Thankful for Family Time

 

Two weekends ago we visited Gunny and his family for a very busy long weekend.  Our goals while we were there were — to see Nikki cheer at a varsity football game — to celebrate her 16th birthday — to attend her and Jays’ confirmation — to see Jay play on the freshman football team — and to squeeze in some visiting time whereever we could.   And we managed to do it all!

On Friday night:

  Because of the confirmation we didn’t have any flexibility in which weekend we visited, so if we wanted to see Nikki cheer we would have to drive to a game on Friday night two and a half hours away!  But when you live as far away as we do, you have to take opportunities as they present themselves, so we made the trip and were glad we did.

  It was an exciting game that our team won in the last few minutes.

 

  Nikki with a close friend who is also a cheerleader.

   It was realllly cold and I hadn’t thought to take gloves, so Dilly was kind enough to lend me one of hers.  Not a perfect, solution but at least it helped!  (It’s hard to see, but we had our gloved hands clasped together in the middle.)

On Saturday:

   We celebrated Nikki’s 16th birthday!

   We couldn’t decide on what kind of cake to buy at the fantastic local bakery, so we bought two small ones — one lemon and one red velvet.

   But, as her special birthday “cake” Nikki opted for a slice of strawberry cheesecake, and then we bought this humongus candle to go on top that was about the same size as the slice it was sitting on!

   I wanted to get a nice family picture of them.  But, Jay was goofing off a little.

   So, he and Gunny “discussed” how he should pose for the picture …

   … ahhh, much better.

   I love this picture.  Nikki knows how to smile for a picture, but Jay does have trouble deciding how he should pose.  So I like this one because he just looks like him – no pose at all!

   I don’t know.  Do you think you can tell they’re related? I kind of think so.

   And these two look a little alike too.

On Sunday morning:

   Nikki and Jay were confirmed into the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  They each had to ask someone to stand with them at the front and read their confirmation bible verse, and they asked Hubby and me.  Hubby for Jay and me for Nikki.  We were very honored that they asked us.

On Monday night:  We enjoyed watching Jay’s freshman football team win their game.  Thankfully, it wasn’t nearly as cold as it had been for the varsity game on Friday night!  But, unfortunately I forgot my camera, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that he was very cute (in a “manly” sort of way, of course) in his uniform and played well.

Early Tuesday morning:

   Gunny met us for breakfast before we left town.  We had to wait a few minutes for the doors of the restaurant to open at 6 a.m.!

Thank you Father for the wonderful time we got to spend with our loved ones.

Not just volleyball …

 

… but also a place to learn some of life’s lessons.

Last weekend we went to a volleyball tournament of sixth grade teams in Chicago.  It included two teams from Coco’s school, one of which is coached by DD.  Neither team won it all, but both won some of their games. 

DD says that in fifth and sixth grade, volleyball isn’t about winning.  You are teaching the girls the rules of the game and possibly a love of the game.  Then, if they like it and have an aptitude for it, they can go on to play on competitive teams in the higher grades.  I love that idea.

But, DD and the other coaches at her childrens’ grade school really act out this concept, not just talk it. 

There are eighteen girls in sixth grade who play volleyball, all at varying stages of development of their skills and interest.  That number of girls means that there need to be two teams so that everyone can play.  And, apparently, those two teams are fluid — the girls aren’t always divided up the same way.  I say that because I know that before the Saturday tournament, they were re-divided so that they were as even in talent as possible.  For example, the girls who have developed the skill to serve overhand (including Coco) were divided evenly between the teams.

As we were sitting there watching the teams play it occurred to me that each girl on these teams, no matter what her talent level is, is learning some valuable lessons.  Because the teams aren’t divided as an “A” and “B” team, with the “A” team being the one with all the best players on it, all the girls will experience winning and losing, together and equally. 

In all my years “in the bleachers” I have observed that a team or player who doesn’t have much experience losing, can fall apart if they start losing.  And a team or player who hardly ever wins, may have trouble picturing themselves winning, so sometimes mentally defeat themselves.  But in this grade school’s system all of the players are experiencing the high of winning and the disappointment of losing, and seeing clearly demonstrated that there are time that there are actually more important priorities than winning. 

A great lesson that will hold them in good stead in the future in all areas of their lives, not just volleyball.

Of course, we are proud of Coco, and she is blessed with some natural talent.  But, I am especially proud of our daughter, Coach DD.  When I watch her on the sidelines I see our always competitive daughter very successfully putting her competitiveness aside and just being a great encourager and teacher of young girls who may or may not go on to play the game, but who will hopefully have great memories of their time on her team.

The Zoo, A Camera, Mimi and Me!

 

   We have a wonderful children’s zoo here.

     The entry sets the tone for a first class experience.

 

  The zoo is very well maintained and landscaped, so that it is a pleasure not just for children because of the animals, but also a real treat for adults, especially ones with a camera.

Last year my friend Linda and I took Coco, Lulu and Mimi there, and Coco and Lulu had their faces painted, but Mimi wasn’t comfortable having hers done.  So, when Mimi and I went to the zoo while the girls were here a couple weeks ago (her big sisters stayed home with Papa to swim), I think she had already decided she was going to having her face painted this time.  As we looked at the animals, she would ask every so often whether we would pass the spot where the face painter was last year. 

  It was a beautiful day and not really “August hot”, but it was early afternoon and some of the animals, like these bobcats, were taking their naps.

   When you enter the African Veldt, there is mist everywhere for dramatic effect.

 

   I have no idea what kind of bird makes this type of nest, but I am really impressed considering the trouble I have making a round ball of cookie dough when the recipe calls for that, and I’m not trying to fly at the same time!

   As you might expect, the ring-tailed slooths were acting, well, very slooth-ish!

   I can say, without hesitation, that this is the closest I have ever been to a lion!  There was a window that looked out into his enclosure and he was laying on a wide ledge up against the window.  There were alot of people crowding around so it was hard to get a picture, but it’s also no accident that I’m standing at the “south” end of the lion but just taking a picture of his “north” end.   Let’s just say that the position he was in, left no doubt that he was a lion and not a lioness!   Moving on …

   At first glance, I wondered if this was another unusual bird’s nest …

   But then a giraffe wandered up and I realized it was his version of “fast food”!

   This baby giraffe can still reach the ground to eat.  A worker told us that giraffes give birth standing up and the babies are born feet first, so they are born standing up!

   A worker was up on the elevated walk letting people feed this giraffe his favorite leaves.

   Up on the walk, it was fun to see his head up so close.  It was huge!

   Do you recognize the stripes that I had “colorized” for my post yesterday?

   A Photo-shopped “horse” of a different color!

   It added to the “feel’ of Africa that you could hear drums off in the distance occasionally.  Then we came around a corner in the trail and saw who was playing the drums!

   Not exactly the fierce natives you might invision playing the drums!

   The drums were very popular with all the children, except Mimi.  She suddenly turned shy and didn’t want to try them, so I had to settle for pictures of other kids playing them.

Then we came to the face painter!

   There was no line, so Mimi immediately showed the artist how she wanted her face painted — she pointed at the butterfly.  Except ….. she didn’t want any paint on her eyelids.   Hmmm.  The artist and I agreed that the design would lose something if the eyes were left unpainted.  She could end up looking more like an owl than a butterfly!

So the artist came up with a compromise … she would paint a butterfly on one cheek and flowers on the other.  That sounded good to Mimi and me.

  A very pretty butterfly! 

   But, apparently, her specialty is butterflies because I wasn’t as impressed with the flower on the other cheek.  I suggested she add a second smaller one  which she was perfectly willing to do.

At about this time she mentioned that she usually sold tickets at the front gate and was just filling in for the face painter.  Yikes!  But, she hastened to add that she was an art major in college.

   Okay.  Not bad.  Maybe this was going to be just lovely.

   Then she painted on the really green, really heavy vine to connect the flowers and the butterfly.

  Okay.  The end product wasn’t bad.  Mimi got to have her face painted, without having paint on her eyelids.   And I really did appreciate that the face painter came up with a design that worked for Mimi.  So, we left happy.

Our final stop was the seals’ pool.

 

A fun day at the zoo.  And lots of pictures to help us remember our visit.

A Warm, Sunny Day in August …

 

… with three little girls we adore. 

When DD’s three daughters spent the first week in August with us, we had a great time.  And the weather was perfect, which allowed us to spend alot of time outdoors.

It is especially fun to see the girls enjoy activities that have been around for generations …

  

… like running through the sprinkler (an activity I remember enjoying when I was a child!)

 

 

 

   Mimi (5)

    Coco (11)

    Lulu (9)

   

 

When they had had enough of running through the sprinkler, they spent some “recovery time” on the deck.

   But, you know children, their recovery time was quick!   So, Lulu and Mimi decided to give their big sister, Coco, a massage.

    I showed Mimi how to do the chopping thing on Coco’s back, and she liked that so she did it with alot of enthusiasm!

    When they were all finished giving each other massages, Coco and Lulu asked Papa to take them out to the middle of the lake to swim.

      If they swim at the edge, their feet get “mucky” so he takes them out where they don’t have to worry about touching the bottom/muck.

 

 

   Mimi understands that she’s too little to swim out in the really deep water, even with a life jacket, but I’m guessing here she’s imagining a day when she will be a a “big kid” and be able to swim out there.

   After a while, she asked if we could go down and sit by the water.  So, we did and she made a game of sorting rocks. 

  She put all the ones that had pink in them in one pile.

    And I forget what her criteria were for the rocks that went into this pile.  But, she was very serious about examining each rock and deciding on where it went.

   I told her I thought the black and white one in the middle of this group looked like an oreo cookie!

   And we decided this one looked like a house slipper!

How long has it been since you have really looked at rocks?  It had been a while for me, and I really enjoyed seeing their beauty through her eyes.

When the rest came back from swimming we went in the house for a snack.

   A fun August afternoon in the sun.

Breakfast Drama

 

About a month ago, I tried a recipe for breakfast cups.  They are really just a very small sausage and cheese quiche.  I really liked their flavor and thought they would be a great breakfast food to have in the freezer whenever needed.

The recipe told me to bake them in metal muffin cup liners.  It also told me that it would work beautifully to wrap them individually in plastic wrap and freeze them for later use.  I followed the instructions. 

So, when I was trying to think what to give the girls for breakfast this morning, I remembered the quiche cups in the freezer and decided to try one myself before they got up and I made the offer to them.

    Do you see a problem?

They are frozen hard as a rock, they are encased in aluminum foil and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the aluminum cup to let go of the egg filling.  It just wanted to come off in tiny little pieces!  So, there was no way I could microwave it in the metal wrapping! 

Having to put some of these in the refrigerator and let them thaw a day or so before eating them seems to be my only option.  But, that sort of defeats the purpose of having them in the freezer as a “quick” breakfast item.  Not a recipe I’ll make again.

Soooo, now what was I going to give the girls for breakfast?

Hubby offered to go to the grocery and get cinnamon rolls and donuts — you know, healthy stuff.  But, after he left I decided to make a fruit combo to have with the sweets to make the meal a little healthier.  I’d make it out of a mixture of canned and fresh fruit, like I had many times before.

Unfortunately, n.o  f.r.e.s.h  f.r.u.i.t !!  The strawberries that I got really cheap, are too far past only a couple days later (big surprise!).  Bananas are gone.

Okay.  Canned fruit it is — peach slices, pineapple chunks and mandarin oranges will work.  Rats!  No mandarin oranges.  But, I DO have some diced pears.  I combined the peaches, pineapple and pears. 

Can you say c.o.l.o.r.l.e.s.s ??  But, I just could not think of another fruit to add that would give it color. 

Wait a minute!  Stop the presses!  Canned sugar-free cherry pie filling to the rescue!!  I mixed the cherry pie filling I always keep on hand (for a favorite dessert) into my bland fruit bowl and it worked — it gave the combination some color and while cherries aren’t a normal addition to my fruit bowls, it tasted good — ‘interesting” but good.

    The fruit-version of “stone soup” — kind of made from nothing.  But they liked it, and that’s what is important.

We love having our grandchildren here but probably the most stressful part of their visit is planning meals.  I’m not used to planning meals for more than two people any more, and definitely not used to planning meals for childrens’ tastes.

If they didn’t like the fruit, they didn’t tell me.  They’re considerate like that.  And, of course, Papa’s contribution to the meal — the donuts — were a big hit!

A “Theatrical” Beginning to the Week!

 

We met DD half-way yesterday and picked up her three daughters so that they can stay with us this week.

When we got home, we all went out on the deck and just enjoyed some perfect weather and the girls ran around and got some exercise, after all those hours spent riding in a car. 

But, then Coco went inside and came back out as … Granny McFee, a character she has created. 

   

      So much of the “essence of Coco” is her long red hair … 

 … that “Granny’s” short, blonde/gray wig was quite a change.  And the costume (that she has developed herself) is perfect.

But, the real treat was when she opened her mouth and started playing the part, with a spot-on British accent!  She made us all laugh so hard. 

 

  We especially laughed when she made a big production of digging in her grandmotherly coin purse and finally coming up with a nickel that she gave to her little sister, Mimi, and told her not to spend it all in one place!  From the look on Mimi’s face, I’m guessing she’s wondering  if “Granny” really thinks a nickel is a big deal!

A performance we really enjoyed.  Coco and Lulu have already performed in a couple of community theater productions, but, while I don’t think Coco’s career choice would be acting.  she definitely has a talent for it (said her own totally unbiased “granny”) so I can at least picture her continuing to be involved in amateur theater as an adult.

It’s so fun to watch your grandchildren grow and develop, and sometimes demonstrate surprising God-given talents!

Mimi Shares the Spotlight!

 

DD’s daughter, Mimi, is our youngest grandchild.  Consequently, she gets more than her fair share of the attention when she is around.

  And it doesn’t hurt that Mimi (5), makes photography fun — she’s always doing something photo-worthy.  Don’t worry, the tattoo isn’t real.  She got it at an amusement park the day before.

But, when we were together on the Fourth, our oldest granddaughter was there with her husband and son, JJ (who is almost 2).  So, there was a new “star” … everyone wanted to play with and be around JJ.  And, we weren’t totally sure how that would play with Mimi.  How would she take to suddenly having to share the spotlight?

Well, we needn’t have worried:

  First of all, she has a photo-worthy sense of style.  She can wear hair pretties and a girly dress, along with a tattoo, and carry it off! 

(btw, as you can see, DD and I sometimes get in each other’s way when taking our pictures.   She has a verrrry nice camera, that I’m hoping she forgets to take with her sometime when she’s leaving after a visit!)

  Anyway, Mimi is always ready to pose for a picture.  Here, when she paused for a “Kodak moment” before marching off to fish, she caught JJ’s attention.

  Even though JJ had an appointment for a boat ride with his grandpa, you could tell this “big kid in the red dress” interested him.

  Their fishing and boat rides over, Mimi, looking a little the worse for wear (did the fish get your hair pretties, Mimi?), was ready to spend some quality time with JJ. 

   Let’s go see what we can find to play with.

   She’s using her “big kid” skills to show him the best way to play with his newest toy.

They played together great.

  And, Mimi’s never going to have to worry about not getting her share of the spotlight as long as she’s such an interesting kid!

It was so much fun to have everyone together.  And, these pictures will always help us remember what it was like.  I am thankful for family … and photography!

The Frosting on the Cake

 

Ever since I became a grandparent lo those many years ago, I have said that having children was “all right”  but that having grandchildren was “the frosting on the cake”! 

In my experience, grandparents and grandchildren have a unique relationship that is like no other.  And, you can’t explain it to someone … they just have to experience it for themselves.

So, there has been a “passing of the torch” … our son is now a grandfather!

\

   Our son’s grandson … and a new experience for us too … GREAT-grandparents!

Or, as our sweet daughter-in-law dubbed me, “Nana the Great”.  Thank you, Dilly, I love it!

Shades of Jay

 

I don’t take as many pictures of Jay as I do of his sister Nikki, mainly because he isn’t crazy about having his picture taken.  But,  I do have a few I’d like to share, in gray tones.

   I took this picture and the next one when we visited them in Tulsa in January.

    Nikki is just a year older than Jay and they’ve always had a great relationship.  This picture of him sitting on her lap would be funnier if I had been across the room, so that you could see his long legs.  He is about 6″ taller than Nikki.

Jay is a fairly quiet, serious kid.  But, he can be funny when the mood strikes him.

   One day while Jay and Nikki were here for spring break, I was in the kitchen cooking and Jay was sitting at the island.  When I turned around, he was “wearing” this big rubber band that had been laying on the island.  It took some persuading to get him to leave it on long enough for me to get a picture.

    In the car when we were taking them half-way home, I told Jay to sit in the front seat with Grandpa.  Then, during the trip, it occurred to me that I hadn’t taken many pictures of him during the week, and here they were going home!  So, I told him to turn aound so that I could take some pictures before it was too late! 

   This must be his studious look.  He is a good student.

    At one point,  Jay did this and kept us entertained for quite a while.  He had his straw from lunch on his teeth, ala “braces”, which made him talk really funny.  He got a kick out of the fact that every time he talked this way, Nikki and I would giggle.  So, of course, he kept talking! 

  Jay and Gunny, when we had lunch at the half-way point.

We had a great time with Jay and Nikki the week of their spring break, and I’m glad I at least thought to take a few pictures!

A High Standard for”Grandmothering”

 

  Daddy’s mother.

You may be surprised when I tell you that the person who I try to emulate as a grandma is someone I never met.  She was my father’s mother and she died a year before I was born.  But, she has had a tremendous impact on my life through the stories I’ve heard about her.

She was born in Prussia, but she was raised in Texas and Oklahoma. 

She dated the son of an Indian Chief before she fell in love with and married a charming Irishman.  

When her charming Irishman spent a large portion of his wages from the railroad on his “weakness for the bottle”, she didn’t feel sorry for herself, she just continued to love him (and he did adore her too) and she got a job to help support their family which eventually included two sons and two daughters.

When her younger son, Ruhl, married Rose, a young girl who hadn’t learned much about being a housewife and mother from her own un-domestic mother, she took her new daughter-in-law under her wing and loved her and taught her as if she was her own.

Ruhl and Rose were my parents.  I know that Daddy adored his mother but it was Mama who most often  told me wonderful, always loving, stories about Grandma.

When Betty Rose, Mama and Daddy’s first child (and grandma’s first grandchild) was born, Grandma asked Mama to bring her to the dry cleaning plant where she worked so that she could show her off to her co-workers.  Mama told me the story many times about her taking Betty Rose to the plant where, even though it was early spring time, it was already incredibly hot around all the pressing machines, and Grandma and her co-workers, all hot and sweaty from their pressing work, stopped for a few minutes and came to the door so that Grandma could show her friends her adored first grandchild.

Grandma loved baseball.  They lived in Kansas City, so she followed the Blues.  Usually Grandma was all about her grandchildren and always had time for them, except when a baseball game was on the radio.  They said that when a ballgame was on, no one talked at all in the front room where Grandma would be sitting in front of the big console radio listening to the game, leaning forward, so as not to miss a single word of the announcer calling the game.

When my four older siblings were children, she would sometimes take all four of them with her on the street car, across town to the ball park to see a game.

My siblings all told me numerous times about the greeting they frequently received from Grandma.  She would grab you, wrap her arms tightly around you and pound you on the back, declaring that she was going to squeeze you so tight that you would break in two and she would have two of you to love! 

When my siblings were little, she wanted to be there when they got up on Christmas morning so that she could watch them open their gifts from Santa.  So for quite a few years, she would make Grandpa get up very, very early on Christmas morning so that they could be at Mama and Daddy’s house by 5 a.m., to be sure that they were there before the kids got up.

I was also told she had a great sense of humor and a contagious laugh.

One of Mama’s favorite funny stories about her:  

Grandma helped Mama pick out wallpaper for her kitchen.  And she told Mama that she would help her put it up.  Apparently back then they sometimes put wallpaper on the ceilng too.  So, Grandma (who was a rotund lady) was standing on the kitchen table putting a strip of wallpaper on the ceiling.  But, all of a sudden one end came loose and the whole strip of wallpaper, heavy with thick paste, fell down over her.  Mama said she and Grandma started laughing so hard that Grandma couldn’t do anything to get the paper off of herself or to get down from the table until they stopped.  Mama said Grandma, standing on the table after the disaster with the paste-soaked wallpaper draped over her head, looked like a mound of wallpaper and paste shaking with laughter.

Grandma taught Mama many things and one of those was an example of how to be a good grandma.  And Mama learned that lesson well.  So, she was a very special grandma to her grandchildren too.

And, because of all the stories I heard of my much beloved Grandma, and because of the great example Mama was, I am now trying to live up to the high standard for “grandmothering” those two represented.

And, someday, when I meet Grandma for the first time in Heaven, I look forward to her grabbing me and squeezing me tightly, and telling me that she’s going to squeeze me in two, so that there will be two of me to love.