My Kids

After writing about my grandchildren, I got to thinking of my own kids.  Like Maddie and Reese, they are 5 years apart.  Heather was born in March, Adam in June----Maddie was born in June and Reese in March.  Heather was born in 1974, Maddie in 2004.  Adam was born in 1979, and Reese in 2009.  I love coincidences like that.

Heather was really good with Adam, just like Maddie is with Reese.  I know Heather helped me a lot and Maddie helps her Mom too.

Little brother walked Heather down the aisle on August 19, 2000.  So proud of them both.

Let's Go to Grandma's House

Heather went back to work in mid August.  I take care of Maddie and Reese for her one or two days a week when she is at work.  Mostly, it is at their house (easier).  My house seems to have hazards of all kinds like pointy corners, glass table tops, knick knacks and the usual "Grandma" type things.  So, this week my tour of duty included Tuesday and Wednesday.  Went to their house on Tuesday and did the usual playing school and chasing balls.  But, we made up a new game using three bean bags, and we all played it together (a major feat.)  I would set up a box to throw the bean bags into, Maddie would stand behind a half wall in the entry way, then throw the bean bags (hopefully) into the box.  For a while, Reese wanted the bean bags all to himself, but then we showed him how much fun it would be to retrieve the bean bags and give them to Maddie.  Piece of cake for me who sat in a chair until it was time to move the box to a bigger distance from the half wall.  He raced around with a purpose, and it was a joy to see.

This picture isn't of the bean bag toss, but it gives you the idea of how determined each child is to get their way.  So, Tuesday turned out to be a "normal" day at the Garcias.

Not so, Wednesday.  I got up at my normal 5:00 am to get ready to drive to their house.  Being a Los Angeles travel veteran, I listened to the news to pick up on any potential traffic jams.  Sure enough, at about 5:20 am two big rigs collided at the juncture of the 60 and 57 freeways.  This juncture is never easy on any day, but guess what one of the trucks had in it?  Right!  Oil!!!  Made for quite a mess of the freeway, not to mention the parking lot of cars trying to get through on either the 60 or 57 freeways.  So, I called Heather and told her that since the freeways were closed, and any other routes were jammed, that I could not come to her house.  So, she popped the kids into her car and drove to her school, and I met her there at 8:00am.  The kids were transferred to my car and "Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we went!"  During the first hour, Reese had pulled out all the toys and books he could find and then yelled, "eat eat eat."  That kid is always hungry.  Maddie set up her new little girl Legos on a tall table out of Reese's reach.

She's so adorable, and well mannered that it almost makes me cry.  Reese devoured any tidbits I put on his high chair tray, then announced "All Done"--- Another of his favorite phrases.  While Maddie played quietly, he proceeded to dismantle whatever he could----but I love him to pieces.  After a trip to McDonalds for lunch, I decided to brave the pool, so into our bathing suits we went, slathered on sun tan lotion galore, then out to the water.

Reese would have been in this bathing suit picture if he would have stood still for a second, but he was somewhere around the corner finding new things to get into.  The pool was fun for a while and took up some time.  I wonder why I'm always looking at the clock to see how close it is to Heather's arrival?  Needless to say, Reese did not take a nap this day since I didn't have the Pack and Play to put him in.  So, he got more and more wound up.

This is the capper----or should I say the hatter.  Duane and I roared when we saw him in my gardening hat.  Isn't he just adorable too?  By the way, he pointed to his shirt earlier and told Duane BITE!!!  At least he hasn't tried that yet.  Kisses and Hugs to my precious grandchildren.

Be Optomistic!

I have just offered my condolences to my sister on the loss of 3 of her friends recently.  It seems that all we get anymore is bad news.  But, I'm the eternal optomist, and always try to look on the bright side.  Someone always has it worse than you do.  Just as an example, I was reading an article by Charles Payne, a Wall Street analyst and regular on KFI640 am radio.  He wrote up this little blurb on Abraham Lincoln:

                                         Lincoln's Failures and Triumph

1832  Lost State Job
1833  Failed at Business
1835  Sweetheart Died
1836  Had a Nervous Breakdown
1838  Was Defeated for Speaker of the House
1843  He was Defeated for Congress
1844  He lost Re-Nomination
1849  He was Rejected as Land Officer
1856  He was Defeated as Vice President
1858  He was Defeated for Senate
1860  He WON the Presidency!

However, in 1865 he was Assassinated............such is life!

Playing

I had the pleasure of babysitting for Maddie and Reese for three days last week!  I am one tired puppy.  But seriously, I just love them to pieces.  When have I ever gotten to "play" all day long???  I play school with Maddie, and all of her dolls and stuffed animals are the students.  We have a flag, calendar, maps and a pointer with a hand on it.  This is a far cry from when I played school when I was her age.  I remember feeling lucky if we had some paper, pencils and crayons.

Here I am with my huge babydoll, along with my cousins MaryAnn (oldest), Carol (middle) and Geraldine at the celebration of her First Holy Communion.  We all spent a lot of time together, and playing school was at the top of the list.  We also loved paper doll cutouts.  Girls these days don't know what they are missing!

Here I am again, about age 6, with my friend Janie from next door when we lived in Chicago.  She was another school playing buddie.  How stylish I am in my bloomers.

Reese has his own favorite type of play with Grandma---From the stair landing, throw two or three balls down and watch Grandma run around trying to catch them.  He fakes me out too and will look one way and throw the other way.  I'm sure he's a star ball player in training.

What can I say?  I'm loving being a Grandma.

Ten Beach Road

My latest "beach read" is Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax.  This story is about three ladies who are fleeced by a Ponzi scheme.  They are strangers to one another, but become co-owners of an old beach mansion in Florida.  They accept the challenge of restoring the mansion in order to recoup some of their lost funds.  This one has similarities to the Ladybug Farm novels I introduced a while back.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book.