It's been a while.....

It has been a while since I last posted (almost a week) so here it is:
*Friday was quite a day. Winds were up to 70 mi. an hour and the power went out at the house at 8AM. That in and of itself was not too bad but it seemed like everything we have used electricity. It began to get very cold in here and I called Susan to see if she wanted me to have Matthew's other Grandma come and get him. She had no electricity either. By 1:15, the power was still out and Susan came and got us and took us to her house. It was warm, the power was on so Matty and I could even watch the big screen TV if we wanted to! Our power was on by the time Wm. got home.

*Betsy and Kenny came down for Carol's (Betsy's sister) birthday and we had dinner at Tassone's. Betsy found me a used crib in excellent condition and Susan got a new mattress for it so now Matthew has a regular crib in his room at Gramma's house.

*Stephanie has asked me to watch Anthony for her 3 days a week as her sister in law fell and broke her leg and now has a plate w/9 screws in it. I will try it when I get back from NC. Not sure if 2 small boys is too much for an old fat grandmother or not. On the plus side, only one is walking....on the other side, one 6 mo. old and one 13 mo. old may be too much.....we shall see.

*Friday, 2/24, we leave Rochester for Raleigh. Morrigan's birthday is Sunday. They are planning the party at a ranch with horseback riding, pot bellied pigs, chickens, and other farm animals. The kids can ride horses and interact with the animals. What a shame Lael and Alyssa can't go!

weekend update

*I was very blessed by Sunday. After church, we took Susan and Matthew with us and met Josh, Jackie and the girls in Watertown. I can not begin to tell you much having three of my grandchildren together meant to me. I can say without reservation, that after a few more times with the girls, Matthew is sure to become a veteran shopper. Lael was an absolute riot.....I found a jacket I liked for Alyssa in Old Navy but she(Alyssa) said "No, no Gramma, I want something purple" and proceeded to show me a pink and purple skirt. Alyssa liked it and it looked good to me but Lael said "A skirt for Alyssa, what are you two thinking"......"Alyssa, look around for something that you will actually wear". Susan and I were in stitches. She ended up picking a pair of rain boots (pink with flowers) which she assured me she needed as a rat ate a hole in the ones she had in the back room!

*Lael gave Matthew his bottle of juice and an arrowroot cookie. ("the entire thing, from beginning to end, all by myself") I am amazed by this child. Maybe because I miss her (both of them) so much, that she seems to have grown up so much in the weeks since I have seen her. Alyssa's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds but then she has Lael for a role model. Have a mentioned lately what a great job I think Jackie does with the girls. In my opinion, Josh has the perfect wife for himself. He is truly blessed with Jackie.

* What I thought would have been dinner out ended up being Wendy's. What and/or where we ate however, was not important........I was just blessed to have two of my children and three of my grandchildren with me for the afternoon.

* Well, today being Valentine's day, my sweet Wm. offered to take me out to eat. Since we did not have reservations anywhere, I opted to go to the grocery and then pick up a pizza on the way home......now, I am sure you are thinking I have a terrible diet (Wendy's on Sunday and then pizza tonight) but I actually do cook good food on most nights. Josh called this afternoon and asked if I got anything from Dad for Valentine's day, I told him I did not need a gift to know that my husband loved me. I have known that for 30+ years!

Yes, I am definitely blessed!

Did I mention?........

* Did I mention that we are going to be able to go to NC for Morrigan's birthday? Jon and Donna insisted they purchase us tickets to go for the weekend. :-) PTL I am very excited to be able to go as we have never missed her birthday before. We talked about going but decided that driving was not an option for a weekend and it was too expensive to buy tickets considering we could only stay a few days.

* One thing I really miss being down here is our friends. We were blessed when Betsy and Kenny stopped here yesterday on their way to their granddaughter's birthday in Rochester. (While it was only for a few minutes, I welcomed the chance so see them. Next weekend they are coming down for her sister's birthday and we will all be going to dinner, HORRAY!) Now, I have read on all of your blogs, that everyone has read or is reading the Mitford Series books; I had been wanting to read them as you all seemed so into them. Betsy has them all and brought them down so I could read them.

*Tomorrow is shaping up to be a fantastic day......I read on Jackie's blog that their company left earlier than anticipated, so we called and asked if they would meet us in Watertown after church tomorrow. Once they agreed, we called Susan and she and Matthew are riding up with us. Now what more could a grandmother ask for than to spend the afternoon with 3 of her 4 grandchildren. (OK, maybe to spend it somewhere other than the mall, but then again, I will take what I can get)

* We got our computer back today. They guarantee their work for a year, so that is good. Wm. shall have to wait until I finish blogging to hook it back up. I am so grateful to Susan for letting us borrow her notebook. When we went to Skaneateles to pick up the computer, we stopped to see Wm.'s mother and father. They seem to be doing OK; not getting out much but doing OK.

* Another Card baby born last night......Hannah-Leah Card arrived at 10:30 pm. Her father will be heading back overseas within the next few weeks; she and her mother will be going to spend time with Dana's parents in GA. Stephen will not be returning to Ft. Drum when he gets back but going to Ft. Benning, GA.

Just Another Sunday

*Worship was especially good this morning. Pastor Lee continued on week 3 in his series "Becoming a Compassionate Congregation".

*I have never been sports oriented, didn't matter what it is, I have no desire to watch any sports on TV, and yes, that includes the SuperBowl. So while there was no SuperBowl party here, we did have dinner here again with Susan, Tom and Matthew as well as Uncle Roy. I must admit I am enjoying these Sunday afternoon dinners and I am becoming much more domestic down here than I ever was in Canton. Oh, I cooked and occasionally baked but lately rarely a day goes by without my baking something. Wm. takes his lunch to work since we have been down here, something he never did before, so I do like to make little treats for his lunch. I have to make more than a little or he never gets any himself.

* Matthew was six months old on Friday. I find it very hard to believe that he is the same 5# baby who came home from the hospital. He is sitting in the high chair now (and loving it) . He likes cereal and he loves vegetables, but not fruit. He will not eat any fruit unless you mix it with his cereal. He is gumming away on his arrowroot cookies with the biggest grin you ever saw. I guess no one would be surprised that he is now 18#.

* We did not even attempt to go north this weekend. The weather reports, even yesterday. were for lake effect snow and having lived in Pulaski for seven years, we know how bad it can get and decided it was better not to take the chance of having to drive through it. I find myself missing the girls more than I thought possible. We do call and talk to them but it is still not the same as holding and kissing them. Oh, I miss that!

*Yes, I do hold and kiss Matty all day long and now he even kisses me back. OK, I know he doesn't really kiss me but when I say "Matty, give your old fat Gramma a kiss"; he puts his open mouth on my cheek and then he giggles.

*Speaking of giggles, you would not believe how he giggles when he jumps in the bouncer. His legs are so long that we have had to raise it up twice. He jumps and giggles and giggles and jumps. I love it.

* I got a talking photo album in the mail yesterday from Donna. It has pictures of Morrigan's life since she was born and a little recorded "I love you" message from Morrigan. Did I mention that Jon and Donna do not want us to miss Morrigan's 4th birthday and have offered to buy us airline tickets to come for the weekend of her birthday? I was sure we would miss it for the first time since she was born. What a blessing!

* Hopefully, the weather will be better in a week or two and we can make the trek north. I do miss it and all of you much more than I expected. There are advantages to living down here but the single most drawback is that the girls are still up there.