I'm Back!!!!

I'm back to blogging now that basketball is over with. Still have tennis but won't be traveling all of the time for that.

In my first free weekend in quite a while, Bear, myself and my mom went to Dallas to spend the day with the Bryce Clan. Hedder and Brodie came over and spent the day as well.

We had hoped to be able to watch ARB play softball but her game was "lightninged" out. Of course, the lightning didn't start until just before her game.

Anyway, we had a good time, enjoy the pictures with the Cubs.

Cute story

Here's a cute story that I though you guys would get a kick out of.

We had Sunday lunch at our house this past weekend. Erin and Bobby and girls and Heather all came down to Waco for the weekend.

I was sitting on the couch and motioned for Landry (2 1/2) to come over to me. I whispered in her ear "I love you", she whispered the same thing in mine.

Then I told her to go tell Grampy that. She pranced over to him and said, "Grampy, Grammy loves you."

What a hoot that child is.

Gotta brag

OK, you guys, gotta brag on my fantasy football team, it's not too often that I get to do that.

First, I'll explain that I was playing myself (I have two teams because we needed one more to complete the league). We have a family league, Hogs and Heifers, and I've had my Pig and Cow Crushers team since the inception of the league many years ago. This year my second team is called HOH, those of you Big Brother fans know where the name comes from. Well, the two teams played each other this week and according to the match-up the computer figures by the players you're playing, the HOH team was supposed to beat the Crushers by about 10 points.

Well, thanks to, among others, Houston's Matt Schaub (94.9 pts.) and Andre Johnson (43.8 pts) and Detroit running back Jhavid Best (60.2), the Crushers CRUSHED the HOH 340.3 - 212.5.

That is all well and good until Houston has a bye, then I'm in deep doo-doo. It will be my luck that Houston and Detroit will have the same bye week.

You Never Know...

I'm sure many of you know that you never know what kids are going to do or say. Here's a couple of cute things that a couple of my 'grands' have done or said recently.

Erin has a daughter, Landry, who is a typical 2 1/2 year old. Landry is not particularly fond of having her picture taken and will often hide her face or just plain turn around when it's time for a picture. Well the other day she so proud of herself that she was more than willing to pose. I must say it's the best picture she's ever taken. Here is the story that went along with the picture.

Ashton and Erin were doing homework and Landry was in the playroom playing. After about 5 minutes of not hearing anything from her, Erin asked her what she was doing and when she turned around her face was GREEN!

After the "NO ma'am, we do not write on anything but paper and the white board" and "Where did you get the marker" and "Landry Paige, that is NOT a good choice" Erin rushed her to the bathroom to wipe her off. But before that Landry graciously allowed her momma to take her picture.

Luckily, it was a Crayola Dry Erase Marker that wiped right off with water, but can you imagine if it had been an EXPO dry erase marker!

When Erin asked what in the world she was doing, she responded with this answer "well, I was just trying to be Twist (from the Fresh Beat Band) wif sun-cream". {There is an episode when the band members apply sunscreen and Twist can't quite seem to get it all rubbed in.}

There's been a couple of Parker, who is just three weeks older than Landry, funnies lately as well.

On Labor Day we were at their house for a BBQ. Something happened and I said "dang it". Parker immediately said, "Grammy that's a bad word." I said, "Parker, what am I supposed to say?" He retorted with "Grammy, you're supposed to say 'Oh, man'." It seems that dang it is too close to damn it and his parents wanted to make sure no one thought he was saying bad words.

Last Sunday they were at out house and he was racing around and I said "Hey there Charlie, slow down." His reply was, "My name's not Charlie, its Parker. Charlie is a boy in my class!"

I think it was the late Art Linkletter (who most of you have never even heard of) that said "kids say the darndest things." So true!!!!

A Day with Parker

Yesterday Megan and Ricci had a wedding to go to so Parker and I had a date.

With permission from Megan, I took him to see his first movie. Since he LOVES Woody and Buzz Lightyear, we went to see Toy Story 3. Well, half of it any way which is more than I really expected him to last through.

After we left the movie we went to visit Ninny. He has special toys at Ninny's house and makes a b-line for them each time. I thought he was going to try to take his favorite flashlight home, but a quick pocket check showed that he was a good boy and had put it back in its storage place.

Next it was on to Toys R Us. A couple of weeks ago I babysat him and since we couldn't stay around our house (Bruce was sleeping) or go t Megan's (she was having a party), we went shopping at Toys R Us and Wal-Mart. I told him before we went to TRU that I would buy him a small toy but not a big one. I let him walk around rather than ride in a cart and he did great. Had a blast playing with all the toys. He would find a toy that he liked (mainly a Firetruck) and I'd say no that's too big, I'd find a small firetruck and he'd say no that's too small. This went on the whole time we were in TRU and WM. It was hilarious.

Anyway, back to the original story. Ninny asked him if he was going to get a toy at TRU and he said no, just gonna ride the toys (meaning sitting in/on the big motorized cars and tractors). When we got there that's the first place he wanted to visit. Luckily, all of the 'batteries' on the cars were 'dead' and he couldn't drive them, just sit in them.

To make a long story short, since he was so well behaved, we got him a fireman's suit. After eating at McDonald's (his intake consisted of chocolate milk, a few french fries and then he literally drank what was left of his BBQ dipping sauce). How gross is that, didn't touch his chicken nuggets.

Then it was off to Auntie Heather's to proudly show off his fireman's outfit. Then it was time for Grampy to wake up so we went there to visit him. We headed back to Parker's house about 8:15, intending to put him to bed, NOT.

He was soooooooooooooo excited about showing his mom and dad his new toys that he insisted on staying up until they got home. What's a Grammy do to, say no? I don't think so. LOL.

So, when they got home (about 10:15) he was sooooo excited. Hopefully, he slept in for them this morning. I don't think they had an easy time getting him to bed because when I left he still had the coat on and had gathered up the hat, mask, fire extinguisher, badge and hatchet, put them in a pile and was laying across them saying "don't take my fireman toys away from me!!!"

Aw, the joys of being a grandparent and being able to leave and go home.

Enjoy the pictures.

Landry's Swim Lesson

We try to go to get to at least one of Ashton's activities a season and did see a softball game this spring.

Landry is taking swim lessons so I figured that it would be nice to go watch her. My mom and I went up and saw a lesson this morning. As active as she is, I am amazed that she is willing to sit on the edge patiently awaiting her turn. Very proud of LPB in the pool.

Family Visit

On our way back from West Virginia we spent Sunday night in Knoxville. We were able to visit with my cousin David, his wife Sharran and my Aunt Olive. I had seen David and Olive at the Ham-Bilyeu family reunion but hadn't seen Sharran in almost 20 years.

A good surprise was that John (David's brother and my cousin) and Bonita had gotten back from their trip to New Guinea so we were able to visit with them as well.

They all came over to our hotel and we visited for a couple of hours.

David, Sharran, Olive, John and Bonita, thanks for coming to visit with us!!!