Fred's LL Bean pocket watch, and tents

In 1994 Paul and his mother bought this LL Bean pocket watch for Fred. Paul happened to see it in the LL Bean catalog. It is the pocket version of their field watch. Fred has always worn pocket watches and Priscilla wanted him to have a nice one that would last awhile.

A couple of months ago it stopped working. He took it to a jeweler and they fixed the watch, but a couple of days later the back fell off. The jewler did not have a back that would fit this watch and LL Bean doesn't sell pocket watches anymore. While we there this past weekend Paul talked to them and they happened to still have that part and they mailed it to us. The part came today so Paul took it back to the jeweler and they put it on. Fred seemed very happy to have his watch back in working order!

In other news....tonight we made a tent for the first time with Mason. He didn't really want to get way under, but liked to stick his head under. Marley, on the othe hand, loves to get into the tent. We are going to have to come up with another type of tent, though, because she is way too long for this type of tent, LOL!

Deb's Birthday

Today is my birthday and being a Friday, the kids came over. I can't think of a better way for a grandma to spend her birthday, can you?

Paul bought another little cake, and Uncle Mark and Marley lit the candles (again I didn't have the right numbers so I decided to be 48!). Everyone sang and Marley and Mason blew out the candles. It's so much fun to watch Mason get so excited.









Happy birthday to me!

I finally have someone to play dolls with

I finally have someone to play dolls with....

This was the comment Marley made tonight! She brought one of her American Dolls over tonight and Mason was very interested in her.





Marley decided that she would bring over one of her other dolls and leave it at Grandma's. Too funny!

Friday night

Marley spent today at Mark and Janelle's since it was the first full day of summer vacation. Mark brought them both over tonight. Mason was very leery of Mark leaving (since he usually does when they come over in the evening). It took him quite awhile before he relaxed. He insisted that Mark sit down on the floor with him while he ate!



This is Marley's newest obsession. It is a Nintendo DS that she got for her birthday. Tonight she got really excited because she got the 4th Gym badge in her Pokemon game (she hasn't been able to get it up until now).



Mason likes to go in the cellar. He likes to look at Mark's and Paul's old bikes. Tonight he spotted the light-up ghost that my neighbor gave me a couple of years ago. The next thing I know Mark is bringing it upstairs. Mason was surprised and a little afraid when we plugged it in; it was really bright.



Before long he was giving it kisses. Too cute.

Friday night

Friday night supper at Grandma's house.

Oobleck

Last Sunday Marley wanted to make Oobleck and I told her that she could make it on Friday night. You make Oobleck with cornstarch and water. She added food coloring, among other things (!?!) to some of it and even baked it in the oven.



We also made "Hugs" for her Sunday School Valentine's party and her school party. We had quite a mess in the kitchen. She was good about helping to clean it up though. Quite a busy Friday night!

Marley's paper dress

This Friday night Marley said she had something she needed to do for school. She needed to make a dress for a play (I think - I will have to verify this). She had the paper already. She asked if would could pretend that we were sisters who sewed clothes for people (anyone who knows me, knows that that would never happen). Eventually (since she was doing all the work), she decided that I would be the business end of the company. With a little help getting into it and re-stapling and re-taping, the dress was finished. The only problem - she could only bend her arms at the elbows. Not comfortable.

In the end she decided to nix the idea of the paper dress and go with an old choir robe that I have that she plays with. We both decided that that was a better choice, and that we had at least had fun with the "sisters who sewed" aspect.

What's up with this hair?

I think Mason's hat did this to him. He looks like a wild man!


Friday night and Marley made a tent in Paul's old new chair.

323/365 - Marley's first babysitting!

Tonight was Marley's first babysitting job. Tomorrow I have a scrapbooking crop and I hadn't done anything to get ready. I told Marley that if she helped me with Mason, as in play with him, I would pay her. She did a great job (except for when he had a messy diaper. I was teasing her saying that she needed to change him. She said she was only a babysitter helper!).

When Marley was eating her cereal (her usual Friday night supper LOL), Mason wanted a spoon too, "poon." We gave him a spoon. Then he wanted some cereal out of the box. I thought he wanted to eat it. He started feeding Marley. It was so funny.

Another funny thing he did was when he heard Big Baba come in and say hi, he said "Baba" (we're still working on the Big), and ran over to the chair that Big Baba always sits in and patted the chair, just like he knew that he would come in and sit there!

I eventually got all my pictures ready to print, and guess what? I was out of ink. So, as I write this, Paul is out at Staples buying ink. I really wasn't prepared for this crop!

316/365 - Mason and "Arla"

Friday night Mason, Marley and the Babas. Mason loves Marley. He calls her "Arla." He loves to pounce on her!

Like father, like son. These pictures are of Mark pouncing on Kristen. She was 3 and he was 1 (1975).

309/365 - Tarzan movie Marathon

I think Marley is finally hooked on my old Tarzan movies!

Last Friday night after watching Mother Goose with Mason, Marley actually asked if we could watch a Tarzan movie.

This Friday night we finished the one we started last week and watched two more! I’m in my glory!!

P.S. The Babas seemed to enjoy the Tarzan movies too. I think Big Baba is glad for the break from the Waltons!

288/365 - Froggies

Marley is here for the weekend and Froggie still comes with her whenever she sleeps overnight. Mason was also here tonight with his Froggie. Perfect opportunity to take a picture of them with their Froggies. This was the first time that Mason had seen Marley's Froggie. He liked hers quite well too.

On another note...last week Janelle bought us a car seat for our car. I decided to keep the box up for awhile thinking that Mason would like to play with it. So far, only the cats have played with it...until tonight. Marley decided she would go "camping" in it.



Camping supplies



P.S. On Saturday morning I walked into the family room to see this.....Marley reading in the box (she asked last night if she could sleep in the box but I told her no and she didn't seem too upset. I don't really think she wanted to stay downstairs by herself!)

281/365 - Marley's new haircut

Friday night - just Marley and Grandma. Big Baba was away for the weekend (a car show in Hershey, PA), Paul was sick and stayed upstairs in the bedroom all night, and Mason was with his other grandmother. I asked Marley if she wanted to watch an old Tarzan movie. I have a collection of Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies. I love these movies. I remember watching a lot of them when I was a kid on TV - Big 3 Theater. To me there was nothing better than watching a Tarzan movie on TV on a Friday night. Back then I was enthralled with anything African, be it Tarzan or the missionaries that came to our church from Africa. I still love African music.

Anyhow, a few years ago I tried to get Marley interested in them. It was a no go. Tonight she agreed to watch one with me. After it was over I asked her if she loved it. She said No. I said, "You don't want to watch any more Tarzan's?" She said that she would watch them, she liked them, she just didn't love them. I'll give her some time, maybe she can learn to love them!

P.S. The picture is of Marley's new haircut.

274/365 - Friday night and Mother Goose

Mason seems to be captivated lately by the Mother Goose DVD that we have. When Marley was little, my friend Cindy lent me a VCR tape of Mother Goose and Marley and Big Baba liked it so much we bought a 2 volume DVD of it.

Marley still likes it and so do I!

260/365 - Friday Night

Supper on Friday night with Marley, Mason and the Babas.

I introduced Mason to Vegall tonight. His father used to love it. He would eat it very slowly, picking up one little veggie at a time. Mason didn't seem too impressed with it. He basically just pushed it around. I'll try again!

219/365 - Princess dress

This afternoon Marley went up to her room at my house and pulled out this old princess dress and put it on. She got it for her 3rd birthday. I can't believe it still fits her (well, just barely fits her). She used to put this on almost every Friday night, for years, even in the winter. She hasn't put it on in a long time and I thought she had outgrown it. I guess not.

This was at her 3rd birthday party; she is 9 now. Time sure goes by fast!

197/365 - Friday Night Fruit Surprise

Marley usually comes over on Friday night with some agenda (!?!). Tonight she brought over some blackberries that they picked today in their yard. She said she wanted to make "Fruit Surprise." She decided that we would be on a cooking show, hence the stuffed animal (and one live animal) audience. They must watch a lot of cooking shows at the Gonsalves' because she had the whole thing down pat. She sounded exactly like a cooking show host. I was Vanessa, the assistant.

This was the finished product - cooked apples (with food coloring), honey and sugar sauce, and cooked raspberries.



Paul was the "famous food critic."





He said it was very good, "the best I ever had" which meant we won the cooking contest!



After the cooking contest was over, we all got to enjoy (it was a little scary looking but was actually pretty good)!




On another note, I have been trying to get Marley to read some of the many kids' books that we have in Kristen's old room. There are old books from me, Paul, Kris, and Mark. When she was little, I used to read her a lot of them and, even though she is an avid reader, she has never really seemed interested in reading any of these books. I have tried to come up with some "incentives", but tonight Marley came up with a challenge. She said, "If I read all the books in a year, would you give me $3.00?" I said, "If you read all those books in a year, I'll give you $10.00." (Still pretty cheap in my estimation.)

This is a picture of the books. What do you think? Do you think she can do it by next July 16th?




P.S. Don't mind the huge pointed thing covered with a sheet - it's just my fully decorated Christmas tree LOL!!

Celery/Carrot Soup

When Marley got here tonight there were some celery stalks on the kitchen counter. After her parents left, Marley said to me, "I have a project to do tonight. I want to make celery soup." She assured me that she knew how (see recipe below). She basically did it all by herself. The only problem was it was a little too salty. I had advised adding some chicken bouillon for flavor. She didn't know bouillon was salty and I didn't see her add that third teaspoon of salt. Other than that it was pretty good. Paul said he loved it!!!

This is the recipe (as dictated to me by Marley)