I was trying to get the new backpack Papa and Grannie bought her but didn’t quite get it.
Category Archives: Grandparents
Cuddling and watching Sofia with Grannie!
Ha! I think we’re kinda like twins!
We realized this morning that Owen and Papa both dressed in blue shirts and khaki pants (though you can only see Owen’s blue hoodie and blue coat)! Owen was laughing about it and said “Ha! I think we’re kinda like twins!” 🙂
A new suit for Katie
Grannie brought Katie two new suits—of course she had to wear one to swimming tonight!
Hangin’ with Papa at Sam’s Club.
Owen reading his homework!
Happy Papa and happy Katie!
She suckered him into watching The Princess and the Frog. 🙂
Papa and Grannie’s big surprise!
Of course, we knew that they were coming, but we didn’t tell the kids…so when we came home from baseball this morning, this is what happened:
Pics from the video:
They love their new hats!
And sharing them, too!
We Skyped with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David today to have the kids open their presents! They loved everything, but the hats seemed to be the big hit!
Could he be any sweeter?
Owen will randomly say that he misses Grandma Marsha and he knows that we have a tiny bit of her ashes. Today he wrote this note and put it with the ashes. /bawl
We still remember you. I am sad that you died.
Throwback Thursday—I’ll never forget this.
Do you know what it is?
It’s from my grandparent’s screen door in Bay City.
I remember when we were cleaning out the house after my grandpa died I mentioned something to someone about keeping the door or at least the L…but I could only stay for a day or so before I had to head back home to North Carolina so I never knew (or asked) what happened to it.
Until today, when I posted it on Facebook. My mom said that the people who bought the house back then only recently replaced it…so someone in our family could have gotten it. Dang.
They are both so sweet.
So we’re watching Inside Out and some scene comes on where the characters are crying.
Katie: What’s he doing?
Tom: He’s crying. It’s good to cry. It’s how we deal with things.
Owen: Like when Grandma Marsha died.
Tom and I look at each other and get teary.
Me: Exactly.
Owen: And we won’t forget her…
Katie: Because she’s always in our heart.
Tom and I look at each other again and just about lose it. The kids weren’t phased at all and just went back to watching the movie.
I’m glad the things I’ve said to them have sunk in, even if Katie doesn’t specifically understand yet.
Gramma and the kids
Halloween in Grayling
The kids were super excited about treak-or-treating at Gramma’s house…and we were, too…until the Michigan weather happened. Yeah, it was 38° and rainy. Egads. If you look closely enough you can see Katie’s polka-dot long johns under her white tights (and she also had on pink tights!).
On the front porch where my Halloween picture was taken every year…
Everyone (including Uncle Rob) ready to head out!
There weren’t many houses lit up but the ones that were were handing out TONS of candy! You see how full their bags look? We had only hit maybe six houses at this point!
After about 15 minutes they gave up on the umbrellas and just ran from house to house while we waited at the road. Soon enough we were back at Gramma’s door!!
Home after an hour of being out in the rain—they were soaked but happy!!
Tom gave the kids a hot shower and put them in PJs while I made them hot cocoa!
Eating Mallow cups from daddy and Uncle Rob—they were Grandma Marsha’s favorite treat and someone brought a bag of them for the boys.
LOOKS AT THEIR HAUL!! The weather sure stunk but it was great for quick candy accumulation. They got 9# of candy from less than 20 houses!
Dollar store finds
We found a lot of Dollar Store toys while cleaning out the apartment, so brought some of them over for the kids (some are being saved for the future). Owen was excited about these wrist-pull copters, which he had to wait to play with for a few days because the weather was rainy.
Grandma Jean made Katie a phone.
Yes, it’s a rock. Yes, Katie already has three real phones to play with. She LOVES it. Kids are funny.
She actually slept with it last night and found it under her pillow this morning!
Gramma and Katie
In a hand-me-down dress from the Beson cousins.
Carry me, Gramma!
Little Lobsters
Wearing Gramma Jean’s lobster hat!
Unfortunately we’re not going home for a fun visit.
For about three weeks now, we’ve known that Tom’s mom’s cancer had spread to her liver…but she was dealing with it…and the prognosis, while not great, still gave us hope. Unfortunately, I just don’t think her heart was in it. She didn’t want to deal with chemo the last time around and was glad when she didn’t have to do it. So when she learned that was in her future this time…
Tom got a call from his brother last night that she had fallen and was taken to the ER. The doctors seemed to think that she would rebound once they re-hydrated her but Tom wanted to head up anyway so he left Saturday morning. Unfortunately, about four hours in to the drive he got the call that she had died. So he turned around to come get us and we will all leave for Michigan tomorrow morning.
Frozen underwear!
Gramma Jean sent Katie some Frozen-themed underwear to hopefully get her interested in her upcoming potty training! Katie loves them, of course…so fingers crossed it helps!
July (and vacation) pictures are online!
>>> July pictures are now online at Shutterfly!
Glitter ballerinas with Grauntie Marge
Grauntie Marge got Katie these cool mess-free glitter ballerinas for her birthday. I didn’t believe any glitter could be mess-free, but these really truly were! Katie was only interested for about 10 minutes, so we’ll try again once we get home!
Kisses from Grandma
An Elsa braid!
Katie wanted Elsa hair so Gramma did the best he could since Katie doesn’t really have enough hair for a French braid. Katie was thrilled!
Kaliseum Daredevils
We took the kids to Kalkaska today for open swim…and boy did they have a blast! Owen was excited to go down the slide again (mom fail: I may have forgotten to mention he did it for the very first time when he was there earlier this vacation). I LOVE the faces he makes. 🙂
My favorite:
You see his harem standing by watching him, right? 🙂
Katie really wanted to go down the slide but she was too little…or so we thought. The lifeguard came up and told Tom she could go down as long as he was at the bottom to catch her. So Owen took her up:
There were other kids going up and they were getting too close to them on the stairs so Owen put his hand out to stop/block them and protect Katie. And then he guided her into the slide while he made sure to keep everyone back. Awwww, I know. 🙂
Here she comes!
Caught her!
Her reaction? She LOVED it and wanted to go again! (But she was done after the second time!)
I still can’t believe it—Owen was 6.5 when he finally went down the slide…and Katie was 3! You can tell who the family daredevil is!
Enjoying a cool Michigan morning.
And then Papa and Grannie came over to say goodbye…and brought nutty donuts!
Purple shirts!
Grannie bought Owen a purple shirt to match Papa’s. They weren’t exact but they were close enough for them. 🙂
And with the purple birthday girl!
More Sorry!
Katie’s last 3rd birthday party!
We celebrated Katie’s birthday at the Ramada again this year. She didn’t want to go in the pool, though—choosing the playground instead.
Of course Owen wanted to swim!
Caught mid-jump!
She finally decided she wanted to swim!
We FINALLY got her to jump in the pool again!
Owen also received a few gifts…Papa and Grannie gave him a roll of quarters to use in the hotel game room!
He shared his quarters with his sister!
A great time was had by all…