Mother's Day

It was a hard Mother's Day for me - the first one since I lost my mom in November.  It's really very strange to celebrate Mother's Day without your own mother, a fact I guess you can't realize until your mom is gone.  I never realized that in my own mind, my status as mother took second place to hers. 

But, I do have the most wonderful daughters in the world, who married the best men and have the best children, so I truly am blessed as a mom.  We all (except Mickel, who was pulling duty that day) went to Wheeler Farm for a picnic.  The weather was beautiful, the Farm was not too crowded, and the company was the best.   It was a great day.

Steph planted my front flower bed for me as a Mother's Day gift.  She probably thinks that she is forever stuck with this task/gift, but I don't think she knows just how much I love that she does it.  Sweetie, it is NOT expected ... but I sure am glad that you have done it these last few years!!  So, yeah, no pressure.  :-)

 

Kris did a fun surprise this year.  Late on Saturday night (well, late for ME, not for regular people), she sent me a text: "Knock knock.  He he."  As I'm contemplating what that could possibly mean (am I supposed to reply back: "Who's there?"), there actually is a knock at my door.  I open the door to find this darling fruit bouquet, and a Honda burning rubber down my street.  So cute!  I love stuff that literally puts a smile on your face. 

 

Sleepovers

One of the things I love most about being a Grammie is having sleepovers.  If you haven't become a grandparent yet, it's hard to convey the fun of simply spending time with little ones without having to worry about how they turn out.  I mean, obviously I have to keep them safe and alive while they're in my care, but really there's not much else that I'm required to do.  As the saying goes, "What happens at Grammie's stays at Grammies."  I'm not great at getting them to bed on time, or making the absolute most nutritious meals, or making them clean up, or ANYTHING that parents have to consistently make sure happens.  And this is so utterly freeing.  It gives you the luxury of just paying attention to them.  When I hear about or see parents get a multitude of things done with kids around, I stand in awe because I basically can get NOTHING done when I have the kids.  I have to say that I have this luxury because my daughters and their husbands are among the best parents I have ever known, so I know that the kids' needs are well met.  I get to concentrate on the wants.   

So anyway, we have sleepovers quite often. 

Although I watch Atticus one day a week, we only recently had his second sleepover while Mom and Dad celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary.  Atti is so very easy to please.  If you take him anywhere on a train (TRAX or Frontrunner), he's happy as a clam.  So on this last sleepover we took the TRAX to Clark Planetarium and watched "Black Holes" in the Dome.  Our excursion meant that he missed his nap, so he fell asleep in the show.  But he had a lot of fun otherwise.  We also stopped at the playground by the library for awhile.  I have to say that I do have a love/hate relationship with sleeping with Atti.  He has a hard time going to sleep with someone else there, and he also is a big cover and space hog.  But he is the best cuddler, and wakes up asking, "Hug?" 

 

Kaiya and Teague have sleepovers on a more regular basis, as they are a little older.  On our last one, we went to Scheels to ride the ferris wheel and then the next day we rode the Frontrunner up to the Farmington Station and had lunch.

 

This weird shot is of a guy who was in Scheels' big fish tank cleaning it.  I had to clean a whole lot of fish tanks when I was a kid (my dad always had a fish store of some sort), but at least I never had to be fully submersed to do it!

Kaiya being weird about having her picture taken ... Teague, not so much.



Brave

Kaiya and Teague have been taking acting class, and were recently in a production of Brave.  I didn't get any great shots, as I had just bought a new phone and was still trying to get it figured out.  :-(  But they did great, and had quite a few lines!  It was a fun show to watch.

Healthy and Active

No, not me (though I do make small efforts). 

Steph and Mickel are the ones that are turning into healthy super-heroes.  They have always been active, and have certainly passed that love of all things physical (sports, hiking, skiing, etc., etc.) on to Kaiya and Teague.  I have never known a family more on the go than they are!  But lately they have added food health to their agenda, and in a big way! 

I was thinking of this when I reflected on them inviting me to dinner the Saturday before they left for their latest adventure to the Florida Keys.  Steph made quinoa with feta cheese and pine nuts, served on acorn squash, with a salad and blueberries.  And that's how they eat almost all the time now - very little meat, and organic as much as is possible.  After learning a great deal about very negative things going on with our food supply, they have joined the "March on Monsanto" cause.  The March happened during their trip to the Keys.  They asked Kaiya and Teague if they would rather go to the march, or go do something else.  Kaiya and Teague chose the march, and the whole family made protest signs.

 

But it's not just the general activity and food awareness ... Steph (especially) and Mickel (more and more lately) have also added competitive endurance sports, such as half-marathons, Ragnar-type of races and triathalons, to their list. 

They have a triathalon coming up at the end of June that they're both doing, so Grammie gets to have a long sleepover that weekend!