Merry Christmas!

I see that I haven't posted anything for quite some time!  I have decided Mark and I live relatively dull lives when it comes to posting excitement on this blog!  I need my grandkids to perk up my posts.  :-)

That problem will be remedied in a few days.  We fly out Friday for a ten day stay in Peoria, IL.  We are so excited to see our family and pray the weather is good so Matt can drive out from Omaha, too.  Drew has a very long break from kindergarten so we will be there to babysit so he can stay home and enjoy his Santa toys and not go to daycare.  I assume Megan will let the other two stay home, too, so that should keep grandpa and grandma happily busy!

Our weather in AZ has been cool the last few days and I have been forced to wear long sleeve shirts and jeans.  Ha!  No coat, though!  It is such a relief not to be in that snow that the midwest just received.  The pictures look awful and some deadly auto accidents took place.  I worry about my kids driving in those conditions.  Very dangerous!

Mark and I joined a fitness gym and Matt gave us a workout plan to follow, along with a nutrition plan.  We have been faithful for two weeks, well, with the workout part.  His nutrition plan is causing us a little more pain and we are still working on that.  Ha!  I am realizing just what a weakling I am!  He said to go down in weights if we can't do all the reps.  Well.....I am at the lowest weight on one of my hardest exercises so it is pretty hard to go DOWN!

I still hike once or twice a week, but not as much as before we joined that gym.  In fact, I am going on a hike this morning.  It is my favorite AZ activity!

No pics to post.  I could put up one of Mark doing leg curls or something, but he would kill me.  Here is a link to a fun e-card I sent to family.  Much easier than sending out real cards!Drew, Kayley and Ryan

On our way! (UPDATED)

Mark and I left the farm yesterday morning around 10:30 and headed to Matt's home in Omaha.  We had a good visit with him and went to to dinner at our favorite steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse.  After dinner he took us to a really nice wine bar called Brix.  His friend and guitar teacher was the entertainment there and he was very enjoyable!  Matt knew many others there so we had company at our table.  Mark and I really enjoyed our evening!

We left Omaha this morning around 5:30  and began our long, 12.5 hour drive to Santa Rosa, NM.  We are in our hotel safe and sound and no problems along the boring way!  If there were a better way to AZ without going through Kansas I would choose it, but it is the shortest route.  If I would have won that half a billion in last night's lottery I would have purchased another vehicle to leave in Phoenix and just fly back and forth!  But it was not to be.  :-).

We have only a little more than 500 miles left tomorrow so that will be an easy day and we won't need to leave so early!

Our Thanksgiving was just wonderful with our two children and three awesome grandchildren!  I flew to Peoria on November 19th and Mark joined us the next day.  Matt came on Wednesday so we had a nice immediate family gathering for several days.  It was very difficult to leave them on Sunday but Christmas is just around the corner and Mark and I are flying back for that!  That will make for a happy New Year for us.

When I get to Phoenix tomorrow I will post some photos!  Having some trouble doing so on my iPad!

Update:  We made it to our winter home  this afternoon around 3:30.  The drive was uneventful which is a good thing.  I am now also able to put the Thanksgiving pictures on the blog.

Drew was VERY proud of his FB trophy!

Ryan loves getting a bath

Grandma brought Ryan a stuffed monkey

Kayley loves doing puzzles and finished these 4 in record time

Our three grandchildren

Kayley getting ready to start her puzzles

Grandpa holding 2 of his grandchildren, minus the top of his head!

Never hard to get a smile out of this one!

Ryan and Kayley

Drew wants to go to the basement and play catch

Excited for Thanksgiving!

I have been by myself in Phoenix since Nov. 1st.  Mark flew back to Iowa after helping me drive down here and getting the lawn ready and the house up and running.  It is lonesome without him but I keep busy by hiking every day and bumming around the place and of course, shopping.  I don't get to do that much while I am on the farm! 

The weather has been beautiful, if not a bit warm still.  I usually hike in the morning before the heat really cranks up for the day.  It has been 90 or so ever since I arrived but the week-end is supposed to be in the 70's.  Brrrr.  :-)

I fly to Peoria on November 19 and am looking forward to that day!  Cannot wait to see how much Ryan has grown and what he is doing now!  Drew and Kayley are always a delight and I am sure I will be playing lots of games with them come Nov.19th.

I bought a one-way ticket to Peoria and will drive back to the farm with Mark after our Thanksgiving holiday in Peoria.  When he is ready to leave for the winter we will pack up his truck and do that drive through NE/KS/OK/TX/NM all over again!  Thank goodness for e-books, smart phones, etc.!!!

I haven't taken any pictures because my iPhone camera is too blurry after being dropped in water and I keep forgetting to take my other camera with me.  I have the feeling I will break down and get another iPhone because I really cannot live without it having a camera.  What's money?  Ha!

Since I have no pictures I stole some from Megan to remind me how cute my grandchildren are and how much I miss them! 

No surprise....warm and sunny in Arizona!

Mark and I left Friday morning on our journey.  We arrived at Matt's home in Omaha around 1:30 and headed straight to see Megan and family who were in town visiting Andy's family.  Matt and Mark had not seen the kids since Labor Day so they were very happy to get the chance to see them.  I was just a bit happy, too!  But, had to go through another tearful (for me) good bye! 

We left around 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning with our stop scheduled for Tucumcari, NM.  We were making excellent time so I got on my cell phone and cancelled that room and made a reservation in Santa Rosa, NM.  We still got in there early but we were tired after 13 hours of sitting in that car so the stop for the evening was welcome!  We left the next morning around 5:30 Phoenix time and arrived at our home by 1:30.  Everything looked good and I got to work trimming palm trees while Mark started preparing the lawn for over seeding.  We seeded it this morning and now we just wait until that beautiful green starts growing! 

We grilled the first night of our arrival and last night we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for enchiladas.  They were as good as we remembered.  :-)  Tonight it is back to the grill for Mark!

Tomorrow night is Trick or Treat here so we stocked up on candy.  We bought a lot but I learned last year that you never have enough....they keep coming and coming!  When we run out we will turn out the light and hover in the darkness.  :-)

Mark's flight back to Omaha is Thursday morning unless it will be messed up by the storm, but I think he will be okay.  We shall see I guess!  After he is gone I plan to really scrub down the house, which was surprisingly dust free after 6 months.  I also want to get my geraniums planted and to do some much needed hiking.  Sister Jan sent me a link about a hiker falling to his death on Camelback Mountain after killer bees started attacking him and his two companions.  Yikes!  I knew that they were around and very nasty but thought they were making their home at South Mountain.  I guess they are migrating north!  Oh well, that will not stop me from doing what I love.  Maybe I will just carry a can of Raid with me.  Ha!

Some pics from the week-end.  I also included some that Matt took of his trip to the Pumpkin Patch in Omaha with Drew, Kayley and their cousin J.D.  Looks like they had a very good time on Saturday!

Candles don't do well with AC set at 90 for the summer!

Getting the desert dust off the furniture and patio

Our seeded lawn, soon to be thick and green...we hope!

Mark threatening to spray me if I took his picture

Grandpa with happy Ryan

I miss him!

Matt and the kids playing video games

Pac Man was eaten often in this game. 

Matt's friend Kali with Drew and Kayley at the Pumpkin Patch

Feeding the goats

I have a feeling this was their favorite thing to do!

Kayley and Kali on the train

Matt, J.D. and Drew looking happy

The kids look a little chilly in this one

More goat feeding

Granny nanny days coming to an end

My last day of official  babysitting is October 19th.  A bittersweet moment.   I am ready to head to our home in Phoenix but I can only imagine how much I will miss these three grandchildren after spending all this time with them.  As they say, that is why jet planes were invented!  We plan to use them a few times this winter. 

Mark almost has the fall field work done.  Unbelievable that he would be done this early.  Quite the year of weather in our farming operation!  On the upside of that,  he wants to drive out to Phoenix with me when I go and stay a few days and help seed our lawn, etc. and then he will fly back home.  I get along fine driving out by myself but it is not fun so I am thrilled he is going with me.  I have a one-way ticket back here for Thanksgiving and will return the favor and ride out with him when he comes to AZ for the winter.  I would guess we will both be sick of the Iowa to AZ drive this year!  (Not enough to not do it, though!)

Ryan is changing almost on a weekly basis so cannot imagine the change I will see in him when I return for the holidays.  Drew and Kayley adore him and constantly call him "Buddy".  We decided that they needed to start calling him Ryan or he will never know his real name!  :-) 

Some pics from the last few weeks:

Ryan getting his first spoonful of solid food

Does this high chair make me look tiny?

Kayley and her friend from Pre-K during Grandparents Day

Kayley having a snack at Grandparent's Day

Sweet treats at a local ice cream shop

Home for a visit!

Megan took yesterday off so I left for Iowa Thursday afternoon for a visit with Grandpa.  It is good to be home and I am using the time here to clean house, wash bedding, make some meals for Mark when I leave again, etc.  He and Craig are very busy with the harvest so he has no time to do any of these things when he gets home at night.  Harvesting is going well but there have been some challenging fields of downed corn to deal with.  Considering the tiny, and I mean tiny, amount of rain we had during this growing season I cannot believe we are getting yields that are actually "okay" considering this drought. 

I am enjoying my time spent with Ryan.  He is almost 4 months old now and such a good boy.  I have zero problems with him and we seem to just enjoy each others company.  Drew is still playing in his first year of flag football and he ran for another 45 yard TD last Saturday.  :-)  He is a speedy little runner but I wouldn't call the defense on these teams tough.  :-)  It is so fun to watch him play.  Kayley is involved in gymnastics and I have watched her sessions a few times, too.  It is going to be hard to pull myself away from these three grand children come Oct. 20th.  That is the problem with doing something like this....I get WAY too attached to them.  But on the bright side for me, I am flying there for Thanksgiving then Mark and I are flying to Peoria after Christmas to spend some time with them when the kids are off from school.  We usually go for Drew's birthday on Jan. 15th but now that he is in school we thought coming when they have the holiday week off would be better.

Happy Ryan

He loves looking out the patio door!

Sox, Ryan and Kayley

My cute little grandson

This is the life

Drew's Kindergarten school picture

Aren't I cute?

Drew's touchdown run, from "far" away!

Fall is in the air

It's a very crisp day!  I know many people are thrilled about this cooler air but me, not so much. I still love summer the best!  It will save everyone a few bucks on the AC bill but warmer weather may come back shortly.  Hope so.  :-)

I am still babysitting the sweetest little guy in the world and playing on a daily basis with Drew and Kayley.  Those two are trying their best to keep me young!  Drew either wants me to pitch to him, throw football passes or have Olympic volleyball in the basement.  Sandwiched in between all these sports is time spent learning sight words and reading beginner books.  He seems to love kindergarten but lunch is definitely not the highlight of the day.  Sometimes he takes his lunch but I cannot see Megan having the time in the morning to make it like I am doing.  He will just have to learn to eat the dreaded school lunches! 

Mark is busy into harvest now.  Surprisingly, there is a bit of corn and soybeans to harvest.  I really cannot believe there is anything out there after the drought we went through.  I wonder what they do to these seeds that they will grow in such an arid environment!  Mark also said his knee is doing great and that it no longer bothers him during the night.  Yay!

Ryan is such a good baby.   He eats, he plays, he sleeps.  Repeat this several times per day and grandma is a happy camper watching her grandson.  He is "trying" to please his mommy and sleep through the night and makes it several times per week but other nights he wants to visit with her occasionally!  Hopefully he will turn that corner very soon so everyone gets a full night's sleep.  He is almost there.

I am going to continue babysitting until Oct. 19th and then will head back to Iowa, only to pack up the car and head to our home in Arizona to seed our winter lawn!  Oh well, nothing for me to do on the farm now anyway as all my flowers are pulled and the garden is just about done producing.  Time to get ready for our winter together in Phoenix.  I am dreading leaving these three grandchildren but must admit I am looking forward to my time in the desert.  I am missing my beautiful hikes and all the things AZ has to offer Mark and me!

Some pics and videos of the past two weeks:

Ryan having a conversation with Grandma:

Offensive player of the game.  45 yard TD run for Drew!

We are off to the park

Kayley enjoying one of Andy's garden carrots! 

How cute is this little man?

Ryan in his new shirt and shoes

Drew is now into FB since T-ball is finished.

Had to throw in another of my newest grandson!

Granny Nanny comes to life once again!

  I officially have that title since August 20th, when I came to Peoria, IL to babysit our newest grandson, Ryan.  He is a sweet little thing (aren't they all?) and I am loving my duties.  Megan had to return to work after maternity leave ended and we decided a couple more months at home before day care began was just what Ryan needed.  :-)

It has been a hectic two weeks.  Kayley (age 4) started Pre-K and Drew began his school days as a Kindergarten student at Hickory Grove Elementary.  He was a little "iffy" about Kindergarten and the whole bus riding thing, but after two days he was in the groove and loving his new role as student.  They are growing up quickly!

Megan and family and I took off for the farm for the Labor Day Week-end on Friday.  It was fun but too short.  Matt also drove to the farm for the week-end. We did our usual golf cart rides, lawn mower rides, picking tomatoes, hitting baseballs and ending with the rodeo parade.  The kids had a great time and look forward to another visit to the farm next summer.

Some pics and videos from our past couple of weeks....

Uncle Matt with two of his favorite kids!

Drew waiting patiently for the bus

Ryan waiting for his dinner

It took him a LONG time, but Drew finally made 20 baskets

Kayley playing on Grandpa's big tire

Matt and Drew hauling in the candy

Kayley and Drew loved the parade.  So did Andy....

Their candy waves

Kayley discovered a very old rocking horse in the shed and fell in love with this horse