FALL 2013

I thought fall was going to be a busy time for us but I had no idea it was going to be this busy!  A garage sale, bowling, pre-school, apple orchard, Grampy’s memorial, pumpkin patch, Halloween bon fire and trick or treating is just some of what we had to do this fall.  It was all crazy, busy and a lot of fun.

At the end of last school year Jame’s speech teacher told us that she was going to bring him back next year but he would graduate out of the class quickly.  We asked if we could leave him in and she told us no.  We started to look for something for him to do.  We finally decided on pre-school and bowling.  He was very excited on his first day of pre-school and Mom was a bit emotional watching Little Man walk into the school for his first day.  The pre-school has been wonderful for him and he is already writing his name.  We signed him up for everything thinking his speech would end soon but we are still waiting for the teacher to let us know when he is done.  On the days he is not in pre-school he has speech and one night a week he goes bowling.  All we can think is the teacher really likes him and doesn’t want to see him leave but its okay I still think it’s good for him. 

The bowling is only for forty five minutes and at first I wondered why so short but then I quickly realized that the attention span of a four year old is about that long.  They put the bumpers up for the kids and give them a ramp to roll the ball down.  Jame at first used the ramp but then moved to a side kind of throw, then sometimes back to the ramp.  We did the entire first session of bowling and then signed him up for another session.  He still likes it but we saw signs for indoor soccer around town and we gave him his choice of soccer or bowling and he said he wanted to try soccer.  I’m thinking he’s going to like the running better.

 

Uncle Bob and Aunt Dorothy are moving into Holland Home, this brought back a lot of memories for me since my Great Grandma or as we used to call her as kids Grandma with a mustache only because Great Grandpa had a mustache.  We needed to have a garage sale to help them with their move Mimi, Auntie Jea Jea and Mommy did a lot of work to get it all ready.  On the day of the sale Little Man and Hopey were there and Little Man started to sell popcorn and lemonade and did a pretty good job of it.  The sale went well and the kids were good with the long days away from home, I think a lot better than I did.

September was wrapping up and I needed some pictures for our calendar and we thought a trip to the apple orchard would be fun.   We went to County Line Orchard, the same place we go to in October for pumpkins the only day we had available to go was on a weekend and wow was the place busy.  We headed into their apple orchard to pick some apples and take some pictures.  The kids had a great time picking apples and climbing the trees.  Hope was happy walking up and down the line of trees picking up apples and occasionally taking a bite out of them. 

We lost Grampy last spring but waited until his favorite time of year to have his memorial service.  He did not want a usual memorial service and I think we did him proud.  We had a bonfire and served all his favorite foods.  We had to rush around and get all of our fall decorations out and the yard ready for a bonfire but we made it.  We encouraged people to bring things to add to the fire and Uncle Andy brought a softball that Grampy and Uncle Andy used to toss when they were waiting on the girls.  His intention was to throw the ball on the fire but after he told the story, Mimi suggested that he give the ball to Little Man, so he signed the ball and gave it to Little Man.  We had photos of Grampy all over and playing on the TV. Cousin Kevin read a post from Jynx about her dad and then we played a song that she had recorded earlier for him.  Everyone enjoyed the food, the fire and the company and I even noticed a game on at times.  I’m sure Grampy Rock would be proud.

We picked up Little Man from Pre-school and as he got in the van he turned and told his teacher that we were going to the pumpkin farm with Bailey!  He had been excited all day long.  We have been going to County Line Orchard with Bailey ever since Little Man was one and now Hope was making her second trip to the farm.  The first place we went at the orchard was to the animals, Hope got a big kick out of the goats and Little Man loved watching the pigs chase each other around the pen.  The kids loved the animal area running from animal to animal and then playing with the toy tractors and playing in the hay.  We then headed over to the pumpkin patch.  It’s always fun to watch the kids in the pumpkin patch running around all the pumpkins, even Little Hope was having fun running around.  We then gathered the kids and took some great photos including one of our family.  It was great to see the photo of us together after all these years; it was very special.  Little Man picked out his pumpkin and one for Hope then we boarded the tractors and headed back to the barn.  We had to take the other photos in the cornucopia and in the pumpkin house.  After we got home I got out the photo of Bailey and Little Man from the first year we were there.  I’m not sure any words are going to describe the pictures so I’ll just post them here.

Little Man’s pre-school not only had a field trip to the zoo this year but also to a pumpkin patch a different one than we usually go to.  The entire family was able to make this trip and all the kids met at the Pumpkin patch.  They loaded us on hayrides for the trip out to the pumpkin patch; the kids all had great fun sitting and playing in the hay.  When the tractor stopped in the pumpkin patch we all got down and picked out our pumpkins.  After we picked out our pumpkins and headed back the kids still had a great time running around the farm, feeding and petting the animals’ and taking a ride on the barrel train.  Even though we have one at home they still like to ride the barrel trains when were out and of course, I like to see how they built theirs.  We had a great time at the pumpkin patch but the weather started to get rainy and cold and cut our time.

We decided for our annual Halloween party to extend the haunted trail around our house.  The new bounce house works nicely on the side of the house but it prevents the barrel train from going around the house.  The tractor made pretty easy work of completing the trail and some junk mulch finished the extension.  After the party we measured the loop around the house to be a ¼ mile trail.  The bon fire was fun as always and driving the barrel train down the haunted trail at night was great fun.  I hope the kids had fun with the train and the bounce house but just in case we had the piñata and a scavenger hunt for the kids.  I’m still in shock how fast the kids got done with the scavenger hunt.  The food as always was plentiful and way too much of it although I did my best to try all of it.

Early in October I asked Little Man what he wanted to be for Halloween and he wasn’t sure but we looked at Wal-mart and he did pick out a pirate costume.  I had learned from last year that we should wait to see because he will change his mind several times.  The costume did change a few times from a pirate to an explorer, to a police officer and a zebra.  Zebra seemed to be the one he asked for most, we think it was from his field trip to the zoo.  I looked for a decent zebra costume but had no luck either the costume was cheaply made or way to expensive.  I told Little Man one night that we would go and look at costumes and when he found one he liked that is what he would be for Halloween.  We first stopped at Once upon a Child and no luck for Little Man but we did find three options for Hope a blue fuzzy monster, a ladybug and a peanut.  We asked Little Man what he thought his sister should be and he went with the peanut.  We tried the costume on Hope and as soon as it was on she began to laugh and run around the store. You can’t argue with that, so Hope was a peanut.  Next we headed to a Halloween store for Little Man and no luck on a zebra but he did find a police man costume we were excited that we had a costume but unfortunately it was not in his size.  We then headed back to Wal-mart again and that’s where we found the kid riding a dinosaur costume but Little Man wanted binoculars.  We added a hat and binoculars and Little Man became an explorer riding a dinosaur.  The dinosaur costume was missing one thing and that was legs on the side so I went into the old clothes and found a pair of pants and some shoes to hang on each side to look like his legs.  Auntie Jea Jea attached the legs for him and we were ready for the big day.

Halloween was looking more like the Halloweens I remember as a kid, cold and rainy.  We loaded up peanut and the dinosaur explorer in the van and headed out.  We stopped at Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Jim’s house, Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick’s and then to Baley’s Grandpa’s house.  With all of that done we then headed out to Baley’s house for trick or treating.  Weather was a problem this year and some areas cancelled until the next night.  We were lucky and there was a nice break in the rain just in time for trick or treating.  Little Man started off saying one of my favorites and one of mom’s least favorite sayings.  “Trick or Treat smell my feet…” and that’s where he would leave it the whole thing goes Trick or Treat smell my feet give me something good to eat if you don’t I don’t care I’ll pull down your underwear.  He did really well on saying Thank You to people after getting the candy.  Hope did fairly well but not really grasping the concept of getting the candy we took her up to some of the houses but skipped some.  We brought her little car she got on her birthday to push her around in and she was busy climbing in and out of it.  The kids got quite a load of candy that is still sitting at the house calling my name.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching so fall is not over yet but as you can tell fall has become a fun and busy time of year and a lot of fun.  As we hit the stores for the after Halloween sales I couldn’t help but wonder what costumes the kids will be wearing next year.  The clock has struck midnight on Halloween 2013 and the Christmas ads have begun but Halloween 2013 left us with some great memories.

 

 

Summer, Birthday's and More

 

July is always going to be a busy month for us and 2013 has been no exception.  We have the 4th, Jynx’s birthday, Little Man’s birthday, Hope’s birthday and finally our Anniversary.  All I can say is that it is a good thing my birthday is not until November.  All of this and we still managed to get a few more things in as well.

I had to do a bit of running on the 4^th of July, I drove from our house to Elgin (to direct a parade), then down to the cottage to celebrate for the 4^th with the family, left that night for home for some sleep then up early to head downtown for work, then back home, then back down to the river. I drove about 535 miles total.  Jame had a great time on the 4^th, the neighbors at the cottage had their grandkids in town and they were about the same age.  Jame had a fun time playing in the pool with them and may be getting better with getting his face wet, a bit of a problem during bath time and trying to teach him to swim.  Later that weekend the neighbors shared their fireworks and sparklers with us. 

After the 4^th we had to head back home for work but made plans to return soon.  We decided it would be fun when we headed back down to stop off at Fair Oaks Farm.  We had stopped there before with Little Man but this would be Hope’s first time.  We took the tour of the cows but they now have pigs as well, but decided to do that tour the next time we come.  Little Man is still amazed by the little cows they have.  The giant milking carousel only briefly holds his interest and then he’s ready to move on and so was Hope, I can’t say that I blame them, I can only watch it so long and then I’m ready to move on.  When we got off the tour Little Man was ready to run and play and that’s exactly what he got to do in their play area.  Auntie Jea Jea, Jynx and Hope took a walk around and found their way over to the birthing barn.  No live births while they were there but they watched a mother and a newborn from a couple hours earlier.  Little Man and I finally found our way  there but it can only hold his interest for so long knowing that there are things to jump on outside.  We had a great lunch followed by some of their famous ice cream and off we headed back down to the cottage.

At work someone asked if we went to Indiana Beach since we were so close.  No we haven’t and I thought it was about time to change that.  The neighbor boy’s were still in town so along with the neighbors we headed to Indiana Beach.  Indiana Beach had a great deal going, where you filled up a card with money and then used it through the day, each ride was only 50 cents.  I had a great time reminiscing about Indiana Beach and what had and hadn’t changed since I was a kid.  The Skee-ball room was exactly the same and Little Man and I rolled a game.  The old Haunted House had been changed into a pirate shoot up ride that was fun but I miss the bad haunted house! The only redeeming factor was at the end of the ride you turned a corner and were blasted by a loud truck horn and lights that always scared you even though you knew it was coming.  Jame once again showed that he loves rides by hopping on every ride with no fear and laughing the entire way.  I think he’s really going to be a roller coaster junkie, like mom and dad.

After the 4th holiday it was time to buckle down for the birthday celebrations.  This was Hope’s big first birthday and Jame turning 4.  We planned the big birthday party for a few weeks after their Birthdays to give us a bit more time to get things ready.  Hope had her own birthday surprise for us when she decided to start walking on her first birthday.  Now she is walking all over and keeping us on our toes.  On Little Man’s birthday, we took him to Greek fest a carnival supported by one of the local Greek Churches.  He had a great time on all the rides and wanted of course to go on the bigger rides that he is still not tall enough for but he still tries standing on his tip toes.

We also found time this summer to head on down to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum the world’s largest Children’s museum.    The Museum was exactly that large, we spent a good part of the day there and I don’t even think we scratched the surface of what they had there.  We started off with Dinosaurs, then trains, then a carousel, then a construction play, then an Indy car, and then onto an Egypt exhibit, then into an Avatar exhibit then on the way out they played on the castles and checked out the huge dinosaur looking into the top of the building.  We then headed out for some dinner at the Spaghetti Factory before heading back to the river cottage.  Needless to say the kids slept soundly that night.

After all that we then started the big push for the Birthday parties.  Good thing we only have a small party for them, two bounce houses, swimming pool, piñata, Hot Dogs, A new  360 degree seesaw and of course there was the barrel train.  I built the train for last year’s party but the kids didn’t seem too interested in it but this year, it had new life.  We bought a new tractor and attached the train to it and the kids loved the train and kept asking for rides on it.  The party was a huge success and Little Man had a great time at his party and Little Girl had a great time as well eating her entire cake and looking for more.  We spent the evening opening up gifts from everyone that wasn’t supposed to bring a gift, and once again the house was filled with gifts. 

The next day after the party the neighbor kids came by and asked if Jame could come over and play.  I said of course and had no idea Mom would have a hard time with her baby going off to play with friends.  Throughout the afternoon she kept asking if I could see or hear him and I had to let her know the moment he got home.  When he did get home they stayed and played for a bit and he had a great time.  His personality is really starting to show through everywhere we go now he introduces himself by saying “Hi my name is Jame and I’m four years old.”  He will also see kids when were out and yell “Hey Kids!”  Jame and Hope got invited to the neighbors birthday party, I was out of town so Mom and Jame went and it was at a place called Bella boos (a great place for kids under 9 to enjoy) and when Kayla opened the gift from them Jame began telling her how he made the doll for her; it was a Barbie. Little Man is filled with stories and a great imagination.

We often arrive somewhere to Little Man telling us how he brought his kids there one time.  He tells us how he has two kids and their names are Jame and Hope.  He also has dogs and a house in Floriddida that’s the way he pronounces it.

I arrived home from work the other afternoon on a beautiful August but fall feeling day, it was in the high 70’s.  We decided to take the kids down to Navy Pier; we wanted to take a photo with Hope in a cute sailor outfit and needed to do it before she outgrew the outfit.  We started to try and take some pictures but the sun was too bright so we had dinner sitting out on the pier.  We then headed back and took some pictures with the kids, then we enjoyed the rest of the evening riding the Ferris wheel, playing mini golf, Jame once again was asking everyone to watch him because he was really good at the game and everyone on the course knew his name was Jame and he was four years old.  We ended the evening with a stop for ice cream and headed home.  It was a great evening 

I still can’t believe the kids are already four and one and I know from now on I won’t believe how old they have gotten.  This summer has been very busy but a lot of fun and we’re not done yet. We have made a lot of memories this summer and I can only hope that we remember in our busy lives to keep building memories with them.

 

 

 

Summer 2013

Summer has just begun and we have already crammed a lot into our hectic schedule.  We usually have a list of things we want to do with the kids in summer and we have been able to make a dent in that list.  I’m not sure if we can keep up the pace but it is starting out to be a fun summer.

Just in the nick of time I learned that National Train Day at Union Station was happening.  We took Jame before and he got a big kick out of it and with me having the day off we just had to make the trek downtown.  Uncle Brett was the one who informed us that it was happening but unfortunately he already had plans for that day and was not going to be able to go.  Jynx also had to work that day and she was not able to go so it was just a Jame and Daddy day.

We got up that morning and Little Man got dressed up with Mommy’s help as a train engineer.  When we arrived at Union Station I didn’t know if I would get Little Man inside since he was so excited to see all the taxi cabs and busses outside.  I always love entering the Great Hall at Union Station and walking down those famous steps.  We made our way around looking at all the toy train displays and I noticed everyone looking and smiling at Little Man in his engineer outfit and who could blame them, he was really cute.  After a bit I noticed a fellow cameraman and stopped to say hi to him and it wasn’t long before the producer asked if she could do an interview with him.  I’m not sure how the interview went but he seemed to enjoy himself.

We then made our way over to the kid’s area where they were handing out gifts for the kids.  This year one of the sponsors was Disney so one of Little Man’s favorite shows Chuggington was all over.  They handed him a safety vest with the Chuggington characters on it.  He also got a couple of toy trains that work with his wooden train track and of course coloring books.  They also had some toy trains to play with, Little Man has a set at home but of course he wanted to play and why not.  I noticed there were very few trains for the kids and I took a moment to look at my phone and when I looked up Jame had two of the trains he was playing with while the other kids watched.  I’m not sure how he pulled this off but I stepped in and had him share and a few; minutes later he once again had the trains in front of him.  One day he’s going to have to teach me how he pulls off this trick.

We then spent the rest of our time touring the big trains.  We saw all the Amtrak cars and Little Man was in heaven.  We then went and toured the luxury private rental train cars and it was hard trying to get Little Man from touching everything in the luxury cars.  We then went on to see the engines that were parked and we took a bunch of photos of them.  We were getting ready to head out but I wanted to get a few more pictures with Little Man in his engineer outfit and the famous stairs at Union Station.  We were almost finished when I felt a tap on my shoulder; it was Uncle Brett who had made it.  Uncle Brett is planning a trip out to California on Amtrak and he was hoping to see what the trip was going to be like.  I asked Little Man if he wanted to see the train again and of course he agreed.  We walked the train again and Little Man helped Uncle Brett figure out how the tables worked on the train.  After Little Man got Uncle Brett ready for his trip we went to the food court for lunch. What a great day, thanks Uncle Brett.

One of the things we wanted to do this summer was take the kids to the zoo.  With a rare day off we headed out to Lincoln Park Zoo with both Hope and Jame.  Jame loved all the animals and Hope just loved being outside with all the excitement.  Little Man still says his favorite animal was the tiger and he still laughs about the monkeys.  When we approached the monkey’s one monkey stepped close to the glass soon followed by another monkey who flipped over and let the other monkey pick his butt, as you can imagine every kid there started laughing.  Little Man asked “why they doing that?” I explained that the one monkey was just checking to see if the other monkey had a stinky butt.  I don’t really know why the monkeys do that and I don’t really care, maybe it’s just to entertain the kids. 

No trip to Lincoln Park would be complete without a visit to the farm.  As we walked over to the farm we had to stop on the bridge and take some photos with such a great view on such a nice day.  After taking some pictures we headed to the zoo where Little Man got to feed the cows, pet a chicken and watch the cows get milked.  Speaking of milk it was at this time we realized that I packed food for Hope but not a bottle and she was getting a bit grumpy.  I headed off on foot to find the closest Walgreens and when I returned she was asleep. Oh well.  We had a great time at the zoo and the kids both had heavy eyes as we headed for the exit, but we were all hungry and headed to Gino’s for some good Chicago deep dish.

Little Man’s talking keeps improving and we took him to movies in the park the other night where he introduced himself to everyone he saw; “Hi my name Jame.”  It was a perfect night for sitting outside and watching a movie although Little Man was a bit confused why we would do that when we could watch a movie at home.  He quickly forgot about his question as he ran around with all the other kids in the park he had introduced himself to earlier.

The movie in the park was the kick off to our town’s festival and the carnival was in town.  We took Little Man to the carnival and he was very excited to go and we met Bailey there and they hit the rides together.  When they headed over to the dragon roller coaster Bailey was tall enough but Little Man was a bit short but he quickly remedied the situation by standing on his tip toes.  Jynx did not notice what he was doing but the guy in charge of the ride did.  After we all had a good laugh, he allowed Little Man on the ride.  He still says, that was his favorite ride.  Little Man has also now discovered his love for corndogs that he had after they were all done riding.  I, of course had to break my diet and get a deep fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and it was good! I think we will hit another small town carnival before the summer is over. The rides are totally geared towards little guys like ours and we will probably take Hope too to ride her around in her stroller.

It’s hard to believe that our Little Hope is already nearing her first birthday.  Hope has now shed her Jumping Jenny and is only spending some time in her walker.  She now has figured out how to crawl and is standing up in her playpen. She is starting to cruise the furniture and loves to walk with someone holding her hand. She is very close to walking. We now have to put locks on the cabinets and if we forget one she finds the one you miss. When she does get her hands on something a big smile grows on her face and in Flintstone like fashion she runs away.  Her excited smile is contagious and truly warms your heart.  She will also let you know if she is hungry or just not happy, which is very rare.

Going back and writing about all of this already has me tired.  The kids are growing up way too fast and I know when the summer is over I will think that the summer went by way too fast as well. I will just have to enjoy every second with my kids.

Easter 2013

Easter 2013 surely snuck up on us being so close to St. Patrick’s Day we barely had time to take down St. Pat’s and put up Easter.  We didn’t do our usual decorating for Easter but we did more than most.  Easter although quick still turned out great and was very eventful to say the least.

Our Easter events started out with a visit with the Easter Bunny at Little Man’s favorite restaurant, Tyler’s Tender.  As many of you know we have an inside track with the Easter Bunny (pun intended) and we knew he was making a special appearance.  I raced from work to Tyler’s to find the place filling up quickly.  Jame and Hope came later with Auntie Jea Jea and got to meet the Easter Bunny who took a liking to those two.  When the Easter Bunny stopped to take a picture with them other patrons laughed as they both turned to pose for a picture.  Gee, I wonder how they learned to do that.

 

I found a cute Easter Bunny outfit for Hope and got the Roger home photo studio ready.  I changed Hope into her outfit and I’m not sure if she liked the softness of the bunny outfit or maybe it was that she had just ate or maybe it was just gas but she gave me some great smiles.  Little Man jumped in the shot a few times, I’m not sure how he does it but he does know how to pose for the camera.  I have found myself trying to pose him when he will do something completely different and it turns out to be a great shot.  I wonder if hope will develop the same talent.  If the Bunny outfit was any indication she is well on her way.

We made plans for the Dyer Easter Egg hunt.  The hunt was going to be different this year since Little Man was moving up an age group.  We met Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick at our favorite Mexican restaurant Chips and, we have become quite friendly with the owners.  After an accident with a hot sauce bottle, we were trying to show Jame’s rocket ship countdown He told me it was not good to use the bottle but I convinced him and he was right.  We headed to the park and Jynx took Hope back home since she was too young for the hunt, Little Man didn’t go at her age either.  Watch out next year she will be on the hunt.  We got to the park and Little Man ran to the park and started playing with all the other kids until they called for us to line up.  The one complaint I have about the hunt is how early they line us up, it’s not easy to control a three year old in front of an open field filled with candy.  The goal was to get one egg then as much candy as you can.  You could trade the egg in for a prize so I spent the long moments before the start of the hunt coaching Little Man to get an egg first.  When the siren sounded Little Man ran out in the field past several eggs and right to the first green egg he saw, green is his favorite color.  I was happy he got the egg and we traded it in for bubbles.  He had a great time grabbing candy and then he was off to the park again to play some more.

We have been in touch with Hope’s Birth-Grandmother and decided to get together with her.  We met at Chuck E Cheese’s so Little Man could run around play.  We had a great visit with her, well maybe I should say Jynx, Mimi (Jynx’s Mom) and Hope had a great visit with her while Jame and I played.  On the ride home Jynx filled me in on all the details from the visit and then asked me what I thought.  I simply told her it sounds like the kids now have a Grandma Vicki. 

 

While we were visiting with Grandma Vicki at Chuck E Cheese’s I was handed a flyer for an Easter egg drop from a helicopter.   Thought Little Man would get a big kick out of this, unfortunately the day before Little Man became ill.  The next morning Little Man was up early and back to his old self and out the door we went.  When we arrived I could not believe my eyes on how many eggs were on the ground and the number of people in attendance.  We walked around a bit and got the lay of the land, Little Man played in the park for a bit until we headed over to the rows of bounce houses they had.  Little Man had a great time bouncing while we found out there was going to be two candy drops from the helicopters and one egg hunt for the kids so it was suggested we wait for the egg hunt missing the first helicopter drop. 

As we waited by the ropes for Little Man’s age group we watched the helicopters fly over the other part of the park and drop candy.  When the horn blew for Little Man’s hunt he headed out and started to fill up his bucket that quickly became full and I started to wonder what to do with the next eggs he got when a crowd of kids came along like locust and grabbed the rest of the eggs.  I’ll have to remember next year to bring extra bags for the eggs.  We then headed over for the helicopter drop, the helicopters flew in and hovered over, Little Man’s face was simply amazed.  The helicopters then took turns dropping candy and then after the helicopters flew away the kids were allowed to run into the field.  Little Man definitely got his fill of candy.  As we headed home Little Man fell asleep after a long night of being sick and a very busy morning of egg hunts and helicopters he was not the only one who needed a nap.

When Easter morning arrived Little Man woke up quickly to the news that the Easter Bunny had come.  He got dressed in his Easter clothes and we dressed Hope in her Easter outfit.  Little Man dove into the basket finding trains cars and candy some of his favorite things.  Hope found a stuffed lamb and a teething ring.  We had to tear Little Man away from his new toys and headed off to church.  The kids were great in church, Little Man decided that his tie looked better outside of his vest rather than inside every time I tried to fix it he pulled it out again, it gave a bunch of church members a good laugh.  After church the Easter Bunny made another appearance for the church Easter egg hunt.  Little Man was now an old pro at the Easter Egg Hunt and had no problem posing for pictures with his old friend the Easter Bunny.  We quickly headed for home after church since we had a house full of people showing up.  Jame and Hope of course got way to many toys we had way to much food and we were all ready for a nap at the end of the day. 

Easter was just as great as it could have been in such a short time, maybe it was a blessing that the first holiday without Grampy Rock snuck up on us.  As great as Easter was there was an empty chair and an empty space in our hearts.  It was a joy in seeing two Easter baskets out and not that I ever want to wish time away it will be great fun and hectic next year when we have to watch two kids in two different age groups hunt for Easter Eggs.  Happy Easter.

Grampy Rock

One of the many reasons I have not been writing as much was because of Grampy Rock.  Jynx sat down after his passing and wrote a beautiful tribute to her father. 

 

Dad came home last Sunday night and Jame Jack immediately went up to his bed and climbed the rails and said, "I love you Grampy and I missed you".  My Dad smiled at him and tried to put his hand on Jame but was weak.  He also saw his pretty girl Hope Rose as I held her above him on his bed. He looked at her and smiled and tried to wave to her. Fortunately, when Dad was home a couple weeks earlier, we had wheeled him into see our sister Jame and although he was weak, he said faintly “Hi Pretty Girl”.  I have to admit, I was very proud of the fact that there were 2 pretty girls in the house. Dad did have a song for my sister Jame which was Jame Jame Jame, I love youuuuuu, Jame Jame Jame, yes I dooooo. If you listened to the tune you would think it was catchy.

Unfortunately we had to take Dad back to the hospital the very next morning; he spiked a fever that we could not bring down. Dad was diagnosed with sepsis in the ER from a UTI and pneumonia again.

 

Although he wanted to stay with us he got tired and left us on Tuesday March 19^th at 2:57pm.  While my Mom, Jeaj and I were with him, my Mom told me how he never thought that he would be a Grandfather.  My Dad told me we had a million dollar combination when Hope Rose graced our lives because we now had a boy and a girl.

Jame Jack sat in Grampy’s lap quite often and Dad would read to him.  Hope Rose was held by Grampy a bit and she sat next to him in her jumping Jenny just smiling at him and him at her.  We all will make sure my kids remember their Grampy Rock. We feel so blessed to have had our father in our life for as long as we did and I know he lived a good long life but for us it is never enough. I guess I am a bit selfish for myself, Jame Jack and Hope Rose that I wanted our time to be longer together.

Dad was all about his family, so strong, loving, and always seem to be the voice of reason.  I was so proud of him especially through his last 2 years of life. He dealt with quite a bit of pain and never complained. My Dad was always liked by everyone and loved by many. He did not have a pretentious bone in his body, he was not a vain man and he was the most honest and fairest person I ever knew.  Dad loved songs like “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, “Danny Boy”, and Mom and Dad’s song was “Unforgettable”. Many did not know that Dad had a pretty nice singing voice.     

         

Dad liked the simple things in life. Dad was not one to go out much and I remember when Jame was younger, she had a convulsion at Disney World so he stayed with her while Mom took Jeaj and me through the park. Dad never did get back to Disney World, yet we went many times when we vacationed in Florida. He loved watching his sports which was just about every sport you can imagine from football to tennis and hockey to gymnastics.  He loved horse racing as well. Dad always amazed people on the stats of so many sports that he had in his head. He knew what colleges athletes came from and what draft pick they were. Dad could also add large odd numbers in his head where many would have to write the numbers on paper and add them together or use a calculator; he would have the answer before you had it with a calculator.

The only sports he didn’t watch were kick boxing, professional wrestling and NASCAR.  He helped care for my sister Jame for about 36 years until he needed help and could no longer care for her; he was our provider and worked very hard for his family. Only a Great Man could do what he did.

 When he retired, he was a putzer doing little things around the house and sometimes even trying to re invent the wheel and giving us all a good laugh.  One of his favorite jobs was burning leaves and our paper garbage.  I can remember him raking some leaves together and then lighting them all the while dragging a lawn chair around the yard to sit and watch the fire he created and then do the same thing over again in a different spot. Mom got annoyed at this because every fall we would have burn spots all through the yard.  By spring, the spots would be good as new and if you added a little grass seed they would be even better.

The best thing that happened for me was that my entire family was under one roof and although many might say that’s crazy, we simply said you do whatever you can for the ones you love and you forget about all the trivial things like your house not being exactly the way you want it to be. I personally feel that my relationship with my Dad grew so much stronger the last few years of his life and I know for my sister and I that we will be eternally grateful to our Dad that he let us care for him especially when we did not always get things right.  He knew we were trying and that was good enough for him.

 We feel blessed that we have always been able to talk to our parents and so there was nothing left unsaid. Thank you for all your prayers, positive energy, and happy dances. Our whole family has been helped tremendously. We love you Dad, Grampy, Rock, Jimmy, and Jim Dear. You are in our hearts always!!!

Celtic Blessing

May the roads rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rain fall soft upon your fields
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Anon

  He is not lost our dearest love,
nor has he travelled far,
just stepped inside home's loveliest room
and left the door ajar.