sunday

Here it starts, same place it ends tonight.  Guy asleep across the bed, dog next to him.

Sunday morning was the Christmas program.  We did not participate at our old church in the city. We attended at this one much closer to home.  Tim's the tallest kid in sixth grade, last year of Sunday School.

Well, he also fainted during the program, wobbled, and then fell right over with a crash.   Jay was in the bathroom with Dan's kids and Heidi and p.j.  I ran to the front and he looked asleep, sprawled out on the rug.

Julia was shaking.  A guy rushed forward too, a medic in the army, I guess.

Nah, he just fainted.  He was pale but obviously not a code.   I shook his shoulder and talked to him for a minute and then he opened his eyes and looked so disoriented.

Church was silent for several loooong minutes. Then he was able to get up and we fled to the communion room off the altar.

Lord have mercy.

We came home for Grandpa's handmade pizzas and some time playing with the magnificent Barbie house and the Legos.

Some Scooby Doo Zombie movie played in the background.

That little curly one always wants his mother.  Well, since they left him with us today and went Christmas shopping, he sat on MY lap during church.  I got to breathe in the scent of his hair and cuddle his little ribs.

He actually talked to me.

I loved it.

That's b.g. hanging on the railing, trying to talk his cousin and brother into something different than what's happening.

He's fairly hilarious.

Snowman ice cream!

Anyway, it was a great Sunday, all in all.

love, Grandma, aka Val

a friday to remember

We headed out to t.c.'s musical program where he was costumed as a St. Bernard.  That's him by the yellow triangle in the long black ears with the brown patches on his shoulders.

He was great.  He sang, and he did all the actions with enthusiasm, and when he was supposed to howl he did it.  I could hear his voice among all the others, perfect howling.

It was a great show.  We were a few minutes late, due to a car accident on the highway going into Minneapolis, and then we got there and the parking was obscene.   But we made it and were able to enjoy well over half the performance.

These guys were also there. The curly one in the orange shirt held his hands over his ears during a lot of the show. It echoes in the gym, true.

But pizza at John and Dannell's on a foggy Friday night?  Conversation with my sons and their wives?   Watching my grandchildren run around and play and make messes and scream a lot?   Yes, absolutely.  Definitely yes.

Then Heidi told me she'd been hoping to take p.j. to see Santa.

Previously she hadn't mentioned this because we were planning to be home early to pick Sam up from the doctor, but Jay stayed home to do that and fetch Kari after school.

(Sam is great. Superficial lumps removed and sent for biopsies, but no real worry over them.  $940.  So, wow.  That's kind of expensive.

I'm not complaining about the price. Things cost. It's not cheap to rent an office and staff it and provide medical expertise and all that: I understand.  We run a business too and people turn pale when they see the plumbing bills at times.  We provide quotes in advance, and so did the animal clinic.)

 So we were free to goof around at John and Dannell's, which we did.

But we ate and headed home promptly so they could get to the mall and see the jolly fat man.  Julia went along too because it's always more fun with friends.

That's  not the most confident smile I've ever seen on p.j. but she did it, and what a great night.

Now it's the end of Friday and in fifteen minutes it will be Saturday, and that's a full day too.

I love all you crazy people so much.  Love, Grandma, aka Mom, aka VAL

a christmas gecko

 So I texted her today and asked if this was a good day to get a Christmas Gecko.

She said yes.

It was also the only day to mix up and bake a ton of gingerbread.

I wish it were ceremonial and nice, but it wasn't.  Work called, said I was on the schedule for today.

(How is this even possible?  I have never worked a Thursday once EVER.)

I wept.

Actual, exhausted tears, shed by a woman who has worked the last nine days.

They filled the schedule without me, Praise God.

And thank Kathy, who worked double, who didn't deserve this either.

 The gingerbread was baked, and we all drove across town to shop of reptile exerts who assisted Lydia in the acquisition of Lillian.

And then the child deleted the cutest picture I've had of her in a year, her beaming at her little gecko.

Why??

I don't understand.  When I realized what had happened, I cried.

I really, honestly, truly do not get it.

So, we've got your photo of an empty tank and that's fun.

 But this is Lillian with all our good wishes for her health and well being.

T



Tomorrow Sam is having some old-girl thing removed from her lip, etc.

Should be a blast.

The estimate is $888, and what a festive number is that?

 Kind of like the festive number of 7:30 am when she needs to be at the vet tomorrow.

Okay, good night.  love, Val

a fun surprise

They stopped over at Oly and Julie's last night with a Christmas gift, and had a lot of fun meeting their fancy bird.

So fun.   These pictures made me laugh.  Merry Christmas, you guys, love, Val and Jay and Everybody

irrationally happy

My grandkids do this to me.    Last night I texted their parents and asked if they wanted to stop by in the morning and have lunch. 

I didn't hear back, but that's okay. If they're busy already, I'm bummed, but it was a short-notice idea.

So this morning I woke up at seven and saw still no answer, so sent Dan a text, and went back to sleep.

At 9:30 he called, "Mother are you sleeping?  Are you texting me in your sleep? What's going on?"

Anyway, they came over and Grandpa made pancakes and fried egg sandwiches, and sausage, and it was great.   Those kids actually ATE.

They were hungry for chocolate chip pancakes.

 A few minutes before I took his picture, the guy in the stripes was wrapped up in that old afghan and the other one had his arms around him on the floor.

 I said, "They're playing baby. He's hugging and loving his baby."

b.g. said, "Grandma. I'm Spiderman. It's a web."

Ohhhh.  Wow.  Well.

Here they are playing around with that hole in the living room floor.  A radiator used to be there, and the hole in the floor was left from the pipe that used to bring hot water to the radiator.

If they put their eye up against it, they can see Grandpa's desk in the office below.  Here they are putting the cord from the earphones for the electric organ down into the office.

 

 Kids love messing with this, running down to the office to check things out.  He's a little nervous to be downstairs alone now.   He's growing up.  A couple years ago, he'd head down there, even when the light in the stairway was off. He didn't care.

Now he does.

And this:   That's a fake hamster in a wheel next to the Dept. 56 church.

Well, yeah.   Nothing more to add.



And this picture?  No idea who took it or why, or if they even know they did.

While they were here, the younger one insisted on going outside to drive some matchbox cars in the snow.   That's great.  The dogs went out too, please go.

Then he was at the door, wanted to show me something, so I followed him over the patio to the snowbank and he showed me dog poop.

I said, "Why are you showing me dog poop?"  I thumped Sam on the back and said, "Dogs are always doing that. It's their favorite trick.  I'm going back inside."

In a few minutes, he was yelling for Alicia, had to show her something.  Just by the location and so forth, we knew.

I slid the screen down and called, "We don't want to look at poop!" and slipped it up again.

Then we laughed.  

Because kids are crazy and that's like probably the best thing about them.

There they are in a picture I stole from Alicia.

Thank you guys for making this a great day.   I love you so much my heart can hardly hold it.     love, Grandma  (and your cooking Grandpa too)

homeschool works

Here's a beautiful house, going on the market next week.  Four bedrooms, two baths, remodeled kitchen, all new carpeting and finishes.

It's lovely.

 Plus the floor plan is excellent.  It's a roomy, and also thoughtfully planned.

 Here's this old house tonight, and tucked into the arm chair is the one I want to talk about.

That's Lydia, who headed from homeschool to high school this fall.  A couple days ago were the parent-teacher conferences, so we went. 

The teachers seem well-educated and devoted to the cause, kind and helpful.

They report to me that she is an excellent student: engaged, organized, easy to relate to, responsive.  She initiates communication, asks questions when directions are unclear.  When she's done with her work, she helps the people around her, rather than becoming a distraction, she's helpful.

One teacher referred to her as, "Well-read."

???  Harry Potter?  What are we talking about?

Conferences like this are very gratifying.

So then we got in the car and I asked her about this.  How is this possible when in homeschool she slept half the day, attended pj and her demands and needs,  rolled around with the dogs for hours, baked cupcakes, wrote her own stories and did her own research reports?   She had that excellent math tutor for the last year, true, and that was beyond helpful--to me, for sure.

(The math tutor is a whole separate story, actually. She was a coworker of John's who became a real estate client of mine, a gentle, sweet engineer, and I enlisted her help with Kari's math when it became too contentious between Kari and me.   She agreed to do it, and in doing so became a confidant of Kari's that I could trust--she would only inform me of their conversations if she felt it was necessary--and it never was. 

The relationship was layered and multidimensional--her past relationship as a co-worker of John's, our client/realtor relationship, and student to teacher with Kari.  Math was learned and along the way, everyone felt respected, understood, and appreciated.)

Lydia (as she's known at school) aka Kari at home,  laughed,

"I don't KNOW.  All I did was goof around 90% of the time.  But I do listen in class now, and I do the assignments and hand them in, and take the tests. The teachers are super nice and helpful.  I don't get it either."

My mom speculates that the kids are so just plain excited to be there, after boring, dull homeschool life,  that they participate in an enthusiastic way.

I agree.

She's probably right.

She usually is.

So, in students leaving homeschool?

We are now 8 for 8.

James has received acceptance to the university, so as long as he passes his classes, that's a done deal.

Moving on.   Even with balky internet, we are.

Nervous homeschoolers?  Fear not. 

love forever, Val

quiet wednesday

This has been a quiet week, lots of working, not much else.

Dad's working on drawings for a job.   Julia and Tim worked on long division for a while.   That's not an easy thing to learn--many steps to remember.

Then she decided to clean out the cabinet.  This is where the art and homeschool supplies are stored.   

The evening is looking about this exciting.   Tomorrow we're going to my parents for lunch though, and I have $90 of Kohl's cash I don't want to waste.   So that'll be a thrill.

Onward.   love, Val