GRAMMY- The Grand Finale

 When we spotted a little sunshine in the sky, we headed out the door to take Grammy to the

 "Train Park":

Levi took her hand and escorted across this fun bridge:

 

Riley cuddled with me as we watched Grammy & Levi play on the playground:

Then we bought our tickets and boarded the "train"

:)

 Around the park we went:

It was a lot of fun, and we were SO grateful for those few hours of sunlight & the break from the rain!

We had been super excited to bring Grammy here ever since we found out she was coming to stay with us :)

 Grammy volunteered to take care of the kiddos...

 So Craig & I could go on a DATE!!!

 Thanks so much, Grammy.

And then we took a short road trip our language intensive for a week:

 Along the way, Levi had his first "roadside" bathroom opportunity.

He MAY have been a little gun shy & chose to just wait until we made it to the hotel.

However, Craig took quick note of the issue- and lets just say, now Levi LOVES to "water the grass".

 She was such a trooper- cooped up in a hotel room with us, watching the kiddos while we sat in class all day, helping feed, change, playing with the kids, giving baths, & putting them to sleep.

All with a smile on her face.

(Have we mentioned we are QUITE thankful for her?!?!?)

 After the week finished up, we were back home and Levi decided to hone in on some of his climbing skills on the back porch:

And these two were glad to be out of a hotel room and in their own home:

 Riley was showing some serious attempts at crawling- but our favorite was the day she really made her move:

We were just sitting on the bed, chatting, looking at Avon magazines, and sipping on some cold coffee- when all of a sudden, here she comes- made her way over to the book (as you can see) and even made her way to my side where she made several attempts to grab my drink!

Yep- shopping and yummy cold coffee is always a great motivation of a girl, isn't it?

We, unexpectedly, spotted a TON of parrots perched in the tree right behind our house one night:

 It was hard to capture just how MANY of them there were, but we thoroughly enjoyed the chance to see such a pretty sight.

The Lord is sweet :)

I had been waiting for Gail to arrive, so that I could have her with me when I finally picked out and purchased a sewing machine.

She brought some super cute material from America, and some GREAT ideas of things to make.

So we got busy:

Well, some of us did.

The others just sat & looked cute... 

  Or chowed down :)

Gail & I measured, marked, cut, ironed, and sewed away.

We made a pillow case dress for Riley from this owl fabric.

And I took off this old brown pillow covers and we made new pillow covers for the throw pillows in the living room:

 What do ya think?

 I LOVE this fabric.

And here is Riley Jo modeling her new dress:

At our last hotel, before taking Grammy to the airport to head back to her home, Levi seized one more opportunity to "Ride the Tiger" (a game he & Grammy came up with that he THOROUGHLY L.O.V.E.S)

As I've spent the last several days sharing these stories and pictures, it's been a blast re-living the memories...

However, this part is the hardest part to re-live...

The trip to the airport-

The last trip in the car, the last few moments of having Grammy right by our side, the last cuddle, the last smile face to face....

The goodbye.

Even as I write,

I feel the lump rising back up in my throat, and I'm fighting back those tears once again.

It never gets easier.

Grammy/Gail/Mom-

I hope you know just how grateful we are for you willingness to give up your summer, to travel thousands of miles away, to live in a culture that is not your own, to try new things, to deal with monsoon weather, to live with this crew....

and to make memories with us that we will cherish for a LIFETIME.

We look forward to the next time we are together-

and until then we will cling to these precious moments we had with you here.

We LOVE You.

Love,

Craig, Danielle, Levi & Riley Jo

GRAMMY- Part 5

 

Well it's no Kilgore Creek (where Craig's MawMaw lives), but we pretended we were all there as we gathered in the kitchen, cut cucumbers, sterilized jars, prepared the pickling mix, and made some 

DILL PICKLES!

I loved having this woman in the kitchen with me this summer.

She is a wealth of knowledge- and I tried to take good notes on all the great new things I learned

Here are a few:

• Soaking your peeled potatoes in water before cooking them helps remove the starch
• Salt your water when making boiled potatoes to add flavor & boil on low heat until tender
• Make sure your oil is heated before cooking chicken, etc... that way less oil will be absorbed by the food you are making.
• Add sugar to the water when boiling corn on the cob (not salt)
• Adding a Tbsp. of sugar to your yeast will help it to grow
• Hershey's Chocolate Syrup + Coffee = Mmmmmmm
• When making angel food cake- don't use plastic or wooded bowls/ utensils or it won't rise
• How to make homemade yeast donuts- awesomeness!
• When leaving dough to raise, grease the bowl AND dab oil on top of the dough so it doesn't dry out.  Then cover with saran wrap.
• Always sift flour- don't shake down or pack
• Toothepaste = Jewelry Cleaner
• Hot Water (1) : Vinegar (2) = Ant Killer
• and MUCH MUCH more that I didn't get to write down...

Thanks for sharing your wisdom!

We made Gail's famous Chicken Pot Pies.

They were AMAZING!

Play-Doh Fun:

And then there was Gail's moment of glory...

Craig had a cut and finally gave in to his mother's ever persistent advice:
"You just need salve and a band-aid"

Yep- it was feeling better already ;)

She was a trooper through monsoon season.

Enduring a soaking wet all (see it in the background)

AND

Late nights without power

(We decided to make the most of it and just pow-wow on her bed 

and chat it up with our lantern giving us some light)

Riley was safe in Grammy's arms:

While Levi & Papa had a soccer match in the kitchen:

He LOVED it:

Look at that skill:

Watching & Taking careful notes:

One of my favorite moments of these two:

Levi also wanted to share his love with Riley- so here he goes laying a big ol' kiss on her:

Love the way he adores her, and LOVE that Grammy got to be a part of it, too :)