A Really Nice Saturday

Hi Grandson,

Today, August 15th 2009, a Saturday.. was a nice, relaxing day. Grandpa Ernest worked on the Pool House all morning, then he came in and made Grandma some garlic spaghetti (it's so good) and Grandpa and Uncle EJ cleaned the kitchen and cleaned out the refrigerator. Then Grandpa gave me a massage.

Uncle EJ, his friend Tyler and Grandpa took the paint ball guns and went into the woods and spent a few hours hiding and running around shooting each other.

Monday is your dads birthday and he will be 27 years old. I can't believe he will be 27! I wrote him a letter to send with a card. I just love and miss you both so much!

I got my home scanner working today so I want to scan some old photo's to put on your blog. You are so cute, you are a Grandma's dream. I can't wait to show you how much you look like your dad when he was little.

Grandma Loves You and Grandma Loves Your Dad with all my heart!

Uncle Brett Has 6 Less Teeth

Hi Grandson,

I'm spending a few days at Uncle Brett's house because he had 4 wisdom teeth and 2 other teeth pulled yesterday. Me and Uncle Brett are sitting outside on his deck with our laptops. Uncle Brett's dog (Kadence) is chasing bugs.

Grandma rented a bunch of movies yesterday after we came home from the clinic. Uncle Brett slept on the couch. Grandpa Ernest and Uncle EJ surprised us and showed up with Boss and Garlic Wings from Wild Wing Cafe.. and they spent the night and we watched movies. Grandpa had to get up really early to take Uncle EJ to school this morning (his school is almost an hour away from Uncle Brett's).

Today, Uncle Brett and I went browsing around for stuff for his new house. We picked up an amazing coffee table for next to nothing. Grandma is a frugal shopper! Some people call it "cheap"... but Grandma is frugal and looks for good deals. I am not about to pay a lot more for something almost as good that I can get for a lot less! That's just me!

Grandma Loves You!

I'm So Glad it's Saturday!

Hi Grandson,

Today is Saturday, August 8th. I'm so glad it's Saturday! Last week was busy at work and I'm looking forward to just laying around by the pool today.

Your Aunt Stacey is going to her friends wedding today (Billy & Marisa). Aunt Stacey made them a beautiful wedding video. Aunt Stacey & Uncle Ryan have a week off coming up in September and I'm hoping they will be able to come down and visit.

Tomorrow, Grandma is going to Uncle Brett's house. Uncle Brett moved from that big mansion to this house. His new house is much closer to his work and he will be paying less rent. We are going to hang out together, I'll probably pick up a movie and make dinner. Then on Monday morning, Grandma is taking Uncle Brett to get his wisdom teeth removed. I'm going to stay for a couple days and take care of Brett while he is getting better.

Uncle Brett has a new puppy. Her name is Kadence. She is a German Shepard mix. Aunt Brittney & Uncle Luis gave the dog to Uncle Brett for his birthday. The puppy was a stray so it had some problems but Uncle Brett took the puppy to get all her shots and to get treated for the mange and for worms. She is doing much better.

The sun is shining and it's going to be a hot one today! It's supposed to get up in the 90's.

Grandma Loves You!

Summer 2009

Hi Grandson,

I can't believe it's August already! This summer has flown by! We put in a pool this summer and Grandpa is working on finishing the Pool House. The Pool House is really big (32x32). Me and Grandpa hope to spend a lot of time with our family, kids, grandkids for years to come in that pool and pool house! I took a picture today of what it looks like so far.

If you look directly behind the pool house, you will see a hot tub. About 10 feet behind the hot tub is a big creek with waterfalls. The creek runs through all of our property. The sound of the flowing water puts us to sleep at night. It's beautiful.

So far, the pool house is going to have a bar in the middle of it. Above the bar will be a Mansard Roof. Behind the bar will be a bathroom, and behind the bathroom we will have a small kitchen and grill setup. So, if you come and spend time with us, you can go swimming while Grandpa makes you a hamburger on the grill! We also want to have a ping pong table and some lounge furniture in the pool house.

Grandma has seen that you have been having a fun summer too! Your Aunt Stacey has sent me videos of you. I love them all but one of my favorites is of you at Lake Michigan pouring sand down your pants! I will put some of the videos below, at the end of this post.

Seeing you in your videos reminds me of when your dad was little. You two look so much alike and sound so much alike. When your dad would do something fun, he would say, "Do it again" and when you said this in one of the video's, it sounded just like him!

Grandma Loves You!

I'm Sorry Your Guinea Pig Died

Hi Grandson,

I heard today that your Guinea Pig died and I am so sorry. I bet you loved him very much and this hurt you. I know how much you can love a pet.. I love mine. Your Guinea Pig is in Guinea Pig Heaven, and he is doing fine, I promise.

Grandma has 2 Huskey's and 1 Lab. I love them all but my favorite is one of the Huskeys (Diablo). He is my favorite because I am his favorite and he thinks I belong to him. If I get upset, he knows and he tries to comfort me. He shows love to me so much. He will come up to me and just nibble on my ears with his teeth. He doesn't like when the other dogs show me affections. He will stand in their way and not let them get to me.

When your dad was growing up, we had a dog named Thurman. Your dad named him after Thurman Thomas. The night of your dad's graduation party, someone left the door open and Thurman ran away and was killed on the Toll Road. Thurman had been with us for a very long time and we all loved him. When we would leave the house, he would open the refrigerator and get food out. We don't know how he did it.

We had a cat named Leroy. Leroy was an awesome cat! That cat taught every dog we had how to love it and protect it. Our dogs loved and protected Leroy. One day someone ran over Leroy's tail and that cat began having nerve problems. We had to put him to sleep. It hurt so bad to do this but it was better for Leroy.

Many years ago, when I was pregnant with your Aunt Stacey, the first pet I ever had got sick and had to be put to sleep. She was the neatest poodle named Buffy. Buffy Reno Wheelan. My brother bought me that dog when I was about 11 years old. That dog slept with me, listened to me, played with me, loved me. I loved her so much! Since I was pregnant, I didn't go with to put him to sleep. I just remember Aunt Dee Dee and Nanna calling me on the phone asking what they should do. The doctor said Buffy could have surgery to attempt to save her but it didn't look good. I told them to just have her put to sleep. I didn't want her to go through agony. She lived a good life. Nanna came home bawling telling the story about how she held Buffy in her arms, and as Buffy went to sleep, Nanna said Buffy looked at her as if to say, "It's Okay." That is what made me feel better.

Losing a pet is hard, sweetheart. But your Guinea is in good and loving hands.

Love,
Grandma

Mothers Day Week

Hi Grandson!

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Stacey came to visit the week before Mother's Day. We really had a good time. The first couple of days, we hung out around the house - then we went out to Knoxville to Uncle Brett's house, spent the night in Knoxville and then went to Uncle EJ's football scrimmage game then headed to the boat to spend the night. The day we went to Knoxville, we all went and ate at an Irish Restaurant/Pub. We took this picture while there:

(Aunt Brittney, Uncle Brett, Aunt Stacey, Uncle Ryan, Uncle EJ and Luis)

We hung out at the restaurant for awhile, then went downtown Knoxville for a few hours, then me, Grandpa, Uncle Brett, Aunt Stacey and Uncle Ryan spent the night at the Marriot Hotel (where Aunt Brittney and Luis works). The next morning, Aunt Brittney showed up in our room with a huge cart of room service breakfast! It was wonderful! That afternoon we all went to EJ's football scrimmage game and then we all drove to the boat to spend the night.

Since Mother's Day was Sunday and it was also Aunt Brittney's birthday, we decided to get a big cabin in Pigeon Forge on the way home from the boat. We spent 2 nights there. We all played miniature golf and Grandma took this picture before we played:

Mother's Day was great! I didn't have to do anything, AT ALL. All the meals were taken care of and me and Brittney (it was her birthday) were spoiled rotten. If you and your dad would have been there, it would have been PERFECT! But it was close.

The first night we spent the night, we heard noise on the front deck. Something had turned over the garbage can! We didn't know if it was a bear or what.. so we watched out the picture window and seen a really cute racoon. We wanted him to stick around so we started feeding him popcorn, bologna sandwiches, pickles and chips.
Here is a picture of him:

I was so tired when we got home! Uncle Ryan and Aunt Stacey had to leave when we got back. I didn't want them to go!

I Love You!

Grandma

So Much Going On...

Hi Grandson,

I know it's been a few days since I've written. We've been really busy here. Work has been crazy and Grandpa is working on getting the upstairs of my office finished. The upstairs of my office will be "Grandma's Room." I want to keep all my books in there and I am going to have my Wii set up in there so I can work out to Dance Revolution and Wii Fit.

Your Aunt Stacey and Uncle Ryan are coming up next week so Grandma is working on getting everything ready for them. They will be sleeping in the cabin next door - which is so neat! The bed is so comfy and when you open the windows, you can fall asleep listening to the running creek.

Grandma spent this past weekend turning one of your daddy's high school football videos into a DVD. Everyone thought I was nuts because while it was copying, I was screaming at the monitor, "Go Bo!!!!" when your dad was going for touchdowns! I will give the DVD to your Aunt Stacey so she can give it to you when she gets back home. I'm also giving your Aunt Stacey your daddy's baby book and one of your daddy's yearbooks to take back.

I will write more soon Grandson. I love you!

Grandma