Gram Mode

 It was so sweet when my DIL and E flew in for our girl's baby shower.  While we were all together, I was in Gram Mode. Time together is so precious and it's hard when everyone lives in a different state. I keep saying that we need to find a couple hundred acres and everyone can build a house on a corner with separate entrances. That way we can all have our privacy, yet we're just a yodel away if someone needs something and we'd have a fishing pond, firepit, and outdoor kitchen in the middle for gatherings. It's a goal and yes, I've taken it to God in prayer 😉

For now, I try to soak up the treasured moments

She loves her Uncle Kenny - we all do -he's easy to love!

After the shower we stopped in at a great independent bookstore so my DIL could use the gift certificate she won at the shower. Smart owner had this amazing train table set up in the children's section...I want one!

Kenny raises and fits pigs for FFA and 4-H kids and he happened to have a couple of little ones at the house so he introduced E to one of them

She wasn't quite sure what to think, but it was so cute...she said "Hi pig!" and tried to shake it's hand.😂

                                             

We all call Kenny and our girl's place the Funny Farm  and it was fun to introduce E to farm life                                          

                                           

Our little nugget is growing so fast

We stayed in this really nice hunting cabin that belongs to a friend of Kenny's

All snuggled in

Nothing beats time with family

How many toddlers love broccoli?! This one! It's her favorite...along with green beans.

Our girl captured some wonderful shots of E playing in the leaves on the morning we packed up.

I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. 

~Nathanial Hawthorne

And above all; watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.

~Roald Dahl

If we could see the world through the eyes of a child, we would see the magic in everything. 

I notice that Autumn is more the season of the soul than nature. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.

~Winnie the Pooh

Children really know how to immerse themselves into the moment - a good lesson for us adults - may you always be a child at heart!

Celebrating 85

My FIL turned 85 in August and that's something to celebrate so we all gathered together. We're spread across 4 states, and not everyone could make it, but this is us - minus 4. I love this tribe!

They had a full house - 14 overnight Friday and Saturday night. Everyone brought food. We grilled burgers and I took Asian Salad, Queso  and chips- plus 40 Buckaroo Bundles. There is never a shortage of good food when we gather, but we all leave room for Grandpa's German Chocolate Birthday Cake

My niece has 2 sweet littles and our sweet E had their undivided attention. 

L was glued to her side every minute:

It was so sweet to watch the way they interacted

And E let L happily lug her around like a sack of potatoes all weekend

Bubbles were a big hit

Lots of stories were passed around as we all lounged on their beautiful  deck

 My BIL's wife took this great shot of Granny and Grandpa with their great grandkids:

Love this behind the scenes shot of my niece (she's a teacher) entertaining the youngest apples on our family tree as the above shot was being organized

We also organized a shot of the three kids with parents both 5years ago and now.

Next time I should probably let mama and daddy hold that sweet little nugget, but it's pretty hard to hand her over. 

                                      

When she was younger she would scrunch her little face up like this and I love that our girl captured this moment

So blessed

And grateful

For moments like this

And for the opportunity to honor this incredibly special man: Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Celebrating 80

This past weekend, our family converged and invaded Granny's Knob which is what we call DH's folks' home in the mountains. They have 3 children and it's been a coon's age since everyone has been able to gather together. Back in the day, when the kids were small, it was tradition to spend every other Christmas together and my goodness, are there ever amazing memories of those times! Now that families have grown and married and divorced and remarried, it has been difficult to get everyone together, but Grandpa turned 80 on Saturday and that sounds like the perfect reason to clear schedules and help him celebrate. These are my in-laws and their 3 kids. (They're standing on steps - DH is actually the tallest of the bunch.)

It's an all day trip for DH's sister and brother so they stayed over the weekend, but we're closer and just spent the day. We didn't want to overwhelm his mom anymore than we already were as there was already 13 staying for a few days. My niece created an event and we messaged back and forth, organizing all the food which always turns out to be enough for an army.

I contributed 4 dozen eggs, Spicy pickles, Texas Caviar and chips, Green Chile Pinwheels, Cherry Salad - a long standing family tradition, and a 9 x 13" pan of twice baked potato casserole.

We set up a long table out on their deck and foundered on all the offerings. It was all we could do to leave room for birthday cake - homemade German Chocolate - the birthday boy's favorite!

And the laughter

and stories

and memories flew nonstop

between parents and siblings and cousins, (my BIL and his new wife, plus 2 cousins didn't get in until late, just before we headed out that night so sadly, we didn't get photos of them, but these 4 hooligans grew up together and are now just bigger lovable hooligans)

 building new memories along the way.

And the newest additions to the family tree kept us entertained. The big one's a kid at heart. :)

With kids this cute, it's hard to whittle down the pictures

shucking corn

chasing bubbles

collecting rocks

Memories in the making

We even managed to sneak in some time with fabric and thread. We're all quilters and my niece brought 3 nap quilts for her kiddos to take to school and daycare. Many hands make light work and we had our own impromptu quilting bee out on the deck:

Our girl brought Harvey and we brought him home with us, as we are grand dog sitting this week while our girl is in Hawaii on a job interview:

My in laws have a Jack Russell and Harvey spent much of the day like this:

He was determined that he was going to find a way to make himself fit into this door. He thinks he's a lap dog anyway

Good try Harvey. My FIL is a young and active 80 - he still climbs on the roof to repair things, rotates his tires on their trucks, cuts all the wood to heat their home, he just replaced every window in their home and he still saddles up and rides through the mountains every chance he gets. We're very thankful that he is healthy and able to do all that he does and that everyone could be there to commemorate a big birthday for a very special man.