WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

THE BIRTHDAY BOY

It was just a year ago that two new little ones were added to our family.  Dawson turned a year old on Sept. 18 and just three days later William followed.

William is such a good baby.  Very easy going with the cutest little face, you just want to squeeze those cheeks of his.  He is also the only grandchild to get the red hair that he and grandpa Jim share.

We couldn't have asked for anything better than to have him as part of our family.

We love you sweet William!

MISS AWESOME DAWSON

Guess Who Just Turned a Year Old!

Miss Awsome Dawson.

I can't believe a whole year has come and gone.

This sweet little blue-eyed baby is one little pistol.  She is unafraid of anything.  She walks, she is starting to talk, she can get from one room to the next in a split second and is curious about EVERYTHING. No cupboard or drawer has gone unchallenged.  No siree.

But we love her to pieces and are so blessed to have her as part of our family.

GRANDPA'S CAMPOUT 2011

WELL, THERE IS ANOTHER ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS.

THE CAMPOUT WAS A SUCCESS.

EVERYONE WENT HOME WITH TREATS AND TREASURES FROM THE TREASURE HUNT AND HOPEFULLY SOME FUN MEMORIES.

We did a craft.

 Played some tag.

 And more tag.  Hmmmm, grandpa must have been tagged, he didn't move at all from the previous picture.

 Poor Spencer couldn't figure out which way to go to catch his cousins.  Darn tree anyway!

 First clue on the treasure hunt.

 It was getting dark so they needed to hurry.

 It looks like Matthew just figured out the clue, he has that "ah-ha" look on his face.

 Logan thought there might be some treasure on top of the trailer.

 Finally, the treasure was found.

 We dumped the whole treasure basket in the middle of the floor so they could take turns choosing from their prizes.

 Posing and being silly.

 It was a thumbs-up all around for the camp out.

 Here is the mass of sleeping bags after a good nights sleep.

This is grandpa's hunting tent that they got to sleep in.

The unanimously chosen breakfast, doughnuts and hot cocoa.

Thank goodness we have a wonderful bakery close by.

Oh ya, on top of the camp out two of the moms stayed up until 3a.m. canning tomatoes and green beans.

Then today we all worked together to can more green beans and some peaches.

All in all we canned:

103 pints of green beans

27 quarts of tomatoes

and

53 quarts of peaches.

All I can say is,

I AM EXHAUSTED!!!

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT

The grandkids are coming over for their annual "Grandpa's Campout". 

The tent is up

The taco's are being prepared

The treasure hunt is in place

T-shirts are finished

Prizes are ready

Games are ready to be played

We will even be doing a craft (imagine that!)

I will be back later with pictures.

CATCHING FROGS

How do you keep a two boys three and five years old occupied on a camping trip?

You go frog hunting, that's what you do.

 The hardest part is making sure they don't fall in the lake.

 I think Grandpa had as much fun as the boys did.

FUN WITH THE BOYS

I've got a couple of grandsons here staying with us for a few days.

Logan and Landon had a blast building a fort using the lawn chairs and some blankets.

They decided that some fine dining was in order and decided to eat their lunch in there.

Nothing like hanging out with your brother in your own hideout.

Here they are rockin' out to 'We Will Rock You'.

Here are a couple of pictures I found that were taken when I wasn't looking.

 Peek-a-boo, I see you!



Tomorrow I am having 1,000 pounds of cherries delivered to my house.  I think I will put them both to work helping me put them in 5 pound bags for people to pick up.

Stay tuned for cherry stories and pictures.

e-TRADE BABY?

My hubby thinks he looks like the e-trade baby, we just need to figure out how to make his mouth move.

And can this girl work the camera or what?

Here is William and Aleana together.  We don't get to see them too often together.  Aleana only gets to come every other weekend.
I sure do love these little guys.

(That is daddy, our oldest son,  in the background)

FUNNY COUSINS

I was going through some pictures on my computer and  came across this one of the babies that was taken a couple of months ago.

We were trying to get a good picture of them together. 

This one was just screaming for a word bubble or caption of some kind.

MY FUN DAYS WITH DAWSON

I had the opportunity to babysit my sweet granddaughter for a couple of days this week.  We had a fun time, we played and cooed and even got some cookies baked.  She is now 5 1/2 months old and learning new things all the time. I absolutely love watching my grandchildren, especially one on one, it's the best.
I even got a picture of her squeezing out a tear, she was getting tired and had pretty much run out of patience with me for taking so many pictures.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

ONE GREAT KID!

Let me introduce you to one GREAT kid. 

This is Matthew, my grandson.  He has been riding quads since he was three years old.  This last summer he got to ride Grandpa's Banshee quad for the first time, he was so excited and thrilled to get to ride it by himself.

 He is a really smart young man, he is currently reading the fourth Harry Potter book. 

He wrestled for the first time this year and is making wonderful progress, each meet he gets better and better.

 He is also a great cousin, he is holding his baby cousin Dawson, (how many nine year old boys would want to hold a baby?). 

Matthew is also my game player, we have one particular game he and I play all the time.  It is Skip-Bo with a twist, we call it Turbo Skip-Bo.  We have tweaked it so that we play continuously until our piles are gone, not stopping to take turns, just full on and fast.
He is also a great Banana Grams player.  He can come up with some great words, frontier for one.  He did get one of the words wrong just because I told him it was right, I looked it up later and I was wrong.  The word was forfeit which I said was right as he had it at 'forfit'.

I love this guy, he is one awesome kid in my never to be humble opinion.  Any grandma would be proud  to have him as a grandson, I just happen to be that lucky Grandma.

BABY, OH BABY!

Alright, I might be a little prejudiced but isn't this the cutest face?

Dawson's mommy (Randy) has introduced cereal to her. 

 Judging by her reaction I think she is thinking:

"So this is what I have been missing?  Forget the formula, bring on the good stuff!"

BABY UPDATE

That's one thing that babies do best, they pose for pictures well.  (OK, maybe it takes quite a few shots to get the right one.)

Dawson was kinda sleepy in this one but she did manage to melt my heart.

William, the sweetheart, was talking up a storm when I took this one.

He loves to coo and act like he is in a deep converstion.

Here is a photo of all eight grandchildren.  I think I need a new camera, this is the best shot I could get of them.

We Survived!

Hubby and I survived the camp out. First activity was a scavenger hunt. The kids had a lot of fun with this. Next we played some games like sardines, red rover, bate the bear and the hokey pokey. Then it was time for the campfire and s'mores and singing, (although the singing fizzled the s'mores were great).

Grandpa ended the night with everyone in their sleeping bags listening to stories. Most of them were out before the second story began.

Breakfast was doughnuts and hot cocoa.

'Til next year................!

Cousin's Campout Tonight

(image courtesy of Xara Xone)
Tonight hubby and I are hosting a backyard camp (grandpa gets the privilege of sleeping in the tent with them, I will be inside thank you very much) for our grandchildren. There are six of them, a 2 yr. old, 3 yr. old, 4 yr. old, 7 yr. old, and two 9 yr. olds. We have games, prizes, campfire with s'mores, campfire sing-a-longs and maybe a few scary stories. Dinner will be macaroni and cheese and hot dogs with ice-cream cones for dessert. And if that isn't enough junk food we will be buying doughnuts from the bakery for breakfast with some hot cocoa.

Check back in a few days and see if I am still sane.