laughing all the way

So help me God

2009-01-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

There must be a better way to deal with the frustration of raising my grandkids. So, help me, God.

I have read enough about Asberger's Syndrome to be book smart, but the application of effective coping eludes me.
I have always held very strong opinions as to child rearing. Anytime I ever saw a kid sass or hit their parents, I would cringe and think, "Why doesn't that parent make their child mind?"
My kids knew better. They also knew when to say please and thank you. Usually all it took was one stern look from Mom and they knew they better behave and if they didn't behave I had no reservations about spanking their bottoms. I absolutely believed that misbehaved or bratty kids were the total fault of parents being too lenient.
Then God sent TM to me to raise.
Totally changed my perspective on parenting.
Now I have no clue how to reach this child and am completely frustrated daily.
So, I am blogging.

Like I said under his pic, it really is a good thing God made him so cute.

2009-01-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

TM, it's a good
thing God made
him cute as he is.

2009-01-05T16:08:00.000-08:00

TL, cute as can be,
but I wish he
would've shown
his big smile.

2009-01-05T16:05:00.000-08:00

My number 1 grandson!

He was afraid to go get his
precious hair cut so the only
one he trusted to cut it was BJ.

2009-01-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

My number 1 grandchild!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She also got a 4.0 average on her first report card this year!

2008-08-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

My Beautiful Grandkids!!!!!!!!

2007-08-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

New bridge over I 77 in Canton

2007-08-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

Summer Vacation - my brother the rock star!

2007-08-11T10:26:00.001-07:00

Summer Vacation at Chuck E Cheese - sketches

2007-08-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Summer Vacation at Chuck E Cheese

2007-08-11T10:18:00.001-07:00

Summer Vacation at Chuck E Cheese

2007-08-11T10:13:00.001-07:00

1. Granddaughter, NES
2. Granddaughter, JRH

3. Grandson, GBH
4. Grandsons, TLH and TMH with their mommy, SEB

Family Reunion, Mom's cousin on her dad's side, BL

2007-08-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

I promised her I would send this to Mom, TX sisters, I need your help

Family Reunion, continued

2007-08-11T10:05:00.001-07:00

Family Reunion, continued

2007-08-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Family Reunion, continued

2007-08-11T10:00:00.001-07:00

Family Reunion, continued

2007-08-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

1. Granddaughter, NS with my brother's grandson, BA

2. 3. & 4. My cousin, K#1

Family Reunion at Lake Mohawk

2007-08-11T09:30:00.001-07:00

1. Sister-in-law SM with her new grandson
2. Cousin, NQ picking her nose
3.Cousin, NQ striking a pose

4. L to R: Mom's cousin, BL, Aunt PM, Uncle, DM, Uncle CW, Aunt MS, not sure who the last person is.

2007-08-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Finally!!!!!!! A water fun activity all the kids can enjoy!

Summer fun

2007-08-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

Even before this current heat wave, we made many attempts to find the right water play for our huge yard. First we tried a slip and slide, but but is was a bit boring. We even put it on a downhill slope, which made it more exciting, but the kids' slid beyond the end of the slip 'n slide on down the grassy hill creating multiple belly abrasions----not good.

These pics are our next attempt. It's a little pool with a blow up whale slide. The whale has a spout that sprays water. It looked great in the box but once we set it up, it was very small. The spray was great as a sprinkler and created a rainbow in our yard, but only the little ones could actually use the slide.

2007-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

JR loves holidays. For our nation's birthday she showed her patriotism with her creativity. first she made a crown for our "Little Bit". Next, she created a wall sized banner with construction paper which the boys posed in front of with their self-created hair styles.

2007-08-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

Gourmet lunch attempt

2007-08-11T06:33:00.000-07:00

While watching the movie "Benchwarmers", we decided to create our own gourmet sandwiches. We took 2 of our favorite foods and made skittles and tuna sandwiches. The giggles abounded as we carefully placed the colorful skittles onto the tuna. Anticipation mounted and mouths watered while we took time to pose for pics. Alas, one bite was all it took for us to realize we were NOT gourmet chefs. It tasted horrid! The texture mix was way wrong. Thru trial and error, we now know these 2 favorites should never be mixed. Only GB ate all of his. The rest of us picked off the skittles and finished our tuna sanwiches.

A Day With Daddy

2007-07-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

A day with Daddy brings out the wild side of TM and TL. After spending the day swimming, Daddy wanted to capture just how tough his little guys are. The first pic they are posing as power rangers. The second pic they are muscle men. The pics were taken a couple of weeks ago using a borrowed camera. I have no idea why the odd dates are printed on them.

BJ's Children

2007-06-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

The best gift BJ's daughter and son-in-law brought us was this picture
with all four of BJ's children taken at her daughter's wedding at the botanical gardens at the state park in Hartville, OH

We Have Been Very Blessed

2007-06-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day week-end: BJ's only daughter and son-in-law drove down here from North Carolina to bring us gifts. They brought each of our boys 2 new outfits, took JR shopping and got her all kinds of cute clothes and let her pick out tons of favorites from the grocery store. Also lots of stocking stuffer things from Christmas they never got around to sending that were gems brought this much later. They were so kind, loving and gracious they touched all of our hearts.

Second week of June: From Caregiver Assistance we received a check made out to Goody's for $300 for clothing for the kids. When we got to Goody's, they had this grand sale going on that actually allowed us to purchase $600 in clothing! The kids are dressing mighty fine these days and all they need for school is socks, underwear things and shoes (they also sent us a check for $150 made out to Shoe Show).

Life is good and we are blessed!

2007-06-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the generousity of an organization here in TN, Relative Caregiver Assistance, me and the rugrats spent an entireday at Lake Winnie literally within 15 miles of our house. We rode rides, ate too much junk and walked and walked and walked. GB became addicted to the centrafuge ride that used to be called The Round-up. TL and TM paddled boated their big grandma across the lake and back again----bless their tiny little skinny legs! JR an GB piloted airplanes. JR won purple beads for making the bell ring on the stong-man sledge hammer game and the two little ones each won a blow up guitar (ya'all know this IS Elvis country). We walked and rode and played all day. The last ride of the day we all rode the boat shoot. Everyone got sprinkled except me-----I got drenched. I made sure all the kids had sunscreen on and then I burnt to a crisp! I am posting these postcards for my siblings as it reminded me so much of our childhood neighborhood amusement park. Meyers Lake Park--I can remember "kids day" each year when every ride was only a nickle. Ok, so I am gonna be 52 in a couple of days. All in all, we had a great day as a great family.

Birthday time!

2007-05-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

We are all busily preparing for JR's 14th birthday. this is the first party we have hosted since we came here. Funny how my home looks fine on an everyday basis, but when I know company is coming, I view my home from someone else's view and I see all the things I can ignore on a daily level. I won't go into detail about the carpet spots ,the unwanted wall decorations, or the Christmas things still not in the attic at the end of May. But I will say trying to clean and organize a house with 4 kids as my only partners is a challenging endeaver. I have discovered that white vinegar is a Godsend. I put some in a spray bottle and it works on carpet spots, and mouthy kids. They hate being sprayed with it more than they like to fight.

TM is an official 1st grader!

2007-05-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

This is my youngest grandson, thus far. He graduated from kindergarten May 17, 2007. My son (his daddy) and I attended the ceremony at the elementary school. The kindergarteners wore their caps and gowns, complete with "07" tassels. The background music was "Pomp and Circumstances" as the tiny grads' procession entered the gym from outside and continued until every grad was seated. The seating for the spectators was limited to the small bleachers on one side of the gym. Many parents, grandparents and other family members quickly filled the bleachers to watch 6 different kindergarten classes graduate. I sat on the bottom step of the designated walkway of the bleachers and my son sat on the gym floor directly in front of me. I could easily rest my arms on his back and did so as i realized I was watching my youngest watching his youngest graduate----even tho it was only into the first grad, my heart was warmed. The designated keynote speaker read aloud the book, _I"ll Love You Forever_ and that was the end of my composure. I had bought and read that book to my sons years ago.

2007-05-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

I love my computer, don't get me wrong. But it has so many secrets, it baffles me. If I can ever figure out how, I would love to post some pics.