Boy Howdy Did We Have a Fun Time with Grammy and Papa Here in Texas!!!

First, let it be known that Len came out as Chinese Checker Champion of the world! We all had a riot playing games with Grammy and Papa for the last two weeks. The kids learned some new games as did Grammy and Papa.

We watched lots of movies! "We need a plan..." (Tremors), "Vigorous..." (the Mask of Zoro), "YESSSSSS!" (Napolean Dynamite), "The Big Dog!" (US Marshalls). We went out to see The Aviator, a movie about the life of Howard Hughs, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Grammy and Debby were able to go to the Stake Women's Conference. It was a two session, Friday night & Saturday morning, affair. They both came back with great stories, insites and information.

Papa and I put together a nice Valentine's Day Surprise for Mom and Debby. We started about 3 weeks ahead of time, brainstorming, making lists and gathering supplies, etc. We made a CD for Mom with 25 of their favorite songs from 1945 through 1955. We made a CD for Debby with 22 Country love songs on it. We put together 3 bunches of very pretty flowers which have lasted the entire two weeks. We also had heart stenciled hot chocolate mugs for each of them, little "luv ya" teddy bears for each and a large candle with "I love you" stenciled ~100 times all over them. We had a couple of "Texas Sized" Valentine's cards for each (measuring about 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide when opened). And, the day wouldn't be complete w/o chocolate... So, we bought fresh strawberries and very rich dipping chocolate and made hand dipped chocolate strawberries! We had a fun day!

We celebrated Carly's 9th birthday on Wednesday as a family and then again on Saturday with a party (see pic's below) It was a blast. Needless to say, we had to have cake and ice cream for both events!

Talk about getting stuff done!!! My "to do" list was almost totally wiped out (except for the fact that with every project we completed, a new "to do" seemed to make its way onto the list...)

• We got the annual pm on the lawn mower done
• Got the grass mowed and the yard edged
• Grammy was instrumental in moving a large bed of bulbs from one location in the yard to another
• Grammy weeded a large flower bed area
• We got all the flower beds tilled
• Grammy "hand painted" the patio furniture
• We swabbed the patio deck
• Did some touch up painting on the stairs to the deck
• Completed the annual pm on the grill and had our first two cook-outs of the year
• We fixed the blow dryer cord
• Papa lead the way on repairing and replacing all the outside lighting on the house (see pic's and full story below)
• Grammy helped get the leather couches cleaned and repaired
• We got about 1/2 the garage cleaned!
• With Papa's help, finally fixed the dishwasher!!! (I hope....)
• Attached the flag pole and hung the flag on the side of the garage
• Cleaned the humming bird feeder
• Replaced and painted the broken railing on the deck
• Got the "weed'n feeding" done
• Grammy found the FIRE ANTS!!!
• Len de-FIRE ANTED the entire yard
• Trimmed all the trees
• Developed 3 different methods for cleaning up oxidized brass in preparation for painting
• Papa cleaned all the pots and switches in all the intercom system throughout the house
• Captured ~5 hours worth of family history video

Most everybody got sick or was otherwise down a couple days. We did not get our whole family to chrurch either of the Sunday's that Grammy and Papa were here.

We ate, and ate, and ate some more... We had fresh home-made bread almost everyday. We Grilled a couple of times (introducing Grammy and Papa to Elgin Sausage!!!) Of course we had the birthday dinners and the Sunday dinners. We ate at Grammy's favorite sandwich shop, Quiznos. We had Italians on the rolls that Grammy and Papa brought from Maine! Talk about WICKED GOOD! We all agreed that getting back on our "regular diet" would be best approached in a gradual fashion verses going "cold turkey"!

Well, to make a long story short, we had a wicked good time with Grammy and Papa here! We are already making plans for their next visit.