On the run

Lately I have developed this urge to run instead of walk. I have never been especially fond of running around the block in gym classes way back when and it was not until recently that I wanted to try running so today on my walk I tried running a few times. My biggest concern is that people will see me running and laugh at the way I run. John tells me there is no wrong way to run as long as it feels good. I guess I was doing it right because it did indeed feel good. I only ran a few times on my four mile walk. I ran a block or two at a time in between walking. My ipod certainly did not help my speed today though. I chose the "I"section to begin with for my walk. I have never heard so many slow, sad songs about break ups and lost loves. Next time I will not be using that section. I have a hard time changing it during the walk because the sun is too bright to see what I am doing on the screen so I just put up with it. Finally we got to Kokomo in the K's and Herman's Hermits, Leaning on the Lamp in the L section. While running, I shook my fist at a few Obama signs. I am not very political but I do not like where he wants to take this country, but that is another story. Running seems to give me that power, I don't think I would shake my fist at signs if I were just walking!

A miracle!

Check out My charming kids blog (on right side of my blog) if you want to see a miracle. I know it would take a while to read the blog and follow the entire story, but if you have some time it is well worth it. To summarize, doctors told this mom to terminate her fourth pregnancy because the baby would not be born alive due to a heart condition. She believes in God's timing and decided to carry her baby boy, Stellan until God chose to end his life. Yesterday Stellan was born and against all the doctor's odds he not only was born alive, but they could find nothing wrong with his heart and he should be going home with his mom. I think this story speaks volumes about who is in control of everything and when we put it all into God's hands he will work it all out for our good. What a brave mom he has!

It's all about the proper grip

Oops, this is not a picture of Tizita gripping anything, but it is a nice picture of her playing with the pumpkin pie playdough that I made for her.

As a Preschool teacher I know how important the proper grip is for writing and coloring. Most of my three year olds still hold their crayons in their fists, but just notice the perfect grip that Tizita has on her crayons! It makes a grandma-teacher proud! Almost unheard of for not even a two year old yet! Way to go Girl!
Be sure and check out the new slideshow. Enjoy!

We passed our grandparent test!

We passed the grandparent test!

Peek a boo, little Tizu!

A special tea party. Grandma barely fits on the chair!

The happy family

Great friends and proud grandparents!

All snuggled into her stroller with Mimi and her blanket from Mallory

Aidan and Tizita eating their cute little pumpkin cakes!

Today John and I spent an hour or so with Tizita alone up in her playroom and we did well! Courtney had some kitchen prep work to do and Paul was cleaning so Tizita just led us right up to her playroom and we had a ball with her. Ampa built her numerous block towers which she delighted in knocking over and I enjoyed a tea party with her in her little kitchen. She is a fine hostess. She spent well over 30 minutes changing her mimi's (Amheric for baby girl) diaper. I am amazed at her gentleness. We are so blessed because it is apparent that her Ethiopian family and the Care Center treated her with much love. She just has so much of it to share with all of us. After our alone time, we played with pumpkin playdough and colored on big paper from Ampa's work. The teacher in me is proud of her grip on those crayons. She has learned such a sweet way to say "No thanks." She waves her little left hand out in front of her at whatever it is that she is refusing be it milk, food, a hug, a nap, etc. It is so cute and she does it in such a quiet, calm way. After her nap, our friends, Connie, Paul, Sarah, Chad, and their little Aidan arrived. Tizita and Aidan pretty much ignored one another but we know they will be great buddies in the future. We went over to the park and marveled at the skills of those two little ones. I am pretty sure I can speak for Connie as well as myself when I say that we are just so proud of our daughters as we watch them as moms. They learned from the best, I guess! After a wonderful fall potluck meal we all headed home with happy, warm hearts! (Yes, Alissa, you read it right, happy, warm hearts!)

A few more wedding shots

I finally found the time to download the wonderful wedding pictures that I got from Kim. Thanks Kim! I posted a few of my favorites for you to enjoy! It seems so hard to believe that when these were taken we hadn't even met Tizita yet! It seems like we have known her forever. What a fun time that wedding was!

Missing my little lady

I am looking forward to the weekend when I will get to spend some more time with sweet little Tizita. John and I will drive up on Saturday morning and spend time playing with her. In the afternoon our fellow grandparents and good friends, Connie and Paul, their daughter and son-in-law and little grandson will come over to Courtney and Paul's and we will all spend time together. I am sure Connie and I will just be watching our grandchildren and taking it all in. Connie and Paul and their two children have been a part of our lives for so long and I am so happy that the friendship is moving on into the third generation. I think we will be doing some pumpkin carving which should be fun. Anyway I just needed to post a few more pictures of Tizita today. I just cannot get over how very cute she is!

The itsy, bitsy spider climbed up on our web

Today was spider day in preschool. We made this spider web for our friendly purple spider. The kids always enjoy this activity and these sixteen seem to make the best spider web ever. Usually the kids will forget to hold on to one end when they roll the string to someone else, but everyone held tight today. Successful spider webbing always makes for a good day!

A Tour of the Fire Station

Finally a moment of peace as they are immersed in the movie.

Touching everything in the back of the ambulance

Ready to return to school

Today I took my afternoon preschoolers to visit the fire station. My afternoon class has only ten students, but a few of them are very vocal and tend to talk all the time so I figured this tour was going to be a challenge. The firefighters giving the tour have no trouble riling (I think that is the way to spell it, at least that came up on spell check) the kids up! When they let all the kids climb up in the back of the EMS I figured all you know what would break loose. The kids were pulling out stethoscopes and other things that I don't even know what they were. It didn't seem to phase the firefighters one bit, while I was a wreck. I didn't think any of that equipment is any too cheap to replace. Then they let them climb into the ladder truck and touch a bunch of stuff in there, too. Again I am a wreck! Finally we settle down to watch a movie and the kids want popcorn from their little popcorn cart. These kids will ask for anything. The most exciting part was when the firefighters slid down the pole. I know a few of the kids were disappointed that they couldn't slide down, too, but some things are just off limits and for good reason. I was never so relieved when we walked out of the station before any real damage was done. I guess I figure that firefighters in Watertown have a pretty boring day so maybe having kids there just livens things up for them. I sure am glad they didn't get a call while the class was in the EMS!

Moses, sandals, and an afternnoon stroll with Jimmy, Alan, and John

So, this morning I was teaching my Moses and the Burning Bush story, which by the way is one of my favorites. I always have such a captive audience for this one. I bring one of our big plants for the bush and then I have fire cut out of paper that I add to the bush, I wear a pair of John's sandals, and have one of our shepherd's staffs from the yard along with a rubber snake. You probably can see already why my audience is so attentive to the story what with all those fun props. Today after explaining what a shepherd does and why Moses wore sandals (probably not like John's, but close enough) I proceeded to take my shoes off and put the sandals on. I noticed at this time that I had on two different colored socks, one navy and one black, oops. Well, I figure no three year old is going to notice or care about it, but sure enough, one little boy says immediately that I have two different socks on. (Wow, I better use that lesson for same and different) I told them it was part of the story and they didn't talk about it again. This is not the first time I have worn two different socks, gosh I have already come to school in two different shoes! Anyway the rest of the story went on without a hitch.
Since this is my short day, I took a walk after lunch. I cranked up the tunes in the ipod and took a brisk walk with Jimmy Buffet and Alan Jackson. I cooled down to a few John Denver songs. It was a beautiful day to take a stroll with these three lovely gentlemen. If only Moses had been there it would have been complete!
Check out the previous blog for pictures from Tizita's baptism if you haven't already! I am off to rearrange my sock drawer and make sure all the matches are indeed matches!

Tizita Desta's baptism

Here is Tizzy getting the water on her head. Sorry it is a bit on the blurry side.

Here is Tizzy posing with Mallory and Great Uncle Kevin.

Enjoying her first brew! Funny how she seems to know just what to do with that bottle.

Here are Mallory and Tizzy and Baby Mimi enjoying some bonding time.

Here she is snuggling into the nice warm, cuddly blanket made by Mallory.

Here she is more interested in the Packer game than in Grandma and Ampa

Here are Tizzy and Grandma sharing a special moment. We were discussing things without mama within earshot.

Here are Tizzy and Ampa sharing a moment. It was so cute, she just snuggled right in and looked to comfortable.

Today we celebrated Tizita's baptism. After the service we had a nice lunch at Courtney and Paul's and spent some time with our little Tizita. It was a very nice day. Enjoy the pictures.

A Photographer with a magic lens

Well, picture day was a huge success. I know the picture is fuzzy, but just look how he took it straight on, no tilting involved! Not only did he take a good picture of me, but he moved my 26 Preschoolers through the process in less than ten minutes! Almost unheard of in children's photography. He was also very patient and kind to them and best of all, no criers! This is the first year that not one child cried and had to be coaxed to get up on the stool. One little boy told me he would only smile if I let them ride the elevator up to the room where the pictures were being taken. We did take the elevator, but I had planned on doing that anyway, I just let Joshua think it was all his idea and he did have a great big smile.
The day care director asked me if I would be willing to work from 3-5 after school today. I really don't care to do any day care especially at the end of the day since the kids are bouncing off the walls at that time, but she has helped me out numerous times so guilt made me say yes. By the time one of my afternoon boys had gotten on my last nerve at 2:55, I thought to myself, "This is why I cannot do day care after school," but it was actually fun. I got to spend time with some of my former students and they behaved very well for me. I do not care to do it on a regular basis, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
John and I took a nice walk and caught up on our day's activities. Now he is down in his lair watching his programs and I am watching Project Runway and blogging. Awwww, Life is good.

Smile, it's picture day

Have I ever told anyone out there how much I absolutely hate school picture day. Ever since I had my first picture taken in the first grade I have developed this detest for the whole process. Not one school picture has ever turned out good except maybe that first grade one although I don't have a copy of that one. Why is it that every school photographer has to make you tilt your head in such an unnatural way that everything looks distorted? I know I take the best picture when you just shoot straight at my face, no tilting, no chin raising, etc. My driver license pictures have always looked nicer than any school shot. What does that tell you?
Anyway, as you may have figured, today is picture day at school. I have my hair sprayed into place and I have a shirt picked out that should work, but what will I do about that crazy head tilting business. I would just use last year's picture, but it was so bad and I guess it can't get much worse. To get a really nice picture I would either have to use my first grade shot which as I said, I don't have or my license picture. Wait, I did look pretty good on the wedding shots, maybe I will just submit one of those. I will just erase John! Done and done!

Life back to uncomplicated and a bit on the boring side which is always good

Everything about my life has settled into the normalcy which I thrive on. Tizita is home and thriving, Alissa is married and happy, John is commuting to a job that he enjoys, and school is fun! When I was waiting for Tizita and the wedding and even when John was laid off, I had much to write about, many feelings that needed to be written down. Not so much for the world to see, but more for my own sanity, but now I don't have as much which is good. The only things I could possibly think of that happened in my world lately are:
-The cute scarecrows and crows that my preschoolers made for our hallway. They turned out so much better than I expected.
-The beautiful harvest moon
-Daily phone conversations with Tizza to check out what she is up to
-My weekly date with Survivor and the Amazing Race
-A daily evening walk with John in the crisp fall leaves (Aren't the colors even more vivid this year than ever before or is it because as one gets older one notices these things)
-Great sleeping weather
So you see, nothing noteworthy here and that for now, is the way I like it.
Enjoy your Wednesday!

This grandma thing just gets better all the time

Tizza just before she emptied out her drawer even though her mama told her not to!

" What do you mean, I shouldn't use this phone for a call?"

Grandma showing me how to use my foot to paint! This is very serious business

Here we are with all the toys that Grandma dragged out of the garage and played with.

Having a serious discussion about pumpkin necklaces with Alissa. Notice mama's sunglasses around Tizza's waist.

Jumping on the tires with mama and Amma

This is how we found Tizza watching out the window and waiting for us . She waves and says "Hi" and "Bye-Bye" so nicely now.














We had another great visit with little Tizza yesterday. Notice how we keep coming up with new nicknames for her. Yesterday John, my mom, Alissa, and I visited with her. We went to the park and played with her. She is so good at climbing up the slides, not the correct way to use a slide according to playground rules, but such a good motor skill. She likes to walk into the tiniest spaces and then wonder why we all can't follow her. She won't go near a swing, but loves to teeter totter. After our park experience, she ate her lunch and took her nap. The rest of us went to lunch and shopped for a bit at Hobby Lobby-always a fun experience. I was looking for Moses baskets but couldn't find any so I will have to use the walnut shells again. We got back to Courtney and Paul's and found Paul cutting his lawn with his weed whacker. Seems his push mower had broken. Tizza was waiting for us on the front porch. We played outside. I brought out all her toys that I had purchased from rummaging. I pushed them around while she tried to go in the street. We did some fingerpainting, she got right in there and had paint all over her feet, hands, and a little on the paper. I was happy to see that she was not afraid to get into the paint. Great Grandma Gigi was washing dishes so we put her feet in the dish water to clean her up. Since that wasn't doing the job we gave her a bath. That was fun! She does love the water! Then we played some bean bag games and other activity songs directed and played mostly by me. It was a day full of seeing all the new skills that she is learning. Tizza also warmed right up to all of us. She sat on Gigi's lap for the longest time taking things out of her purse. She came to me and let me hold her a number of times. Auntie Chedda Alissa also got to hold her. Ampa let her watch some football with him, a treat for her since she is not usually allowed in the TV room.


We ended our day with a few beers at the local Irish Pub here in Watertown with our good friends and fellow grandparents, Connie and Paul who were visiting from Wausau. All in all a very wonderful day!

Pumpkin Patch fun

It could not have been a better day for a trip to the Pumpkin patch! Here are just a few pictures that capture some of the fun things we were able to do while visiting Ebert's today.

Someday I'll be a Grandpa

We really like the Jimmy Buffet song, "Nothing but a Breeze." It became our theme song around the time that Courtney and Paul first announced their plans to adopt. We would crank it up in the car and sing along with the fun lyrics and talk about how it would be when we were finally grandpa and grandma! Well, I think these pictures say a thousand words for how much John enjoys his new role as Ampa to his sweet little Tizzy. He was just sitting on the kitchen floor taking it all in. (Quite the opposite approach that I take, I am always in Tizu's face-it's the preschool teacher in me, can't help it) when Tizu just came over by him and started showing him her bag of gourds. Pretty soon she just settled right down in between his legs and sported the biggest smile ever! It just warmed my heart to see the bond developing between them.

"In a small suburban garden, not a single neighbor knows my name,

I know the woman wishes we could move somewhere where the houses aren't all the same

Johnny, I wish you could take me where the grass is greener, Ireally couldn't say where it would be, Maybe

somewhere high on a mountaintop or down by the clear blue sea

There we would do just as we please, it ain't nothing but a breeze

One day soon I'll be a grandpa, all the pretty girls will call me sir

Now where they're asking me how things are , they'll ask me how things were

I don't mind being a longboarding grandpa, if you will be my awesome grandma

I suggest we have some cool yo yos in the shade in old St. George."

Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?

I am missing having a cookie with my little Tizu today. I wish we could just drive right up there and do a little loving up on her. I am glad we are only an hour away, but sometimes I wish she lived right here so I could see her everyday. I just want to eat her up! Today I will think of all the grandmas, those who live just minutes from their grandbabies and those who live clear across the country. The grandma feelings are the same, no matter the distance! So thankful that I finally know those feelings! I will be over Saturday for cookies, Tizu!

Say a little prayer

I have been following a blog for awhile now and I would ask that you keep this family in your prayers tomorrow when little Isaac Timothy is born. His time on earth will be short unless God performs a miracle but his parents are such strong, faithful people. I don't know them personally but through their blog I feel as if I know them. If you have a moment, go check out their story. If you don't have time to check it out then just say a prayer for peace and a special time for them to meet their son. The blog is listed on the side of my blog. It is called He will carry me. Thank You.

Mallory meets Tizu

Mallory and Tizu share a private joke!

Reaading with Grandma

Here is Tizu having lots of fun with Ampa

Playing "Where is Tizu?"

Enjoying a Halloween cupcake made by Gigi Marge.

Tizu and her papa. Is she happy or what?

We had an absolutely wonderful visit in Oshkosh today. Tizita is really beginning to recognize us and it took her less time to warm up to us today. She especially warmed up quickly to Grandpa. She says his name, Ampa all the time. At one point she just sat right down on his lap with the biggest smile! I was able to read some books with her and Mallory and Tizu spent some special moments laughing together. When we left she gave each of us a big hug and a nice wet kiss on the cheek. It was very sweet! I just can't get enough of her. We are headed back up there next Saturday for some more loving.