Category Archives: Grandparents
Helping Grannie make apple pies!
I requested Lin’s apple pies for the freezer, so that was today’s project…and Owen was “helping.” Lin said he was very patient the whole time. 🙂
Owen was playing with Stuffy (the blue dinosaur from Doc McStuffins) and was attaching him to the apple peeler using a rubberband as a safety harness.
Project: Coloring a bus
While I was organizing in the garage, I ran across old “treats” that I never gave to Owen. One was this project that I had Grannie help him with today.
He is getting a lot better at coloring!
FRONT
BACK
Cute outfit from Grannie Lin!
Happy birthday to me!
Owen (and Grannie and Papa) surprised me tonight!
And then we enjoyed cupcakes—some of us more than others! 🙂
All three are entranced
Watching Katie videos
Papa & Katie
A walk with Papa
Papa said he wanted to take Katie for a walk. I asked “In the stroller or just walking free?” He said walking free. Ooooh-kay. I warned him he’d likely have to retrieve her from yards and driveways. He said it was fine and off they went.
Fifteen minutes later they were back, with dad saying “She doesn’t listen! And she did t want to follow me!” Heh. Welcome to my world. 🙂
No, Katie. PLEASE not yet.
Grannie Lin told me this morning that she was in Katie’s room putting away clothes while Katie was still in her crib…and she watched Katie kick her leg up onto the side rail.
Uh oh.
The mattress is down as far as it can go…so now we have to watch her like a hawk when we put her down—and especially when she wakes up—to make sure she doesn’t get too antsy and try to escape.
Owen was 25 months old when he got moved to a big boy bed…so I’m really hoping she lasts QUITE a bit longer in her crib. At least until Tom gets home…and hopefully longer.
Owen practicing hitting
As soon as we got home from the dentist, Owen wanted to practice some more!
Holy crap! Owen is pretty good at hitting!
Papa wanted to surprise Owen with his own baseball bat so he got it the other day and planned to give it to him after school before his dentist appointment when we’d be at the playground.
Then after a few quick attempts and after getting his grip and stance corrected, he was hitting most of my pitches! We were stunned. They weren’t perfect, of course, but I’d guess he was at least making some sort of contact on 80% of them…and probably good contact on 50% of those! He even smacked me with a ball a few times and had me ducking more than once as a ball whizzed by me.
While we were playing, Tom happened to Skype in, so he could watch Owen! It was awesome! Tom loved it!
Father Daughter Bonding
We both wanted to see Gravity, so we went to a 3D matinee today before picking Owen up from school. Neither one of us can remember the last time we did this…though he thought it had to be in Traverse City (and I said that would make it almost 20 years ago)!
And, interestingly, Carmike has their server room viewable by the public.
And I remembered why I hate movies in theaters…30 MINUTES OF PREVIEWS. Seriously—it was 30 minutes. That’s asinine. /getoffmylawn
Katie being Katie
Watching herself, then making faces with (offscreen) Papa.
I was trying to sort some of Owen’s old clothes and of course she had to have her fingers in everything…so I put some PJ bottoms on her head. She didn’t mind.
Where’s Katie? Peek!
Katie was feeling better after dinner…so she was copying Papa’s hiding in his shirt.
Peeking!
Happy, laughing girl!
Watching herself:
Reading the Costco booklet with Grannie
Katie still wasn’t herself and just wanted to be held, so it was Grannie’s turn. Katie was interested in the Costco booklet, so that’s what they were reading. Then Owen wanted to be part of the action.
Wagon Rides
We got the wagon out of the shed a while back and finally got it cleaned out. Katie was a hot mess after her nap (due to all her shots) but she liked being outside and I thought she might like a wagon ride.
Nope.
So Owen played with Papa instead.
Then Katie was happy again—and watching them intently—so we tried putting her in with Owen.
Nope.
Helping Papa make cookies for daddy
He wasn’t terribly interested in helping so I was lucky to get one picture.
The day the pool came down.
I’ve been waiting for a stretch of nice days to take the pool down so it can dry out nicely, but it’s been raining for a week with rain forecast for the next week, too…so I decided to just start since I had help (both for the pool and the kids) and we had a few hours of sun.
I actually started yesterday by draining about half the water (to hopefully lessen the muck around the yard by letting it dry out for 24 hours). So today when I let the water start draining, I told Owen it was his last chance to get in the pool. (Papa had hoped to go swimming with Owen, but it just didn’t stay hot quite long enough.)
Helping me drain the water a little faster.
Then someone else joined the party…
Almost empty…
Hanging it up after a quick scrubbing…and Owen helping rinse it off (he even went inside/underneath to rinse the inside!).
On Grannie’s Lap
Football with Papa
Baseball Day 5
Grannie was sick so Papa was the only one who went with us. He even went into the outfield to play catch with Owen!
Still happy in the stroller (it didn’t last too long).
Next up!
Both at-bats:
Our guys back from a walk
They only found one golf ball!
Finger painting with Grannie
I thought finger paints would be a good project for Owen to do with Grannie. Then at the last minute we decided to add Katie, too. Everyone had fun while Papa tried to stay out of the fray while Grannie helped Katie and I ran around switching out paper.
Owen and Papa trying broccoli together
Whose feet are bigger?
On Papa’s Lap
What happened to us?
Otherwise titled I guess there’s no better time to get crazy sick than two hours after your parents arrive for their two-week visit…and as long as we’re at it, no better time for BOTH kids to get sick as well.
I started feeling headachy about an hour after we got back from the airport yesterday and thought it was because I hadn’t eaten much all day…so had a snack and some water. And it got worse. Then I felt nauseous. Then I was spouting from both ends, as they say.
I was REALLY thankful that Grannie Lin and Papa were here, even though I felt bad they walked straight into kid duty.
But, because they were here, I could just relax…and then go to bed early. Like 7:47 I had my lights out and phone off early. I tossed and turned and slept fitfully until about midnight when I finally fell into a good sleep.
In the morning I felt fine…and learned that Owen had woken up crying loudly about 10pm (I am amazed I missed it). But he didn’t have a fever and looked and said he felt fine, so it was off to school.
I got a call about 11:30 saying he had thrown up but didn’t have a fever so he could stay at school, but they were just letting me know what was going on. (Apparently they have to throw up twice in an hour or have a fever to be sent home.) But then about half an hour later I got a call saying he hadn’t gotten sick again but he wasn’t eating lunch and was crying and asking for his mama so it was up to me. So I went to get him. They told me a stomach bug has been going around. (And in the meantime, the friends who had the gymnastics birthday party yesterday emailed and apologized saying that they’d seen a lot of our Facebook posts and added to their family…it appears a bug may have been spread at their party.) So who knows what really happened.
Owen seemed somewhat better once he was home, but I made him rest and drink water. I was thankful Katie was the vision of health. Until a few hours later when she suddenly barfed all over herself and the couch. And as I was gathering her up and getting dad and Linda to help out…I heard Linda rushing Owen to the bathroom where he puked.
Sigh.
Then Katie seemed fine and Owen seemed pretty okay…but tired out. He finally fell asleep and slept hard for a good two hours when I struggled to wake him up and got him to pee and go to bed. Katie seemed fine the rest of the night.
Here’s hoping it’s a less-than-24-hour thing for them, too, and they’re both healthy tomorrow. AND that the grandparents don’t get it…
Papa makes Katie giggle
In Papa’s Shoes
