SOME ONE-ON-ONE TIME

Since his older sisters are at camp this week, our grandson came home with us Sunday afternoon. We've already had lots of fun!  I took him to Catch Air, the local bouncy house extraordinaire; he and I went shopping, and he got a couple of new toys; we went out for lunch; we've played cards.

This afternoon, Papa is taking him swimming, then we'll all eat out somewhere and take in Despicable 3 at the movie theater. He returns home tomorrow so he can enjoy their new puppy Sunny ALL BY HIMSELF.

Are we spoiling him? Probably! But he's such a sweet child, it doesn't go to his head. He's always very appreciative of what we do for him, and he's a joy to be around. Oh--and he's VERY intelligent--just like your kids and grandkids, right?

Duke is always thrilled to see Asher, his play buddy. They've played down on the floor quite a bit already.

Heading home with us on Sunday afternoon

Having fun at Catch Air

My fun lunch buddy at Taco Bell

Dachshunds AND grandkids . . . you gotta love 'em!

"Are you gonna eat that??"

DUKE AND ASHER: GOOD BUDDIES

This handsome young man is our grandson Asher (age 6) who will be staying with us for a few days. Our doxie Duke is thrilled, because they are such good buddies. We'll go see the new movie, "The Secret Life of Pets," play cards, go swimming, and who knows what else! We'll take him back home on Saturday.

Dachshunds and grandsons . . . you gotta love 'em!

FUN WITH OUR GRANDSON

We kept our grandson Asher for a few days last week while his older sisters were at church camp. He's such a joy to have--he's sweet, kind, and fun loving! He and I played cards (remember "War"?), which he won--and I didn't let him! Our first game lasted for three days, and our second game he won handily in a short time. 

I took him to our local bouncy house, which is chock full of all kinds of inflatables. He found a few other young boys to play with, and they went nonstop for two and a half hours! He slept well that first night.

The next day, Clark took him to one of our local parks which has a fabulous pool. He enjoyed the kiddie slides, the big slides, and the lazy river.

Clark set up our kiddie pool and let him "dive for treasure." Clark puts coins in the bottom of the pool, Asher dons his goggles, and he "finds" the coins, which he gets to keep. He loves doing that.

Clark also set up the bottle rocket launcher (an air compressor), which launches the two-liter soda bottles filled with water way up into the air. Quite a thrill for a six-year-old boy.

Asher and Duke have always been good buddies, so Duke was thrilled to have Asher to play with. They had a blast being together or chasing each other. 

Grandchildren are such a blessing!

Asher enjoying the county pool

Having fun at the local bouncy house

Lovin' that ice cream cone!

Dachshunds (and grandchildren) . . . you gotta love 'em.

GRANDSON'S SIXTH BIRTHDAY: A STAR WARS PARTY!

It's hard to believe that Asher turned six on Saturday! His mom (our daughter Holly) had a Star Wars themed birthday party for him, which was perfect. He, like most young boys, LOVES anything to do with Star Wars. In fact, his bedroom is a Star Wars pad. But I digress.

Clark and I were privileged to attend his party, and we enjoyed seeing all the decorations and cute things Holly used for the decorations and food. She also made the cake and decorated it herself!

Without further ado, here are photos of the big event:

Beautiful cake--he wanted buttercream frosting instead of fondant

Birthday boy as we all sang "Happy Birthday"

Blowing out the candles

 

Food table

Large pretzel sticks dipped in colored white chocolate

Self explanatory!

  

Large marshmallows decorated with edible ink

Opening his gifts

A few of his friends--there were four tables of them!

The games consisted of a search outside for the Luke Skywalker toy; playing with light sabers; "Bingo" with Star Wars figures on the cards instead of numbers--winners received a prize for each game. 

At the close of the party, the children enjoyed the playground next door. It was a great party, and the children enjoyed it very much. Family is everything!!

PRESCHOOL GRADUATION

Our five-year-old grandson Asher graduated from preschool last week.  It's so hard to believe that he's arrived at this milestone already in his young life.

The graduation ceremony was all one would expect:  the "grads" marched in wearing their little red caps and gowns to the strains of POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE.  They were seated down front and called up to the platform one at a time to receive their diplomas.

The main difference between this graduation ceremony and others was the question that the preschool director asked each graduate as they received their diplomas:  "___________, what do you want to be when you grow up?"  As you can imagine, there were some interesting answers!

Asher said that he wanted to be Batman when he grows up, several of the boys wanted to be other superheroes, little girls wanted to be Mommy or a ballerina, etc.  So cute all around.

We are so proud of Asher, a cute and sweet young man.  It's a joy to be his grandmother.

GRANDSON'S PRESCHOOL CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Our four-year-old grandson Asher participated in the Christmas program at his preschool the other night.  Of course, as a doting grandma, I must share some pictures of the event!

Merry Christmas!

Asher the shepherd facing the camera

Closeup of the cutest shepherd!

With Mommy

With his preschool teacher

ASHER BEGINS PRESCHOOL!

Ready to begin!

Making silly faces

The entire family went with him the first day

Happy boy, happy mama

Both Mama and Daddy are fine!

GRANDSON ASHER + DOXIE DUKE = GOOD BUDDIES

Sponge blocks!

Our four-year-old grandson spent several days with us, just leaving this afternoon.  Duke was in heaven, because the two are extremely good buddies.

While here, Asher had a great time at Catch Air, the pinnacle of inflatables.   We also went to a park, several restaurants and stores, and Waffle House, because he wanted a waffle and sausage from there!  "Whatever Asher wants . . ."

Inflatable dinosaur!

Inflatable merry-go-round!

Playing with magnets at our house

Duke was sad because Asher was going home

He wanted a waffle, and he got it!

THE KISS

Our three-year-old grandson absolutely loves his "Uncle" Duke--they're really good buddies.

Duke loves attention, so he gets plenty of it when we visit the grandchildren.  Since Asher is the youngest and therefore closer to  Duke's "neighborhood," they get along famously.

AH, THOSE GRANDCHILDREN!

 

Our grandchildren are just growing up so quickly, and all the grandparents I know say the same thing about their grandchildren.  We enjoy them so much, and I can be as silly as I want with them, at least until they hit middle school.  Then I'll have to behave like a proper grandma--but for now, I can be a clown, a monster, a foreign countess--what have you. 

 

Love these wonderful kids!

 

 

Annika enjoying a summer day

 

 

Asher playing "mirror, mirror, on the wall"

 

 

 

    Alexa posing:  nobody coached her, either!

IT'S A PARTY! ASHER'S THIRD BIRTHDAY

We celebrated with Asher yesterday for his third birthday, a Toy Story themed party.  Our daughter Holly (his mom) made the cake from scratch, and it tasted as good as it looked!

Asher dressed as Woody

Holly with the cake



Blowing out Buzz Lightyear

With Grandma!

Ready for some cake!




Potato head fun

Toy Story bingo

Ta da . . . Toy Story cake!

LIL' PUNKIN'

Our two-year-old grandson Asher is all set for fall and Halloween.  In fact, he loves pumpkins!  His mom, our daughter Holly, told him to say "pumpkin" to get him to smile for his picture. 

As you can see, that suggestion worked!  He's a sweetie :).

GRANDSON AND GRANDDAWG

Our grandson Asher and our granddawg Shadow are enjoying the waning days of summer together.  Asher is two and Shadow (upon whom the Sarge in my books is based) is eleven.  They are good buddies and love spending time together.  We love 'em both!