When Grandpa's away, the kids will Play!!

With Grandpa recovering in the ICU following open heart surgery, Uncle Chris & Aunt Kathryn supervised Christlyn & Ethan's efforts to plant tulips at Grandpa's house!! Last spring, we battled the cool mornings & cat ladies to buy hybrid tulip bulbs at a discount at our local Botanical garden. Now, six months later, we're looking for anywhere and everywhere to unload the 300 bulbs we acquired!!

We put a double row of tulips along the backside of Grandpa's lawn behind the kitchen. The kids were more than helpful in "doing their duty" as they called it, which involved nothing more than putting a shovel full of dirt on a large rock and then scraping it off again. (The wacky things that kids come up with)


Uncle Chris really did the majority of the work by digging the trenches for the bulbs. We also planted bulbs in the center island by Grandpa's garage! Only heaven knows & spring will tell if any of the flowers will bloom, but we had fun in the process! And the kids, were as always, very protective of "doing their duty"!!

"Anything you can do, I can do better. . . ."

With fall break in full swing and Aunt Kathryn in town for Grandpa's surgery, what better way to spend the day than a playdate with the kids!! Of course, as with most kids, competition was in full "swing" as we spent the afternoon playing at Hunter Park, taking a hike through the "jungle" (as the kids call it) and finally enjoying a cool treat at Braum's!! They really are just little copy cats!!

Ethan swings from tree--and nearly breaks it!!
Christlyn climbs up tree--and literally nearly broke the tree as it bowed from her weight!!
Don't believe their innocent little faces for one minute!!!

These remind me of that old song "Anything you can do, I can do better . . ."!! They are always watching each other, copying each other & trying to "one up" the other in all they do! In spite of all their wild energy, I enjoyed time with them immensely!! If only Jadon hadn't been feeling so under the weather he could have joined us!! Perhaps next time!!

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Our day began very early, as we all arrived around 5:30 at Hillcrest to cheer Daddy on for his open heart surgery! I know I wasn't the one going in for surgery--either today or last week (Michelle)--but it sure did warm my heart to have so many members of the family by Daddy's side (snapping pictures right and left). As scary as I know today was on all of us, I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace & comfort, knowing that Daddy would be alright and that all would go well. (That or I was too scared to be afraid of the alternative)Michelle amazed us all by sitting up with us in the waiting room all day, not even a week after her own surgery!
Grandpa & Grandma are in town to take care of Daddy once he comes home!!
I hope that Daddy enjoyed having all his girls by his side as he was wheeled to surgery!! It was a great opportunity for the three of us to catch up--and crack up, as always!!!
I crocheted (surprise, surprise) a baby blanket that is overdue!! Jen played "take two" by herself as we all talked, overdosed on crummy coffee and enjoyed visiting with Daddy's boss, Raine--who also sat up in the waiting room with us for most of the day!!

By 11:30am, Daddy was out of surgery and in the recovery area! By 12:30 they moved him to ICU, and we moved to the ICU waiting room for another wait! By 2pm, we were allowed to visit him "two by two"!! But since he was still intubated (on a respirator) & unconscious, we decided to grab some lunch and come back later when he was extubated (off the respirator)!! We enjoyed a late lunch at Cheddars! Our waiter was just what we needed to get a good laugh in!! That and the huge stack of onion rings!!

Penguin Mania!!

Not sure how or when it happened, but they have multiplied!!
Lesson learned: never leave penguins alone in the dark for long . . . "or something will happen, you never know what"!!!!

Now Sierra has even MORE little "babies" to hide throughout the house!!