Happy Birthday! Isaiah

12 years ago on Mother's Day-May 11th, our 1st grandchild was born. Isaiah Matthew could not have been a more beautiful baby and could not have been loved more! He was perfect in every way.


A lot of changes over the 12 years for Isaiah and he is now a year away from being a teenager. Isaiah has been blessed with intelligence that he applies well in school and has kept his good looks! Even though Isaiah keeps moving further away, we get to have him spend at least a month with us in the summer time. We love you Isaiah!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!

Convenience instead of looks

Today I got the bright idea to bring down a TV from the upstairs that was useless up there, and hook up the Wii on it. At first, Brennan wasn't sure he liked the idea, but I sold it to him by telling him, this way he didn't need to wait to play until we were done watching TV. After he tried it and found out it was ok, he was soon sold on the idea. As soon as his parents walked in the door, he said, "Look, now I don't have to wait until Papaw and Grandma are done watching TV, to play the Wii!" I didn't want to put the Wii in a different room, because sometimes we play with him as well and it also allows for more interaction this way.

Since Brennan will be here while Matt and Monica are in Ethiopia for 1 1/2 weeks then Isaiah for 1 month this summer, it seemed like the thing to do.

I'm a pretty practical person and convenience instead of looks tends to win with me most of the time. Within reason that is!

So what do you think....does it pass?

A good laugh

Matt and the boys were here for lunch and as normal, Brennan stayed here to play the Wii when Matt took Sawyer home to nap. Wil and I had cleaned up the kitchen, changed into comfortable clothes and sat down on the couch to rest.

"Papaw, do you want to race with me?" Wil wasn't sure he still remembered how but desided to delay his rest to play.

"Ok Papaw, you have to press 2. Ok, press it now. No-no, don't go in the water"....too late.... back out of the water.....which way am I supposed to go? "You are going the wrong way Papaw, turn around." (Grandma kathy is laughing hysterically in the background) Bumping in the wall, falling over the water fall, getting back up, going the wrong way and making U-turns and finally it was over. Brennan wasn't sure it was too nice of me to laugh that hard. Papaw finished 12th place or otherwise said, LAST. Brennan finished 2nd!!

Brennan has played this game more than anyone else around here, but it just amazes me that a 4 year can learn so much without reading.

Perfect Ending to a long Week

Brennan and Sawyer love to eat apples and even better when you peal the whole apple and let them munch away.

This was a busy week for me at work. I put in more hours than I have in quite a while and so I came home from work rather tired today. However, there were things that I really wanted to get done. I quickly did some work in the kitchen then I tackled a room upstairs. What used to be our Office-Library had turned into a storage room. It was a mess and I needed to find a new place for all our luggage and Back Packs! Brennan and Sawyer will be staying with us when Matt and Monica travel to Ethiopia to bring home our newest grandson, so I needed a room where I could set up a Crib for Sawyer. It would be easier to put them in their own beds at their house, but it would be hard for me to get anything done at home. Also Brennan has been looking forward to having a lot of sleep-overs when his parents are gone. We will see how long the excitement lasts.

Today while I was working inside, Wil and Brennan were outside.
After Wil was worn out from splitting wood, he headed for the garden with the Tiller and Brennan right behind him. I was working upstairs when Brennan came running into the house insisting that I needed to come to the garden right away. "Grandma, there are onions growing and you just have to see them." I guessed we missed digging up the last onions
that we had planted last year and now they have come back up! So much for tilling up the whole garden. Wil seems to be more eager to plant than I am. I'm anxious for zuchini and tomatoes but not for the weeds!



Wil checking to see if his asparagus survived. 1-2-3-4-5 hmm.

After Sawyer woke up from his nap, Matt took him out to see Papaw. The boys had a great time playing in the dirt and Matt captured it with his cell phone.

Hiromi's Japanese Wedding Song

Here is a video from Wil's niece Hilda & Joel's wedding that we wanted to share. During the the Open Mike, Joel's Father sang a traditional Japanese Wedding Song. We didn't get the 1st part of the song on video. You can also view a larger version in YouTube.

Joel's parents- Hiromi and Miriam
To read more about the wedding, enjoy this blog-http://miriamiwashige.blogspot.com/

Strong wills

I just have to tell a few stories on my grandsons!

Saturday Brennan and his buddy Noah were over at our place watching us cut up a tree. Brennan wanted to go in to play the wii but his Mommy said they needed to eat lunch 1st. Brennan was not pleased at all with that decision. "Well, I'm going to ask Grandma!" I can't remember the conversation that went but he marched past Monica and gave her a swat as he walked up to ask me for permission to play the wii. Well, he never got it asked. Instead he was taken home and dealt with there. I told him later, that in the future he should just know that Grandma will never say anything different than his Mommy. He smiled and said, OK!

Monday night we ate at our favorite restaurant-El Zoriito in Topeka. Sawyer is starting to show his strong little will as well.

As we were leaving, he stiffened up his body and was insisting on walking inspite of the rain. Monica looked at me and said, “oh ya… this is what you have to look forward to… and your welcome!!” She was talking about when we watch the boys when they are gone to pick up Jeremiah.

Wedding

Bride-Hilda & Groom-Joel


Awesome center pieces made by Joel's mother.


Angelo and his friend Anna



Wil sister, Sue and her husband David-parents of Hilda



Brennan was all worn out from playing with Tyler. he slept almost the entire wedding and Monica was in the Nursery with Sawyer.


Brennan giving Aunti Melissa a hug





Wil's sister, Mary with our daughter, Melissa



Cousins, Chris and Matt

I have too many pictures that I'd like to post, so I think I will put them on Facebook.

Traveling to KS

We headed for Kansas on April 8th. This is Daudy watching a video. We stopped in Iowa at Wil's Aunt and cousins for 5 hours. They have numerous green houses and we were intrigued with the tomato houses. Traveling with elderly people is interesting and testing at times but it went much better than we anticipated.

On Thursday late afternoon we help with some wedding food preparation, folding programs and napkins.
In the evening those of us that were there enjoyed a meal at David's. On Friday morning Wil & I left soon after 7 to help load food and things for the wedding preparation. In the evening my side of the family was together at my brother, Wilbur's.

Fallen Tree

Monday April 13th our first day back from Kansas, Monica called me at work to let me know that a very tall tree fell down in our back yard. What a mess.
We didn't do anything with the tree until this morning. It was quite an art to get the tree cut up since it wasn't completely detached. Would it fall on us? Grandma Barbara worried about us the entire day.




This was my first real fire this year. Some people think that it's a sign that I had a good day.

Even Brennan and Sawyer got in on the action tonight. Yes, I said tonight. This project began this morning and ended tonight after we were too dead to continue. I am sunburned and hurt everywhere. I can't imagine how Wil must feel. Some may think that our heat in the winter is free, but I'm here to say that we work hard for our heat. You could say it's like having another part time job.

Happy 60th Norm

Today we had fun celebrating Norm's 60th birthday. My sister Anna and a friend came to the office, all decked out in their best teeth, wigs, clothes and makeup to wish him a Happy Birthday!

Carol had a surprise party for him at their house. He was certainly surprised since he thought he was going to have a party on Sat. A bunch of us showed up at their place as he was getting ready to work outside.

The best part of the surprise was that all of his brothers were coming for the weekend and he didn't know anything about it. He thought he was working Saturday but Jan and I had rescheduled all the patients but just didn't remove their names from the books.

About an hour and a half after the group of friends were there, 3 of his brothers that were in Ohio showed up. His big surprise was when his brother from Kansas showed up!

This is Norm when Ellis walked in the door.

Harold-Ken-Norm-Ellis-Nate

I don't know if Carol could have given Norm a much better gift, than to get all his brothers to come celebrate with him. All the wives were able to come along except for Ellis's wife.