Much to be thankful for this holiday!

I spent a week in Peoria and a great time was had by all!  Megan picked me up at the airport around noon and we drove downtown to the Cat headquarters so she could return to work.  I took her vehicle home and around 2:00 went to the daycare to get Ryan who was running a temp.  So glad I was there to be with him so mom and dad didn't have to leave work early.  He actually seemed fine but they can't be running a certain temp and remain at daycare.  Around 3:00 Ryan and I jumped back in the car and drove to Drew and Kayley's school to get them.  They were very excited to see me and the feeling was quite mutual!

Tuesday Ryan and I stayed home and the other two rode the bus home from school.  They love doing that because it doesn't happen very often as they usually must stay at the child care at the school.

Wednesday I had all three home for the day.  We roasted our turkey and cut bread, celery and onions for the stuffing.  They were a big help to grandma.  (They enjoyed the preparations much more than the actual dinner on Thanksgiving!)  :-)  That afternoon grandpa arrived from the farm and Matt arrived around 6 pm so we had everybody together for the holiday. 

Thanksgiving Day we had dinner at noon.  Drew and Kayley helped with the potato and vegetable peeling.  We just relaxed after dinner like millions of Americans, watching football and playing board and card games.  It was a very nice day!

Friday was another play day.  We went to Carlos O'Kelly for dinner that evening.  Saturday we took Drew and Kayley to the movie Frozen.  Drew doesn't much care for movies but he agreed to go if Matt went.  Matt is probably not a fan of cartoon movies but he graciously said he would go so that Drew would go.  I would say neither child enjoyed it very much.  Kayley cried several times when she thought the heroine had died, which she didn't but it appeared she had.  All in all, grandma probably could have saved her $75 and put it into their college savings accounts.  :-)

Saturday was a very nice day and Matt and Drew played ball outside and Andy put up the house lights in shirt sleeves.  I know the weather will change but it was pretty nice while I was there!

Sunday was time for everyone to go home.  I was supposed to fly out at 12:25 but was still sitting in the airport at 3:00.  (Maintenance issues).  I finally walked in to my winter home around 8 p.m.  It was a very long day!

Some pics and a video from our days together:

In this video, Drew and Kayley are playing the XBox Adventures and Ryan gets into the act.

Very good stuffing makers

Kayley at her dollhouse

Kayley helps grandma clean the vegetables

Drew peeled the potatoes

When Drew found out the Hawks were on TV, he ran up to change clothes!

Drew and Matt playing ball

Grandpa and Ryan

Grandma and Ryan.  He is so sweet!

A quick trip to Peoria

I made my final trip to Peoria to see the grandchildren before I begin my drive to Arizona.  I had signed up to be the Mystery Reader in Drew's first grade class and had a ball doing that.  Drew was very surprised that I did this!  During the week the teacher would read a "clue" from the mystery reader and the kids try and guess who it might be.  He thought several times it might be grandma but all the other first grade children thought for sure they knew who it was so he started second guessing himself, according to his teacher.  My final two clues kind of sealed the deal for him, I think.  :-)

I had planned to come home last Monday but they didn't have school on Columbus Day so I stayed and watched them and left on Tuesday instead.  It was hard saying good-bye to them, knowing I was going so far away!  But, I fly back for Thanksgiving and then Mark and I are flying back there together on Dec. 28th and spending a week so that will certainly help!

Mark has been busy trying to harvest.  Due to our very awful growing season they are having a hard time deciding what fields are ready, which are still too green, etc.  Our yields have so far been disappointing but not unexpected.  Huge ponds drowned out from too much rain last spring to NO rain after that leads to poor yields.  The life of a farmer....

I plan to leave for Omaha and Matt next Wednesday.  I will spend the night with him and then leave early on Thursday for my longest stretch of driving, around 800 miles.  Ugh.  The second day is shorter and I should be at our Phoenix home by 2 p.m. on Friday.  Sharon is flying to Phoenix on Saturday so I will arrive just in time to pick her up at the airport.  I look forward to spending some time with my sister.  Hopefully we will get to do some mountain hiking.

I had a grand time with my three grandchildren and here is a video and pictures to prove it. :-)

Drew and Kayley gave Ryan gator rides

They dearly love their neighborhood park!

Ryan learning to slide with dad

We spent a lot of time at this park!

Another trip to Costco and this time Kayley wanted in on the posing

Drew's pose?

This looks like a pose!

My sweet Kayley

Drew and the peaches

Lots of time also spent on this huge pile of dirt by their house.  Drew is certain he found some dinosaur fossils here.....

Where in the world...

is Drew?!  After a game, we went to Costco.  While Megan and Kayley were busy shopping,  Drew wanted to have his picture taken at various Costco displays, just for fun.  We did have mindless fun!  :-) 

He thought sitting on TP would fun

Bottled water is not a comfortable place to pose

You should have had a V8

Pudding!

I had to really coax him to sit at this display!

Ten days in Peoria

Andy had to go to Australia for work so I decided to head to Peoria and help Megan with the kids during his absence.  I helped get them to practices and other obligations.  I know Megan appreciated having a helping hand with her three little ones and I was more than happy to do that!  It meant some quality time with my grandchildren before I head back to AZ for the winter.

We did lots of fun things while I was there.  A visit to Tanner Orchard on a beautiful Sunday was great fun, so much fun that I took Drew and Kayley back the following Wednesday because they had an early school dismissal.  Tanner has lots of stuff for kids their age.

Our two days at Tanner Orchard in about one minute: 

 

I also was a chaperone for Drew's field trip one day.  It was fun and very educational for the first graders, BUT, it was unusually hot that day!  Those six year olds were pooped by the time 2:00 rolled around.  This sixty something gal was a bit pooped, too!

Candle making around a fire.  The fire did not feel great since it was about 90 degrees outside!

A hay rack ride!

Learning all about living in the 1800's

Lunch and water!

 I was also able to attend three football practices and two games for Drew.  These boys are so cute to watch as they run around trying to get touchdowns and pull flags.  I will brag here and say that I saw Drew get 3 touchdowns.  He has never had a flag pulled in a game yet when he gets the ball.  He is obviously a lot speedier than his grandma!

I spent a lot of time with Ryan and took lots of pics and videos so I put them all in a video.

Okoboji Holiday Fun

We spent Labor Day week-end at Lake Okoboji with our dear friends Jim and Nancy.  The weather was perfect, our hosts were delightful and the fun never stopped!  A huge thank you to the Houchins for their generosity and friendship.  Our entire family was there, including the dog.  Drew, Kayley and Ryan had such a great time but I think Megan, Andy and Matt rather enjoyed themselves, too!  We played in the water, rode all the rides, shopped at the Emporium, the boys fished and we toured around the lake by car.  Megan and family had to return to Peoria on Monday for school and work but Matt, Mark and I spent the day with Jim and Nancy and returned home on Tuesday.  It was a memorable week-end!

Now it is back to reality and our continuing quest to remodel the house.  Outside is done, flooring is done....all that remains is the bathroom remodel.  They had a bit of trouble getting a new shower in the old spot but it will suffice with some creative dry walling.  We are still waiting for the shower door and vanity top to arrive at the plumbing store and then we will be finished.  This could all take some time, due to dry wall and plumbing.  It will be worth it in the end!  We also had a new refrigerator delivered on Thursday.  I was so glad to be rid of the puny fridge we had!  It didn't come close to holding all my garden produce!  :-)

A short video of our week-end follows and I also included some video that Matt shot while taking Drew and Kayley on rides that they probably really didn't want to ride!  I include them mainly for the kids but you might get a chuckle out of Matt teasing poor Kayley.  :-)  If you click on the You Tube icon in the lower right corner it will open up that site and the videos are larger for viewing.

A little of everything

I am back on the farm after a week in Peoria.  It was great fun seeing Drew and Kayley begin their school year as a Kindergarten and First grade student.  They both did so well getting on the bus and through their first day!  Of course, now they have gone an entire week so I will assume all is still going fabulously.

This past week has been busy, hectic and rather frustrating!  The good news, the outside of our home is entirely finished and the bay window set and stained and looking majestic.  :-)  It truly looks like a brand new home although I am having to get used to our gable color choice, as it is a bit redder than I recalled from the sample but it still looks great compared to what was "dangling" up there! 

The frustrating part has been our flooring.  It was supposed to be finished on August 3rd and would have if we hadn't started finding flaws in the tiles.  They started pulling damaged ones, replacing and re-grouting and ordered more.  So we waited another week to get them.  Upon arrival, many of those were damaged and we told the installer to forget it, I was going to go have a visit with Joe Redecker, the owner of the store.  I should have gone with ceramic tile but I have read so many great things about luxury vinyl tile and how easy it is to care for, etc., that I wanted that and it is a bit cheaper, too.  They told me to go look at the Armstrong tile display (I had Mannington....don't ever get it) and brought some tiles home.  Mark and I selected one and had him order it.  The installer was going to come by some evenings, when he could, and do the floor.  We told him we wanted a full crew and to get this done, not piece by piece.  Another visit with Redecker's and we now have a full crew coming this Wednesday and they will be done Friday.  Please make it be true.  We have toilets sitting out on our front landing for days.  If this were Phoenix, those pots would have been long gone but thankfully they are still there in all there glory.

Enough of all that!  Mark and I will welcome our Labor Day visit to Lake Okoboji and our great friends Nancy and Jim.  I cannot wait to see them, it has been too long.  Megan and family are joining us there, as is Matt, so a great family time for us all.  Nancy is a saint to put up with us all.  :-)

I had some left over pics and videos from my Peoria visit so will post them now.  The first video is our visit to a Japanese restaurant with the kids.  Drew's face is fun to watch. 

Perhaps the following video is only funny to Grandma but I thought it pretty hilarious.  Kayley wanted to read a book to me "in Spanish" after her very first day of Kindergarten and having her first spanish lesson.  Drew and I chuckled but we told her to go for it.  Drew and I actually sat there rather dumbfounded listening to Kayley's "Spanish".  :-)

Beautiful day to swing!

Am I excited for my school meeting tonight?

At Monkey Joe's for some jumping

More Monkey Joe's

It is finally here!  Our first day of school.

Everyone thinks he smiles all the time.....

Most of the time

Ryan loves to be outdoors

East side of the house...new door and windows

The board is for our deck.  Note nice new deck lights!

South gable

New bay window on the north side

A very busy August

We have had so many things going on simultaneously that it has been a whirlwind!  We had Drew and Kayley at the farm for a week and now I have been in Peoria for a week, driving them back last Saturday to their home and spending another week with all of them.  I wanted to get some Ryan time as he was too little to have at the farm.

Drew and Kayley had a great time.  Each visit they find something new to occupy their hours.  Last time it was rocks and cutting weeds out of the beans.  This visit they spent gathering tools (wooden sticks of all sizes) to work on a dead tree.  We have several but they were particularly fond of "Tall Paul" and "Spread Eddie".  Drew selected these names.  Naturally the golf cart and lawn mower cart got a work-out, too.

While they were with us, the outside of our house was being totally transformed and they enjoyed watching the workers and the workers got a kick out of them.  While on the lawn mower cart, one remarked that he didn't know they were supposed to bring a float.  That gave Drew and Kayley the idea to come by on it and throw candy to them while they were taking a break, just like in a parade.  That gave them all a good laugh.  They didn't want to leave the farm but they also wanted to see Ryan and Mom and Dad so it wasn't too bad getting them to go.  Kayley did shed a few tears when we let the air and water out of Pirate's Bay.  :-)  She also cried telling grandpa good bye.

We have had fun this week in Peoria, too.  Tomorrow is a very big day.....Drew begins 1st grade and Kayley starts kindergarten and riding the bus.  Mommy is hoping that neither cry getting on the bus.  They can be quite shy when they want to so we will have to wait and see.  They both seem extremely excited about it but when it actually arrives......

I am returning to Iowa on Saturday with the anticipation that the outside of our home is finished.  I cannot wait to see it.  The only thing that will not be done is a new deck, which we will do next summer when we return from AZ.  We also put in new flooring in the kitchen, laundry and all three bathrooms.  It isn't quite finished but what is done looks lovely and I really like it!

Some pics and videos from our adventures:

Drew and Kayley getting off their first wooden roller coaster ride at Adventureland.  Let's just say they were not entirely impressed!

Drew and Kayley spent LOTS of time working on this tree with their "tools"

Always a fun time in Pirate's Bay

Finally, another tree hugger besides me in the family!

Kayley thinks she can push it down.

Working, working, working on that tree!

Uncle Matt and kids at Adventureland

They loved climbing on all the tractors

Kayley in her great grandfather Swanson's WWII hat

At least our huge pond of nothing provided some fun!

In the combine

Time for shopping at Peoria's Target store

For some reason, Peoria play areas contain a lot of Catepillar displays.  :-)

Ryan having fun at the play area

Always happy and smiling!