Look Out for Flying Time!

How could it go so quickly?

On this very day, 

52 years ago... 

I became the mother of what would become one of the world's most inquisitive, talented, funny and  handsome guy!

Michael Ambrose B. III plopped into the world weighing 9 pounds 14 ounces and standing 24 inches long which entered him into the tallest baby ever born in that small town hospital!

I would probably say it was easy-peasy but looking back...

23 hours of labor

this kid was born with the mouth of a sailor

he performed dare devil stunts from day 3

and although he only broke one bone, he had enough stitches to make a quilt.

We waited patiently for him to get married...

But he was picky, it took him a while to find the perfect one!

But he did!

Happy birthday, Michael!

Mama loves you.

Michael and his first girlfriend, Marcy.

The fab four on Michael's wedding day

At Tony's wedding...

With Catherine

And a wicked sense of humor.  I fell off my bike in the middle of the street.

Ashley ran and took a picture of me and sent it to everyone.

Thanksgiving day, Michael wore his custom t-shirt!

Yes, that's Andy photobombing!

~sigh~

Mom life!

(almost as much fun as grandma life)

Corgi Day?

 This morning my newsfeed announced that it was National Welch Corgi Day.

I begrudgingly thought it was only appropriate to honor Miss Shirley...

But then I saw that International Corgi Day was scheduled for June 4, 2021...

What the heck, another day to honor her?

I did find yet another day, 

International Corgi Day is April 20!

Shirley said it's going to be a big celebration so she's cleaning house...

And getting supplies...

It's going to be a big one!

Which is making Winnie rather disgruntled...

How about that?!?

One whole post without photos of grandkids!

Think again!

~sigh~

Grandma life!

Grandma and the Cricut

 I've had a vinyl cutting machine of one brand or another for 6 or 7 years.

I really didn't use them much until grandkids came along.

I did monthly baby shirts...

birthday shirts...

And even holiday shirts...

(the shirts were good, the kids were not)

Henry's dad (Tony) is a Nationwide agent.

Henry is obsessed with Nationwide.

He even tells the knock-knock joke:

Knock-Knock

Who's there?

Nationwide

Nationwide who?

Nationwide is on your side.

Mindy and I were talking,

she thought Henry would enjoy a Nationwide shirt.

Like this?

He was delighted.

So was Luca...

On Sunday Tony and I were talking about Blue's Clues.

Henry loves it and while he was napping, Mindy made him 'clues' out of construction paper...

That gave me an idea...

A Blue's Clues shirt.

Oh, yes, he's playing golf with MeMaw's walking stick!

Don't stand still, MeMaw will probably decorate you.

~sigh~

Grandma Life!

Under Arrest!

 Every Tuesday I grab Locklan, take him to kickboxing

And then we go out to eat.

Every Tuesday, same restaurant, same table, same server and we order the same food.

He loves it!

This week, Tuesday was also his sixth birthday.

I bought him a hat and badge...

Our server fussed over him.

He was having a ball.

While we were waiting for our food we played a game with coins.

We make it up as we go along.

I had my back to the restaurant when I heard a man's voice

saying, "I hear there is a birthday boy in here!"

I turned around to see four state troupers walking towards us,

cookies in hand.

One by one, they gave Locklan a cookie and then posed for a photo!

This kid was over the moon!

It was a birthday to remember!!!

~sigh~

It's been a while since I told you

I LOVE BEING A GRANDMA!

Good Riddance, 2020!

On New Year's Eve, 
Ashley sent me these pictures...

The kids were painting their 'balls' for the countdown!

Every hour they would lower their balls on this display

until it reached 9:PM, New Years, or so it seemed to two kids who get to bedbefore 8 every night!

When the clock struck 9, Ashley gave the kids each 

1/4 can of ginger ale in these fancy glasses.

They never get sugary treats.

Andy said that even though it was an hour and a half after bedtime,

Locklan had what we called the zoomies.

Grandma? Not so much.  I think I was asleep before they were.

All's well that ends well...

Happy New Year!

 

Not Sure What to Call This...

As usual, Christmas at Redsock Mama's house was unpredictable to say the least.

Michael and Catherine came first, bearing gifts.

Henry got a drum!

That wasn't bad, it had a pleasant sound but since my tree was on the clapper...

Yes, it was off and on all evening!

Teagan and Henry, who are best friends, shared!

It was a musical evening...

The little kids got slide whistles...

Locklan got a harmonica...

He loved it!

Then he became a one man band!

He also got a watch and announced the time every two minutes!

I got Teagan a 'dancing dress' and ballet shoes...

Every time someone asked her to twirl she did...

complete with a 2.5 year old's version of an arabesque.

But the best part was Grandma Jan's special gift...

I decorated 5 gallon buckets...

I made one for Henry and one for Locklan and Teagan...

And put 50 indoor snowballs in each...

How long do you think those snowballs stayed in the bucket?

It wasn't the kids, it was the adults!

I didn't get many pictures because once those snowballs started flying,

I was laughing too hard!

Seriously, I was not looking forward to Christmas for the first time in my life...

But I prayed that I would be okay,

and I was...

Everyone was out of here by 8, they predicted freezing rain and snow,

and we got it.

On Friday, Ashley sent this text:

In case anyone is wondering, we still have ballet shoes on

and we are still using the harmonica and 

announcing the time every minute!

Mr. K and I planned to sleep in and stay home on Christmas...

I didn't sleep in but we did stay home.

But it's all good.  Back to reality soon.

 

I Missed You Guys!

 I know it looks like I dropped off the face of the earth...

I did not.

So much going on, from Mama Drama (issues with my mom)

to getting really sick and chalking it up to stress (it was not)

to fearing Covoid (I was tested negative)...

My life was almost normal for a bit, and yesterday was one of the high spots.

Remember this day?

            Henry's big announcement?

Yesterday was even more exciting...

Remember this?

When Tony hit that golf ball that revealed Henry.

Since Henry loves to golf, yesterday he got to hit the gender reveal ball...

Yes, Henry's brother will be here in March.

Needing a nap, talk to you later.

Love ya!

 

Happy Leon Day

I just learned, or in my case, remembered that I forgot,

that today is Leon Day.

Leon...Noel spelled backwards.

It's exactly six months to Christmas...

I'm getting excited!

How about you?

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

If you see Ashley out and about, 

Stop her and wish her a happy birthday!

Happy Birthday, Locklan

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since 

I got that beautiful text...

And the latest growth spurt of our family began...

It was love at first sight...

It still is!

Brush Strokes!

Vicky and I have a tradition...

We go to the local paint studio to celebrate her birthday.

Last year we painted a snow scene with the ever popular 

red pickup truck...

The above photo was NOT painted by either one of us, the artist teaching the class did this.

Ours did not look like this.

After trying to paint the fence

(it was trickier than it seemed)

We declared the snow was so deep, it completely covered the fence.

When I get my Christmas things out of the attic, I'll show you.

This year we decided to go festive and simple.

We had a ball!  

The people around us were so much fun!

We drank  diet tonic water out of festive wine glasses...

And got paint all over ourselves.

We always end our evening by going out for a bowl of soup.

Birthday traditions...

What fun!

You have to see this...

Yesterday the entire family got together to wish Henry a happy birthday.

Both our side of the family and Mindy's was there...

The only person missing was my oldest grandson, JR.

My family hasn't been all together since last Christmas!

We seem to follow the church and do 'small groups.'

I didn't get many photos, but you have to see the one Ashley and Mindy took...

My mom and the little grands.

Yes, it took both Ashley and Mindy to take it!

Precious, isn't it?

~sigh~