A Step Back in Time.....

I was awakened this morning by my son's voice. He was on the phone. As I shook away the cobwebs and tried to focus my brain, I realized that he had made the call I told him last night, he could make this morning. I had figured that he'd wait for me to be there too, to make the call, but that's James.....he's impatient, especially once he's got a goal! Yesterday, out of the blue, he started talking about "Grandma Lu" and wanting to go see her and so he was setting up a date to do just that!

Grandma Lu and Grandpa Bill had taken care of James from the time he was 8 weeks old until he was 5 years old. I had found out about them through a co-worker of mine and had gone to interview her while still pregnant with James. She had already had a home daycare for many years at that point and seemed settled, stable, calm and most of all, loving. Leaving my newborn and going back to work was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but Lu made it as easy for me a possible.

We always talk about what an easy babyhood-toddlerhood James had. He ate and slept well. We were blessed with a healthy child. He toilet trained easily. He was a happy, easygoing boy. The fact of the matter is that Grandma and Grandpa, spending more time with James than we did, carried the brunt of the work! We ALWAYS recognized this and were so grateful that we had found two such wonderful people to help us raise our son!! It was Grandma Lu who had James completely toilet trained at 18 months old! She taught him his colors, shapes, alphabet and numbers. Grandpa taught him how to tie his shoelaces. Was that hard for me? Yes, at times it was! But knowing it had to be this way, we also knew that he couldn't be in a better place, if he couldn't be home with me. In some ways, it was better than that! He was getting a lot of socialization there with other children his own age and with me, he would have been alone.

And so Grandma and Grandpa were an important part of our lives for a long time. Since we've left their care, Grandma has been diagnosed with colon cancer, victoriously fought it and is, today, cancer free. For two years, while she fought the cancer, Grandpa ran the daycare with her assistance, as her health permitted. She's now back, full-force, taking care of 5 little ones! They are amazing people!!

We went and spent an hour and a half with them today. They both look good, maybe a little older(don't we all!!?!), but good! We took them a hanging basket of flowers, remembering how much Grandma loves flowers and how much time they spend outside in the summer! It was good to see them again! For James, he really felt the need to reconnect with them......they were so very important to him during his young life! There's no way we could ever thank them for taking such wonderful care of our child!!! We will go back to visit them again soon. Staying close to people like that in our lives is so important!!

Here are two pictures I took during our visit today......
James with Grandma Lu

and here's James with Grandpa Bill

A Visit to the Nursery

After spending the last four days housebound, due to very bad allergies, I had the worst case of cabin fever! I HAD to go and do something today, if only for a little while! So when Dusty got home from work, the three of us headed up to the hills to a nursery that we like, to buy the plants for our summer garden. We usually try to plant our garden around Memorial Day weekend, thinking that we are now safe from anymore freezes.

Dusty's decided to "tone down" our garden this season, and since he does the majority of the work, I step back and let him do his thing!! Every year he puts so much work into it, and it tends to end up very crowded and overgrown. We'll see if it's any different this year! We've decided not to grow as much this year and concentrate on just a couple of things, namely tomatos and peppers. Today we bought three varieties of tomatos and two varieties of peppers. We also bought zucchini, dill and rosemary. We still want to buy cucumber, tomatillo and cilantro plants (gotta have my homemade salsa verde!!), but I think that'll be it! For years now, we've grown broccoli, cauliflower, summer squash, pumpkins, artichokes, etc....but now think that there are some things better just bought at the store or farm stand. We just don't have a lot of room and things get too crowded.

Here are some pictures I took on our field trip to the nursery today. I love taking my camera there.....they do so much better with the flowers than we'll ever do and it's just a feast for the eyes!! The colors are amazing and so enjoyable, and so is the aroma! This year I wasn't able to enjoy that, as I'm still all congested with my allergies, but I loved the visual part!!

Here is a view of their big greenhouse. LOVE all that color and texture!!!

Hanging fushias....amazingly beautiful and delicate!!!

James with some of the goodies we'd picked out to bring home with us.

The different hues and tones of Pansies....ahhhhh!!


Now the work will begin!! We will spend the next few evenings and part of our holiday weekend working in our garden and yard. Stay tuned for more pictures!! Hope everyone is having a great week!!!

End of School, Beginning of Summer and Awards!

Okay, this is WAY past due!! I've GOT to get back to this blog and I thought that this was the week to do it! We're in our last week of school, summer's starting and with it there will be many photo-ops that I'll want to post here. The last few months have been rather drab around here and there really hasn't much been going on worthy of posting!

The biggest thing that's happened in our home recently is that I've lost my job. After 12 years with the same company (plumbing/heating wholesaler), I'm one of the "lucky ones" (yes, I mean the sarcastically!!) who have been laid off. The construction industry has been hit hard by the economy, and I, sadly, am one of it's casualities. We certainly hope that this won't be long-term, but a month into it now, things aren't looking good. There are NO jobs to be had in our area. It's pretty scary!! There aren't even any jobs to apply for right now, though I don't miss a day of looking at the ads. I go out a couple of days a week to "pound the sidewalk", but that's proven difficult as there's really no one out there to even talk to.

And so it goes. So for now, I'm trying to see "the bright side" and that is that I get to spend time with James this summer, for the first time in his life!! I am looking forward to that, as he's not quite old enough yet to resent it! We have things to look forward to....play time and swim time with friends, planting and tending the garden, camping, fishing, and visits from family and friends. Before we know it, August 20th will be here and he'll be going off to take 4th grade by storm!! I will continue to look for a job, but James deserves to be my main focus, at least for awhile. I, of course, will jump on every job possibility I hear about. Time will tell, I guess!

Last night I received a call from Mrs. Matteson, James' 3rd grade teacher. She was calling to invite us to today's "award assembly", saying that James would be getting a couple of awards. We were excited for him and were so happy to be able to be there. He didn't know that she had called us and that we were going to be there, so he seemed quite pleased to see us. Here are a few of the pictures that I took.....


The prinipal, Joe Brummitt, handing out the awards, with James standing next to him.

James with one of his awards!

James and one of his classmates, Sarah. WTG kids....you've made your parents proud!!

James received two awards.....here is his Honor Roll certificate! We are so proud of his hard work and academic achievements!!

And his second award was for "Outstanding Attendance". I think he only missed 2 days all year. We always laugh, because it seems like he has the knack of only getting sick on Friday nights, and by Monday morning he's back up and running!! Mr. Brummitt commented, during the assembly that the staff sees a direct link between good attendance and academic achievement. True or not, the Ryans definitely sees that link!!

I WILL be back here SOON and frequently. I hope that you'll join me! Let's here it for the Summer!!