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It Finally Happened…

What? What finally happened? A moment of peace that I can use to do a real Blog update.

Yes, I’ve had Blog posts recently, but they were pretty much filler-type stuff. At least that’s what it feels like. Ever since October 30, when I went to the Bombay Hook NWR, it’s been go, go and more go. Or so it seems to me.

But I shouldn’t waste the time whining, right? I should just do the dang Blog post already!

One of the reasons last week felt so hectic is that I was working on a pretty large proposal (for my employer). I’d hoped to join Hubby mid-week at the WV place, but this was a pretty demanding project that required extreme focus. Since I don’t have an office in WV, I was afraid Hubby and the girls would be too much of a distraction for me. So I stayed put at the MD abode until Friday night.

When the girls and I arrived at the WV place, I was quite surprised and delighted to discover that Amy had brought the kids up to visit for the weekend.

The kids were in bed when I arrived, but they were all happy to see me bright and early on Saturday morning (they got up at 5:30 AM, much to their Mom’s chagrin). Amy tried to keep them quiet and in bed. After taking the dogs, including Klondike (our granddog) for a quick walk, I went and stole Joey from Amy. Then I told the older kids they could get up, but had to be quiet so Mommy could sleep.

Brianna and I spent quite a bit of time doing word search puzzles, and playing squares and tic-tac-toe on her little activity pad.

Notice the dog on my lap? No? Well, take note.

There’s something that’s very cool about three little kids being happy to see you. Not just like, “Oh, look. It’s G.” They were all excited, like, “Hi, G!”

It’s neat. When you have kids of your own, you get that when they are little. Then they grow up to become teenagers and mostly you feel like you are just being a pain in the ass. Of course, you probably are, but they are teenagers, after all. Teens bring the evil, or at least all sorts of exasperation, out in a person.

So it’s cool to have little ones smile when they say your name.

They were each even trying hard to get some lap-time. As you can see, I had a pretty full lap already. They just got as close as they possibly could to watch the YouTube videos I was screening on my notebook computer.

Perhaps the most entertaining one for me was You Spin Me ‘Round (by Dead or Alive), which the kids know from The Wedding Singer movie. Seeing Gaige emulate the dude’s 80s dance moves was priceless. I can still see his little face looking all puzzled when he asked, “Is that a boy or a girl, G?” I would have gotten up for the camera, but I was sort of pinned down. And that would have ruined the moment. Know what I’m sayin’?

You did notice Belle still on my lap, right?

Joey eventually got tired of the videos, but somehow Brianna and Gaige managed to get on my lap, with Belle, to continue the video screening. Even Belle couldn’t resist YouTube; we were watching some of my favorite Brittany (the dog breed, not Spears) videos at that point.

It wasn’t the videos keeping Belle on my lap, by the way. It was Klondike. It takes Belle a while to warm up to new dogs. Especially big ones. And Klondike is B-I-G. How big?

Really big. Much bigger than my little Tinkerbelle.

After lunch, a trip to the store for me and a nap for the kids, we got to go outside. Mike did fun stuff like air up Amy’s tire.

The kids and I spent a good bit of time gathering kindling, and logs and prepping the campfire, which we planned to ignite after dark.

We did a good job with the prep work, as you can see. And once it burned down, we got to roast marshmallows!

Joey was a giant, sticky mess. Note the glob hanging off his face.

Brianna had reason to look unhappy here. Meg had just stolen one of her marshmallows!

Gaige wasn’t quite as messy as Joey. And he’s old enough to wash his own face.

Hubby, being the good Pop that he is, took Joey up to the house to get him cleaned up.

On the way, he stopped so that Meg could help get some of the excess marshmallow off of Joey’s hand. Hubby was watching Meg so closely, he didn’t notice Belle sneak in to help clean the excess off of Joey’s face!

After Joey left the fire, Amy got to play with his fire stick.

The next day was gorgeous, so I got to take pictures of everyone outside.




These are just a few of the many pictures I took. To see the rest, you’ll have to go to my Picasa site.

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Surprise Visit

Hubby had off work last week, so he left for the WV place the day after Halloween. I had hoped to join him midweek, but was pretty busy at work. Now, we do have Internet access and I can work from there. But I knew with Hubby and the girls there, I’d be a bit distracted. And with a big proposal due today, I couldn’t afford that. So I went up Friday night.

I arrived a bit after 9:00 PM to a happy surprise…

Amy and the grandkids had conspired with Hubby to surprise me with a visit. Which in itself was cool, because I don’t get surprised very often.

We’ve tried for a long time to get Amy to bring the kids for a visit, but they are very busy with sports and stuff pretty much year-round. So I was delighted to have them there. They brought Klondike, our granddog, too, which made things extra interesting, in a good way. (TJ, Amy’s Hubby, is away on a brief Army-duty trip.)

I’ll tell you more about the visit later. Of course, I have lots more pictures to share.

Sunday morning, I was supposed to leave to go get K, our new dog. But Saturday night, her foster Mom noticed something not-quite-right with her poo. Sunday morning, she confirmed what she’d feared… K has worms.

To keep Meg and Belle from also getting worms, we decided it would be best to wait until after they clear up before moving K in. We are really, really anxious for her to join the family, but want to be smart. Foster Mom Jenn hopes to get her to the vet today for a treatment. Hopefully they’ll be able to tell her when K can safely move in.

It was a very happy (and busy!) but disappointing weekend. We really did have a fun visit. I promise to fill you in as soon as I can. But that dang proposal is still due today. So I need to get to work.

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An Eventful Halloween

This was the most eventful Halloween ever. Well, maybe not ever, but at least in a long time. In the morning, I did my first 5k in Ocean City, Maryland (more on that tomorrow). In the evening, it was trick or treat time with the grandkids.

Their Dad, who is away doing Army training, was not able to be there. So Hubby and I went along to help. Not that Amy really needs help, because really is the best Mom ever, but because it’s fun.

Whenever I see this picture, I’ll forever remember hearing Joey, very loud yet muffled by the mask, saying, “Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!” The boy has been trained well.

I’ll also remember Gaige, strumming his sister’s pink guitar while serenading us with “If You’re Happy and You Know It” to keep us entertained as the other kids got dressed.

After Brianna got her costume on, she joined the singalong.

Transformer Gaige was definitely the most pumped up of the three.

Although Brianna was excited, too. I even got her to vamp for the camera. (For the record, I wouldn’t usually say my almost-9-year-old granddaughter was “vamping,” but she is dressed as a devil.)

As for the little guy, he came running out as a growling, muscle-bound Power Ranger and promptly tackled his still-singing brother. So I think it is safe to say he was excited, too.

Finally, the trick or treating began. I wouldn’t have thought an almost 26-month-old would be so into trick-or-treating. But Joey loves doing the same things his big sister and brother do.

Even if he did struggle to keep up at times.

He didn’t care. He was having FUN.

Here’s Amy with the kids as they patiently wait their turn.

Joey was a real trooper. It was obvious he was getting tired, but he never once got crabby. He didn’t complain a bit when Pop started carrying him from house to house and I carried his bag. He’d come right to Hubby and I after doing his thing at the door, say “there you go” as he handed me his bag, then turn to Hubby, raise his arms and say, “Pick me up, Pop.”

At the end of the night, the kids surveyed their loot.

Throughout the evening, Hubby and I kept remarking at how fast the kids are all growing. Compare the pics you’ve seen here to Halloween 2008 and you’ll see for yourself. And look at Halloween 2007, which was even before I had a Blog…

Time does go way too fast. The older you get, the more you realize that. Which is why, I think, grandparents tend to appreciate the grandkids so much. Because we know it wasn’t so long ago that their Mommy looked like this…

I hope your Halloween was equally as enjoyable!

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Go Buccaneers!

I did something completely different today. I (finally!) went to see Gaige, who just turned 6 a couple of weeks ago, play football. Gaige is our oldest grandson. It really is about time I saw a game.

Of course, the weather was crappy (severely overcast with intermittent rain showers). The game, which was in Harford County, 41 miles north of my house, started at 8:00 a.m. Which meant I had to be out the door no later than 7:15.

That’s WAY early for me to be up, dressed and out on the road. Awake is one thing, but dressed and out of the house? Hah.

I’m a big girl (as in grown up), though. With Hubby off at some plumbing convention, I just had myself to worry about.

Amy and TJ had it far worse. Gaige had to be at the field at 7:00 a.m. That meant they had to leave their house by 6:45. And, before they left, Gaige had to eat breakfast (he eats REALLY slow). He needed to be suited-up, too. So they probably got up at 6:00. At the latest.

This isn’t the first time one of his games has been ridiculously early. And on a normal weekend, Brianna (almost 9) and Joey (26 months) would’ve been dragged along, too. But this was no normal weekend. Aside from the horrible weather, Joey finally started showing symptoms of the H1N1 flu (Gaige and Brianna both had it over the past week), so Amy didn’t want him out in the weather.

Luckily, TJ was able to drop Gaige off on his way to work, which just so happens to be the start of a one-month deployment (he’s in the Army). Amy stayed home with Brianna and Joey. That meant it was doubly important that I get there on time (yes, I did).

I can’t say I understood anything that was going on. Clinic football rules are apparently VERY different. They don’t have play-by-play announcers either. Or instant replays. So, I can’t tell you how the game went. But, despite the very poor light, I did manage to get some good pictures.

Look how little these guys are. They’re not all this skinny. Some are taller, too. The little guy to the right of Gaige is the shortest. And I think he’s the quarterback. But I couldn’t swear by it since I really could not follow the game.

He may be little, but he’s got the look down.

And he’s a pretty good tackler, too.

He sure looked cute in his uniform, didn’t he?

How does a cute 6-year-old like Gaige learn how to look like such a bad-ass? It must be a guy thing.

Of course, I had to make him pose afterward. Then I had to help get the helmet off. One of his ears almost came off with it, but he assured me that’s normal.

Now, Gaige is usually very smiley and photogenic. But he had to pee. Really bad. I wanted to get a picture first, which I did, but that’s why his brow is furrowed. Can’t you just hear him saying, “C’mon, G, I gotta pee”?

He did a good job holding it. Especially since it took me forever to get his pants undone, what with the tight, heavy duty belt-thingy (“So my pants don’t fall down,” he said as I was struggling and griping) and the laces that he yanked right into a knot.

I did warn Amy in advance that I wouldn’t be setting foot in her house after the game, no matter how much Lysol she’d saturated the house with. I was going to go to Brianna’s soccer game, but I just didn’t feel like spending another hour standing in the rain. So I headed north hoping the rain would stop so I could do some birdwatching. More on that tomorrow…

The rest of the football pics can be seen on my FLICKR site…

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Grandparents’ Weekend

This past weekend at the WV place was really quite eventful. We filled all of the bedrooms for the first time ever. We got to take the parents on a train ride, spend time with Joey (our youngest grandson) and talk to and see Shannon from Barcelona using Skype.

I shared Saturday’s train ride pictures with you the other day. So now you get to see what Sunday brought.

Fall! When I got out of bed on Sunday morning, it was 39 degrees. That’s only 7 degrees above freezing.

Sorry, I won’t bore you with my nature photos yet again. After all, we did have 6 people in the house at one time. But I couldn’t resist sharing these two. They look better if you click on each pic for a larger view.

Here’s my Dad having breakfast with Joey, our entertainment for the weekend. When Hubby pointed out to Amy that she was shipping her son off to spend an entire weekend with FIVE grandparents, she almost changed her mind. I mean, if 2 grandparents can spoil a kid in a weekend, what would 5 do?

We took turns passing him from one lap to the other.

Even my Mom (aka Mawsie) got in on some Joey loving.

He’s really a personable, well-behaved, happy little fellow.

And with people like me around, he’s gotten really good at saying, “cheese.”

It was too cold to go play outside, so we brought out the zero gravity lounger. It kept him busy for at least an hour.

He and I were taking turns reclining then locking the chair in place so Joey could unlock it and have the chair back shoot forward. Meg had to get in on the act, too.

Joey thought the chair was the most fun ever. Everyone else just liked listening to Joey giggle.

He was sort of excited and sort of scared to sit on my big motorcycle.

See what I mean about him always looking happy?

Here Joey and Pop are goofing off as the parents get ready to leave.

Then it was time for lunch. Take a closer look at Joey…

… doing his best to sit like Pop.

He’s at that mimicking phase, which is cute until someone slips and says something like, “dumbass.” Lucky for us, that one wore off quickly.

He’s also at that “I wanna help” stage, which is cute, too. But it means it takes ten times longer to get anything done. Which is okay, unless you’re supposed to be someplace at a certain time.

Finally, we were ready to leave. He’s even a good car passenger.

Mom Murphy, sorry I didn’t get a picture with Joey on your lap!

Other than that, we all had a fabulous weekend. This weekend is going to be fun, too. We’ve got more company coming. More on that next week.

I can’t close without sharing at least one picture of Belle. Just a quick one…

I keep saying she’s fast. She really can fly.

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A Potomac Eagle Weekend

As I mentioned the other day, we had our first full house at the WV place this past weekend.

Pictured here, from left to right, are my Mom (Doris), my Dad (Phares), my mother-in-law (Dena Jeanne), Hubby, me and our youngest grandson (Joey).

A long time ago, Hubby and I decided we’d like to take the parents on a train ride. It just took a while to implement. What train? The Potomac Eagle, of course.

The train is actually based in Romney, a few miles from our house. We really have been wanting to do this for a while, but the timing had to be just right. I think Fall is the best time, scenery wise. But then, I love Fall.

It really was a very nice weekend. I’ll expand more on it later. I managed to come down with a cold, which is why I am so late posting about the weekend. It’s also why I’m sharing the pictures with very little commentary. I need to go to bed.

The Potomac Eagle rides south from Romney along the South Branch of the Potomac River. It really is a pretty area. The mountains may not be as dramatic as they are in the American West, but they’re still quite lovely. Especially in the Fall.


















This shot cracks me up. It looks like someone said, “Everyone tilt your head sideways.” Joey got the “tilt” part, but didn’t get “sideways.” He tilted back instead. It’s sort of like me telling him to squeeze out a little more pee (he’s potty training). I had to follow that statement with, “No, not with your fingers!”

And here’s the grand finale shot of the day…

I’ll post more pics from the weekend and tell you how much fun we all had in my next post. I hope. Right now, I need to blow my nose for the gazillionth time and go to sleep.