My Grandpa

(picture taken on Lila's 1st birthday)

My grandpa, Tom Freeman, suffered a stroke the day after Lila turned one. Oh how happy I am that he came to her party. I'm also glad that he left his hat.....it has brought Aaron comfort.

I have been to see him a number of times in the hospital and each time I go he looks progressively more peaceful. ( my grandmother and father and all others who have been there more than I will probably have a different view, but this is how I have seen it)

Tonight I took Aaron and Charlotte to see him. Charlotte was very excited and a little bit scared and Aaron was somber.

Grandpa mouthed my name when my Dad told him we were there and it warmed my heart.......... just as much as it did the first time I came to visit and he did the same.......and just as it did when my grandma Jackie mouthed "I love you too" just before she lost her battle with Cancer.

The simple act of acknowledging me and their love for me when words do not come easy...........it is so precious.

Grandpa was awake for the first time when I was visiting tonight. I always go at night when Nick can be home with the kids. It was very obvious that even though his body isn't cooperating, he knows exactly who we are and what we are saying. He squeezed my hand tight until I replaced mine with Aaron's, whose hand he continued to squeeze. Aaron stood there holding his great-grandfathers hand for a better part on 30 minutes. His little face looked concerned, but not scared. He knows where Grandpa is going. He knows he will see him again.

When it came time to leave I took back grandpa's hand, after Aaron had kissed it, and told him I had to go. He opened both eyes and tried very hard to tell me something. I looked to my dad for help understanding but neither of us could be sure. As he continued talking my heart broke for him and for me for the unreceived message. Maybe if Grandma was there she could have interpreted but she must have been getting dinner....it was 5:30.

I imagine he was telling me that he loved me and that he was proud of me ( hopefully ) and maybe giving me some advice to carry with me. Or maybe he was just asking for a kiss:) I could see in his eyes that he knew the message was lost. I promised to come back tomorrow and then kissed his forehead.

His spirit is not broken, just his body.

Stephanie pointed out that the feeling in his room is a very peaceful one. You know you are in the presence of a great man and the spirit is very strong where he is. There are many here who do not want to see him go, and many there who are anxiously awaiting his arrival.

So very loved is my Grandpa.

Grosgrain Giveaway

With my new sewing machine I will be needing lots of new patterns. I had to enter this giveaway too.

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/11/handmade-dress-patterns-guest-giveaway.html

Cute Grosgrain giveaway

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/11/aunty-ollie-100-guest-giveaway.html

more improvements

There are about a million things we want to do to this house. I really love the layout and with the exception of our room we don't plan to make any major changes....but it's the little things.


Oh, how they add up.


Like this light for example. Why it was ever placed so close to the door that the light fixture would be smashed each time it opened, I can't figure out. Last weekend this was Nick's project.





and of course there was cause to make multiple holes in our walls



but Elsie provided the entertainment...........and really, what more could you ask for?











....and there you have it. A light can now be hung safely away from our door!

F.H.E.

On Monday and Tuesday nights rides on the carousel are free!!!

Which means we can ride over....and over....and over....and over

















......and so we did

p.s. Happy 18th Birthday Nicky!!!

the waiting game

After the pumpkin patch we took our van to get a much needed tire change. Across the street was a Foster's Freeze where we waited and had lunch.







the clock ticked slllooooooooowwllly



after a while Charlotte got ahold of the camera









and then our car was ready.......and we were ready.......
to go home.

Pumpkins

We tried a new pumpkin patch this year but I wish we hadn't. Our usual, the Pumpkin King was better in my opinion. The kids suffered through my picture taking and then we didn't even let them go on all of the carnival rides they had to offer. Mean parents.

I took about 15 pictures like this

but luckily I managed one like this too

hunting for the perfect pumpkin.....or probably pointing out all the cool rides they were hoping for

Our cute daddy........and pumpkin hauler

let her eat cake

The real reason I have first birthday parties for my babies..........

to watch them eat cake!















Not too much damage.........especially when compared to Elsie.

Field trip to the Fire Station

I was able to go on Aaron's first Field Trip this year. These were the four boys in my group.

We walked to the Fire station a couple of blocks away. I volunteer in his classroom every Friday so I already know the kids in his class and how well behaved they are, but they were even on good behavior with all the excitement that was going on. The worst thing that happened was that Adam (the boy in the blue sweatshirt) was walking kind of slow.

Aaron's class started off the year being a 1st/2nd combo. Within the first month the second graders were relocated to another classroom, but because of that they hand selected well behaved and independent thinkers. There are no problem children in the class and his Teacher, Mrs. Lee is able to push the kids beyond first grade expectations. His class is doing work that is much more advanced than all the other first grade classes at the school. I love Mrs. Lee, she is a very kind and warm teacher and she uses love and encouragement to help the kids reach higher.



Back to the field trip



The kids were so good....they listened to the fireman (one of which we happened to know!) answered their questions, and waited patiently.













They all had fun checking out the fire truck and all it can do. Aaron said his favorite part was spraying the water hose!

Fresno Fair 2009

Annual fair trip!

Nick took a charter flight on the day we had planned to go to the fair:(

Luckily we were also planning to go with my family so the kids and I went anyway.

Aaron made sure that we watched the horse races this year. We went there first. It was kind of exciting, but over very quickly. Luckily he didn't want to wait around to watch any more.

We did our fair share of waiting here to watch the pig races, which didn't happen at the time listed on the map. Next year we will be sure to catch them.

But it was ok, we just headed off to the pirate ship and all dissapointments were forgotten!

the help....Desi, Ali, Drew

Elsie must have gone down this slide 10 times

Aaron met a new friend and we kept running into his family all night. Aaron would yell hello REALLY LOUD every time he saw him!

Manditory picture in front of the bears! It turned out better than I expected. I only had to take two shots to get them all smiling!

Charlotte with their favorite Uncle! (Just kidding Nick:))

Trying despirately to teach her to petal

Drew, Desi and Ali

We had fun, we ate good food, we missed our dad.

We will do it again next year!