are you really four??

 Look at you, all face and arm painted from the Blue and Gold banquet last weekend. 

Beautiful.

This is a picture from back when you were born.  That's your family.

 Oh my goodness. This might be my favorite picture of you. You grinning beside Sam, have mercy. She was such a baby-tender and you were such a fine baby.

 Look at you

 I don't even remember this pictures, but that's my shirt and those are my hands--what a beautiful girl.

This is from when you were little bitty and I said your eyes were bright as jewels.  This is why.

Sweetheart, we love you beyond all sense.

So glad you're ours.

Happy Birthday, Honey, love Grandma and Grandpa and Everybody

a great weekend

 Saturday we made it to basketball.   It was fun. Fourth grade basketball has not changed since we had fourth graders.

 He's so fast and strong.

 That smile!

Pizzas!

 This face painting was from the Blue and Gold banquet in the morning--very nice.

 They played Animal Crossing for a while late in the evening and there was no fighting or crying at all.

 This little darling is doing great.   She's only been home 9 days but it feels almost like she'd never left.  It's much busier in her family room than it was in the hospital, and there's more action in Grandma and Grandpa's family room too.  She rolls with it. She likes it, reaching for toys and putting them right to her mouth.

 Plus she does love to smile at that mama.

 More artistry from the Blue and Gold banquet:

 The one in the Halloween shirt came for a sleepover and she's way into make up these days, a straight up make up artist almost, putting glitter on Maria's eyelids this afternoon, who thought that might be much too fancy for an errand at Walmart, but she closed her eyes and cooperated.

The one in the braids had lots of ideas of things they could do, and they had fun, dressing all the baby dolls and making beds, tucking them in baby slings and back packs and taking a trip.

 Look at all these babies, all dressed and put to bed.

 I overheard a conversation about this name, Opal.  One said it was OH-pull. The other said it was Oh-PAL.  It went on for a bit, the discussion.  I kept on dressing dolls and said nothing.

 After supper I went to the fabric store because there was a 60% off sale on flannel, so looks like time to sew some blankets.

At the end of it all, we put kids to bed and called a fine Saturday night over.

So much love, Val

so pretty

 It is.

 This has been the snowiest winter in a long time, and we'll be glad for spring, but this reminds me again how much I like looking at winter, even though I don't really love being IN it.

 Snow removal goes on and on--

Last week of February, you crazy devil,

Love, Val

winter, winter

These icicles--they've melted and froze over and over and now there's a big lump of ice on the front steps so we can't open the storm door.  We have to walk all the way around the house to get the mail.

Good grief.

It's temporary.

Oh, but look at this--in the new part of the house, added on in 2003, there's actually INSULATION in the rafters, so voila-- no icicles.

These guys were here this weekend, and you can see what this winter is doing to our MINDS:

Blanket forts were built with intense arguing, and we all just watched the show.

Onward, February you overly snowy old coot?  We're looking forward, ready for March.

Love, Val

beginning again

 We're trying to find our way in a new routine again.

We will.

Right now, it's time to slow way down and release any agenda, and kind of just roll with the days until we can figure out what structure and routine will feel right.

It's been lots of Toy Story 3, which was kind of a relief after Incredibles 2 on an endless loop.   They only like certain scenes.  (She loves it when Jack-Jack fights the raccoon, or Big Baby takes a stand with that teddy bear.)  It reminds me of when Maria used to watch Lion King every day.  She liked some of it, but big sections she didn't really pay attention  to at all.

 The new routines are all about this child having come home from the hospital and thriving this time.   She's smiling and starting to use her hands, and we just do baby and are bored in the snowy days, and that's okay.

Sometimes boring is good.  Boring is real good.

I left her legs out of her suit because the mat was silky and kicking into the keyboard at the end made music.    There's a mirror attached above, and she grinned when she spotted herself.

Today Julia came with me and she and p.j. cleaned her whole room, sorted all the Shopkins and LOL dolls and all that STUFF that scatters all around.  It was a nice job.  The room looked beautiful, clean sheets on the bed, everything put away.

She worked hard on this unicorn sun catcher the other day, and today I brought a big box of new play doh.   They weren't as interested in it as I thought they'd be, but there will be other days.

Anyway, more snow is on the way. School is already cancelled for tomorrow.

Onward into a winter full of more quietly boring, peaceful days.

Love, Val, aka GRANDMA

strangely happy

When I was sorting the bookcase, I ran across this tiny little calendar.   I loved the little illustrations very much at the time, and didn't want to throw it away when the year ended, but what use is a 29 year old little tiny calendar anyway?

Well

The days of the week align this year with 1991, so it's perfectly useful this year again!

 So I clipped to the bulletin board next to me at the desk, and it's perfect.

How something so silly and minor could be such a day brightener, I don't even understand.

Love, Val