Crazy Fun!!

Oh my! The RV small cottage is so quiet right now.
My two grands from Tehachapi arrived Thursday in time for dinner.
Then Friday, after golfing for Papaw and Kyle and lunch out with some friends for Madi and I, we picked up two more. Then just before dinner the other six arrived...yes...you read it right. All ten in the RV small cottage for 24 hours.
CRAZY FUN!!

After a dinner of  Tacos, we had dessert of brownies and Peanut Blossom cookies. Before bedtime, the whole batch of Brownies and the whole cookie jar of Peanut Blossom were as Mr. SS said "History".
Kyle, Cade Jack and Camy.

Lexi and Kobi

For the first time ever, we were not all together for Christmas Eve. The kids always draw names and write or draw a picture for whomever they draw.  The first year, they framed the picture and the frame was part of the gift. Now they just add their new picture to the frame each year. It's really fun to see what they come up with and as they get older, the pictures change and more words are added. It is the sweetest thing to see how excited they are to see who drew their name and are so proud of their new pictures. From age 2 to 18, it is still special
I'm not going to show you each one, but here's a few.
Jack drew Kyle a football. Even 6 yr. old Jack know his big cousins love of football.

Kyle used the computer for pictures and  wrote the nicest encouraging letter to Cade who loves playing baseball.

Madi's picture and letter to Drew made me cry...I know...what else is new??

Brooke drew Kobi a sweet picture.

After all the excitement was over and showers everyone was off to bed.  Amazingly, our RV small cottage sleeps 12. Just perfect for Mamaw, Papaw and 10 grands. However the two youngest went home to sleep and came back the next morning.

There are 2 queen bunks in the back where my sewing area is. The youngest boys started out on the top and Kyle on the bottom. The next morning when I woke and checked on them I found the little boys down with Kyle...one on each side...so cute.

Later while I was making breakfast, the picture had changed.
Cade, Jack, Camy and yep Emmy were watching Tarzan with Kyle on his phone. Guess who has the best "seat"
Three full sized TVs in our RV small cottage and five of those silly kids are watching a "phone"!!

Between doing hairdos, the other five are at the other end of the RV in my bed watching Disney channel.
Oops...Camy jumped ship and is in this picture too.

All this while I'm making breakfast.
What do you fix 10 hungry little(and big) munchkins for breakfast, you ask?
Well, Mickey Mouse pancakes, of course. From 2 to 18 they still like Mamaw's Mickey pancakes.
I think it's the chocolate chips, don't you??

It's a good thing it was a nice sunny day, because some of that sugar from breakfast needed to be run off.
So  for a while there was jumping on the trampoline.

And there was lots of throwing the football around.

Then after lunch there was card playing

and castle building in the sandbox. (Sorry this isn't a video???)

and nap time for the little ones.

Then before the party broke up and everyone went home, they all got together for a picture.

I don't need to tell you, do I, that my Blessing's jar got a little fuller this weekend.

God is Good!!

Life is Good!!

Crazy Fun

After a 6 hr. drive we arrived back in Bakersfield around 9:30p.m. Friday to a greeting of hugs and even "I missed you guys" from 2 yr. old Emmy. Oh, be still my heart.

Saturday morning at 8:00am we met up with my cousin Judy, her daughter Amber and my BIL, Lynn
(all here for a quick visit from Sacramento)
at 10yr. old Kobi's Bobby Sox game.
She's the batter and we see her get her first 2 hits of the season. Yah, Kobi.

She is so cute in her uni.

Next we hurry over to another field to watch 5 yr. old Jack play.

First base here.

He gets a hit most of the time.

Before Jack's game is over, 7 yr. old Cade is playing on the field right behind Jack, so we

run over to watch him pitch,

and play 2nd base.

After 3 ball games, we are all famished and it's off to a local family owned Ice Cream Parlor for sandwiches and of course...lots of ice cream.

It's Rosemary's Creamery and we have lots of our family celebrations there.

There's Amber with some of the girls,

After lunch, the kids were taken home to swim.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say that it was in the high nineties by this time.

Judy, Amber and I made a quick trip to Strawberry Patches and then off to my nail place for mani's and pedi's.

Then back for sitting in the shade and watching the kids swim and Pizza for dinner.

We all were ready for an early bedtime,

but the older girls and I had one more project to do for the birthday party the next day.

We made daisy suckers for Brooke's garden themed party.

I didn't even get pictures, but we sure had fun.

The next day was the party...at near 100 degrees, I could barely move and didn't get any pictures.

As soon as the party was over, Mr. SS and I had to pack the truck and head back to Santee.

I was dripping by the time we climbed into the truck...thank goodness for air conditioning and a much quicker drive of 4 and 1/2 hrs.

Now back here to the 60's and rain tomorrow.

I've had tons of paperwork to do, but tomorrow, I sew and sew and sew.

Hope you're having a good week.

Again, I am fighting this new blogger format and tried all day to load some pictures...but I will get it eventually. Grrr....

God is Good!!

life is Good!!

What To Do??

Three o'clock in the afternoon and it's close to 80 degrees outside. I should be washing windows, working in my garden or at the very least sewing, but I have spring fever and decide to sit outside

with my Kindle.

I had only read a page when I heard giggles and these three were climbing onto the trampoline and chasing each other round and round.
They were running and bouncing so fast, I could hardly snap a picture.
Love those giggles.

Then big brother, Jack started pushing Brooke on the swing.

And Brooke pushed Jack.

Then baby sister Emmy pushed Brooke.
None of them seemed to notice me with the camera, sitting in front of my door,

until I saw this sweet face looking at me  as I was looking through my camera lens.

"Hey, you lookin' at me?"

Well, no window washing, gardening, sewing or Kindle reading for me on this beautiful afternoon, but a little dose of grandkid giggles is the best way to spend an afternoon of sunshine.
Once again, I am reminded that I am sew blessed.


God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Friday Fun

A few weeks ago my friend Ruth and I went on a little shopping trip to a discount fabric store here in Bakersfield, to find the makings for two stockings. She wanted me to make  stockings for her two DIL's who will both be at her house this Christmas.

She still has stockings for her sons, but wanted something a little more girlie for the girls.

Now, believe me when I say...this store is no Strawberry Patches.  But for the types of things we were looking for it was perfect. It's messy and kinda (how do I say this) not clean and I always pray I will get someone that speaks so that I can understand. But let me also say that in this "warehouse" atmosphere, they know where to find what you want.

We were looking for something like brocade, fringe, cording, trims and ribbon.

My granddaughters would say "fancy" stuff.

I put the finishing touches on the two stockings today and will take them to her tomorrow. Hope she likes them.

How sweet that her DIL's will have there very own stockings this year.

What could be more fun than that?  Well taking 3 of my granddaughters to JoAnn's to pick out "fancy" fabrics and a pattern for 6(maybe 7) Christmas dresses.  We had so much fun and came up with these:

A deep royal blue Velvet (not as dark as it appears here), a royal blue Satin and a silvery white sheer with snowflakes embossed on it.

The last few years, I have gotten inspiration from a magazine called Toy Wooden Soldier and this year I wasn't disappointed when the girls liked one that looks exactly like the black and cream one on the right side of this McCall's pattern. Only, we are doing the Velvet bodice with the Satin skirt and the sheer over skirt. There wasn't quite enough fabric for the sheer, so I may do the front open or do a tabbard in the front and back to save on fabric.  The bow will be in back made from the Satin.

I will have a marathon sewing week, starting in the morning, as 5 need to be done by next Sunday to wear to see the Nutcracker.  After all...Clara has a dress made by Mamaw, so...

Anyway, I'm gonna try.

More fun. I got to have three littlest ones up just to visit and play this morning and they stayed for lunch.  Even though I get to babysit them often, "just for fun" was a treat.

Oh boy!! In a little bit we take off for more fun. My grandson's football team is in the playoffs and we will be going to that.  Unfortunately, he sprained his ankle and won't be playing, but we will go to watch our granddaughter cheer and support the team that all our sons played on too. 

This was taken in September (notice people in background in shorts)

I't supposed to be 34 tonight. Brrrr!

Can this grandmother take any more Friday Fun??

Just try me!!

(notice the posting time, because I won't be posting late tonight as usual.)

This grandmother will be falling in bed fully dressed by 10:30 tonight.

God is Good!!

Life is Good!!

Birthday Boy

Cade is 7 

Our three boys are redheads. Out of 10 grandkids we only got one redhead.

The next generation had better watch out.

10 boys grabbed their hot dogs and headed for the shade of the trampoline.

This is the greatest age.

Cousin Jack getting ready to play the first game

My DIL, Lialani is the best at thinking of and organizing kids games. She did "Minute to Win It" games from the tv show. This was called "Junk in the Trunk" and you had to bounce 6 ping pong balls out of the box behind your back. I laughed soooo hard, I nearly...well you know.

Some serious basketball competition.

Lots more games and a balloon toss and then back in the pool. That's the way to wear out 10 little boys

(and 3 girls) Sister Kobi had to have some company too.

Mamaw and Papaw got to sit in the shade and just enjoy.

I was blessed with a car trip back home with just Jack. I told him we had to stop at my favorite fabric store on the way home and he asked what a fabric was, so I simply said, my favorite sewing store.

He knows what sewing is...after all, his Mamaw does that all the time.

When we got there he asked what the store was called. I told him Strawberry Patches.

Being 5, his answer was, "You mean they sew Strawberries here?"

I laughed again until I nearly...well, you know.

I feel so good right now. Laughter is the best medicene. I truly do believe that.

We were in Riverside for 2 weeks this time and my heart was so homesick for all the grands.

Thank you Lord for the laughter today.

God is So Good!!

Life is So Good!!

PS

Sunday night before we head back to Riverside I will post my looooong tutorial for the lampshade I made last week.  It was so much faster to load all those pictures from my home computer and I will finish writing the instructions tonight.

I wish I knew how to do it as a PDF file, but if you remember when I started blogging, I didn't know how to add more than one picture at a time.



"Our Family Holiday"

Those of you who know me even just a little, know that having my family altogether in one spot is the most important thing in my life...all 20 of us.

Super Bowl Sunday is one of those times. Something that happened 44 years ago started this being a family day.

The night before Super Bowl II, I found out just how important Super Bowl Sunday is.

Mr. SS and I were just newly engaged and I had planned a picnic and activities at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, for his birthday, with some good friends of our Bill and Patty.

As I was leaving Mr. SS's family home and telling him goodbye, leaning back against my  1966 VW Bug, getting my goodnight kiss...

(You can imagine what an impact this was on my life by how I remember every little detail.)

Mr. SS told me there would be no picnic the next day, because it was Super Bowl Sunday.

I had no idea what that was and proceeded to tell him about the planning and cooking etc., that had gone into this picnic. Well, I just wasn't getting it. He wasn't budging and I can be very "hard headed" too.

I was twisting my precious little diamond ring and very nearly took it off, saying that football could not be more important than me.

Could I possibly have been that immature...well I came to my senses and realized how much this precious man meant to me and how good he was to me in so many ways...and since that second Super Bowl have made that day special to him and eventually to our boys too.  Now the DIL's and grand kids are included and it is such a fun family time.

It helps that it always falls near Mr. SS's birthday and we have that to celebrate too.

The day started out by our sons taking Mr. SS golfing for his birthday along with Kyle who is on his HS golf  team.

Can you imagine the pressure of having your Papaw and three uncles critiquing your swing?

 Us girls were home preparing lots of snacks for when they got home.

My son's garage/kids playroom was turned into a "mancave" for the day.

 

The big girls got the cozy warm living room to sit, talk and play with baby Emmy.

Sorry no picture here.

It was warm, sunny and in the 70's today and the kids played out side all day.

Some were eating (well, we all were eating).

Some rode around in Papaw's golf cart.

While some put on a rollerblading show.

And some road tricycles and scooters.

all danced.

It was the most fun day even though we all ate too much. I asked several what there favorite snack was and most said the Fudge (see previous post for recipe).

My favorite part came at the end of the day. I got to bathe, feed and cuddle baby Emmy to sleep.
She's our last baby and those moments are very precious to me.


God is so Good!
Life is so Good!