grandpa

beauty in the LOVE of a grandfather

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure - Stuart Townend

grammie

This girl loves her grammie!

(and so do I)

In becoming a mom I realized just how much my own mom sacrificed for me.  I have a greater appreciation for all the times she made hard decisions and listened to much screaming & crying to do what she knew to be in my best interest.  I'm still 10+ years away from parenting a teenager but mothering a baby and a toddler opened my eyes to the necessity of good, involved, loving and firm parents for a child's development.  But it's not easy!

I am so glad my mom can now reap the benefits of her hardwork and enjoy her role as "Grammie" to both of her grandchildren!

We love you Grammie!

family luv

the love of family takes many different forms...

cuddling with cousins on the couch

staking a claim on a future playmate

posing for lots of pictures

playing with play dough (even though you're an adult)

getting kisses from scratchy

and not so scratchy faces

we love it all!

more from LA

(this is more from our first trip to LA. part of that 1,800 mile vacation with two children)

In addition to a playful bath with Grammie (see previous posts), Peter got to meet his Aunt Hope for the first time. He's already decided he loves her and like to snuggle with her.

We got a brief but fun visit with Aunt Liz and Uncle Craig!

And we celebrated my mom's big birthday!

I won't tell you which one it is - but she's 30 years older than me!

To celebrate, we enjoyed a fancy lunch party in downtown LA at the California Club.

(okay, so the noisemakers weren't the fancy part of it, but they were fun)

Thanks to Aunt Lucinda for planning the whole thing!

Incidentally, Hope and I wore matching dresses without even trying - can you tell we're sisters?

best part of mom's "many" years = her family!

bathtime!

(After Matt returned from Yosemite, we all jumped back in the car and drove to LA to visit more family & friends.)

Aah, bathtime at Grammie's new house!

Hannah always liked it and so does Peter!

Can you see what a chunk he is?

Big smile of approval!

P.S. Just for comparison here is Hannah at the same age in Grammie's baby bath tub:

happy 4th

Happy 4th of July!

(well, I'm a few days late, but give me a break I have a 2 year old and a 7 week old.)

We celebrated by heading to Merced and throwing a 60th birthday party for both of Matt's parents!

(and yes, there really are 60 candles on that cake.)

After the party we headed out to the street to sing patriotic songs, wave flags and...

watch my brothers-in-law play with fire!

They put on a pretty good show!

Best 60th birthday gift = 8 grandchildren

(I think I'll start calling them "Ken & Jean plus eight".)

if you give a mouse a cookie

This morning during breakfast Hannah gave Grandpa a kiss. Grandpa turned to the rest of us and said that when Hannah gives him a kiss he would give her whatever she wanted, even a cookie. (little ears heard the word "cookie" and immediately understood.)

Hannah held him to it.

Grandpa gave Hannah a cookie with her oatmeal.

She loved it!

I believe the saying goes, if you give a mouse a cookie...what will she ask for next?