Anticipation

They listen with a keen ear; the excitement grows!  Dancing in place they exclaim in gleeful voices - "It's Mr. Gray"
My grandsons can hear the ice-cream truck long before the rest of us and they begin dancing in place and the oldest starts yelling "It's Mr. Gray!"  not the ice-cream man but Mr. Gray.  The youngest starts pointing at the door.
I took them both a Halloween Pop from my all staff retreat which was their treat for the day and then the youngest heard the music and started dancing in place.  They weren't happy to find out that the couldn't have an ice cream too.
Ice cream is a favorite treat!  - they get that from their Nona.

Gulf Shores APAC All Staff Retreat

For the past 3 years Alabama Pre/Post Adoption Connections has gone to Gulf Shores for a retreat/planning event.  The view from our meeting room is very distracting - but you would be amazed at the amount of work we accomplish.  I think we work really hard so we can have a little play time as well. 

Everyone pitches in and works on the meals and the clean up - they are gourmet meals let me tell you.  We have some "Iron Chef's" in our group along with quite a few artist. 

At dinner one night we had vegetable lasagne and chicken casserole; at breakfast one morning omlets in a bag and the next was homemade sausage biscuits; lunch was homemade calzone; there were Halloween cake pops and fabulous pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese icing.  Everyone ate too much!
Though most meals were prepared by staff, we also went to dinner at LuLu's one night, some visited the Pink Pony Pub, played games that a lot of people needed to practice, walked on the beach at sunrise and others who walked on the beach in the pouring rain.
We worked hard and had a lot of fun.  It was a great experience.

Jason Aldean - A Really Good Guy

My oldest grandson's favorite country song right now is "Big Green Tractor" by Jason Aldean.  He can sing the whole song!  He looked at me the other day and said "Nona, Jason Aldean is a really good guy; he sings Big Green Tractor.  When he gets a little older I'm sure he will tell me "he's cool".
(the tractor was too slow so dad had to work on it to make it go faster- he zooms around the yard, dodging hedge, toys and people - has 2 speeds and only uses fastest)

"And I can take you for a ride on my big green tractor"

cowboy birthday

My great-nephew who lives in Summerdale, AL celebrated his birthday today. My grandsons were somewhat overwhelmed by the crowd. They did however enjoy looking at the horses and bobbing for apples (well, picking them up out of the water and then throwing them in again).

The day was beautiful and it was great seeing family members.

Mobile to the Eastern Shore

Today I drove to Summerdale, AL for a birthday party for my great nephew. I love the ride from Mobile to the Eastern Shore.

Happy Birthday Moma!

Today was my daughter-in-law's birthday. I went and played with the boys while my son took her to dinner. As usual, we had the best time. The oldest had to give me medical attention; we played "fireman Sam" to the rescue, and the youngest played in his car. After bath time, where Nona gets splashed as much as the boys, it was bedtime for the youngest and movie time for the oldest. We laid on pillows on the floor and watched "The Jungle Book" again.

After moma and daddy got home, the oldest sat on the floor and wrote out credits for his moma. "Here moma, this is a credit from credit.com.rolltide.com." She got about 8 credits.

Moma had a great birthday and Nona had a great time with the boys.

Life is Good Today!

Fun with the boys

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I think my grandsons are the most incredible children alive! I know there are other children out there who are probably just as talented but I don't watch them day in and day out so I can't attest to that fact.
I dropped by their house yesterday after work to drop off a project. I have a large canvas which I painted black. The project is for them to paint a picture for Nona's bedroom in very bright colors. This is very exciting.
While I could only stay a few minutes (my dogs MUST go out - usually around 5:30pm) I got very sad faces and loud no's from the boys. So of course, we ended up outside playing ball, get me when I run, and getting dizzy. Football consisted of the oldest throwing the ball and the two of us chasing after it (of course he got there first - I am an old woman after all); then we had to turn in circles till we got dizzy (he had to hold me up to keep me from falling down because the whole world was spinning). Then we played chase - my oldest grandson is SUPER FAST - Nona just couldn't catch him. My youngest is also super fast and I loved watching those chubby legs and that one swinging arm as he runs across the yard.
Alas, my dogs had to wait until almost 6:00pm to go out. My kitchen rug was at the dining room table; that poor stuffed beaver is without stuffing and that little squeaky thing inside it was no where to be found; and the throw was on the floor in the den. I guess I deserved it - it could have been much worse so I was happy.
Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses in life and steal kisses from the necks of little boys.
The art work will be another post.