Let's just run her legs off :-)

While Mama and Daddy have been partying in Vegas, we've been playing with the kids. And to keep little miss from bogging down in the pity party of "I miss my mama and daddy", we've kept her moving. Bike riding, running in the rain, an evening trip to Wendy's for a vanilla frosty. And today her GiGi came in from the farm and picked her and her cousins up for an afternoon at Planet Pizza. They were gone for over 4 hours and when she came home, the girl had--to quote me old mother--"cross marks for eyes". That is to say, really t.i.r.e.d. She asked to watch the movie I keep for her in our Tivo. I turned it on, left the room for a second and when I came back, she was stone cold unconscious on my bed. I figured, at that point, that my evening was up for grabs. This girl HATES to be waked up. So my choices looked like, wake her up before she slept too long and hope that she wouldn't cry too long and would then be willing to go back to sleep before midnight. Or let her sleep til she woke up and hope she didn't wake up at midnight ready to stay awake all night. Thankfully, her folks called early for the nightly iChat because they have dinner and a show. So I woke her up for mama and daddy and she was groggy but cooperative. Then she wanted her picture taken with her brother, so here they are. Aren't they just so fine. Hi again, Mom and Dad! See you tomorrow!

Hi, Mama & Daddy! Love, G & L

Well, as you know, because you read my daughter's blog, she and Cletus are in Las Vegas right now on a much looked forward to, much needed (and oh, by the way, never had a honeymoon!) trip. Which means that DH and I have the kids to ourselves on the home front.

There was some concern that Gilly might have a bit of a hard time letting her parents go. (She told me quite firmly, one day last week, that mamas were not supposed to leave their little girls!) So I was all prepared to do the "sing and dance and aren't we having fun!" routine at the drop of a hat.

Yesterday afternoon, she wanted to go out in the backyard for a little while and noticed her bike sitting on the patio. So we left her papa at home to be with Baby Luke and she and I hit the sidewalks for a big bike ride. I was quite impressed with her endurance. Riding a bike uses different muscles than walking and she really had to work hard in the areas that went uphill a little bit. Every time we got to a corner where we could take the short way home, she said she wanted to ride more. So at every corner we took the long way.

I was watching it get darker and darker to the east of us, and then when we were about 2 blocks from home, the wind picked up and the temperature began to drop noticeably. Just as I opened my mouth to tell her that we'd better head home because we might get some rain, I felt a splat--about the size of a silver dollar--on my back. And the skies opened. I yelled at her to hold her feet away from the pedals, that we were going to make a run for it. She stuck her legs straight out and I hunch over this little tiny bicycle and we ran down the street, laughing like maniacs. And it rained like it can only in Texas, from nothing to cloudburst in just seconds. By the time we got home, which wasn't more than just a few minutes, we were both soaked to the skin. I had raindrops dripping off my eyelashes and mascara running down my face. But it was so much fun and the rain changed an ordinary bike ride into something we will both always remember.



















And, oh that sweet baby, he went to bed about 10:00 and didn't wake up til 6:00. Gilly didn't go to bed til 11 and I didn't climb in til close to 12, but then we all got to sleep til morning. A GOOD first day! And we all woke up cheerful and rested.















So, have a good time in Vegas, Mama and Daddy! We love you and miss you, but we're doing just fine :-)

Bliss!

I'm the happiest grandmother on the face of the planet. All of my grandkids (and there are 5 of them, and they are STINKIN' CUTE!) live close to us. Last night we went to spend the night with the 3 we don't live with, so that their mama could go out with friends. (Daddy works nights). We had such a great time with our sweeties. I fed them GF cookies and rice pudding for bedtime snack. And I asked CreamPuff, "Whatcha eatin' there, girlfriend?" So she showed me :-)








We spent the night because Mom and Dad were going to be home so very late. This morning, I was deeply. DEEPLY asleep and I felt little fingers poking me in the shoulder. With every ounce of energy in my sleep drugged body, I dragged my eyes open, and there was the grinning face of a grandson one quarter inch from each of my bloodshot eyeballs. And they said, "Grammie, it's time for you to get up now!" And God bless 'em, I love 'em so much that I didn't kill 'em. I just lay there and woke up slowly and then took pictures of them being goofy with their Papa C.



And in the afternoon there was a birthday party at a jumping place for a little boy who was so happy to be one year older. You wouldn't know it by the pictures I took, but there were about 30 kids there. I took pictures of my own kids and here they are.


Gilly really got into the jumping cage. Most of the pictures I got of here were in here.












I didn't get many picture of Birthday Bubby because he was having too much fun to stand still for dumb old photo shots. And Luke showed off a brand new skill--sitting by himself for the very first time.
















CreamPuff and Daddy go down the big slide.

The whole shindig was SO MUCH FUN!!

Life loops

Have you ever had one of those unexpected moments when you meet up with someone or go somewhere and realize that there is a major connection to your past? My dance team went to a multi-cultural extravaganza in Garland last weekend to contribute some really cool Israeli/Messianic dances. The streets were closed around where the festival was being held, so we parked a few blocks away and walked to the dance site. We came around the corner and walked straight into the building. There were pictures on the walls of the way the town square had looked back in the olden days and I realized HOLY COW! The civic center used to be the Plaza Theater! My mama walked me to this very theater when I was about 5 years old to see Walt Disney's Cinderella. Just the two of us. And she bought me a great big huge lollipop. It's the first movie I ever remember seeing. We walked forever to get there. (I googled it when I got home and found out that we lived 1.25 miles from the theater in those days, which is a pretty good hike for a little kid.) And on the corner of the square is where the Nicholson Memorial Library used to be. I so wanted to be able to do the time travel thing and BE there 50 years ago. And I so wanted to be able to call my mom on the phone and say, "Guess what just happened to me!" I can't do either one, but the delight of the moment stayed with me for the rest of the day.