One Tired Mimi

Macy didn't have school today, so she spent the night with us. She is leaving tomorrow with Mom, Dad, and Marshall to go to Midland for Thanksgiving with her other grandparents, aunts and uncles. It was a busy twenty-four hours. In this picture, we were getting ready to go to the park across the street. Macy bundled up Hannah Grace and put her in her stroller to go feed the fish---what would we do for entertainment without the park??? Macy decided to "pose" for the picture, which is unusual.




The fish must have been starving. They gathered at the edge of the pond even before Macy started throwing in the crackers. But...the turtles are missing!! Macy thinks someone brought a net and caught them and took them home for pets, which is very likely, but we miss them!

Another disappointment at the park today: there is a special oak tree that has these huge, unusual acorns, not like the regular live oaks so common around here. The grandkids always love to gather up these acorns this time of the year. Today, when we got to the tree, this is what we found--- just the "hats" of the acorn, as Macy calls them. Obviously, the squirrels have been very busy. There were hundreds of these little "hats" all over the sidewalk, and very few had the acorn attached. The squirrels are going to have a good winter!

Here is Macy showing one of the empty acorns!

Here she is making a "pond" on the deck with kitchen bowls, sticks, acorns, rocks, and some toys. This entertained her for about an hour. She ended up taking off her shoes and putting her feet in the bowls of water and looking at her footprints all over the deck.Then she wanted to make a "fort" in the living room for her dolls. This occupied another hour. Will my house ever be the same? Yep.... tomorow!
After lunch, we decorated gingerbread cookies from a kit I found at HEB. The cookies were already made, and it included the icing, gumdrops, and sprinkles! The one in the upper right corner was made especially for Marshall. It is a "Star Wars gingerbreadman." See its big guns? Two are missing, she ate one, and Papa "ate" one. I think it may be in the trash, however! Don't tell Macy!
The project that took the most work, was writing a book. Macy started watching a PBS documentary last night that Papa was watching about wolves. It was about how someone in the late 1800's trapped some wolves who were killing cattle. The main alpha male was named Lobo and his mate was Blanca. Macy asked a jillion questions about this story and seemed to be totally fascinated by it. In the end, they had to trap the wolves and then they were shot or just died. She wanted to make a book about the story, so we started it last night. Of course, Papa, our family artist was solicited to draw the wolves, but Macy did an outstanding job drawing the "setting," which she's learned about at school. The setting here consisted mostly of trees, mountains, and the moon. She spent hours working on coloring the wolves on several pages. Since Blanca was a white wolf, she used black construction paper to draw her in white crayon.
Here is "Papa Picasso," helping with one of the wolf drawings. Macy loved the one of Lobo, showing the traps on his feet. It took four traps to catch this wolf, one on each leg! When Blanca was trapped first, Lobo howled for days and days. This impressed Macy and she decorated that page with hearts "because they loved each other." My friend, Tina Butler, came over as we were working on the book and she helped Macy with some of the design features that were difficult. How many five-year olds have TWO retired English teachers helping them write a book?? (Tina and I were in heaven!! Helping to inspire a blooming writer!) When she was all finished, we got out a little cassette tape recorder and Macy read the book while I recorded her. She felt very special about this, her first writing attempt, which was all HER idea. I think she has inherited her Mimi's genes here. (Yea!) Sean had to work tonight, but Julie and Marshall came over for our "Thanksgiving dinner," which Macy planned. We had PIZZA AND PUMPKIN PIE!! Macy, you wore me out, but I enjoyed our twenty-four hours together so much. I hope you have a safe and fun Thanksgiving in Midland. I love you and I look forward to writing more books with you, more park adventures, and the building of more forts in the living room! Now, check out Julie's blog for "the rest of the story" of what happened tonight after dinner! www.seanandjuliemetcalf.blogspot.com

Ainsley is ONE!

Colleen had to go out of town this week, so John called "911-Mimi!" I spent three nights with them and enjoyed my tenth trip to Houston in the last year. When Ainsley saw me walk in the door, she ran with her arms up in the air and her mouth open, like this picture. It was a great welcome!

This is the new walking, talking, singing Elmo, which she got for her birthday. It's almost as big as she is and she has learned to say, "Elmo" very clearly. She hasn't decided if she likes him or is scared of him, but I think he's the cutest toy I've ever seen. He does a variety of actions, depending on where you squeeze him, and if he falls down, he says, "Uh-oh, Elmo fell down, can you help Elmo get up?" It was almost like having another child in the house!

I missed Ainsley's birthday party on Saturday, because I was coming to Houston on Monday...I brought her a cupcake and even dressed up her high chair with the cute "skirt" and cover that Colleen found on the internet for her party. She mostly enjoyed the icing!

Ainsley is going to love shoes just like her mommy. These are her new ladybug shoes. She is so much fun to dress!

We spent one afternoon outside in the front yard picking up leaves and putting them in her new Mickey Mouse truck, a gift from her cousins, Macy and Marshall.

She sat on a rock and waved to the cars going by on the busy street at the corner.
She loves the new flowers that Daddy had just planted. It was a great three days. See you next month, little Ainsley! I love you!

Marshall Spends the Night

I just love this picture of Marshall in his red plaid pajamas, brushing his teeth. He takes this job very seriously and says, "I can do it myself," which indeed he can!

Here is one reason he likes to brush his teeth. Do you see Spiderman hanging on to the brush?

Here he is, just before he went to sleep...He is so easy to take care of now. He went to sleep quickly, with his horsey pillow and Bear, and I didn't hear from him until 7:15 the next morning. When I walked in his room, he was watching the movie "Shrek." He loves helping with chores. He thinks this little vacuum I use on the tile floors is a toy. It is just his size. He vacuumed until the battery ran down! Marshall, you are such a fun little four-year-old!

Ainsley is Walking!!

We had an unexpected visit from Ainsley last weekend when she came with her mom and dad for Great-Grandma Ernst's funeral. We kept her one afternoon and evening and she was a very busy little girl. She is walking now, so yes, she was in to everything.

I took several pictures that turned out blurry. She was moving FAST!!

She especially loved the Christmas catalogs she found and rummaged through them tearing out pages and carrying them around the house! I think she's going to be a shopper, like her Mimi!

Checking out the view!