Tag Archives: Waco

Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

The Littles

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One of the delights of living in Texas is that we are in ‘helping’ distance with our son and family in Waco. It’s about 2 1/2 hours, so not exactly drop-in close, but still close enough. (And way closer than our kids that live in Ohio!)

So, when I got a call that they needed someone to take care of the two littles (ages 6 & 8) for a day while Mom was away, I made a couple of adjustments in my schedule and signed up for Grams Duty!

It was a pretty fun gig!! And mostly involved games! Which of course, we counted as school!
Skyjo (a fancy version of the card game Golf)
*Strategy and math. Lots of addition and the introduction of negative numbers. Not bad for a first grader!
Rummicub – more math and critical thinking. Also, thinking outside the box.
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Also finding different ways to arrange the tiles in your tray. Creative thinking?
Some alphabet animal game where we had to name an animal starting with each letter, and then every six letters or so we had to answer animal questions.
Hard questions that we had to look up.
*Research practice, recalling animal names – Natural science.
There were a couple of trips outdoors to burn off some energy, and we even managed to get some clean clothes put away.
But not without a bit of fun too!
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It was fun to be in charge of only the two “littles”. (Not that I don’t adore the older two boys. This was just a different dynamic.)
I was there less than 24 hours – but so very glad that I was able to sign up for the ‘gig’!

Thanks for stopping by!
Steph

 

 

Life at Bass Lake Lot 205, The Adventure

Wait. It’s May?

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Whatever happened to April?
Let’s look back through my pictures!
1. Gary got back to work on The Ramp.

Of course!
2. We returned from Arizona in time to enjoy a day at the SOWER Texas Rally. It was a lovely afternoon of connecting with friends, old and new. We didn’t take many pictures, but here’s a picture of Gary chasing a whiffle ball with a leaf blower (yes, old people being goofy).

A day filled with lots of laughs and hugs!
3. While Gary was working on The Ramp, I was concentrating on a big project in my sewing room!

Let’s face it, we both have our happy places.
4. My roses had a great season!

(It still surprises me that I can say “my roses”!)
5. My SISTER came for a visit!!!
It was a perfectly fabulous five days, filled with lovely drives along blue bonnet-lined fields, late night conversations, checking out our favorite Texas joints, and binge playing Rummikub ( with a little speed Scrabble thrown in!).

I was perfectly awful at taking pictures while we were together – but since it was because I was simply relishing every moment we had, I think it’s ok!
6. While Joie was in town, we took a quick day trip to Waco, primarily to deliver a quilt to the youngest Waco grandboy.
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“D” is for Deacon!

It was so fun to spend the afternoon with the Waco crew, and I also enjoyed giving Joie a quick tour of some of our favorite spots in town.
7. Gary & I finally connected with some dear SOWER friends who live only 45 minutes away! Sometimes you just have to set a time and DO IT!

Hopefully we’ll be better about connecting in the future!
8. We celebrated two milestone birthdays this month –
This little fellow turned ONE –

And my chauffeur reached the 3/4 century mark!
Happy Birthday, boys! Love you both so much!
9. Since we are heading off on our next adventure next week, we had a lovely ‘meet in the middle’ picnic date with the Waco crew last weekend! At the last minute, I did remember to take a picture!
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Phew. It’s about time I took some pictures! 😉
10. And finally – The Ramp and Deck are officially completed! (Well, except for a bit of sealer that will happen in the fall.)
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(Because some have asked – No, we do not need a ramp at this time. The one that was there when we bought the house was not the correct ‘pitch’, so Gary wanted to make it ADA compliant. So we’re ready for whatever the future brings, and for guests of all kinds!)

Phew! It’s been a beautifully busy month, filled with friends and family and memory making moments! April may have flown by this year, but it was jam packed with goodness!

I’m pretty sure May will be filled with some grand new adventures too!
Thanks for stopping by!

Steph

Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

These Boys!

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What a very special time I had last week! It was the first time I got to observe (and interact!) with these four boys in their ‘natural habitat’ for a whole week, and what a joy it was. With Mom and Dad away (being spoiled on a cruise), Meemaw (the Grandma in residence) and I (the back-up Granny) were large and in charge!
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We did a little schoolwork –
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Tackled a little yardwork –
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and played a lot of games (because that is what I am really good at!)!
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We kept the ‘screen time’ to a minimum (virtually none during the week), but when it did happen it did keep everyone quiet for a spell!
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Because, let’s face it – even Grams enjoys a little screen time now and again!
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The week seemed to fly by! The two older boys did a great job of caring for the animals (puppies, dogs, pigs, chickens and a cat!) along with their other chores and schoolwork.
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And the ‘littles’ helped around the house with simple chores (and keeping me in line!). Meemaw was the main taxi driver and chief cook (along with her teaching schedule and appointments!), and I filled in all the gaps that I could!
But regardless of how much fun the week was, for the boys, the best part was Saturday morning when Mom and Dad came home!
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It was a busy week – and I was so glad I could share in the care of these sweet boys.  It was truly an honor to be able to tuck them in at night. (Ok, there wasn’t much ‘tucking in’ with the older two – but at least I got to hug and kiss them each night!).

I was also pretty glad to be reunited with my dear husband and back in my own bed after a week away.

Oh, and naps. =)

Steph

Family and Friends, Life at Bass Lake Lot 205, Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

One of the Perks

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One of the perks of our Little House in Lindale, is its close(ish) proximity to at least one of our kids. Josiah and his family are down the road outside of Waco – just under a three hour drive. (Our other kiddos and grands are a good 1000 miles away, hence the close(ish) designation!). Any-who, we took advantage of that relative closeness and got in a sweet visit earlier this month.
We had a pretty laid back time – no big chores needed to be accomplished, so it was just hanging out with everyone and also meeting these dear puppies
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But although the puppies were adorable, hanging out with the boys was the most fun! I had some help with my morning Wordle game –
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And there was a bit of piling on Pops too!
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Weston (age 13)tried to teach me his original game that is a cross between chess and MineCraft (neither of which I have the slightest knowledge of).
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Once he simplified it by removing half of the pieces we were able to get through a game. He even had an algorithm to determine where the weapons were to go. Needless to say, he won. But it was still pretty impressive. (Did I even know what an algorithm was when I was 13? Do I at 73?).
Saturday afternoon we joined folks at their church for a Harvest Celebration potluck, and then after church on Sunday we stopped for a fun meal at one of our favorites – In N’ Out Burger!
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This is what happens when you ask for your cheese burger plain but with EXTRA pickles. He was one happy pickle-lover!
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Don’t forget your burger, Anderson!
And then the other table…
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Yep – some of my favorite people at one of our favorite food joints!
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We were home before dark on Sunday (more and more critical these days it seems!), and were so very thankful that a visit with our Waco gang is so easily accomplished.

Hope your weekend is going well!
Steph

 

PS – about those puppies – We were very tempted to claim one for ourselves now that we’re a bit more stationary, but with a Great Pyrenees mama and a Béarnaise Mountain Dog mix for a dad, we were pretty sure these cuties would be too big for our either of our little houses! Plus Gary’s allergies really kicked in by the end of the weekend.  But if you’re in the Waco-Dallas-Austin-Lindale area –  they will be ready for Christmas!

Family and Friends, RV Life, The Adventure

Chick Check-up

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Of course, the real reason we went to Waco this past weekend was to spend time with our kids and grands and to also spoil our little guy who just turned eight!
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But while we were there, it was fun to check on the little guys that we watched hatch just two weeks earlier.
This is how we left them –
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By the time of our return this weekend they had already moved to the coop outside!
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Still in a confined area, but in with the big ‘kids’.
Well, the bigger kids at least!
Here’s the previous ‘batch –
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And then there are the teenagers –
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Of course, we can’t forget the actual egg producers. (photo thanks to Josiah since I totally failed at getting a picture of the big girls!)
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While we had lots of fun checking out the flock (even a new batch of bantam chicks that somehow found their way into Josiah’s cart at the local farm store)
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We like their Mom and Dad pretty well too -we  just don’t seem to get pictures of them!