Athens GJ

Michael has been talking about his birthday for months. I hope he will have a very nice, happy day tomorrow, May 25th. He's such a nice little guy. Michael will be 6. We have visited the Carpenter Shop several times because it is located right across from his school. He has told the people who work there that his birthday is May 25th, not once, but every time we have visited. Since I was leaving last Monday for Daytona and will not be in Athens to help him celebrate, we visited the Carpenter Shop on Friday when I picked up Fiona and Michael after school. I told them that they could both get some Faith Bands, which are like Silly Bands and Silly Bands are all the rage in Athens. They each got a package of Faith bands and I asked him if he would like to go to Target to pick out a birthday present or see if the Carpenter Shop had something he would like. He knows exactly where the toy section is, so he bee-lined it back to the Toy Section and found a Lego set with 650 pieces in it. Yes, that would do just fine. I told him he could pick out one more thing, so he got a Veggie Tale CD. I wonder if he has watched it, yet.
Happy, happy birthday, Michael. So, now you are finally 6! WOW! First grade is coming up soon!

I remember when Grandaddy used to say that he wished he could put a brick on our kids heads so that they wouldn't grow up so fast. I feel the same way about these grandchildren. All of the grands seem to grow up sooo fast! Nicole has served 2 years with the Peace Corps, Danny has graduated college and has a real job, Eric is out in Washington and soon to be in Santa Fe working in the Conservation part of Americore, Kelly is graduating high school,, David is homeschooling and a junior in high school, Claire is making history with her hurdle jumping, Andrew will be in 8th grade next year and already knows exactly what he wants to do with his life and has good goals, Fiona will be in 3rd grade and a fine pianist and student, and Michael is going to first grade. I am proud of all of them, and feel very blessed.
Love,
Gramalie

Jami and I brought Isaac home as a puppy around this time 14 years ago. His hips aren't doing so great and our hardwoods make it very difficult for him to stand or make turns when he walks.

I was about to try to rig up some rubber pads to tie to the bottom of his paws when I looked up "dog boots" on line. Sure enough this is a common problem with old dogs on hardwoods and there are lots of brands of dog shoes. Acknowledging the frugality that was ingrained as a child, I purchased 4 of the most economically sensilbe ones.

They arrived the day after Christmas. Isaac is too old to worry that we've strapped shoes to his feet - but he hasn't slipped in 2 days and gets around the house much better. Merry Christmas poor, ole Isaac.

This weekend I was laid-up with a turned ankle so I spent a lot of time building this house that Dad had previously put together. Fiona and Michael decorated the porch with homemade puzzle pieces of our family.

Fiona would like to tell everyone what she did today:

"Today I made some cookies and Mommy helped a little bit. Most of the cookies are for Michael and I's teachers. Michael ate some crackers and the pretzels that were a little bit for making the cookies. But I did not mind because we had enough pretzels and crackers. And that is all I'm going to say. :]:]:):):]:]:):):]:]:):):]:]:):)"

Fiona's first grade class held elections yesterday for class president. It was a tight race between her and Katie Grace. When the votes were tallied, Fiona won by a single vote. Katie Grace was very upset, so Fiona suggested that they be co-presidents - a very sweet notion that was overturned today by her teacher. They made KG secretary of state.