Our Mini-Vaca in Duluth

Christmas Tales

Christmas pics coming soon, but for now I wanted to talk about Mara AnnMarie's Baptism Day.  What a wonderful day we had.  Nona Donna & Great Grandma & Grandpa Joanne & Don celebrated with Heather, Sean, Godparents Auntie Katy, Auntie Bethanie and Uncle Josh. Auntie Whitney, Uncle Barry, Claire, Max, Brody, Maverick, GG, Aunt Sue, Aunt Julie, Great Grandma & Grandpa Camilla & Don, Papa and me were there watching with joy.  Her Baptism took place during Christmas Day Mass.  What a special blessing!  The music and the message were such a wonderful Christmas Gift!  We had warm cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit afterward.  Then we had Dumpling Soup for lunch at the farm and the kids opened their stocking gifts from Santa.

On the other side of that coin - the holidays can be so melancholy.  You plan and plan and shop for just the right thing and bake and cook up a storm.  Then in a flash, it is all over, and melancholy.  Papa and I are always so sad to see them all leave at the end of the day.  And yet we are tired and relieved, ready for a hot meal, a hot bath and a veg out on the couch with an old romance video.  Hope you are finding ways to deal with your own holiday melancholy.

We are heading out tomorrow for a mini-vacation - no kids in daycare the rest of the week!!  We are excited and yet will miss the little buggers by Saturday!  We are celebrating our family Christmas on Saturday!  More fun!

Merry Christmas 2012!

Our December Adventures

 Brody, Claire & Max are admiring the Christmas tree (all the time)!

 Mara & Maverick are sharing the playmat together!

 Claire loves to talk to them.

 Tickle the yummy belly!

 "and then you know what happened guys..."

 Max is loving on the babies - he has no concern for their personal bubble.

Claire & Max are entertaining.  Brody was having a very long nap that day!

Mara AnnMarie

Papa loves getting Mara to smile (and laugh)!

Mara enjoys looking in the mirrors on the playmat - she loves the new friend she sees in there!

OK, she really loves just about anything!  Especially if you're lookin' at her!  She looks just like her daddy, but shots like this look very much like mama!

Heather works from home sometimes, and Mara is a big help!  She is watching for errors!                                                                            

St Nicholas Day & a Visit from Papa

Our family celebrates St Nicholas Day, December 6, with little gifts in our shoes, the kids' shoes are all ready for him!  He brought them lots of books, some about Christmas!

Papa came to visit daycare one day.  Here he is with Max after nap, snuggling!

Then Maverick got in on the action!

Then Claire woke up and joined the fun!  Papa's doing good so far, right?

Then Mara woke up and he handled them both!  They like to be held!

Maverick wanted a new position - what a big boy sitting up!

Projects and Fun

Great Aunt Sue came one day to help with a project - handprints!

Claire & Brody are decorating trees.  Max is running around!

 Now they are stringing cheerios on pipe cleaners as candy canes!

Maverick & Mara are good buddies - just like Josh & Jesse at about this same age - many many years ago!  (they were crying too!)

Claire enjoying a moment with her babies, uninterrupted by boys!

Brody & Claire are helping Papa and Uncle Sean with farm work!

Thanksgiving Day

Max and Josh went for a tractor ride.  Max (and Claire) were shocked to learn that their daddy knew how to drive a tractor!  I think they were out there for an hour!

Omi and Claire watch daddy and Max from the window.  It was a good day!

Our Daycare

I'll get a photo or two fit in here, but for now wanted to mention a few things.  Our little daycare has grown again to include Mara AnnMarie (age 3 months).  Day One Aunt Sue spent much of the day helping me at the farm.  She brought projects galore to entertain the 3 oldest ones in hopes that I would have the time to devote to the two babies.  Auntie Heather came for lunch with us and Aunt Bonnie came to say hi in the afternoon.  Day Two Papa came to visit on his way home from a convention, so helped me for a few hours in the afternoon.  My new employee, Kaija Eckholm, started on Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 and stayed until 5:15.  It took the kids about 10 minutes to get to know her.  She is great with them.  She is very postive and boosts their egos just the right amount.  Day Three we were on our own all day until Kaija arrived.  She and the kids spent a lot of time organizing the project materials downstairs.  Day Four Auntie Heather stayed with us all day, working from Uncle Josh & Auntie Whitney's house.  She helped out as much as she could and witnessed some of our chaos.  When Kaija got there, she took the kids outside for over an hour!  They had so much fun out there!  Day Five we were back at the farm.  Aunt Bonnie came around 10 and spent the day with us.  She helped with many projects and lunch and diapers (including a memorable blowout by Maverick) and feedings, reading and rocking!  We had visits from Auntie Heather, Uncle Sean, Papa, Aunt Sue and 25 new cattle arrived at the farm!

What I really wanted to say, is, thank you!  Thank you to everyone who makes Omi Daycare run so smoothly!  Okay, it's chaos half the time, but still.  I'm in charge and I'm responsible, but I could not do it without help.  Papa is always willing to help out - with phone calls in "personality emergencies";  filling up my car with gas; changing diapers; loading kids and unloading kids; feeding breakfast and lunch; taking the kids outside to visit the animals, ride in the tractor and going for cookies at Grandma Camilla and Grandpa Don's house.  GG helps every day I am at the farm by visiting and playing and reading and being patient when Omi has had it!  Aunt Sue helps by visiting when she can and breaking up a long day with some crazy adventure.  Auntie Heather helps by visiting us and handling some of the cleanup and bringing over project materials.  Grandma Camilla and Grandpa Don help by having a white cookie ready whenever they stop by.  Kaija is going to be a big help by keeping the kids busy with projects and playing outside.  Aunt Bonnie is going to help us out on farm days with anything we need - and when two babies want to eat at the same time, there are needs!  Thank you to the parents as well - Uncle Josh and Auntie Whitney and Uncle Barry and Auntie Bethanie and Uncle Sean.  They are patient with us when we are tired or crabby or messy.  They are interested in every project, they provide us with the nutrition we need to make it through each day.  And thank you, too, to Claire and Brody and Max and Maverick and Mara.  You make it all worthwhile; you share your love with me, as well as your hugs and kisses and boo boos.  Sure beats workin'.

Matching Socks!

   I love group shots!  I got the girls matching ballet slipper socks and the
   boys matching sneaker socks.  You cannot see the chaos in the photo
   result, but I'll bet you can imagine it!  Aren't they A D O R A B L E ?????

Let's Play

 Max has fallen in love with the pony again, and sings "Pony Boy" all day.

 Claire & Brody enjoy playing "paper girls" - this version is magnetic.

 Max loves on one of Omi's babies.  He is so gentle with them.

 Brody & Claire practice their colors.  Orange is tough, but it is Claire's   
 daddy's favorite color, she always tells us.

 Maverick is teaching Claire how to feed him in just the right way.  Comes in
 handy in emergencies!

 Maverick was a pilot for Halloween, I captured a shot earlier in the day.

 Mara was a baby calf for Halloween.  I went trick or treating with her.

 Maverick was very supportive of his Papa during Election Night 2012.

 Claire loves on the babies as well.  She poses for a rare photo op.

 Claire, Max & Brody dressed alike this day, it was pretty fun, so grown up.

 Maverick and Mara got together, but Mav got sad, awww.  We were
 recreating a shot similar to cousins Josh and Jesse over 30 years ago!
 (one of them was bawling in the shot as well!)

 Girl cousins - Claire at 3 1/2 years and Mara at 2 1/2 months.

Boy cousins - Max at 2 years and Brody at 2 3/4 years - reading together.

Max turns 2

November 1, 2012 - Max turns 2 today!

We celebrated by spending the day at the farm.

We had a special cake with a huge candle for him, he just

wasn't sure what to do with the candle!

Happy Birthday, little guy!  We all love you!

Musings...

I hope it is not telling that in searching for a photo of myself for this blog post, I could not find one of me alone!  That's ok, this blog is about my grandchildren anyway, so of course they will be the focus!  I like this photo of me in pink, even though I don't wear much pink!

I am reading a book called Inspired Style by a variety of top image experts.

I made a slow start on the book, but am now savoring each chapter.

Here are a few thoughts from the book I would like to share with YOU.

Love your body, love your life.  If you want to enhance your look and be able to project your best image, you need to choose to love your body.  You must accept your body the way it is right now, and go out of your way to give it love and tender care.  Looking good and feeling good about your body has nothing to do with your shape or size.  It is all about developing a positive body image and knowing how to love your body.  Once you learn to love your body, your self-confidence will soar, you will feel energetic and happy and you will be able to live your best life.

Reinvent yourself.  (I didn't realize it, but the author says this happens to most people at some point in their lives.)  I know the signs and symptoms, because it happened to me.  I had a continual women's intuition kind of feeling every day as I walked down the long hallway to my office that I was on the wrong path.  Like something was just not right and if I didn't make a big change, I would most likely lose my mind and waste the rest of my life!  It was the perfect time to reinvent myself.  The reason for me standing at that fork in the road was caused by my desire for something better - something more meaningful in my life.  I truly believe that I am adding each day to the GNP in my own way, by taking care of these precious little grandchildren.  I sure didn't feel like I was contributing to anything IMPORTANT when I was working at my old job.

baby Mara

These are baby Mara's beautiful photos from her first photo shoot.

                In this family, she has many photo shoots ahead of her! 
                                        Good thing she's adorable!

The kids

No pics today, but just a couple of quick thoughts.

Brody has decided that my name is just too long to say all the time (Omi), so he has shortened it to Om, and of course, Claire has adopted this as well.  (she also calls Brody just Brod some of the time)  On the same name topic - since the cousins are together each day, their parents' names and titles get mixed up.  Sometimes Barry is Uncle Barry, and sometimes Daddy.  Sometimes (often), Josh is Uncle Josh instead of Daddy.

Claire gave me a bookmark one day as one of her projects (Nana, Grandpa Leroy and Mommy, Daddy and Auntie Heather also received one).  Today at the farm, she saw my bookmark laying on the table unused.  She asked so sweetly if I didn't want to use it anymore!  (tears)  I said of course I was using it, and that the book was laying on the couch open to the page I was on.  I asked her to put it into the book for me.  This evening I see that she did just that!  These little things are so important to them!

Max LOVES to sleep!!  He loves his bed (or his bed at the farm), he loves his blanket and his paci.  He loves to go to bed.  Our routine is to say "snug as a bug in a rug" as he goes off to bed.  He waves to everybody and heads off to his sleep.  He also copies everything you say and kinda tries it out on his tongue to see how it comes out!  It took me awhile to realize that "mini steet" meant that he wanted to watch "Sesame Street".  (Claire and Brody call it "Sesamini Street".)  (Elmo is the big favorite!)

Mav is a fav at daycare!  Everyone wants to hug and kiss him all day and sing to him and talk to him.  He smiles all the time and gives us all such joy!  Each new thing he learns how to do is so exciting.  (It is Max's job to take Mav's bottle from me when he is finished with it and take it to the kitchen - he takes this very seriously, and nobody else can do it!)

Mara joined us today at daycare.  It was a pretty wild day.  Good thing that her mama was here to feed her every 20 minutes, but I think the kids are just gonna go crazy for her.  Kissin' all day long!

Ranting and Raving

Did you ever think about that saying?  Really, it must mean you are free to do a little ranting, as long as you end with raving, so guess I'll try it.

Saturdays - what a blessing and a curse.  I tend to think ahead about taking it easy.  After all, I have a cleaning service and I don't have any kids living at home anymore.  Shouldn't really be all that much to do on a weekend, right?  Here is a list of just some of the things I have done today.  I'm not bragging either, I'm sure you did most of these this weekend as well!  Laundry and ironing.  Putting away all the clothes I've worn all week that I didn't put away or wash during the week.  Going through the mail from the week, paying bills, balancing checkbooks (2 of them), catching up on tithing to church.  Sorting magazines to throw, share or save.  Going through my "gift room" and writing down all the things I have already purchased for Christmas, birthdays and Halloween (including a lot of books) - then wrapping some.  Putting away my Target purchases from earlier in the week.  Making a list for more shopping.  Picking up plastic hay bale wrap at the elevator in Lonsdale, picking up Jeff's prescriptions at the pharmacy in Lonsdale, picking up a few things at the grocery store in Lonsdale, picking up stamps at the Post Office in (you guessed it) Lonsdale, forget to pick up book on reserve at library in Lonsdale.  Bake side pork for lunch and meals during the week.  Put in a roast and ribs to slow cook in the oven (it's cold out, the heat will feel good).  Check my email and facebook 25 times.  Sort pills for the week.  Start a couple of craft projects for gifts.  Order charms for Jeff's neck chain with M for Maverick and M for Mara engraved on them.  Blog some new pics (I really just needed to sit down for a little while as I'm fighting a cold).  Refill all the toilet paper containers.  Scrub toilets.  Empty all wastebaskets and burn the garbage.  Organize some projects for the kids for the week.  Replace room fresheners.  Talk on the phone to Bethanie about 6 times.  Make lunch and eat lunch with Jeff (sorry, no time for coffee breaks).  I'm getting so tired....
Wait, I forgot the raving part!
I got to hold and kiss Claire this week (extra attention when she wasn't feeling good).  I got to hold and kiss Brody this week (extra attention on Friday when we were alone together).  I got to hold and kiss Max this week (and hear his new words and watch his new "attitude").  I got to hold and kiss Maverick this week (and see him roll over a few times - and smile a few hundred times).  I got to hold and kiss Mara this week.  I got to go shopping a few times.  I got to enjoy some out-of-doors fall weather.  I got a Shutterfly and Snapfish book in the mail this week!  Part of my birthday present from the Parks came in the mail - a new charm for my necklace for Maverick and for Mara.  The sun is shining.  My jeans still fit. 

Harvesting

The kids love the golf cart, and they absolutely adore the garden!  Here we are, headed to the garden again to harvest.  We have an order placed by Great Auntie Nora for a green and an orange pumpkin, and from Great Aunt Sue for more pumpkins for her lake home.  (Claire and Brody are geared up with boots and gloves, Max wasn't feeling the boots today!)

Ready to harvest.  Bethanie and I spent some time out here over the weekend getting rid of some big weeds so that the harvest was easier for the kids to find.

A pumpkin each!

Max is learning about peeling Indian Corn to reveal the exciting colors inside.  They could have done this all day!  Max's piece here was a gorgeous maroon variety.

Claire's turned out to be shades of pink, and that wasn't even planned.  She DID NOT like to leave the peelings on, which Omi does to enhance the beauty of the corn when using it to decorate.  Claire and Brody liked the clean cut look much better.

Brody is not a fan of the silk as we are peeling, so I eliminate that part for him.

Here we are with our Indian Corn harvest.  Heading back to Omi's.