happy saturday

These pictures turned up on Instagram and made me happy. That's Johann above, his own baby in his right arm, and Dan and Alicia's baby, his newborn niece, in his left arm.

I am anticipating cousin fun from here to eternity.

This is a picture Kirsten took of the new baby.  

Just wow.

 This one turned up on Instagram too and made me laugh right out loud.

Sidney!  What are you doing here??

February has officially ended, and now it's March.

Don't even know what to say about that.

Okay, good night.  love, Val, aka GRANDMA

a friday to remember

So before anyone else was up, I washed this fine floor and then realized I had no floor wax--had to go buy some.   The rugs were in the dryer, and what the heck?

Looking good now.

Later Dannell called to see if we were home and had time to hang out.

Yes.

This little girl SMILED at me today!!

A real, live smile!

 I was talking nonsense to the child and then she grinned ear to ear.

Sam was all up upon her. Sam has a huge fixation on babies. She was sniffing her over while she was still in the carseat while I was working the buckles, all overly eager and sniffy.

 Oh, and the mail brought money. Not a lot of money, but that's okay. Any is better than none.

This guy, fast and sassy. When it was time for a diaper change he said, "Gramma do it."

Hmm.

I can. I have.

I know how. I wondered if his mother told him to say that, but then I laughed, and as we changed the diaper I mentioned to him the fact that we have a toilet.

Press the lever, forget this ever happened.

Any time you want, you just go right ahead and poop in it.  Go.

He laughed.

 

And then after they went home came a phone call from Dan, way overly understated.

Our baby is born.

Yes, indeed, she was. We took our time and headed over there and even lost our car in the many convoluted  ramps.

Whatever!

 Oh, my sweet Lord, she's adorable.

And then we came back home, left the new parents in peace with their baby girl.

Sweet angel, we are so glad to meet you. I can tell you right now, this family is better with you in it.

Absolutely.

Happy Birthday, Darling.  love, Grandma and Grandpa and Everybody

a new day

 Moving on from a horseshit weekend into a better week.  

Julia has discovered the fireplace and the candles in it.  This candle holder is something from when Lori sold candles back in the day.   We haven't used it much for years, mostly because ground-level candles aren't safe with little children.

She vacuumed all the cobwebs from the fireplace a couple weeks ago.

 But she loves it, so today we bought battery operated candles.  Now she can enjoy the fireplace candles whenever she wants.

And this is a separate story, but late last night James helped brighten the mood around this house so incredibly much.

He got to telling old stories about his buddy.  And they were completely ridiculous stories, and well told.

 Finally James was completely undone with laughter, holding his chest, wiping tears from his eyes.

 When he was finally able to speak again, he squeaked out, "I can't wait until he gets home again."

They grew up together and his friend goes to boarding school on the east coast, so they see each other during the summer and on holidays, but there's instagram and texting and facebook, so the miles don't seem all that far.

Thank you our friend, for being the kid of guy where truly absurd and hilarioius stories can be told in the kitchen late on a Monday night.

I love you all so,  Val, aka MOM

needing a laugh

That we do, tonight.

Definitely.

The kids did this to James' room while he was at work.  That's a foam deer head, and they attached it to a shirt of his, and socks and positioned it in his video game chair, controller in hand, in front of the TV.

That's James' comment, "I see I've been replaced," probably from when he was on break.

Yeah.

Onward.  Tomorrow approaches.

Monday, a new day, and a new week.

love, Val

pssht, the buffet

This buffet cabinet is something I bought second-hand for $90 many years ago.   It's fine. I refinished the top a long time ago, but have been thinking that in its location next to the back door, it's looking like it could use some touching up, nothing drastic, just going over it to hit the water spots and nicks.

The first thing I looked at was why the right hand cupboard door wouldn't close.  I fiddled around with it for a few minutes and then looked at the opposite door.  Same problem.  Same direction.

I stared for a few minutes and then realized what was happening here.

 The turtle tank is doing something bad to the suspension.

It's forcing the top down in the middle and the botton to widen.  That's not good.

So we went to Fleet Farm and bought industrial shelving that can hold a thousand pounds, and he anchored it to the wall besides.

This was a project that was definitely NOT on the schedule for today, but it's done now.

When my dad comes back home, Mom said he'll look at the buffet and see if there's a way to fix it.  If not, life will go on.

But T'HESE two?

They were with us at Fleet Farm while we examined all the shelving options and weights and measured the sizes.

They were fairly twitchy and quite silly, and I glanced over and Julia was standing up in the cart.

!!!

I said, "Julia! That's not safe!  That can tip over!"

About that very moment, it did tilt to the side and she fell right out.  Thank God she didn't hit her head or hurt her butt on the sharp edge of a shelf.

Ei-yi-yi.

Onward.  It's the weekend.   Tomorrow is Friday, best day of the week.

love always, Val

all in a row

Alicia took this one too and it took about ten photos to get one of them all somewhat looking forward.

They are a wild, bouncy bunch.

love always, GRANDMA

what?

This is a picture Alicia took at the birthday party on Saturday.  That's my sister and me talking, and Julia in  a hug.  

As we were standing together, Jule tilted up her chin and told me, "I froze a latex glove full of water in the freezer."

Whaaat?

Why are you telling me this?  What's the meaning of it?

Not I love you, something about a frozen GLOVE?

Well, yeah.  That's random, but it's also one of things I love SO MUCH about kids.

Their weirdness, their kid thoughts, and the things they notice that I'd never think of.

They've frozen toys in paper cups to make freezer pops, frozen a number of bizarre things for entertainment.   I never did see the glove.

That's okay.

Julia?  Forever my baby girl.    love, Mom

a sweetie who is six

Here he is with his pillow Julia picked out for him.

 His parents threw a party today over lunch.

 Dannell bought fancy cupcakes instead of a cake.  They were pretty delicious.  John called me to come taste the sea salt caramel one.

Amazing.

 Okay, something to keep in mind--be careful when dangling a baby wielding two swords.

 Oh, the little non-birthday siblings get so out of joint.   He was fine, just a little overwhelmed.

Here's Dannell's Valentine picture from facebook, handily stolen by me:

Thank you guys for hosting this splendid party

And Sweetie?

You and me been friends a long time.

Six years now.

I love you so much, especially when you're outrageous and make me roll my eyes.

You have a big heart, and you know how to command and audience.   You have a lot of ideas and you know how to get heard.

It's been so much fun having you for a kid.

Lucky little old us.

Happy Birthday, Buddy.

love forever, Grandma and Grandpa