Learning something new

Experiencing new things is certainly in order when children visit their grandparents. Growing up in the country is different than city life. Being able to fish in an Oklahoma pond - very red water now due to the recent rain - is a ritual enjoyed by both child and grandparent. Many things are repeated over and over and over - until finally the light bulb goes off.

Max (age 5 ) learned to get a minnow from the minnow bucket, bait his hook, and remove the fish from the hook after it was caught. This is a milestone - maybe not the same as getting your drivers license, graduating from college, or getting married...but something to be remembered for a long time.

Today's fishing expedition resulted in the catching of about 14 fish...mostly crappie, one sun perch and several bass....the fish were still biting when we came to the house...but a blond fair skinned little boy (even with lots of sunscreen) stands a good change of getting sunburned. This was the largest one he caught...we kept it. If anymore are caught worth keeping we will - but if this is the only one...we will release it.

Oh, the fun in having a youngster around - can't say they keep me young - but they make me sleep hard at night as I am pooped!



Granny Amelia

Granny's Girl

Due to some personal requirements the lady that cares for Little Amelia "Millie" needed to close her daycare for one day a couple of weeks ago.

That meant I got to keep her for the day - we played, ate, and played some more. Some napping happened too!

She is now 15 months old - still not a lot of hair - blonde, just like her Daddy. Certainly a sweet granddaughter!


Amelia

Two Two's

Does that make any sense?

Two people named Amelia...

Each one celebrating a birthday. Little Amelia turned one on the 16th of this month...and I hit 69 on the 20th.

Double blessings for Grandpa Leon, don't you think?

Bakery Chef?

At this point in his life Max loves to help me in the kitchen. These pictures were taken in "his" kitchen when we were there visiting. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting...a favorite. Max helping cut out the biscuits.

I realize I had better capture these moments when I can - children and grandchildren grow up so fast.

Sweeties

  

 

I spent a couple of days with these two sweet children this week.

We went shopping, playing, eating, reading, and tucking in for sleeping. Also, got in lots of hugs and kisses both days.

Being a Granny is not a bad occupation...

Two

Yes, this family has two feisty females by the name of "Amelia".

Leon calls baby girl "L.A" for "Little Amelia". We are going to see her tomorrow - I can hardly wait.

One of God's Blessings

Follow me as we go through this door... This door is at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City.

This is what was behind the door - well as of this past Monday. Granddaughter Amelia was born at 3:28 in the afternoon with a weight of 7 pounds even and a length of 19 inches. Just the perfect size and length to love and cuddle. Easy delivery for her Mother (my daughter Holly) and her Daddy (Tony) handled the Father - onlooking role quite well.

This was taken Tuesday all snuggled up in my arms. Not much better than this!

Wednesday and the three arrived home.

Little Amelia made the trip home just fine in her car seat.

Such a wonderful picture of the three of them...happy and tired! Now the real work begins for the next 18 or more years.

My thanks to God for them and grandson Max (who was at daycare at the time).

Company

We had company this afternoon.

Yes, some one very important! The only one to carry on the family name.

Hunter - our great grandson - came by with his grandmother - our DIL for a short impromptu visit. He turned one in August...his understandable vocabulary is limited. However, the grunts and pointing lets everyone know what is going on and what he is wanting.

The weather had turned off warm - lower 70's and the sun was shining ever so bright - in fact the sun was in the way most of the time to take a good picture. We stayed in the house some - but it was more fun for Hunter to ride in the golf cart. Like all small children and especially boys picking up rocks seemed to provide the most fun.

Having them come by for a visit was certainly more fun and enjoyable than the nap we normally take.

Fall - 2008

This handsome fella is in front of our house - checking out all the speeders as they zoom down our country road. The tall clump of maidenhair grass behind him is starting to spread the

lovely plumes that look so beautiful swaying in the wind....you know how the wind can blow here in Oklahoma.

Oh the feel of fall is not completely here - but getting close. The temps at night are cooler - which makes for great sleeping - can't have the windows open because of Leon's allergies - however the house does cool down. Daytime temperatures are still warm - but no more of those high 90's degrees to contend with during the afternoon.

The apples are starting to fall - not that we are going to have many - but still get enough for several pies. Our garden is still producing okra and tomatoes quite bountiful. Leon and I say we have this arrangement with the Lord - we get 10% of the garden items and give away 90%...so this year people from church have really been on the receiving end of fresh produce.

Leon and number one son are in the western part of the state putting up deer stands...they also have some plans for riding the 4 wheelers for fun. With this 3 day trip they will be getting in some excellent father - son time. I could not ask for a better relationship than the one I have with # l son...yes I am his Dad's wife...but he treats me like a Mother and bestest part is that he calls me "Mom" lots of times...makes this old lady's heart just swell.

While speaking of children - looks like daughter is going to have a girl...95% sure baby is girl - but they will test again in three weeks...if it is a girl she will be named Amelia - don't know if this family is ready for two "Amelia's" or not. Baby is due in mid February...now if delivery can be held off until the 20th of Feb she would be born on my birthday. However, if she is born on 14th (Valentine's Day) that is my sister's birthday.

Seems like we are busy all the time - but yet some days can not see much that we have accomplished - but you know since we are retired do we have to show that we have produced something each and every day...no I don't think so.

Bought a new printer the other day at Staples. They only had a floor sample of the one I wanted so they had one shipped to me. It came the very next day - so time wise was no problem. However, when I opened the box and found all 6 of the ink cartridges were already installed I thought we might have a problem...sure enough - soon as it was turned on got flashing lights. After speaking to several people it was determined for sure it was defective and I would get another one and the defective one would be picked up. I wasn't home this morning when the delivery guy arrived - but he left my new one and a note wanting me to call about picking up the bad one...so that is planned for tomorrow. Got the new 0ne installed and at this point I am happy with the results of the print colors in pictures. My old printer never did give me good quality pictures and then the "copy" function went out...so after listening to me grumble (I do occasionally do that) Leon said now is the time to get a new one.

I have been having some medical tests - nothing major - but now finished with all of them. Only thing is now I take high blood pressure meds on a daily basis. My blood platelets are semi low but not bad - anyway I am to see the doctors in 6 months and see how I am doing. Now if I could just find the will to lose these extra 15-20 pounds I have gained in the last two years - my body would probably be a lot better.

In the quilting part of my life I am making a T-shirt quilt for son-in-law Tony. I am making this one where each block is quilted before joining it to the next block. I saw it done on TV once and found some instructions on the web - so we will see how it turns out. On his last t-shirt quilt I hand quilted that - but never again...you just can't make pretty stitches thru the picture part...some of my stitches seemed large enough to drive a truck thru them..so machine quilting is the way I am going this time.

Well, that about wraps up what is going on in my life at this point in time.

May God bless you in many ways.

Amelia (I got heavy on the delete key and erased the fancy writing of my name.)

"One" milestone

This past Saturday along with many other people we helped great grand son Hunter celebrate his first birthday...well his actual birthday is the 21st...but this was close enough.



Our grandson Kyle - better known as Daddy to Hunter - is looking on.

Both of these guys are very special to us.

A New Start

Seems like it has been weeks and weeks since I started a quilt...but I have about reached the point where it is time to start one.

I knew the next one I made would be in shades of blue and not a real "Girlie" looking pattern as this quilt would be for Leon's youngest son. When I asked him about making one his only request was blue preferably...could be green...since I have been working on lots of greens...I opted for the blue idea.

I saw this pinwheel pattern the other day and decided it would be the one. In making this sample I about decided I did not want to do this pattern....so many places that had to make sharp point. Then I had a talk with myself ...you know we all talk to ourselves from time to time.

Me: It is too hard...

Self: No, it isn't...

Me: Well, maybe make a quilt with 9 blocks.

Self: That would be too small...son is a big guy.

Me: Oh, okay make it with 30 blocks and several rows of borders.

Self: That sounds like a winner. Besides how are you going to improve your ability unless you practice on new patterns.

After this conversation - guess what I will be doing for the next few weeks when I have the time.

Yes, I will be in the sewing room - cutting, sewing and pressing - using this pinwheel pattern.

With the temps being so warm I will be spending more time in the house than in the yard. I checked the thermometer outside a while ago and it was 110. That is too hot to be working in the flowers or in the vegetable garden.

Modern Art ?

I know each of you other Grand-mothers (and Mothers) will under-stand the sweetness of this drawing. This is grandson Max and his drawing of his Granny (me).

Monday - Memorial Day

Really, this day has progressed much like any other day.

I put flowers on the graves last Thursday while I was in town. Going to Mother and Daddy's graves is hard to bear...I don't have any regrets about the relationship we had...just that I miss them and wish I could converse with them as to how my life is now. Plus tell them how much I appreciate all they taught me and what all hard work they endured to make life somewhat easier than they had when they were growing up. We never had a lot of money during my childhood...Daddy was a farmer worker..not for himself...but the other guy. When Mother went to work at Sylvania things were better. There was always love abounding from them. Church was always part of our life style.

Well, so much for my thinking of the past...lets talk about the present

As I said today has been nothing outstanding. I did some laundry, shampooed some of the carpets in the heavily traveled areas. cut out a skirt and jacket in sage green, made a batch of cookies (choc. with choc. chips and pecans) and of course took my afternoon nap. Leon went over to a church member's house to do some tractor and other work. This man is having some serious health issues and can't do any manual labor so Leon is doing what he can. The tie rod on the tractor went "south" so that means we will have to replace it. Dollar wise, don't have any idea how much we will be out...but nothing is cheap anymore...so just might as well get ready for the shock.

Also cooked...but that is to be expected. We had fried okra, briskit, and baked beans...boy, did it all ever taste good.

Even though this is a holiday...won't be seeing any of the kids...Holly and her family are in New Mexico visiting Tony's Dad...Larry/Melissa are in Branson just kicking back and relaxing plus taking in some of the local sights ...the other two kids I suppose are doing their own thing.

It is late in the afternoon now...I think I will do hand quilting on the Grandmother's fan quilt.

Cute Carpenter

The past two Saturdays we have gone to daughter Holly's house. She and husband Tony were wanting to build a little room in their garage for storage. They asked Leon to lend his expertise in this project. Of course, he was more than willing. Leon enjoys building stuff!

Now, don't you think my hunk of man looks so cute in his yard stick type suspenders. He says they are more comfortable to wear than a belt when doing this type work. His work shoes of choice for the day was his Skechers athletic shoes. It looks like he is posing in this picture. I am sure he isn't - he is not a runway type guy. He is probably giving serious thought to the next part of the building project. Sorry ladies, you can look - but he is mine and I am keeping him!

Birthday Week

This week I celebrated my 67th birthday.

I got another year older, a pound or so heavier, and wiser - well maybe on some things. All in all it has been a great year - the one thing that is great each and every day is that Leon has retired. I do enjoy him being around all the time. On some days I don't get much accomplished in the house because I am piddling around watching or helping him with his various projects. If he needs to go into town most all of the time I ride along.

Back to the events of my birthday week. I got a lot of cards from family and friends, plus best wishes via email from my blogging buddies, several phone calls and eating out. Leon took me out on my birthday . Then on Friday night Howard and Joan took us out to a great steakhouse for steak (naturally). Wow, it was great tasting and so tender. Then on Saturday we went to Holly and Tony's house. She fixed us lunch, plus had birthday cake and ice cream.

I had told Holly not to get me anything for my birthday - did she pay any attention to what I said - no, she did not! Well, she said she did think about what I said, but when they saw this frog with his arms folded it reminded them of me. Do you suppose they think I am "stubborn" or "determined"?

Christmas Dinner

This year was our year to have Holly, Tony and Max at our house for Christmas dinner. As with many families they rotate from year to year as to where they will spend the actual day of Christmas. Wanda, Craig and Kevin also joined us for the food and fun. I like to fix up the table to look nice. Probably no one else really cares as much as I do...but it given me a sense of pleasure and pride. This year I fixed name tags - this way I made the choice to where every one went. Of course, I placed Max between me and Leon. The center piece was removed when we started putting the food on the table. The meal was pretty typical - turkey, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, corn casserole, brocolli-rice-cheese casserole, hot rolls, iced tea, cranberry salad, and cornbread dessing. Dessert included pecan pie, some fancy brownies, pumpkin bread, cranberry bread, key lime pie on a chocolate crust, spice cookies, peanut clusters and fudge (both candies were home made). Also Holly made a new dessert. I don't know the name- but it was a pudding like mixture made in a ramekin and served with a chocolate sauce. Very smooth and rich!

Holly is just about through with her meal.
Max is wanting everyone to hurry and finish...then he can open presents.
Kevin, Wanda and Craig.


Question of the day! "Why does all good tasting food always contain so many calories?

I know all of us consumed enough calories to really last us for several days.

Moving in with Max

Well, I did move in with Max...but only for a few days. Holly and Tony were having to put in long days with the preparation of the Centennial show - so daycare was out. Time to call in the grandmothers to the rescue. Holly was off work Monday-I selected Tuesday and Wednesday for my days. Grandma Vicki got the Thursday-Friday slots.

Because I do not drive in the dark I drove up Monday afternoon. This was great as I got to spend some time with Holly...cooking, talking and just enjoying each other's company. I left Thursday morning and headed to the beauty shop before coming home.

Max and I had such fun together. These pictures only show some of the things we did.

Playing in the sandbox.
Picking leaves.
Building a tent- using several blankets/quilts and his small table.
Trying the hard task of learning to tie a shoe lace.


Side Note: Wanda Kay came up and spent Tuesday night too. That way Mr. Max got the attention of two "old ladies" who love him dearly.

Approval

After finishing this small quilt for great grandson Hunter I tossed it on the chair while clearing away my sewing items.

This was an open invitation for two of my three furry friends to check out the stitching.

The quilt appears to meet their requirements as Tramp is putting his paw of approval on it. Stormy is giving it her steady gaze to see if she can find any flaws.

Tidbit of info: This quilt measured out 49" X 49" when it was finished. It has over 600 cut pieces in it.

As with all my quilts, small or large, they are sewn with lots of love in each and every stitch. I ask each recipient to use - but not abuse- the quilt.

Note: After posting this I see where the paragraphs are all ran together...can't seem to correct the problem....me or Blogger?

Riding in a Red Car!

This is the best picture I have been able to find showing us in the parade. Holly took it as we went past her work area.

Everything that happened Sunday went by so fast. I think now why didn't I do this or why didn't I do that. Obviously, getting more pictures would have been great. But, as I mentioned before my main thought was caring for Max to the best of my ability.

"THE PARADE"

Being part of the Centennial Parade was wonderful. Of course, I really realized this when we watched it on television later in the evening. From where we were in the staging area we could only see a few of the floats, balloons, bands etc.

We had a designated place for us to park our car - which was great as it was just a few feet from the VIP center and where the staging for us took place.

Practically just as soon as we (Leon, Max and yours truly) got out of our car Lori Holliday showed up to take us to the VIP center. She was the one from OETA (channel 13) assigned to handle the people associated with Clifford, The Big Red Dog and Curious George. She was great the complete time to make sure we were comfortable and well cared for.

As with a lot of things there will be down time - and this was no exception. But to pass the time we had chairs seated around tables. Cookies of many kinds, fruit trays, and several things to drink were readily available. Plus Lori had picked up sub sandwiches - but we had eaten so we did not partake of this.

Originally we thought we would load in the old car at 1:00 - but it was changed to 2:30. This actually was better as there was really no room once we got in the car. Speaking of the car, we wound up being in a red Model T automobile. Yes, the kind that has to be cranked in the front to start it. It died several times during the course of the parade-so the owner/driver had to get it out and give it a few cranks to get the engine chugging again.

Many of the "important people" were in the room with us that were part of the parade. I was able to get a few pictures. I had camera issues for most of the time though. Once out in the parade area there was no time for pictures.

No, I did not go up and request any special pictures or autographs. My primary misson was to care for Max. Leon had already said his main objective was to care for Max and me. Which, he did very well.

Poor Max...he got tired. Little boys can only take being still so long. Look closely at this picture, that is James Garner just at the top of Max's head. Mr. Garner was the parade grand marshal. The dark haired woman (seated) is Miss Oklahoma 2007 Makenna Smith. The woman wearing the red ball cap and a red shirt (with her back to the camera) is Mr. Garner's private nurse.
This shows more of the "important people". The man in the gray suit with his back to us is football great Billy Sims. To his left is the baseball player Bobby Mercer. The blonde haired lady with red shirt is Stephanie Canada, 2007 Oklahoma Teacher of the year. Far in the back is Mr. Garner and his nurse.
These two handsome guys are my VIP's.

There were others in the room that carry an important status. Among them were Eddie Sutton, Josh White and Steve Owens - all from the sports field. Bryan White, a up and coming country music star sang some while we waiting. Leon said olympic star Shannon Miller was also in the room as well.

We have heard the number of people that viewed the parade along the streets ranged from 175,000 to 220,000. I know from first hand experience there were many.

PS: Hopefully, I can get a picture of us in the parade from Holly as I know she took a couple when we went by her work tent.