Memories

Here are a few great pictures of the first time Grandma met Stephen in October of 2007.

Ruby

I keep thinking about my Grandma Ruby and I am going to see her tomorrow. I keep think about her AMAZING life. How can 90 years seem short?

My Sunshine

Is Josie not the best photographer? It helps to have a good subjet too.

I have pondered over this post, how do you put your feelings into words at this time. I too agree with Josie's reflection of this time of year. I always love the spring, the weather warming up, crocuses appearing overnight with their strong shades of yellow and purple, followed by the forsythia and daffodils. And the white blossom Bradford pear trees... I can vividly picture how their blossoms engulfed the window of Grandma's room and breathless by the sea of trees outside the cafeteria windows at DC Childrens as we waited for Claire. How ironic we are at this path again?

In true Grandma form, she gushed all over the kids the moment we arrived at the hospital. We were the best medicine. Kate and Stephen each sat on either side of Grandma playing Play Dough and the next thing I knew, Grandma was playing too. Then she was even more excited to know that Josie and family were coming Wednesday, Doris and family were coming Thursday, and Kirk and Amanda were coming on Sunday. She doesn't want people to make a fuss over her, but I could tell she was happy.

Wash, Rinse, Dry, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat...

I now understand why my mother hung a sign in her laundry room that read, "Is there life after laundry?" My answer is a firm, NO, because it never ends! Since we were in Lynchburg and David is in and out of town with interviews, "Mount Laundry" (as David calls it) was piled high. I feel like all I have done the past two days is unpack bags, and do laundry. Which reminds me, the dryer is quiet, time to switch out the clothes!

We did get out and enjoy this beautiful weather and play at the park and we even got ice cream. Kate was true to form and got her favorite, pink ice cream aka strawberry, and Stephen had a baby chocolate cone that was precious! I don't think he expected the cold wen he took his first bite, his expression was priceless! Josie was able to capture the moment, so I am sure we can post a picture.

For a moment, the house is quiet... the kids are asleep, the dogs are asleep, and I am thinking about what needs to be done next.

Say a little prayer for my strong, witty and dignified grandmother tonight. She is in the hospital getting some fluids and needed rest. Hopefully in the morning she will be feeling better, stronger, and able to keep some food and liquids down. She is an amazing lady, I am proud to have the Jones girls blood running through my veins. Even with her weak physical state, her mind remains sharp as a tack. Love you Grandma.

(These are some pictures of our visit last month.)

More Kate-isms

Kate is just getting SO big. I feel like I say this all the time, but I look at pictures from a year ago, 6 months ago, and I can't believe how much she has changed. I am positive she will be taller than me. She is so long! Long legs, beautiful curls, and a combination girly girl and tom-boy... She can hang with her cousins in a world of princess costumes, pretend performances, and doll houses or trampolines, trains, and baseball games. She loves dresses, but lately has been requesting to wear pants. Her favorite color is yellow, just like her Daddy, but pink is close behind. She loves to draw and color, she is VERY creative. She also plays with all of her toys in a different way that they were intended to be played with. I love to see what she has in her purse, you really never know what you are going to find. I think one of the funniest things was finding plastic fruit, as if she could eat it for a snack when we were out. (You can also find things that you thought were missing in her purse.) She likes to help me cook and she can even crack an egg and put it in the bowl without shells! Her favorite foods are breakfast sausage, chicken salad, and spaghetti & meatballs. She loves carrots, chickpeas, corn, and beats (yes, beats) and dislikes green beans and peas. To get Kate to eat her carrots when she was little I told her what my dad did, "Have you ever seen a rabbit with glasses?" One night she was not eating her carrots very well and I was a little done, so I looked at her and said jokingly, "Good luck seeing tomorrow." Man, she ate those right up! (David almost blew my cover a few nights later.) She eats carrots like a champ, what can I say. So tonight at dinner, she asked me, "What chickpeas (aka butt-beans) did for you?" I was a little speechless... (The best I could come up with in my head was that butt-beans gave you a cute butt???) She answered for me, "They give you good toots!" (Thank goodness!) Sometimes you need to get a little creative right?

I thoroughly enjoy listening to what Kate has to say. I love her phrases, in a couple whiles (aka - a couple minutes paired with in a little while), her hand gestures, and her even her pronunciations. Last week Kate was coloring a birthday card for her Nana and she was drawing a bird. When I asked her about the picture she said, "It is a cardboard one, Nana loves those." (LOL... Nana loves Cardinals.)

Tonight in the bath Stephen and Kate were both playing with empty plastic bottles of shampoo. We only had one top and Kate discovered that it fit both bottles, even though one bottle was wider than the other at the base. A perfect opportunity to teacher her the width of a circle is the diameter. She could not say "diameter" and it was hilarious the way it came out, di-anter, di-antler, di-nater... She could not get the "m" out.

I also LOVE the way she loves our animals. I find her filling up the water bowl in the bathroom because Shiloh wants a drink. She want to give Libbie and Sumter treats and of course little brother Stephen wants to participate in this activity. She loves to pet the cats and I am amazed at her gentle nature and her ability to read them. (Gee, I wonder where she learned that from?) She holds out her hand out for the cats to sniff her before she pets them. She can tell me when Sumter is in a bopper mood. And she adores Shiloh.... I think she is no longer my cat in Kate's eyes, she is Kate's cat. She has nicknames for her, Shi or SheShe, and she wants to know where she is whenever we are upstairs and then gives me updates. . (Shiloh is the upstairs cat.) Shiloh still sleeps with me at night, but sometimes before I come up to bed she is snuggling with Kate. If I can get a picture of this, I will.

She is an excellent big sister and genuinely loves her little brother. They chase around the house and laugh, they color, create with play dough, race cars and trains, and yes, he also plays with her High School Musical doll house and princesses. She is very good about sharing and including him in her play. The other day at the Chick-fil-@ play area, she helped him up each climbing ledge and then helped him down the slide. He would come out the slide with the biggest grin on his face and clapping for himself. Kate was right behind him helping him back up again. It was precious that she understood and cared enough to help him.

We still have our battles that a four year old can break you with, I told her today that she should be a negotiator when she grows up. By the way, she wants to be a dance teacher when she grows up.

When can we go outside and play?

Stephen and Kate both went straight to the window first thing in the morning to see just how much snow we got. (You would think a small child who went to bed after 10pm would sleep in, nope... we paid for that one.) Then the next question was, when can we go out and play? All parents of young children know or remember just how long it takes to bundle up to go out and play in the snow. This is a skilled dance of layering, bathroom going, layering, chasing down, boot pushing, mitten stuffing, hat topping, waddling down the icy steps... and 2 hours later we are finally outside. Needless to say Stephen did NOT like his snow suit unlike Kate. For some reason the moment we put it on he started crying... and was then a little intimidated by the snow. It is hard to know what those little minds are thinking, especially when he had so much fun last night. The dogs were in HEAVEN! The last time we had a snow like this, we were kid free and our dogs were our babies in the snow.

What Snowmen (and little girls past their bedtime) do at Night

It is 9pm on a snowy Sunday night, where are your children? In bed? Asleep? Nope, in the snow playing in the front yard. (Well, Stephen was asleep.) David, Kate, Erin and our new snowman were enjoying the magic of the snow. Kate was running, falling and rolling all around. It was amazing and memorable for me and I hope she never forgets it too!

Happy Birthday Patty!

SNOW DAY

About a week ago I was at Kohl's checking out the sale rack and saw an adorable snow suit. I thought to myself, Nah... there are flowers poping out of the ground, it is not going to snow! I was wrong. At least David pays attention to the weather and informed me on Sunday morning that it was going to snow, and snow a bunch. Kate and I headed out and believe it or not, the snow suit was still there! We were well prepared for what began to fall a few hours later.
March 1st was Patty's birthday, so aound 4:30 we headed over to the "Salisbury Ledlie's" and on the way there, the rain turned into snow. I could not believe how fast the snow fell and before we knew it there was a thick blanket of snow. The kids could not stand it, they HAD to go out. Each trip out may have been quick, the wet cold mittens were the breaker for Kate. She danced around trying to catch now on her tounge and tried to make snow balls. Even after the birthday fun was over, we had to play even more at home. (I think she went to bed after 10pm, but it was a really good excuse to have a lot of fun.) The trip home was incredible. It had been a long time since I have seen snow this thick, it was truly a winter wonderland.