Happy to be the Runner Up....

Is Papa here? When will he be home? How much longer until Papa gets home? Will I still be here when Papa gets here?  How much longer until Papa gets home....... YAY!!!! (jumping up and down)  Papa's here, Papa's here, Papa's here!!!!!!!!!!!!

My soon to be eight year old grandson (#4) absolutely adores his Papa! I am just fine with him when Papa isn't around but I am a clear runner up to Papa when we are both in this grandsons presence. I couldn't be happier about being the runner up. I love seeing his adoration for his Papa.

His mom reports that while we were away on our recent travels that he was missing us both. When we were gone his family was watching some old family videos that my son had transferred to DVD for our families one Christmas. While missing "BOTH" of us so badly he says: "Hearing PAPA'S voice helps me to not miss HIM so much."

When we returned from our trip it was #4's mom who picked us up at the airport. #4 and his bigger brother were in the back seat. Papa joined the boys in the backseat for the nearly one hour ride home. It was non stop chatter to catch up on one another's weeks. #4 was all smiles about his Papa's return.

When we reached our driveway #4 jumped into action to get our luggage back into our house RIGHT WHERE IT BELONGS1

Schools Out for Summer

When you have six school ages grands it really helps to have five of them in the same school when it comes to attending the science fairs, the Halloween parades, the school programs, and the end of the year awards ceremony.

My oldest grand moving on to 6th grade.
How can that be?
One of her awards was for being
"non-violent"
What the heck?

My very bright science olympian moving on to the 5th grade.
His friends checking out his cool certificate.
Awesome #2!

This little cutie received an award for her reading.
On to the 3rd grade!
Way to go # 3

It was perfect attendance for #4.
Broken arm and all!
Second fastest runner in the 2nd grade.
He was also recognized this year for
stopping some bullying on the playground.

Our soon to be 2nd grader received an award that
fit her to a "T".
She was recognized for being
kind, caring, helpful, and compassionate.
That's my sweet girl!

With the changes in schools next year I will still only have grandchildren in two different elementary schools and two preschools. Works for me!

School is barely out for the summer and the grands are already anxious to know what my Back to School Party ideas are for the new school year. They have plenty of their own suggestions and they all include some kind of overnight extravaganza. I don't blame them because last year's back to school party was a blast with our overnight stay at the water park resort with Papa and I.

What is the very best thing about the back to school party? It is a loved tradition between Papa and I and our school age grandchildren. You know that makes me smile and that their excitement about the annual tradition is right up my memory making, cousin family bond building, and tradition creating alley. Still smiling!!!!!

Simply, A Good Week

Some of the things that made me smile this week:

Ordering three sets of scriptures for my three grands who will be turning eight this year and knowing how excited they are to receive them.

My grands coming to my shuttered open bedroom window before school and whispering; "Grandma, are you awake?" I open the shutters and we sit and visit until the bus comes. 

Opening the door to a knock and being surprised to see one of  my grands who does not live on the street. His mom was down the street at my daughters home. Out of breath he said; "I just wanted to come and say hi!" We talked at the door and shared a hug and he was off.

Seeing a portion of my front porch being used as a park and ride lot.

A different kind of jungle gym being enjoyed.

Siblings that love each other.

The plans for a tetherball court at grandma's house.

Spending time with a group of 16 amazing girls doing 

good things..... one of them being my oldest granddaughter.

Helping my seven year old grandson with his homework, doing some on line shopping together for a tetherball, and inviting him to stay and have dinner with Papa and I.

Learning that my seven year old granddaughter used her own bike to teach her little sister how to ride without training wheels. Once her sister mastered the new skill (in just one afternoon) she took her little sisters bike over to her boy cousins house so that they could remove the training wheels. (The boys are 7 & 9). 

Seeing my youngest granddaughter enjoying her new bike riding skills!

Oh So Yummy!

During my Sunday afternoon nap after church my hubby had answered an unexpected knock on the door. It was our oldest granddaughter who lives down the street. He asked her if she wanted to come in and she said nope, I just want to give you these.

When I woke from my nap my hubby told me that we had received a gift and he walked me to the kitchen to see what it was.

He was beaming as he told me who they were from and that she had made them all by herself.

I was disappointed that I had missed the actual knock on the door. I had to immediately have one. I then called to thank her for the cupcakes. My daughter answered the phone and she had no idea that her little baker had been so kind to think of us. When my granddaughter came to the phone I thanked her for the cupcakes and I told her that they were super yummy! I also told her how her willingness to share, her kindness, her generosity, and her thoughtfulness made me feel and I thanked her for that too.

I also took the opportunity to reinforce what we had talked about in our Primary class at church that day. (Yes, I am lucky enough to be her teacher at church.) Her willingness to share, her kindness, her generosity, and her thoughtfulness to brighten another's day were all ways to show that we are true followers of Jesus Christ. She is growing up and I couldn't be more grateful for the path she is on.

Getty-Up

This is this little guys wardrobe style every single day except on Sundays for a few hours when he wears his white shirt, dress pants, and a necktie to church.

Jeans, boots, a button up shirt, bandanna, and his cowboy hat is what makes him a cowboy. His mother tells me that he dresses himself very, very early in the day. So early that mom can't be there to make sure that he is changing his socks.

What real cowboy on the trail would ever worry about clean socks?
He pulls on the boots, saddles up, and he hits the trail to pre-school, a play date with his cousin, or to run errands with his mom.

No holster?

No problem.

His nearly three year old cousin who lives next door 

came galloping over to play.

Yep, another cowboy!

Looks like they might have some corrals to clean out.

Loving the Wranglers!

I sure love my little cowboys.

Stinky boots and all!

Utah or Bust!

Here at Grandma's Little Pearls you hear a lot about my grandchildren. You don't hear too much about those who made me a grandma. My husband and I raised four children three of which are the parents to our ten grandchildren.  I have amazing adult children by the way!

While raising our family we took many road trip vacations. I had some traveling traditions that just might be exclusive to our family. Some were really fun, some have earned me some teasing, and some have even been followed by the next generation.

A family wedding in Utah recently prompted the idea of a family road trip. The original plan was three generations that included my husband and I, our four adult children, and my husband's mother. We were all going to ride up together. It would take us twelve hours to get there.

My super, amazing, and supportive in-law kids (who also played a very important role in making me a grandma) were all very gracious and supportive of the idea. Our trip was four days long and it was going to be leaving 10 children home with working parents.

My husband reserved two hotel rooms. The parents worked out the plans for the kids. As the weeks of planning went on and the reality of a twelve hour drive set in  my mother in law opted out of the road trip idea. One of my daughters decided to accompany her grandma and fly to Utah. Although disappointed that our plans were crumbling a bit I knew that we were going to have hours of fun together once we all arrived to our destination.

On the day before we were leaving we lost one more road trip attendee. My youngest daughter decided not to go. She lives three hours north of us and we were going to pick her up on our way. A big disappointment but the trip must go on!

Very early on a Thursday morning we headed out. Utah or Bust was our motto. My oldest two children who were in the car shared memories of their family trips as children. My son remembers the Thermos jug of ice water that would always sit on the floor between my feet and the stack of plastic cups with each person's name printed on them. He now say's he does the same thing to his wife yet they will go the whole trip and no one will need a drink.

My daughter has told me that when they leave on road trips she always tells her husband that she doesn't have enough stuff. He asks her what more does she need. She just says that she doesn't know but my mom always had tons of stuff.

On the way my daughter asked about the "gifts". Which I had hoped to do just for old time sake but I didn't have the time to make it happen. When the kids were young I would wrap up small gifts for the trip.  They were usually activities they could do in the car or special snacks. They would be under my feet in the front seat too! I would hand them out every hour or so.

It was fun to hear their memories of our family vacations. Not to disappoint my son....I had brought a box of donuts, plastic cups, and a cooler of milk for breakfast on the road. There was not one argument about where to stop to eat, no one was bored, no one asked how much longer, traveling with adult children is so much fun.

Once my daughter and my mother in law had arrived in Utah we were in phone contact with them throughout our drive. We all met up in the hotel by dinner time.

Our rooms were directly across the hall from one another. We had a girls room and a boys room. I did a lot of hanging out in the girls room but I slept in the boys room.

Awe, it feels good to be out of the car.

 We had dinner out then our extended family, the groom, his parents (my husbands sister), and the grooms siblings all came to our hotel room for really, really fun visit.

My mother in law had both of her children, her in law kids, and seven of her eight grandchildren all under one Marriott Hotel room sitting area ceiling! We were very cramped but as happy as we could be.

The next morning we had to head out to the wedding. Everything was covered in snow and ice and every single time the hotel lobby doors would glide open and the freezing chill of the outdoors would hit us the lobby would erupt with squeals from the four girls, from the three generations, of our party.

We all loaded up and headed to the wedding.

My adult kids!

My three oldest are into photography. My son is a professional videographer, it was strange  for him to be at a wedding and not be behind the camera.

We then attended a lovely wedding day luncheon.

My son and his cousin who have always lived across the nation from one another are very much alike in their interests as adults. They keep in contact through the internet but they really enjoyed their in person kid-free visits.

As we were leaving the luncheon we were approached by some members of the brides family. They wanted to know if my girls were country western stars!

A highlight of the trip was at the wedding reception the next evening.

Daddy Daughter Dances

My husband is 5'11 so you can see how tall my girls are. The girls cut in on one another.

And, my mother in law did too!

It was a lovely reception and the bride and groom were as happy as they could be.

We had enjoyed every single second of our trip and I was sad that it was ending soon.

It was a very special time as we spent time together as a family unit. Laughter was abundant, we had a few practical jokes between the two hotel rooms, and sharing breakfast each morning in the hotels breakfast room was an absolute delight to me.

Our drive home went quickly as we enjoyed one another's company.

As we were exiting the freeway near our homes after twelve hours of riding in the car my husband asked it they would turn around and make the same exact round trip again " right now" for a $1000 dollars.

I think he was very surprised by their answers

My daughter said sure!

and my son said

he would do it for free!

The only thing that could have made this trip any better 

was to have our youngest daughter with us too!

Love is a Verb

I witnessed love in action on our pre-Christmas family vacation. My three year old grandson was sent up to be with us so that he wouldn't miss out on the vacation with his cousins and so that we could help ease the burden on his mommy at home. (His daddy became very ill, and ended up needing to have surgery.)

On the afternoon the little guy arrived he was full of energy. He was dancing with his cousins, up and down the stairs, played in the snow, and so happy to finally be on the long anticipated family vacation.

I made beds for he and his older brother in my room. Everyone had just dozed off when the three year old awoke and threw up all over his bedding and himself. I cleaned up bedding and the little guy two more times throughout the night.

I was hoping that was it but the days and nights that followed was filled with more of the same. 

There he was miles and miles away from his

 mommy and daddy and he was sick.

He asked for a washcloth, I gave it to him,

he held it close, and it comforted him.

He was very quiet, he did not complain, he did not cry.

His older brother checked on him frequently 

to see if there was anything he needed.

His girl cousin who is six was very compassionate towards him. 

She checked on him and sat and talked to him several times each day.

He would eat but we had to be prepared for it to come back up.

His aunts shared their encouragement, love, and the 

sweet tender care they would for their own sick children.

His uncles and all of his cousins did the same. On one of the days

his uncle bravely invited him to go for a ride with him

in his truck so he could get out of the house for a while.

Papa and I did all we could to help keep him comfortable.

One evening while the rest of the cousins 

were being read a Christmas story I was 

holding the poor little guy on my lap.

Without notice, I was covered

 in vomit and so was he.

My daughters flew into action.

One grabbed the little guy and 

whisked him off for a bath.

 Another went for cleaning supplies

to clean up the floor and chair.

I was sent to the showers!

In that moment as I sat covered in vomit

my heart was filled with

gratitude for my family members

and for the countless unselfish acts of love

and service that we are so blessed with

in our family.

There was absolutely no hesitation 

to be on the front lines of caring

for our little loved one.

Thankfully, no one else  got

sick while we were there.

Late afternoon on Christmas day it

caught me!

I experienced just how quick the onset

was of this particular stomach bug.

Within minutes I was aching from what

seemed to be the middle of my bones to

every square inch of my skin.

I went home, climbed in bed, and stayed there. 

I too stayed very still because it hurt to move.

My thoughts turned to my little grandson and the aches

and pains that he must have suffered.

Unlike him, I did complain and I did cry a bit.

My "wet washcloth" was a warm and cuddly

flannel tied quilt made for me by my mother.

Keeping the ol' Fire Burning

Being from the deserts of Arizona it was a real treat to get to spend a week in the cold white stuff in the mountains during the holidays. Another treat was being able to come in from the cold and warm up next to the fire.

My son in law purchased a truck load of firewood and he and my husband stocked the garage with enough wood to keep the fire burning all week long.

We had a couple of hardworking volunteers 

that kept the indoor wood box filled.

Our volunteers were just

 two and four years old.

One log at a time up a flight of stairs.

Then neatly stacked in the firebox.

Priceless!

Grandma's Ten Little Pearls

On Christmas Day I had a package to open

 that was from my ten grands.

Inside a framed copy of this photo.

I love, love, love it!

Every one of them had kept it a Christmas surprise for me.

I can't help but smile every time I look at it.

They are Watching us

They are watching us..... not as in a creepy stalking sort of way. I'm talking about the bright eyes of the little ones we love.

My daughter was recently filling a Christmas basket for a widow. Her basket was filled with goodies, thoughtful items she has been collecting over the past weeks, a quilt, and a bag of doggie treats for the widow's pup.

Her four year old son asked if he could make up a bag of doggie treats to give to his aunt (my youngest daughter who lives on her own) and her dog. His mom said sure. He then asked if she had another basket. Mommy didn't have another basket so he ran to his closet and grabbed a cardboard box. He tucked the doggie treats in the box and then looked again at the widow's basket and saw the quilt. "I have a quilt I don't need anymore" he said. He ran off to get the quilt and he added it to his cardboard box for giving.

To my daughter I say "well done",  to my grandson I say "I am so proud of you", and to myself I ask "Is my example always what it should be?"

Again, Again, Again

My Grandma Camp in May was a rockin' success with my grands. It was everything rock-n-roll including making a music video with eight of my grands as the rock stars. The theme of the camp was Grandkid's Rock!

My son who is a professional videographer came and filmed the performance live and then edited it for us. It is going to be a treasured family video for the grands and I forever!

I showed it to my four year old grandson on a recent visit. Every time the video ended he wanted to watch it again, again, and again.

He told me over and over how much fun the camp was and he asked no less than ten times if we could have another rock-n-roll camp some time. As the memory making grandma I am I was as happy as I could be to see his memory filled with such a happy and fun time that was being shared with me and the cousins!

At one point he couldn't stand it any longer and he needed a guitar so that he could rock-n-roll with the video. So, off to the invention box we went.

We worked together to create a guitar using our creative imaginations, cardboard, card stock, glue, markers, and a scrap of wood. He was now ready to rock-n-roll!

He headed back to the office computer to re-live the music video taping again, again, and again.

He rocked hard all afternoon.

And the icing on the cake..... when big brothers who are seven and nine came home from school they joined in too using their pretend air guitars while reliving what appears to be a very fond memory while at Grandma Camp.

Grandkid's Rock!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

My fold year old grandson was standing next to me as I was reaching for something high in the pantry. He says to me: "Grandma, you are really "HEALTHY".  I asked why do you think that? He points to my belly which is eye level for him and says; " You are really Big!" Then he followed it up with "My other grandma isn't healthy like you are!"

He is encouraged often to eat his healthy food so that he will grow up to be "BIG and strong"!

By the way, I'm really not all that "HEALTHY"!

You Gotta' Love It

A big smile for grandma.... What is he up to?

He's got his eye on the prize.

Tickle, Tickle

He loves getting grandma's brightly painted toes!

A Very Special Baby-Sitting Gig

The phone rings early one morning. On the other end is a loud, serious, and a very urgent tone asking: "Grandma, will you baby-sit my snails?" I did not know that any of my grands had snails and I wasn't sure yet which grandson it was. I was sure I didn't hear it right and I asked him to repeat his request. He said; "Will you baby-sit my snails?"

It was fall break and I was thinking his family must have decided to go away for a few days. I told him that I would be happy to watch his snails. He said; "Okay, I will bring them right down. I then asked to speak to mommy.

I first said: "I'm sorry, but I don't think I heard him correctly. I thought he said; Would you baby-sit my snails." She said, "That's right." then proceeded to tell me what was going on and was trying not to laugh because her little four year old was taking his ownership of his new little pets very seriously.

He had found the snails on his front patio the day or two before. He considered them babies and they needed constant care. Every errand that mommy and he had gone on..... the snails went too. At bedtime the night before mommy had been summoned to his room. The tired little guy said; "The snails are having a hard time falling asleep." He was trying to keep an eye on them until they had fallen asleep for the night. Sometime during the night the new little pet owner had climbed into bed with his mommy and daddy. When mommy woke up the jar of snails was staring at her from her night stand.

Mommy had a class to teach that morning, no extended trip. The cooking class was at a friends house and when she told my grandson that it was almost time to go. He ran off yelling "I'll go get my snails ready!" Mommy told him that the snails couldn't go this time because some people don't like bugs in their house. "They are not bugs they are snails and they are babies and they can't stay home alone."

After a split second of thought he took care of his pet owning responsibilities by calling a baby-sitter. Me!

Well, I needed to get on my robe. I was expecting a jar full of babies at any moment. When my grandson arrived he was carrying a baby food jar with some dried up grass and a dozen or so non-moving snails in the bottom of the jar.

He only had two baby-sitting requests. 

"Be nice to them."

"Play with them. They like to play."

I took the jar.

I told him I would take good care of them.

As he was running back home he turned to me and said;

"You know, they are very special!"

I didn't know much about snails but I thought

the habitat was looking a little dry.

I added a few drops of water and left them on the table

while I went to the computer to learn a few 

facts about snails that I could share with my

very responsible and attentive pet owning grandson.

When I returned to check on the snails

they were all on the move.

I had read that when moisture is low that they

go tightly into their shells to keep themselves from drying out.

The few drops of water had really perked them up.

Well,  there are always

snacks at grandma's house.

So, why not for the snails?

I had read that they like grass, and maybe carrot and apple.

I knew that to my grandson that

for grandma to give his snails a snack

would mean

I was being nice!

In just a few hours he was back to pick up his snails.

I told them that they had been very good.

On a quick check he saw them all active and happy.

(playing and snacking)

I shared a few of the facts I had learned

about his land snails with him.

I had forwarded the internet links on to his mom

so that he and his brothers could all learn

some fun facts about their new little house guests.

Being entrusted to care for the snails

was an absolute honor.

This once in a lifetime baby-sitting gig

was very special indeed!

Guilty but, Oh so Innocent

Following an invention craft time I failed to put the black Sharpie away in a safe enough place. Little hands got ahold of it and before I caught him in the act there was black Sharpie on the couch, on his shirt, and he was starting on his face.

I used Spray-in-wash on his shirt and on the couch cushion but the black ink seems to be sticking to it's promise of being a permanent marker!

Baby wipes did the trick on his innocent little face.  I was able to scrub his face clean before his mommy came to pick him up.

While scrubbing his face I said: "Your mommy is going to kill me!"

He giggled and said: "No, she's not."

I said: "Is she going to kill you?"

He chuckled even louder and said: " Mommy is not going to kill anyone!"

Those Terrible Twos and THREES?

How could it possibly be?

This little one a terrible three? Look how mellow, calm, and relaxed he is. Well, that is because we made special arrangements for him to ride in grandma and Papa's car on a road trip to the cabin recently. He had the entire back seat to himself and his grandma's full attention.

We hear that he turns into a little terror when he is sandwiched in his own family car between his baby brother and his big brother who is six. With the two car seats and big brother sitting in a booster seat it is pretty cramped quarters and this little mellow fellow's attitude and behavior is anything but calm and relaxed.

We played games, we sang songs, and we talked about the scenery and the big trucks, trailers, and cars that we saw on the road. There was not a single whimper or a whine. All smiles.

When we had escaped the hot desert floor Papa rolled down his own window to feel the coolness of the breeze. Our grandson wanted his window down too so that he could check it out just like his Papa.

The nearly three hour car ride had been absolutely enjoyable. We had to stop and do some grocery shopping before we finished the last leg of our road trip.  Potty training was in progress and he was in a Pull Up for the ride. The potty training  had been a complete success so far while in our charge.

I had Papa take him into the public restroom while I did the shopping. The little guy didn't want anything to do with it. This was his first public restroom experience. It had been quite some time since he had used the restroom and I was fearing an accident when Papa returned defeated.

Minutes later as I was getting ready to check out he tells his Papa that he needs to use the restroom. So, off they went again. At home he was being rewarded with m&m's when he succeeded on the potty. 

So, since I am grandma and this was a huge milestone to use a public restroom the reward needed to fit the magnitude of the moment. An entire bag of m&m's it is!

He was one happy little boy!

UNTIL.... he was reunited with big brother.

Isn't it amazing how our little twos and threes

can turn the terrible off and on!