Mudfest

Lisa, my friend, requested a story on mudfest so here it is:

Mudfest: An annual event at the local park where children and adults (if so desired) maneuver through an obstacle course through running, walking and crawling over, under and thru tires, tubes and the like.

My daughter is one of the few qualified to run the daycare van where she works (as the book keeper). She was bringing the 7 and up year-olds to the park. I asked her if she could bring Blake along and I'd be there to watch over him, after all, she was just dropping off kids and their teacher would be watching over them. Blake was excited about riding in the daycare van, he rarely gets to do that since his class seldom goes in the van, (they take a chartered bus when they go places).

I was anxious to see if Blake would get muddy this year. He is 4, but last year he did NOT want to do THAT! He came prepared...wearing old clothes and sneakers that could easily be discarded and good thing he did! Clean clothes and good shoes were in his backpack. Most kids were shoeless so he took them off anyway.

Anyway, my friend, Lisa met me down there with her 3 sons. Blake stood in line eager to get muddy with Lisa's three. I was thinking...as long as Ben, Lisa's 5 year old, a.k.a. Blake's "new best friend" (we were out with them earlier in the week) was following his two older brothers, Blake would be a part of the muddiest kids on earth day, or at least in THIS town.

Blake was a great sport, he followed along walking through deep mud, at times up past his ankles. It was so much fun to watch him kinda waddle his way through. I think I had as much fun as he did. He was laughing and kept doing the course over and over. So much better than last year.

While walking back to the car he informed me, "I do NOT want to do this never ever again, gramma!". I told him "That's ok, you don't have to, but I know you had a lot of fun today". Personally, I think he was a bit annoyed at the cold, wet clothes clinging to his body. Back at the car...I took off his shirt, tried to convince him to let me take his shorts off but he refused, laid a big thick blanket over his car seat and over the back of the passenger front seat, to keep muddy feet off seat. *I* put him in his seat, (after all, if he climbed in; there would be mud all over) and told him to just sit still while I drive up the road a very short distance to home. He said, "but gramma we don't want the police man to pull you over", letting him know he was exactly right, I reminded him this is a one time thing and he needs to sit still so he looks like he is buckled in. I would never put him in harms way. I think I went 15 in a 25 mph.

I get him out of the car and finish stripping him naked, carry him through the house, up the stairs, and finally into the tub. He tells me he wants a bath but I tell him he first needs a shower to rinse off what we can.

Now he is in the tub, and decides he wants to go back to school (daycare). By now the kids in his class are just about finished with their lunch and getting ready to settle down for their naps. I try my darndest to convince him it's nap time at school and it'd be no fun. "I'll take you back after nap is over". (I HATE telling him "no" when the subject isn't that big of a deal). That doesn't work, he starts trying to convincne me to take him to school. *I* think he wants to go to tell his friends all about his muddy day. He asks to play with his toy boat in the bath and I tell him playing will take too much time and you won't be able to get to school before nap time starts. Luckily, he decides the boat is more fun. Whew!

Meanwhile, I call Jennifer (his mom) and tell her all about our adventure, she is anxious to see the pictures and video, she just can't wait till after work, she comes in a half hour during her lunch time. I warned her that Blake would probably want to go back to school with her if she came. Of course I was right but we reminded him it was nap time and he could take a nap on grandmas couch, instead of in his bed (at my house). He was cool with that idea. And I was cool with the 3 hr. break. Blake is excellent at taking long naps. He will easily take a 3 hr. nap and I still have to wake him up most days.

Check back for pictures in a day or two, not sure if I can get them up today.

For those that don't know me real well... when I am experiencing a "BLAKE ATTACK" I sometimes have his parents drop him off to me in the morning and then I keep him all day or I will go pick him up at daycare either in the morning or usually after nap time. But for the most part, he is a daycare boy. I think he enjoys learning and being around other kids. However, given the choice he will usually, but not always choose grandmas over daycare. I truly enjoy all the time we spend together and seeing how Blake is rarely READY to go home I think he feels the same way.

Our dog, Lilah

At the request of my niece, Mychele, I went looking for Lilah (to take a picture) and here is where I found her. We got her in January of '04 because a co-worker of Sam's decided 2 dogs and a cat were too much.

BTW Lilah was rescued from the animal shelter. We were dogless for about 7 months and Sam was thinking we should check this dog out. We took her on a trial basis and she was sooooo full of energy, leaping from love seat to couch in a single bound, and just enjoyed being held and cuddled so we kept her. Another plus.... she came crate trained. Now she goes in there to sleep.

She looks to me like she could be part Shepherd and Beagle? Have no idea how old she is. They really don't tell you much on shelter dogs. Her name was Dalilah, but I never wanted to call her "Da" for short so I changed it slightly, not to confuse her too drastically to "Lilah" besides my mom's hairdressers' name was Lilah.

We love her dearly and the only thing we would change about her is the fact that she would definitely run away if given the chance so she has to be on a rope or leash ALL the time while outside. We're so worried the grandkids will open the door and out she will run into the woods and never be seen again. She has a tag with all our info on it on her collar but the fear is still there.

Once, before moving here, she escaped and had to be chased down through yards and yards. Finally, she stopped to say hi to somebody and they grabbed her for us.

pump'in heart

Say’ in “Nuth’in” Led My Heart to a Pump’ in

On Thursday, Tom, my friend called and asked me what I was doing tomorrow. After thinking about the things I needed to accomplish I said I was doing “nuth’in” after 10:00 A.M. He asked me if I would give him a hand over at church spreading mulch. Stated he needed to dig out some weeds and I could spread the mulch. So I said ok. Oh one more thing…he couldn’t get started till noon, (the heat of the day). I told him I was not happy about that but I’d still help out.

I meet him over there and he is already started digging out weeds and let me tell you, it was a mess. He already had a wheelbarrow full of dirt and weeds, he takes me on this long journey passing up what I call great dumping spots and we finally get to “our dumping spot”. Good grief, it was way out of the way!

But okay, we go back and we’re both hot but we need to continue to get this task done. I get out my water bottle and take a drink. Now I feel better, I can get this done. I start to rake up some weeds while he digs `em out. I told him I would go dump the next load.

On my way back I had to sit on the ground and take a rest. It was too hot and too far and too much labor, my heart was pounding. So I get back to Tom and he has some weeds dug out and ready for the wheel barrow. He tells me I can sprinkle Preen on the ground before the mulch. Yippee, finally something easy for me. I get the Preen down and attempt to dump mulch; the bag was too heavy for me. Tom sees me struggling and dumps the bags of mulch for me in various areas along the now weed free spots. Another trip to dump weeds and dirt, this time I didn’t need a rest before returning back to the work site but nonetheless, I fuss, “it’s too hard”. Tom suggests I just sit down and take a break and keep him company while he works. I feel bad `because I am already complaining and Tom has worked so hard with the shovel that he already has an open blister. A couple minutes later he attempts to sit down too. His heart was a pump`in too. That’s when I suggest “let’s go inside, in the A/C and get some cold water and sit a bit”. It was 90 degrees and very humid. This continued for 4 hrs. (working and sitting and pump’ in) Finally the site was weed free and beautiful again. Time for a treat, off to UDF where Tom bought me a chunky banana malt. Yum.

Since I am not in the habit of hauling the camera with me, I had to go for a walk in the neighborhood to find a mess very similar to the one we encountered. But since I am blogging, hey, I might as well share what is happening in my life. Now I think I need a camera phone so I can take a shot when I am into something I want to share. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

And of course the finished results:

Our grandkids!

Since the first days post worked as planned I think I'll get a little braver...time for a picture.

It's time to introduce you to our precious grandchildren. Blake and Jayde she is 8.5 months in this picture and Blake is one week shy of turning 4. It was very tough to get a decent shot of the two of 'em. Jayde wanted to eat the flag every chance she got and well it's just tough to get 2 or more kids in a good shot. This was taken July 4th at our house.

First day: 8-20-08

Today is my first day of writting a blog. I have been reading a friends blog and see how much she enjoys it, so I hope the fun continues with me.

I really hope my friends and family read what is happening in our life as I update from time to time.

This is very new to me and I am actually sitting here trying to get through step by step BY MYSELF. I don't have my dear 'ol hubby here beside me and you all know he knows what he is doing and I have no clue what I am doing on a computer, so I will just stop now before I mess things up and have to start all over.