Weekly ramblings

Somehow I can't believe it is already Wednesday. How does time move so fast and I accomplish so little! Today I went into town to go to a Zumba exercise class and let me tell you I have the rhythm of a white girl! The teacher is this beautiful woman who makes it look so easy and she moves very well! I can barely follow the steps with out tripping over my own feet! Afterwards the girls and I went to Music Makers and then to McDonald's to play with our friends. We had to run a few errands (we were out of Milk, dish washer soap & Laundry soap - really I am not organized these days). Then off to the pet store and fabric store for some dog chewies and fabric for another project.

Tomorrow is picture day so we need to go cut Charlie's hair after homework and before Taekwondo. (Plus we need to bath the dog - he got into the mud at the park -really by letting Annie have his lease this dog baths every 2 days it seems!)

One of these days I am going to have to post a copy of my weekly calendar. A girl friend with her first asked me about my daily routine and I have to say that as the kids get older it is not so much the same routine every day any more but a weekly routine with a different thing each day, but for the most part it is the same each week.

Birthday Party Mayham

Tonight we took Charlie to a birthday party for his friend Zachary at a place called John's Incredible Pizza. My camera died before I got too many pictures. The kids all had a great time but the one word for it was overwhelming. There were so many kids and loud noises that Audrey melted down and John had to take her out to the car. I was never so glad to see a party end when the time came. Not to mention I was so thankful that John went with me. I don't think I could have done it alone.

As much as I love my kids and would do almost anything for them, sometimes it is easy to get really overwhelmed and want to say no more!

My baby is a baby no more!

Today after I got Audrey dressed I realized she is definetly no longer a baby! She is a little girl and she is too cute for words. So is her big sister. It is amazing to me how fast they are growing up.

Future Olympian?

Annie had her first Gymnastic class today and she LOVED it! She is taking the class in Folsom at Tricks. Her little friend Josh (the boy in the picture next to her with their chins on the bar) is taking the class with her and they had a great time. She has been asking me since we left if she is going to get to do this forever? Watch out maybe in 2020 you will get to see her compete - but let's be honest, she may be too tall for gymnastics by the time she is 6.

The Circle of Life

My Grandpa passed away today. For those of you who have heard about my Grandpa you knew he was quite sick and in the last few months his health had declined very rapidly and he had been in a lot of pain. It wasn't a shock that his time had come, he was 80 and like I mentioned quite ill. Hospice had been called in and so we had been told it was just a matter of time, weeks really.

Yesterday, the girls and I were driving back from Music Makers about 10:30 and Annie said to me, "mommy, old grandpa, is in heaven now." I came home and told John that it was a little strange that she brought it up because she hasn't seen him in a while and I haven't brought up to the kids how sick he has been. I just made a mental note of it her comment and went about my day. Well today my dad call and told my brother and John that Grandpa had passed this morning.

When I told Annie about it this sweet little girl sobbed and said "I know Mommy, I told you all ready". She was devastated. I tried to explain to her that Old Grandpa was in Heaven now and that his body worked again, that he could walk and talk just fine now and that he was with my Grandma. Annie has always had a sweet spot for my grandpa. He always had treats on the table by his bed (in his last few years that is all he wanted) and you could often find Annie sitting on his hospital bed eating them. Grandpa was always so nice to her and let her climb all over him and eat his treats whenever she wanted. My Grandfather had made me a wooden jewelry case when I was a teenager and Annie has it in her room and calls it her treasure chest.

I know we all have different memories but I do have good ones about my Grandpa. He always called me babe, really he called all women and girls babe. "love ya babe" was always signed in birthday card with a check. I remember being so excited to have a gift like that, especially as I got older and started buying my own school clothes.

I remember also that my whenever my grandparents visited they would take us to the toy store and let us pick out whatever we wanted. It was always so fun to walk through toys r us and pick out something special. Also KFC, I don't know why but when ever they came to Sac or we went to Riverside we had KFC with them. I also remember my grandfather always had a work shop, he loved to work with wood and was a construction worker for his career. He always had a project - or maybe he just liked being out there so he could smoke and my grandma wouldn't know it.

My grandparents were also very nice to John. I remember the first time John met him he was wearing a thick wool sweater and with his deep voice John thought he sounded and looked like an old fisher man. He always loved to ask John about Florida and his family there.

My grandparents also gave all of us a bunch of savings bonds. John and I were expecting Charlie and my dad called me into his office one day and told us he had found one that he hadn't realized he had, it helped out with me getting to stay home longer on my maternity leave. I truly appreciate how hard my Grandpa worked and that they thought enough of my siblings and I to give us these gifts. I am sure when they started them they had no clue what they would mean to us in the future.

I truly am happy for my grandfather that he is no longer in pain and in a better place. What joy for him that his body and mental state aren't causing him pain and he is free of his physical limitations. I pray that he is somewhere where he can work with wood and make everyone some more key chains or walking sticks out of the worm eaten wood he loved. We love you Old Grandpa ~ Til we meet again.

Homework!

Well after Charlie's first spelling test it has seemed to all go down hill. He is having a hard time with his spelling words each week. He does fine with the words you can sound out but the words you just have to know like what, from, was, where, were, they - those types of words he struggles. Tonight John must have spent 2 hours with him practicing hopefully it pays off. We have been working really hard with him and his reading is really getting good!

On a positive note - he is great at Math! California has changed it's education requirements and now you are required to take Algebra and pass it by 8th grade so they have started hard core teaching basic algebra concepts as early as first grade. Charlie really seems to get it and loves to to do his math homework. He can answer questions like 8-_=2 and tell you what the answer is.

It's a really live dolly

This morning Audrey and I went to visit my friend Jackie and her son Carter who is 2 weeks old. Audrey was in love with Carter and wanted to hold him and pick him up the whole visit. At one point she was playing with some baby toys that we were passing on to Carter and had a bunch of rings in her hand and was trying to pick him up out of his bouncy seat and couldn't do it (mom wasn't letting her little did she know) and she was trying to figure out how to lift him when she dropped to toys and tried again, like maybe if she didn't have anything else in her hands it would work.

She was very sweet with him and loved to hold him and kiss him. We are so excited for the Koenig family! Congrats.