This weekend I am in Minneapolis to celebrate because my little Pookie Bear, Auntie Sunshine's oldest son, has graduated from high school. The same high school that we graduated from last year. Errr, wait, I meant last decade. No, wait again...TWO DECADES ago!!!

I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life (sorry Auntie Sunshine, but it was.) He was an 11 pound 1 ounce bundle of perfection. Auntie Sunshine was, and still is, a mother to be admired.

He sure put up with a lot of stuff from his Mommy's friends during those first few years. He was our entertainment, and his knowledge of geography had us all captivated. Embarrassingly, he put Auntie Shannon and I to shame when we argued with him at Heather's wedding that Mount Everest was in the United States...not in a different country. He was quite irritated with us and insisted it was "In the Himalayaaaaas on the border of China in NepAAAAALLLL!!!!" We just smiled and said, "Oh, you're so silly! It is in Washington State, or somewhere like that." Until the other people at the table were like, "Uhhh, hey dumb@$$es, the kid is right." We should have known better than to argue with a child genius.

Don't worry about the fact that he graduated from the same high school we did. I'm pretty sure the geography teachers have improved...oh, and that he did a little less partying during school than we did. Right, Jboy?

Since moving to Colorado, I have missed out on a lot of his growing up. I remember calling their house once wondering who the man was answering the phone until I heard, "Hey MOMMMMM! The phone's for you!!!"

Pookie, you have become a young man overnight, and I am very proud of you. Congratulations on your high school graduation; I can't wait to hear how you change the world! I love you!!!!

(Sorry the song playing is a little weird, I couldn't find one that fit and I liked the title of this one!)

Thinking of Great Grandma

For the past few days, KK's Great Grandma Gladys (my grandma) has had severe pain in her lower back. She was admitted to the hospital yesterday, and it turns out she has a fracture somewhere in her spine and will need surgery in the morning. I guess she took too many wild rides in the parking lot on her new scooter!

In all seriousness, Grandma is going to be 90 this year and I'm sure this is not going to be easy on her. I hope that her surgery goes well, and that her recovery is fast and not terribly painful. Here are some things about my grandma...

1) She was one of eight children. She was close to all of her siblings; only one sister is still alive.
2) She has three kids - two girls and a boy. My mom is the middle child. 3) Her only husband (my grandpa) died in the 60's when my mom was a senior in high school.
4) She never remarried, and never even had a boyfriend that I knew about.
5) She worked hard for years, into her late 70's, as a fry-cook at an old-style cafe in a Sunshine grocery store.
6) She didn't get paid even close to what she deserved.
7) She's a great cook!
8) She used to mail us letters and cards for every occasion, usually with a few dollars.
9) She always signs her cards and letters "All my love, Grandma"
10) I sent her a card once (probably when I was 7 or 8) and signed it "Half my love," and put .50 cents in it.
11) When she asked why I wrote that and sent money, I told her it was so I could have some love left over for my mom and dad. And the .50 cents was for her to buy me an ice cream cone.
12) She laughed.
13) She has a great laugh.
14) She loves to play cards.
15) She LOVES to play cards.
16) She LOVES to play cards.
17) She has played cards so much over the years that her thumbs are curved to the way she holds a card-hand.
18) She likes to win.
19) If she doesn't win, she will be mad.
20) Seriously.
21) She forgets when she wins, but she always remembers when she loses.
22) Daddy adores my Grandma. 23) Daddy likes to tease Grandma and accuse her of cheating when they play cards.
24) She does NOT like this, and it almost makes her as mad as losing.
25) She enjoys doing word searches.
26) Daddy likes to help her. 27) She also loves to watch baseball, and is a fan of the Twins.
28) Up until two years ago, she lived in a small house in downtown Sioux Falls.
29) She had lived there since my mom was a little girl.
30) I loved the smell of her house. It was always immaculately clean and so relaxing.
31) That smell is why I love the smell of fresh brewed coffee, even though I don't really drink it.
32) She bought those mini individual cereal boxes for us when we came to visit, and she had really cool breakfast bowls. I have those bowls now.
33) She decorated her house pretty for Christmas. My mom learned it from her.
34) She used to call me "Dolly."
35) She has six grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and this year she became a great-great grandma. 36) She bought me a complete set of pots and pans when I was in high school. I thought it was weird then, but I am still using the same set!
37) She bought me one of my first baby dolls.
38) The baby doll's eyelids moved, I was fascinated and touched them, and she scolded me for poking my baby's eyes and threatened to take her away.
39) She later realized that I was just being curious, and apologized.
40) It made me feel better and I appreciated her apology, even though I was so little.
41) She and my mom used to perm each other's hair. Sometimes they permed my hair too.
42) She taught me how many "a few" and "several" were when I asked for a "few" of those little spongy-paper-things they used for the perms. She gave me three but I wanted more like seven...I learned to ask for "several."
43) She loves plants, particularly Christmas Cactus. (Cacti?)
44) She used to take pictures of her blooming plants and mail them to my mom.
45) All of the pictures pretty much looked the same, but she kept mailing them year after year.
46) She has a wild side. 47) She helped me move to Colorado in 1999 when she was 81 years old.
48) It was a long drive/ride for her, but she never complained.
49) She rarely complains about anything.
50) I love her so much. We're thinking of you Grandma!!!!

Getting bigger!

On Friday I took Daddy on a surprise date. He's been putting off meeting his grandpups for fear of falling in love...so that was our first stop. I knew if he put it off and missed meeting them, he would regret it. It still seems surreal that these are actually BuddyBuddy's babies! Here they are at four weeks old. (There certainly isn't a shortage of photos on this blog lately!)
Okay - ENOUGH pictures already! And what did Daddy - err, I mean Grandpa - think? Well, now instead of considering one, he wants to bring home two! (Not really! Well, maybe really...but not really.)
I have to say once again what an amazing job Geoff and Jill are doing with the puppies. They are all so happy, Mommy Baily too. The puppies clearly adore Geoff -- look at the ones in his lap and how they've all surrounded him for their naps!
Baby Addy was totally precious, too, as always! KK sometimes tells people she has a baby sister, and when they ask what her "sister's" name is, she says "Baby Addy!" She was talking on the phone to one of Daddy's co-workers today and he thought we were making an 'announcement' when KK said she had a baby sister. Bwahahaha! (Sorry Mom.) I guess she just likes to pretend, and her pretend sister sure is adorable!!

Rocky Mountain High

Over Father's Day weekend we went to the mountains and stayed in a log cabin with KK's Grandpa M (Daddy's Dad), Uncle Ry, Auntie Kar, and cousin C. We went hiking and fishing and canoeing and saw lots of elk and even a couple of moose! It was a very nice and relaxing weekend, except for the drive to get there. Daddy's @$#*($# truck kept dying (again!) on a mountain pass that is very curvy with lots of very high cliff-like edges so you can't really pull over. Grrrr. It took longer to get there than planned, but it all turned out well in the end. KK got to play with her cousin C, which she is always excited about.
They both got spoiled by Grandpa, who brought them lots of toys and camping-type gifts including their very own tackle boxes, flashlights, and "beelocklears" (binoculars). The beelocklears are her favorite!
Raiding Grandpa's tackle box

The cabin was right on the lake, which was beautiful. The lodgepole pines that make up the majority of the forest are pretty much destroyed by beetle kill which is heartbreaking. You can see it in most of the pictures - the trees are dead and have turned a dry red color. In a few years, I'm afraid they will all be lost. For now, the views are still pretty, and the mountains are still magical.
The view from the canoe
Paddling with Uncle Ry and Auntie Kar
Uncle Ry's Fish
Mommy's Fish
Daddy's efforts at a fish
(Who needs fancy fly fishing gear when you can borrow a Spiderman fishing pole from your nephew and have better results! Sorry, Daddy.)

Look! It's a Moose! (And a dying forest.) : (

All of us on Father's Day

The drive home wasn't quite as scary, so I managed to take a few photos. I was so glad to get over the pass and onto roads with shoulders!!!! This was the view from the passenger window (Mom, you would not have liked this drive at all!!!)



We are very lucky to live in such a beautiful state and I'm looking forward to our next mountain outing. I just hope we have a more dependable vehicle next time we have to cross the continental divide!

Guess who's a big girl?!

On most mornings Daddy gets KK out of her crib and brings her to our room for snuggle time. This morning she told Daddy she didn't want to get up yet, so he left for work and told me she was still in bed. I could hear her chatting on the monitor, and then it got suddenly quiet. I went to check on her, but didn't get far. There she was, sitting in the living room reading a book. One of Daddy's books with all text - not a kid's book. She was just turning page after page, happy as can be.

When she saw me, she said "It's good morning time, Mommy! I got up!" Since the last (and only) time she 'climbed' (somersaulted) out of her crib it didn't go so well, I was surprised that I hadn't heard a thump or any noise at all. I thought maybe Daddy had actually gotten her up and she had just stayed in her own room for awhile. So, I brought her back to her crib and asked her to show me how she got up. In three smooth moves, she climbed over the rail and stepped to the floor without a sound! So, KK's crib is now converted to a big girl bed! The miracle of it all? She went to sleep for her nap and at bedtime without any issues at all. Hallelujah, please let it last! I guess I'll be spending tomorrow doing some extra child-proofing in the house!

Wild Things

Last week KK had a date at the zoo with her little boyfriend J. I had thought we went there together last summer too, but it had actually been almost two years ago when we took them for their first birthdays (they are exactly one week apart). Look how they've grown!
The two of them had a great time running around and looking at the animals. We even rode on a train and carousel, which KK loved. It was nice to spend time with our special friends! Over the past week KK has also been working on riding her bike, but she still prefers me to push her rather than use the pedals on her own. She can reach them now, but just barely, so I think it's hard for her to get any momentum. She is not really a fan of her "helment" either, but she tolerates it for a little while. When we play outside, she'd rather organize rocks or go exploring in neighbors garages. She does look good on her bike, though -- she's our little wild thing!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!


And to my Daddy...I can't wait to share strawberry sundaes with you in a couple of weeks!

I have lots of blogging to catch up with this week...stay tuned! : )

Pile of Puppies

Tonight I got to spend an hour with our little grandpups. In a recent post, Jill had referred to them as a "pile of puppies" -- and that is exactly what they are! It appears that the goal is to be at the bottom of the pile, where it is warmest - except for one little guy who would much rather be King of the Puppy Pile! I especially fell in love with Pink, Red, and Orange because I spent one-on-one snuggle time with each of them - but every single puppy is way too cute for words, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.





I am so proud of Bailey and how much she loves her puppies. When I was snuggling one puppy at a time, she kept coming over to kiss her missing baby and make sure everything was okay. Such a good Mama!

And this guy nearly sniffed me right into his nostrils when I got home! He was very interested in the smell of his babies. I can't wait until they are bigger and he can go meet his kids. I'm sure he'll be a good daddy, too!

Still no official decision on if one of these little guys will be moving in with us, but I can say that in only one hour I fell head over heels in love!