Tuesdays with Gramma: July 2015

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Thankful Thursday - Chase Donald Carroll

This young man is an amazing kid - at least as far as I'm concerned. Chase is now 14 and I find that very hard to believe - what's even harder is to realize that he is now taller than I am. He still allows Gramma to give him hugs but gets a little queasy about kisses.

Chase with his little cousin, Katie. Thank you, Chase, for being such a gentle, kind big cousin. Katie loves this young man and likes to sit by him or hold his hand or whatever.

Thanks for enjoying Yellowstone and Devil's Tower with us on the way home from Washington this summer. You are an awesome traveler - never any complaints from the backseat. You were also a very patient young man at the museum while Grampa read everything in sight. You can come on vacation with us anytime - only thing better would have been if Sam had been with us too.

It will be exciting to see what the Lord has planned for you in the future. Keep blowing that horn of yours - maybe we'll even get a chance to see you marching this summer.

Love you!!!!

Have a great week
Gramma and MOM

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Amy and Kurt's New Home

After we arrived home from Arizona, we hit the ground running. Amy put us to work on her new house. I have pictures of our painting days but I can't find them right now so will post what I can find.

This is Amy cleaning blinds - what a crappy job!!! She helped with the master bedroom blinds and then went off to work and left the rest for me. I sure hope she realizes that I do expect "pay-backs". What fun it was painting, at least some of the rooms. Peter and I did the master bedroom and den in the same colors but it sure freshened it up. Then while Peter did odd jobs, I painted Chase's room and his bathroom. One day Aunt Sue came with me and we did the family room and the laundry room. Amy said I could paint the laundry room any color I wanted so we did a perky yellow with a sunflower border. You need a pick-me-up when doing laundry. Just have to put the border up yet and paint the guestroom and I'll be finished with our original "to-do" list.

Amy and Kurt's new home

Moving Day was May 9th and they had a very nice crew of movers. We were done by noon.

The backyard is very nice - all fenced for Buddy the Dog. Here is Backyard Clean-up Day.

Chase thought it was great fun to help mom pick up leaves, twigs, etc.

We'll be going up for several days the end of the month so hope to finish up at least a few more of my projects.

Amy & Kiurt, I've enjoyed working on your home and thanks for letting me do pretty much whatever I wanted. I'll take some "after" pictures next time I'm there and post them too.

Have a great week ahead!!!

Love to all,

Gramma and MOM

Friday, July 3, 2015

Going Home

We left Arizona a little earlier than usual this year because Kurt and Amy were moving into their new/old house and we wanted to be able to help them with some painting and whatever else they came up with.

Before we left, we found this little fella in our back patio. Now it's not unusual to see these little geickos runing around but after I took his picture, we discovered he was dead. I'm not sure what it was that stopped him dead in his tracks. I dried him out in the sun for a couple of days and then put him in a little container so I could bring him home to our Miss Katie who LOVES lizards. He made the trip all the way to Washington in good condition but boy, did he stink when we opened the container.

These are the views we had from our windshield going home in Arizona and New Mexico. Aren't they beautiful?

A cross on a hill.....

Snow!!!

In Columbia, Kansas we visited the National Orphan Train Museum and it was very nice. Over 300,000 orphans were transported from the streets and orphanages of New York City to the Midwest. Each child was given a suitcase such as the one below and that is all they had in this world with two changes of clothes. One outfit they wore each day on the train and they had one "fancy" outfit to wear when they arrived in a town that had organized "give aways". The children would be brought into a church or townhall and lined up for potential parents to take. Many of these children were never adopted but just made their homes with the families. They were to be fed and cared for and sent to school. For some children, it was a new life but for some others, it was almost slavery.

There was another component that was connected with a newborn/young child orphanage in New York City. People could "request" a child of a certain age and even a certain color of hair and eyes. The orphange would attempt to match them up with prospecivet parents. The prospective parents would be sent a letter with a number on it and a patch with the matching number would be sewn in the child's clothing. These children were all adopted by the parents, which was one of the conditions.

If you are ever in the area, it's a very interesting small museum to go to.

That's it for today. Happy 4th of July!!!

Love to all,

Gramma and MOM

Thursday, July 2, 2015

The Most Wonderful 2015 Graduate in the World!!!!

HOLLY

Anyone who knows me, knows that Miss Holly holds a huge part of my heart and has since the day the nurse handed her to me 18 years ago!!!

What an honor to be able to be in Lynden for all of the festivities. We were able to be there for her Awards Night where she received the award for female Orchestra student of the year, her senior presentation (on ice cream), a quick violin recital and the church service honoring the seniors.

This is Holly's special Senior Service at church. There were four seniors and each was able to choose their favorite hymn or praise song. Holly's song was "In The Garden" - a favorite of mine and a favorite of her great-Grandpa.