Take Me Out...

Take me out to the ballgame...

Dan is a huge San Diego Padres Fan. You would think that we would attend their games regularly as they have Spring Training in Peoria, AZ and come to play the Diamondbacks at least twice a year, but no, we rarely get to go. We just don't make time for it, to tell the truth.

But earlier this month, Dan took Adam, Thunder and Storm to the game. They sat in the left field bleachers right next to the Dbacks bullpen.

There were several home runs hit all around them, but they didn't catch any. One was five seats away! It was Storm's first MLB game and he had a blast! Actually, his experience was double the fun because he and Adam rode the light rail to the game.

What a fun time for all!

Tulsa ~ Sequoyah State Park ~ Camp Wannasew

We had a delightful morning in Tulsa with JD, Janel, and Blizzard before Janel and I left the boys to travel to Camp Wannasew. We visited the Tulsa Zoo, which is a great little zoo! Blizzard was enthralled with the animals. And we got the best front row view of Tigers that I've ever had in my life. They are just magnificent.

By the way... we also found Nemo there!

After the zoo, Janel and I departed for Wagner Oklahoma to antique shop before heading to the lake for the stitching retreat. Unfortunately, this is the sight that greeted us when we arrived:

One side of Main Street had burned down last year. It was sad to see such beautiful buildings in such a state of ruin. We went through the one small shop we could find and then headed to the lake.

The lake was huge. It's been 40 years since I've lived in the mid-west and I've gotten used to lakes that are really ponds or man-made. I made the comment to someone that I can guarantee you that two of my children have never seen a body of water like this except the ocean! It went on for miles and miles. It was quite windy while we were there so the water was usually choppy.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon, threw our bags into our room and started stitching. Most of the campers arrived on Thursday and by that evening the room was pretty lively!

On Friday we took a mid-morning break and drove to the nearby town of Tahlequah to antique shop and eat lunch. Tahlequah has been the capitol of the Cherokee Nation since 1839. It was a very pretty little town with a bustling downtown area. After one more stop at an Antique store in Hulburt we headed back to stitching.

JD, Dan, and Blizzard drove down Friday afternoon and stayed at one of the "cabins". They had a great deck facing the lake. I told Dan if I was staying there I would just spend my entire day on the deck looking at the water! 

As part of the retreat, Lindy "brings" The Silver Needle to us. There was a wide variety of patterns, kits, accessories, fabrics, and notions to "shop". 

 

Me and Janel - I can't tell you how thrilled I am that she invited me to join her at this retreat. We had a great time and I would definitely do it again!

Thank you, Janel!!

Our table

Me, Lindy (The Silver Needle owner), Janel

Donna, Virginia, Lynn

I was apprehensive about several elements of attending a stitching retreat. Could I really sit and stitch for three days? Community showers ~ are you kidding me? Just being in a new place with new people and a new experience?

It was wonderful. I can sit and stitch for long periods of time AND as an added bonus, I'm completely motivated to tackle my stitching with renewed energy. I enjoyed the flow of conversation at our table and around the room in general. It was such fun to walk the room and see what each lady was working on. It was fascinating to see what products they used, what lighting system worked for them, and to hear how many years they'd been attending the retreat.

The bunk beds and community shower? Um, not so much. But, I survived! hahaha

All in all it was an awesome experience. I'm looking forward to our next opportunity for a stitching retreat!

Book Sale Success!

The book sale was awesome. This year they were letting fewer people into the building at a time and it was much less chaotic. I even managed to shop the children's section... twice!

Me, Dan, Kelly, Jessica in line

See how bundled up we are?

It was only in the 50s... brrr!

The line in front of us 

The line behind us

Our haul

We purchased 57 books for about $120.00... quite the bargain.

We're already looking forward to next year!

Skye

Skye was over recently and I caught her spinning her fidget spinner on Gramps' head...

Success! 

He is such a good sport! Later, she and I made a Christmas craft (because as you know, it's never too early or too late for Christmas activities at my house!).

Doesn't she have the sweetest smile?

As you can see from the playroom behind her there was some serious playing going on that day! The ornament was simple and fun to make and the other grands will be making them over Fall Break in October. It's so fun to do crafts with them, especially now that they're older and more interested in the details of how you create things!

Grandparents Day

Grandparents Day is one of those holidays made up by Hallmark (in my opinion). According to Wikipedia, though, Grandparents Day was founded by Marian McQuade of Oak Hill, West Virginia and signed into existence by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. While it's a cute idea and I get it that it's important to celebrate Grandparents, it's not a day regularly (ever) celebrated in our family.

Until this year.

Storm invited us to the Grandparents Day luncheon at his pre-school and we were thrilled. Off we went on the appointed day to sit in toddler-size chairs at the toddler-size table in Classroom 108.

He was so excited when we arrived and ran right up to give me a big hug! Then he became shy for several minutes. But as he saw various other grandparents arriving he decided this was fun and grew more animated. There were 13 three-year-olds in his class and six sets of grandparents showed up. I was impressed that grandpas were in attendance as well as grandmas. There were at least three "Grammy's" there, including me.

Storm showed off his artwork and papers hanging around the room. Each child served themselves from the food being passed around. A heartfelt prayer was said and the eating commenced. Upon finishing lunch, each child cleared and cleaned their own spot. Wow! Half of my adult kids don't do that. hahaha

Twenty minutes later, lunch was over. When the kids whose grandparents were in attendance figured out that they had to stay and school and not go home with the adults there were tears. All in all, Grandparents Day was a huge success and we're hoping to be invited again next year.

Guess what comes after lunch? Yep... nap time!

Thirty Six?!?

Today is our 36th wedding anniversary. I know I have grown kids and six (!) grandkids, but it does not seem possible that we've been married 36 years. It seems much shorter than that.

Dan didn't schedule any appraisals today so we could spend time together. We went to breakfast this morning and snapped this photo for our memory book.

This guy has been my best friend for 36 years... I love him!

Gramps and Snow

 Gramps is usually holed up in the office working when Snow and Storm are here for Grammy Daycare. But he finished early one day and decided to get in some cuddle time with Snow. I love the sweet little smile on her face. And Dan looks pretty happy, too!

Impromptu Family Fun

A couple of weeks ago a party broke out in our pool! What started out as five family members coming over to swim snowballed to a full fledged pool party with 15 people in attendance. What fun!

The water was perfect, the company was awesome, and a great time was had by all. I'm ready... when can we do it again?!

Jeff (Shelby's dad), Thunder, Matt, Sunny, Zach, Skye, Snow

The grandkids made up some game and Jeff, Sam, Matt were gracious enough to play along!

Gramps and Snow

Storm wore his tool belt into the pool. 

You just never know when you might need to fix something!

Awww, Snow and Summer

Sunny wore her animal print swimsuit because she heard Summer had one too!

Dan and me with our first Great-niece!

Jeff, Matt, Summer, Shelby, Sam 

Skye getting in some cuddle time with Snow

Zach and Summer

Deep in Thought

Thunder was over by himself recently. I caught him and Gramps deep in thought as they assembled a new Lego set. They have a good partnership going. Gramps is color blind, so Thunder actually has to carry a bit more of the load in finding the right pieces. It works for them!

Family Easter Celebration

As usual, we held our family Easter celebration the Saturday before Palm Sunday. We usually have it in the morning (I don't want the candy in the Easter Egg Hunt to melt) but this year we had it in the afternoon. Thankfully the weather wasn't too warm, in the mid 80s - just perfect!

All of the kids but Snow participated in the Easter Egg Hunt. She'll be right in there with them next year I'm sure! They did all get an Easter Basket.

The three older kids have been asking for umbrellas so I bought them this year. I was just going to stick them in their baskets, but Katie sent me a photo using the umbrellas as the baskets. It was so cute I tried it and it turned out great! They were so thrilled to get their own umbrellas and can't wait for it to rain. I haven't had the heart to tell them that they'll probably have to wait until July.

Since we were celebrating in the afternoon we served dessert and appetizers. It was so much easier than providing a full meal. Maybe we'll stick with afternoons from now on...

Skye and Sunny

Showing off their haul

Storm really got into cracking the eggs open

They love the umbrellas

Dan being a good sport while Zach decorates him

Snow's first Easter Basket - I don't think she's impressed

Gigi and Papa with all of their great-grands