December's Illusion

Steph’s baby that she is currently brewing will be a boy!! I swear that girl is so in-tune with her body it’s scary!

For the past, mmmm…3 weeks I have had the pleasure of having my oldest daughter and her two daughters here with us from Casper, Wyoming. It has been stressful at times, but the joy of getting to see, touch, hug, laugh and love those three girls in my life on a daily basis has completely over ridden the stress.

This picture is of my two oldest granddaughters, they were sitting on the floor discussing what they planned to do and see that day at the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory. Kailie is on the left, she is Melissa’s oldest daughter (the one who lives in Wyoming) and Lexi is on the right and she is my youngest daughter Stephanie’s oldest.

Kailie & Lexi

It’s too bad I can’t seem to get all three girls to sit still long enough to get their picture together. The one below is my number 3 granddaughter Emily. Emily is such a lovable little baby and is for the most part the quietest child I have seen. She gets a little loud when her sister or cousin don’t let her have what she wants or tries to pick her up when she is hell bent on heading to a certain destination that they don’t think she ought to be at…but other wise such a beautiful, sweet baby inside and out. Of course, all my granddaughters are and I am NOT in the least bit prejudiced.

Emily

Stephanie is pregnant with her 2nd child, she swears up and down that she is going to break the chain we have going on here in our family and that this one is a boy. She hasn’t had that ultra-sound thingy where they can see what the baby is, but, while I hope for them if this is what they want that they get a boy (Daddy said he doesn’t care one way or another), secretly I am a bit fearful of her having a boy because I have been surrounded by girls pretty much my whole adult life and I don’t know if I can do boys or not. I’m sure once I hold the little one in my arms, my great-big Grandma heart will kick in and it won’t matter one little bit, my heart will be lost just like it has been on the other three. The baby is due at the end of the year, I have plenty of time to adjust.

Last year I did some face painting for our church at a “Family Fun Night” and my granddaughter Lexi found the paints and don’t you know she has a fascination for painting, being painted or having Grandma draw anything, including drawing, painting on her.

She wanted to be a Pumpkin

I try to tell her that this is a “Jack-o-Lantern” but she argues and says its a pumpkin….well, in many ways it is, so how do you argue with a child’s stubborn wisdom?

The following day we had to do the face painting again and since the “Pumpkin” was a bit of a mess to wash off, I talked her into being an “Ariel” princess. Since she LOVES Ariel, it worked out good.

Miss Ariel Herself...

Isn’t she just the cutest little bug? My heart melts everytime I am with this child!

Of course, she decided that she wanted to paint too, and since Grandma wasn’t about to let this child near her face with a paintbrush, Grandpa, bless his soul, lay on the floor while Lexi had a go at painting him. She did a pretty decent job, I tried to help a bit, but Lexi says she really likes the color black…

Uhhhh, I think he's part Indian Chief and part, uhhhh...?

Well, there you have it folks…this is what happens when two 47 year olds and a 3 year old get bored!

I thought that I would share some of my birthday pictures with you. Tom got a hold of the camera, so this is me…on my birthday, after caring for 4 kids that day in my daycare…I was wiped out, but I sure had fun!

Make a Wish!

I was talking with my oldest daughter Melissa on the phone today and she tells me that she had parent teachers conference with Kailie’s preschool teacher and I guess the kids are learning about their various body parts.

While during this teaching, the teacher proceeded to ask the kids where this or that part was and when she got to Kailie, she asked her where her heels were.

Kailie’s response?

“I can’t wear heels, my mommy won’t let me wear them yet”

Kids say the darnedest things, don’t they?

My Oldest Granddaughter

Among all the photos that I took this past summer, this is one of my most favorite shots of one of my most favorite subjects. My granddaughters.

This is my oldest Granddaughter Kailie, at her home in Casper. This little girl is one of the biggest loves of my life and it just tears at my heart strings everytime I see her picture or hear her little voice on the phone. I am reminded often of how much I miss of not being able to watch her grow up and how much I miss of her little world every day.

She is such a beautiful little girl, on the inside as well as out. Her heart is so pure and she is such an amazing little sprout that I am in awe each and every time I am able to be with her.

I regret that this past visit with her was cut so short. Another one of those moments in my life that I wish that I could do all over again. If someone handed me three wishes, Kailie and her family would be standing right next to me on the very first wish.

She is such a mirror image of her Mommy, in many ways in her looks, but more so in her nature. She is part tomboy, but more girly-girl. She is dainty and delicate, yet just rough enough on the outside edges to love bugs. Curious and inquisitive by nature, with a voice like an angel, and the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen, and when she wraps her little arms around my neck, and whispers “I’ve missed you Grandma” in my ear – tears well up in my eyes, my heart swells as big as the moon, and its all I can do to keep from hugging the stuffins out of this child.

God made mothers so that they could one day become Grandmothers; it is then that we truly understand the meaning of being complete.