Some of my guys

One of my guys likes to learn,

 

two of my guys like to smile, 

 

one of my guys likes to swing, 

 and one of my guys likes to just hang out.

 I love my guys.

It's a good Friday

Oh, 

you know that

any day

with these two girls

is a 

good day.

Add 

these three guys

and throw in

a big smile

for Minnie,

well,

it is a very 

good day.

Birthday season

We are in the middle of grandchild birthday season around here.

It began on November 27th with this little guy turning 2.

I didn't know him that day, but I can't remember a day that I haven't loved him.  He is energetic, coordinated, cute, and all-boy.  He likes his hands to be clean and his cars to be in a straight line.  He likes his "guys" (his Star Wars characters), his dog, and he loves his family.

The next birthday was Jonathan's in December.  Because of all of the hulabaloo around the holidays, he hasn't had a party, yet.  He will soon, though, and I'll write about him then.

Lily's 5th birthday was yesterday.  She wasn't posing when I took this picture -- I was just lucky enough to capture her being her sweet self.  Lily is loving, confident, talkative, and friendly.  She doesn't like bugs.  At all.  She has a tender heart, she hurts when someone else hurts, and she is always ready with a warm, genuine hug.

Daniel and Bella finish up our short birthday season early next month.

Last year I started asking the children 20 questions that I found on the internet and decided to ask them these questions each year around their birthday.  Bennett is still too young to play this game, but on Sunday, I had my interview with Lily.  Here is an excerpt:

1.  What is your favorite color?
          Pink and purple......Red and dark blue.

2.  What is your favorite song?
          Jesus Loves Me.  At least that's the only song I know.

(And then she breaks out singing this made-up song)  "I'm not afraid of the animalssssss.  I'm not afraid of the bears or the lions or the snakessssssss."

3.  What is your favorite kind of cereal?
          The round kind.  The round kind called cereal.

4.  What do you want to be when you grow up?
          A police girl.

I had no idea this 20 question thing would be so entertaining!  I will share any insights from the other 3 Greers when I get my time with them.....

My lizard handler

When I found a gecko climbing the stairs last week, I had just the boy to take care of the intruder for me.

Daniel loves bugs.  Lizards, too.  And he is totally fearless about picking them up.

Even when they turn on him!

Grandcamp!

What happens when Ben and Abbie and David and Sarah all have a chance to be out of town at the same time?

You have Grandcamp!

For two days we...

wore crazy hats,

ate popsicles,

acted like a chicken,

ran with the chickens,

 

and laughed with the chickens.

We took good naps,

made silly faces,

 

played "Walnut Toss",

smiled for Minnie (through the trampoline net),

and we went to school.

:::   :::   :::   :::   :::

Nobody can do for children what grandparents can do.  Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.

                                                                                             Alex Haley

And grandchildren sprinkle stardust on us, too.

What a blessing.

Tea Party Girls

I love having granddaughters.

They like to dress up, put on makeup, play with dolls, giggle, and take naps together in the "Princess Room".  They give me advice on what to wear, and what not to wear.  They like to hold hands -- with me and with each other.

 They pretend to be mommies, nurses, and teachers.  They are bossy.  They are snuggly.

And they love tea parties.

My boys of summer

Summer

boys

sprinkler

horse swing

shirts off

sunshine

popsicles

laughter

cousins

Summer

Scents of grandparents past

Two times in the last two days I have had memories of my grandparents wash over me while I worked in the yard.  Both times the memories were brought up by smells and both times I had a warm, loved feeling inside.

Yesterday, while I was using a pitchfork to get some hay for the chicken pen, I remembered Grandmother and Granddaddy Atkinson's hay barn.  As I pulled layers of hay from a round bale, the smell of that hay knocked me back in time.  All the way back to the mid-70's when my sisters, my cousins and I would play hide-n-seek in a barn stacked tall with square hay bales.

Today I cut the grass around a fig tree and remembered the one in Mama and Papa Skaggs' back yard.  My memory isn't so much of the figs, but of the back yard.  Always well-manicured, with a small garden and a work shed full of tools.

I wonder what smells will remind our grandchildren of us.  Maybe it will be...

Bubble bath

Chicken scratch feed

Fresh cut grass

Chicken nuggets

Chocolate Oatmeal cookies

Smoke from a fireplace

Movie popcorn

Lotion

Cabbage Patch doll heads

Pine woods while on a walk

Homemade pizza fresh from the oven

I don't know what it will be, but when a smell makes them time travel back to me, I hope they know it is the smell of love.

Easter 2012

Our Easter was full of thankfulness and of family.  Here, in no particular order because I can't seem to get blogger to cooperate with me today, are some pics of the day.  Ben and Abbie were there, too, but I didn't get good pictures of them.  Sorry, guys!

Easter lunch has been at JoJo's house for years.  When I turned the corner into her little kitchen, I found all of these pretty girls helping to get lunch on the table.

 Bennett took a nap during the egg hunt, but he was ready to play when he woke up.

When you wear a white skirt and don't want to get it dirty, you can always sit on your uncle.

Meet Ollie

Just wanted to drop in and let you meet my new friend, Ollie.













He's actually a grandbunny, and he has come to live in Walnut Grove.

Don't you love that little nose?

Little Princesses

Last night the girls in the family went to see the Disney princesses in a show in downtown Montgomery.  Lily and Bella were so excited to see Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle.  Lily was dressed in her best twirly skirt, Bella was wearing her silver, sparkly shoes.  They oohed and ahhed over the other girls dressed up in their best princess costumes.

I feel blessed to be a part of such small excitements.  I never thought that I would have the opportunity to be a daily person in the lives of our grandchildren, but I am.  We see each other at church, we drop in at each other's houses, we run errands together, we have slumber parties, we feed the chickens.  

We are family and we are familiar.

During the finale of the princess show, the entire cast came out on stage dressed in their most beautiful, sparkling costumes.  The lighting was wonderful and the overall effect was magical.  Lily had climbed in my lap and I asked her, "Lily, isn't that beautiful?"

She responded, "All of their dreams are coming true!"

Mine are, too.

Why I love my grandchildren

Reason #438 - they enthusiastically go along with their Minnie's silly parties

Me:  Jonathan, I think that we should have a potty party for Daniel and Bella since they are potty-trained!
J:  That is a great idea since 'party' and 'potty' both begin with a 'P'.

4 days later

Me:  (on the phone) Hey, Jonathan!
J:     Oh, hey, Minnie!
Me:  I have been thinking about the party for Daniel and Bella.
J:     Oh, right!
Me:  Since 'party' and 'potty' both begin with a 'P', I think we should eat foods that begin with a 'P'.  What do you think?
J:     That's a good idea!  But, all I can think of is pizza.
Me:  I know, but we just ate pizza together on Sunday, didn't we?  I was thinking about some other 'P' foods.  What about pears?
J:     Pears!!  That is a great idea!  Oh!!  And we need the right kind of pickles.  We will need the sweet kind.
Me:  Got it!  And what about having pasta sauce with meatballs?
J:     Ummm.  Okay.  (Not much enthusiasm there.)
Me:  For dessert we can have pie and pudding.
J:     Right!  Be sure to get the chocolate kind of pudding.  And, I also like the kind that has some vanilla in the middle of the chocolate.
Me:  That is a great idea!

Our menu:

Meatball sub sandwiches with Pasta sauce

Pears

Pickles

French fried Potatoes

Key Lime Pie

Pudding

:  :  :  :

Reason #439 - they love any little gift they get from me

Lily and Bennett are headed to the beach this weekend so I went to Target and bought them some little beach gifts.  Lily's is a straw-looking fedora sun hat with Hello Kitty trim and I got her some Hello Kitty sunglasses.  When I got to her house she was already dressed up in full princess costume.  She added the hat and sunglasses to her look and then went to check it all out in a mirror.   I could hear her talking to herself from the next room:

Lily:  This is just amazing!!  I look amazing!

After I had left and it was time for Lily's afternoon rest there was a thunderstorm rolling in.  She is a little fearful of thunder so Abbie told her about the storm and to expect to hear some thunder while she rested.  Lily said:

I'm not scared.  My hat keeps me safe.

:   :   :   :

A grandchild fills a space in your heart that you never knew was empty.

                                                                          Unknown

:  :  :  :

Banana pancakes for a rainy Saturday morning

So, I was listening to Jack Johnson on the Ipod and I thought, "Banana pancakes must be really yummy if you want to name a song after them."

A few weeks ago I found a recipe for them on Cooks.com and made some for me and Daryl.  They were really good!

Today, when we woke up with three little grandchildren and a rainy morning I knew that banana pancakes were the only thing that would do for breakfast.

 "The more you eat, the happier you are."

                                                      Daniel Greer

Here is how I made them this morning:

Banana-Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups pancake mix
3 eggs, separated
chocolate chips

Stir together the bananas and buttermilk.  Add the pancake mix.  Stir in the egg yolks.  Beat the egg whites until a little frothy, then add to the pancake batter.  I added some more buttermilk to get the consistency right.  Add a few chocolate chips to the top of the pancake after you pour it on the griddle.

Done

I finished a project!  I love it when that happens!

This project is a dress for Lily.  My reason for making it was just so I could have an excuse to sew with some fine fabrics.  I used Liberty of London cotton for the dress, Swiss batiste for the collar, and some nice lace as a trim.  

While I like the results, and I think she will look sweet in the dress, I'm not sure I will make a dress like this again any time soon.  The fabric cost enough that I was hesitant to begin the sewing!  You know, you don't want to do a bad job on good fabric!  And it is a little frustrating that you can buy a smocked dress for under $40.  Most of them are made in China by strangers, not by loving grandmothers, but from a distance you can't tell any difference in the dress.

So, I am happy I did this little experiment, but I'm moving on to less formal sewing.  Right now I have a play dress cut out, the fabric bought for another, a lap quilt in the planning stages, and a prayer shawl on the knitting needles.  

A garden to till, chicken pens to clean and get ready for  baby chicks, clover to cut, moss to pick up, and a house to clean.

I'd better stop blogging about it and Do It!

Color challenged

I am a little color blind.  Maybe not color 'blind', but I do have problems distinguishing colors.

My malady first showed up when I was having a difficult time  matching Daryl's socks.  The blue socks and the black socks look so much alike to me.  I can usually tell the difference if there is a bright light, but without it, you don't want me matching your socks, believe me!

At first, I didn't really think about it.  I thought everyone had trouble telling blue socks from black socks.  But when Daryl could always see a difference, I knew that it was me.

For the most part, it doesn't inconvenience me, but just let me try to match fabric and I feel like I am disabled.  There are two main times when I attempt to match fabric - when I am sewing something and when I am getting dressed.  And I do at least one of those every day!   My family has grown accustomed to me asking, "Does this go together?"  Right now, I think I am okay about 75% of the time.

But, that other 25% - Yikes!

I began this quilt top a couple of years ago as a lap quilt for Daryl.  I decided his lap was too big for it, made him another quilt, and left this one in my unfinished business pile.  A couple of weeks ago I decided that it was time to move on and get it finished.  The floral fabric was the inspiration for the color scheme and I had a terrible time matching the mud color of the flower petals.  Eventually, I settled on a shade of brown.  When I pulled the quilt top back out recently, though, it hit me that I was totally off on the color - now it looks like a shade of gray!  In this picture, that appears perfectly obvious, but for two years it looked brown to me.

Daryl looked at it in the bright light and told me that it was a very strange color and not easy to distinguish at all.  For two years, though, I thought it was brownish and now it looks perfectly grayish.

So, I did what any quilter with a smidgen of pride would do - I quickly finished it and snuggled up with a grandson on the couch with our new lap quilt.

Jonathan was with me when I was finishing this little project.  He was sitting on the couch playing Angry Birds on my Nook when I asked, "Jonathan, would you come outside and let me take a picture of you holding this quilt?   It was an enormous sacrifice on his part to break away from the birds trying to smash those bad pigs, but he did it.

I've seen him choose Angry Birds over chocolate ice cream so I feel blessed that he agreed to help me!

The boy in the middle

There are several reasons for me to love this picture.

The reason I am posting it here today is because of the little boy in the middle.  While his PawPaw was searching the internet and his daddy was glancing at a magazine, Bennett was gladly turning the pages of his little book.

He looked so happy.  And felt so secure.  And is so loved.

Creative adrenalin

I think I am running on a little creative adrenaline lately.  I have been overflowing with ideas for cookies to bake, dresses to sew and quilts to piece.

These cookies were for a bridal shower.  I know you can't tell, but they are pink and white.  

This little dress was for Lily for her birthday.  I made a dress for Bella's birthday, too, but forgot to take a picture until after it was wrapped.  The dresses aren't similar, but they share the same silly chicken.

During this overload of creativity, I am sad to say that the bathrooms have not cleaned themselves and the floors have refused to stay swept.  Hopefully, some house cleaning adrenalin will hit me soon.

Chippy spends the night

One day this week when Daryl was at Daniel's house, Daniel brought his chipmunk to Daryl and said, "You can take my chipmunk home with you.  You can sleep with him and bring him back tomorrow."

To understand exactly how generous Daniel was being, you would need to know how much he loves his chipmunk.  And his gecko and his puppy dog and his lizard and Minnie's bear.  These stuffed animals are very real to him.  They get prime seating to watch TV when he is at our house and we make sure they get something good to eat.  Daniel loves all animals.  He is the one who will find a dead cricket in the basement and need a container to put it in so he can take it home.

So, when he offered for the chipmunk to spend the night with us, and away from Daniel, we felt honored.

I called him to thank him for being so kind.

Me:  Daniel, thank you so much for letting your chipmunk come spend the night with us.

Daniel:  Ohhhh, yeah.

Me:  We will take good care of him.  What is his name.

Daniel:  Chippy

Me:  Kitty?  You have a chipmunk named Kitty?

Sarah: (overhearing the conversation and translating the things I don't understand)  He said his name is Chippy.

Me:  Oh, his name is Chippy?

Daniel:  Right.  Chippy is his name in the Bible.

Which only makes sense when you know that in Daniel's family everyone, except Bella, has their name in the Bible.  Sarah, David, Jonathan, and Daniel.  And, now Chippy.

We found out later that the reason Daniel was thinking about sharing something he loved was because Jonathan had let one of his best friends, Joe Kitty, spend some time with Daniel a few days earlier.  

And that is a real lesson to me.  When we are kind and generous and loving, those things get passed around and they grow and multiply into something we never thought about.  It can all begin with something as small as letting someone else love Joe Kitty for a while.

Movie week

This week started out with a first for me:  I went to see a movie at the theater two days in a row.  Exciting, huh?  Yesterday Lily came with me to see Beauty and the Beast.  I am always a little surprised at how scary a Disney movie can be when I see it through the eyes of a 4 year old..  Beauty is rated 'G', but Lily sat with my hand over her eyes for a little bit.  She said, "Just move your hand when the bad part is over."  

Today, Jonathan saw Chipwrecked with me.  He liked The Chipmunks, but his favorite part of a movie is the popcorn and Sprite.

And, as if I had not been watching enough shows, I came home this evening and watched a DVR'd episode of Downton Abbey.  If you aren't watching that show, YOU MUST!  Rent the first season on Netflix, then  watch the ones playing on Masterpiece Theater on PBS on Sunday nights.  

Watching Downton Abbey makes me think I should drink more hot tea.  And dress up more when I am home.   And have servants to cook and clean house.  And speak with a British accent.

Happy, rainy day

We woke up yesterday morning to see lightening outside our bedroom window.  I haven't been keeping up with the weather before it happens too much lately, so this was a little bit of a surprise to me.  Before long the rain started to fall.  I had a quick thought of heading off to the basement, but the worst of the storm passed us without any damage.  We did get a lot of rain, though!

We had already planned for Lily to spend the day with me.  I picked her up, we went to the grocery store and  when we got home, I told her that I'd like to get my camera to go back out and take some pictures of the mini-flood.  Her mama is a wonderful photographer so she was very willing to get back out and be my photography director.

"Drive down here.  You need a picture of the water over the road."

"Drive down the road and take a picture of how much water is around those trees."

"Minnie, that is beautiful.  Just beautiful."

 Lily has had a terrible cough and needs a little help to get over it.  She was so cute with the vapor rising around her head.  I couldn't resist this picture.

After our little photography session, we built a fire in the fireplace, toasted an English muffin, spread some butter and jelly on it, and sat down to enjoy our little snack in our cozy house.

It's a happy day on the farm.