Halloween costumes

Hi. Well, it's Thursday and it's rainy and kinda cool but that's ok cause we need the rain and it's time for it to turn cool, right? It seems like I mostly write about the grandkids so let me start this out by saying, grandchild number 3 is due in late spring. I am SO excited! I honestly think daughters maybe shouldn't mention the impending birth until around the 6th or 7th month. I told my daughter this and she said I'd notice she was getting rounder. And I told her I would but I'd be polite and not say anything. Anyway, 8 months is a long time when you're a grandmother waiting to hold the next little cutie...but anyway...I'm drifting into another story. With Halloween around the corner the little ones have picked out Halloween costumes. The tiniest tot is going to be Batman. He is already singing the theme song from the movie. We picked up his Batman bucket yesterday so he is good to go. The older one...well, he has a Darth Vadar costume but he wouldn't mind being a host of other characters as well. I don't like Darth Vadar and so each day we have this discussion about good guys and bad guys. He likes this discussion because it is new and ties in to what he is learning at Sunday School about God, etc. So anyway, yesterday he asked me if Darth Vadar would go to heaven and I told him bad guys don't go to heaven. Which means we have to go through a list of bad guys who aren't going. So then he asked me if God was a good guy to which I respond yes, He is. He asks if there is anything evil in heaven to which I say no. So he thinks about it and asks if God doesn't like evil and I say no, He doesn't. To which he responds with...another question...God only likes good things? to which I say yes, only good things...this train of conversation continues in this fashion for a while about good and evil and then out of the blue he asks, "Can I be God for Halloween?" And there you have it...you can be smug in what you say to little children and think all you want that you've explained things really well and that surely there can be no possible "other" questions...and then there is. Ok...so you can't be God for Halloween...why? doesn't God like good things? To which I replied, "I don't think we can pretend to be God." Which now comes full circle and I hear...but doesn't He want me to be good? Yes, he does. So why can't I be God? And now the only thing left to say is, "Ask your mom." And now it's, "So I need to ask my mama?" Yes. She'll tell me if I can be God? Yes...oh look! Did you see the deer by the side of the road? Is the deer good? Yes. Does God like the deer? Yes.......and you can imagine the rest of the story!!! Love ya...have a great week!

Wooded paths, creeks, banks, and small grandchildren

The creek I used to play in as a child...a nice fall day...two grandsons and a thought of how lovely it would be to take the boys there. That's all it took for me to be up and out with the boys yesterday. I forget sometimes about my aching knees and that I'm not as young as I used to be...though I am by NO means OLD...it's just my knees that have aged beyond their years! Anyway, I thought I'd go to the creek on my Pawpaw's place...the one I haven't been to in 15+ years. I also thought we'd go a new and easier way...we'd just follow the path my nephews had made. Now I can follow a path as well as any 20 year old but after following three of what appeared to be paths...well, I began to wonder. At the end of each they just ended. Got to a cliff and ended!!! Now, think about it...a three year old and a 22 month old and me with my knees in tow...up and down hills and hollows to come to an abrupt end. Oh we can see the creek. We just can't get to it! The 3 year old handled everything like a trooper. He was up to the climbs and all about staying on the path. But the 22 month old had a navigation system that NO one but he could possibly understand and it had NOTHING to do with staying on the path with Grammy! Anyway, I was ready to give up and go home but the 3 year old has seen the creek from three different cliffs now and he is ready to see it close up. Soooo...against my better judgement but having the will to be successful...I decide to do what I should have done from the start. We go the way I always went as a child...well, mostly we went that way but the old path seemed pretty grown up so I veered off of it onto another path. I have a lot of respect for those big snakes that love those woods! Anyway, by veering off the old path onto the seemingly newer one, we once again came to a cliff. The 3 year old, obviously seeing how this was gonna go, looks at the cliff, looks at me and then sits on his bottom and says, "Grammy, follow me" and off he goes to my horror and his giggles. So now he is at the bottom and I am at the top and he says to come on!!! Now, the 22 month old has decided this whole little adventure is worthless. He hasn't been allowed to play with the red berries, he can't wallow in the weeds (which I'm sure are full of poison ivy) and he can't wander off to make his own path. So, I am at the top with a 22 month old who has dug his feet in and refused to budge and a 3 year old who has slid down an embankment and is on his way to the creek. I have no choice...knees or no I have to go. Soooo I grab the 22 month old and down we went. Not much grace and no style whatsoever but we got to the bottom and to my relief all of our parts are still in tact. On sitting the 22 month old on his feet I discover he still will NOT budge. He is cemented to the ground where he stands. The 3 year old is at the water (which will barely cover our feet) and has waded right in. NO, NO! We weren't supposed to get IN the water...we were gonna stare at the water and collect pretty rocks. Sooo, I pick up the baby and head to the water. Once his feet are on the ground again he finds his legs and this time, once again, he points his tiny tot self in every direction but the one we should be going in. As I dash off to retrieve him...quick sand...I had forgotten about that. One leg sinks to the knee and the shoe fills with sand. This is the final straw...well, that and the fact that the mosquitoes have sent out messengers to alert every cousin within 10 miles that a feast is on at the creek. We play for a few minutes and then we head out to the many protests from the young but Grammy has officially had it!!! I know the water is full of germs and bugs and who knows what!!! And rocks...what happened to those fossil filled ones that used to line the banks? I was relieved to see parts of the old path at this end recently clipped and very little "uphill" to it. I knew then we could go around by the pond and be out of this place. We made it back but I stood there wondering...What possessed me to do this? And in doing it, why did I have to do it the hard way? Why didn't I just go the way I knew to go? And ultimately...what was really accomplished? And then, I hear the oldest grandson saying to his brother..."Did you see that brother? That sand tried to suck Grammy up and her shoes got full of sand but she didn't even yell and then we played in the water and did you hear that big splash I made with the rock I threw in? and we slid down the hill on our hineys. That was the best part! and I got mud on my pants and you tried to get lost but Grammy kept saving you and then Grammy found me a special rock and put it in my pocket and now we get to ride in the back of her car with our shoes off!!!" All said in that little kid excited voice and my brain yawns and says...you'll do it again...as long as the knees keep working Grammy...you'll do it again.

Wonderful Fall

Hi. It's Friday. Yipppeeeeee...a long weekend. Monday is Columbus Day and most schools, calling it a Fall holiday, will be closed. So, Grammy gets a nice long three day weekend. No moving to do; no college son coming in with those loads of laundry...in fact just a three day stretch of...well...nothing. Of course, I'm not optimistic. I've been here before and SOMETHING always seems to happen and then WHAM! it's Tuesday morning! But for now I have the thought of doing what I want to do for three blissful days. Being a long time veteran now of the elusive free weekend I know that they aren't all they are cut out to be. Friday night may go well. Oh yeah...I can watch what I want to watch when I want to watch it. That lasts a little while and then ok, I can read...yessiree I can read as late as I want to. By 11:00 the book falls out of my hand and then...ok, I can just go on to bed...yes, I can. Nothing to do...I can sleep. Then Saturday morning comes and with the first sign of daylight I'm awake but I could sleep late...so I try and then it's around 6:30 and ok, I'm tired of the bed and after all I'm wasting my time here. I can do whatever I want to do...I can do it whenever I want to do it...I can do it however I want to do it...oh yes, what a day. The one I've waited for. Breakfast...hum, seems silly to cook for one...so maybe I'll just have....well, what? And so the day progresses and by 3:00 in the afternoon I've done so much of "nothing" that I'm bored with it. And Tuesday morning getting up time is 63 hours away! So anyway, the thought of the do nothing weekend is grand but in the big picture...well, it's just that...a thought. It's always best to NOT have too much free time and more than likely, once again, this three day weekend of doing nothing is simply an elusion and by Saturday afternoon I will once again be invovled in some endeavor which seemed likely to be accomplished in a few simple hours and yet Monday night at 10:00 I'll just be finishing up. For those who know me...they know this is the MOST likely scenario!!! (OH, I can paint the door...it'll only take 15/20 minutes!) See ya later...have a good weekend!!!