So Much to Catch Up!

This post it a catch all/catch up from the past two weeks.  Along with normal life and work and family, I have been getting ready for a big trip to Montana for Danica's wedding.  That is mostly done for now, so time to catch up and post some pictures.

Charlie had his 4th birthday on the 22nd.  Here are some pix from that, followed by a couple pix of Grace...because she is too adorable to leave out of any post!  Also a pic of the frittata I will be making for 120 people for part of the meal after Dani and Josh's wedding...

Here you go.

But first...a picture of Miracle Girl.
For those of you who knew about this little friend of Charlie's...This is Gigi Hansen, who had two brain surgeries on two different days for two aneurysms...only about one month before this picture was taken.
This is Gigi at Charlie's birthday party!  She is amazing!  And so is God!

Now, for those of you who have been commenting on children being forced to wear winter clothing in the middle of July, all I can say is I planted zucchini on May 12th or so and I finally will get to pick my first one later this week.  This has been the coldest wettest summer I think I have ever lived through.  Mark Twain said "The coldest winter I ever lived through was summer in San Francisco."  He obviously never spent June and July in Everett!
Anyway, this is Grace proving that yes, she IS the daughter of the Prep Sports Editor of the Everett Herald.
(A big congratulations to Aaron on that well deserved promotion!! )

Birthday boy gets a wagon ride.

And I just love this picture, everything about it.
Charlie got this cool Backyard Safari Kit from the Swaney grandparents.  This is a butterfly jar - tap on the lid and the "butterfly" flies around.

Grace loves yummy fizzy drinks...and using a straw to drink them.
(BTW, this was before the sun started to set, so Grace is still in summer clothing...for a minute or two.)

The so-ugly-they-are-cute cupcakes I made for the party.  But I'll tell you what, the icing was a MAJOR success!

Test Frittata for Dani's wedding.  Pretty, and tastes great!

Fuzzy, but cute.  Grace singing and riding away on her favorite toy at Grandma's.

Ride 'em, Gracie!

Red Cherry Day

I forgot to add this little side note from our party yesterday.

Charlie loves and adores maraschino cherries (and who doesn't? Besides Grandpa Ed...), so I bought a jar for using on our milkshakes.  After we had made all the milkshakes and Grandpa had finished barbecuing the hamburgers and we had prayed for our meal, Charlie asked if he could have another cherry.  He had already eaten his plus mine plus Ed's plus some extra for good measure, but there were plenty left in the jar.

Charlie:  Can I have four more, since I will be four?

Grandma:  You can have as many as you want.  This is your party.

Charlie, looking at the pile of cherries on his plate:
Grandma?  Is it a red cherry day?

Grandma: It certainly is!

:)

Tractor Boy

Lately Charlie has been surrounded by tractors...riding lawn mower tractors, tractors in the 4th of July parade, and now a tractor of his own.

Today we had a small Grandpa and Grandma and Charlie Birthday Party.  We opened presents, ate homemade hamburgers, made our own milkshakes, and blew out cupcake candles.

(We also played Legos, which is a current love of Charlie's...and of Grandma's!)

Happy Birthday all week, Charlie!  We love you.

This is a bird puzzle I got a few years ago in Mexico.
It is now Charlie's secret box, which he checks each time he comes over.  Today there was money in it!

Real Farmall tractor and hay bale wagon...just like Granddad Strode had.  The old one is still at the ranch.

I love that the Playskool man fits this tractor.  

Grandpa and Charlie with the tractor and hay wagon.  Also with the "cash for all of us" that Charlie got in the bird box.

Yummm...homemade milkshake made by Charlie.

Grandma and Charlie play Legos.

Blowing out 4 candles (while Grandma is busy looking for eensy weensy Lego pieces).

Ed took this one.  Cute little tractor for a cute little boy.

Flower Girl

Just some adorable pictures of a most adorable girl.  

I think she was doing "he loves me, he loves me not" as she methodically picked the entire rose apart.

He loves me...

He loves me not...What?!?...What is WRONG with that guy?

Okay, whew, he loves me...

Told you.

Tractors and Fries

This past Saturday, Ed mowed the grass on the property of some friends who were out of town.  We made a day of it with Charlie.  Here are some pictures and quotes from the day.

(Little bit of back story to help understand quotes:  Our friend's name is Ed, too, and Charlie knows him.  In Charlie's mind, both his own grandpa and Friend Ed are grandpas.  Friend Ed is quite a bit shorter than Grandpa Ed.)

On our way out to Friend Ed and Judy's property, Charlie asked if he could roll his window up and down.  (It is automatic, and he loves to push the button.)  Ed told him that once we got off the trestle and slowed down on the farm roads, he could put it down.

Charlie:  What's a trestle?
Grandma:  It's like a bridge.
C:  Is this a trestle?
G:  Yes.
Long pause...
Charlie:  Grandma?  Did God make trestles?

Once we got to Ed and Judy's, Charlie, Sophie, and Ed checked out the riding mower...oh, excuse me!  I mean, the tractor.

 However, Charlie was NOT interested in getting on the tractor at first, so he checked out the large gravel pile next to the house.  The pile is really two piles, with a small "valley" between them.
Charlie (standing in the valley):  "Look, a pile of gravel.  Two piles!  I can play with my diggers here.  And, LOOK!  The Little Grandpa made a path for me!!"

Playing Diggers

Finally brave enough to get on the tractor.

Pretty cool stuff.

Eating "princezels" on the digger pile.

So many neat things to check out..."I never had a door like THIS before."

Okay, riding with Grandpa is truly fun!

But, what he'd really been waiting for was some ice cream.
Actually, he wanted a milk shake or a "cherry ice cream" (sundae).
We had planned to take Charlie to King Charley's, a tiny drive-in on Hwy. 9 that has been around longer than our own kids.  When we drove up, they told us sorry but a pipe had burst and they were not going to be open.
Charlie:  What's burst?
Grandma: Broken, and water is spraying out.
Grandpa:  No problem, we will go into Snohomish to Jake's Diner instead.
Charlie:  And if THEY have a burst pipe, we will go somewhere else.

Yes.  But Jake's doesn't serve milkshakes or sundaes, just RB floats.  Which was fine!
(And doesn't Charlie look like he perfectly fits in a 40's/50's diner?  He is the epitome of Retro Kid!)

So we went to Jake's, where I simply HAD to take pictures of the burger and fries basket.  This is Ed's after he had (1) eaten some already and (2) given some to Charlie!

And I made him put the burger down, too, so you could see how they serve this monster.
But, yum, are they good!

After eating mountains of fries, we took off to look at laminate flooring at Home Depot and Lowe's.  At Home Depot, we picked up a couple samples to bring home.  In the car on the way into Everett...
Charlie:  Did we go to Home Depot?
Grandma:  Yes, that's where we just were.  Why?
C:  Because it says "Home Depot" on the back of these woods.
Grandma: (!!!) It sure does!

And when Ed and I were discussing the two samples, I said, "I am surprised, but I like the darker one better.  The lighter one is too cool, I think."
Charlie: Yeah!  It IS cooler!

We had a wonderful day, and the lawn looked great when it was all mowed.  (Thanks for letting Ed and Charlie ride the tractor, Friend Ed.)
And we had masses of fries leftover...no kidding.

Birthday Boy

Okay, no, it isn't Charlie's birthday quite yet, but both my girls will tell you that I am the world's WORST at keeping quiet about birthdays, once plans begin and the actual month arrives.

Proof:  (Just one instance)  When Alison was turning 10 or so, we went over to the home of some Russian friends who had made her a birthday cake.  During the party, Dina, the wife, asked me what we had planned for Alison for her actual birthday.  Alison was sitting right beside me; so I immediately proceeded to outline the major big secret surprise plans we had for her 10th day bash...a dress up trip to Seattle and dinner on top of the Space Needle.

Needless to say, Alison was surprised...so, you see, it worked.

Anyway...
Who can resist giving a bike to a grandson?  Months ago Ed got this bike from a friend whose own grandson has outgrown it.  Charlie has even seen it a couple of times in our garage; and has even asked what is that bike, Grandma?  I won't say I lied to a little boy, but I may not have told the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me...

So, earlier this weekend we took the bike over to Charlie's house so he could have it without the bustle and boom of a party...at least, that is what we told ourselves.  We might not have told ourselves the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us...

But, who can resist such cuteness as THIS??

It would be stretching the truth, the whole truth, to say Charlie loves the bike...Aaron says he's getting acquainted with it by being in the same room at the same time.  :)  He reminds me of those Calvin and Hobbes cartoons where Calvin's bike lurks in the bushes and attacks him.

But Charlie did get on and go for a little spin.  And, yes, he has a helmet, for all you moms of preschoolers out there.  And grandmothers, too.

Happy 5th of July!!

Yesterday was too beautiful and too long to put any pictures up, so Happy 5th and here are some pictures from our 4th of July.

A bit of background:
Sophie has been under the weather for a couple of days and not sleeping too well (she is MUCH better now), plus she hates hates hates fireworks, which go on pretty much 24/7 around here for about a week.  That makes for not good sleep for any of us.  All weekend we have been enjoying ourselves quietly, and not really planning anything...

HOWEVER...
We thought, "Hey, when you have grandchildren, you do things you never thought you would do."  One thing we have never done (because usually it is pouring rain and about 36 degrees out) is go downtown and watch the Everett 4th of July Parade.

WELL!  I can now cross that off my bucket list.

We took Charlie (Grace, like Sophie, has been under the weather, too, but she is better, also) and made a morning of it.  I was proud of Ed - NOT a crowds/DisneyWorld/family reunion/state fair kind of guy - but he went, and we all had a great time.

Enjoy the pix, and Happy Birthday, USA!

Not in any particular order...

Old Glory...literally.  I need to fix this flag, but am hesitant because it is very special to us...this is the flag I hung up when Alison joined the Army, and it NEVER came down (I know, against all protocol, but I don't care) until the day she was fully discharged.  This is our Remembrance Flag.  

Hmmm...matching shorts and stroller.  Nice!

This was at the end of the parade...someone needs a nap!
So, I went home and had one.  :)

From the Cadet band, 9 times world champions, from PA???  Not sure where.

Loved these little dancing girls!

Watching so seriously!

All I can say is...hmmm, okkkaaaayyy...some sort of Roller Derby Club.  

And this one is for Grandad Strode, Ed's Grandpa.  His old Farmall exactly like this one is still at the ranch.  Well, not EXACTLY like this one...his needs some serious paint work!  (PS and don't read this to Charlie: This is the tractor model we got him for his birthday, coming up so so soon!)

For so many reasons, this is one of my favorite pictures from the day...This is the Chinese Girls Drill Team.  They were gorgeous, and even had three dragons in their part of the parade.
I love this girl--her dress, the feathers on her headress, the way she is leading the group, and the flag in her hand.
It says so much!
I will do another post with more pix of this group.  I just loved them.

I added this because this group was one of the most creatively unusual...in case you can't tell,
she is a marionette "puppet"...very good, too!

Forgot they throw candy!  "Grandma, does candy have sugar?"  (He's on a "watch the sugar intake" program. :)

For Aaron.

From a Filipino group.

Best seat in the house.

Paying the vigilantes...who were really collecting money for kid's programs.  He got a button, which he still had on when we went over later in the day to watch fireworks.

Ready for the action.  We were going to bring the wagon, but Charlie loves our stroller...it has a CUP HOLDER!!

The Cadet band from PA??? practicing on the lawn of Everett High School.  My goodness, they were amazingly good!

This was a fun day!  In the evening, we went over to Aaron and Erin's and watched the Everett City fireworks show.  It is down on the flats by the marina, but you can see most of the show from their front porch...no crowds and hot coffee!  Couldn't be better.

Love to all, and enjoy your freedom!