notice any changes?

even more party time

happy birthday nayeli - great party - lots of fun - thanks for inviting all of us.

didn't take the camera today - which is both good and bad. good, i played with the kids more - visited a little more - but bad, i missed some great shots. if anyone got a picture of austin climbing into the basketball game - share it. i want to see nayeli in her hula skirt and sliding down the slide for the 23rd time. jorja fooling uncle ron (okay ron, WHO would REALLY close their eyes when a kid told them to?) jayla with her pockets stuffed with tickets and playing the 'stomping' arcade game. wyck in his soccer clothes and sliding on his belly down the steps - not slide - collin just being sweet as he always is and beautiful karyna and emmie just being angels.

on another note, bud is still in and out of what i consider rational thought. he is still very confused - but seems to do better on oxygen. if anyone wants to give him a call - talking to us may help him stay focused - he is in room 651

need to get me a chapeau too

from all angles

Riding on shoulders to Austin has varied meanings.

who has the most fun?

so who is having the most fun tonight? don't stop grandma!

why austin loves aunt katie

austin loves his arm slide - but he also loves running and everything else about being out of doors. thankfully rick and katie take over the running part of the excursion!

seriously the last one

dinner time. appetizers first - apples to hold them while dinner is cooking (or heating up) as you can see, nayeli totally liked them. austin was eating them too, but could not keep up with Nayeli. main course - pizza and roasted potatoes. served up nicely with drink of choice -chocolate milk for austin and white milk for nayeli. ketchup on plate for potatoes.
Nayeli ( while putting fifth piece of potato in mouth): i don't like these potatoes
Austin - (who has been eating )- i don't like them either.
Nayeli keeps eating and Austin gets up from the table saying he wants one of the cupcakes from the party. I tell him no - he has to eat his dinner first. He holds up two fingers and says he would eat that many more pieces. I tell him no, you have to eat ALL the potatoes and some of the pizza - of all of the pizza and some of the potatoes.
Nayeli: I don't like pepperoni. (and she starts to pull it off her pizza and put on the plate)
Austin: I don't like pepperoni. (and he begins to pick it up from her plate and eat it)
End result: Nayeli eats all her potatoes and half the pizza - no pepperoni. Austin eats half of each, but all the pepperoni. Neither had a chocolate cupcake.

just one more

Another fun conversation – Sunday on the way to church – again with Austin and Nayeli.

Grandpa singing to the two one of his made up songs (to the tune of skip to my lou}

“Nayeli is a silly girl skip to my loo, Austin is a silly boy, skip to my loo, both of you are cuckoo kids, skip to my lou, skip to the lou my darling”

Nayeli taking up song: “ grandma is nutsy cuckoo skip to lou, Austin is a cuckoo, skip to lou (Austin joins in singing skip lou, skip lou) and so on.

Grandma: can you both sing I am a child of God? (assuming on the way to church and good choice)

Austin: Yes

Nayeli: No, twinkle twinkle little star -and she begins to sing.

Austin joins in – “how I wonder what you are”

Nayeli (changing words) “babies poop their pants all the time”

Austin: that’s not how it goes!

Grandma: Anybody see a red truck anywhere?

Austin and Nayeli: I see one!

Austin: FSST (noise as he shoots his web)

Nayeli: I’m spiderman too. FSST

Austin: That’s not how you do it. LOOK. (he shows her his hand – two fingers out and upside down.

Nayeli: FSST.

Austin: That is not the way.

Grandma: Nayeli is no grown up yet Austin, maybe little girl spidermen don’t hold their hands the same way – couldn’t she do it that way.

Austin: okay, she is littler – not a big spiderman . FSST

Nayeli: (very smiling) I can shoot webs – SPIDERMAN! FSST. Grandma I shot the web into your hair.

Grandma: (turning head a little) Good job Nayeli

Nayeli: DON’T turn your head, now the web is in your face!

Austin: Yellie, you can’t shoot people in the face.

Then there was bathtime. Nayeli and Austin both had fishing nets and 'caught' toys, which on the whole were squeeze toys that could shoot water. Nayeli laughed uproariously while squirting Austin in the face. He kept turning his head and I told Nayeli that she could not shoot him in the face, but to target the shampoo bottle or something else - like the wall. Her response, a loud laugh and a longer squirt of water into Austin's face. He laughed. Then after bath, both kids running out of the bathroom – giggling like crazy because they wanted to show me they were wearing hats – which consisted of totally soaking wet wash clothes shoved on their heads with water just streaming off their bodies. they obviously were not tired from the day.

we love you

i miss you susie

and jack always had a way with the women

first party of the summer

celebrating rick, molly and nick's birthdays at lake lansing this weekend. great weather, better company.

oops

my posts will all be out of order. my FIRST event of the weekend was a great walk to the park friday with the brooks family and austin. here you see rick and reagan playing tag with Austin and I. rick and reagan are IT.

an evening with girls(except ron)

full weekend. started it off with a nice evening visiting with ron and alice, madison and marissa. it was great. the girls are happy little sweethearts - and i got to watch bathtime (with grandpa) and even put Madison to sleep (for a while) with her bottle. i was amazed at how well the dogs do with the girls. specifically chick (spelling?) - at one point Rissa was crawling all over her and I think it might have been Maddy who grabbed her nose for a good yank.

out of the mouths

I need to get my tape recorder back from Molly – and the next time I have Austin and nayeli together again, I plan to keep it on all the time. Their conversations are too interesting to keep to myself, but my old age memory is too bad to remember it all to just tell it. HOWEVER, here is an excerpt – pretty accurately passed along.

SCENE: after a day at the park for Rick’s birthday, everyone went home for a while – theoretically to unwind (grandma’s expectations anyway) and after a few hours, grandma picks up Austin and Nayeli in her van to bring home for the night. Nayeli has her camera with her – the pictures are basically already used up, but she has it. Austin, upon entering van and seeing her camera, refuses to leave home without it. Drive a mile or so:

Austin: yellie, I am going to take your picture.

Nayeli: No – you can’t. (calmly said)

Austin (perturbed): I WANT to take your picture yellie

Nayeli: No you can’t – (emphatically)

Austin: Grandma, yellie said I can’t take her picture – I want to.

Grandma: why don’t you wait? Maybe later she won’t care.

(Austin sets camera down in his seat – Nayeli picks it up)

Austin: that is MY camera

Nayeli: (no words, just stares – I have my mirror turned to see)

Austin: I want my camera (holds out hand)

Nayeli: (calmly) No.

Austin: (whimpering) grandma, yellie won’t give me my camera

Nayeli: I want it – mine is all done. (still very calm)

Austin: MINE!

Grandma: Nayeli, that is really Austin’s camera – you really should give it to him.

Nayeli: No, I want it.

Austin: (angry) I want it!

Nayeli: okay – I will share with you

Austin: (happily) Grandma, yellie is sharing with me.

Grandma: Great – good job both of you.

Austin: I will take YOUR picture yellie

Nayeli: No.

walking weather

as katie zips up Austin's coat and as Reagan graces us with a small smile (sore teeth), we walked off to the park near katie's place and had a blast. i would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to enjoy the weather- get some exercise -and just plain play

dynamic duo

didn't want to insult ron by cutting him out of this picture, but as you can see, the gorgeous gals steal the show no matter what. Rissa apparently likes to mug for the camera - but sorry, this is still photography - none of the sound effects that Alice mentioned are available. and photo credit goes to Alice I believe. keep it up Al.

TWO cute for words

as we have not yet gotten mike and maghan to start their own blog, i decided i wanted to put up for all to see... this ADORABLE picture of the girls. i just wish i had more to put up. i heard via the grapevine (bud through ron- so it is questionable) that they will be walking soon - oh wait - maybe just ONE is close to walking? somebody give the right info. anyway - enjoy.

decorating

okay - another look at the past. first you may notice the cute clothes both nick and jodi are wearing - plaid pants are really stylish i must admit - but then please note the house - gold flowered wallpaper, gold patterned flooring in the dining area - you may see that the window seat was not yet there. the brick woodbox is now gone. so is that table and chair set. there are toys though - that hasn't changed. i feel like i am reading a highlights magazine and trying to find everything wrong with this picture!

priority plans

went to dinner tonight with carol and glen - haven't seen them since just after Christmas and it was good to visit. got talking about the four of us sometime going to chicago as a weekend jaunt - or something. maybe won't happen, but we talked about it. talked about it seriously enough that i pulled out my planner to look through and compare with their schedule. as we went through week by week, it became very apparent that THIS would be difficult. there is something going on almost every week of the summer! and i don't want to miss any of it. neither do i want to miss having (hopefully) some carefree days at susie and jack's pool. time is passing so quickly and i know that shortly nick and family will be moving - and we won't see them often enough - katie, rick and reagan will move too - and right now we have NO IDEA how far they will go. i don't want to miss any opportunity to see everyone during what appears to be our LAST summer before family moves on and away. chicago will wait a little longer. it's appeal can't compare to the appeal of time spent with austin, nayeli, karyna or reagan. gosh, they are all so special and great. and they are changing as rapidly as time seems to be passing. i really don't want to miss any of it... and after the events of today, time together seems more finite and therefore precious

half my family moved south after i got married. do you know that i still miss them? i rarely see them, and we don't know each other the way we did when we were young, but i still miss them and often wished we still lived closer. no regrets - i don't mean that - but i always wished my kids could have had more time with that part of my family too ... and i think of that as this year evolves and changes are looming.

i always have fun

don't need fancy toys, this measuring cup is just fine....

feedingtime

i see the spoon... i know food is coming.... i am ready....quick, quick, quick... i am hungry... ah... yummmm.....

sunshine smiles

okay last pics of sunday walk - and the sun was in and out all day - but the smiles were predominant

twosome

one of the hardest things about nick and allison moving is the fact that these two really do enjoy each other's company ...they voluntarily hold hands while walking - they are cousins and friends and it is sad that they won't have as much time together soon. we have at least a dozen pics of Sunday with those two together.

pay attention

pay attention to the board please as we demonstrate what we mean -- and quit sleeping in the back of the room!

karyna, totally tuckered out snoozed through the lecture

just the beginning

as you can see, we did not just walk around experiencing nature when we walked at MSU this sunday. had to take our 'break' for water and bathroom indoors and while there nayeli and austin played school in one of the classroom. nayeli started off as the teacher and austin already shows his good pupil behavior by raising his hand ... but finally both kids decided to teach allison and i at the same time - two teachers - a one-to-one ratio - something they won't ever experience.

some things never change

As you can see by this picture of my mom .. last minute wrapping at holidays happens to mothers all the time. and she is still smiling!

memory lane again

i can't help it. i find these fascinating. be prepared. i expect to post a few 'old-timers' once in a while. kids grow up; i get 'bigger' (nice way to put it); hair changes color, style or whatever; beards come and go, and fads impact our clothes. take a stroll...