24

 Yesterday was baby Adam's birthday.  Of course he is not exactly a baby anymore...but he is the baby of all of our Grands...so there ya go... always the baby.  It seems like only yesterday that he was a little guy.  He loved pushing the wheeled hand cart all over the yard and playing in the sand in the greenhouse and sometimes dumping sand in my water barrels!  Since he was the baby sometimes instead of being bored and doing adult activities with his parents and older brother he would spend time with us and be bored at our house! 

Far Guy and Adam in 2004  when Adam was 3. 

Since Adam lives far away in Western North Dakota we don't get to see him often.  The last time we saw him was at his brothers wedding.

Happy Birthday Adam, we miss you!  Love you now and forever!

Grandma

Progress

 I bought a new pole for my flag outside the door.  My old flag pole was too darn difficult to attach a flag and this one works better.  I have enough flags I could change them every week.   (years of collecting)

This is the one I chose for a week maybe two.   The Loons are here down at the lake according to my baby brother.  I have not heard them ...but the Canada Geese are honking when flying over and the Bald Eagle circles above in the trees.  ( He is looking for small critters to eat as most of the road kill has been consumed.)

 The patch in the side yard might be grass someday.  If it doesn't rain soon I will have to get out the water hose and tend to it myself. 

I have been selling some stuff...a very Vintage 1970's love seat left the house yesterday!  One less thing to clean around.   It was fairly ugly... it was useful when youngest Grandson Adam was a little boy ...he could stretch out on it and sleep very comfortably. (He grew)

I bought a set..a sofa and this love seat from friends Bonnie and Rueben when they got new furniture about 1999.  Chance claimed the couch but never the love seat...so it was almost as good as the day I bought it.  No one ever sat it it anymore...Jen used it for a luggage rack.  

Progress is slow but still progress.   Trying to look at the bright side of things!

Supper was salad and a Philly on a pretzel bun.:)

Weather: High was 69 F or 21 C eh.  Warm for the first part of May. 

Far Side

The Grands

All our Grands attended Noah's wedding.  

 Savannah in orange...even her shoes!

Maddie 

Brenton, Peach and Maddie 

Paige and Cole 

Adam and Courtney 

It was so much fun to see them all in the same place and give them all hugs! 

Two Grands left to get married...Savannah and Adam....and Adam has a gal:)

Far Side 

Year in Review 2024

 It was a year!  Why is it as we age time seems to go by faster and faster?

Our oldest daughter Trica lives in Duluth Minnesota, we saw her one time this past year and that was at Paige's wedding. 

Our youngest daughter Jen and husband Andy still live in East Grand Forks Minnesota and we spend the Winter months with them.  They have a Golden Retriever named Sadie.  Jen teaches at Northland Community College and Andy teaches at the University of North Dakota.

Savannah is doing well with her Lash business in Bemidji, Minnesota.  She has two dogs Chewy and Kalila.

Maddie is a Dental Assistant, her husband Brenton works at Bobcat. They live in Grand Forks, North Dakota and they have "The Greats"  Hey Mikey, Cee Cee and Peach.  With a new baby due in June!  They have a very busy household...two dogs Sam and Koda and a cat named Doug. 

Paige married Cole in October.  Paige is a Dental Hygienist and Cole works for a Irrigation Company. They live in Bemidji Minnesota. They have a dog named Rosie.

Noah lives in Grand Forks, North Dakota and works at Simplot, he supervises the cleaning of all the machines and the chemicals used.  Simplot processes potatoes.  Noah has a dog named Aurora. 

Adam moved to Dickinson, North Dakota. He works at Menards in the plumbing department and will attend Dickinson State University this next semester.  Adam's gal Courtney is also a student at Dickinson State University, if all goes well they will graduate about the same time. (2 years from now) Adam has a cat named Phoebe. 

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No births this year or new pet additions. 

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Deaths...we had a few. 

Far Guy's Cousin Bill Weeks  January 25  age 78

High School Friend Cyndi 

My Mother Madeline February 11 age 94

Neighbor Cheryl  July 13 age 70

My Cousin Diane August 13  age 68

My Cousin Patsy September 15 age 72

Far Guy's Cousin Tom's wife Linda October 4  age 78

My Cousin Kathy October 11  age 75 

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One of our bestest Winter friends Little Elvis died September 27, 2004 he was almost 15 years old.  He had a good life.  I miss him sleeping on his bed near the foot of my bed and as old habits are hard to break I look for him automatically when I get up during the night.  I miss him.

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Far Guy keeps busy; he woodcarves, fixes on his old car and occasionally he goes to a car show.  He is my best sous chef and helps readily in the kitchen.  His lung function is about 19% so we limit our activities to outdoor gatherings as much as possible.  He rarely goes into a store because of perfumes, aftershave and cleaning products that people/stores use. 

I keep busy, I have many crochet/craft projects in the works at all times.  I am still struggling with pain from all my ritises  I do daily exercises and should have bought stock in whoever makes Tylenol.  One day at a time. 

There you have it the big wrap up for 2024.

What will 2025 bring us?  A new Great, time spent with those we love...both humans and dogs!

Happy New Years Eve!  We have not stayed up late enough to ring in the New Year for a number of years.

Far Side

17 years

 My blog is still a teenager.  I have been blogging for 17 years, I began in late December of 2007.  Those real early blogs were on another blogging platform that is now defunct.  However I have those blogs as hard copies and I may revisit a few of them on this blog next Summer...especially the ones with family history.  ( So that is now on my to do list.)

My Grandson Adam asked me ...when do you blog Grandma?  I usually blog in the afternoon or the evening and then set it to auto publish at 3 AM.  If I know I am going to be really busy I will schedule a couple ahead of time.   Yes I could be dead and still blogging...technically! 

Flowers last Summer.  I love primary colors in a pot of flowers. 

We are doing okay Up North, there was a mix up with Far Guy's Infusion, the Doctor even tried to straighten it out....with no luck.  Back home Tiff and Lynn gave him Zemaira at the Infusion Center.  Here he gets Aralast that makes him very short of breath.  The Pharmacy up here says they cannot get Zemaira. Far Guy will contact the Pharmaceutical Company himself.  Far Guy gets infusions every week to protect his lungs, he has a genetic defect...rare disorder called Alpha One Antitrypsin Deficiency. 

I am keeping busy with puzzles, reading, crocheting and petting Sadie while keeping one eye on Far Guy. No improvement in my RA pain...the injections in my back worked about ten days. I was hoping for longer...but thats life. 

I will keep blogging as long as I am able.  I enjoy reading many blogs and connecting with many people all over the world. 

 Thank you for reading!

Far Side

I love you

 The Grands each wrote I love you on a piece of paper and Jen laser cut the words out.  Each one a bit different! 

There was some discussion about the style of Noahs hair making him taller this year than his brother! 

These five light up our lives!  It was fun to spend some time with them, play some games and hear them laugh together and tell stories about each other. 

We love them too!

Far Side

Our grandsons

 The wedding was a good time to spend some time with our grandsons Noah and Adam...and of course their parents Jen and Andy.  Jen and Andy rented a large enough place for all of us to be comfortable.  Far Guy and I just stayed one night. 

Our oldest Grandson Noah, he took a vacation day from his job at Simplot in Grand Forks ND to come to the wedding.

Our youngest grandson and the baby of the entire family...Adam.  

Adam has a gal named Courtney, we like her too!  They both live in Western ND where Courtney is attending school and Adam is working at Menards and planning to go back to school Winter semester.  

 A wonderful group photo! 

Time always goes too fast when you are around the people you love most in the world.  We get to see Noah quite often...Adam not so much since he moved. 

Far Side

Grands and Greats

 Our youngest Great Granddaughter, Peach is flanked by two very handsome young men.  They almost look like security guards!  

The handsome young men are our two favorite Grandsons; Adam and Noah. Adam and Noah's parents are our youngest daughter Jen and her husband Andy.

Where is the littlest piggy tailed Peach heading?  She had been at the motel with her siblings and her Dad and a family friend who helped with their care...because their Mom was busy being a Matron of Honor.  

Where ever is she headed?  She had quite an entourage....all people who love her; Adam, Noah, Jen, Hey Mikey and Andy with Cee Cee.

Peach had activated her Mom radar!

And then they were photo bombed!

But you get the idea.

Maddie and Peach.   Maddie is our oldest daughter Trica and her ex husband Richard's middle daughter  (they were divorced after being married for 24 years)...and Peach belongs to Maddie and Brenton. 

The wedding was beautiful.  I will share more photos as the days go on.  I will wait until Paige posts some photos on facebook to show you what a beautiful bride she was.  I had to get what photos I could and not agitate the professional photographers.

We are safely back at home. 

Far Side

23

 How can it be that the baby in our family is 23?   Wasn't he just a baby a few days ago? 

Hiding from Grandma behind his knees!

I was almost 50 when he was born...I am a tad older now. 

With his parents in Hawaii.

Mostly he avoids my camera.  

Adam and his gal Courtney last Christmas.  Since then Adam has moved to Western North Dakota.

Happy Birthday Adam!  23 is a great age!  You will never be younger!  Love you lots! 

Grandma

Andy and Jen, Little Elvis, Sadie

 Far Guy had Doctors appointments Up North so we left right after his Infusion on Thursday and came back late Friday afternoon.   He is doing okay.

Guess who else was happy to see us?

Little Elvis had a sleep over with us in our room.  He had a small problem last week, he caught a toe nail on something and it bled something fierce...and he traveled throughout the house ...no doubt looking for help...poor boy.  Jen asked me if I wanted to take him home...I would like to but I don't think he would be happy here.  He doesn't hear anything, hand signals work the best with him...and I am not sure how much he can see.  

AND then there is the retriever...

She was so happy to finally get my shoe.  Her tail was wagging ninety miles an hour.  She enjoys being a shoe thief!

She wasn't the least bit remorseful.  However she did give up my shoe...eventually...but would not retrieve the other one.   Sadie is quite the dog, Thursday evening she went from person to person for attention.  Her own personal round table of attention.  She has been shutting herself in the bathroom...she goes in there to drink out of the toilet bowl...yes dogs do that!  I am sure her big old tail hits the door and the door partially closes behind her...she isn't brave enough to nose the door open...so we worked on that a bit...with me standing outside the door saying "Sadie nose" and offering a treat through the open part of the door...she nosed it open multiple times.  Will she remember...not sure.  When she shuts herself in the bathroom she doesn't bark or whine she just waits patiently until someone rescues her.  Thats Sadie for you!

Did you know our son in law Andy is a marvelous cook? ...well he is...he made bacon cheeseburgers on the grill,  potato rounds in the air fryer and a caprese salad.  I miss his cooking and I miss the days off from cooking when he cooks! 

Jen is a good cook also...but she does not enjoy cooking like Andy does.  She is a marvelous baker! So they make a good team.

It was good to see everyone...we also got to see Adam,  Maddie and Andy's Mom!

Far Side

Easter gathering

 We gathered at Jen and Andy's for Easter.   The food was marvelous!  We enjoyed way too much food and a rousing game of Bingo.  The Great Grands hunted for their Easter Baskets and had an egg hunt. 

We missed Miss Paige she had to be elsewhere, it is always fun to see these "kids" together.

Far Side

Grands

 It was a day to celebrate Christmas with our Grandchildren or like I call them the "Grands."

We had lots of food; egg bake, little smokies wrapped in bacon, fruit and cinnamon rolls...and a plate full of Christmas goodies.  I even had a mimosa!  We gathered late in the morning to do brunch. 

We played games for prizes, had a white elephant gift exchange and opened stockings. 

Fun times!  Wonderful to see them all together.

Here they are tallest to shortest from left to right.  From right to left is their birth order.  They are a Grand group of young adults!  

Far Side

22

 Our youngest Grandson is 22 today.  Hardly seems possible that "The baby Grand is so old and tall!"

This is the photo I put on his birthday card.   The photo was taken in July.

Adam is attending college at UND.   His course of study in Engineering.  He is working part time and going to school full time so he is a busy guy. 

We enjoyed seeing him for his birthday supper on Friday.  (His day off)

I was privileged to be there for his birth 22 years ago and to hear him cry for the first time and count his fingers and toes.

Happy Birthday Adam! 

Far Side

Sunflower

 The Woodland Sunflowers are in full bloom.  It is so dry it is a miracle that anything is blooming. 

Nice to see a spot of cheerful color!  

We drove Up North to visit with Andy, Jen, Little Elvis and Sadie and have supper with Adam and his gal Courtney.  Noah had to work.  Any day you get to see a child, son in law, a Grand and dogs is a good day.

Far Side

School Starts

 Jen and Andy are both teachers.  Their first day back with students was yesterday. 

This is Jen's 42nd year of "first day of school" and Andy is just a few years behind her. 

Their students are fortunate to have instructors that really like to teach.  Andy begins the year teaching at UND and Jen continues at Northland Community and Technical College.

School is starting...Fall is coming on strong...leaves and acorns are falling out of the trees. Elementary and High School kids in Minnesota do not start school until after Labor Day. 

Adam started school yesterday also...he begins taking classes at UND.   Not sure what his course of study is...I heard he was taking Calculus and a computer programing class and some more classes that I have forgotten...they all sounded scary to me.    Hey Mikey will start school next week!

Far Side

Four of Five

 Four of our Grandchildren were here for their Great Grandfathers committal service.  They came early in the day so that we could visit. 

Noah

Adam 

Maddie 

Paige holding Ree

It was good to get caught up with them and the goings on in their lives.  Jobs, travel, education, wedding, girlfriends and door dash:)

 Far Side

Grandboys

 We  will miss seeing the Grandboys.  They came over for supper last night to say goodbye...their Mom made a great supper; chicken, spaetzle, salad, stuffed mushrooms and popovers.  The boys both enjoyed the home cooked meal! 

Noah

They both made a trip upstairs to see their parents new closet...that used to be Adam's computer room. 

Adam

I caught them on the way down for a photo! 

Far Side 

Adam: Graduates

 Adam graduated with an AA degree ( Associated Arts).  His parents took him out to celebrate and we were invited along with his brother Noah!  We met at Harry's Steakhouse in Downtown Grand Forks...the food was excellent. 

Adam is working full time, he is an assistant manager at an eating establishment.  He is enjoying time in his apartment and recently got a couch and a television so life is good for him.   He is thinking about going back to school to become a History teacher. 

It was a fun evening with both of our grandsons! 

They have grown up way too fast! 

Adam in 2011

Adam 2023

Congratulations Adam we are very proud of you! 

Far Side

Kids

 Little kids...our Great Grandchildren

Big kid with his pretty gal!  (Adam our youngest Grand)

We had some great family time on Sunday. 

Far Side