Halloween 2009

Well, it's been quite a while since I've written anything in my blog. I got some videos of the Grand Island grandkids this Halloween and thought I'd better find a way to get them out there for everyone to see. We had a nice weekend with the Benzels. Wyatt was a tiger--grrrrrrr. And Bella was a Nebraska cheerleader.

Wyatt was not real thrilled about wearing his tiger headpiece. We were lucky to get a photo of him in his tiger suit and with his "Paws" on

.

Here's little Bella and her mommy. She was game to begin with, but pooped out fairly soon. We went to 2 neighbor's homes and then got into the car to go visit the Fire Stations. Sitting in her carseat is NOT Bella's favorite activity, so she wasn't very thrilled with that, but she was a trooper--up until she fell asleep in the carseat.







Here is a video of trick or treating. This one was across the street at Bob's house.

And here are some random pics of the rest of our weekend...

This last video is Heather singing to the Wii American Idol game and Bella dancing along.

Jackson's Birthday Party!

Jackson's 4th birthday! Believe it or not he loves maraschino cherries so that's what uncle Bruce got him! And then you see Bella in her happy place (ok, the picture doesn't show it, but she WAS happy) with uncle Bruce.

The birthday theme was Batman. Jack is REALLY into super heroes, especially Batman! Sue made a cute Batman cake and the whole party was decorated in Batman. Jack even came out in a Batman outfit with a Batman mask. What a kook! Ha!










Here's the whole Toovey family!











Brecken was having fun too!












Karlette's about ready to pop! Can you tell?

It's all about the grandkids!

What a night! Bella is still getting over her immunization shots that she had on Tuesday. Last night was a rough one for her. She just couldn't get comfortable. Randy took the first shift with her and was up from before midnight until after 1:30 a.m. Then at 3:30 a.m. she woke up again and was pretty inconsolable. The poor thing was so tired, but was just miserable. She finally fell asleep in my arms and stayed there until about 5:00 or so (I don't even remember now). She was awake again at 5:45 and got her bottle about an hour early. That seemed to help settle her down. Wyatt woke about 6:30 and was in good spirits. That night was pretty rough on Randy too because I don't think he slept at all even during my shift! Bella slept from about 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 or so. She then seemed to feel better and was willing to eat some breakfast.

Now for the fun part of the day! Since Bella was doing better and Wyatt was game, we headed for the Lincoln Children's Museum. Once again, there was so much to remember, we forgot our camera. Thank heavens for camera phones! Not the best pictures, but at least the moment is captured! Wyatt had a wonderful time! There is so much for him to do. Grandpa was pretty tuckered out by the time we were done.

This first one is Grandpa and Wyatt playing in the State Patrol vehicle.











Then Wyatt found a pretty neat lookout!





















Here Wyatt and grandpa are playing with some Legos. Wonder what they are building?



















And Wyatt rode another pony! This one wasn't as wiggly though.









It was all pretty overstimulating for Bella. She did well, but was pretty amazed by it all.





On the way home we picked up Runza. It was a quick dinner and off to naptime. Grandpa got in an hour or two too. After supper we went for a walk (with the dogs) and when we came back, Wyatt found this in the garage. Of course, he had to try it out!







So grandpa had another job to do before bathtime.



OK, this is just a short video, but the helmet was precious. Here's a better one.

Almost nap time for Wyatt

It's still Friday! I got a chance to go to garage sales today. Spent $20.50 and decided it was time to go home! It had started raining hard. There were tons of people out there!

The kids had their lunch and ate good. Wyatt is starting to wind down (?) for a nap. Here is our video doing the Piggies before his nap.

A week with the Grandkids!

OK, here we go! Randy and I are jumping head first into grandparent land! We are caring for Bella and Wyatt while Fred and Heather are gone to Las Vegas and California. I'll do my best to get pictures taken and downloaded. It will be a little tougher than with Quinny as these two don't sleep as much (or should I say Bella doesn't).

So today, Thursday, both Bella and Wyatt woke up around 6:30 a.m. Bella was up first and was very happy. I went into her room and smiled at her and she looked up and gave a big smile. I then cracked Wyatt's door a little so he could come out when he was ready. He joined us about 20 minutes or so later. He asked for mommy, but when I told him that mommy was on vacation, he just said "hmm" and then went to watch cartoons.

Here is a picture of Wyatt at the zoo. We forgot our camera, so this is from Randy's phone. There were too many other things to remember for grandma and grandpa.

Here he is playing with the big cow that you can milk. Wyatt wasn't into milking the cow.

Wyatt loved riding the ponies, petting the guinea pig, seeing all the animals, feeding the goats, llamas and camels and riding the train. He also got a really cool tattoo of a grasshopper on his arm. What a great day!


Okay, this is a two day blog. We are now into Friday. Since we didn't get pics of Bella, so here is one of she and grandma this morning (Friday). This is just before her nap so......but she's doing great and smiles a lot--just not in this video! :) Grandpa's at the physical therapist--no not just because of babysitting! :) He'll be home soon and we may go to garage sales.

Life with Quinny--Day 5--Ending

Well we've come to an end. This was a wonderful day! Quinn was lots of fun and laughed a lot. She stuck to her schedule and was very happy. I tried to keep her awake until Mommy and Daddy came home, but customs kept them longer than they expected--swine flu scare. Anyway, she was ready to go to bed at 7:01 p.m. after her supper and her bath. She's so adorable!

I will truly miss her when I'm gone. But....we have webcam now!!

I'm going to try to go home tomorrow if the weather permits. If the rain and storms seem to be too nasty, I'll stay another day. We'll see come tomorrow morning!

Love you all,

Cheryl (Mom & Grandma)

Life with Quinny--Sunday morning

Grandma and Quinn went for a walk after her 1st nap (Quinn's--no, grandma hasn't gotten one yet!). Quinny insisted even though it was very cloudy out and looked like rain. She assured grandma that it would be alright. Hmmmmm, who's in charge here? Anyway, Quinny had quickly tired of playing indoors.


I'm not sure why, because we were having lots of fun, but this is when she convinced grandma that a walk was in order.

Sooooo, we got ourselves ready and headed out for a walk. Here's Quinn just getting back from her walk. The neighbors were dazzled by her new sandals! I told her it wasn't nice to show off, but she said "Grandma, I can't help it if I'm cute. Besides, this is Dallas land and it's all about style!" I guess she should know. I mean, she was right about the rain. We didn't get rained on at all!Awwwww, now for another nap!

Life with Quinny--Day 5--last day

Well, mommy and daddy come home today. Quinny will be so excited! She has not been hurting about their being gone, but she has noticed it. Yesterday morning Hilary called to see how things were going and I put her on speaker phone so that Quinn could hear her. Quinny wanted the phone all day. She recognized her mommy--you could tell. Then at one time I sang "You Are My Sunshine" to her and she stopped and looked intently at me, then started looking around the room. That's a song mommy sings to her. She didn't cry, and didn't fuss, but she knew it belonged to mommy. Luckily, children have no sense of time at this age, so she doesn't realize how long mommy and daddy have been gone. That's a good thing.

Quinny is not up for the day yet, but will be soon. I am absolutely amazed at how well this little girl sleeps! She went to bed last night at about 7:15 p.m. and only woke up 1x at 5:00 a.m. She didn't even really wake up--just made a little noise and went back to sleep. Grandma got a whole night's sleep! 5 a.m. is my normal get-up time so that was no problem!

This is going to be hard leaving again. I've enjoyed being with her so much! What a great opportunity for me! I am so grateful to Jason and Hilary for putting their trust in me to care for their most precious gift while they are gone! She is truly a joy! She must be one of 3 of the most beautiful, most precious children in the whole world! OK, you caught me. I'm biased about all 3 of my grandchildren. But I am also very, very lucky to have the children that I have and their love and trust.

No pictures for you yet as Quinny's not up. It's supposed to be a rainy day, so I don't know that we'll do much, but I'll try to get something posted for you later.

Life with Quinn--Saturday afternoon

We decided to go to Target after our lunch. This is the first "afternoon" trip we've attempted. It went very well. Quinn got to use her "cart cover" at Target. Here she is sitting in the cart with the cover--pretty cute, huh?

She was having so much fun with the straps, I couldn't get her to pay any attention to me at all!
She still didn't find a purse for grandma that she liked, but she found a very stylish pair of sandals that she couldn't live without! Oh well, Grandma can get a new purse some other time and Quinny said she's tired of looking like an Arkansas baby and really NEEDED those new sandals! Well, maybe she's right--they ARE adorable!

Life with Quinny--Day 4 (Saturday)

Quinn is such a joy! She wakes up so happy! Maybe that's because she gets such a good, long night's sleep! She was all smiles this morning! We had our breakfast and then played. She was more content at each station today. She didn't seem to get bored as easily. Here are some pictures of her play. She was moving around so mucb in her "circle of fun" that most of the pictures are a little blurry! Sorry!

Then we also spent a little time outdoors feeling the breeze on our faces. She loves that! And then to the Jump & Go or whatever it is called:

Life with Quinny--Day 3--9:50 p.m.

This is my last entry for today. I'm beat! In the top two pictures you see Quinn playing outside with the neighbors children and Shakes. She was having a great time!

The next pictures are of supper time. She had peas this time. If you notice something green in her nose, please be advised she does NOT have a sinus infection--it's just peas.

After supper, Quinny had her bath and then went to bed. What a day!

Life with Quinny--Day 3--4:30

Well, we're off the schedule a little again. I think I'm wearing Quinny out!. We went to Wal-Mart this morning and got Quinny a brand new outdoor pink swing that she is very excited about trying! She's sure that daddy will put it up for her as soon as he gets home!

Then we got some things to tackle the "To Do" list that mommy and daddy left for grandma. We got a new 2 way spigot for the faucet outside, a new sprayer for the hose, and a few other small things. When we got home, Quinny went straight to bed! Wal-Mart is a big place and makes you tired! Quinn slept from 12:30 to almost 2:oo! Then she had her lunch and we went for a walk in the stroller. It's very windy today and still pretty warm. It was a nice walk. Quinn loves the outdoors and enjoyed watching Shakes. Here is a picture of her on her walk.

After our walk, we sat outside for a while and watched the planes. There are a lot of planes that go over Quinn's house!!


At 3 Quinn decided she was ready to go to sleep again. Apparently we are playing too much! But we are having so much fun! Here's a video of Quinn and Grandma playing (and yes, she was smiling during this, but her binky hides it!) It was most fun when I played it back and she was mesmerized at the video!:


Oh, and there's another picture of the walk with Shakes included. Quinny was dressed the part but Grandma was in Nebraska jeans and was quite warm. Shakes didn't understand what grandma was complaining about--he was wearing a fur coat and was exhausted!!!!

And one last thing, while Quinny was sleeping, Grandma got the Webcam hooked up to mommy and daddy's computer so that she can talk to grandma and grandpa while they are away. That was a very important task that needed done! I wonder why that wasn't on the "To Do" list!?!

Life with Quinny--Day 3--Morning

Awwwwww, strrrrreeeeetcchhhh! Another great day! And Quinny woke up happy again! I had trouble catching her biggest smiles, but this is what I got.

Quinny went through her morning routine and then we sat outside on the bench for about 15 minutes before her nap and enjoyed the beautiful weather, birds, plants and planes. She waved at the neighbors and kept up on her social expectations!

Life with Quinny--end of day

Here are some pictures of our late afternoon playtime.

Quinny had a full day today. I think her teeth were bothering her a little. I gave her some tylenol before bed and rubbed a little ora-gel on. She seemed a little better after that. We ate sweet potatoes for supper and had our last bottle. Then we played and it was time for bed. She didn't take her last nap of the day so I think she was ready for night time. She got a clean diaper, lotioned up (so she smelled good), jammies on and her binky. We were going to read a book, but she wasn't into it. We said our prayers, she laid down and that was it.

Here's a picture of her playing after dinner:

Life with Quinny--Day 2--2:55 p.m.

Quinny napped good this morning and then had her 10:30 a.m. feeding. We got ready after that and went to Walgreen's and Sprouts. It was a lot for a little girl. We didn't find anything at Walgreens, but Quinn sat in the cart like a big girl and loved that!!! Then at Sprouts Quinn asked to wear her sunglasses (it was very bright out by then!). Everyone in Sprouts commented how stylish she was! We bought some fruits and veggies for grandma and then left as soon as the slooooowwwww checker could get us out of there! It was naptime by then, don'tchaknow!

Once back at home, it was straight to bed with no fuss! We were a little late for nap and Quinny was tuckered out from all of her social interactions!

Now we are up and have had our 1:30 bottle (sorry, but it actually happened about 2 because Quinn was so tired, so just couldn't wake up!). Anyway, it's play time for us now. Quinny really likes her circle of fun!

Telling Mommy and Daddy Hi!

This is just a little clip of Quinny saying hi to mom and dad. She is getting ready for her nap, so this is somewhat inconvenient for her, but she was willing to go the extra mile because she loves mommy and daddy so much!!

Life with Quinny--Day 2--8:00 a.m.

Quinny had a good night and woke up on her own around 7:20 a.m. She woke up very happy! We changed our diaper and went around the house saying good morning to all of the rooms and the patio--we also had to tell Shakes and the wonderful day good morning! Then Quinny had her breakfast and now is playing. Here are some morning pictures. We haven't gotten dressed yet, we need a little more time in our jammies, but we'll get dressed soon. Then it will be time for a nap again!!

Quinny's week--2 p.m.

Well, we're back on schedule. She had quite a nap after shopping! Shopping can be SO wearing on us girls! Anyway, we've had our lunch and now are ready to play away the afternoon! See how happy she is!

Quinny's week--11:30 a.m. Wednesday

We just got back from TJ Maxx. Quinny didn't approve of any of the purse styles that grandma picked out, so I guess grandma is stuck for the time being with her old purse. I'll have to work on my sense of style. Then again, maybe Quinny is thinking of Texas style as opposed to Nebraska style. Hmmmm, that could be it!

Well, trying to make all those decisions and vetoing all those purses apparently tired her out. She decided it was time to take a nap. She's taking a cat nap in her crib as we speak just to get her strength back for lunch at 12:30. I don't blame her. I think it's going to be a pretty warm day. It's a good thing we got out a little while this morning. I'm not sure that we'll be able to take a walk this afternoon if the heat keeps up, but there's always tomorrow.

Grandma's week with Quinny

OK, so this is the start of grandma's week with Quinny. Hil and Jas left this morning about 6:45 a.m. or so. Quinny woke up about 6:00 a.m. so she was able to say goodbye to mommy and daddy (although they would have both gotten a lot more attention if they would have had a bottle in their hand!!). We ate our breakfast very well and played for a while. We started to get a little fussy about 8:00 and decided we needed to finish a little of our night's sleep. Quinny laid down well and took about a 45 minute snooze. Then is was "Grandma come get me!" time again. She's now playing well with her play mat as you can see. We'll eat here in a little while and then maybe venture out for some shopping!

Now you see Quinny eating before we go shopping. She's happy as can be and quite content with grandma.