandpa however hasn't been as fortunate. Being a teacher for almost 30 years before he retired, he wasn't able to go on any field trips with our sons.  Sooooo he is now thoroughly enjoying Field Trips with Hailee and Hannah.

Over the last couple of years he's carved pumpkins at the grocery store a couple times, toured grocery stores, and has been involved in a few other things that this grandma's brain can't even remember LOL!

Today was no exception.  Hannah, who is in kindergarten, was having a Field Trip to the library in town.  Some of the chaperones were allowed to go on the bus, as room permitted, so Grandpa made sure he was at school early so he could ride the school bus with Hannah :)  One of her little friends was sitting with them on the bus as well, and another little girl came up to them and said she wanted to sit with Grandpa too....hehehe! Hannah let her know they didn't have room. She's very "protective" of her grandpa and doesn't like to share...as was evidenced by her holding his hand the whole time :)

All went well and she asked Grandpa if he would go with her the next time they go on a Field Trip :)  The smile on his face was huge, and makes me happy that he can enjoy doing things with the grandkids that I took for granted with our own sons.

Later this week he'll be at school with Hailee as her class has a treasure hunt. Should be fun and I look forward to hearing all about it :)

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo
P.S. Speaking of our Hannah, she didn't have a very good day yesterday.  Our DIL got a call from school, saying the little girl sitting with Hannah on the bus to school, was sick...all over Hannah :((  So our DIL brought fresh clothes etc and was able to get Hannah back into class with little lost time.  The thing I think that upset Hannah the most is that the girl was sick all over her new backpack :( It couldn't be salvaged.

I had been shopping in town and called our DIL about finding Fairy costumes for Hannah for Halloween. She asked if I could possibly go to a certain store to try and find the same backpack that she had to throw out.  Luckily I was able to find the same color...purple...but it had Pandas on it and not cupcakes as her original one had. She was still very happy, and so was I.

It's amazing at how things that can seem so insignificant to adults, mean the world is falling apart to a little child.

Laughter, Giggles and

   

Screams of delight!  Yes, it's that time of year again when the ghosts and goblins start to make their appearance in neighborhood yards, in anticipation of real live ghosts and goblins knocking on doors, anxiously holding Halloween bags wide open to see what bounty will be poured in :)

It all started with a phone call last night from Hailee. She wanted to tell me that she, Hannah, Cade, mom and dad were all walking over here this morning.  She was a bit worried that she may be too tired to ride all that way with her scooter, so I assured her that grandpa would come pick her up if she called along the way.

LOL...I should have known better than to offer that suggestion.  About 10 minutes from their house, our phone rang.  Come pick up the kids....hehehe....they had already stopped about 10 times and the kids said grandpa would come to pick them up :)

I knew they'd be hungry...as they always are....so I decided to make orange colored crepes, which they love, in honor of the season. Sure enough, they came in like a whirlwind and found the crepes immediately.... "where's the syrup, where's the Nutella, where's my fork??"

With full bellies, they ventured out to the garage with Grandpa in seach of Hannah's favorite Halloween decoration, the infamous witch she fell in love with when she was two, and has HAD to see first every year at this time! So that's why our garage and driveway were filled with lots of laughter, giggles and screams as all 3 grandkids and grandpa, dutifully emptied all my Halloween decorations....making sure to bring each new treasure into the house to scare mom, dad and grandma LOL!

  

They wanted to set everything up and were disappointed when we told them it was a month away and way too early to put it all out.  So a couple spiders and sheer ghosts with happy faces, made the cut. 
 

    

As they pulled out of the driveway, they were disappointed they couldn't stay longer, but the girls were off to their first Can Skate session this afternoon. No doubt there will be some sore bottoms and elbows later tonight LOL!

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

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