My Birthday

I am one blessed Grandma to receive such sweet, homemade cards from my kids!!!

Christmas Day 2012

The boys were a little excited on Christmas morning!!!  What could be better?!

 Grandma brought the fixings for making a Happy Birthday Baby Jesus Cake for our breakfast:  an angelfood cake frosted with whipped cream and topped with fresh strawberries.   

Later, everyone came to Grandma's house for Christmas dinner.  Texas had a WHITE Christmas this year! 

Love Living Close!!

When I arrive at their house, the little boys do a dance exclaiming, "It's Grandma!"  Sometimes instead of a dance, they get down on all fours and pretend they are dogs.  That is what they did a couple of days ago when I needed to stop in.   Then the two little doggies started roughousing and I observed this cute play:

Today is Greg's birthday!  To help out a bit and see my birthday boy early, I offered to pick up donuts and bring to the house before leaving for church.   Our family's tradition, when the kids were little, was to stop at a donut shop on the way to church.  Grant said we needed that time to settle down and prepare for church.  The truth is, he was never around when I got the kids ready for the day except on Sundays.  He was oblivious to the daily trauma of getting kids ready for school on time!  It stressed him out to have to constantly be on top of them to get them out the door.  It was HE who needed the donut and coffee break before church.  Anyway, Greg tries to continue that tradition, but, instead of eating the donuts in the shop, he brings them home. 

So I arrived with donuts, and set the table.  In the process, Gabe bumped into me.  His Mom told him to say, "Excuse me!"  He replied, "It's only Grandma." 

When all were seated with the boys in their Sunday finest, I was closest to the cabinets.  Cathi said, "Get me a bib please."  Cracked me up as it sounded like she wanted it for herself.  

I gave Greg his birthday gift from me at breakfast as did Jeremy as he leaves for his Dad's today over the holidays.  Jeremy presented him with a wrapped gift with 2 giant Hershey bars taped to the top.  Greg immediately said, "A case of Mountain Dew."  Jeremy said, "How did you know?"  Greg said, "Am I right?  I just said that because it looked the right size!"  He peeked in the end to see it really was Mountain Dew.  Then he said to Jeremy, "Well, you owed it to me for drinking my last can."  Jeremy retorted, "I didn't feel guilty because, I knew I had more for you." 

Jeremy's Christmas Concert

Tonight was Jeremy's high school band concert.  He had a solo part in "In the Bleak Mid-Winter."  He said he was nervous, but he played beautifully!!!  

Between sections of the concert, he played in a clarinet quartet.  They also performed flawlessly.  Grandma was very impressed with the quality of the performance! 

With a buddy.

I became a (step) Great Grandmother!!!

Born December 14, 2012 - Ivy Mae Christopher

We drove to OK on December 16 to meet Ivy Mae.  Just 2 days old.  I am careful to call myself a STEP Great Grandmother!  ha! 

Grandpa loving his granddaughter!

 Grandma thinks she is precious.

The Children's Christmas Program

The Children's Christmas Program at their Baptist Church

Near the beginning, Gabe (in red sweater) and his class walked across the stage.  Gabe is carrying his sheep head.

 Gabe is on the far right wearing his sheep head with Kien in the center of the stage -- the angel on the right. 

Kien was the angel Michael.  He had a large speaking part quoting, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you:  you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn." 

 He received thunderous applause for his speech!  The only child in the program who received his own ovation! 

At the closing of the program, when all the participants came back on stage, Kien and Gabe stood together in the very center of the state.  Gabe was now playing a tambourine. 

Grandma Babysits

I saw a balloon reindeer being situated as I drove to the boys' house.  I asked if they wanted to come see a giant reindeer, so they got on their bikes and off we went!

Once we were there, I remembered Cathi has told me Kien is frightened of people dressed up in costumes.  Neither of them wanted to get off their bikes and go closer!   But no one cried or seemed overly frightened. 

On the way home, I asked Gabe to repeat what he did for me yesterday when I babysat.  I didn't have my camera then -- but here he is climbing a vertical stone wall all the way to the top!!!!!   :-0    Oh, my. . .

 Of course, Kien can handily climb to the top AND jump off from the top, landing on two feet.  Gabe walks down the sloped wall to a more comfortable place for jumping.  Still too high for Grandma's taste! 

I was there to "babysit" Gabe and Jeremy while Mom and Dad went to Greg's work Christmas party.  Kien was also out at his sleepover at a friend's house.

Grandma brought supplies to make dinner for the three of us:   mac and cheese for the boys and gluten-free mac and cheese for myself plus green beans and Christmas cookies from the exchange.

Tonight is the first time Gabe has been eager to read stories with me.  He kept bringing me book after book!  :)   And we played toss with a small ball again.

Jeremy "treated" Grandma to a movie after Gabe was in bed -- "Red Dawn."  Oh, my.  Talk about violence!!!!  So I fell asleep.  When it was over I "tortured" him with playing 3 to 13 with me.  Unfortunately, my cards were phenomenal, and I won 0 to 110, though we didn't finish the game before Mom and Dad walked in.   I kept telling him I wasn't trying to win, because I want him to like the game.  ha!  But he said he did like the game. 

Christmas in the Kitchen

I wanted the boys to come to my house to see my decorations and help make Christmas cookies, but Mommy had to wait for their furniture delivery, so we did it at their house.

Grandma made up the dough in advance as it is a VERY difficult dough to stir.  The boys helped to roll out the dough and shape the candy cane cookies.  They were very good at making Play-Doh style "worms"  which were then twisted into canes. 

Their attention span waned before we were done, so Grandma finished the batch.  Kien did make a pan of "gumdrops," as he called them.  He snipped tiny pieces of dough to bake as gumdrops.

The purpose of these cookies was for Grandma to take 2 dozen to a neighborhood Christmas Cookie Exchange this Saturday.

Then we made gingerbread houses!  But these were not cookie and frosting.  They were foam sheets and stickers.

 These held their attention better.

 And it was easy to make a LOVELY creation!!!

Grandma was a bit challenged on the construction part.  Thank goodness, Mommy knows what to do!  :)

Skipping ahead to Saturday, December 8 -- the day of the Cookie Exchange.  WE WON!!!!  The BEST DECORATED COOKIE award!!!






Then we played with puzzles.  Melanie gave Gabe this puzzle of Mater and Lightening McQueen.  He LOVES it, and puts it together over and over again. 

The Boys Having Fun

This family LOVES wheels!!! 

Kien is doing great on his bicycle.  Gabe is an excellent driver!  Greg is just silly!  LOL 

Tree Climbing

We visited the little town of Roanoke at a special chicken restaurant and did a bit of shopping in the boutiques along the main road.  Jeremy is encouraging Kien to be a tree climber. 

Hopefully he never falls out like Jeremy did recently!

Minecraft

I have said nothing about Kevin and Minecraft.  Over vacation, he played it hours at a time.  It is a game, in that it is fun (for him!  Not for me!  ha!), but not a typical game.  There are no rules, no scores, no opponent.  Kevin LOVES construction toys, and this is digital construction played on an iPad.  More information on Minecraft with a 1 minute video can be found at https://minecraft.net/

He was playing while I fixed his breakfast -- toast with PB and honey (just like Karin loved) and a cup of eggnog.  

When I told him I was taking pictures for the blog, he showed me a bridge he made (but the photo turned out blurry) and this stadium he created.

Others watching him have said they could not build the things he does as it requires a lot of concentration and time. 

Then I drove him to school and said goodbye for now.  Sweet boy!!!!

Last Full Day

Grandma set her iPhone alarm for 7am, but was up way before that and forgot about the alarm.  Kevin was not very pleased with the alarm ringing in his room, plus he couldn't get it to stop ringing.  Meanwhile I could not hear it from the kitchen.  At 7:04, I went upstairs to waken the boy and found him drowsily awake and not very happy.  ha! 

I went to visit the manager of the cemetery today and learned they already know about the problem.  I had noted several other markers have the same problem, though not as bad as Karin's.  Hers is the worst.  The company which produced the bronze markers realized those made within a certain time frame did not receive the coating to keep them protected and are refurbishing and recoating those markers.  The manager said they are sending a few away at a time and notifying the family that the marker will be missing for a few weeks.  She promised Karin's will be sent away at the end of January and will be back in place and beautiful by spring.  

Grandma picked up the boy from school and met his 2nd grade teacher as he walked up behind her, hugged her, and she tossled his hair saying he is her angel and such a special boy.  She wishes all her students were like Kevin. 

I offered to take him for a treat, but he wanted to come home and play hide-the-thimble.  So we did, followed by hide and seek.  There aren't many places a grandma can hide!  And the places Kevin found were rather tight!!!! 

Kevin was feeling a little sore after the above hiding spot, so we switched to board games.  We played Guess Who, Clue (his first time), and Disney Trivia (also his first time).  We both were BAD at the Disney game!  We need to see the movies all over again.  Karin probably could have answered every question.  She was such a Disney freak! 

The big brothers are gone:  Cullin has returned to college and Stephan is at his Dad's this week.  So they missed my farewell dinner I treated the family to at an Asian restaurant. 

After several days of vacation, Kevin, Grandma, and Mom had forgotten Kevin had homework to do!!!  So we had to take it to the restaurant with us and begin working on it there while waiting for our food.  Then we finished it at home.  His math homework was quite confusing.  :\   They are doing multiplication, and they are teaching him to figure it out a non-orthodox way instead of memorizing the multiplication tables as sane people did.  We got through it, but it was strenuous.  

Sunday

Kevin and I left for church early enough to take supplies to the cemetery to see if we could resolve the fertilizer pellets on Karin's bronze marker.  We were able to remove some of the spots with water and mild detergent, but there is a pit left in the bronze.  This is going to be a delicate situation, to deal with the cemetery administration.  The fertilizer has clearly damaged the marker.

We went to their old church.  Again, Kevin wanted me to stay in his class with him.  They have a wonderful staff of children's teachers.  It was a fun and relevant lesson for the kids. 

The class began with two fish on a sheet of paper for them to color and cut out.  The fish were used in the story of Peter, James, and John fishing all night without catching anything, while they sat on their fish.  Then Jesus appeared in the morning and told them to let down their nets and they caught many fish, and they threw their fish into the pretend net. 

Peter, James, and John accepted Jesus' call to follow him and become fishers of men.  They talked about ways we can serve God in various jobs.

Then they were to write what they could do for God on the back of their fish.  Here are Kevin's responses:

As usual, we were the last ones to leave the building!  So many friends to talk to!  Kevin had a wonderful time playing with his friends, running around, and hiding.

He wanted to drive by his old house.  Surprisingly, he did not remember where on the street it was and did not recognize it when he saw it!!! 

He noted that Daddy left the small angel and harp statue in the backyard and wanted to take a picture of it. 

After church, we met Heather (Kevin's former nanny) and her sweet baby, Tristan, for lunch. 

 He really liked Kevin! 

While Steve and Kinga went shopping, we went to Goodberry's!!!  :)   Kevin did his normal acrobatics while waiting for our order. 

It was a mite chilly for frozen custard, but who cares?! It was YUMMY!!!!

I had Kevin take a photo of me wearing my boots.   Melanie has been telling me for a year that I need to buy boots.  So, after moving to TX and seeing EVERYONE wears boots, I bought boots.  I put them on this morning as Kevin and I left the house.  He asked why I was wearing boots.  I said, "Don't you like my boots?"  He said, "No!  Grandmas don't wear boots!"   So. . . there you go, Melanie!!!

Magic & Hannah

Kevin worked on his magic tricks this morning.  He practiced with Grandma's coaching and developed a respectable show. 

He set up his table by himself and used a baby blanket as a magic cape.

His first trick proves he is adept!

 He is swinging a bottle with a straight rope placed into its mouth.

This is a great trick!  He places a flat disc in this little container, then pushes nails through the solid disc!   ????  

After sufficient practice, he put on his show for his Dad.  Kevin was able to tell what color Steve had chosen to place upright in the cube.  Daddy was perplexed! 

When Daddy was shocked again with Kevin's ability to use sleight of hand to perform magic, we both cracked up!  Daddy was very proud of Kevin's achievements!

The real magic test came this afternoon.  A friend, Hannah, came to play.  Hannah, a strong-willed child who wants to be in control (strange that these two dominant personalities are friends!), was NOT impressed with Kevin's magic.  If she couldn't resolve the trick, it was stupid and she did not want to be a part of it.  Instead of being a silent observer, she was very vocal and belligerent.  <sigh>  Much of their playtime was spent in contention until they finally resolved their differences towards the end of the afternoon.  By that time, Hannah wanted to be part of the magic show for her father, but she did not understand how the tricks worked, so it did not go well.