Category Archives: Grandparents
Date night while the kids are at parents night out!
We took Papa and Grannie out for dinner and then they went home to pick up the kids!
Playgrounds with Grannie and Papa!
Grannie decided it would be fun to have a mini adventure with the kids and take them to a bunch of the local parks and playgrounds that we haven’t been to. So they made a list of all the parks then drew numbers to decide where to go! The kids LOVED it!!
What clowns.
Oh yeah! Papa and Grannie are here on their way back from Florida…and they brought the kids clown noses. I love their serious faces in the first pic.
Blueberry muffin helpers!
Grannie brought a bunch of hand-picked blueberries from Florida so they made muffins! Grannie definitely has more patience in the kitchen with them than I do!!
Reading Dick and Jane
Gramma gave Katie this book for Christmas—it was the same book she learned to read on. We finally got it out and she is blasting through it!
Owen was alao reading at the same time.
Then and now—GJ and the kids
2013 and 2017
Christmas with the Schwalms
Santa found us in Grayling!
As is tradition, we set the kids’ phones outside their rooms so when they get up in the morning they have something to do until we get up and are ready (which is always by 7). This morning Katie was still sleeping at 7 and Owen had already had enough of his phone and was laying by the door just waiting… So Tom woke Katie up!
Katie got a note from Santa telling her he left a big present at home since he knew she was at Gramma’s—a Barbie power wheels!!
Then the kids opened their gifts from each other… Owen loved his sword, yoyo, and Lego Ninjago stuff and Katie was happy he was happy. Awwwww.
And then it was her turn to open and she LOVED what Owen got her (a Belle doll and matching Belle dress)!
And Gramma’s picture of the same scene from a different angle! So cute and so thrilled! 🙂
And then they put together their Lego figures they got each other.
Tom said Katie saw this wine key when they were out and about and she had to get it for me. So now whenever I want wine, I show her the key and she will bring me some. 🙂
And she also picked out this painted stone at a favorite store of mine in Grayling—Tip’n the Mitten!
The one thing she repeatedly asked for—a Sparty cheerleader outfit. She used to have a hand-me-down from the Besons but it is too small. This one should fit for a few years (Gramma had to take in the skirt because she’s so tiny).
Gramma Marsha had all these Barbies packed away so we held on to them until this Christmas. She loved them.
Green bean cleaners!
Grandpa and Katie were cleaning green beans for dinner tonight—not quite sure who the instigator was!
Land’s End might need to hear about this.
I had this coat when I was in high school—I think maybe my junior/senior years. Then I gave it to my Aunt Marge and she wore it forever. She just gave it back to us for Owen…and it’s a bit big but he doesn’t care. He LOVES it. I might need to write Land’s End about this one. (I also know I have one picture of me in it, but it’s black and white in a yearbook…and I have to find it. Stay tuned.)
Decorating Christmas cookies at the gallery!
Why I was using 1990s mousse.
When you’re away from home and didn’t pack any hair product because you were planning on getting a blowout at the beauty school but they were closed for the holidays so you have to wash your hair at home and it’s not convenient to go to town so you have to rely on the hair products that are already here and all there is is mousse from high school. 😂
So then you post it to Facebook and a friend jokes:
And I was compelled to respond with this:
Playing in the snow at Gramma’s!
Owen wanted to be buried!
Christmas with Papa and Grannie
Grannie got us all matching jammies! Well, matching bottoms with shirts with sayings!
Grannie made us scarves!!
Papa being silly!
When it’s snowing as the kids get home from school, this happens.Â
#snowangels #neighborkids #momtographer
And then I looked out and the kids had multiplied! 🙂
And then it was my dad’s idea for them all to make snow angels!
And then left to their own devices, they buried Owen.
Brunch with Santa!
Grannie wanted to do something “Santa-y” this weekend for the kids, so we found a Brunch with Santa… Unfortunately I think it might be the last year to see Santa—neither one wanted to sit on his lap (though honestly, neither has ever loved the idea) but they agreed to stand at his side. They did enjoy the crafts afterwards, though. 🙂
Another Christmas Lego set complete!
And the cool part? The lego that lights up!! 🙂
And this is where it now lives:
I’ve always thought a train under the tree would be cool.
It only took 44 years, a kid who loves Legos, grandparents who were willing to buy the set and the electronics 💗 and a last-minute extra set of tracks to fit around the tree stand… It ended up needing some parental intervention [to get the power hooked up correctly and the tracks in an approximate circle] but Owen did the bulk of it.
Exhausted after nine days at Gramma’s.
Helping Gramma make soup!
Potato Helper
Gramma wanted Katie to check with me if we had enough potatoes for our Thanksgiving Dinner. I said no. I mean really, you can never have too many mashed potatoes.
The kids doing pysanky with Gramma Jean for the first time!
They’re a bit behind—I started at age 3! They were both excited to sit down and do it. Gramma gave them a quick lesson on how to hold the egg and kistka, but unfortunately both of them forgot and ended up grabbing the hot metal end…which is why you see tears on some of Katie’s close up pics. They both had fun and enjoyed doing two eggs—I was only going to watch but then couldn’t help myself and had to jump in and “do a quick egg” which of course turned into more time than I planned and I ended up sitting there finishing mine while the kids were done and outside playing. 🙂 (Note: The eggs are done but are still at Gramma’s house being varnished so the finished product photo will come later.)
Leftovers for lunch!
Lots of good stuff to choose from!
A walk with Grandpa
It’s deer season and 25° so he had to bundle up in orange.
Katie’s new antique doll
This doll used to be Gramma Jean’s when she was little, and then I played with her, and now she belongs to Katie.
I got a puzzle from Papa!
Papa sent Katie a letter and it was a word search! She was very excited and ran to the table to do it immediately.
I was warned to stay out of the kitchen.Â
The kids helped make my surprise birthday cake!
The kids wanted to go out for a birthday lunch!
The restaurant didn’t do anything for birthdays so we went to Culvers. Owen let me play with his hair as a birthday treat.
Owen’s last archery session of his beginner class!
Papa and Grannie really wanted to see Owen shoot, so we were happy they were here for his last class. (They are so proud of him that they actually paid for his next level class!) We all got to soot, as well! Papa was the best of the three of us and we got to hear all about his very dangerous bow and arrow escapades when he was a kid! 🙂
