I've been out of town

Before I tell you of my tales of travel - I first must give a big THANK-YOU to Mandy and George for staying in town. I know that my parents don't need constant care (yet) but every now and then they do need extra help and just knowing that family was near by to give that help - if needed- was a big help to me. I was able to enjoy the time I had with my far away family - knowing that all will be well at home. Thank you Mandy and George - blessings to you!!!So first Matt, Darren and I went to Mississippi. Our first day there we went to find an alligator - never found one but we did see a snake.

We also went to see Millsaps College. This is the famous M shaped bench. Nice campus!!That night we went downtown and enjoyed their light display. They had rides for the kids and we went on a train ride around the block - Jack loved - I mean LOVED that ride.
The next day we drove a little way and saw some sights of the civil war. Being on the west coast -we don't really have any "history" sights to see. This was very interesting. Here we are over looking the Mississippi river - I think.
This is a battle ship from the Civil war that sank in the Mississippi - they raised it in 1964 and it is on display here. They fixed part of it up so that you could see how it was suppose to look and then left the decay parts so that we could see that too. This ship was suppose to be unsinkable. I think I have hear that before.

Then on Christmas eve - we had our big meal. Yum - Nikki did a great job. We ate and played games.The girls put on a show for us. Sisters - sisters....... you have to watch "White Christmas" - which we did. :)Then came Christmas day. Time to open presents. It is so much fun to watch kids on Christmas morning. Matt and I gave Jack a tent. This is a tunnel that you crawl through to get from one tent to the other - but Sadie and Jack found a different way to play with it. More fun!!!

The next day we packed up Damon's van and drove to Ohio. I must say that the kids rode better than I did. Ten hour drive - we only stopped twice and I think at hour 8 - I hit my limit. Those last two hours lasted forever. The kids were great! Lets hear it for portable DVD players. But we made it to Grants and after Darren was done holding Hallie - I got to hold grandchild number 6. She is very cute!!! The next day was Sunday and the day of Hallie's blessing.Here she is in her blessing dress that her other Grandma made. Sooooo pretty!!Here she is with the men in her circle. Matt thinks he is smiling - I think he needs lessons :)What a good looking family. I must say it was a great Sunday.

The next day we went to see Cincinnati.
This is Grant's office building. I believe it is the top floor - nine windows in - that is his window.
The rest of the week was family time.
I got in as much Grandma time as I could.
The girls loved coloring with Papa. Jack picked up a few new words this week and one of them was Papa. Matt couldn't quit smiling over that.
Jack got the movie "Kung Fu Panda" and we watch it every day - 3 times a day. Darren loved it as much as Jack. This is Jack watch his favorite movie. He is memorized -

It was a great two weeks. One of the best parts was every night everyone would go to bed - except the three brothers and their Mom and we played Monopoly deal - till 1:15 am. Damon still cheats - wins - more games than the rest of us. I must say I got in a couple of wins.
It was great to be with my boys again. To get to know my grandchildren better. To have some time with my daughters-in-law and get to know them better. I must say that they are better cooks than I. It was a great couple of weeks. I love family time.

Super Dweeb - that's me!!

I really shouldn't tell all the stupid things I do but this one was really funny - Matt and I laughed for a long time.

So - I have been really baby hungry since my last granddaughter - Hallie - was born. I have been seeking out babies - looking - asking if I could hold - just trying to fill the void. Now I know I am in countdown mode to when I can actually hold Hallie but I want to hold her NOW!

So I am at super one - weekly shopping - and the place is packed. They have some Saturday sale going on and well, we - Matt and I - are just taking our time and joking around with some of the many strangers that are around us.

Ahead of us is this young lady - I thought to be around 20 years old - holding a small baby. She is standing there - rocking back and forth - with a baby carrier in the shopping cart. I walk up to her and ask if I can take a peek. She turns a little red and informs me that it is just a doll and that this is a school project.

Well, I crack up laughing and tell her to keep up the good work because at this point she deserves an A.

I have just under three weeks until I can hold Hallie - maybe I should go buy me a doll to get through?

Me or Mom

I have been having fun going through an old photo album of my mothers this past couple of weeks. And one thing is for sure, I am my mothers daughter. I know you can really tell but I think if it wasn't for the age of the photos could you really tell which was me and which was my mother?

Family treasures!!!

I was asked to find a picture of my father in his uniform. That would be from World War II - he was in the Navy. I didn't post that picture here but I found these other treasures! Above is my mother, Lorna Carolyn Somes, on her wedding day. The June one.

This picture above is my fathers mother, Helen G Maurer. This is the grandmother I never knew. I love the dress.
Now this picture above is my Dad. The boy on the right. Next to him in the middle is his sister Bernice and then sister Lorraine. I only met Lorraine. Now the older woman in the back is labeled Grandma Mauer. I believe the spelling should be Maurer. I really think this is special because here I have a picture of her but no information. I looked on what genealogy I have and I don't have any information on her. Guess I have some work to do.

This is just a taste - more to come later. :)

More proof that I am just a dweeb!!

My children will attest to my dweebiness. But to be fair I think that all teenagers think their parents are dweebs - but my children are not teenagers anymore.

Anyway, I digress. Today I didn't have to go to work. End of the quarter - time for teachers to get report cards ready, so the children are not wanted at the school, so I have a day off. I was going to sew all day but the leaves in the yard where calling my name. I answered and started raking. I ended up getting the lawn mower out and had it rake for me. I think I did a good job. I got 7 full bags of leaves and the front, back, side and orchard are for the most part leafless. I had to tell you how many bags cause if you knew my Dad, that is how you tell if you worked hard. It is all measured in how many bags you filled. (what a dweeb)

Anyway I was all done and it is now time to put the lawn mower away in the shop - I go into the shop and push the button to open the door. I must let you know now that I have always had this unreasonable fear of this huge door come crashing down on me. I mean, this door is huge and weighs a ton or at least a few hundred pounds and I do know that if it did fall on you - well that would be the last thing you would see. So back to my story - I press the open button and as the door slowly goes up , I wait until it is up far enough for me to quickly walk under it and I head for the lawn mower. As I turn I see in the corner of my eye a piece of the door falling and heading straight for me. OH NO!!! I duck , raising my arm to protect my head and face, I have visions of when I fell last winter - being put in an ambulance and receiving stables in my head. The piece of the door hits my arm - I am stunned -I look around to see if the whole door is coming down or what - no, the door is all the way up and I realize - it didn't hurt. What? All that adrenalin protected me from all that pain!! No I am a dweeb!! The piece of the door is a piece of Styrofoam. It weighs close to nothing. We have Styrofoam squares on the door for insulation. Oh well, another fix it project for Matt.

I put the lawn mower away and start to laugh - I am my fathers daughter!! After a trip to the dump I realize that maybe it is OK to be a dweeb. I think that is the order of things. We all think our parents are dweebs. At some point, as we grow, we see our parents in ourselves. So somewhere along the time line we or I became a dweeb. That is OK because my parents are great people - I don't mind being like them - but I am sure my kids are scared stiff. :)

Kids just know!!

This is a conversation between two kindergarten boys. I was unable to get them back to school in time for them to be first in line. We all know how important that is!!

Boy one - "Oh , it's OK that we are not first today"
Boy two - "Yea, its OK because we are friends"
Boy one - "Yea, we are best friends"
Boy two - "Why do they call it best friends?"
Boy one - " Because we are friends and that is the best"
Boy two - "Yea, that is the best - best friends"

Out of the mouth.........

Bugs and Babies

I know I have been bad. A whole month since my last blog but not much really going on. School has started and I'm back to work. This year I received 21 new students. That has given me a full bus and it has taken this long to show the new kids that - yes, I am the meanest bus driver out there. Sorry - safety first.

I have also been doing allot of canning. I almost took pictures of all the jars and posted about that but if you have ever canned before you really don't like to think about the process - you just enjoy the results.

So my car brakes have decided to act up. My car is a 95 and I have been a little worried that it might start showing it's age. So the ABS system started the act up. The brakes or automatic brake system - for those slippery moments. Well, it isn't slippery yet, and lights are coming on - and the brake peddle is going to the floor - or almost to the floor. We take it to the dealer and they tell Matt that it will cost $2400.00 to fix. WHAT??? I pick myself off the floor and Matt tells me that he can work on it for allot less. Like step one will only cost $100.00. Great!!

So while he is working on my car I decide to rake the back yard. Oops! What was I thinking? This is October and yesterday was a beautiful 60 degrees and partly sunny. THE BUGS ARE BACK!! For those of you who have had the pleasure of walking in my back yard during the month of October - you know what I mean. For those of you who do not - well, our tree in the back yard is an Ash tree. In Ash trees, in North Idaho, a little blue gray knat lives in the bark or wherever and in the month of October hatches. They only live long enough to breed and lay more eggs in the tree for next years October. This life span of four weeks is very hard for those of us who breath. I am very thankful that it is only for the month of October or this tree would have been cut down with the rest of them. Anyway, there are millions and millions of these little bugs flying around, making it very hard to breath. I mean - I really don't like bugs going up my nose or eating bugs for lunch. (I have food and don't need to practice survivor skills) So this is my solution -

I first looked to see if I had a surgical mask - one used to paint with - but no luck. The only thing I had was a bandana - So all I need now is a cowboy hat and I can rob the local bank. But first the lawn. I had to mow the back orchard first. Then I used the mower to help rake the light area next to the shop. I looked at the shop - outside, south wall and this is what I found -

Now these are the bugs - now picture this all over the south wall - and this dense flying all over. Now in the winter - it is great to have a scarf over your mouth and nose - but in 60 degrees it is not. I was sweating like a pig! Do pigs really sweat? Where did that expression come from anyway? Anyway - after 3 hours of hard work all the little leaves where in bags - the lawn was cut and I went inside - to breath freely. I went into the bathroom to notice a black ring around my neck - under the collar of my shirt - looking closer -UGH - it is a ring of dead bugs. I take off my shirt and find dead bugs around my waste and all over my torso. I have never taken a shower so fast in my life. I had a major case of the willies. But the yard looks great.

But the better news is that I'm going to be a Grandma again. (happy face, happy face :) :) Before the raking of the yard I had to run an errand for Matt. Off to Shucks to get a vacuum hose. I am pulling into the parking lot and my phone rings. I don't see a picture - my phone is set up to show the picture of the caller - this I can see without my glasses. I answer - "Sue here" and the reply I get is "your daughter here" It is Cristy!! Wow - on a Saturday morning. She is using her father-in-laws phone and tells me she is pregnant!!! Number 7 is on it's way. I was so glad that I was only in the car - and not in the store because when I let out my scream - I didn't bother anyone. I can only imagine the response I would have gotten if I was in the store. It is hard to explain after 911 was called. So now I have to figure out how or when I can go to Virginia - right around May 2.