Grandson - ATS

This is our youngest grandchild, he's 3 1/2. I remember when he was about four months old that my sister-in-law was visiting us and we took her to his house and she was holding him and he laughed and laughed for a very long time. I had never heard a baby laugh like that. Just when we thought he would stop, he'd start up again. He still has that same laugh. He's a constant blur of movement and loves to be around people. He has a lot of cousins on both sides of his family and from the time he could get around, he has always wanted to be right in the thick of things. He's a tough little guy, recently he was playing outside and got stung by a bee. Even I carry on when that happens to me, he just wiped the bee away and went on playing.

I think he thinks he can do anything. In fact, his house is surrounded by farmer's fields and one day the workers had left some large equipment around. He and his dad were riding bikes near them and he got off of his and started to go towards the equipment. He told his dad that he was going to climb on it and his dad said 'no, you're not.' He looked at his dad and said, 'why not, I'm a guy?'

I watched him for five minutes this summer while he shot baskets with a small basketball and made a handful of them. He kept throwing it up and going back to do it some more even when he didn't make a basket. He learned to ride a bicycle by just getting on it and going. When we were on vacation all four of the children had their bikes and we adults walked with them as they rode around the block and to a large deserted parking lot. He kept up with the rest of the children, never slowed down.

He's playing soccer now with kids older than him and he runs and plays and kicks and falls down and jumps right back up to get the ball so he can run some more!

I love this picture of him. He's so sweet, when he sees me, he always lets me hug him and he hugs back.
When we were on vacation, he ran into Lake Erie and jumped up and down in the waves with the older children. He'd go under the water and swim around just like it was something that he had always done. At the pool he had a life jacket on and he jumping and diving and playing all day in the water.





These last pictures have a funny story with them. On the beach he found this piece of drift wood and picked it up. First he played it like a guitar (his dad is a guitarist). Then he looked at the wood and took off toward the water with it and was about ready to see if he could surf on it! I grabbed my camera and took video, I'm having trouble adding video, or I'd put it on. But he was certain he could surf on that wood. Now where did he ever see surfing? Certainly not on Lake Erie. Our fun was soon ended, however, when the lifeguard told him he'd have to give him the wood. Spoil sport! It was okay, Andrew gave it to him and went on to do something else.



This boy amazes me with his confidence and full-spirited adventurism. I think he'll do some mighty things. And I'm going to have a whole lot of fun watching him do them!!!!!!

Granddaughter - ASAK

Before our youngest granddaughter was born my daughter asked me if I wanted to be with her in the operating room as she knew she would be having a c-section as she had with her first child. I eagerly said yes and we had the date planned for a Monday. On Saturday evening our son-in-law called to say our daughter had gone into labor and they were going to do the surgery right away. Since I was three hours away, I couldn't make it in time. So I missed being at her birth, but the good part about that was that HB and I were able to pick up my mother and the three of us got to see her early the next day.

She's five years old. Whenever I look at her, I see her mom when she was a little girl - those beautiful blue eyes and that smile that goes clear across her face. Her mom said she was her reward when she was born, because she was a quiet and easy baby. No one could quiet her except her mom and she clung to her above all other people. Every mom should have a child like that. Today, she is probably the most loving child I have ever known.



She melts my heart. She will look me straight in the eye and say, "Nana, I just love you so much!" At that point I'm ready to say to her, "What do you want, you can have anything I own". But she's not doing it to get anything, she honestly loves people. I've heard her do the same thing to her Grams, my mom. She was given two middle names, one after her parents' best friends' daughter who had died several months before and the other after her Grams. Her parents gave her a long first name, but shorten it and most people call her that. But I think her name is beautiful, so I call her by that. She's made comments about that and so I asked her if it was okay with her and she said she loves that I call her that.

She started kindergarten this fall and on the first day our daughter was driving her and she heard her praying in her car seat. "God, please help me today. There are going to be a lot of people there I don't know and Mommy and Daddy won't be there to help me." She also practiced introducing herself to people and asking them their name. She sings and makes up songs and dances. She can amuse herself for quite a long time, and seems quite comfortable with being by herself.



Her mom never never liked wearing dresses but ASAK prefers them over shorts or pants. Here she is making a funny face.



But, lest you begin to think that she doesn't have other moments that aren't quite so loving and compliant, I have a story to tell about her. She and her brother were spending the night while her mom and dad went camping near our home. For some reason she did not want to take a bath or put on her pajamas and her brother was telling her over and again that she had to take a bath. Finally, she stamped her little foot and said, "That's enough, I don't want to do that and don't say it again!"



I love these last two pictures of her, but then it's hard to get a poor picture of any of my grandchildren, they're all 'hams' and did I mention - beautiful?

Grandchildren - DRK

This is our first grandson, he's seven years old. When our daughter was pregnant with him she was attending and graduated from Kent State University as a physical therapist. She'd already received a degreee in Sports Medicine and was working with various clinics and hospitals, and well, physical therapy seemed to be a natural progression for her. I have a feeling that he was listening to the professors as she was going to school, because he's a very bright little boy. He can add and subtract large numbers without writing them down. Like our oldest granddaughter, he also learned to read early and it seemed almost effortless to me, because one day he could not read and the next he could. He loves trains and engines and one day while looking through some books we have, he looked at a picture and began to explain to me what kind of engine it was and how it worked. An amazing little guy.

He also writes books and makes his own illustrations. Two of them have won special awards in a young students' writing contest. When he was a little guy I remember my daughter calling me while she was driving somewhere and I heard this noise in the background. When I asked her what it was, she explained it was our grandson doing what he still does best - talking. The boy can talk all the time about everything! Here he is with AMS. I overheard their conversation and they were talking about the price of oil and imports from China and how that affects our economy.



And that was just some of their conversation, because they were at it for over a half-hour, just floating in the pool and talking quietly. But he's not all just talk. Here are some pictures I took when I spent a few days with them this summer. All the grandchildren were together and I had a great time with them.







This is a funny one. The children were playing house and he was playing the dad. The other three were asking him questions and he was ignoring them, until finally he told them to 'leave me alone, I'm reading the paper.' Now I know he didn't hear that from his dad, because my son-in-law has always been an attentive and hands-on dad. Maybe he was just being himself, I think that's probably it, he can forget everything else when he's into something.



This is one of the favorite pictures I got of him on my vacation. Pure joy, as it should be with a child.



What's a day at the beach without getting buried in the sand - courtesy of your cousins!



I have to tell a couple of stories about him. He was five years old and they were staying with us while our daughter did a triathlon. At the park, he got sick and I had to bring him home. When we got home, he needed a bath and change of clothes. While I was getting the bath ready I told him to use the toilet. I left the room and came back and he was starting to get into the tub and I asked him if he had gone on the potty. He gave me this quizical look and said, "Nana, I went IN the potty, not ON it!"

Last winter he was playing basketball with a team and it was his last game. His mom and dad were telling him on the way to the game to go ahead and shoot when he got the ball. It seems that up to that point, he had been working to perfect his dribbling and passing and hadn't actually shot the ball yet. So at the game, he got the ball and began dribbling all over the place, up and down the court and all around and his mom and dad and others in the crowd were telling him "Shoot, shoot!" In the middle of dribbling he stopped, held onto the ball, looked to the people and told them, "Stop yelling at me. I can't shoot, these kids are in my way!" I just love him! He's deep and imaginative and funny and literal and smart, and as cute as he can be on top of all that! He has an unusual laugh, it reminds me sort of like the jack-in-the-box, it's musical, going up and down notes on the scale. I enjoy watching him grow up, but I like to imagine what he will become when he's a man. I know he will be a fine one - he'll probably talk everyone's ears off, but he'll be a fine man.

Granddaughter - AMS

Now that I've learned to put pictures in my blog, I thought I would begin to put in some of my favorites of our grandchildren. I'll use their initials rather than names since I don't have nick names for them. Their parents gave them beautiful names and I've always preferred their given names.

So, I'm starting with the oldest, she's nine, which is incredible for me to imagine. We were present at her birth, heard her first cry and got to hold her when she was just minutes old. HB and her other grandmother and I cried and jumped up and down when we heard her voice. We're still jumping up and down, we're very proud of her.

She is a very good student, her mom home-schools her. She reads everything and loves to write stories. She tends to lead rather than follow and she does it with caring, charm and a lot of humor.


Like most children, she likes to make funny faces and poses ....



If you need to buy a gift for someone, she's the one to take shopping with you. She always picks the right thing for each person. She loves to shop and knows what she wants and will not settle for less. I hope this is a trait that she keeps throughout her life. Knowing what she wants and not settling for less will help her make right choices. She takes acting lessons and is not afraid to stand before a crowd and recite, sing and dance. Recently she has learned to sew. She's made a dress, a handbag, doll clothes, and now is learning to quilt. She's something else!

This is her welcoming guests at her ninth birthday party. She had a luau theme complete with leis for each guest.


Did I mention she has a sense of humor? She's a lot of fun to be around. She's usually laughing and making those around her laugh too.

Here are a couple of the guests sunbathing....


Here she is with her other grandmother. We have known our daughter-in-law and her family since she was in middle school. Her mom was always at the sports and other events at school and we got to know her then. She's a great mom, grandmother, and person.



Finally, this is my favorite recent picture of her. She planted these sunflowers and I couldn't resist taking a picture of them. Her brother joined her not long after this in his underwear! I guess this was fortunate, because of late he has taken to going without any clothes, but I'll save him for last!



Well, those are just a few sides of our oldest grandchild. She is truly a joy to us!

September Evening

I haven't blogged in a very long while. I got a new digital camera early in the summer and have wanted to learn how to put pictures in my blog. So here is my first try. I thought I'd use some of the ones that I took when Penny and I went for a walk earlier this evening. It was a perfect night for walking. The first picture is of two of our willow trees. The one in the forefront was given to us by a former neighbor. We purchased the smaller one and it was just a small branch when we planted it about three years ago. I've already taken several cuttings off both of these and planted them elsewhere and those are also growing fast.


The corn is like a wall at the back of our property and I feel very small when I'm walking alongside. Pretty soon the farmers will be harvesting and all that will be left are corn husks and ears that will get thrown about from the equipment. It's pretty messy, but hey, it's the country!

I had to see what I could get close up, so here is my attempt at 'art'. Oh well....

As we were walking about the track several more times, I got some decent pictures of the sunset.

The corn looks like a black wall in front of the sun.


And of course, I can't finish off the pictures without including one of my walking companion, the faithful Penny. It's great now that I can mostly let her walk without having to hold onto her leash. I keep it on her just so I can step on it in case Mr. Rabbit runs across her path. If that were to happen the nose would take off and the body would follow! Here she is, I can't believe I actually got one of her face, usually, all I can get is her back end because she has her nose to the ground constantly. But she has also learned 'sit' and 'stay' pretty well, so that worked this time.

Such a sweet face.


So, I guess my first attempt at adding pictures wasn't so bad. Although, now a monster may have been born, because I have some great pictures of the grandchildren, and our July 4th cookout, Ashtabula vacation, church picnic, Labor Day picnic, oh and the downtown pictures. Yep, this is going to be fun!