December 26th

On the day after Christmas we all gathered at Melissa's house for a day of fun!!! We first did a project for Grandma Susie's yard project! Stepping Stones that are personalized by each of the 7 grandchildren! It was very cold outside so the timing wasn't optimal...but everyone was together...so we went for it!!! The kids had a fun time decorating each one and Riley came out and helped me finish several extra ones that Papa pored to use up the extra cement!!! It will be worth it!!! Hopefully! We enjoyed time with most of the Faires family and skyped with Janet and Matt! Dinner was yummy and we just had a wonderful time of family! My favorite thing!!!

The other picture choice!!

After looking at the almost 100 pictures that Melissa took for our Christmas card this is the one we almost decided on! Daisy is the only one looking at the camera!!!
The sun was in our eyes, the wind was blowing the wrong direction and the tree was poking me in the head while Desmond wanted to grab the branches!!!
We really loved the background!!! Maybe next time!!!!

Jen will be jealous!!!

That is what Les said when he came home with a gift bag that he had won at a dinner he attended! It was a great Trader Joe's bag filled with yummy TJ food!!! Sorry Jennifer...I am keeping the bag! Les really wanted me to do this blog!!! Way to go Honey...win more of this stuff!

Mosaic Fun in Sac!

I had the opportunity to go to Sacramento to help the home school group that Molly, Lydia, & Rowan are a part of do mosaic! We had about 10 kids plus a couple of parents who participated! It was a 2 day project but everyone seemed to enjoy it and did a great job!!! The pots and boards turned out sooo pretty! I think the 2 favorite parts were smashing the dishes and then going through the bits of stained glass that my friend Paulette gave me! I had a great time!

He IS a Treasure to search for!!!

Riley and Drew were in their school program this past week and it was great! They did a play that had been written by the 8th graders. It was the Christmas story in the eyes of a group of Pirates! Riley had a speaking part (7 very important words!) and her Grandma Wilma and I could not recognize her in her pirate garb! She was our grandson Riley! Drew was in the choir and was very cute as a pirate too! Find her in the group pic! The eye patch was a great addition!

Collin should have had his name in the program because he became a side entertainer! When the pirate parrot would say " Arrrrrgh, a treasure to search for, a treasure to search for" Collin mimicked him in a very loud voice and made the audience laugh! He didn't realize that everyone was laughing at him when he did it! He was sooo funny! He also had a hard time locating his buddy Markie and so when he finally saw him he was so excited that he wanted to make sure that everyone saw him and so he yelled "Hey there is Markie...NINI (markies mom!) There's Markie!!!!!!" No microphone needed for that boy!
The costumes were so great and the script was very inventive and entertaining! Riley's teacher Peggy Peterson was the director and she did a great job as always!

Whoops!!!

Okay, so I admit it!!! I have been up for hours and decided to do some posting!!! But unfortunately I didnt remember to delay a few of them so there are several in a row...make sure that you see them all cause the pictures are great and my writing is inspired at 3-4-5 AM!!! There will be some that are coming in the next couple of days too...so keep checking back!!! Ha Ha!!!!

After looking through the almost 100 pictures that Melissa took for our christmas card photo we thought about using this pic!
It is so funny cause only Daisy is looking at the camera! The sun was in our eyes and the wind was blowing our hair the wrong way...pluse there was a tree that was poking me and Desmond kept trying to grab it!!! We really loved the background!!!

The tradition!

It is funny how the grandkids have always loved this nutcracker guy! The girls fell in love with him and wanted to marry him, and Collin...the first Grandson to see him really liked him too! He really liked his hat and he told him that he loved his hair!!! They had a little talk and when the time came to leave to go and have lunch in Redding he didn't want to go! He wanted to talk to the guy some more! So cute!

Happy Birthday Les #2

Here is the pic from Jacks!!!

Happy Birthday Les!

It started out with a huge breakfast at Melissa's house! There was a couple of soccer games in the middle, with a roof touch up tossed in. (His idea not mine!) He was so happy to hear from Jen & Kids as they drove to SF to trick or treat. Matt called to give his dad a phone hug! Then after some time spent rearranging the church for Sunday it was off to the much awaited Dinner At Jack's!
We had a great time with friends Kim Faires, & John & Lorrie Warlick. He enjoyed his day I think!

my birthday!

I had a very nice birthday! Melissa took me for a pedicure and to lunch with Kim at Rivers! It was a day of calls from all of the out of town Kids and Grandkids! We went to a soccer scrimmage that Riley's team was in and then home to the nice warm fire with yummy Bartel's for dinner! Les would have taken me out but I was just too cold!

roof update...

It is still leaking...hope to get it fixed before the next rain...such a bummer.
Got the window of my Yukon fixed...permanently rolled up! It would be over $500 to make it work again...we can roll down the other 3 windows still!
I cut down the wisteria today. That was a big job and now there is a huge mess. Don't try to come in the side gate for a while!!!! I actually got it off of the phone line for as far as I could reach! If I could have moved the ladder to the sidewalk on the outside of the yard I might have gotten it off of most of our line!!!! Maybe another day! We have more light in the living room now and I am so happy! I took a few pics with my iphone...maybe will put them on the blog another day!!! I need to show you all of the work I have done in the yard!!!

What a week!

I am hoping not to repeat most of last week!!!
Monday was a pretty good day...Melissa & Collin came and helped me pick pomegranates,
Tuesday started at 5am with a leg cramp so bad that I scared at least 5 years off of Les' life!
went to the Dr to have it checked and be sure that it wasn't anything else! We had record amounts of rain and wind and got to brave the weather! Roof started leaking at the shopping center that we own....Wednesday still raining, leg better but still sore. Went for final day of training...did ok! Shopping Center still springing leaks, it is horrible...can't do any repair till stops raining. Les went up and unplugged drains hoping to make it better...Thursday it was still raining even though they said it wouldn't be (bummer) Went and helped my parents with walnuts, Collin was with me and he did great! We had fun! Sold 75 poms for 75cents each!!! that was good! Tenants still calling about leaks...hope to be able to do something about them on Friday. Friday is beautiful and sunny. Les has first fundraising dinner tonight in the park. Very thankful for sun. Went to Shopping Center and fix some tiles but not able to do all. Got to scrapbook with Kim for a few hours. Dinner was excellent. Great turn out. Les did a great job. SATURDAY...went to Riley's soccer game, afterward got on the roof (Me too, yikes!) started to do repair work. Finished replacing all tiles inside of businesses...went to Drew's soccer game. Got back on the roof and swept and trimmed tree and ivy from building until about 5:45 (Les did all of the patching of the roof) (PLEASE GOD, don't let it leak again!) Sunday...Church - Lunch with friends at Hometown Buffet - home to rake up all of branches in yard before next storm...
Okay, basically I just don't want to deal with or repeat all of the storm damage control. It was the worst part of the week! Everything else was not so bad! I am such a whiner!!!! But, at least I put something on my blog!!!! HA HA!!!!!

No pictures today!

Okay, so today was 4 hours of intense and fast training!!! I hope I remember everything next week when I have my 4 last hours of training!!! It felt okay but I had Linnea sitting next to me telling me what to do next!!! I have already apologized for all of the future messes I will make while "helping out"!!! I am tired in my brain!

A Grandma's Happiness Pt 2

This the second post cause I didn't get all of the pictures on the first one!!! Please be sure and see the previous post!!! I actually had a few more pics to add but couldn't figure it out! There were 8 girls and 4 boys at the party!!!