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Archive for Grandkiddies

Reminiscing about My Dad…

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Renee Spindle

Today is Memorial Day. A day we remember and honor our fallen heroes, and the ultimate sacrifice they made for our country.

Today is also day of reflection for me. My thoughts are on my Dad and his huge, loving,caring heart. We lost him five years ago next month and today was his birthday. So apropos for a patriot, a warrior, a family man, and loving husband to have a birthday on Memorial Day.

My thoughts don’t dwell on the sadness of losing my Dad as often as they used to nowadays. My thoughts most often turn to the memories with family. The good times we had coming together for this celebration or that birthday party. My Dad’s uncanny ability to embarrass his grand kids at the dinner table. And his nonsensical way of seeing life as it was and knowing exactly what he needed to do next.

Thinking about the play list of songs that were his favorites. American Pie, On the Road Again, Fat Bottom Girls, and Rocky Mountain High, just to name a few. Thinking about how my Dad would have embraced all the new technology surrounding us everyday. He didn’t like us to say that computer data was stored “in the cloud”. He felt that was just a big misnomer. He would always tell us, “You guys do realize that the data is stored in some farm field in Kansas! Not “in the cloud”.”

Thinking about what an amazing Grandfather he was. Six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren carry on his legacy. They are an amazing bunch, and he was so proud of all of them. Helping out at the drop of a hat, and always there to remind us, “it’s natural to be nervous”, in any stressful life situation.

The Grand-Daughters

The Grandsons

The Great-Grandson

The Great-Granddaughter

My reminiscing today would not be complete with out telling you about the love of my parents. The strength and soul of our family. They were married for 53 amazing years, and adored one another. Watching my Dad dote on my Mom and kiss her in front of all the grand kids – a fond, fond memory. The kids would shout out, “Grandpa – ewwww”, and he would just smile and kiss her again. We would ask my Dad, “What’s the secret to such a great, long-lasting marriage?”. He would reply, “I just do whatever your Mother tells me to do.”

Oh those memories are just like a slideshow in my head. A carousel of memories that circle back around more often on birthdays or holidays. These are just a handful of the meaningful memories that I carry close to my heart each and everyday. Wishing each and everyone of you a day filled with family and love creating new memories.

2 comments Posted in Family, Grandkiddies

FaceTime with the Grandkids

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Renee Spindle

My grand-kiddies can be sooooo entertaining. They will be the generation that takes all of the new fangled technology for granted. They won’t be oohing and aahing over a new computer that’s about to be released, or some other gadget that just came on the market like the rest of us do. We didn’t have all the amazing gadgets that our grand-kids can get their hands on when we were kids. “The cloud” will morph into something completely different by the time they are young adults.

Quite frequently on any given weekday night, around Miss Madison’s bedtime I will receive a “FaceTime” call on my phone. This is the iPhone version of a video call. The call normally starts out with Madison making some sort of silly face into the phone.

This is a typical example of how our video call will start

Then she will finally say “Hi Grandma”. I’ll ask her what she had for dinner, or she’ll have something “important” to tell me about her dog, Daisy. We’ll chat for a few minutes, I mean seconds and then she usually gets distracted or she just hangs up on me with no warning. Madison is an expert at pressing that “red” button to hang up on me.

Evan on the other hand loves to have his Face Time calls all to himself. He really does not like to share this calling time with his baby sister. He loves to talk and say hi to anyone and everyone in our house. We always humor him and pass the phone around so he can talk to all of us. Sometimes he will have something to tell us, maybe a joke or something about his friends he needs to share. Then there are other times when he simply just wants to say “Hi”.

Here’s a few of my favorite Evan “selfies”. I usually find these on my phone or computer after he has gone home.

FaceTime is a great way for the grand-kiddies to stay connected to their Pop-Pop while he’s away on a business trip too. Plus it’s nice for Pop-Pop to chat with them when he can. It always helps him feel more connected to home while he has to be away.

If video chatting is new to your technology world use it often. It’s nice to be able to say hi to long distance relatives, or your husband who travels frequently for his job. In my opinion it’s a great way to stay and feel connected to your love ones.

What’s your favorite video chatting mode-Skype, Google Hangouts, or Facetime?

7 comments Posted in Family, Grandkiddies

How’s Your Madditude?

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Renee Spindle

Maddy has attitude. That equals “Madditude”!

Photo Credit-Erica B. (Maddy’s Auntie)

2 years old + Mind of her own + Independent spirit + Solo flyer

I have recently coined a new phrase to start off the beginning of this year. My granddaughter Madison, is just about to turn 28 months old. She stays here at Camp Grandma two days a week. We have fun together blowing bubbles or getting creative with the play dough. She loves to go outside, and just dig in the dirt. Oh the life of a two- year old.

Madison is probably the most independent spirit that I have ever known. She definitely has a mind all her own, and loves to be a solo flyer doing things. And of course I have to watch her like a hawk since there’s so many intriguing things to look at or get into here.

So, now to explain my new phrase; you see when the little person in your house who is only 28 months does not get her way, or has to be emphatically told, NO, that’s when the “Madditude” bubbles to the surface. It mostly comes across in the form of a scream, or instantaneous crying, very loud crying.

So the next time your favorite toddler gets in trouble, and their “Madditiude”” bubbles to the surface, just picture Madison yelling, or crying, or standing in front of you with arms crossed glaring (I’ve been trying to capture a picture of this with no success yet). And if that favorite toddler is your grandchild you have to study them carefully because all their little mannerisms will remind you of your own kids at that age. Precious and priceless!!

2 comments Posted in Family, Grandkiddies

Loving my Grandma World

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Renee Spindle

A certain, special someone is celebrating her second birthday this week. Miss Madison is turning two, and is every bit of that two-year old. She’s head strong, feisty, sweet and loving. Madison spends two days a week with me at Camp Grandma, and we have fun-filled, exhausting days together. Her favorite things to play with right now are Playdough, and her dolls.

Last week Madison had a moment with me that I will always cherish. We have a little routine together in the morning after breakfast. We get dressed, brush our teeth, and then I fix Madison’s hair. On this particular morning I had Maddy sitting up on my bathroom counter. We had to get her hair wet just a bit to get it put up into a little, tiny pony tail. Once we got her hair all situated, I was just about to lift her back to the floor, and I got this huge unexpected hug, and an “I lub you Gwamma”. Oh my goodness, I had to pick my melted heart up off of the floor, and gave her a big squeeze back right away. I told her, “ I love you too, Maddy”. This is one of those sweet, loving, ever-so-short grandma moments that stays in your memory bank for a long, long time. The fact that the “I lub you” was not prompted by anyone else made her saying it to me all the sweeter. I lifted Madison back onto the floor, and she ran off to play, as if nothing had happened. As far a she was concerned, it was just another normal morning. But for this Gwamma, it was a special morning filled with love.

When is the last time you had a “Gwamma” moment?

This post linked to the GRAND Social

One comment Posted in Grandkiddies

The Youngest Reader in Our Family

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Renee Spindle

This is our 17 month-old granddaughter, Madison. As a matter of fact she just turned 17 months old this past week. I think I usually stop counting the months once the grand-kids turn two, but before that two-year old marker each month seems to include some sort of wonderful milestone. Most of Madison’s milestones these days involve words. Words she hears that she immediately repeats. Our little family myna bird. These pictures speak for themselves, such sweetness and innocence. The funny thing about Madison is sometimes she puts on such a serious face when she’s looking at the pages of a book you just have to sit back and smile.

Madison is fast becoming a little book-worm. She loves to look at her picture books, or have them read to her. Sometimes she only listens to one or two pages, or I should say sentences and then wanders away. But she always comes back a little bit later to have the book read to her in its entirety.

I cannot remember any of my kids being so attached to books at such a young age. It was always more of a struggle to try to figure out what would keep the kids’ interests to keep them reading. I did always tell my kids one of my famous Mom phrases (well famous to me), “Reading is knowledge, and knowledge is power.” I’m not sure if it really stuck with any of them, but it sure felt good for having said something so inspiring to them.

Now that she’s a few months older, once in a while Maddy will pretend she is reading her book to you, and jibber-jabber along through the pictures while turning the pages. Her Nana (my Mom) and I applaud her efforts each and every time, and hope that her interest in books and reading will continue to grow and blossom with her for a long, long time.

This post linked to the GRAND Social blogging event at Grandma’s Briefs.