Happy Birthday Build-A-Bear

Today is Marley's 10th birthday. Happy Birthday Marley!

We had Marley's birthday party early this year because the Gonsalves extended family was going to Disney World in April, and this would give her some spending money.

We have gone to Build-A-Bear for her birthday every year since 2005 when she was 4. It has become quite a tradition.

I told her at her birthday party that we could still go to Build-A-Bear this year around the time of her birthday. As it worked out, Paul and I had today off, so we picked her up at school and off we went. Some years we go to the build-a-bear place at Yankee Candle, which is where we went the first time. Since then they opened up one at the Mall. They have much more to choose from at the mall, so the plan was to get the "bear" at Yankee Candle, and then go to the mall for the clothes and accessories. When we got to YC, the build-a-bear place was gone. They said that it had been gone for a few months.

We headed to the mall, where we were going to meet Mark and Mason. Mason seemed to like all of the stuffed animals there, so we decided that Mason would get his first birthday build-a-bear today. Even though he is too young to understand what was really going on, he seemed to enjoy it.

Marley chose a hot dog (daschund) that she named Dash along with her puppy Dashing.

Mason chose a monkey and Mark named him Bruin the Monkey.

Mason's bike

This afternoon and evening we babysat for Mason. He has been so enthralled, first with Paul's bike, and now with Marley's bike. I took him down into the cellar to look at Marley's first bike - the one that she got for her third birthday. I told him that it could be Mason's bike. Paul brought it outside, cleaned it up and put the training wheels back on. He absolutely loves it (he's too young to realize that it is sparkly purple and pink and says "pretty in pink" all over it!).

Later tonight, Kristen and Marley stopped by along with Big Baba. We all trooped out to the end of the driveway again so Kristen could watch her ride her bike (her parent's weren't here when she learned last Saturday). Mason sat on his bike and watched Marley ride.





Every time he looks at the bike, he says "Mason's bike."

Letterboxing, Bugs, and Cliffs Don't Mix Well

Last fall Marley's 4th grade class took a field trip and hiked up Mt. Holyoke to the Summit House at Skinner State Park. We decided it would be fun to go letterboxing up there. I printed out the clues, and this afternoon Paul, Marley and I "rode" up to the Summit House to find it. With all of the rain we have been having, we were so happy that the sun was out and it was a nice day. The only problem, BUGS, BUGS, BUGS! They were everywhere.

Also, Marley kept wanting to climb up cliffs to look at the view and I nearly had a panic attack. Needless to say, I wouldn't let her do much. She said to me, "Grandma, no offense, but it was more fun when I came up here with my class." Yikes, how in the world did the teachers keep track of all those kids. I would probably have passed right out. She did tell me that one of the kids fell from something and they had to have an ambulance come get him.

She tried to find her name that she wrote with the kids from her class. She couldn't find it, but wrote her name again with a rock.







The view really was incredible.




One of the highlights of the day for Marley was seeing this snake. Definitely not a highlight for me. It was only a garter snake, but we saw signs that rattlesnakes and cooperheads were known to be on the Mt. Holyoke range.



Anyhow, this letterbox was not easy to find and between the bugs and the cliffs, we didn't stay too long.

Mental note to self - don't pick any more letterboxes that are anywhere around high elevations, and wear bug repellant!

Today was quite a busy day!

First, a bridal shower for my co-worker's son's fiancee. It was at Westwood Restaurant in Westfield. Bridal showers are always a fun time.



Then, Janelle, Kris and I had our yearly Mother's Day pedicure. We now have summer ready toes (if we ever get any warm weather to actually let our toes show!).



But, the best part of the day was that Marley FINALLY learned to ride her bike. Just a little FYI, Marley has had almost no interest in riding a bike. Every summer we get her bike out, she tries a few times and then gives up, seemingly not really caring. We all figured when she really wanted to ride it, she would. And that is what happened today. I'm not sure what triggered it, except for the fact that Mason is absolutely enthralled with Paul's bike and tonight I let him sit on it. Marley asked Paul to get her bike out and then for the next couple of hours she tried to ride it. She was determined! My neighbors must have thought that Paul and I had lost our minds. I was babysitting for both Marley and Mason, so there we were out in front of my house, Mason and Paul eating pizza at the end of the driveway and me taking pictures and videos and cheering Marley on.





She took some good falls, skinning her knees, elbows, hands, but she kept getting back on. By the end of the night she and Paul were riding their bikes around the circle. She was so proud of herself and couldn't wait to call her parents.

As I said, quite a busy day!

Daisy-Prims Rally Day

Today was Daisy (5 year old girls) and Prims (7-8 year old girls) Rally Day. Every year it is held at the Southern New England District of our church in Charlton, MA. It is a really fun day for the girls, full of activities. We had about 15 girls and four adults. Marley was staying at my house for the weekend, so she went as a "helper", but she had just as much fun as the rest of the girls.

This year's theme was Princess with a Purpose.



Everyone brought a picnic lunch and we ate outside.





It's not something that I particularly look forward to, but I always come home having had a good time with the girls and especially having gotten to know them and appreciate them a lot more!

Granville Scoop

Tonight we went to the Granville Scoop. It's a fun place to go on a Friday night with the kids.



They have farm animals there. Some of them you can feed like the sheep, goats and llamas. They also have home made ice cream!

Mason has never been there before and Marley had fun showing him around. One of her favorite things to do there is feed the hens grass, one blade at a time. They have new chicken coops since the last time we were there and you know me with change (Marley seems to be the same way), but I am trying to be okay with it. These coops really are nice.



There was a little goat there that Marley got to feed with a bottle; that was fun. His mother had triplets and she didn't have enough milk for all three, so they have been bottle-feeding him. This lady here seems to be his mother.



We all had ice cream and just had a nice relaxing time! Click here to see more pictures

Old Radtke toys

Things seem to last forever in the Radtke house. Take, for instance, these old toys. Three of the big orange trucks were Paul’s when he was a kid; the rest were Marks’.



This wagon was Kristen’s. Marley loved her “wagon rides” for a long time, and now Mason is having fun with it.





Tonight Paul was mowing the lawn and so I got out Kristen’s old lawnmower for him to play with. It has been re-built with a piece of wood taped to the handle, but it serves the purpose.







I could go on and on with old Radtke “things”, but that’s for another day and another blog!

Mason at Prims

This is Mark’s final exam week, so we have had Mason more than usual. Tonight I took him to Prims. This is the second time that I have taken him; the first time was more or less a disaster. He wanted me to hold him almost the whole night. This time he really got into it, playing with the kids and toys. The only problem was at the end of the class. We had over 20 kids and they always get kind of wild right before the parents come. So, between the kids running around and all the parents coming, he kept saying “huggie” which means “I’m nervous, pick me up.” Ha Ha!

Feeding the horses

Across the street, behind Good Carl's house, is a farm where they board horses. Our neighbors are so nice; they said that any time we want to see the horses we could go through their yard. Tonight we took Mason, and a bag of carrots, to see them.

It took a few minutes to get the horses' attention, but eventually they came.



Isn’t this picture funny with the carrot sticking out of his mouth?



Mason loves feeding the horses, and I love watching him with them!

Celebrations

Today we celebrated Paul’s birthday and Mother’s Day. Janelle’s mom came and we had a cookout at our house.

After church, while I was getting ready for dinner, Marley was outside picking dandelions and violets. She made a crown for the queen of the day, and a scepter for the king. She has quite an imagination. She, herself, wore a band of dandelion stems and violets.



Before the birthday and Mother’s Day celebration Marley had everyone write their names on a piece of paper and then picked names; Stacia was the queen, and Mark was the king.







Stacia and I have a nice little agreement. When dinner is at my house she brings desserts, and vice versa. She didn’t know it was Paul’s birthday until that morning, so we used the slices of pound cake that she brought for his birthday cake. Marley lit the candle and we turned off the lights. She brought in the slice of cake from the kitchen and we all sang happy birthday. In this picture, the only one I took, Paul's hand is in front of his piece of cake, so you can only see part of the candle sticking up.



We had quite the time getting a picture of the mothers and kids today. Mason isn’t always cooperative with picture taking, so this is the best that we could do.



It was a fun day spent with family. I’m so thankful for all of them.

Retirement Party

Today we went to a retirement party for our good friend Dave. It was supposed to be a surprise, and it was, but the biggest surprise was that their daughter who lives in Minnesota flew home for the party. Not even her mother knew about that.



It was a fun party, celebrating a great guy.

Afterwards, we stopped at Dot's for a little while and brought her some hanging plants for her garden, and then went for a little ride. This picture was taken at the end of Silkey Rd. in Granby, CT. It was such a beautiful view with Springfield in the background that I just had to take a picture. It came out pretty good seeing that it was taken through the windshield!

Friday night

Friday night supper at Grandma's house.

Richard Scarry's Car and Trucks and Things that Go

Mark and Kristen had this book when they were little. One day when Marley was about Mason's age, we put her in her crib upstairs to take a nap. To our surprise, when we went up to get her, she had ripped the book into little pieces! Paul tried taping it but gave up, there were too many pieces. Luckly we were able to find another one on the Internet.

Mason has just lately taken a liking to this book too. It's fun to watch Mark look at it with Mason, because Mark says he remembers it so well.

Stars 2

Tonight was Awards Night for Girls Ministries at church. This is Marley's Stars 2 class (Marley is third from left).

Osama bin Laden - deceased

A victory for the USA. Story here.

Clementine smiles

Marley had her friend Robin come over for Sunday dinner today. When I saw their silly clementine smiles, I just had to take a picture!