April Catch Up

If I would write a little bit every week and not put it off, I wouldn't have all this catching up to do.  I'm tired of feeling guilty every time I see that orange blogspot icon, so I'll give it a shot but not sure where to start.

I'll probably split it into several small sections so I won't lose my focus and neglect writing for another month.

First cousins!  Well not FIRST cousins, but it gets a little complicated.  Trevor and Emma are grandchildren of my first cousin, so that makes Graysen and them what?  3rd of 4th?  I never know about those things.

Gracey and Myles and Myles' future baby brother are great-grandchildren my first cousin, and that's even more confusing.

Anyway, here are some pictures I've gotten lately:

This is Gracey.  So beautiful.  So much like Debby at that age.  Gracey is the daughter of Krissy and Forrest, one of Debby's grandsons.  She is the only girl in this big family of boys.

This is Myles, son of Paige and Justin, another of Debby's grandsons.  His mom is expecting another boy (of course) this summer.  He is beautiful too and so sweet-looking  Maybe I'll get to meet them when they all get through with Texas and come back to Alabama.

The Florida cousins are Emma and Trevor.  They are just about as far away from Graysen as people can be in the United States - from Homestead, FL to Snoqualmie, WA is a loooong way.

This is Emma's first birthday party back in November.  She's already changed so much.  She just always looks so happy and full of fun in every picture I see - except for the wagon one on Sherry's blog - but she's cute even looking sad.

I can't believe she's already wanting to ride a bike.  I think she was 16 months old in the picture below. She is definitely going to be adventurous.   So cute. 

Trevor was just born, so he doesn't do much yet but the usual newborn things.  He's taking it all in though and will make his presence known soon.  He does look a lot like his big sister and is just a healthy handsome baby.

I wish I could wave a magic wand and have them all appear to spend a weekend together.  I'm sure it will never happen, and it's sad when I think about all the fun Sherry, Debby, and I had growing up.  

Sherry and David's blog, Tails from Tennessee is now in my blog list to the right and comes to the top every time it's updated.  There are lots more pictures of the children as well as Sherry and David's trips in their motor home.  Speaking of which:

They brought this back from Florida on their last trip.  Can't wait to see it.  I told her it's probably bigger than some apartments we've lived in, certainly bigger than the pink trailer in Pennville, GA.

Can't leave Graysen out for sure.  I got this picture today of her hippo outfit and the unfortunate "clown pants."  I think her legs aren't long enough yet to pull off the gathered look, but she's cute in her bunny shoes.

The next pictures are so funny to me.  Sometime in the early 1970s Elise got this little stove for all the   cooking she did for her babies.  When you turn the knobs on the right, the burners go from "on" to "off" and look just like an electric burner.  A lot of little girls and probably boys too cooked on this through the years.

 When I took it out of the attic and cleaned it up, it looked a little shabby, and I almost threw it away or donated it but decided to hang onto it and included it in Graysen's last box.  I think it was a hit.

Emily said she refused to put it down and was still playing with it past her bedtime.

Who would think something so simple would cause so much fun - at least for an evening.  I imagine she's going to give up on something happening when she turns all those knobs pretty soon.

Speaking of old and simple and fun, Emily said she didn't want the Fisher-Price A-frame house, so instead of tossing it, I decided to take it to my Friday moring kids and see if it would generate any interest, and it most certainly did.

It almost caused a few scuffles with everyone wanting to put their treasures in one door or the other.  I wish I had taken some pictures but forgot my camera.  Bronner and Mark rang the little bell over and over and over and never got tired of it.  The older ones used it for various things - a zoo, a cookie holder, and a train station, to name just a few.  

Ok, that's half the afternoon, so I'll end this.  I have a camera full of before-and-after house pictures and our efforts at gardening that I'll try to get up tonight.  Think squash in a pot.

Oh, video for today.