Plays Well With Others

I know my cameras aren't much good.  

That's right, both of them.

One of them is a very nice looking camera.  It looks like it should be better than it is.  It was cheap and you know, you get what you pay for.  It does have a very nice zoom and color correction, so it is useful when I have nothing better.  

The second one is nearly an antique (if any digital camera can be considered such) and when I want to take photos that have the potential for moving subjects, that one is my choice.  

Howsomever, when it comes to taking photos of my grandchildren I need something with the shutter speed in the nanosecond range.  

I'm going to post these photos anyway, just take in the general idea, don't focus.  

hee, hee, hee

My grandchildren were here today, with their mother, of course.  How else would they get here?  They came to visit an Auntie they don't see very often.  They paid her the tribute of playing very nicely together.  

I just love those kids.  

And, no, we didn't clean all the pancake plates off the table.  

This Old House

Last week we said "hello" to a very precious heirloom and this week we are saying "goodbye" to another.  

This piece of history has a story.  When I was a girl my daddy built me a Barbie doll house.  He built it from the cheapest plywood that may have been used for something else before.  I watched him saw out the 4' x 1' slabs and draw the cuts for the doors and windows.  

I suppose I watched him make the walls and doors, paint and carpet, but I don't remember that.  I do remember thinking that watching the building process was better than the finished project.  

I loved the finished project, too.  We played and played with it and I brought it to my house when my first daughter was born.  

It was a very special project, Dad painted it white with a red door, just like the house we lived in. 

The doors were cut to fit and had real hinges and little door knobs.

 Our door had a diamond window, so did this one.  

The windows were trimmed in red; our house had red trim.  When dad built the house the windows had wood sashing to make it look like window panes with thin clear plastic for the windows. It had a back door into a hallway.   

One bedroom had the lavender paint and yellow carpet of my bedroom.

It had the carpet of the boys bedroom, but their room had paneling.  I don't know where the orange paint came from. Both bedrooms had closets with rods.

The living room is yellower than this.  The carpet is the same as our living room carpet.  The yellow was from something else.  

There was an arch into the hallway.

And a door with no door into the kitchen. There was a bathroom but it was too narrow and the worst damage and I didn't want a picture of that. 

Dad mounted wheels on one side to made it easier to move and store when stood up on that side.  

This is just a glimpse when it was down in playing mode.  I didn't get very close with these, because it is broken now.  Somehow it got badly damaged in storage.  Someone who didn't value it as I did. 

I wish the yellow of the living room would have photographed faithfully, but it didn't.  Since this post is for me to remember I am posting photos of each side.  

This house still looks pretty good on the outside, but damaged enough on the inside that it would take too much time and energy to fix.  It is large and awkward and hard to store.  It has made great memories.  

Especially the one where I can say, "My Dad made this for me." 

My Husband is Nuts...

...about tractors,

old tractors,

to be exact, old John Deere tractors.

Especially this one, which is like the first brand new tractor his father bought.

Sadly, his wife is rather nuts, too.  She likes them as well, and didn't have any fits when he bought it without telling her. 

We were in luck, the price was right.  

So, here it is.  It needs work, but that will come. 

Not this year, maybe not even next year. 

But, sometime, it will be bright green again.

Barry 6 months

This little guy is just so cute.  He is wearing a favorite outfit of Zane's who also wore it at 6 months.  Barry weighs 16 pounds now and is 27 inches long and is in the 20th and 25th percentiles for height and weight.  Looks like we've got a baby that won't grow big too fast. 

Barry's been smiling this funny tight little smile for me the last couple of days. I love these big grins that are so hard to get for the camera.

Barry is eating cereal and veggies.  He opens his mouth like a little bird and eats and eats.  He can pick up cheerios, too. It's a great way to entertain a little one. 

And what is so sweet as a baby asleep.  

Barry can hold his bottle if he wants to, and he thought this water bottle was his.  It makes a good crinkly toy.

Barry can roll around from side to side, sit up well when put there and reach and arm's length away for toys without falling over, most of the time.  He is starting to push himself backwards and tries to put his knees under himself. He just loves to watch the trains go 'round and 'round.

I love to see him reaching out his little arms to mama or gramma.  He has also learned to "raspberry" with his lips and spray spit all over.  It is cute in a 6 month old.  Not so much later. 

I can't leave Barry on the couch anymore without close supervision and grabability at the ready. He flips over in the second my eyes are turned away, and gets himself too close to the edge. 

He plays with these toys very well, but he likes best my plastic measuring spoons.  

This Post is for Zane

For those of you who are diligent followers of my blog, you already know that Zane just LOVES his trains.  Well, he and I have a very different take on what playing with trains is all about.  I love to make a big complicated track that he can run several trains on.  He likes a big complicated track that he can run several trains on in different directions so they crash.  

 I love these trains too, and the things I love I want to photograph.  So, I got down on the floor to see what I could get. 

Long may the batteries last!

He's My Brother

It's been pretty easy babysitting these boys at this stage of their lives.  Zane is an independent player for the most part, and doesn't make messes and get into things he shouldn't just for the fun of it.  

Barry is immobile.  

That's the important part. 

I'm not looking forward to the time when Barry starts to crawl.  The biggest reason is that the easy part of taking care of these boys will be over.  Barry will want to crawl on the tracks where Zane will want to be driving and grabbing the engines Zane will want to use.  

But, until then, I will enjoy this time.  Perhaps it won't be as hard as I think.  After all, it's so sweet to see Zane showing Barry his trains. They will be able to share and play together.

NOT.

At least for a long time yet. 

Dear Uncle Tim and Aunt Cindy

I don't know if you know how much we appreciate this train set that you gave to us when Titus was finished with it.  Lorene divided it with us, so Zane can play with it here as well as at home.  He loves to play with it so much, that it makes my life so much easier when I have him 8 to 10 hours at a time on babysitting days.  

I have to confess that we enjoy playing with it, too.  (But, only when Zane is here.)  If I set up a track for him in the morning, he will play with it for a long time in the morning, and then come back to it all day long. Sometimes, it takes me quite a while to get it set up.  I always want to try something new and interesting.  

This time I tried to use all the track pieces.  I got pretty close, but the long straight pieces stumped me after a while and I got tired of crawling around on the floor, and Barry was more interested in eating, than in having me build train tracks.

My attention span is shorter than his when it comes to trains. 

I love to watch him play.  There is something fascinating about little trains that go around and over and under and back again all by themselves. Barry likes to watch, too, but his attention span isn't nearly as long. 

I'm beginning to worry what we are going to do when Barry gets mobile.  He'll want to play trains, too, but you know how crawling babies play.  He'll want to be right in there on top of it, heading the demolition crew.

So, thank you, thank you, to Titus for loving trains so much he had a lot to give, to you for being willing to give it to Zane to enjoy and love them. 

They have truly saved my sanity when I have these two little kids to look after three days a week.  You will be happy to have a reasonable sister around for a few more years. 

Love, 

Gramma At Home.