Happy Birthday, Amy

Amy As A Little Girl

Today is Amy’s 29th birthday.

The title already says it, but I’ll say it again anyway…

Happy Birthday, Amy!

I’m not sure how old she was in the picture on the right. I’m guessing about 6.

Hubby’s not around to ask, so we’ll just have to go with that guesstimate.

Her actual age there doesn’t matter anyway. What does matter is how far she has come since she was the little girl you see here.

She’s all grown up now with a family of her own. A wife and a mother. Imagine that. Time really does fly by terribly fast.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t around when she was that young. But it still doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that she was just a little thing herself and now she has three kids of her own.

Here’s a more-recent picture of Amy with her daughter, Brianna, a day or so before Amy’s wedding. Brianna was close to 6 at the time.

Brianna and Amy in 2006

And here she is with Gaige in 2008 after a T-ball game. He was 4 at the time.

Gaige and Amy After T-ball

Since I’m doing pics of Amy and her kids, I have to add this one. It’s one of my favorite Amy pics. She doesn’t like it, but I’m posting it anyway because it just says so much.

Amy and Joey, Mere Hours After Joey's Birth

Look at her looking down at Joey, all proud. Doesn’t she look happy?

One thing for sure about Amy, she LOVES being a Mom. And it shows, too, because she’s very good at it. She’s the best little Mom I know.

Hubby and I are very proud of her.

At the risk of being all repetitive, I have to say it one more time… Happy Birthday, Amy!

Dad and I love you very much. We hope you have a great birthday.

A Change of Pace (Sorta)

For the last 10 days, I’ve focused on snow, dogs, more snow, dogs, more snow, the food we eat in the snow, dogs,  snow, critters the dogs chase in the snow, etc. It’s gotten a bit, um, repetitive.

But not today. Today I actually get to focus on people. People that came to visit Hubby and I today. Wanna know who?

Amy and the Grandkids

Amy and her kids. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with them, since I don’t get snow days, but I did manage to get a few good pictures.

Joey

Um, most of the pics are of the kids playing in the SNOW. Sorry. That’s why this is only sort of a change of pace.

Walking the Doggie Trails

There’s quite a network of dog trails in our backyard. The bigger kids didn’t have too much trouble navigating.

Joey Trying to Walk the Doggie Trails

Remember, we’ve had 45 inches of snow. I don’t know how tall Joey is, but he’s nowhere near that tall. The little guy was struggling.

Brianna and Gaige

I was leading the kids through the network of doggie trails. We were at the other end of the yard when Joey said, “G. My go inside.” He was tired of struggling through the white stuff. So tired, that he decided to go off trail for a short-cut. Big mistake. The trails are compacted and relatively easy to walk on. Joey isn’t very heavy, so he didn’t sink too much. Until he laid on his belly and slid off the wall into virgin snow.

As you will see in the following image, he got stuck.

Joey Stuck in the Snow

I had to doctor the image a bit. Joey was not too happy about being stuck in the snow and he was panicking, so I didn’t have time for adjustments and my image was severely overexposed. After a couple of tugs on his arm, I did manage to pull him out. Unfortunately, one of his boots was left behind so Amy had to come to the rescue.

Brianna

Joey was perfectly happy to go back into the house with Pop.

Hubby (aka "Pop") and Joey

To see the rest of the shots, you’ll have to visit my Flickr page. Sorry, but it would take an eternity to post all of them here.

Happy Birthday, Brianna!

Our oldest grandchild, Brianna, turns 9 today. Nine! It just doesn’t seem possible…

It is fun to watch kids grow and see them mature. Especially when you can watch from afar as grandparents! When Mom and Dad get to deal with all the unpleasantness of parenthood and we just get to enjoy all of the fun stuff.

Brianna is a very smart, bubbly, funny, vibrant child. And she’s a fantastic big sister. It has always tickled me to see how she watches out for Gaige, even when he is being a PIA little brother. And she is great playing with Joey, too. I know she’s been a big help to Amy.

It wasn’t all that long ago that she was only 5, younger than Gaige is now, and we were getting ready for Amy’s wedding.


Not that I want to dwell on her being 5, but just look how cute she looks in this picture…

It’s always fun looking through pics to post on days like today. I inevitably stumble across shots like this one.

I admit, it’s not a great picture. But it’s one of those candid, slice-of-life shots that captures the essence of Brianna. She has a very expressive face and the picture just makes me smile.

Here she is with me doing a word search puzzle. She was beyond excited to know I like word search puzzles, too.

I like this picture, too.

She was only 6 in this shot. It wasn’t long after Joey was born.

I have tons of other pics, but I need to finish this post. Because I am pretty sure Amy, Brianna’s Mom, is thinking I forgot about her birthday post. I didn’t, of course, I’ve just been having too much fun sifting through all of the old pictures.

So…

Happy Birthday, Brianna!

A Great Day for Soup

Winter is finally upon us. Even if we haven’t gotten to the winter solstice yet, it’s been cold and wet (mostly rain). Great soup weather!

I’ve made soup each weekend. And this time, I had help.

As I have reported here previously, our oldest grandson, Gaige, is a wrestler. Wrestling is not like soccer or baseball where you show up, play a game and are done. It is played in tournaments and can be an all-day thing. I don’t know who that is more torturous for, Amy, since she has to keep track of a very energetic 2.5 year-old in a gym full of people, or Joey and Brianna, who need to occupy themselves while their brother is off doing the Hulk Hogan thing.

So, knowing there was a tournament scheduled for Sunday, Hubby and I offered to keep Brianna and Joey.

It is quite a different dynamic with two kids here instead of three. Or, to be more precise, only one of the older kids. Brianna and Gaige tend to bicker a lot, like any brother and sister. It drives me crazy. My old brain can only take so much noise and chaos. They tend to run (literally) through the house chasing each other, too, which also drives me crazy.

Anyway… we had a very nice and relatively quiet visit with the grandkids this past weekend.

Joey just LOVES all of the emergency equipment we have here. It is all battery-operated with flashing lights and sirens. I have my parents to thank for saving all of the stuff, which was Eric’s when he was little. That means most of the stuff has been around for 17+ years!

Amy said that as soon as Joey heard he was coming here, he was saying “Pop and G firetruck. Firetruck at Pop and G’s. Etc.”

We keep the emergency equipment with the other toys in our formal living room, which we call the library (it has also has bookshelves full of books). You can see some of the books in the background of this picture, which Brianna insisted I take to show that she and Pop finished this USA puzzle.

At one point on Saturday evening, Pop told Joey they had to put all of the trucks back into the “firehouse.” What he meant was, before you (Joey) go to bed we need to put all of these trucks away.

Well the next day, while Joey was eating lunch, I said something to Brianna like, “You can leave that in the library when you leave.” And Joey said, “Not library G, the firehouse.” He’ll remember that, too. So from now on, we’ll be referring to that room as “the firehouse” when the kids are here.

He really does love those trucks.

He loves this ride-on train, too. All the grandkids do. It also belonged to Eric, who was on it all of the time. Who knew that it would get so much mileage?

As a quick aside… is there anything cuter than a little boy in red, flannel pajamas? Flannel pajamas, period?

Sunday was soup day. As you can see, Brianna helped me make a big pot of beef vegetable soup. The pot you see above ended up being too small, so halfway through the process, we had to switch to a larger pot.

She was really enjoying helping me. It’s not often that she gets to be the center of attention. It’s hard being the big sister/oldest kid all of the time.

She was telling me how “so not fun” it is playing hide and seek with Joey. First, he only counts to about two before he starts looking, so she has to hide FAST. Then, when he does find her, he decides that was a pretty good hiding spot, so that’s where he’ll hide for the rest of the game.

Pop must have overheard this conversation. When it was Brianna’s turn to be the seeker, once she started to look, walking slowly and taking the high road to find him, Pop ran and grabbed Joey without her knowing it and plopped him in the recliner. She was quite surprised when he wasn’t in the spot where she expected him to be. We all had a pretty good laugh when she finally saw him sitting in the chair, smiling away!

She really did make a pretty good helper. See how full the pot is? And we still have more stuff to add!

While Brianna and I were cooking, Pop and Joey were looking at family photos. Something else the boy loves to do. A couple of times, when he saw me in a picture, he’d get all excited and say, “That’s G! Look, there you are, G! Pop, there’s G!” It was very cute.

Joey really is the smilingest 2-year-old I’ve ever encountered.

After we got the soup transferred to a larger pot, and Brianna got dressed, the soup-making continued.

While Brianna and I continued to cook, Pop and Joey watched A Bug’s Life and ate some snacks.

In this shot, she’s adding the diced cabbage, which she had cut up by herself (mostly). I would have taken pictures of that, but she was using a chef’s knife as long as her arm. So I figured I’d be better off paying very close attention to that. I mean, documenting this stuff is important, but so is keeping all of her digits and limbs intact.

Joey was quite engrossed in the movie. Shortly after this was taken, we fed him lunch and put him down for a nap.

By then, the soup was finished, so that’s what Brianna and I ate for lunch.

Afterward, we worked together sewing a holiday outfit for Klondike (her dog).

I would have made Hubby take pictures of us sewing, but he was napping, too!

This grandparent stuff is tiring. Wonderful, but tiring.

We are both looking forward to doing it again. Soon.

Tomorrow, Baby Girl. Tomorrow.

If dogs could talk, here’s the conversation Belle, my furry toddler, and I would have been having yesterday when I snapped this picture of she and Meg in my office.

Belle: Mama?
Me: Yes, Belle?
B: When is K coming?
M: Tomorrow.
B: Tomorrow?
M: Yes.
B: So later today, when you’re done working?
M: No, tomorrow.
B: What’s tomorrow?
M: You know how later tonight, it’ll get dark? Well, tomorrow is when it gets light again.
B: Are you sure?
M: Yes.
B: Tomorrow?
M: Yes, Baby Girl, tomorrow. Your new girlfriend will be here tomorrow.
B: Good. Because…

(Here’s where her voice dropped to a whisper. She stole a quick glance at Meg then back at me.)

B: … because this grumpy old bitch is boooorrrriiiinnnngggg.

– – – – –

I have had similar conversations with Gaige, my 6-year-old grandson (minus the “bitch” part), who still has no real concept of time or distance. Just last night, in fact, while I was at Amy’s house visiting for a pseudo Thirsty Third Thursday with Shannon (currently in Egypt) via Skype.

Gaige asked Shannon how long it would take her to get here.

“Well,” Shannon said as she thought about it, “I think it would be about a 15-hour flight.”

“Fifteen hours?” Gaige said.

“Yep,” she replied.

“Is that like three hours?” he continued.

“No. Fifteen hours is a long time,” she explained.

Gaige thought about it for a minute, then said…

“Oh. But what’s a flight?”


– – – – –

Note to Shannon: In case you were wondering why the kids were so wound up when you called, in addition to all the excitement about seeing and talking to Aunt Shannon, they were wrestling and generally having a wild time right before you called.


Here are some other images from the evening. The older kids wouldn’t be still long enough for me to get decent shots of them!



Have a good weekend, everyone!

A Little Humor Won’t Hurt

Hypnotism at the Senior Center
(submitted via e-mail by my brother, Tom Reichard)

It was entertainment night at the Senior Center.

Claude the hypnotist exclaimed: “I’m here to put you all into a trance. I intend to hypnotize each and every member of the audience.”

The excitement was almost electric as Claude withdrew a beautiful antique pocket watch from his coat. The polished metal gleamed in the light.

Claude the hypnotist said: “I want you each to keep your eyes on this antique watch. It’s a very special watch. It’s been in my family for six generations.”

He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting, “‘Watch the watch, watch the watch, watch the watch.”

The crowd became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth, light shimmering off its polished surface. Hundreds of pairs of eyes followed the swaying watch, until, suddenly, it slipped from the hypnotist’s fingers and fell to the floor, shattering into a hundred pieces.

“SHIT!” said the hypnotist.

It took three days to clean up the Senior Center…

My Very Expressive, All-Boy Grandson
(plus ToadMama having a wee bit of fun with Photoshop)

Dear Reader:

You won’t fully appreciate the small details that totally make this picture unless you click on the image and check out the larger size. So, please. Humor me. Put down that darn Crackberry/iPhone, whatever and look at the full-size view.

Fondly,
ToadMama

Did you look at the larger version? Well, did you?
Why not?
(The faces this boy makes crack me up!)

K Finally Expelled Her Tapeworm
(submitted by Jenn Myers, K’s awesome foster Mom)

She really did. The above photo is a reenactment, staged by K’s foster Mom who just may have a sense of humor weirder than me. Maybe. If not, she’s pretty darn close!

Where Mom Jeans Really Come From
(submitted by Shannon, my oldest, globetrotting daughter)

Shannon found this Mom-cotton store in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. That’s gotta be what they use to make Mom jeans, right? Mystery solved! Thanks, Shan.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought…
(found by little ole me while shopping for dog bones)

Amazon.com definitely has its pluses and its minuses, but I still shop there often because they have lots of stuff and you can usually find pretty good prices. For the life of me, I don’t know why local brick-and-mortar retailers either don’t sell compressed rawhide rolls or do sell them for exhorbitant prices. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.

I found the rawhide rolls on Amazon at a good price. And I got a little giggle out of the deal. Check out the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” recommendation.

You’d think more than one person would have to buy this item for it to qualify as a recommendation, right? Could it just be a weird coincidence that multiple customers bought professional noise canceling earmuffs with the bones?

I confess, I didn’t so much giggle as just scratch my head and wonder what’s up with that?

Wacky Web Sites You Might Enjoy
(most of these were found by Hubby)

Is your partner one of those not-so-handy men? If yes, you should be able to relate to this one. If no, go look anyway, just for some giggles.

Do you always feel like somebody is watching you? Apparently, lots of other people do, too. They see Faces in Some of the Weirdest Places. You may never look at things around you in quite the same way.

Need a cartoon for your Blog? There are some cool–FREE–ones to use at www.BZToons.com. Like this one, which made me think of K’s foster Mom…


Here’s one that describes yesterday’s weather…


Speaking of crappy… you have reached the end of today’s post.

That’s a weak closing, I know. Sorry. I’ll try to do better tomorrow.