Little time-July 30, 2015

If I didn't have a calendar I would not know what day it is. We are getting ready to go pick up the girls. We have things planned but sometimes we have to change our plans. Our only goal is to have fun with them.

This has been a busy week at the school across the street. School opens in less than 2 weeks. So band camp started this week. I feel so sorry for the band director. He really has his hands full.

This was just the horn section and standing like this was all they could do together. Watching these people brought back such fun memories of my majorette days. Wow, that was such a long time ago, but I can still twirl! Anyway, these kids could not even walk together. I see no way this band will ever come together to perform at half time. I'd love to walk across the street to watch them. I hope I am wrong and they eventually win band competition somewhere.

 

 

Hope you have a wonderful day. We are looking forward to ours.

 

 

Shoes-July 24, 2015

We took Hannah shoe shopping yesterday. Derrick could not believe we actually took her inside a shoe store. Why not? We would not have wanted to miss that. We explained that we would only go to the children's department, so that's where we headed once inside. She was so excited to see so many shoes. She started running up and down the aisles and saying, "Grammy, look at these!". Everybody in the store heard her but we did not care. Then she found the mirrors and I could not run fast enough to stop her from finding every mirror in the store. I told her that was so she could look at the shoes she tried on. Once we settled on a pair, I put them on and told her to go look in the mirror. The look on her face was priceless. We fell for the trap and bought a pair of those shoes that light up when kids walk. I know you have seen them. These are Minnie Mouse shoes with bows. Very cute. The first pair we tried on failed to light up on the left shoe, so Jerry found a pair where both worked. In the meantime an elderly (like us) lady walked past us. Hannah stuck her foot in front of the lady and said "This one does not work!". I just gave her that look we all get when grandkids do something funny. She laughed. We settled on a pair for Hannah and then got a pair for Zoey. Zoey has never had a pair of shoes.

We left there and headed for Nordy's for lunch. It's the best food around here. Hannah was very good but when she was done, it was time to go. It had already been a long day so we did not push our luck.

How could I forget? Hannah has all those mew-mews that have to go with her. Yesterday, Cheetah was ordered to ride in Zoey's car seat.

Yes, indeed he was buckled in. He enjoyed the ride almost as much

as Zoey does.

 

While I could not sleep one night I came up with an idea to try to get Hannah to eat more fruit and veggies. I tried it yesterday afternoon. And it worked beautifully.

 

Hannah ate 3 butterflies! Sorry I cannot

figure out how to turn this picture around in the

right direction.

 

We have a day of rest today. Then we have both girls tomorrow. We're contemplating taking them to an art show and let someone paint their faces. We'll see how the weather goes. It's really hot and we don't feel like they need to suffer just for us to do something we want to do.

 

 

 

Time is flying-July 22, 2015

We have lost all track of time. We had both girls today. We will have Hannah alone tomorrow. She was so excited when we told her that she would be with us all alone. She said "All day?" When we told her yes, she jumped up and down. Such fun to watch. It's very heartwarming, too. If I am honest, I will miss little Zoey but she has a doctor's appointment and I don't belong there with her.

Today we were able to stand on the deck and watch as very young

police officers were trained on driving techniques. The guy in the car

knocked down so many pylons he finally got out of his car and helped

set them back up again. Unfortunately we did find it funny to watch them

run over the pylons and miss their turns. At least they are getting lessons

and they are in a high school parking lot, not on the streets.

 

This is the busiest high school we have ever seen. There is something going on there every day. We thought when school was out it would be quiet. It absolutely has been anything but quiet. Plus they are putting astro turf on their soccer field and the center of the track. It is quite an operation to watch. This district must have a gigantic budget.

 

We are excited about tomorrow and hope that Hannah is up to shoe shopping and eating lunch out at a place she can choose. I hope for pictures.

Having fun-July 15, 2015

As you know we took the girls to Eaton Days on Saturday. Sunday afternoon we went over to watch them so Derrick could get some work done. Then we had them all day on Monday. We will have them again tomorrow though they both have summer colds, or that's what Derrick says they have. Snotty nosed little babies are so sad to watch. But we will keep them comfortable and play what games we can.

On Monday we told Hannah we would take her to a park to slide. Yes, she has one in her own yard, but she still likes others, too. So we stopped at one we had seen and found out it had no swings. Zoey can only play in swings. So we left there and went to another one. It was small but fun. By that time Zoey was so tired she could not stay awake, so I just pushed the swing and let her relax.

Hannah really liked this camel. I think she liked that she could

climb on it all by herself.

 

Poor little Zoey. She was so tired although now we think

she was probably starting to get sick. But she still does not

fuss and she is just so sweet it's easy to hold her.

 

We had told Hannah we would find another park to play in for our next time together. But we will not be going to a park if both girls are still sick tomorrow.

 

We just had a tremendous thunder storm. We are happy we are on the top of a hill!

 

What day is it?-July 13, 2015

We have been so busy we are not really sure what day it is. Fortunately I can use my iPhone or my laptop to find the date.

Saturday we took the girls to Eaton Days celebration in Eaton, Colorado. We took Hannah last year, but we took them both this year. It was beyond exhausting. It was hot and muggy. We did not know that Hannah had not been fed that morning, so without warning, she started crying like she was injured begging for food. It was embarrassing. We got her a snack and left as quickly as we could. We brought her home and started stuffing her full. We normally do feed both of them as much as they will eat plus we give Hannah a vitamin. We don't want hungry little girls in our house.

Fortunately they had a petting zoo again. This year the llama was really nervous so the owner held it while Hannah touched its face. She said it was very soft. I had Zoey outside the fence in her stroller until someone with a pit bull on a leash came up beside us. I grabbed Zoey out of that stroller and got away from that dog. I know the owner felt it was safe to have the dog's face at the same level as Zoey's but I was not a happy camper. We just walked around until Hannah was finished petting the animals.

All the animals are friendly. This goat did not care who was petting it.

The petting zoo is always in the heavily shaded corner, no doubt to

keep the animals comfortable.

 

This pig was huge! An employee of the zoo sat with Hannah while

she petted it.

 

I'm not sure who is the most disinterested, Hannah or the goat.

 

We had both girls all day on Saturday. We went over for a couple of hours and played on their play set on Sunday afternoon. Derrick was really bogged down so we took them off his hands. We all enjoyed it. Then we had them all day today. So, tomorrow we will rest. Trust me, we will rest. We love being with them but we are pretty long in the tooth to play with two girls all day long.

 

 

 

No sunshine-July 7, 2015

You can easily see how gray and cloudy it was today. I kept telling Jerry it was too "bluish" to be smoke or pollution. Well, I was right. There are 28 separate fires burning in Canada and this is the smoke from those fires. It's just lovely. Not.

Today we also found out that they have now found mosquitos with West Nile Virus here. We know Rabbit Fever is running rampant because the rabbits are multiplying like, well, like rabbits. We have also had a death from plague.

Add the smoke and a shooter who has not been caught yet and we are left to wonder why would anybody want to live here? If it were not for our Hannah and Zoey we would be long gone. But they come first and we do want to be with them. So, we're hanging in there.

Please indulge me as I post a couple of pictures of those sweet little girls.

No, Zoey was not going after the baby wipes. They just happened

to be in the picture because I failed to move them.

 

 

One day Hannah is going to actually smile for a picture. She laughs

all the time but when it comes to photographs she refuses to smile.

Somebody must have told her something negative. We didn't.

 

We will have both girls again tomorrow. We hope the smoke is less so we can go to a park and play with lots of bubbles. Or at the very least we need to take them out for lunch. That would be a first for us. I want to take them both shoe shopping but Jerry is not on board for that adventure.

 

Celebrate-July 4, 2015

 

 

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

 

 

 

Be safe.

 

Be alert.

 

And have fun!

Still kicking-July 1, 2015

A quick note to let you know we are still alive and kicking and babysitting plus now we are going through tubs of old photographs that we have had since before we got married. And it goes without saying I have tossed probably 300 or so pictures of clouds and storms. You know me and those clouds. We are keeping the family pictures and on our second time through them we will organize them. Fortunately at least 99% of them have dates on the back so at the very least we can put them in date order. It has been much more of a task than we thought it would be. But Derrick is not going to want to go through all of these things after we are gone so we are saving him the trouble. We have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of Derrick's baby pictures. We had actually forgotten some of them. Plus we have taken pictures of Hannah that are exactly like the ones we took of Derrick. We really enjoyed seeing those. Good memories but it is so time consuming to do this.

Plus we had both girls all day today. Neither had slept last night so we had our patience tested until we could get them both to nap this afternoon. And they both ate non stop all day long. If they want to eat we will feed them, always.

So, not a whole lot to share right now. But we are fine.