New York weather

We left for New York Saturday morning around 4 am. A trip that would normally take 11.5 hours took us almost 18. The weather was AWFUL! Sleet, snow, blowing, rain, ... you name it, we had it on that trip. We had to make many extra stops just to clean the ice off the lights and windshield wipers. For as long as we were in the car, the kids did pretty well. Me on the other hand, I was about to go crazy!

Sunday was the calling hours for Grandma Great. We were at the funeral home for almost 4 hours. Once again, the kids did really well. There was a room for them to play in with a few toys and we had taken coloring books and crayons and snacks. C actually wanted to see Grandma Great and really didn't make much of a comment about her. K asked "What she doing?" C got a tour of the casket room and swore up and down that's where he got the cold that he is now currently fighting. Too funny. "Mommy I shouldn't have gone in there. Now I have a cold."

Monday was the funeral. I sat in the back with the kids. C was pretty good. He colored and was quiet. K girl on the other hand. She did good for the first 3/4 of the service. But towards the end, her attitude was BAD. But in her defense, she had missed her nap two days in a row, she was hungry, and the service was long. I was a little upset with her, but the gentleman sitting beside me said he thought they both were very good, considering the circumstances.

After the funeral we had a meal at church and then went back to Daddy's sister's house and got the kids in bed at a decent time. Today, we got up slowly and packed up and came to Mom's house. We will be here through the rest of the week. Just taking it easy. And Mom wants some help going through some of Grandma Great's stuff. It will be nice to not have to rush back home. Daddy gets 5 days from work and then some personal time if he wants. We will probably head home Saturday. I probably won't do much more posting between now and when we get home, unless something very interesting comes up. So I will check back when we get home. Ta ta for now!

Grandma Great

Daddy's Grandma (everyone called her Grandma Great) went home to heaven this morning. She would have been 99 in March. She's had been through much and seen much. She recently had a fall and quickly got worse. She was in some pain and not lucid. It is a very sad time for all of us here, but she is much better off. We will be leaving Saturday morning to head for NY for the funeral. Pray for safe travels for us. The weather doesn't look good going that direction. We will be gone for approximately a week. Keep us in your prayers and I will "make contact" when I can. Thanks!

Is there a doctor in the house?

My kids love to play doctor. We have the Fischer-Price set of doctor's stuff at home. It has a stethoscope, otoscope, bandaid (band-and as K calls it), BP cuff, thermometer (tensermen as K calls it), and a shot. While we were at my parents house in P'cola, they played with a set that my parents had from when we were kids. It had extra stuff in it, like a knee hammer and a pill bottle. That set got used many times while we were there. The kids really liked the knee hammer. Grandma used it on the kids and "helped" their knees jerk. So when they used it on Grandma (or any other unsuspecting adult) they had to make their knees jerk.

All this to tell the following story. It started with Grandma and K playing with the Little People barn. Now these are the ancient Little People. Anyone remember these? I'm sure they are worth something now.

Anyway. As they were playing they discovered a horse (that was NOT Little People) that had a broken leg. Of course, K wanted to know who did it and how it happened. Grandma's answer was that it was sick and just needed to get better. All of a sudden, K ran to the other room and came back with the doctor set. She sat there and "doctored" that little tiny horse. She listened his broken leg. She wrapped the BP cuff around the horse. She gave it a shot. It was too cute! But really funny to watch because this horse was so small compared to the doctor set.

Along the lines of very old...... My mom had most of the old A Beka Book summer reading program. They don't even make them any more. There was like 50+ books in the series. I brought a bunch home for C to read. I think they have a "reading contest" later in the year and he can use those.

Phone calls

Phone call #1: Saturday afternoon the phone rang and I didn't recognize the name on the caller ID, so I ignored the call. Until I recognized the name on the answering machine-it was my "blog savvy" friend-- a friend from a very long time ago. We have communicated via "space" (the Internet) but haven't talked in many years. It was good to talk to her. In elementary school and high school we were pen pals (I probably could still quote her address) and were friends in college and I was in her wedding. Another post would be about the night before her wedding--my car broke down and we were very late in getting back to the house. She was a little panicky. One comment I will make for posterity's sake: my friend now has a very Southern accent. It's kinda funny. Oh well. I'll still be her friend. :)

Phone call #2: I just got off the phone with my mother in law. I was helping her set up a blog. Who knew Grandma would have stuff to blog about? Right now, I think her life is more exciting than mine. She has "house guests" from both ends of the age spectrum. Her foster baby (7 months old) and her mother (98 years old). I can't imagine what those conversations are like. Maybe that's why she started a blog. Good luck and love you Mom!