Matilda Isabella in a Babushka

I've said since she was a wee little thing that Matilda is soooooooo intelligent. I have six grandchildren now and all are beyond special. Matilda is learning beyond her age. Of course it is with the BIG help of her Mom and Dad, the "Gypsy Kids".



Lisa has been teaching her to "sign" since she was about eight months old. When I was at their house in December she was signing when she wanted milk, more, and a few other things. I was astonished. How cool is that? And, how smart!



It would never have occured to me to teach a child to sign that young. But, Lisa is brilliant too and she started it. Ok, now you are going to be astonished when I write the list that this 15 month old baby can sign........



dog, more, daddy, eat, yummy, where, what, banana, apple, bird, up, milk, hello, hat, shoes, frog, cheese, elephant, book (which means read to me), shirt, drink, baby, all done, bear, flower (which is accompanied by the crinkled nose and the sniffing sound), sleep and telephone. Just think how helpful that is for the parents for the baby to tell them those things.



Good grief, I better get busy and study my "signing". I'm going to have to be able to keep up with this kid! I suppose next, she'll be fluent in Spanish, since her mother is fluent.



Now, if I could just be as technologically savvy as the my seventeen year old and other grandchildren, I'd be perfect.



Want to learn to sign with me? Here's two sites. http://www.signingsavvy.com/ and www.commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm Wonder if I can sign "Capt. Morgan's with lime, por favor". Ha.

Easter Time

I have been flooded with memories this weekend of Easter Past. I've always loved this holiday - the beginning of spring. The joy and delight of the children in dyeing Easter eggs and having all the family together are fond, fond memories. It's times like these when I wonder what the heck I'm doing living in Mexico.

In years past, many years past, planning for Easter began at least a month before because when we were poor - I would get three yards of fabric for $1 at Hancock's Fabrics and make little dresses for the girls and short knee pants for John. Sometimes all the fabric matched, other times not.

BUT they always had a new outfit for Easter. Then I would make their Easter baskets weaving ribbons through previous year's baskets and making all kinds of things to put in their baskets. I even made baskets for them while they were in high school. They always looked forward to the goodies in them. And, it was a treat for me to make them.

THEN there was always Easter dinner. Ham, au gratin potatoes, brocolli casserole, other veggies and everyone's favorite, Angel Food cake with whipped cream for the frosting. IF I ever tried to deviate, a large uproar would take place. I can cook all of the above with my eyes closed. I've done it so much. Lots of people would show up and somehow there was ALWAYS enough food for everyone. I do have a tendancy, even today, to cook more food then needed from those days when people would just show up.

So now it is the grandkids. I DO talk to each of them on Easter morning and find out who found the most eggs in the family - it now is Emma almost every year. I hear where their baskets were hidden and it almost brings me to tears to not be there to see this. I'm really a softie for tradition and kids. But, talking to them is not the same as the excitement of waking up early and being out on the dew laden grass hunting for eggs and Easter baskets. To hear their squeals of delight is as sweet as hearing the church bells here in San Miguel.

All in all, I'm SO lucky to have all the memories of Easter Past.

Happy FIRST Birthday Matilda

How can it possibly be one year since the newest addition to the family arrived? Well it is, and all are mighty happy to have her around. Now that she's walking, she's "developing her own personality" according to proud Dad, John. Oh, and she has been "signing" since about eight months when she could sign for milk, more and a couple of other things. Now she has added to her repertoire with more words. Isn't that so cool?

I would have more photos of her on her birthday blog, but the Gypsy Kids are off on a vacation at Steamboat Springs and I don't have any new photos (hint, hint).

Happy First Birthday Matilda Isabella............Grammy loves you!

These shoes are made for walkin'

IT happened yesterday, one tiny step, which thrilled the "Gypsy Kids" beyond words. Now today four more and before long she'll be racing around the house. But, ahhh, those first few tenative steps are such a milestone! I remember each and every one of my children's first steps and their significance.

So now as the proud Grammy, I look forward to seeing this miracle of life.

The LAST Chapter

So as you know I was in Houston for three weeks and then flew to Colorado to see the "one and only" Matilda Isabella ( and her parents, of course). Oh my what fun that was - being on the floor with her and playing. Or just sitting watching her antics. I have enlarged the picture above to 8x10 and have it in my bedroom so when I wake up in the morning that is my "wakeup call". It's so great having a baby in our family again.

I love this photo of she and I with her little Christmas shirt on with the fur around the neck and cuffs. Can you tell she's got auburn hair? What a delightful surprise.

I brought the wings for Matilda - I'm hoping she uses them for Halloween costumes, dance recitals or whatever is in her future. I thought this photo was cute because of the light and the usual chaos of paper and gifts on Christmas morning.

And this last photo is the famous "crinkly nose" routine. I tried for a couple of days to capture her doing this. Then after I laughed out loud at her doing it - every time from then on when she saw me with the camera, she made this crinkly nose face. Too cute.

I took 349 photos and these are just a few of the many, I won't bore you with allllllllll of them. Hopefully I haven't bored you with all of these. It's who I am and what I love...........at least the family part of my life.

Delayed Gratification - Chapter 3

It's so great that Hannah and Christopher are so close in age and always have so much fun together. Just in case you don't remember, Hannah is the twin of Andrew from my daughter Julie and Christopher is my daughter Jennifer's son. He's now 10 years old. Hannah is 11. So for an adventure I got the two of them together - Hannah lives north of Houston and Christopher lives in Houston and we spent the day doing all kinds of fun things. First stop, Pappasito's for lunch. It's a must on every trip to Houston cause I love Tex-Mex and so do the kids - well sort of - Christopher had hot dogs, whatever.

Christopher reminds me more and more of his Mom. He has those full cheeks and beautiful lips. He also has her great sense of humor. He is the legacy that she left to us to remind us of her all the time. Anway, I love this goofy shot of him at the restaurant.

Then we left and went to the movies. But it was a movie that you had to park in the parking garage which was very confusing. I started to park somewhere and Christopher was saying,"No, No Grammy you CAN'T park here - they'll TOW you!" I acted like I was going to anyway and he said, "Hannah YOU talk to her!" Made me laugh out loud........so we got into the movie theater and the movie didn't start for about 45 minutes and there were all kinds of video games and a photo booth. Neither of them had ever been in a photo booth. WHAT fun they had taking goofy photos - I'll share that with you at another time. It brought back memories. Haven't all of us been in one of those booths at some time in our lives? So somehow the subject of birthdays came up and they realized that my birthday had come and gone and that neither had gotten me a present (their thought not mine) and lo and behold, with the money they had brought for the video games, they bought a pink shell bracelet for me instead of using the money for themselves. Of course I treasure it more then any diamond I've ever been given. Pretty cool, huh?

We saw the movie Madagascar and left the movie singing, "Move it, Move it".........see, this is how I let my "inner child" out - by being with the kids.

This last photo of Christopher is on another day. He arrived after a birthday party where they went to the mall and MADE remote control cars. Those of you in the states know about the "Build a Bear" stores - well this is a build a car for boys. A brilliant idea in my opinion. They had cake and ice cream and made their cars. AND it runs. At the end, after finishing the cars, they got a certificate with their name on it and the greatest "car" box to keep it in. Someone is a marketing genius. Christopher was very proud of it, as well he should be, and wanted me to take a photo of him with it.

My cup runneth over with memories from this past Thanksgiving and Christmas time. I'm a very lucky lady.

Remember When?

Remember when there were big family get togethers and you, the kid, always had to sit at the "kids table". It still happens.

I still remember all the plotting and planning that I and my cousins would do when we were having feasts at my grandmother and grandfather's house. Once we hid a microphone and a tape recorder under the "big people's table" so we could find out what they talked about when we weren't around. Imagine our disappointment when all we heard was, "Pass the potatoes", "Gosh, the turkey is so moist" and "Where's the gravy?".

Delayed Gratification - Chapter 2

One of the many family traditions has been making a Gingerbread House for Christmas from time to time - not every year. Well this was the year and the Houston gang got started one night with all the necessary ingredients.

At the beginning everyone was happy............and clean.









It went downhill fast with sprinkles, glue, frosting and all matter of things spread out on the table and on the fingers of all participating. I was smart enough to be the "photographer"!



Andrew stepped in for about one minute to drop a few sprinkles and then disappeared.
Smart kid. Emma was having fun licking her fingers as much as making the house.














The funniest thing was that the eaves of the roof kept sliding down, so daughter, always the creative one, took two cans of tomato paste to prop up the roof til the frosting hardened.
A way better solution then I used once when I used a hot glue gun!
This is one of the family cats. I think it's Cheeto but it might be Chip - they look alike. He too, was mystified at the whole Gingerbread making process and sat watching the whole episode intently.

A fun time was had by all..........

The finished Gingerbread House will have to be in another post because for some reason it didn't come through on this one.........Arrrrgh

Delayed Gratification - Chapter 1

It was frustrating, while in colorado and Texas, not to be able to download my digital camera photos. But, it was great when I got home to be able to do so and to enjoy reliving the whole escapade.

The very first thing that happened on the day I arrived was the birthday party for Hannah and Andrew - they turned 11.

My daughter is so talented and creative at coming up with fun themes and decorations for parties. This one was no exception. She had a pool (heated) party with "Sponge Bob Square Pants" as the theme. She made signs for all the food stations and the kids really enjoyed it all.

I remember the first time she asked me to go to Target to buy something by the name of Sponge Bob Square Pants and I felt so foolish. I just couldn't get my head around a
name like that! Little did any of us know that it would become such a success!


It was obvious to me on this visit that my "little" Hannah had somehow become a preteen since my last visit. How does that happen in a few months? She is such a sweet girl. I gave her a bicycle for Christmas and had it decorated in the front yard for her to go find. She was very very quiet when she saw it. I later asked her what she thought when I told her her Christmas presesnt was in the front yard? She said, "I thought it might be the Jonas Brothers". That absolutely cracked me up.........cause that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars! But a girl can wish can't she?





This picture of Andrew really touches my heart. You see, he is "special needs", yet the kids treat him with kindness and respect and actually no different then others. The little girl standing behind Andrew is his "mentor" at school to make sure he gets from one place to the other.













This last shot was taken before I knew how to take night shots but it does show how many kids were there! Andrew was so happy to be able to wear his favorite Sponge Bob shirt.

The "Gypsy Kids" Family Photo

I think this series of photos are hysterically funny. It's an attempt to get Baby Matilda, Mom, Dad and Dusty the Dog all to look

at the camera, smile and look perfect! It took many, many photos and these are the results. I was laughing hysterically, as I was the

incompetent photographer every time they yelled "NOW". I think the one below is the best. To me it looks like Dusty the Dog

is laughing too. Notice, of course, that Matilda is looking at Dusty and not at ME, the photographer - oh well, it was such fun!

Forty Seven Years Ago Today

I've been trying to get the courage up all day to write this post. I went through a large basket of personal possessions of my daughter Jennifer's last night. Her Girl Scout badges, her baby book, her dolls and last but not least, the tiara she wore as homecoming queen in League City Texas in 1978.

I went through all the photos last night with the intent of posting many to share, but alas, today it was just not possible yet for me to do that.

Yes, it will be five years in May since she died, but still I can't post the photos or be enthused about posting this blog. I might not even post it.

There are so many things I would like to share with you, my friends, about this remarkable first born and the woman she became, but it's not time yet.

So, suffice to say, Happy 47th Birthday Jennifer - you are missed. The world is not as gentle as it was when you were here.

Love,
MOM