What is Really Important

I have five wonderful grandchildren. Their ages are 11, 8, 6, 5, and 15months.

The oldest three are my daughters children. Two boys and the six year old is a girl.My daughter is an excellent mom and home school teacher. Since she is teaching her children from home I only care for the children on an as needed basis. Otherwise we spend time visiting and having fun together and the kids sometimes spend the night here.

My son has the two younger ones, both boys. He is also an excellent dad. He and his wife work full time even though my daughter-in-law would love to be a stay at home mom they just cannot afford it at this time. So she works four days a week and I take care of the boys those days.

The 15 month old has had a rough time of it. He was in the hospital at 3 months old with RSV. What a scary time that was to see him hooked up on IVs. He pulled through but we all had to monitor his breathing and give him breathing treatments for several months for asthma.The past summer months have been blessed with his healthy activity of running, climbing and playing with his older brother and cousins.
Then this week he began crying without stopping on Monday night. After a night of no sleep at all they took him to the doctor to find that he has a staph infection in his big toe. We had noticed that morning that his toe looked bruised but hadn't connected that to the crying.The poor sweet baby was in terrible pain! Somehow the toenail had been bumped or whatever to cause the infection and it became staph so quickly. By the end of the day his toe was swollen twice it's normal size , blue/purple with a blistering on the nail and his entire body obviously ached. To see him this way we all ached.But with the wonders of modern medicine and many prayers, within hours he was much better. So this week has been a day by day, wait and see, of either dad, mom or myself caring for him.

To see young ones in pain just reminds us that all the things in life that we worry about such as cleaning house, running errands etc.............do not really matter at all.

Dogs Beach

This is what my dog looks like after a morning at dogs beach!

He is such a hyper dog most of the time. Always an inch behind my heels or at my side. He never wants me out of his sight (which can be a problem at times). He gets so excited over the least little thing.

We've started going to church on Saturday nights and so on Sunday mornings we put our pooch in the truck and drive out to the beach. There is one beach in our area that is designated specifically for dogs. Dogs are allowed off their leashes and can run free among other dogs and frolic and play in the water.

It is just amazing to me to watch what can be anywhere from 10 to 30 dogs all at once on this beach area! They are like little kids! Every size, shape, age, color.

What amazes me the most is that they don't fight! I have never witnessed one fight among any dogs there! They are too busy having fun! While us owners stroll the beach and enjoy the sunlight and fresh ocean air the dogs run and jump into the waves or chase each other around. They all look as though they are smiling and grinning and some even laughing! They dig, they smell and stop to say hello to each other.

I've never seen anyone get hurt or knocked over even though some of the dogs are running so fast they appear to be a blurry object! Their judgement for avoiding injuries is amazing.

If only people would learn how to get along as well!

There is another amazing discovery I've made. As owners throw their pet's tennis balls into the waves one after the other the dogs seem to know which ball is theirs! I've watched them walk right up to a ball and sniff it then pass it on by to continue the search for their own!

They also seem to know where their boundaries are! Without a fence there is a division on the beach with a sort of sloped hill separating the dog area from the area where people set up their volleyball nets. Dogs never go over that hill!

My dog is not one to run like a blurry object or jump into the waves but he absolutely loves running around sniffing and saying hi and exploring with no leash on. We spend about two hours on that beach walking up and down the shore with him following us ---- no leash, he just follows us or if he's ahead of us he always turns around to be sure he's not too far away.

When we get home I give him a bath to remove the sand and ocean water and for the rest of the day he is content and relaxed!

Time to Scrapbook

Did I mention I like to scrapbook! I think I may have said that once or twice!
My daughter and I try to get together as often as time allows and spend hours and hours putting scrapbook pages together. Either I go to her house or she comes to mine and spends the night and we scrap until the wee hours of the morning!

My daughter home schools her three children. You'll find the link to her blog Heartfelt Homeschool on my sidebar. So she has the large table in her school room setup that is perfect to use on our scrapbook nights.

I have two children and five grandchildren and have just started scrap booking the last few years so I have plenty to catch up on! I had old albums of my children when they were young and the photos were all turning yellow which I almost cried over!
I removed them all and saved as many as possible and some I recopied in black & white and scrap booked them in acid free papers and now they are so fun to look through!

Today is Friday (if I wasn't so tired I'd start now). Tomorrow is soccer game day with the grand kids. Sunday is church. But I have no grand kids to care for on Monday so if possible I'll squeeze some time in to work on one of my scrapbooks!

Music Class

Wednesday's is music class day. I take care of my adorable 15 month old grandson four days a week and on Wednesdays I take him to his music class. It's called Kindermusic and the classes are divided by age groups.
It's one hour of singing and teaching rhythm with a room full of babies from 3 months old - 18months old............what fun!
It is a joy to watch the different ways babies and toddlers respond to the different music and movements as we sway, rock and use assorted instruments.

It is proven that music helps the development of the brain and it is such a shame that schools have cut this out of their program.
All of my grandchildren have participated in music in some way. The same teacher has taught them since my eldest grandchild started and he is now 11 years old.

You should now hear my 11 year old grandson and my 6 year old granddaughter play the piano!
My 6 year old granddaughter is now in CYT (Christian Youth Theater) singing and acting in front of people!

They are all well rounded children with music, piano, theater, soccer, baseball, ballet and BMX bike racing!
Needless to say I'm a proud and busy grandma!

a new day!

God always gives us another day to start over! I feel much better today.
Got up early and took my hyper pooch for a walk. Went to the gym and worked out. Got my car washed. Vacummed.
I think I'll take the afternoon off and scrapbook for awhile! I don't have the grandbaby to watch today so why not!

Did I mention I scrapbook??? I'm loaded with papers, stickers, accessories galore! I love crafts. I do crafts all day if I could but I live in a small house and so every time I want to scrapbook or sew or anything I have to get it out of the closet or where ever I can find the place to hide it from little sticky hands and use my dining room table. Well I don't really have a dining "room", guess you'd call it a dining area.

I dream of having a little house with a room all my own..........I'd have it all set up to use my computer, my sewing, my scrapbooking, and any other craft I felt like trying.
But that room is only a dream soooooooooo I'm off to my dining area now to scrapbook!

achy breaky back

Ah, the sweet signs of aging..........I had so many things I wanted to get done today but woke up with that all too familiar twinge of pain in the middle of my back.
Arthritis is the unwanted member of my family history. It has found a home in my back. So live with it because it has no intentions of moving out anytime soon.
I take care of my 15 month old grandson four days a week so I have had to learn how to deal with the aches and pains and go on with my daily life. It could be much worse so I try to count my blessings. Some days that's hard to remember.

Just get through today with prayer and care. Tomorrow is a new day.

One Thread at a Time

Where do I begin?.........................one thread at a time.
I guess I'll just introduce myself first. I'm a wife, mother, grandmother. Nothing too exciting for those who are looking for loads reading that will keep you on the edge of your seat but for those who are blogger browsers and enjoy the simple everyday life here I am.

I'll get into the more detailed information of my life a little later but to start with I call myself middle aged. Since my family has a history of living well into their 90's the fact that I'm in my fifties makes me middle aged.
My husband just turned 60, yep there he is right now sitting in that chair watching his sports. I always know where to find him. One of the comforts of life.

I have two wonderful grown children. Both are married. My oldest is my daughter and she has three children. My son, three years younger than my daughter, has two children of his own.

My grandchildren are the blessings of my life long labors. They remind me daily of the reason I'm here on earth. The reason that the path God set for me lead me to all the people and all the trials and all the doors through my life.

I have a dog also. A 20 pound curly ball of tremendous energy. I rescued him from the animal shelter. I have always loved animals and could not resist his face staring at me from the long dark cement cage he was in as he was curled up in the very back corner waiting for me to rescue him.
I wanted him for the company and also for the protection. With my husband working crazy hours I'm sometimes alone at strange hours. I
I'm definitely going to know if someone is around our home. The loud bark that comes out of his little mouth is well heard!

Well, you know some about me now. My first thread.

I'm hoping to find other midlife grandmas out there who will share with me their life paths and thoughts of this stage and age of our lives.