now we had a good time

A rather significant crowd of us relatives and those with some association to our family gathered to celebrate Christmas and as has become our tradition a very good time was had by all.  The crowd at times was dense.  Not dense like slow to understand - well perhaps that was applicable on occasion - but indeed filled a room.

As there was more than one introvert in the house - I found it interesting to find at different times one or two people sitting in our seldom used living room, enjoying some quiet.  But when the time came for some energy and laughs - well that was certainly in abundance.

The kids were amazing, watching them added a whole new dimension to the party, and they are certainly fun to have around.  They handled the somewhat boisterous moments just like they were used to it, - perhaps that is what their meal times are like.

Good grief - but we ate well -- the contributions from so many were oh so good, and the leftovers, well, lets just say, there is still some of that beef, and some of the vegetable dishes and deserts too.  I reckon someone- will have to make sure it is not wasted.  There may also be some beer and wine left over too.

The supply of presents of seemed endless and some of the gifts were priceless, as in really priceless.

The Asian cousins got to meet with some of the stateside and African cousins.

The youngest generation ate together or almost together, -  it appears that Caroline had an errand to run there for a brief moment - (double click this photo - it is a hoot)

and generation in the middle had a meal with the inflatables.  Now we boomers, we were upstairs, and glad to be so- toasting Patt on her arrangements.

and we have a birthday girl

The is what is called a giant cupcake and is apparently the thing to do among the younger set, and so Grandmama made one.  Julianna - preparing for the on-slaught of Happy Birthday singing and subsequent festivities takes a reflective look back on year number four.  Well, in another week it will be official, a fact she is well aware of, but is apparently willing to humor us with celebrating early.

The "women-of-the-house" have increased by one with the arrival of Jennifer or Aunt Jen, who is a source of much entertainment for the girls especially but also young Isaac.  Here posed with Birthday girl, who actually was quite excited and pleased to be feted for a day.

There were presents to be opened and posed with to humor GrandDaddy with new camera and flash (which he continues to try to figure out and the kids continue to tolerate).

as in even going so far as to pose.  Lydia has several expressions she uses when she poses, -- the is not the exasperated one.  I do not use that one in these blogs.  Isaac is just glad to be included and is not quite aware of what "strike a pose" means -- unless that is it.

As a real close to five year old, like in just a few more days, Julianna amazes her GrandDad ( not real hard for any of his grandchildren to do ) but you all humor me here.  Look at this.  We are copying words from a child's Bible to a piece of paper, a carefully undertaken task, oblivious to her surroundings.    I am guessing here but I think this girl, like her Mom was, is ideally suited for school.  

Thank you all for indulging me on this one.

" and - and we got to see the pwincess"

Last night, Laura and I took the girls to see the Little Theater's Christmas production of Cinderella, or Cindewella, dependent on whom of the two you are speaking with.  Lydia, un-beknownest to me was dressed as Snow White, a fact pointed out by some other 4 - 5 year old with nothing better to say.  Fortunately the little know-it-all was ignored.   The play was delightful, a musical comedy with laughs directed at both the older and younger set.  Both age groups were almost equally distributed throughout the audience.

After the show, a highlight was getting to visit with the actors and pose for pictures, something Snow White did with charm and style,   I have no idea of her conversation with the fairy godmother in the upper photo, but it was animated.  Now with the pwincess, she was most concerned with looking beautiful.  Which, of course, she did.

Julianna, looking every bit the princess, complete with new necklace was ever so princesscee .  Both girls had new necklaces.  (that Grandmama, she just can not help herself ).   There is no way to describe the interest she had in watching the play.  During Cinderella's song of woe as she toiled I was afraid tears would flow as Julianna's chin trembled.  When the wicked step-sisters suffered pratfalls, and they did, oh we laughed.

Now one seat down in Laura's lap a running narrative was going on between Lydia and the 6 -7 year old girl in front of her ( who on occasion did turn around and ask Lydia to stop talking ).  Oh my goodness, --when the clock struck 12:00 oh -- such worry, where's the pwincess?  where's the pwincess?  We had been enjoying the ball you see and the singing and dancing and princess having a good time with the prince -- all as the step-sisters had bad luck trying to gain attention of the prince.

and one last stroke of fortune, I had opportunity to meet with the prince's father, the King, and yes, as the King noted, " there is such a striking similarity between the two of them"  -- referring to the prince seen in the photos above with the princess.  As I said- there was some humor - and the King played quite the humorous role in this version of the story.  Besides that, I have met very few Kings.-- not as many as brother Charles, but more than my other brothers I think.

Ballet: and running commentary

Saturday, Patt, Laura and I took the girls to see The Nutcracker ballet performed at the theater at NCSU. We arrived early, took our seats and carefully reviewed the story line, or rather Patt and Laura reviewed the story line with their partners, -- me I tried to figure it out from the game program.  Julianna did not ask me many questions about the dances, scenes nor what stage of the story we were seeing.  Now, Patt could respond, " Yes, that is the Sugar plume ...  and "I think the Snow Queen is next", or "yes, that one is Clara"  Julianna asked me "GrandDaddy, are you sleeping ?"  "No" I replied, "just resting my eyes".

Now further down the row I could hear from time to time Lydia's running commentary.  "Oh no !"  she exclaimed loudly as the nutcracker is broken.  and throughout the ballet, she kept a constant dialogue going, sometimes with questions, others with observations - always in an urgent tone.  She was actively participating in attending the presentation of the Nutcracker.  Immediately upon raising the house lights for intermission, Lydia asked, "can we watch it again?".

product placement -- "fruit-in-a-can"

See that subtle product placement as child pauses in front of Christmas tree with casually displayed can of product formerly known as fruit cocktail and hereafter known in these parts as fruit-in-a-can.

When Patt received a phone call from North Dakota some weeks back from Julianna asking if we had fruit-in-a-can, Patt thought a moment and answered in the affirmative, not knowing for sure whether or not we did but with full confidence that by the time our guests desiring fruit-in-a-can arrived we would have ample supply.  They did and we do.

Though my skill at keeping the subject focused and attentive to being photographed has not improved (Stephen please note), the subject did indeed stay in one place (Stephen please note) and I believe I got two pretty good photos.   Anyway back to  one of our new favorite deserts.

We like this clever idea by the Dole fruit canning company of putting fruit in a can and then being aptly named by our granddaughter.  This  has been a hit for us and with this catchy name it will certainly  remain in use in our family for a while.  By they way, judging from the photo above, Julianna does not appear to have the Vanna whats-her-name  capacity to make a big deal out of turning letters on that TV show Price Guessing or something.

Patt has been wanting me to do this for sooo long

This old fire place insert has been in our basement fireplace for umpteen years and I finally got it set up in the back yard as an outdoor fire pit.  I can not tell you how many times Patt has been on my case about getting this done.  Well now it is -- and we tested it out today.

The grandkids got chairs, Matt and I collected some wood from the yard and wood lot behind the house.  Our trees never seem to finish dropping limbs of all sizes.  Stephen especially liked helping me pick them up when he was younger.  

As you can see from this picture and as the temperature did not get much above freezing, the fire was indeed welcome and as Julianna said made her feel all toasty.  We had a good evening together after raking leaves, ( that would have been Julianna and me) and then fixing the outdoor fire place.  Julianna said "we should do this every day."   Patt will be so happy.

Yes Virginia, there is a Matt

Today, I showed a friend at work my blog with lots of pictures of our grandchildren - she had asked and I was more than ready to share some pictures.  Well, upon viewing the blog photos, my friend, after appropriate oohing and aahing asked if Matt came South too.  "Of course" I said. "Well good", she said, and case was closed.  However, me being not as dumb as lots of people think (I may be close, but not quite that dumb), I looked at the blog with a fresh view, and low and behold, Matt was not in any of the photos.  Laura appears in a few, but mostly there are lots and lots of pictures of grandchildren and grandchildren with grandparents. So if you will please take note as evidenced by the photo above, Matt is indeed here and we even let him eat with us.

and at least one of his daughters appears to like him a lot, and his son does seem to want to be with him.

His oldest daughter will explain stuff to him in earnest - oh so earnest - detail. with such great concern.

My wife will pose for a photo with him and our daughter.

Between Matt and Laura, my Grandson already knows body part names (proper names and in Latin and Greek too).

So yes, Virginia, Matt exists and we are so glad he does.

a little snow and some football, cookies and chores

This afternoon during nap time, yes that includes me too, we had an unexpected visitor to our fair city.  That would be snow.  The kids were about as delighted as I was.  And cold whew it was and still is cold.  I had to explain that in North Dakota, it was a lot colder and there was a lot more snow.

we did make a few little snow balls, but mainly we just talked and walked and I got to carry little brother.  He was not to excited about walking around in this stuff.

There were chores to do and help provided was help indeed.  Folding and sorting and making sure Grandmama knew just whose was whose and when a sock found its mate.  All in all, more excitment than one would expect doing a load of laundry.

Inside after dinner, we, or rather the women of the house finished the cookie making and once they settled on the number of red hots per cookie - three -  ( and that is a good number too ) the production line got busy.

Lydia was in charge of rolling the cookie in sugar, and got very good at it too, notice the hands.  They are coated.  If sugar were absorbed through the skin, she would still be running around.

and Patt did a great job of turning of responsibility to the little ones and they did not disappoint - and I do like red hots and lots of sugar on molasses cookies.

After bath time, I read with Isaac, he is such a good listener, and appreciates my inflections and emphasis too.  The book is not about me for those of you who might have ideas.

Then Julianna came down and we watched some of the football games.  She is a great companion to watch a game with, understands nuances and picks up tendencies of a defensive coach very quickly, pointing our various schemes that Auburn was employing to keep South Carolina from being able to respond to their offense.

Still flying solo

Patt and I are still flying solo, and so far are still flying, though we each gave each other time outs, if you know what I mean.  I had the kids outside for a while -- Patt did not check on us once.  and earlier, Patt had the kids downstairs, and I did not go looking for them either.

Fortunately for all of us, the kids do play well together and by themselves and we have a relatively large house and lots of toys and objects that can be thought of like toys.

This evening Patt and the girls mixed up cookies, the help was fun for us and Patt had as good a time as the girls did

They worked hard, sampling a bit of the molasses, I would have too.

and you-know-who really takes her tasks very very seriously.

Now when it was time to mix up the dough - and have opportunity for a taste, well that is when I tend to offer my expertise.  All four of us had fore fingers in the dough.  There is just something about molasses, ginger, sugar, butter and flower.

visit and groceries

Last night, Wednesday, Patt, Laura, Matt, and I and the kids visited Buck and Mallory in Holly Springs.  They are Patt's older brother's son and daughter-in-law, and Laura's first cousin (duh for me huh) anyway, we had a delightful time, Isaac played well, we had a wonderful meal and visit, and Emily, their daughter kept Julianna and lydia well entertained.

Their son Samuel, 11, keeps me entertained - so it makes for a good evening all around.

Now on Thursday, Matt and Laura are away and Patt and I and the kids are flying solo.  One order of business was grocery shopping as we were out of essentials like gummy bears.  We are grandparents you know.  We also did stock up on fruits and vegetables, and nuts, and red hots, (for the cookies ) - like I said - we do things the right way.  I am thinking cinnamon toast for breakfast too.

Our shopping not only turned heads of other customers, but was done in all the seriousness that can be mustered - that is unless, your sister has moye in huies than you do.  (translated as more in hers - the cart, of course).  When your sister has moye in her cart,  then there is trouble in River City.  Just in case you were wondering and as we learned.