Can You Say Stinker?

Nicholas was helping me clean by picking up all the magnet letters.  Abby thought she'd help out...

Friday Playdate

Nick starts Kindergarten this fall. **sniff**   So I placed Abby in a MDO program once a week on Fridays so that Nick and I could spend some one on one time together. He calls it his special Friday. We usually go bowling, play miniature golf, etc...  We just hang out. He loves it and I love it. Abby kinda loves it, but that's another post.

If you've been around Nicholas for any amount of time, you know that Ava J. is his girlfriend. Of course, he calls all his little girl friends that. And he says he's got lots of girlfriends, but Ava's his best girlfriend. Well, we decided to invite Ava to bowl with us last Friday. Both kids had a good time, mostly. Nicholas got a bit sulky when Ava was leading during the second game. He had won the first one. It was funny, his shoulders were all hunched and he alternated between tearfulness and surliness.  So much for chivalry!  Ava could not have cared less, she was busy rolling around on the floor w/ the bowling ball and dancing. He ended up winning that game by 3 points, and you should have seen the sheepish look on his face.

All in all, a successful "date", though I'm not sure they'll allow us back. There were more than a few ball-over-the-head throws.  ~CRINGE~  I tried to explained that divots are for golf, not bowling.

Abby's 1st Haircut

It's been a while since I've posted a picture of Abby.  So you can only imagine just how long her "bangs" had gotten.  They were halfway down her nose, which wouldn't be so bad if she would let me put a clip in her hair.  Futile I say.  While we were in TX a few weeks back, I took her with Scott's mom to trim her hair at the beauty parlor (that's for you, Beth.)  As expected, she did not go down without a fight.  But she got over it quickly.  I texted a picture to my friend Heidi and asked, "what's up w/ my kids and haircuts?"  She wrote back, "apparently they don't like them."  Duh.

I think it suits her perfectly.

Grandad

It's been months since my last post.  I'm so far behind, I hope one day to get caught up.  But I've decided, at least for now, to just start blogging from this point forward.  I've still got lots of December pics and Christmas to post. But I think I'll wait and go back to those when I'm ready.

Normally, Scott and I would never discuss anything so private, but this blog is really a scrapbook for the kids.  I can't move forward without acknowledging the recent passing of Scott's dad.  He was such a significant person in the kids' lives, especially Nick's.

I am unable to adequately express how special he was to all of us, how much we loved him, and how much we will miss him.  I'm sad for Abby, she barely got a chance to know her Grandad.  I think they would have gotten along fabulously.  My heart aches for Nicholas, who will miss out on all the experiences and lessons that only his Grandad could have provided.  He was a good, kind, gentle man.  We all miss him so very much.

The day before we headed back home, we went to his farm to have a toast in his memory.  Nicholas surprised us all by giving an impromptu toast to his Grandad.  I think his words summed up perfectly how we all felt.

"Grandad, I'm so sad that you died.  But I really, really loved it that you were alive."