Ring, ring, ring.....

Yup...that was the ever familiar sound of the phone yesterday morning when our DIL called to see if we were busy :)  Hailee has two dance classes on Saturday morning and the whole gang was going to go in and then do some shopping.  Well, little sister Hannah and little brother Cade did not want to go....so what's the next best thing....hehehe...call grandma and grandpa to see if they could come over :)

They were dropped off around 10:30 and the fun began.  I was wondering how to keep them busy when it dawned on me...they could help grandma decorate for Christmas!!  And that's what we did. Two excited kids hurrying down the stairs, with grandma following, to the secret room under the stairs (sorry, no Harry Potter living under my stairs LOL).

The boxes kept coming and coming and coming....calling for grandpa to help carry the heavy ones upstairs to the living room....huffing and puffing as Cade would help grandpa by holding one end of each box as he backed up the stairs...hehehe....and Hannah proudly showing me how she could carry one all by herself because "it's not heavy grandma...I can do it by myself." And she did! Great job guys :)

Of course their little minds are like an elephants...they never forget LOL! So that means they knew exactly what they were looking for when it came to decorations. "Grandma, remember this....grandma remember that?"  And so it began.  Tops flew off the boxes and the search started for the Santa that climbs up the ladder. They had the ladder but where was that darn Santa grandma?? LOL

As another top flew off a box, and another, and another, all in search of that Santa, the living room began looking like a Christmas bomb exploded....hehehe!  Grandma tried to 'control' the number of decorations that were being put here, there and everywhere....when their attention would focus on something else they saw in another box.

Then pay dirt! They found the box containing 'their' decorations. Yes, the box of all boxes....the holy grail. Their decorations....little nativity people, lots of musical decorations with those little people that "skate" on the mirrored surfaces, the two story Christmas house whose front opened to music, lights and little things turning in circles inside.....it was all there. But where can we put them?  The little white cupboard that is home to these decorations at Christmas time was nowhere in sight. Grandpa came to the rescue...yipeeee! He knew exactly where it was. All was well with the world again :)

As soon as it was set up, Hannah started organizing...her favorite thing to do LOL...and they were all in place within a few minutes. Of course the 6 or so musical decorations that Cade had on the ottoman weren't enough and he let us know after seeing Hannah's set up...."I don't have any decorations" was his battle cry as he made a move to the white cupboard....hehehe!  Luckily we stopped him in his tracks and the focus was back on Santa....remember? The Santa that climbs up that red ladder...hehehe!

Back downstairs for another box and sure enough, there he was. Santa, just laying on the top of the decorations when we took the top off. Hurry up grandma and get him on the ladder.  Cade being a boy, knew all there was to know about hanging the lights up with Santa and turning the button on the attached sleigh to magically send Santa on his way up the ladder, and back down again.

So the fun continued and I told both kids that we wouldn't open any more boxes right then. We did have to leave some for big sister Hailee after all :)  Plus, next Sunday will be tree decorating time when all 3 kids do our main tree...yeah!

What's that? The phone was ringing again.  It was mom. She wanted to know if grandpa and I would like to go to the movies with all of you.  Grandma's back has been bothering her the last week or so and there's no way I could sit for a couple hours in a movie theatre. So the next best thing, grandpa was going to drive Hannah and Cade to the edge of town to meet daddy while mom and Hailee finishe shopping at Costco.

Well...Cade decided he didn't want to go to the movie....no way was he going to be talked into it either. He was determined to stay here with grandma, and grandpa when he got back home from dropping off Hannah.  So that's what he did.  After a couple bowls of roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and carrots, we went to lay down on our big bed....grandma was hoping he would fall asleep as he'd been yawning a lot, but he didn't. We watched tv until grandpa came back.

They played for a bit and then Cade wanted more beef again...hehehe! Only difference being, after this bowl, he laid on the couch saying he was really tired, and within seconds he was out cold :)  Mom and dad called after the movie saying daddy would drop the 'girls' at home then come here to get Cade.

Cade was not happy....hehehe...he wanted grandpa to drive him home, and he started pouting when we said that daddy was coming to pick him up. As normal, the grandkids rule the roost, and Cade got his way. Grandma called daddy to tell him to stay home....grandpa was on his way LOL!

So, another surprise visit, and a productive one as well. Thanks for helping with the decorations guys!  There will be more to come next weekend.

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

Booooooooo......

Yes, it's that time of year again where not only do the ghosts and goblins make an eerie appearance at our doors, but so do the frankensteins, princesses, clowns, firefighters and everything else that we can think of, follow in pursuit of the goodies which people hand out on all Hallow's Eve :)

I have to admit with the weather we've been having from the remnants of Hurricane Sandy, grandpa and I weren't sure if we should even put any effort into decorating the driveway this year. When the rain seemed to stop around 1:00 yesterday afternoon we decided to make a start to see if we'd get rained on. Surely once we started bringing everything out of the garage, if it were going to rain on us this Halloween, then that would be the time, right? LOL! Wrong!

Grandma can't say it was a nice day, but at least the rain, snow and very strong winds held off for a few hours.  A couple hours later, grandpa and I were done with the driveway, and even though it didn't extend all the way down the driveway as I've been known to do...hehehe...it still looked great! Yes indeed, this grandma couldn't disappoint the neighborhood kids....this had to be done LOL!

The only thing we weren't too impressed with was the temperature. It was c-c-cold this year. In all my 61 years I can't remember it being that cold....brrrrrrr...on a Halloween night. Even the ever loved fog machine was having a hard time staying warm enough to spit out the fog. It's actually a good thing that there weren't as many kids as we had hoped for, because it gave the fog machine some time inbetween to get warmed up :) Grandma even wrapped it in a towel to help it warm up quicker LOL!

Having prepared for over 70+ treaters, and only getting 37, there is a lot of goodies left...all bagged up and nowhere to go. Well, nowhere to go except in a big trash bag and into the big freezer downstairs. Now I'm not saying it will all make it until next halloween....I mean that's a whole year away you know....and a girl (guy) sometimes need a little something sweet/salty to nible on, right? LOL!  At least all those calories are not sitting on the kitchen table where access was way too easy for us, and there will have to be a really good excuse to walk downstairs to the freezer to open that trash bag and root around for what we want and risk breaking a tooth on the frozen treasures :)

Grandma came inside just before 7:30 to warm up, and the phone rang. Perfect timing :)  It was Ryan....he was asking if we still planned on coming over to see the kids. I suggested we wait until today to head over as it was getting late and the kids were tired.  When he asked the kids there was a unanimous 'noooooo'.....they wanted us there then...well, at least they wanted the goodies they know grandma always buys for halloween...hehehe!

I went outside to tell grandpa that we were heading over to see the kids, and we did something we have NEVER done before in our lives....we left all the decorations, lights, and two big bowls of goodies all set up!  The question in both our minds was "will everything be okay, and will one kid come along and take all the goodies?" LOL!

We were pleasantly surprised when we pulled back into our driveway about an hour later. Everything was still where we left it, and the big bowls of goodies had a little less in them, but just a little.  Whomever came along while we weren't home only took what they expected to be given, and left the rest for anyone coming behind.

With a sigh of relief I started to think why we had such distrust in the neighborhood kids. Is it because we only hear bad stories on the news about young people these days?  Whatever the reason, we were very happy the our neighborhood seems to still be "okay" :)

We started taking the decorations down and a teen girl came up the driveway but was going to turn around and leave when she saw us dismantling everything.  Grandpa told her to come back and gave her a bag of candies...and she was the one who was pleasantly surprised.

I do have to say that when we drove over to the kids we were quite surprised ourselves at just how few people even had pumpkins outside to welcome the wee ones to their door.  Even on our own street there were very few lights on, and even those that were on had no decorations at their door. Maybe it's just the kid in me....hehehe....I love to see the reaction of the kids when they walk through the lights and fog. And even more surprising, there was only one young boy who was afraid to walk up the driveway this year. The poor kid didn't think he would get any candy and was surprised when grandpa told him to wait while he brought him a bag of candy and a bag of chips.

All in all it was an uneventful Halloween....thankfully....with the bright spot of the evening being spending a bit of time with the Girls and Cade :)

 
Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

Where has the time gone?

Grandma is running a little late with her posts lately.  This week was a big day for our grandson Cade....some may say it's the major step, going from a "baby" to a little boy. This grandma has to agree I'm afraid LOL!

Not only did he start school this September, but he turned FOUR this week! Yup...4 years old. No more baby close by....he's a big boy now....and was he excited LOL!

When grandpa and I drove up to their street we saw the kids at the playground two doors up from their house. Daddy was with them and they all came runnin up to the car. Cade got so excited that he started running home to beat us...hehehe....and as we pulled into the driveway we could hear him at the front door of the house yelling "mama and buppa are here" LOL!

He was chatty, happy and running around on pure adrenaline I think....hehehe!  He wanted to take it all in, and was SO good when it came to not touching his corner of presents until it was time to sit and actually open them :)
  

 

The Birthday Boy!

 

Grandma had worked on his cake, trying to incorporate everything he wanted...Spiderman, Mater, Lightning McQueen. This cake had to incorporate it all...and I think I succeeded :)  I even tried making spider webs from royal icing....and it worked. Although Cade felt kind of bad when he tried showing me the exact spot on the chocolate house roof that was going to be his...hehehe...and one of the webs shattered. It didn't matter at that point....pictures had been taken, and he was able to munch on the pieces of web, so everything was okay with the world :)
  

   
Mom had made a delicious spaghetti/ceaser salad dinner for everyone and we all dug in. Then....drum roll please...it was time for the cake. And not surprisingly, the kids all wanted the chocolate house and tree!  Hmmm...I think I have to rethink all these big cakes I've been making if the important people only want chocolate LOL!

And our little Hannah isn't the only 6 year old who doesn't like cake....two other kids at the party do not like cake! Imagine that! Hannah has already put in her order for her next birthday....a big chocolate house and a tree LOL...no cake!

All in all it was a very fun evening. Sad in one respect that our "baby" was no longer that, but happy to see what the next stage of his little life will hold.

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

Another Yawn......

Thank goodness yawning keeps you awake LOL!  Grandpa and I had a great 24 hours with Hailee, Hannah, Cade and even daddy!  Yes, Mom had a girl's party yesterday afternoon, so the gang moved in for the day and a sleepover.

Unfortunately the big guy, who has been on antibiotics for Croop for a week, ended up getting sick with a high fever/vomiting.  He looked so pitiful :(  You know Cade is sick when he refuses to eat spaghetti, or popsicles.  We have no idea what's going on, especially since he's on AB's already.

The girls were a little upset thinking it would stop us from going out for supper, but daddy graciously said he'd stay home with a sleeping Cade on the couch, so grandpa and grandma could take the girls out to eat....but not without asking if we could get a couple pounds of wings for him!

Hailee kept going on and on saying she was hungry and when could we go to eat. Truth be told, all she was in a hurry to get to the restaurant for was the ice cream they serve with kid's meals for dessert....hehehe...and they even put both caramel and chocolate syrup on hers!  Yummy!!

Cade did have a bit of joy before getting sick though. Grandpa had ordered him a school desk and chair just like the ones they have in school.  We have one for each of the girls, and poor Cade was feeling left out by having to sit at a princess table and chair to "work" LOL!  He was so excited when he came in and kept telling daddy to come look, come look.

Grandma took Hailee to dance for a couple hours and while we were gone Grandpa took Hannah and Cade to the Dollar Store....Cade had to get some school supplies for his desk, and Hannah went just because she loves the Dollar Store...of course, not coming out empty handed LOL!

Mom decided to come over to sleep as well so daddy went to pick her up and Cade wanted to sleep with her in the bottom bunk.  I had picked up some Advil for him before we went out for supper, but his fever was still acting up during the night :(  Hannah wanted to sleep with daddy downstairs because she never gets too, and Hailee slept on the foam mats beside the bottom bunk.  Grandpa smiled at me and said "I think we got the better of this deal" LOL!
 
At 5:30 this morning I heard the pitter patter of little feet come into our bedroom and a cute little voice saying "hi Mama"! What a great way to be woken up :) He put his juice on the nightstand and I slowly lifted him up to the heights of our new bed LOL...no easy chore. We don't call him Tank for nothing...hehehe! I swear, I'm going to need a ladder before long to get up on our new bed LOL!

After snuggling in for a couple minutes he sat up, looked around and asked where Buppa was. I told him he was downstairs exercising so he asked for his juice cup and slid off the bed, going to find Buppa, but not without grandma following close behind to make sure the lights on the back stairs were on. The last thing the poor guy needed was to fall on top of everything else :)
 
This morning he didn't want mom out of his sight, so daddy took Hailee to Mass with her papers that she needed to work on for her 1st communion that she will be making in the Spring...after we had green pancakes for breakfast that is...hehehe!

So it was a busy 24 hours, and grandma is still yawning...hehehe!  But I wouldn't trade it for the world :)

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

Flying trapeze....

Wow!  Wow, wow, wow....that's about all I can say after seeing the Cirque du Soleil performance on Thursday night in Toronto. My DIL, Hailee, Hannah and myself had a girls weekend away and we went to see "Amaluna"! An experience none of us will soon forget :)  I have a feeling another Cirque show will be in our future at some point!
 

View from our Hotel window!

  

We drove to Toronto early Thursday morning and had tickets for the 4:00 p.m. performance.  We thought it would be better to have an early time than wait until 8:00. The girls wouldn't have been the only tired ones by then LOL!
 

   The Cirque tent!

 
And I think the part of the evening the girls liked best were the taxi rides LOL!  One taxi to the theatre for the performance, another afterwards to the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown Toronto (another first for the girls), then another back to the Hotel.  Hailee especially seemed to enjoy this mode of travel for some reason...hehehe...and wanted to take another taxi on Friday morning!
  

  

Waiting for supper to come :)

Speaking of Friday morning, we had told the girls we would take them to the CN Tower, neither had been. Mom was a little down after speaking with a very tearful Cade the night before and decided we should head straight home in the morning, so told the girls they'd see the Tower their next visit to Toronto. 

   Mom and Hailee overlooking the City :)

 

Unfortunately that didn't sit very well with Hailee :(  She started to have a melt down and went on and on about how she keeps being told 'next time, next time' when it comes to the CN Tower :)  Sooooo grandma suggested that instead of going out for breakfast, we could use that time (and probably less) to go up to the Tower, look around, take a few pics and be on our way.
 

Okay....all grandparents know there is just about nothing we

grandparents won't do for our grandkids, right? LOL!

Laying on the glass floor in the CN Tower was bad enough,

but making this picture public, with gravity taking

it's not-so-nice toll on grandma's face, goes above and

beyond any grandparent's duties LOL! Yes, looking through the glass

floor some 1500 feet above the city of Toronto just does something

to a person's stomach...and face LOL!

Ahhhhh.....gotta love those grandkids :)



Well, that idea didn't sit very well with Hannah LOL, who for some reason did NOT want to go up in the Tower.  We had no idea why she felt this way and when we questioned her as to why her response was "because". Boy, did she cry. After finding a parking spot we walked across the street to the Tower, towing a crying/upset Hannah along with us.
 

 The closest that Hannah got to actually

being on the glass floor LOL! Hailee was

really into it though by the time we left :)

 

I'm not sure what she thought it would be like going up to the top of the CN Tower, but hopefully now she realizes that it wasn't that bad...but during our 45 minutes at the top of Toronto, she wouldn't smile or even look at the camera.  Definitely had a pouty thing going on....just like her Uncle Warren used to when he was little...hehehe!

After spending time at a shopping Mall on the way home both girls fell asleep for a couple hours and were suprised when we stopped for a bite to eat...at McD's!  Wow, another surprise. A once in the blue moon treat for the girls...hehehe!

This was more to Hannah's taste LOL!
 

All in all we girls had a fantastic time and grandma looks forward to the next time we can enjoy a couple days away together...without the boys. Remember...girls rule LOL!

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo

A Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend...

Wow, we had a super Thanksgiving weekend surrounded by two of our three sons and their wonderful families.  A lot of turkey, potatoes, gravy, veggies was had by all, two days in a row at different houses, a delicious brunch served up at our oldest son and DIL's place on Sunday morning, and we can't forget all those calories in the pumpkin pies with real whipped cream....hehehe...or the annual pumpkin cake that grandma made for all to enjoy :)

We started out the weekend on Friday afternoon when Hailee, Hannah, Cade and Hailee's best friend Olyvia came over after school to help make those very pumpkin pies we got stuffed on LOL!  They happily took their individual pies home to enjoy after supper :)  Warren, Cindi and the kids drove up on Saturday along with the german exchange student, Sara, who has been living with them for the last 3 1/2 weeks.

Hannah and Cade :)

   

Olyvia and Hailee :)



We had our TG supper on Saturday afternoon...turkey, ribs, lasagna, coleslaw, potatoes, gravy...lots of gravy LOL, veggies, cake, pies and of course blue jello for Hannah who doesn't like cake :) To say we left the table anything but stuffed would be a lie.

Sunday morning we headed over to Ryan and Angele's house for a delicious brunch that she and her mom put out for us....yummy. Surprisingly, even though I was full and didn't think I could eat another bite, I did do justice to the great buffet spread...hehehe!

Completely exhausted we came home for a couple hours before heading out to great grandma and grandpa's house to visit with family from out of town. Once again, a big turkey supper was served....not sure who was more stuffed, the turkey or grandma LOL!

Meatbird Lake!

 

I must admit, this grandma didn't think it could get any better, but it did....oh yes it did! Grandpa and I went out to my old stomping grounds...a little mining town that no longer exists. We like to walk around the old roads at least once a year, talk about how we met, how could all the houses actually fit along those grown over streets etc. Then we went a few miles down the highway to Meatbird Lake...local swimming hole....and where he and I got engaged 41 years ago while he was still in University.

Unfortunately, while laying patio stones in the backyard one weekend a number of years after we were married, I wore down a claw on that beautiful ring, lost the diamond, and didn't realize it until we came in the house late Sunday night. I wanted to dig up the patio stones, I was so upset :( I quietly placed the ring in it's silver ring case and then into an old jewel box....which ended up in the garage for decades.
Grandpa was cleaning out the garage this Fall and came upon that old jewel box, with the silver ring case and found the poor diamondless ring.

How did this TG get any better today? He proposed to me once again at Meatbird Lake, and put my same diamond ring on my hand...claw fixed and a new diamond in the setting! Can we say tears flowed?? LOL! In an instant it brought back the previous 41 years and I once again felt like that 18 year old girl who placed that wonderful ring on her hand for the first time! Gotta love that grandpa of yours :))

My very special, beautiful engagement ring that

means the world to me!  If anyone were to offer me

a ring that cost 100 times as much, it couldn't mean

more than the ring bought with so much love all

those many years ago :)

 

 

Hailee, Hannah and Cade, as well as some friends, went to a Pumpkin Patch today about an hour away.  They called on their way home while Grandpa and I were out doing out reminiscing. They said they were coming over for supper and ordering pizza. So within minutes of getting home we heard little knocks at the door.  All excited for my surprise that I told mom about on the phone when they called....hehehe!  After all the hullabaloo settled down, this little voice piped up saying "can I see your ring mama?"  Cade sure is a thoughtful little guy and will definitely get his hearbroken at some point of his life. But hopefully his thoughtful ways won't leave him...for very long LOL!

 

Like I said, a Thanksgiving to remember!

 

Grandma loves you and only wishes all my grandchildren they can find as much love and happiness in their future lives as grandpa and I have :) xoxoxoxo

Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer....

....are long gone for another year :(  Yes, the intense sun, heat and at times unbearable humidity are gone until next summer.  However we can't really complain because we've had a wonderful Indian Summer for the last couple of weeks, and we're quietly hoping our Autumn weather holds out for a couple more months.

The girls, Cade and mom were here for a sleepover on Friday night.  Daddy was out of town on business and mom doesn't like to stay alone :)  We decided to go out for supper, and each adult even got to share a dessert with one of the kids...hehehe....yummy! Hannah is the adventurous one with food so she just had to try my French onion soup and she loved it!  I think next time she may get her own bowl :)  Mom left for Volley Ball when we left the restaurant and we all came home to play, have baths and get ready for bed.

While we were playing in the bedroom our little Miss Hannah looked at me and said "grandma...the world will never run out of people, right?"  She surprised me with this little tidbit, and I said she was right....but wanted to know how she came to this conclusion.  She said "because babies are being born all the time." Yup....for a six year old she knows exactly how the world works LOL!

Family, ancestors and anything that goes along with that are something that has been important to big sister Hailee for a couple years now. As she and grandpa were laying in bed before she fell asleep she asked him about God :)  Grandpa told her that God was always 'there'.  She wanted to know who the first people on earth were, so grandpa explained that God made Adam and Eve. Hailee perked right up and said "well that means that everyone in the world is related then!  Another smart little girl....hehehe! As he tried to explain it further she said "really....grandpa, I'm only 8 years old...this is just too much for me to understand." LOL!  What a great way to fall asleep with such grown up questions on your mind :)

Yesterday afternoon the girls and Cade came over  for a couple hours. Grandpa and I were working outside to take advantage of these last few nice days for yardwork before the white stuff flies, and the kids helped us do what needed doing. They loved asking grandpa for stuff to throw into the back of the truck, knowing he was going to the dump today...hehehe!  The girls gave up quickly after checking out my recycle box for things they could get creative with, and an egg carton was just the thing to get them into mud pies.  Cade however just couldn't stop helping grandpa. He's such a great little helper :)

Ahhhhh.....best buds!

 

Mom even packed them each a lunch so they decided we'd have one more picnic to say goodbye to summer and welcome Fall.
 
Grandpa had put all the outdoor furniture away already, so he went to the garage and brought out the carpet that is usually in our gazebo and laid it on the deck.  As the kids dug into their spread, grandma went in the house and quickly made something for grandpa and I to eat. I mean if we're going to have a picnic we do need something to munch on LOL!

Luckily I didn't forget to bring juice boxes for the kids because as they saw me coming all I could hear was "grandma, we're thirsty"....hehehe! I think they were so keen to eat quickly because mom had brought some Girl Guide cookies for dessert LOL! They could hardly wait to get into the box and weren't too thrilled about eating their cucumbers and fruit first :) But they did.

As they got back to their mud pies Hailee uncovered an earth worm, so the hunt was on...."grandma, can you help us find more worms...we want to put them in this bowl?"  So off we went, hunting the back yard for more earth worms....needing my "strength" to turn over logs, big rocks, planters, anything that may be hiding the coveted earthworms LOL!

After finding a few I figured it was time the kids actually touched a worm without being squeamish....grandma thought they were going to faint, but after much talking, hand holding and one ear piercing scream from Hailee, the girls each held a worm and realized that all they did was tickle....no, they don't bite girls LOL! Cade....No, I don't want to hold a worm Mama...hehehe!

Hehehe....Hailee's face says it all!

 

Hannah made sure she found a 'baby'

worm to hold. No big juicy ones for her LOL!

 

 

Ahhhhh...what a great way to spend a beautiful Fall afternoon. Not only enjoying the weather but also the memories that will take us through the frigid, snowy months that are coming :)

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo