THE CAT is OUT of THE BAG

Sunday, April 17, 2011 Yesterday Corey called and asked if I had the van. (Jim and I are forever switching cars.) I said I did and he asked if I would meet them (Corey, Jayden and Bailey) at Home Depot. He said he was going to make a new bed frame for Stacey for their anniversary which is coming up this Friday. Corey looked up the plans for the bed on the Internet. He made a paper list but also looked it up on the Internet on my new fancy phone. We bought everything he needed to start the project and came to our house and started cutting and sanding etc in our garage. Jayden took over the job of sanding and did a really good job of it and went on for hours without complaint. He helped with the drilling and screwing with the power drill too. We worked pretty late last night without eating and by the time we quite I was quite shaky. Corey made the kids vow not to tell Stacey anything. Jayden and Corey came over again early this afternoon and worked on it again. Stacey kept calling wondering where they were and what they were doing. The last I heard, it sounded like they felt they might have to tell her that they were doing something for their anniversary but not say what it is. Monday, 18 April, 2011 At around noon, Stacey sent me a text message asking me to "take a picture of the bed Corey is working on in your garage and send it to Corey's or my phone." I assumed at that point Corey or one of the kids gave in and told her. I texted her back and said, (not lying) "I can't, I haven't figured out how to do it on my new phone yet." She immediately texted me back saying, "That's OK. You just confirmed my suspicions." She and Corey were at lunch together before she started her shift. I can't remember if it was Sunday night or what, but, Stacey was lying in bed and Jayden and Bailey were lying with her. Corey was downstairs working on the computer when suddenly it hit her. (He had shown her the bed on the Internet a couple of weeks before.) She bolted up into a sitting position and half shouted, "He's making me a bed isn't he?" The kids panicked. Stacey started to get out of bed to confront Corey. Bailey whispered to Jayden in a voice loud enough that Stacey could hear, "The bird is out of the cage!" (?) Jayden jumped on top of Stacey so she couldn't get out of bed and Bailey ran downstairs to tell Corey the news.

EGGS, and I DON'T MEAN EASTER

Stacey opened today at FEDEX and it is still Spring Break, meaning I had Jayden and Bailey first thing this morning. They hadn't eaten breakfast yet so when we got to our house I asked if they were hungry and what they wanted. Jayden wanted scrambled eggs, so I made four of them; two for each of us. Jayden announced that he wanted to make his own. He grabbed a frying pan, cracked two eggs into it, scrambled them with a spatula; no butter. It wasn't until then that he turned the stove on. Bailey said she wanted hardboiled eggs. Jayden put three eggs into cold water and I set the timer for ten minutes as a "check it" time. At ten minutes Jayden took them out with a slotted spoon. He and I ran them under cold running water long enough to not burn our hands and then we "pealed" them. They were soft boiled. Jayden put them on a plate for Bailey. Long story short; I ate four scrambled eggs, Jayden ate one scrambled egg and Bailey ate one soft boiled egg. Out of nine eggs we only wasted three of them. Oh well, it was a good learning experience. I THINK!!!!!!!! At 11:30 or so we went to their house. I read; Bailey watched Peter Pan and Jayden played video games and watched cartoons. Stacey got off work at 3:00 since she went in early. That is how my day went...so, now you are totally yawning. I felt really good, in part to being distracted by those two--thanks kids. Ps. Jayden kicked my butt at ping pong but I refused to admit it. The three of us were laughing hysterically.

WHAT GENERAL CONFERENCE?

Today was the first of two days of the semi-annual General conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Well, where was I?

I don't know if it was something I ate or what but it was like I had the same thing all over again; head, stomach etc.

On top of all that I forgot that today was conference. In my mind, except for the Priesthood session tonight it was just on Sunday; tomorrow.

Duh!

I did figure it out later in the day; in time to go to the late session but by this time I was taking care of Jayden and Bailey while Corey went to his office so he could get his homework done in peace and solitude.

The highlight of the day was Bailey and me watching Tangled, a Disney movie about Rapunzel.

Don't let my wife of grandchildren know, but I think it is the best Disney princes movie yet.

I thought Beauty and the Beast sucked.

 

Yea, it had to be something I ate!

 

 

 

 

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OH-MEMORIES

Keep your mind on your driving

Keep your hands on the wheel

Keep your snoopy eyes on the road ahead

We're having fun

Sitting in the back seat

Kissing and a hugging with Fred

All of them in love with Fred

Wish that I could be like Fred

Where the Dear and the Cantaloupe play

Pussy-cat, Pussy cat, where have you been?

I've been to London to see the Queen.

Pussy-cat, Pussy-cat, what did you there?

I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

Animals on my mind

It must be migration season. The deer and antelope are coming down out of the hills. I have seen several deer in a number of places lately and as I was driving south from the Smith's there were about two dozen antelope in the field on the west side of Redwood Road. They were near enough that several cars stopped and people got out to look.

I got the kids after school at 3:30 this afternoon. They both had to tell me the different April Fools jokes and pranks they were involved in or observed at school.

When we got home both Jayden and Bailey had a bowl of cereal then Bailey grabbed the phone and called Jacob. The only thing said on her end of the conversation was, "Meet me at the park." Jayden wouldn't let her leave until he had finished his cereal then they both ran out the door.

Heather, who works with Stacey, moved in with them tonight for a couple of weeks.

ANIMAL FAIR

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

"I went to the animal fair.

The birds and the beasts were there

The big baboon by the light of the moon,

Was combing his auburn hair."

A song from when I was in kindergarten-first grade.

"Kind of describes my day.

    After seeing my man Stan…well let me explain it this way.

    Judy, my daughter Niki, her four year old daughter Alexa, my son Chris and his daughter Sierra were all leaving for Orange County this afternoon to watch Sierra dance then go to Disneyland.

    Judy asked if I would drop her and her luggage off at her office so she could work half a day and leave from there.

    I said, "OK!"

    She said, "Oh, by the way; will you drop the handicap parking permit off at Niki's so she can put it in her bag?"

    "OK!" (I don't know why she didn't just run it up to her office with her, but I didn't think of that until later.)

    "Oh…by the way, will you run and get the new tires put on my car. Corey said they are in. Call Corey and he can tell you where to go." (They were special ordered.)

    I dropped off Judy then dropped off the car. Corey met me there and we went to get him a couple of new dress shirts then we went to Sum Dum Luc (Joy Luck) one of our favorite oriental restaurants and near the boy's office.

    After lunch, Corey drove me back to Discount Tires and I got back in Judy's car.

When I got to Niki's I started playing with Alexa and two year old Gavin. We decided that instead of Niki dropping Gavie off at Greg's work and her leaving her car there for the whole time they were out of town, I would just take them to the airport and then take Gavin back to Greg.

That we did…sort of.

    As we were driving into the airport, Niki called her brother Chris. He was running late and having problems, (nothing major-just time consuming) and it was decided that we should exit the airport, drive back downtown and get Judy so he wouldn't have to. That we did.

By the time I got Gavin back to Greg's and the boys' office then came all the way home I was exhausted…I guess the hardest part was trying to keep up with a two year old and a four year old at the same time; especially when they were going in opposite directions or wanting my attention at the same time.

Love 'um to pieces and I enjoy doing it and want to on a regular basis but it wears me out.

Anyway I didn't get anything else done today…maybe after a short nap…too early to go to bed for the night!

Other than that I am feeling amazingly well!

A NEAT TIME WITH GRANDKIDS

Monday, March 21, 2011

    Being Monday, I was with Jayden and Bailey from 2:40 until their dad came home some time after six.

    When they got in the car after school I asked if they wanted to go to Del Taco or somewhere. Bailey nearly panicked. "I want to go home someone is going to come over and play!"

    That "someone" was Jacob.

    As soon as we walked in the house she pulled an envelope out of her jeans back pocket. It had Jacob's phone number written on it.

    She grabbed the house phone and dialed, but after three tries with no one answering, she said, "Ok, let's go!"

    We stopped at Wal-Mart and got them each a little something and I got a three pack of large boxes of tissues we checked out and went to Del Taco. Bailey and Jayden each got a bean and cheese burrito and I got a large hard-shelled taco.

    When we got to Wal-Mart, Jayden called Corey and asked if it was "ok if Grandpa gets me a package of Pokie Cards (? Probably wrong name.)

    Corey told him that he wasn't going to say "no" but that he would be disappointed in him if he did. We got them and Jayden spent an hour of so mulling over in his mind how he was going to deal with his dad's disappointment.

    He wanted those cards really bad.

    I have been fighting a cold which has now gone into my chest and arms; i.e. body aches. I laid down on Corey's and Stacey's bed for about an hour.

    Jayden quietly came up and played with his new cards on the table by the window.

    We had an opportune moment to say some good I love you's.

    It meant a lot to me.

    Bailey came home from the park freezing and asked me to make some hot chocolate. They didn't have any except some squirt stuff that goes in cold milk. I tried heating it. Yuck! It tasted bad.

    Bailey said that when she and Jacob got cold. Jacob knew a sheltered place. Also there was a "stone bowl". They thought about getting in the stone bowl and cuddling but when Bailey thought about it, it gross her out and she came home instead.

    Jayden ran up to Zach and Cameron's. They were home but couldn't play. He called me and asked if I would pick him up because of the cold and wind.