Dance Lessons

While in Ohio last week, on Monday, Araya had dance class.  Watching the little ones is so much fun!  They don't always keep their minds on what they are doing.  They don't always follow the instructions exactly.  They don't always get everything "just right" but they are learning important lessons for later.  And they are so cute to watch!

Fake smile, lol!

First, the kids did some things in their ballet shoes, stretching, etc.

These pictures were actually taken into the mirrors on the one side of the room.

Now for the tap shoes.  The kids loved making noise with the shoes as they walked (or hopped) across the floor.

Videos

I'm glad Araya had a good night since she woke up sick on Tuesday morning!

Not As Young......

(This post was started on Thursday, March 7th, but the internet at Jessica's messed up on me before I could finish it.  And my internet at home is acting up for me right now.)

UPDATED WITH PICTURES BELOW..............


....as I used to be, for sure!  And I know why the Lord gives you babies when you are young....I love the time I get to spend with my grandchildren,  but it wears me out!  And I haven't even been doing any of the "heavy" parental daily stuff!

I know there are circumstances beyond control that causes some grandparents to have to become the "parents" to their grandchildren; I'm thankful I didn't have to....but I would,  if I had to, for sure!

Jessica and Terry came back today so I will be leaving for home tomorrow.  I'm stopping in WV to have lunch with my youngest child,  Nathanael.  And as it turns out,  tomorrow is early out for his daughter,  Adalina Grace, who is in Kindergarten. I  only get to see her maybe a couple times a year.

I stopped at McDonald's to get an egg McMuffin after dropping the boys off. Araya wanted a cheeseburger with ketchup only,  but McDonald's told me they are not allowed to serve burgers till 10:30. What??? So I told Araya she would have to eat cheerios when we got home, which she was fine with. I promised her I would get her a cheeseburger for lunch.  She started hollering she was hungry at 10:00 but I told her she would have to wait till Michael got home from school.   We left around 11:30 after Michael got home. We went to McDonald's drive through and then went to Olive Garden for Michael and I.

Michael and I played more Monopoly Cards while Araya played on my tablet.

This is Cuddles, Thad's cat.  This is her perch for cleaning herself and sunning herself.

Araya putting together a puzzle.

I tried to upload more pictures, but the internet is acting up!  I will post more later.

UPDATED Wednesday, 3/13/19:

Monopoly Deal with Michael

The card game is more fun than the board game!!!

It's Finished!!  Chance wants it mod podged to hang in his room.

YAY!  They are BACK!!!

Much Better Now!

Well, the day certainly didn't start out in the best of ways.....can you say, VOMIT!

Araya threw up first thing this morning and it looked like the fever meds I gave her before bed last night.  Then she wanted some water and as we were getting ready to walk out the door she threw up again!  I knew it was going to be a long day!

We got her cleaned up and took the boys to school and came right back home.  She hit the couch with tablet in hand.  She wanted something to drink.  I made her take baby sips about every 15 minutes.  That stayed down.  Mommy suggested I give her a Tums.  I was very surprised she let it sit in her mouth for a long time before it was finally gone.

Next she wanted a popsicle.....then another, LOL!  That stayed down.

Next she wanted some cheerios and milk.  That worried me, but I gave her a handful with about 1/8 cup of milk.  That stayed down and so she wanted more.  That stayed down.

I could tell she was feeling better because she would hop off of the couch and run through the house to collect something.  Thank You, LORD, for answered prayer!

I sat by her until 11:30 or so and then got up to work on the puzzle.  I still had quite a bit to complete.

Araya "helped" me work on the puzzle.  And she reworked a couple of puzzles Chance had put together.

Reworking one of Chance's puzzles.

Another way I could tell she was feeling better.....look at her goofy face!

I talked Michael into going out for my lunch again.  

We played Monopoly Cards later in the afternoon before he went to pick up the boys from school.

I enjoy playing Monopoly this way a whole lot more than with the game board!

Araya ate half of a slice of pizza, a popsicle, some cheerios and milk for her supper!  I sure hope all of that settles well!

Today's main goal was to finish the puzzle.  I wasn't sure I could do it because I had lots of pieces left!  But, since I kept Araya home from church and Michael took the boys to Awana, I did it!
VOILA!  The puzzle is complete!

\
I'm going to go ahead and keep Araya home tomorrow, too, just to be sure she is OK.  Not sure what we will do all day since I completed the puzzle.  Have a great day tomorrow!

Diary Log, Earth Date 03-05-2019

6:30 a.m. - Alarm for me to get up and get ready before getting the kids up.
 
7:04 a.m. - Past time to wake everyone up.  Chance first, who is sleeping in mom and dad's bed since I stole his (actually my bed from the bedroom Jessica fixed up for me down in the basement).  Next, Thad, who wakes up easily.  Better than Chance!  Then comes Araya.  I carried her down the stairs and sat her at the bar.  In the activities that followed, after giving her some cold medicine since she was sneezing all day yesterday, I looked at her and noticed her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were very droopy.  I could tell by the way she was answering me that she was not feeling well.  I picked her up and carried her to the bathroom and took her temperature.  It rose quickly to 99.8 and was continuing to climb after leaving it for a minute under her arm.

7:37 a.m. - Out the door with Araya wrapped up warmly.  Mommy (Jessica) tells me to ask Araya if her ears hurt.  "Just one; the left ear is the only one."  In the distraction of getting Araya taken care of and out the door, Thad left his book bag, EVEN THOUGH the last thing out of my mouth before leaving the house was....."Get your book bags!" Chance even fought with his book bag.....you would think that would have tipped Thad off to realize...... How does that happen?  Well, he was upset and cried.  I wrote a note to the teacher and told her I would try to do a better job of making sure he had it tomorrow and that he DID have his math homework done.  I told Jessica I knew why I had kids when I was younger!  I can't imagine being Elisabeth or Sarah!

It is a COLD 10 degrees out this morning!  BRRRRR!!!!!  But the sun is super bright!  So pretty!  I stopped on the way back to the house to get some tea and Araya wanted some rootbeer.  When we got home she hit the couch.   

9:00 a.m. - I gave Araya some tylenol for her fever and some ear drops.  I added some cotton to her ear.  She wanted to play on her daddy's phone. In about an hour she was feeling much better and her fever was down.  Thank You, LORD!  She came over to sit by me on the couch after her phone died and I downloaded a game on the tablet I brought.

I told her to say, "cheese" but she gave me "kissy mouth" instead.

11:04 a.m. - We had some visitors to the back yard today.

Deer #1 (mom?)

Deer #2 (child?)

Deer #3 (cousin, Aunt??)

About 5 minutes passed between the time mom and baby passed and #3 came through.

11:34 a.m. - Michael came home from school.

12:00 p.m. - I asked Michael to run to Arby's for some lunch.....a Loaded Italian sub and a tea for me and whatever he wanted.  Araya is not eating today.  Her daddy's phone died, so she is watching YouTube videos on the tablet I brought and sitting beside me on the couch as I type this.

1:00 p.m. - Time for some more tylenol for our little girl.  She said, "Why?" because she doesn't like the medicine.  I told her mommy wanted her to take it to help her ear feel better.  I had to add water to it for her to take it!  I'm sure that helped, LOL!  She took a drink of rootbeer afterwards and then ate a lime popsicle.  What a flavor combination!

1:24 p.m. - Popsicle is gone!  The kids video binging continues.  Talk about a waste of time!  The stuff featured in these videos is so empty!  I guess the silly things done are what keeps the kids watching.

2:50 p.m. - Time to work on the puzzle we started last night. There's still a lot to do!

3:30 p.m. - Araya started helping me with the puzzle, but then went to the couch again with the tablet.  She conked out.

4:30 p.m. - Michael volunteered to pick up the boys since Araya was sleeping soundly.  I continued to work on the puzzle til the boys got home.  Then we worked on homework and cleaning out their folders.

Thad did some reading while Chance and I worked on puzzles.  No movement from Araya.

Chance is going to take his puzzle for show and tell at school.

7:00ish p.m. - Jessica and Terry called to facetime with the kids.  Finally about 7:30 Araya woke up and got to talk to mommy and daddy.  She later said, "I miss mommy and daddy.  I don't know why they had to go so far away.  I thought they were going to Wendy's."  LOL!

8:00 p.m. - Time to get ready for bed.  Which means they have an hour to settle down after they brush their teeth and get their jammies on.  They had their choice of 3 activities.....puzzle with grandma, phones/tablet, or watch a movie.  Chance chose to keep working on puzzles.  Araya chose the tablet and Thad chose the phone.

9:00 p.m. - I could tell that Araya was no where near ready for sleeping again already, so I let her stay up with me working on the puzzle.  She eventually got back on the tablet.  Chance and Thad were out in no time.

11:00 p.m. - I told Araya it was time for bed and I quit working the puzzle so I could finish this post.  She was out pretty quickly, so the last dose of tylenol helped with that, I am sure.  I got quite a bit done on the puzzle tonight.  I don't know if I will finish it in the next 2 days or not.  Jessica and I decided Araya should stay home again tomorrow for good measure.  She seemed to feel pretty good tonight.  Hopefully she will be even better tomorrow!

Sorry, the picture is upside down.

11:30 p.m. - That is a wrap for today!  I'm closing up shop and heading to bed!  Thank You, LORD, for the blessings of the day!  Thank You that Araya was feeling better after taking some medicine.  Please heal her little body. 

A Grand Time!

This is a make-up post from a couple of weeks ago that I just didn't get posted.

We were going to have Jaxon and Kayden for a Friday night a couple of weeks ago.  However, it turned out that Jaxon tested positive for the flu and strep throat, so he ended up staying with his mom, who was sick, too, and Kayden spent the whole weekend with us so she could avoid the flu and sickness going on in her own home.

We had a great time playing games with her all weekend.  Here are those pictures and some of the videos.

Must have been too easy as Mark is looking quite bored here, lol!

Playing Monopoly Cards.  It is much more fun than the board game.

I was gamed out on Sunday, but Mark agreed to play more Uno Stacko with Kayden.

Kayden said she had only ridden a motorcycle a couple of times in her whole life (of 12 years!), so Mark took her for a ride.  She wore my jacket and gloves and an extra helmet Mark had downstairs.

Here are some videos of us playing Uno Stacko, our favorite game of the weekend.

We played Guesstures, Sequence, Old Maid, Monopoly Cards, Uno Stacko.....by far, Uno Stacko was the most enjoyable!  I was certainly gamed out by the time the weekend was over!  But, we had a grand time with our grandchild!

And I'm happy to report that everyone is well in Kayden's house.

Weather Stress

I am in Ohio this week watching my grandchildren while their parents take a couple of days to get away from it all.  By the time I got here I felt like I needed to get away from it all, LOL!

The trip was a disaster from the beginning!  When I left the house, it was very overcast, but there was no precipitation.  I stopped for gas and then went across the street to Wendy's drive thru.  That was my first mistake!  The line was long and it took forever!  My main reason for stopping was so I could have something to drink on the trip.  I ate the fries, but left the chicken sandwich for later when I was more hungry.

I headed up the highway (NC 109) to make my connection to US52 for the leg out of North Carolina.  Except, I messed up.  I can't get used to NC109 taking me to I-40 instead of US52 like I'm used to hitting from the parsonage.  So, instead of getting on US52 I stayed on I-40.  I realized my error several miles out of the way and had to do a U-turn!  My second mistake!

Half an hour later, I am finally headed north on US52.  It was smooth sailing until I reached Fancy Gap mountain where the fog was crazy thick.  When I finally got through the fog, the light rain started.  It got heavier and heavier until for a big portion of the trip I used the windshield wipers on the fastest speed!  I was worried it would burn the motor up!  The heavy rain continued all the way through Virginia, into West Virginia and past Charleston where I headed north towards Ravenswood.  The only relief was when I went through the tunnels in Virginia.  Even with the rain I was making pretty good time, but I hydroplaned several times for just an instant.  Thank You, LORD, for Your protecting hand!

Then the snow started.....And it came down heavily and covered everything, including the road!  The temperature was dropping, too!  I slowed down considerably, and even at that I still did some slipping and sliding.  I was becoming so stressed that I was becoming nauseous.  So I stopped at a gas station in Ravenswood to get gas and go to the bathroom for a break.  I prayed to the Lord that when I got on US33 that the weather conditions would be better!

I crossed the bridge from Ravenswood, WV into Ohio and the snow eased up and the roads were just wet.  Thank You, Lord, for answered prayer!  At 7 o'clock I ate the chicken sandwich because I was able to relax and use one hand on the steering wheel for driving and one to hold the sandwich.  I arrived at Jessica's around 8 o'clock.  What a relief to be there!  Thank You, Lord!

The kids wanted to play but I told them I just wanted to relax for the rest of the evening!  We've got all week to play!  I also want to have a play day with Tim's mom and do some thrifting and go to lunch with her.  Looking forward to looking through some new thrift stores!  I hope the weather cooperates!  NO MORE SNOW, please, Lord!

Have a GREAT week!

I would say (if I'm reading the icons correctly) the blue showing in Ohio and surrounding areas is the snow I was in.  And I'm guessing the green in the states south of the blue is rain.  You can see the snow is just above Charleston.  True Dat!