I spent the day with Cayla and Cayden today. It was lots of fun, but I am tired by night time!!! She does not think that her Mom gets tired, just as I did not think that my Mom and Mother-in-law got tired. I mean you can not know what it feels like until you walk there. It makes me laugh, because I was the same way and you just do not realize it!

Anyway, she had been wanting to get pictures in frames, the bedroom that Cayden will move to cleaned out and such…Ryan is having to give up his room, but he understands. I told him he might need to get him a storage building!!!

We got quite a bit accomplished Sunday and today. They moved furniture on Sunday and Ryan hung a few things for her.

Let me just say this, “It is about impossible to get anything done with Little Man”. He loves to be held and played with etc. If you are standing up, he wants you and will just hang right with you! I must say he reminds me so much of another baby that I knew…and his name starts with a C also….and he will have a birthday this weekend!!! LOL!

Pictures printed, laundry washing, dishes washed, baby fussing, mirror hung, prints hung, baby fussing-baby feed-baby rotten---LOL!!! Baby not wanting to go to sleep, call in back-up----Great-Grandma come help----please!!!

Seriously, I felt like we did not get much done until she came and held that Little Man!!!

Then we had a kitty-chasing, baby tending, house cleaning good time!!! Oh, the kitty chasing was the funniest!!! And I know this lady who has lots of cats, but she does not want them to touch her and she does not want to pick them up…LOL!!! You know who you are….hee haw!!!

I was so thankful we got some back-up!!! Then, I was so tired and ready to go home!!!

 

Cayden watched a Baby Einstein Movie today and loved it. We had it in the car and he really enjoyed it!

Cayden was fake burping today…lol. He burped so loud one time, we were watching Thomas the Train. So, I just let out a fake one, then said, excuse me. Well, he never took his eyes off the TV, and would fake burp….I would laugh and he would do it again, never looking anywhere but at the TV!!! Too cute!!!

Swim Lessons

Papa wants Kylie and all his grands to be good swimmers. Kylie has really worked on it this summer, but just really needed someone to give her the right way to swim, I guess you could say! I talked with Casey and she agreed and we enrolled her in Tiny Bubbles Swim School.

They teach them how to survive until someone can get to them, and how to get to the edge of the pool,  first! Then you can move on to stroke class. Now, I know she seems a little older, but really she has not been around that many pools, etc. We do go to the river and now her Nana Laura has a pool. So we just felt like it was the right time, and  you can see that she is ready to learn to swim!

Her first class was Monday and she did great! I watched several other kids, younger and older, I was so amazed! I feel like this is one of the greatest gifts we can give to our grand children!

In the first class they counted to three and went  under real quick, several times. Then they taught her to star fish…float on her back. Chin way high, toes on the blue line. (One of the first things her teacher asked? Does she have tubes in her ears? How long has she had them? She had her ear plugs in, but she really does not like her ears to be in the water…the tubes keep the ear open, so water can get into the ear drum!!! ) She also swam on her tummy, eyes open, feet are your motor, reach with your hands!

Thursday Lesson

Going under, star fish, flipping from back to stomach, kicking with feet, reaching for the side of the pool!

Day Five of swim lessons, repeat of every thing learned so far. Plus, she sat on  a ledge down in the edge of the pool…they told her to sit on the ledge and then push off with her feet and find the instructors hands…under water. She did , several times!!! They have to remind her to look at the bottom of the pool, she wants to motor with her head looking forward in the water, which slows her down. Nice job Kylie!  

Isabella’s Test Run

Last night Bart, Casey and the girls spent the night. Isabella is going to stay with us in a couple of weeks and she has not stayed away from her parents. She has both of them trained…lol!!!  So we wanted to see how she would do.

Isabella, Papa and I went to change the water on the irrigation, then we rode to see if we could see any raccoons.   We saw one far away and it ran back in the woods. Isabella did see the bright, pretty moon and hear some oldies on the radio!!! 

We also rode the golf cart yesterday afternoon and she loved that!

I also kept her up so she did not get a late afternoon nap! Mean ole Ma J!!

She sleeps in the bed with them. She goes to sleep and wakes up at around 12:00 for a little bottle, then back to sleep. Now, she is drinking out of a cup, but we all know how they love their bottle!!! Last night we put her in the pack-n-play in our room, Kylie is in the bed with us, of course!!! She did wake up and fuss a couple of time, I just went over and patted her, gave her back her paci and she went back to sleep. She slept all night and had no bottle snacks! Way to go Isabella. She woke up early this morning and I put her in the bed with me, but it was time to get up and get Kylie to school. So Mom came and got her and off they went and Ma J went back to sleep, I just have a hard time getting to sleep when I have those little ones, and when I do not have them!!! 

Kindergarten Kisses

Today, I picked Kylie up from school! Time she got in the car she started giggling. She then told me about these boys trying to kiss her as they were waiting to be picked up from school.

She told them they should not be trying to kiss her because her Papa would have to spank them!!! LOL!!! Then she said she turned her head and one of them said they kissed her while she was not looking!!!

She did not want to tell her Papa about this, but she told me I could tell him!!!   

Happy First Birthday Sweet Isabella

A year ago today we were blessed with a second grand daughter! She is a sweetie and we love her so much! Happy Birthday!

She is so funny…she does not smile if she does not want too! She does not like shoes or socks. She is a girl of few words, but knows how to get what she wants! She does not like the feel of grass on her feet, yesterday I put her down in the grass and laid down beside her…..she climbed up on my stomach and sat with her feet up so she was not touching the grass!!! She crawls really fast. She is taking steps, but would rather you do the work! She gets jealous when Kylie or Cayden get in my lap. She loves things that are soft! When she wants to eat she will smack her lips, or keep crawling to the kitchen!

When she sees her Papa she gets really shy! She will tilt her head to the side and smile at him. She rode the 4-wheeler with him yesterday and loved it!

Isabella’s First Birthday Party

Isabella has lots of family, so it is difficult to find a place to hold everyone. Her Dad and Mom decided to go to “Jump and Jacks”, they have lots of bounce houses, slides, party rooms. It is big so it can hold a crowd.

They chose a monkey theme for her party and it was held the day before her birthday. The big kids and the little kids had a good time! 

Party Decor!

One year old, our sweet Isabella!

Isabella’s birthday cake!

Smashing my cake! Yum, this is so good!

Friends and  family that complete a birthday!

More family, friends and presents!

Uncle Tripp gave me this hat, I just don’t know about this….but I do want to go fishing!!!

 

More special folks, they loves me lots!

This is my Mom and Dad, they spent lots of time making my first birthday special and it was! I love you Mommy and Daddy!

After the Grandparents breakfast it was time to go on over to Aunt Dots, I told them I would stay at the house during the funeral if they needed me to. Aunt Dot did not really want me to do that, but said if no one else could she would really appreciate it. Casey had called and wanted to do something and I told her to come over and that if she would stay there, then I would go to the funeral. She did and I am so glad I went. A sweet, sweet funeral… and I sat with Mom so that was good too! The church was running over as I knew it would be.

After the funeral I went back to the house and Casey and I ate a bite of lunch. Then they brought the flowers. Linda had told me to tell them just to put them  on the porch and bring one in for a table in the den! Oh my at the flowers…mostly plants!!! We brought them all in and sat them around! I did not want them to have to come home and do that, they are so tired. So Casey and I got to work and then I sent her on her way! Thank-you so much Casey!!!

They arrived home and Aunt Dot enjoyed seeing all of them! She walked and they told her who each one was from!

Grandparents Day

Today was Grandparents Day at school. Papa could not go because that is payroll day for him, but I could and did! It was so sweet and cute. The only problem, what if some had no grandparents that were living or could not come….I thought about that as I watched Kylie eagerly come through the door, smiling and looking for her grandparents! I knew none of my grandparents, except one, and I would not say that I knew her. I believe I saw her three times that I can remember!

But, it is a very sweet day and I enjoyed it. We had apple juice, donuts and we read them a story…they even were smart enough to pick out books with big print…love it!!! Her Nana Laura came also, which was very sweet!

They also sang us a song, Nana Laura had to go on to work so she missed it, but it was just precious! Brought tears to my eyes!

I think Kylie got nervous right before they started to sing…first picture. But she chimed right in and they made sure those babies could see their grandparents. Made my heart melt!

Above are the words to the song, the tune is where is thumb kin. (I think)

Her Grannie Connie could not be their and she hated it so bad, so she sent cupcakes and drinks, very sweet!

Got up and went to town today trying to find something to wear. Got a few things, came back by Aunt Dots. They were getting ready for the visitation. I stayed with Aunt Dot so they could all get dressed, etc.

I decided to sweep and mop the kitchen. Then, I went to check on Aunt Dot. Well, she had her clothes on and had dressed herself. I did help her do a few things! She was beautiful and ready to go! She said she has been dressing herself all this time and she did not know why they thought she still could not do it!!! LOL

Linda came back by to pick her up and as she was leaving she looked at me and said, “you still my youngin, I don’t care what nobody says.” Linda said, well that means she can still get the hair brush too then…..I said, and I probably did!!!

Locked up, came home and got dressed to go to the visitation. Did pretty good, except when I see Larry, then we cry…..he said, girl….you gettin to me, when I get around you…I loose it….you got to move on over to Sharon…lol!!! I did good until I saw Uncle Tom. Then, I lost it again. But, he looked so much better than when he was so sick. He looked peaceful. He had a tractor design on the inside top of his casket too, he wanted one just like Daddy’s. The blanket was made of sunflowers, cotton, pine, corn etc. Just perfect for him!

They had many visitors!!! WEll LOVED!

We went and ate with some of our kids afterwards and enjoyed their company.

Uncle Tom

Our family loved this man so much. We called him “Uncle Tom”, but he was like a second Daddy!  Our Dad’s farmed together and were really good friends. Two of the hardest working men you would ever find! And they knew how to work you really hard also! And we learned a lot from them!

Uncle Tom was always busy, always working, a hard fast worker! He and Aunt Dot are just two of the best people you could know. He was a big man, tall and broad and one would be scared of him if needed. He was rather quite from my eyes. He thought that I smiled to much at times when I was younger, he told me it was a good thing and to keep on smiling, but he just did not understand how I could just smile all the time….too funny!  Well, I was young and had no worries, life was simple and good!!!

Uncle Tom could get tickled every now and then and that was just hilarious cause he could laugh really loud! He absolutely loved horses and always had some around! He raised hogs, cows and many crops! I mostly remember tobacco!!! Oh the hours that we spent every summer working with him, Larry and Daddy. We did not have to search for a summer job…..we had three, tobacco, tobacco and tobacco! It was hard work. We were driving tractors in fields when the muscles in our legs were so little that they could hardly hold the pedal down. We would also get sleepy and might have run over a few stalks, which was not good!!! The older we got the more we learned and the more jobs we had!

This is the funniest story:

When Cole was a little boy, he and his Papa went over to visit with Uncle Tom. Cole had a piece of gum and needed to get rid of it. Uncle Tom told him that when he was little, they would take it and put it behind their ear and save it for later. Well, the adults went on talking and visiting and somewhere during this time, one little boy put his gum behind his ear….but he had hair!!! Well, I know that one old man got in big trouble for telling that little boy that story, from his wife, and some gum had to be cut our from behind a little boys ear!!!

 

After his stroke in 2002, he was not able to work and he would worry about Daddy and Larry….Larry was younger so I think he worried about Daddy more. But, I would go visit and he would ask about Daddy, and then tell me how much he appreciated Winston helping Jimmy, that’s a fine husband you got there, sugar. Tell him thank-you from me and that I am just sorry that I can not be out there helping Jimmy myself. I do not know why this happened to me, but it is what it is and I reckon I will just have to deal with it!

His brother in law passed in 2003, Buster Bell. He just did not understand why it could not be him instead of others. Then his dear friend, Jimmy Williams passed in 2006. When we went to see him, he said the same thing, “its just not right”. Jimmy was to young to die, he still had a lot of years left. But God did not see it that way.

I have visited off and on over the years. One of the last visits, I took my youngest daughter and her baby. When I walked over, I gave him a kiss and told him this was Cayla, my youngest and her baby, Cayden. He said, “that sure is a pretty baby, a fine one.”   I told Cayla that he was like my second Daddy. His eyes welled up with tears of joy and pride and he said, “thank-you honey, I really appreciate that, I really do” I walked over and gave him a hug and tried not to cry because we were going to his grandsons wedding. Thank-you God for helping me find the right words to give to such a special man!

Now, finally after many, many,  years of suffering he has his new body. He is not hurting any more. He is walking and talking and laughing and happy! I am so happy for him, but oh how he will be missed! So many precious memories, so many family members left with a vacant spot. A wife of 64 years, they have shared everything together! May God bless us and comfort all of us, this is not going to be easy.

I love you Uncle Tom!

While you are there, please hug my Daddy for me and tell him we miss him!