wrapping up the year

That's Lydia, posing nicely for a picture before her band concert. (She was a bit tense.)  It was a really nice concert, and she's learned a lot of music in the last couple years.

She is also giving up the giant saxophone she's been playing, and is going for the clarinet my sister Pam offered her for the next four years.

I have to call Pam and make the arrangements and take the clarinet to the music shop to have the pads checked out.

That saxophone she's playing now is almost as big as she is and it's cumbersome and difficult, though you'd never know it listening to her playing Lion King music this afternoon in the family room.

That thing was unwieldy for Little Jay and he was taller even than she is, though he patiently taught her.

Time to admit defeat.

Tonight we drove out to Wisconsin in rush hour traffic, which we normally avoid, for The Sweetie's spring musical program.

This little girl was so excited about the Disney theme that she clasped her hands under her chin and her whole body shook.

 There he is, the little mouse, second from the right.  She waved to him over and over. He is not permitted to wave back, not even to anyone.

It was so great.  They had obviously practiced and worked to pull together a show this elaborate and polished.

Then we came home and went grocery shopping and started cooking for the party tomorrow.

Little Jay graduates the University!  Here's a cute photo of the graduates:

She has a degree in journalism and his is in biology.  (His brain is now packed with even more weird trivia than ever before.)

It's going to be a great day.

And Sweetie?

Your program was so spectacular we just loved it all.

Onward to tomorrow

love, Mom, aka Grandma

the sun came out today

 I felt like that, smiley.

 The ivy is getting leaves, the lilac bushes are.

 Okay, this is my car full of towels.

In February the windshield was replaced because when the severe cold hit, a chip turned into a crack that ran side to side.

The windshield is leaking.  At first we didn't know because all the precipitation was snow.   Then about ten days ago the entire driver's side was saturated. 

The floor mats are still on the patio now.   I soaked up water in towels by the load.  The last thing I need is a car full of moldy carpeting.  That's annoying.

Onward.  Love, Val

mother's day, 2014

Heidi and Joe hosted brunch at their house this morning, laid back and comfortable.  Everyone brought food until it was a feast.

There's Dannell and her baby.  He loves to wear the mittens.  He wore them to play in the water table, to eat, while driving the Power Wheels, spinning his wheels in the garden until John had enough and disabled the battery.

 That guy--b.g.'s little brother with the curls and pretty lips:

Okay, now the tiny guy has on pot holders, which Heidi traded him for a pair of little striped mittens.  As soon as he saw the new mittens, he threw the potholders down.

Dang, potholders are awkward and annoying.   I found this all quite hilarious and told his mother, "Dannell, this is so WEIRD."

She snickered and shrugged her shoulders:  "It is, but I figure it could be worse."

Totally true.  Plus we now have this to bring up to him later and giggle about.

My parents were here today too, and there was a lot of laughing, and John talked about the obnoxious time he and Dan had up at the cabin moving their trailers around yesterday.  His had problems with the trailer lights and on and on.  He said, "It's like giving BIRTH, and WHY?"

Last week the snowmobile trailer broke on the freeway and it was $100 for professionals to take it back home again, and he was nothing but glad for them.

I hear ya.  I hate it when simple things become a painful ordeal.

And now it's the end of the night, and I'm here in the dark feeling grateful for my own mom, and the other mamas who inhabit my life and share their babies with me and don't mind if I laugh at how kooky their kids all are.

I'm glad for the splendid women who loved the generation ahead of our parents, even Alice--the one gone before I ever met her, and have heard only good things about.

I just had an image here of Jay's mother's mom with her electric knife paring corn off the cobs, and John mumbling, so are we having corn on or off the bones?

Off, Johann, off.

It was about the same time he and Dan had a long discussion about the kidney beans in the chili one night.  Were they peanuts or jelly beans?

Neither one, just kidney beans, different again.

You know.

They just kind of stared at me and did not eat them.

Okay, and as the recipient of an outrageous amount of flowers and beautiful plants and TWO boxes of chocolate, I must say good night.

Thank you to the ones who helped out with eating the chocolate. I appreciate that because I sure don't need to eat all this by myself.

love you all so, MOM, aka GRANDMA

a lady we love

It was my mother in law's birthday yesterday and there was a party at Jay's brother's house.

We had a great time.

A weird thing happened though--Barb, my sister in law, went to the freezer to get the ice cream and found out it was unplugged and everything was soggy and warm.

!!!

That's not right.

Heidi and Kirsten said it was the angriest they've ever seen Barb, but she said something like, "I'm very annoyed and I need to leave the house now," and went to buy new ice cream.

They wondered at the way I'd have hollered and fumed.

With a house full of company, I don't know if I would have or not. Probably not.    But there would have been some shouting at some point. 

Who, in their right mind, unplugs a deep freeze full of edible goods?

Barb was especially irritated that $40 of fundraiser cooky dough the grandparents had bought was ruined.

That IS annoying.

Earlier in the day p.j. and Julia and I went shopping for birthday gifts and found some pretty summer tops.  Why is it we put summer tops away in the fall and they look fine, but in the spring when we take them out again they look faded and disappointing?

My own mom has noticed this too.

Anyway, we had fun shopping together in the rain, though p.j. is in her Renegade Shopper days and doesn't listen for ...well, let's say she could listen better.

But whatever.  People gotta be three when they are.

Last night it was fun to be together, and to celebrate MOM.

She's so understated and patient, so funny and honest and uncritical, and independent and reserved and warm at the same time, a combination of personality that's nothing but fun.

I'm glad it's now and we're here together in it.

Thank you always, and love too, Val and Jay and Everybody

sprinkler time? are you sure?

We keep a bathing suit here, just for her.  During the winter it was too much to expect Heidi to pack snow clothes AND a bathing suit every day, and yet a couple times, she needed one.

Yesterday?  That was just nuts. It's not that warm.

 Well, Sam thought she was super hot too and dug a hole until I yelled.

 It was sprinkler time last night, by request.

And that's a whole lotta crazy this early in May.

Freeze your buns, People.

love, Val

may is here

It was a great weekend.   The photo above is from tonight back at home while we were planting flowers.

Here are some pictures from the lake:

 

 We cleaned up the whole messy pile leftover from moving the wood pile and grass seed was put down.

 Here she is nipping invasive vines:

 This is our hauler on his way back from disposing of a load of leaves and debris in the woods.

Okay, this is interesting. There's Sam asleep near the fire.  The swamp beyond was seriously loud with what we call Peepers  I think they're little noisy toads?   But we don't know. They could be frogs.

Loud is all we know.

Well, an eagle came over the swamp, rolling in a lazy arc.

 

 That whole swamp became silent.

Silent!

Who knew?  Peepers know when an eagle is circling?  Who told them?

 

Do eagles even eat small amphibians?

 

This weekend my grandma was around me, the bakey scent when we flipped on the baseboard heat Friday night, and  the way the curtains fluttered in the cold room as the heat started rising.

I leaned against the glass looking out over the same lake she vacationed at, and listened to the kids in the next room.

And today at noon while the kids were setting the table for dinner and I was slicing the roast beef, she was right there at my shoulder.

It doesn't happen very often, but I like it.  Figment of my imagination maybe, but it feels like a hug.

Okay, he accepts hugs:

 Spinning in the chair, always a favorite of b.g. who was not even there.

When we came home, I ran to the nursery and bought red geraniums and  white and purple petunias, asparagus ferns and spike.   The lady ringing things up complimented me on the colors and shapes.

I told her, "Same thing every year. Eliminates decision making, increases efficiency.  Same reason I wear so much black clothing."

She laughed and told me I need to mix it up a little.

 

A couple weeks ago he rented a wood chipper and chipped as much wood as a woodchuck could, if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Here's the tiny little cottony sweetheart looking out over the yard.

Yeah, here's the big giant hole she dug.

Sidney, KNOCK IT OFF.

 These pictures were found on my camera at the end of the evening. Obviously others came into control of the device.

 

Okay, with that lovely photo of the back of my head, we will say good night, and also HELLO MAY.

So glad you're here.

love always, Val

Okay, so today

A couple aunties went on a bike ride around the park after they had sufficiently distracted the dog and the little one.

Yeah, Well.  Or Well, Yeah.   The dog saw them going around the park, and she set up  a howling situation in the yard.  I looked out. She had her enormous head thrown back, lips pursed.

Impressive.

Less impressive is us in the stairway with the baby, the very rebellious and opinionated baby.

I have no idea what any of this means.

We talked about how Grandma  loves her, and how great things are.

I do, and they are.

Let's be THREE.

love you forever, GRANDMA