Things, they are a changin' . . .

Well.  Life has a way at throwing surprises at you, doesn't it?  Mine surely has. It's such a Merry-Go-Round!  Maybe a Tilt-a-Whirl.

I've practically abandoned my blog.  Not because I want to, but there are no more hours in the day than there were before . . . and mine are ever so much more full!

My husband retired.  Gasp!  He's way too young for that nonsense  :) . . .   but you know how the economy has been . . .  and there was a kind of golden parachute . . . jump now.  You know?  So he did . . .  by doing so, helped to save the jobs of younger men.  We hope.  Suddenly {6 weeks notice}, I went from living virtually alone to suddenly having a full time husband.  I teasingly refer to time, as "before" and "after" "he moved in".  Twenty-eight days later, our daughter's marriage ended.  She has a toddler and one who was just about to enter Kindergarten.  She had been a stay-home Mommy.  So that's that.  While our daughter adjusts to the challenges of becoming a working, single Mommy . . . Papa and I are learning to be nearly full time Grandparents.

This kind of adjustment can take some time and effort . . . but the children . . . the sweet little things!  So . . . we're busy learning how to entertain little ones, and figure out what those cantankerous little appetites will eat.  I think we're getting better at it.  We're doing training wheels and training pants . . . I know I'm much better at cooking now that I have a two year old standing beside me on a chair to show me the ropes.  It's true!  She told me so!   I have re-learned; the unbelievably musical sound of children's giggling glee because I made pancakes!   . . . the indescribable  beauty of a multi-colored chalk covered driveway . . . that my oven can still bake cookies . . . {not that it should} . . .  I know who Chloe, and Peppa, Angelina and Poppy Cat are.  I have vases full of the shortest stemmed flowers!  {And very few blooming in the yard.}  :)  I know where to find Goldfish crackers and Fruit Roll-ups at the grocery store again.  I have a secret stash of M&Ms, for melt-down emergencies.  I'm not half bad at slicing apples, and cheese, and serving up a delightful array of tempting, healthy snack trays . . .  Creative Sandwich Cutting is becoming my favored creative art form . . . my Pinterest has fun and educational Children's activity boards . . .

Yep . . . this is where I am. . . not so much of my typical blog fodder, I suppose . . .  Of course, there are still the Silversmithing Classes {which I take}, and the Soldering Classes {that I teach} . . . but a typical day isn't nearly as involved in my once customary pursuits . . . and I am so much richer and more blessed for it . . .

I will stop by now and again to check on all of you and your wonderful pursuits . . . but as for me . . . well, things have certainly changed around here!

Warning: Shameless Gramma Ahead

Here, Papa and the boys await the arrival of the fair princess {Gramma, . . . naturally} to the magical woods.

We spend one day a week with our grandchildren. Usually at our house. Papa and I cherish this day. I honestly think we all do. This week, Papa and I thought we would do something different . . . take the boys on a hike, and leave the parents at home.

Nobody complained about this arrangement.

I understand the boys slept like hibernating bears that night.

Three boys . . . a rocky bank . . . a body of water . . .
Didn't you think splashes were a forgone conclusion, too?

Christian, helping Papa manage the steep part.

Our artist at work. This young man wished aloud that he could come back and do some serious artwork. {sigh . . .}

Oh . . . my . . . Goodness! Be still my heart.

Our plein air date was made that very afternoon . . .

The young artist took this photo of the rapids, himself. This is the view that he especially wanted to return to sketch. { . . . and, he did.}

Today. This very afternoon.

We made the date . . . I picked him up from school . . . we dined al fresco . . . we sketched . . . we painted . . . I am so in love with my Grandchildren.

Aren't they wonderful?
I am so very, VERY thankful for the precious people in my life.

Chicken Pox Fort

Look, a little on the right . . .see the fishing pole? See the poor little patient peeking out of his Chicken Pox Fort?

As tempting as it was to romanticize the photo in the editing process, I decided to show you warts and all. After all, this is the way my house has looked for . . . weeks. . . sigh . . . Poor little Christian. He had the chicken pox immunization . . . I don't know, maybe a year ago, but a recent visit to the Children's Museum gave him more than an education, he got to take the Chicken Pox home, too! He has a brand new baby sister, and the Doctor, naturally, was concerned about minimizing her exposure, which allowed Christian {who really didn't feel too bad} to come camp out at Grammy's for a couple of days! We had two really, quite nice days of picnics, forts, and McDonald's ice cream cones.

We picked grapes and tomatoes from the garden, and proudly delivered them to all of the neighbors, who were all extra specially sweet and doting to the poor, sick little boy who had to come stay with Grammy. I think that might have been his favorite part!

Do you love his fort? That's the beautiful Pennywinkle quilt that my Grandma made for the newlyweds. The blue and yellow quilt was a wedding gift from Sam's paternal Grandmother. The quilts had been in a pile, waiting to be packed. You won't tell Sam and Amy that we used one, will you? I like to build forts with patchwork quilts, because when you lie on your back and look up through them, it looks like a stained glass ceiling. Try it! You'll see what I mean, and you'll never go back to plain ol' blanket forts, again.

The walls are completely invader proof, extremely heavy boxes filled with all of the books a Seminarian could want. It made the piles of boxes useful, since they were stacked all over the living room anyway.

And hopefully, it made one sick little boy feel a little better for a while.



footnote: I should point out that his Daddy came over after work ~ both days and spent the night with him, and that this arrangement nearly killed his Mommy.

Grandmom's Happy Place

Here I am, taking time out of living a beautiful day to write about it.... while that seems counter intuitive, I want to add that taking the time to blog while on our trip was just the most wonderful thing. I can't tell you how many times I have gone back and re-read it, and what joy it brings to me. It just completely revitalizes the memories.

This is why I am taking this moment to remember our special day. Sam, the Elizabeths, the boys, and I had a perfectly wonderful summer afternoon. One day a week, Liam has piano lessons near here, so little brother, Owen comes to spend the hour with us. When Mommy and Liam return, we spend a lazy afternoon entertaining ourselves in the backyard, "working" in the garden, getting into mischief, swimming, whatever suits our fancy that day. There is also the much anticipated weekly date with the Ice Cream Man!

Elizabeth likes to bring Christian out on piano day, too, when they're available. The cousins get to play together at Grammy and Papa’s. It is delightful.

So, we have this outrageous three ring circus, with three wildly wonderful preschoolers,until the boys simply can not take another moment of fun. Last night, when they got home, Christian told his Mommy that he “needed some peace and quiet”. See what I mean? We play hard! If Christian is finished partying, well then...that's just too much party.

( BTY, I answer to Grandmom, Grammy and Mamma. )

Immediately upon crossing the threshold, Liam presented me with the absolutely most beautiful and colorful hand-beaded necklace and bracelet, with an accompanying hand drawn card, naturally. . . it was the most bea-u-ti-ful peacock! I think Liam is just the most precious, thoughtful and talented four year old in the whole wide world! . . . and I absolutely love my new jewelry! It is a priceless treasure.

The first event yesterday was Fort Building. Uncle Sam is still home for the summer, and he's pretty handy with such things. He ‘helped’ build it out of the sofa frame (because the cushions were needed for something else), the dining chairs, and the giant green quilt that we keep handy for this type of construction project, sleepovers, and picnics. Now and then I was needed to 'find' all of the hidden little boys, who were very slyly peeping out from under the appropriated soft, fluffy green sofa cushions and the quilt.

Within a period of about 30 seconds, Liam bonked his ear on a hard part of the sofa, and Owen smashed his finger in the back door, and, well ... in order to cheer them up, I suggested hopping into the pool. Truthfully, it was really a slip of the tongue, but immediately, we had three delighted little boys clambering for their bathing suits. Lucky for me, the adults were in favor of a nice, cool, refreshing swim on a hot day too, or I could have been tarred and feathered for that one!

Bravo and Lucy (the dogs) managed to get themselves banned from the pool because of Lucy's overzealous protection of her puppies near the water. . .her puppies are the human children and the adults, you understand. While Elizabeth was locking them out of the pool yard, she explained, “because, Lucy simply cannot restrain herself from swimming on top of me."

So. . . two human Mommies, an indulgent Uncle Sam, and three happy, wriggling little boys took a playful romp in the pool. And a lovely day for it, too. It was 100 degrees, or nearly.

After splashing and giggling, and wearing out the adults, a somewhat more subdued activity seemed to be called for. We played with stamps, rubber stamps. Sea creatures and bugs for this crew. We had the best time inking whole hands and finger tips, and even occasionally a stamp. The Mommies carried their handprint treasures home, destined for eternity in Baby Books. Can you just picture two precious two-year-olds and a darling four-year-old with black and blue finger tips, make that hands and arms, stamping sea horses and bumble bees on the backs of their chubby, dimpled, little hands, chattering amiably and overall enjoying the messiness of it all?

It was just such an adorable day, capped with a spontaneous romp through the front-yard sprinklers, fully clothed. Me, that is, fully clothed… the boys ran in underwear and/or bathing suits.

I remember once, one of Elizabeth’s girlfriends looked over and spotted me with those three precious little boys in my lap at a party. I heard her say, “Look at Debbi. She’s in her Happy Place.”

That whole day of swimming, building forts, playing pirates, digging in the garden, snacks, juice boxes, and stamping at the dinner table is just a picture that I want to hold in my heart forever.

They have all gone home now, Sam’s gone to work and I have chores to do, things to accomplish, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to remember a very simple but perfectly …. …. perfect afternoon. I am in my Happy Place.

There you have it. I am going to go wash jars, and see what I can do about making some strawberry jam, and then maybe I'll run through the sprinklers.