happy you

 We sang one more time for you too, and the funny poses, oh my goodness.

Happy 19th birthday, starting your 20th year around the sun.

So much love, Mom

a guy who is seven

Your mom sent me your gift ideas last week.

Bey Blades.

As soon as you got there, you told me you knew what I'd bought and we went directly inside to open the presents.

I had no idea.  The nieces and I went to Target and we asked the clerk in the toy section who was even older than me.  He and I pondered on it, expanded the picture and discussed, baffled.

Then a guy, about 30 years old came around the end of the aisle, had overheard us and showed us where the Bey Blades were and what they are.

I asked him how he knew all this information??

He giggled and shrugged his shoulders, "Osmosis?"

Well good. Because me and this clerk don't got none of that.

Cake time!!

You, so great!

Oh my goodness, how I love you.

It was so amazing to be together at Pam and Paul's on a warm sunny Easter and spend your birthday with you.

It might have been the greatest ever.

Love forever, Grandma and Grandpa and Everybody

easter, 2019

 It was a beautiful day, so much fun.

 The weather was perfect, the company easy going.

 The Easter egg hunt was a blast.

Pam, you and Paul have made Easter such a special occasion for so many of us.   My grand kids react like my own kids used to about going to your house.

"Going to PAM's????!!!"

You'd think they'd won a trip to Disney.

Some of them aspire to be trampoline owners even, in the future.

So much love, Val and Everybody

coloring eggs

 It was elaborate and messy from start to finish, and the little one in the high chair decided to just crack open her egg as soon as it was colored, but she didn't like it anyway.

Tiny Toy Story figures stomped on it.

 And then in the only significant spill? 

I did it.

James and Kenya decorated eggs after they came back from dinner, and the dishwasher was running, so no clean up could happen right then.

Well, yeah.  I picked up one of the marble eggs containers, which was slippery with vegetable oil and spilled that all over.

It was fine.

Paper towels.

It was a fun sunny afternoon.   Love, Val

goofy

 Plus today, Kirsten had these dinosaur eggs they could soak and then chisel out from a rocky shell.

Yeah.

Good idea, at first glance.

Bad idea at the big dining room table, where Kirsten had to chisel them out herself, pounding on her lunch break, to reach the tiniest, most insignificant dinosaurs ever.

We were laughing our heads off.

The older kid refused to touch it, howled that she hates touching slimy things!

And since when did she ever object to handling anything gross?   She loves mud and mess.

Silly, funny lunch.

Okay, good night.


Love, Val

signs of spring

 Here's the pinata, ready for Easter.  The first person I saw with mitts in there swiping candy was this person:

Yes, that's him back in his youth with Kirsten asleep.   Well.  I bought extra, was able to add more back into the pinata again.

This!  These are tulips popping out of the ground, out of the cold dead sod!

 And this guy, a robin, saw many robins today.

Onward. 

April, you sweet devil. So glad you're here after all.

Love, Val

back to this

We've got this again.   Kids are happy about the snow day,

But this!  This was a huge surprise, made my day.  Laurie sent these for my birthday.  So sweet and so nice to look at instead of out the windows.

 And this picture?  It's the hair!  I call it the Cindy Lou Who hair.

And that's it on a very quiet Thursday in April. 

Love, Val