Evan's Valentine's Day Gift

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and I usually give our grandchildren something each year.  I must admit, this has gotten more difficult over the past few years, as the number of 'grands' has increased, along with my age! Last year, I settled for Valentine's Day cards, and tucked some money in each one.  The 'grands' didn't seem to mind.

Our family was blessed with a new grand-baby, just three months ago, so I felt like a little Valentine's Day shopping might be appropriate, this year.  Oh, what a chore it turned out to be!  I spent two hours wandering around Wal-mart, looking for the perfect gifts.

For the three older 'grands', I finally decided on some Valentine's Day candy, a couple of inexpensive gifts, along with a little shopping money in each card.  For baby Evan, the choice of a gift was a little easier.

While shopping, I saw a little stuffed Chihuahua dog, who was wearing a ball cap.  He was the spittin' image of our grand-dog, 'Jack'. He shook a couple of maracas and sang 'Hot, Hot, Hot'!  It was a 'no brainer', I had to buy this gift for Evan!

Evan and his parents live out-of-town, but they were home last weekend.  I knew I wouldn't see Evan again before Valentine's Day, so I presented him with his gift on Sunday.  I turned the little dog on, and what do you think Evan did?  He cried!  So much for my gift choice, huh?  Hopefully, as Evan grows older, he'll learn to like his new puppy.  I know his Mimi sure does!

Long Time, No Post...

I'm absolutely ashamed that it's been over ten months since I've posted on this blog! I'd think about posting here, from time to time, but somehow never seemed to have time. As a result, I don't have many "Mini Tales" for 2013 recorded! For that, I'm truly sorry.

 On the positive side, at least I've recorded many grandchildren highlights on my sister blog, 'Reflections By Kathy'. Another positive note--our family likes to take lots of pictures!

 During 2013, a lot of wonderful, noteworthy events happened, concerning the grandchildren, including the announcement of a pregnancy, and the addition of a fourth grandchild!

 Granddaughter, Madison, graduated from Kindergarten in the spring, then began doing a first grade, home-school course in the fall. In addition, she's been taking violin lessons, and continuing with dance lessons. 

Meanwhile grandson, Caden,played another round of T-ball, in the spring, then began pre-K classes at Busy Little Beavers, in the fall. Caden has grown so much, this past year. He hardly seems like the same child anymore!

 Grandson number three, Chase, perfected the art of running and climbing, learned how to speak using sentences, and became potty trained by age two! Chase didn't have time to spend 'being a baby', he he had to keep up with the older children in the family!

 Last, but certainly not least, is our newest addition to the family, baby Evan. Given Evan's mom's previous medical history, none of us thought a baby would ever be in her future. It just goes to show, doctors don't know everything, nor do we! Not only did our daughter-in-law, Jennifer quickly become pregnant, she sailed through her pregnancy with ease, until the end.

 For a time, we had quite a scare, concerning baby Evan, when tests revealed that both of his parents were carriers of Cystic Fibrosis. Once again, God showed Who is in control, when Evan turned out to be a perfectly healthy baby boy! Evan doesn't have Cystic Fibrosis, nor does he carry the gene for the disease. Praise the Lord for double blessings! Evan's growing like a weed, and recently turned 3 months old.

 Since I haven't posted over here in such a long time, I went back through our photo files (borrowing some from our DIL's Facebook pages), and made a movie of the past ten months. By doing this, it will sort of make up for all of the posts I missed writing. I'm going to try to post over here on a more regular basis, from now on.  I should be able to at least manage weekly updates.

For now, here are the past ten months in pictures:

 

Milestones...

Milestones.  These are the things we sometimes use to measure our children's growth by, or, in my case, our grandchildren's growth by.  Both of my grandsons reached two milestones last week, and I wanted to record them before they slip my mind.

First of all, there's Caden, who's four.  He always goes to the bathroom by himself, but needed somebody to turn our bathroom light on for him because he wasn't tall enough to reach the switch.  All of that changed last week, when he proudly announced he could reach the switch by himself!  I knew the boy was growing taller!

Next there's Cade's brother, Chase, who turned one on December 27th.  Chase got his first "big boy" haircut last week!  Gone is the "baby look", replaced by the new "I'm a big boy now" look.  I kept having the urge to rub his head all weekend!  There's just something about that first haircut...

These little grandsons of mine are growing like weeds, and I love it!  They are constantly growing and changing, and life is anything but dull whenever they are around.  I wonder what their next milestone will be...

A Birthday Surprise For Madison...

Although her birthday wasn't until October, Madison's parents presented her with an early birthday surprise, in September.

At the time, Madison was a big fan of "The Fresh Beat Band". Way back during the summer, Madison's mama purchased tickets to one of their concerts, but didn't say anything.

When the big day finally came, Madison's parents drove to the city, without telling Madison where they were going.  As they were unloading in the parking lot, Madison's mom broke the news of the surprise.  Madison was one excited little girl!

Taking Time To Catch Up...

When I last posted, the boys, Caden and Chase, had just celebrated their birthdays with a joint birthday party.  Christmas quickly followed on the heels of their birthday celebration.  December is a very busy time at their house!

It's amazing how quickly these boys are growing!  Caden is growing taller by the day, and since Christmas, Chase has been walking all over the place!  He's anxious to get going and join in the fun! The most exciting thing for me, lately, is hearing Chase say several new words. He's been quiet until recently.

Madison is doing lots of growing and changing, as well.  She attends kindergarten from 8 until 12 each day, and it's amazing how much she is learning in those four hours. Reading, counting, writing, memorizing Bible verses, and her newest challenge--addition!  Madison's blessed to have a patient and loving mom who works with her daily at home, too.  My heart swells with pride each time I hear Madison read!

Due to my on-going health issues, I haven't been able to spend as much time with the grands as I once did.    Fortunately, they'd rather spend time with each other anyway.  There's nothing Caden and Madison love any better than visiting each other's houses.  I'm glad they are close.  It won't be long before they'll have another little fellow joining them in play, too.  Time marches on...

Guess Who Turns Four Today...

It's almost impossible to believe that four years have already passed since grandson, Caden, entered this world!  It seems like it was just yesterday.

I still remember the day well.  I was in the middle of hosting a Christmas luncheon for Ed's co-workers when I received "the call".  I hastily left my food in the care of others, and my daughter and I headed to the hospital.  We were able to make it to the hospital about an hour before Caden arrived.

These days, Caden is a typical, active, little boy.  He spends his days playing with his farm toys or his Thomas the Train play sets.  He still enjoys driving the tractor he received for Christmas last year, and looks forward to hitching a ride on "E's" big tractor whenever he can.  Riding in Grandpa's old pickup, on trash day, is also something Caden often looks forward to.

Caden now spends his days in the company of his baby brother, Chase, who will celebrate his first birthday later this month.  Caden's a very loving and protective big brother to Chase.  I hope this will always be the case.

Happy Birthday, Caden!  Mimi wishes you lots and lots more happy days ahead.

Guess Who Is Learning How To Read...

Things are certainly changing around here.  Some days I look around, and wonder where time went!  Wasn't it just yesterday when our little "Maddie" was toddling around the living room watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?  I spent a lot of time with little "Maddie" back in those days, but these days--not so much.  As I mentioned, things are changing.  It's a bit sad, but it's just the way life is.

First of all, our little Maddie isn't so little anymore!  She's growing into a beautiful young girl, and these days she prefers to be called "Madison"!  Madison has a very busy and fulfilling life of her own these days.  She has Alex, the little boy her mama keeps, to play with and keep her occupied whenever he's there.  She is also attending a private K-5 program, and goes to school from 8 until 12 five days a week.  Then, of course, there's AWANA on Wednesday nights, and some homework to do, too...Oh, and did I mention that she has a new puppy, too?

The other evening I had the pleasure of hearing Madison read to me for the first time!  She did an excellent job, and I was one proud MiMi.  My mind couldn't help but wander back to my old days of teaching reading in first grade. I've listened to scores of first graders reading out of the very same book, but none of them made my heart sing quite like Madison did!

Madison has always loved books, and I hope she always will.  I'm a firm believer that if you can read, you can do anything!  Way to go Madison, keep up the good work, and come back and read to me anytime!