Grantisms

It has been a while so I thought I would share a few of the latest Grantisms


Grant:  Who gave God all of his power?
Mom:  I don't know.  Who do you think made God so powerful?
Grant:  I don't know, but I'll ask Santa.  He'll know.



Grant:  When I grow up I want to be an elf.



Grant: Hey Mom.  How long has our car been alive?



Grant:  When I grow up I am going to make a box that every time you open the lid a dollar pops out.
Mom:  How will you put the dollars in the box?
Grant:  I won't put dollars in the box.  It will be magic.

(Based on his fiscal ideals, I believe this kid has a future in politics.  I know politicians that operate on Grant's magic box principle.)

 

 

 

 

Yesterday Grant was (un)lucky enough to spend the day with David and me at the farm.

We vaccinated and tagged cows,

vaccinated, wormed and fly treated horses,

picked strawberries,

watered all our new plants,

checked on bees,

on and on.

 

He was not happy about the whole deal.

 

 

The prize for his eternal patience was the opportunity to be the only Shupe kid

who got his hand prints put in the concrete pad at the third water trough.

 

See?

 

I was getting ready to load up and head for town when the concrete guys were finishing pouring the pad.

 

Grant thought it was neat to make his hand prints.

 

 

Counting down the days until the end of school.

Four more to go.

 

 

 

Freetime

Now that Grant is done with school

 

 

we have some days to fill

 

until the others finish up in June.

 

Here is one way for a boy to spend a day...

playing with monster trucks.

 

He was having a great time with this....

not sure what he was doing other than crashing trucks into one another.

The Way Back Files

Your dog might be a bit spoiled if

 

 

 

it hitches a ride in the bucket on the tractor.

 

Being the ir  responsible parents that we are

we would never let our kids ride on a hay wagon without being properly restrained!

 

GASP!!

more Easter pictures from the farm

 

 

Yes, we like eggs that much.

 

 

 

Trip to our new favorite water hole at the farm

 

searching for crawdads

and finding crawdads

Does Emily look nervous??

 

She should have.

She about had kittens when Dad stuck the crawdad on her sleeve.

 

Bad Crawdad!  Bad Dad!

 

Crawdad is now living in Johns aquarium at home.

 

Goodnight all!

Remembering

 

 

 

 

 

In Flanders Fields John McCrae, 1915.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

600

the number of flags we passed out to our neighbors in the subdivision

 

95

the percent who made this small gesture to honor those who have given their lives fighting for our country

 

 

Today we remember.

Loose Ends

Trying to update some things around here and keep the family journal current.

 

 

First, Baby G went home with his new mom and dad Wednesday afternoon.

 

 

I cannot tell you what a wonderful feeling it was to lay him in the arms of his mother and introduce her to her new son.

 

I did not cry

 

until later.

 

 

 

Sleep has been a blessed relief the past two nights.

I can handle sleepless nights for a while, but I will say once again that I am too old to raise another baby.

 

The mere thought of a toddler to care for full time give me hives.

< smile >

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a look at the new kitchen cabinets that I am

STILL WAITING FOR!!!

 

 

I am giving them one more week before I start calling to see what the heck the hold-up is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grace is learning the breaststroke in swim class.

It would appear water is not required to swim the breaststroke!

 

During opening day at the ballpark where Grant and John play ball....

they had tons of inflatables.

Now every time we go to the ballpark the two younger kids want to know if there will be inflatables.

EVERY TIME I have to explain to them that

the inflatables were only for opening day!

 

 

 

 

Grace's school did a karate program through a local karate academy.

Any child that finished the level one program at school could go to the

karate academy on "promotion night" to receive their next belt

and demonstrate what they had learned.

 

 

Of course there was a sales pitch included trying to get parents to sign their kid up for another set of lessons.

 

Grace (in the pink shirt) loved the class

and left in tears when I refused to sign another child up for another activity.

I have my sanity limit

 

and I exceeded it about four kids and ten activities ago!!

 

Speaking of activities and insanity,

we have opted for letting Ronald McDonald or his good friend Wendy cook for us a lot more lately.

I need a chauffer's license instead of a chef's license.

I am never home long enough to cook.

I am constantly running one person here and another person there.

 

 

Yes, I know.

I keep repeating to myself as I drive....

 

I'm gonna miss this.

 

 

I know I will.

Someday.

 

 

 

Looking forward to a great Memorial Day weekend.

Remember those who served and serve today.

 

Milestones

 

 

And I made it through without tears.

 

 

 

Until now.

 

 

 

Goodnight.

Boys

 

Grant showing off his silly putty necklace....

 

 

 

"Not me!"

was the answer I received when I asked Grant who played with silly putty in the car.

 

 

Silly Putty + carpet = FOREVER

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Grant has been busy lately.

 

swinging

 

riding bikes

 

practicing baseball

 

coloring pictures of monster trucks

 

washing the cat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, washing the cat.

 

See?

 

 

He said yesterday he was going to go wash the cat.

I said "have fun" without really thinking about what he had actually said he was going to do.

Soon he was back to announce to David and me that the cat was clean.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes indeed.

The cat was clean.

I did not go check on the condition of the bathroom.

I left it to the guys to clean up the mess.

 

 

 

 

I am not sure who enjoyed this little trick more

Grant, the cat, or David

 

 

 

but

I might have to say David found more humor in it than either Grant or the cat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure the cat was not amused.

 

Baby G Update

Baby G is doing well.  He keeps me busy as witnessed by my lack of blogging.
His birth mother went to court today to terminate parental rights.
I cannot imagine the selflessness required to make that decision.


Baby G will meet his very excited adoptive parents on Wednesday if all go as planned.





The juxtaposition of today's events is painful.

While this day represents the realization of Baby G's parents' hopes and dreams,
for others this day will be remembered as a day of horrific loss.



Once again....


praying for one who so selflessly gave her child a new path in life.

praying for those in Oklahoma who have lost so much in such a short time.

praying for those who hold onto hope that their babies will be found alive.

praying for those whose losses go beyond mere possessions and homes.

praying for those who begin to rebuild with renewed hope for the future.


Lord, give them strength to face the task set before them.

Fingers Crossed!

 

Doesn't everyone make Derby horses

 

 

from swimming pool noodles?

Grant has been busy at school again making cool crafts.

 

 

The orchard after we finished mulching it this spring.

So far the crop looks pretty promising.

Fingers crossed.

 

Garden after we planted it.

With all of the rain we had since planting,

we might be replanting parts of it soon.

What is bad for the garden is good for the pond though.

It is finally filling up.  It is at the highest level I have seen it yet.

 

Again, fingers crossed!

 

Fingers uncrossed for this one, please!

Grace practicing her newest piano piece.

I obviously did not teach her to sit in a laundry basket while playing.

 

 

I do not know the logic behind this decision.

Maybe that is best.

Recross those fingers, please!

 

We are hoping to watch these three baby birds grow up this spring.

They are in an evergreen tree right off our deck.

The third one has hatched now and all are doing well so far.

Grant and Grace beg to look at them multiple time each day.

 

 

 

Fingers crossed for a court date for Baby G this week!!!