Playing with My Camera

So I'm cleaning out my files on the hard drive, trying to put pictures onto disks, and I ran across these pictures that I took while I was playing with my new camera...my Christmas present last Christmas. Just had to share some of them with you....

My first day of playing...this is the centerpiece on the coffee table.

Driving home from Odessa...going through Sterling City...playing with the Color Accent feature

More Color Accent...the steering wheel...

Can you guess where we stopped for drinks???

A carousel horse on my Victorian Christmas tree

We had our backyard torn up pretty much throughout January through April, so the boys had lots of opportunity to dig in the dirt!

The out-of-focus strings on the badminton racket...

Looking through the dormant crape myrtle to the house across the street...

Our OLD fence...was literally on it's last legs...

Looking up into the underside of the patio umbrella...

Our patio furniture...

Most people have to ask what this is when they see the entire thing with their own eyes...it's a Wiggle Worm Sprinkler!

The Frog

Everyone arrived throughout the afternoon and evening at various times. All of our kids and their families were gathering at Lake Placid on the Guadalupe River near New Braunsfels for a family weekend getaway. We were excited to see the kids, brothers and sisters were excited to see each other, and the cousins...oh, the cousins! As Tater aptly put it upon Jordan's arrival, "Jordan, my cousin, is back!" These six little cousins just love to get together and play with each other, and it is so much fun to just sit back and watch.
That first night, bedtime came much too early for the little boys...even though it was way past bedtime. Caleb & Aidan were going to sleep in the master bedroom with us because there were two queen beds in there. They had been in bed for a while when I decided to go upstairs and check on them...I met them at the top of the stairs...with all sorts of excuses for not being able to go to sleep. I told them I would lie down with them until they went to sleep. Aidan went right to sleep then, but Caleb's little brain was still going ninety miles an hour. We talked about all sorts of things...the crickets chirping outside, the people next door having a party outside...we talked about going fishing and swimming and boat riding the next day...whatever his little brain could think of to not go to sleep. Finally, he decided he needed to go to the bathroom. So I took him into the master bathroom, which probably had not even been used since we all got there that afternoon. He lifted the seat...and there it was...the frog...



Surprise! He took a step back and gasped...I took a step forward to see what was going on...and gasped! "What's that, Nana?" "Well, Caleb, it looks like a frog!" It was so still I began to wonder, "Is it some sort of ornamental thing? Kinda weird, but who knows?" About that time, I saw it's eyes blink. Yep, it's real! "Caleb, I think we need to go get Grandpa!"


So Grandpa came and saved the day...Nana grabbed her camera on her way back upstairs...and voila! An instant memory of our first night at the lake. Needless to say, Caleb went to sleep with his mommy...and was very wary about going to the potty the next day!

Way Too Long

Wow...I can't believe it's been almost a month since I blogged! It's not that I haven't had anything to write about or share...there are several blog-worthy things going around in my head. No, I have just chosen to do other things...spend time with family, read, play on Facebook...and then there are those things that have to be done that you have no choice...laundry, clean house, etc. etc.


Weekend before last we spent an awesome weekend with the kids and grandkids on Lake Placid on the Guadalupe River near New Braunsfels. It was so neat spending time with our family, watching the grandkids interact and play and fish and swim and experience a boat ride...nothing could be better. Look for details in future blogs.


At the end of last week, I went to Lewisville to spend a few days with Melynda and Jordan...mainly because Melynda needed a babysitter for Jordan on Thursday night. Eric was out of town at a National Debate Tournament, and she teaches swimming lessons every evening. That's my new motto..."Need Nana...Will Travel". We had a great time...shopping, eating at Rainforest Cafe, and taking Jordan swimming.


This week I am catching up with housework (ugh), yardwork, sewing/mending, and downloading/filing digital pics. It is not a week without grandkids, though...Connor gets to come and play on Thursday!

Memorial Day Weekend

I guess I am still recovering from the weekend...just can't seem to get my energy level back! We had a great weekend, though, starting with a 60th birthday party for Kerry on Friday night. We had several friends over, and Kerry made his "Grill Debut" with his new super-duper grill.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KERRY!

On Saturday, we had four of our six kids and five of the seven grandkids...it was wonderful! Rich & Christi, Aidan & Annaliese had gotten in the night before, and about mid-morning, Jenni & Tater and Bill & Carey, Caleb & Connor came over. The boys all went swimming and had a great time. Tater and Connor tired of the pool sooner than the older two, which suited them just fine since they then had the pool to themselves!

Annaliese sat and had a great time watching the boys splash around.

Then Kerry grilled some hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone, and gave Tater and Connor tidbits of hotdog to nibble on.

After lunch the kids played LOUD and HARD in the house until all the parents decided that it was naptime...and that the kids should have a nap, too!

Our friends Rick & Ann Williams took us to Pirini Ranch in Buffalo Gap for dinner on Saturday evening. It was a continuation of Kerry's birthday. We had a great time, great food, and great company. After dinner, we drove into Abilene to pick up a Wii from Circuit City that we had ordered online a couple of nights before. It started looking pretty stormy, so we started back and drove through LOTS of rain, thunder, lightening, and ominous-looking clouds. Then we got to Bronte....you guessed it...blue skies! We got nothing in San Angelo. Oh well.

On Sunday, we drove over to Brownwood for another birthday. My Aunt Nancy celebrated her 70th birthday, and her kids were giving her a surprise party. I got to see lots of cousins and their kids that I haven't seen in several years.

On the way home, we could feel ourselves relaxing, realizing that we had no more commitments for the rest of the weekend. We had the day to ourselves on Monday which we spent doing only what we wanted to do which included going to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Often on Sunday evenings after a hectic weekend, we wish we could another day to relax before going back to the weekly routine/grind. And that's exactly what we had! So we took full advantage of it!

Summer Temps and Swimming Pools

What better way to spend the first 100+ day than in the swimming pool? That's right, thermometers hit 101 yesterday. Knowing that it might reach the century mark, I set up the pool while Tater was at Mom's Day Out. After his nap, Grandpa was home...setting up his new grill on the patio...and we went outside to see him. I purposefully stood where he could see the swimming pool if he looked up. Sure enough, he glanced away from Grandpa and his eyes spotted the pool...oh, how they twinkled!

"Go swimming?" He placed his little hands on my cheeks and turned my face toward him. I love it when he does that.

I could hardly get his swimsuit on him fast enough. Here are some fun pics I took of the "first swim of the season."

Swallows...Still...

Well, just as I suspected, the plastic bag did nothing to deter the swallows...they just piled their mud on top of the plastic! So this morning I remembered that I had some mesh netting from when we had new shrubs in the front and we didn't want the deer to eat them (but we took it off too soon, and the deer ate them anyway!). I got the netting and stapled it to the ceiling and wall around the porch light so the birds can't even get to it. I felt so bad...I sat out on the patio and watched these swallows (there are still 3 of them???) as they would swoop in with "nesting material" in their beaks. They would fly up to the netting, fan their wings while they hovered, perplexed, then fly off only to return immediately and do the same thing.

Then they sat on the edge of the roof or the top of the patio umbrella and watched. They did this all morning!

We'll see...............................

A Day with Caleb

Thursday was "Caleb & Nana Day". I miss that little kid after having him every day for two years. I'm glad he gets to stay home with Mommy and baby brother Connor, but I still miss him.
The original plan was to pick him up after I took Tater to school, but Tater stayed home with his Mommy that day, so we had the whole day to spend together...although we did share lunchtime with Grandpa and "Uncle Buck" Smith.

We filled the day with as much fun time as we could. We got out my scrapbooking scissors...the ones that cut all sorts of wavy, curvy edges...and paper punches...hearts & snowflakes, bunny rabbits & teddy bears...and made collages with bits of paper and colored popsicle sticks, fuzzy pompom balls, glitter glue and art foam letters. What fun!

Then he was ready for "active play"...oh my! We played on the deck (baby grass is still growing in the yard) and he wanted me to pull him in the wagon. Tater or Connor would have been satisfied to just sit back and ride while I pulled at a leisurely pace. Not so with Caleb..."Run, Nana! Make me go fast!" It's amazing what you will do for your grandkids...and I'm so glad for our privacy fence so everyone coming down the street couldn't see me running around in circles...because that's all they would have seen, me running around in circles...they would not have been able to see the four-year-old in the wagon that I was pulling! But he had so much fun! Squealing with delight as I rounded the turn around the patio table each time! Then we got out the froggie game and played lily pad hopscotch for a little while and shot foam rockets into the hammock swing. Such simple pleasures for a little boy!

After all that, he was ready for a snack...here's how a grandson wraps his nana a little tighter around his finger:

"Hey, Nana...I know what would be a good idea! We could get our snack and go to the park and have a little picnic! Wouldn't that be a great idea!"

That, in combination with a four-year-old excitement in his voice and a couple of big brownish-green eyes peering up at me, was all it took. We loaded up the little cooler with snacks and "Brr" to drink (that's another posting altogether!) and cups and went to Unidad Park. I must say this is the first time I've ever taken him to the park when he did not play on one single plaything. We went over to a picnic table, had our snacks, watched some ground squirrels, watched other kids playing, and just chatted about whatever he happened to think about. Then we played a little game of tag in and around a series of posts that are there before he discovered the mesquite beans. We had gone back over to the table to get a drink, and he spotted the beans hanging in the tree overhead. "What are those, Nana?" So we talked about mesquite beans, and he stood on the table and pulled as many as he could reach. We had finished off a tin of "Nana Cookies" (Pepperidge Farms Pirourette Cookies) and decided that would be a good place to keep the beans.

After we got back to the house, he wanted to play pirates...one of his favorite things! He has pirate dress-up things at his house, but Nana had to scrounge. A strip of red cloth tied around his head, one of Grandpa's coats, my red belt (with brads all the way around) slung over one shoulder, a old pair of Dana's boots (out of the garage sale stuff), and a straight attachment section to my vacuum cleaner for a spyglass/sword. I was the "pirate girl" so I found a scarf to tie around my head and some hoop earrings and the other vacuum cleaner attachment hose. We fought off many "bad guys" as well as sharks and whales in the living room ocean! Imagination is a wonderful thing!

And grandmothers playing with their grandkids is a wonderful thing! I have been so blessed to be able to spend time playing with my grandkids! They love it...I love it...it's just an awesome opportunity that I won't pass up. Thank you, Carey, and Jenni, and Melynda, and Christi, for allowing me this privilege!