Triplets

Maranda had a business trip to Chicago this week so I got to spend extra time with the triplets. Isabel is such a verbal child - she has a phrase that she came up with that is so funny - she will see someone doing something different and cock her head, wrinkle her forehead and say "what are you doin'". It is so funny. Audrey is very particular about things. One night after brushing their teeth I didn't get the lid to the toothpaste back on quick enough to suit her and she stood there pointing at the toothpaste and making a little noise over and over until I put the lid back on. Then she was happy and walked away. Lily made my day today - she said grandma! She was the first to say it.
The picture is of the three of them in the recliner at their house - they thought that was very funny.

Catch up time

Haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I spent the week after Thanksgiving with a cold - not much fun. Only worked one full day and that was Friday. Worked part days and also worked some from home but did a lot of sneezing, coughing and sleeping that week. Hope that is my one and only cold this winter.

Have finished my Christmas shopping for kids and grandkids. Woo hoo! That is such a good feeling. Now I have found something on sale I want to get the babies so will try and make it to Target and buy it to save for their birthday. It will be here before we know it. Can't imagine - two years old!

Church was great today - it was a family service in the sanctuary for everyone. The little kids were so darn cute "Jesus" was about six months old and Mary was probably 10 to 12. Jesus decided pulling Mary's hair was fun and she was trying to keep her hair out of his hands. Joseph was quite bored with most of it. The choir, bell ringers, organist, youth choir, children's choir all preformed. Even had a couple of live llamas walking down the center aisle. There was one little angel that stole the show. She was so cute and very articulate. The church was packed and everyone obviously enjoyed the service. A free dinner was served afterwards but we didn't partake of it.

After church we went to Jimmy's and watched the girls so they could finish up their shopping. Maranda leaves on Tuesday for Chicago for a music convention, coming back on Saturday. I will go over in the mornings so Jimmy can go on to work and wait for Niki to come. I plan to go after work to help with the girls and dinner too. They can be a handful but also a lot of fun.

This week need to do my Christmas cards and get Dennis a present. Glad they put Gander Mountain downtown!

Our weather has been interesting too. Last Monday was 67 degrees and on Tuesday it was 32 with snow and freezing rain. Over 600 car wrecks that day - Wichita has to learn to drive on snow every year - the first snow creates tons of wrecks and then we remember how to drive and it gets better. Yesterday was nice - and this morning was 55 when we got up. Now it is 12 degrees and light snow at 6 in the evening. The worst part has been the wind - my office was 60 degrees last Tuesday because of the north wind blowing so hard. I am guessing it will be pretty cold tomorrow too.

My knitting has been coming along nicely but since Laura reads this blog I won't mention what I have knitted and won't post pictures. :) After Christmas I am getting back to Jessica's sweater. I gave up when I had to rip out 4 inches that I had knitted because I realized it was too small. The doll is easy to knit for!

Ring around the rosie

The girls love playing ring around the rosie. Here is a shot of all five grandkids in our front room and some are trying to play together. Of course getting the three do it together is not easy - Audrey and Isabel seem to take turns doing it with Lily. Lily loves to do it and says "ashes ashes" to get the others to take her hands. Then after she "falls down" she claps her hands and says "yeah". Then she put her hands up and says "up" and then starts saying "ashes ashes" again. Is it cute? oh my yes. In this picture Audrey is going to play with Lily and Isabel is walking towards James. If you click on the picture it becomes larger. You can then see that Lily is finally getting some hair. :)

Jessica and Isabel

Jessica played dress up with a scarf with Isabel

James and two girls

James showed Audrey and Isabel how to fix a hotdog - of course it was fake food but the girls sure have fun with it. Isabel and Audrey are looking more alike all the time. Audrey is in the dark pink top in this picture

Audrey and Lily

Audrey and Lily seem to like following each other around lately. They took out to our kitchen on Thanksgiving and even stopped long enough to allow a photo.

More Pictures

It is very difficult to get good pictures of three fast moving babies. This one of Audrey next to the ceramic cat is priceless.

Almost Family meal

If I knew how to photoshop a picture of Laura at the table, we would all be together. :) Couldn't get Lily to look at the camera - she was quite interested in her Uncle James. We had a great day - was so much fun watching the five grandkids play together. The triplets take awhile to warm up to new people but were very entertaining to watch.

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and hopefully this weekend I will have pictures of grandchildren eating turkey. Stacy and family are coming tomorrow morning - they have soccer and swimming tonight. I had to work all day today (didn't even get off an hour early like we have in the past) and then stopped and bought groceries with a few thousand other people on the way home. Tonight I made a sugar free pecan pie. Tomorrow I will finish some cleaning and cook the rest of the items. Hope I remember what to do! I have a sheet of notebook paper that I keep in the bible that tells me when to cook what and what to do. It starts off with "wash Laura's hair" so that should give you an idea of how old this paper is. Laura is now 39 and living near Boston so hopefully she manages to wash her hair by herself tomorrow. I have a new recipe for sweet potato casserole - I hope everyone else likes it as much as I do. I got it from the owner of the new little cafe the Palette on Douglas.

We plan on eating around 5 - hope it is all done at the same time!

Texas photos

The second photo was a fun one. They had t-shirt relays - each swimmer had to swim with a t-shirt on then had to get the wet t-shirt off and hand it to the next swimmer and they had to put it on and swim. When Jessica got to the other side the two big boys lifted her out of the water so she would get out quickly.

The photo of James was taken during the only time I took my hands out from under the blanket. Glad it came out!

Saturday in Texas

Had an eventful day with the kids. Jessica had swimming practice this morning so James and I watched from the stands. The building is just amazing. Most of the seating is bleachers but there were some that were seats with backs. Since there were only four or five parents watching we chose the seats with backs. After practice we stopped and bought doughnuts and went home to eat them. At 11:20 we left for soccer practice followed by a game at 12. Today's weather changed just a bit from the rest of the week. Try cold and windy like in Kansas. It was bitter cold - absolutely not the type of weather for an outside soccer game. We took blankets and chairs but it still was awful. At 12 when the game was to begin the other team had only 2 players. I had high hopes and went in to my repetitive prayer mode - please let them forfeit. God hears prayers as Jessica was praying the same thing. The refs were too nice in my opinion - they should have cancelled the game at the stroke of 12, but they gave the other team 20 minutes to show up. I say, be on time or you are gone. :) By 12:20 the other team had four players and it was cancelled. The sub coach thought the kids might want to practice more and possibly they did but James didn't and Jessica and I folded our chairs and headed for the car. I had not been that cold in a long time.

After a Sonic lunch, we went to the movie - High School Musical 3. That was a great show. I had not seen one or two so now want to rent them. We saw one as a musical at Music Theater last year. This really was a super feel good fun movie.

Left the movie, stopped at Target and am now at home. I am on my computer, Jessica is on the kids' and James is on his mothers. So we are having family time in the front room on three different laptops.

Texas

I have been in Texas since Tuesday evening. My son in law won a trip to Orlando and took Stacy with him - they left Wednesday morning. They return tomorrow evening and I will head back to Kansas on Sunday morning - bright and early so I get home in time to watch the last NASCAR race of the year. What will my weekends be like now until mid February! I will miss the last Nationwide race - go Clint!

I brought a couple of sewing projects to work on while the kids are in school. A friend has a friend that wanted a stuffed animal made from her deceased mother's clothes to give to her baby. I finished a bear and it met with great approval by Jessica - she is 11 but loved hugging it. Now I am working on a small patchwork quilt made from the lady's t-shirts and jeans. It isn't coming out as well, but hopefully will be ok.

I brought Jessica the sweater for her American Girl doll and am now making a matching stocking cap for it. I finished a hat for either Isabel or Audrey. Now have started another so there will be two. Lily already has one.
Lily has a cold but Jimmy took her to the doctor and we are very happy to find out she is really gaining weight. She is over 17 pounds now (with clothes on). The tube feedings are very successful.

Things have gone well - took the dog for a walk each day and he did great. I wish he wouldn't bark outside as if he does I have to bring him inside. This area has a lot of rules and one is no barking. Also can't take the trash out to the street before 6 in the evening. I started to take it out in the afternoon yesterday and realized no one had theirs out so figured there must be a rule about that too. The cat finally let me pet her today so that was a big success. She is the true "scaredy cat". I have gotten the kids to school and swimming practice on time each day. Tomorrow we have swimming practice then a soccer game and then we are going to a movie. Each night we had homework, practice instruments, etc but they did great. I am sure they will be very happy to have mom and dad home.

Dennis is deer hunting - so far has one doe but still trying for a buck.

Laura has a new blog - if I knew how, I would link to it from here. :) I don't know how she thinks of all the things she writes on all her blogs and twitter too. I have trouble thinking of things to say. I think she has three blogs plus she does the twitter and flickr and probably others.

The kids will be home soon. A friend has brought them home each day so I baked cookies for her. I will run them out to the car when they pull in. The weather has been beautiful - in the 70's each day. I have really enjoyed sitting outside knitting.

Holiday Table Display

Each year there is a fund raiser at the Center for the Arts called the Holiday Tables. These are table settings that are out of this world and most not practical at all but wonderful to see. I went last year for the first time and didn't take my camera. I went back this year and took Maranda and my camera. The tables are done by societies, individuals and businesses. Most of the finer florist shops were represented. I am going to try and pick out just a few to post but they are all just so great it is hard to decide.

Oh so cute!

I finished the sweater for Jessica's American Girl doll and think it is just adorable. First sweater I have knitted and it went so fast and was such fun to do. It is a mock cable sweater from a book that has doll clothes patterns and matching outfits for the doll's owner. I will start Jessica's sweater tomorrow. Grandma Hummer always said to not start a new project on Friday or you will never finish it so I will wait. I know the pattern so it will be easy to knit but my main concern is it fitting her. She is so skinny and so long waisted that I need to combine different sizes and that isn't easy when you don't know how. She wears about a size 8 chest and size 12 length.

Anniversary present

Jimmy and family came over on Sunday and Jimmy hung the stained glass picture that they got us for our anniversary. It is just beautiful.

Halloween in Texas

Wasn't able to be with the Texas Grandkids but got some great pictures from their mom

Socks for Soldiers

On the Socks for Soldiers mailing list the "Sarge" posts when she gets incoming mail. Today she got my box I sent last week and posted the following:

Sandra W KS I received your 2 priority boxes full of supplies, 1 pair of DSS socks, and 2 gorgeous caps. Great job. Bless you and another 3 soldiers smile.

I was thrilled with her post as she is very picky and the quality of the knitting must be high for her to praise it. I have started knitting on another pair. This is a dark green that I bought from Sarge. I am doing two socks at a time with Magic Loop but on two different needles. I work on each sock taking turns on each one. I started on the these a week ago and am past the four inch ribbing on both.

40th Anniversary

We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary Sunday, October 26th. We were in Topeka as we had attended the World Of Outlaws the night before. Dennis made me a wonderful scrapbook that he had scanned in many many pictures from the early years. He took it Kinko's and had it put in a binder. It was so neat to look at all the memories. The years have gone so fast! We went to the Casino north of Topeka - went in with 40 dollars and came out with 43 dollars so felt like big winners. :)
That afternoon we went to Jimmy's house and took the girls to my church to pick out pumpkins. The girls thought it was such fun to run around the pumpkins. I was so mad later - I thought I was taking pictures of them but I had the camera set on movies instead and didn't get any pictures. Jimmy and Maranda fixed us a lovely dinner- steak, veggies and salad. They gave us a beautiful stained glass picture to hand in the window over the stairs. I have wanted one for that window since we moved in. Jimmy took a picture of us with the wine bottle that Laura gave us that had a special label that says "40th Anniversary October 26, 2008" and Stacy gave us wine glasses that said "Happy 40th Anniversary" It was a great day.

World of Outlaws

Saturday, the 25th we went to Topeka to the World Of Outlaws race. It was great. Went to the pits first and got a picture of Donnie Schatz. He was the only driver that came out by his car while people were walking around the pits and he won the A feature. It was cold but we had blankets and hats along with our coats so we were not uncomfortable. The stands were so dirty though, I plan to write a letter to Heartland Park telling them they need to clean more often. We stayed in the same Holiday Inn Express we stayed in last year but had a much bigger room. It was very nice. We weren't in it much, but if we had been we would have liked it. Their breakfast is very good too - not as good as the one in Denver but very good.

Socks for Soldiers

I finally finished the pair of socks and two beanies for Socks for Soldiers. I put a box in the lounge at work with a list of things that could be contributed as a care package for the soldiers. I got tons of stuff, and ended up having to send two boxes to "Sarge" who is the head of the Socks for Soldiers Internet group. I forgot to take a picture of all the items but got a picture of most of the stuff. In the box that I forgot to take a picture was a leisure beanie. I mailed the two boxes Friday, the 24th.

Texas Weekend

Went to Texas this weekend. Got to see granddaughter Jessica in a swim meet. Haven't been to one since high school so hardly knew what to expect. There were not enough seats for everyone so was glad we got there early to get seats and didn't get up again. We took turns leaving so someone was there to save our seats. Jessica did great and it was very fun to watch her swim - she is so good! She lost her googles in the first heat and they held up a heat so she could dive in, swim to where they were and dive down and get them off the bottom of the pool. We were so nervous for her that she wouldn't be able to get them but she did fine.
After the meet we went to a great new place to eat in Mansfield - I hope we go back there again. A family run place with wonderful food.
On Sunday Jessica had confirmation and then friends came to the house to celebrate afterwards. It was a Jessica weekend! We missed James' soccer game on Saturday and hated that but can't be in two places at once and we have seen him play soccer before.
Got home Sunday evening - very tired but had a great time.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Been a busy week. I went to my first retirement meeting on Tuesday. Probably the fastest two hour meeting I have ever been too. I had no idea there were so many things to think about and consider and the wrong decision can really screw up your income. I am glad I can go to more before I retire which will be in two or three years.
Very busy with work so have brought home work to do last night and tonight. Also visited with the girls tonight for a little while. They had their 18 month developmental assessment today and were worn out. They were made to wait over an hour before they got in to the appointment. Isabel's happiest moment tonight was when she saw she was being taken to bed. She grinned and grinned.
Still knitting on the beanie - seems like it takes forever but of course I didn't get to work on it much last night or tonight. I will take it to Texas with me tomorrow and knit on the way. I hope to get the socks and two beanies mailed Monday.

Sunday

I am about half way through on a beanie for a soldier and want to learn the Continental way of knitting. Everyone says it is much faster and in a knitting mailing list I found this link that is supposed be a good learning tool.

I am not sure if this link will be in my blog so I can access it or not but thought it was worth a try.

Had a quiet day - church and sewing and knitting. Watched a movie called Invincible - football movie that was very predictable but good anyway as it was a true story that I remembered happening.

Took Pizza up to Jimmy's and saw the girls for a little bit. Warm day - in the 80's and gas is now down to 2.59.

Craft Fair and Pumpkin Patch

I just learned something new. If you are typing a post and you accidentally hit the esc key, you don't go anywhere but your post sure does. I was all done with a wonderful review of my day and poof - it was gone.
I went to the post office first this morning and mailed two packages for Laura - one to Megan and one to Laura. Then went to a Crafts for Kyle fundraiser for a young man here in town. Then to Heritage Hut and bought a knitting needle followed by a bagel at Panera where I ate outside and then knitted.
After that went to a Pumpkin Patch north of ElDorado with Jimmy's family. It was great - I am already looking forward to going next year when the girls are old enough to do more. It was like an amusement park with so many things to do. The ticket lady stamped a pumpkin on Audrey's hand and she was fascinated by it. We carried the girls instead of trying to use the stroller so we were tired when we left. I was lucky and carried Lily :)
Dennis took his boss fishing today at Milford and called at 8:30 to tell me the tire on the boat trailer had shredded north of town. Hope the spare will get him home.
Our weather is wonderful - 81 degrees today. Our gas prices are also wonderful. Gas was 2.71 this morning and then dropped to 2.61 this afternoon.

Thursday

Went to lunch with Goldie today at the Eaton Hotel. It was so cool - it is a very nice place- very fancy but the prices weren't that bad. Service a little slow but most of the people there were older and didn't appear to be in a hurry.

Tonight I went to a family visitation for Marie Baker - old family friend. Was nice to see her kids and I have great sympathy for them. It is hard losing your parents.

I finished my second pair of socks for soldiers yesterday. Now am trying to get a beanie done. Went to Heritage Hut last night to get a couple of new short circular needles. I have a lot of problems getting gauge - I knit too tight.

Tonight is the season premier of Life on Mars. I give it two thumbs down. It is just dumb.

Home again

Back home from Colorado. I highly recommend the Staybridge Suites as a great place to stay if they are all like the one in Littleton. Clean, nice kitchen and great free breakfast.
Stopped in Gove on the way home and helped the economy there a little. The yarn shop was wonderful - had yarn I had never seen before. If I hadn't already bought too much yarn last week I would have bought more. Easy to find since it appears there is only one street in town. The area reminded us a little of Iowa so maybe that is why my great-grandfather decided to settle there for awhile.
I finished the pair of socks and started a beanie. Also worked on the sweater quite awhile.
The most interesting part of the drive was the huge wind turbines along the highway - they lasted for about 12 miles and some were very near the road. I hope my pictures came out. They were between Salina and Wilson Lake on I-70.
We listened to the newest John Grisham book - 12 hour book and 17 hour drive and we have over an hour left on the book. Figure that math out. He really adds a lot of "words" to make the book longer. Very unnecessary words in my opinion. Will finish it on the next trip. We didn't start it soon enough on the trip I guess.
Maybe tomorrow I will figure out how to add some pictures of the trip

Colorado Visit

We will be headed home today from Denver aka Littleton aka Lone Tree Colorado. We went riding around yesterday morning and saw the area when there wasn't much traffic. There is every store known to mankind in this area - I have never seen so many large and small stores in one small area. Few were open but we drove around the parking lots. The sun broke through and I got some great pictures of the mountains and then laughed as I thought of all the pictures of mountains and trees I have tossed when I had to go through relatives items after they passed. At least with these the kids will just hit the delete key on the computer. Ate at Panera Bread with my aunt and uncle and cousin and two of her kids. Then went to my aunt's house and watched the race and knitted and visited. I think it was the first time they had ever seen a race and they had a fit when the "big one" happened. Later went to my cousin's house which is two blocks away for supper. Rained, thundered, and even hailed small stones during the late afternoon.
I fixed my aunt's computer so she can now watch videos on my son's blog. She didn't have the add in and didn't know how to get it. She was so happy to watch the videos of his triplets.
Today we head home with a stop over in Gove Kansas. This is where my great grandfather homesteaded in around 1880 and where the billboards on the way here said was a grand yarn shop.
This was good to get away for a few days and see area we haven't seen in many years. Also nice to see where my aunt and uncle are living - it is a great area but I am very glad they have both decided not to drive anymore. This traffic is as bad as Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
Sandra

Projects

On my knitting needles right now are a pair of socks for soldiers - both are at the toes. Also a sweater that is half done but going slow. I hope to start a beanie for the socks for soldiers group this weekend when the socks are done. Need to convince my husband to drive more on the way home or learn to knit while I drive. At home have a wonderful cross stitch started. I hope it is done for the state fair next year. I won a blue ribbon last year and this year for my cross stitch so need three more so each grandchild gets to have one.

First Posting

This is my second attempt at a blog and will probably go the same way as my diaries did - I will post great the first week, a few times the second and then maybe again in a year or so. Of course by then I won't remember the password or sign on. I should have waited until I was home so I could get help from my son but I am bored where I am so decided to try it. Right now I am sitting in a dark hotel room. Husband still asleep but I am an early riser. We are in Colorado visiting my aunt and uncle that moved here from California. The hotel is wonderful and is only two minutes from my aunt's house. There are tons of shops and cafes around here and we plan to drive around and see the area this morning. One place I want to see, but not participate in, is an indoor parachute place. I guess it cost around 80 dollars to do it so I think that is too much money. Of course I wouldn't be afraid to do it - not me - just spend my money wisely.
The mountains are so pretty, but the weather is not very cooperative for us to see them well.