Thinking

I am thinking of getting rid of this blog. I don't think anyone reads it. No one ever makes any comments.

Is there anyone out there that reads this thing? If you do, please tell me. If you don't, then don't tell me and I will know that I can get rid of it. It seems silly to type away on stuff if no one is ever going to read it.

Update

I made it through the first three days of only having Sawyer all day (until Mallory gets here from school). I can honestly say that it was nice, sad, QUIET, and l o n g. I couldn't believe how the days dragged. I'd think it must surely be almost lunch time and it would only be 9:15am!!!! Poor Sawyer was really despondent for the first couple of days. I know he missed the boys and he just didn't know what to do with himself. I could tell he was sad. But as each day goes by, it gets a little better. Hopefully, he and I will be able to get out a few times this next week and maybe go to the park. Don't suppose he will have as much fun as when he had the other kids around to play with on the equipment.

I will be glad to drive to Marion tomorrow morning to get Jamison and Jaxson for church. I really have missed them. Jaxson has done really well at his new sitter so that is a huge relief off my mind - even though I still miss them both terribly. At least I will get them on days when Jamison doesn't have school for whatever reason and I would bet dollars to donuts they will be back here next summer. I better enjoy the quiet and relax while I can!

Last Day

Today was my last day to have Jamison and Jaxson. Tomorrow, Jamison starts school again and Jaxson will be going to a new babysitter - someone he doesn't know.

Me......I am very sad tonight. I didn't even eat supper. I was looking forward to only babysitting one grandchild, and still am, but I am just not ready to give up the other two yet. Of course, Jamison was in kindergarten last year so I had to go through this then too but I at least still had Jaxson. Now I won't have Jaxson either. I don't like my grandkids growing up on me. Wish I could keep them at the ages of 2-4 forever.

I HATE change.

Bittersweet Thinning Out

Today is Monday, August 18. Mallory and Noah have gone back to school. Jamison starts school (in Marion where he lives) on Wednesday, August 20. This year, he will be going (after school) to someone just outside of town who does day care. Her son, Gavin, is in Jamison's class so they will ride the bus home to Gavin's house together. Jamison's little brother, Jaxson, will also be going there during the day. This will be the first time he will have ever had anyone else babysit him other than me. I pray that he will do okay. It is going to be strange because on Wednesday, I will be down to ONE (!!!), I repeat....ONE child! That will be Sawyer. Of course, Noah and Mallory will be here after school gets out, but at least I will only have one during the day. What a change that will be after babysitting 5 boys every day. Mallory stayed home with her mom (since Noel works from home). This is the first year that I couldn't wait til school started! It's been a very stressful summer. I'm ready to sit back and take it easier. It will be nice to be able to load Sawyer up in the car and get out during the day instead of being stuck at home all the time because there were too many grandkids to take anywhere. It was a good thing we had the pool, sandbox, swingset, and all the bikes because if we hadn't, it would have been an extremely
L O N G summer. I am really going to miss Jamison and Jaxson though. It means that now I will only see them on Sundays when I drive to Marion to get them for church. One day a week is not enough for me. (I sound like someone who has visition from a custody battle!) I am looking forward to having it quieter during the day too. 5 boys yelling and screaming, fighting, and basically getting into trouble can be very exhausting.

Pool Upgrade

We have stowed the kiddie pool in the garage (to be eventually garbage canned). We have upgraded our pool capacity and depth to 12 feet round by 3 1/2 feet deep. (Although, after having all the grandkids and a few adults in at one time, I think we need a bigger pool ). Do you have any idea how much work it is to maintain even one of these above ground pools?! You have to clean it out with a net, run the pump at night to filter it, shock it with chlorine granules when it gets murky (which seems like all the time because you know little boys are not ALWAYS going to get out to pee), and keep chlorine tablets in the floaty thing. Then, cover the dumb thing with a solar cover at night to keep as many leaves and bugs as you can out of it and to warm up the water. Then when you go to use it again, you have to pull the cover back off. To top it off, I have a dog here that keeps eating the plug from the drop cord that hooks to the pool pump, and he even bit through the hoses to the pump so I had to order new ones off the internet. Good grief!

Isn't Nemo and Dory cute? They are fish that you put a AA battery in and then turn them on and they swim around the pool. I found Brucie the shark later but I didn't buy him. (I love Dory).

"Park"ing It

I took the boys to Tuthill Park one Saturday morning to get them out of everyone's hair. Unfortunately, my camera battery died and I was only able to get pics of two of the kids before I realized I should have charged the battery. So, these are pics of Jaxson and Noah.

Here are some pics of our 4th of July in Marion.

Still Catching Up

Here is our trip to the Terrace Park Pool. Just had 3 grandchildren that day.

Boots on Poles

On one of the roads going to Marion, there is a farm that has a couple of fields and on each field fence post, there is an old boot. Some are cowboy, some are work boots. I wish I could have gotten a panoramic view of this. It's funny to see.

Catching Up #2

Here is a pic of one of our dogs - Duncan, lying in the kids sandbox to try and stay cool. He has a muzzle on because he chews up the kids toys - plastic and pool. He has big holes in our yard from digging to stay cool. He digs, then lays in the cool dirt, then when the dirt is warm from his body, he gets up and digs til he finds cooler dirt. You'd think he was going through menopause.

Catching Up

I know it's been awhile. Reason....too busy! Having a house full of grandchildren every day keeps me from doing anything else but refereeing fights, keeping them out of stuff they shouldn't be in too, feedings and snacks, naps, and pool time. So......there are going to be a bunch of pics on here of our summer so far - or at least what I have had the time to take pics of.

First of all, here is where we started out - with a kiddie pool (Don't pay attention to the pain peeling off our garage. The people who owned the house before us didn't use oil based paint so we have to blast the paint off with a power washer and then repaint. Not sure when we are going to have the time to do that................)