Grandparents' Day and more

Today was Grandparents' Day for the kindergarten classes in Bubby's school.  It's a wonderful day, and I had gone for Kristina four years ago.  Today Rod and I went to school while Mary watched Izzy for me.  We arrived at 9:30 and were greeted by Bubby shouting our names excitedly.  We were introduced to  his teacher and his aide, and then sat down at his table with him.  The teacher read a story titled "I Love You With All My Heart", and when she was finished there were some teary eyes in the room, including hers.  And then we had our photos taken with our grandchild.

We were given a kit to make a picture frame with Bubby.  Here's how ours turned out.  When we were finished, we went to the multi-purpose room for lemonade and cookies.  The cookies were donated by the kindergarten moms, and there were lots of different kinds.  We finished eating, and then went to another of the kindergarten rooms to paint a picture.  Pappy and Bubby made a great picture while experimenting with mixing colors.  Then we moved onto another room to play bingo.  Bubby went "Bingo" on his card and got to pick a prize for himself -- he chose a sheet of shiny car and truck stickers.  Pappy also got to pick a prize and chose a kitchen towel with charcoal grills on it.  We had a great time, and were very sad to have to leave.

When we got home, Pappy and Izzy took a nap, and then went outside to cut the grass.  Izzy loves being outside and riding the tractor with Pappy.  When the grass was done, we ordered panini from a local pizza shop and ate outside on the deck.  For Mother's Day  Rod bought me a new rocker for the deck.

Now, just look at the rocker, and not at all the stuff on the deck.  We've had a lot of rain and high winds lately, and I haven't taken the time to get out there to clean it up.  The rocker has nice pads on it, and is so comfortable.  I just love it.

Kristin and George know how much I love Jim Shore's work, and I also love lawn ornaments for around the pond.  This is Gabriel bear by Jim Shore, and was my Mother's Day gift from Kristin and family.  Kristin felt it was perfect for me with the beehive and the bumblebees.  I think so too.

Mary and her family surprised me with a beautiful tote bag with lots of pockets inside.  The outside has spaces to put photos, and Mary has photos of the grandkids already in it.  And inside the bag was the DVD for Mary Poppins.  I love the movie, and hadn't been able to find it anywhere.  Pat and Pam bought me a flat of pansies and impatiens to plant around the pond.  And as part of the gift, they're going to plant them for me.  They did this last year, and it looked beautiful.  So I got a lot of really thoughtful gifts and loved each and every one.

After dinner, Rod started to move the dirt from one of the garden boxes to another.  We need to add more dirt, and he figured it would be easier to back the truck up to one box and unload, rather than moving from one to another.  He's so smart.  Here you can see Izzy helping to move the dirt and peaking through the deck railing.  She had three or four different "shovels" and couldn't decide which one to use.

  But I think her favorite part was helping to wheel the wheelbarrow.  I'm not sure who had the most fun, her or pappy.  The day started out grey, chilly and rainy, but ended up warm and sunny.  I love days that leave memories.