Did you say an Airplane Biscuit?

Yesterday we had the boys over for a little while. (Ella always seems to be taking a nap during this time.) On the way to pick up Cole we asked Dalton & Parker what they wanted for lunch.( Cole had already eaten.) Dalton decided he wanted to go to Bojangles. When asked what he wanted he said Chicken Strips, a plain biscuit, and french fries. Simple enough, but then we asked Parker what he wanted. I want an "airplane" biscuit and french fries he said. At first papa and I thought maybe we didn't understand what he was saying so we asked Dalton to listen and see if he could figure it out. Sure enough he also thought Parker was asking for an "airplane" biscuit and french fries. We then had to tell Parker that Bojangles did not have "airplane" biscuits and for him to choose something else. But once again he said the same thing. After going back and forth about this special biscuit he began to get just a little upset with us for not understanding. Then in a loud voice he said, "I WANT AN AIRPLANE BISCUIT JUST LIKE DALTON WANTS!! Then it hit us.....Dalton had asked for a "plain biscuit" and in Parker's young little mind he took it to mean a "plane biscuit" therefore it would be an "AIRPLANE" biscuit!! We all laughed but to keep from getting Parker upset we had to say they were all out of "airplane" biscuits and that Dalton wasn't able to get one either!! Kids can think and say the cutest things! It sure makes us laugh and keeps us young! You are too cute Parker!!

Forest Decor-Bad Idea

When our granddaughter Ella was born I decided to add something different to the playroom. I couldn't have just tractors and trucks anymore. But what would look girly but still look like a room for the boys? I found the answer at Lowes one day when they had all their wall decor at 70% off. It was a border with forest animals. This would be good I thought... turtles for the boys and little bunny rabbits & pink flowers for Ella. The design did turn out cute and I knew the problem had been taken care of......that was until Parker came to spend the night. It was this past weekend when his parents were out of town with Dalton and Parker was with us. His bedtime is usually around 8:00 p.m. and things started out fine. We watched a Bob-the Builder movie and then I turned off the light and left on the one in the hallway. I decided to stay beside him for awhile until he went to sleep. That's when it started. His little head raised up with that tousled blond hair and he said, "I don't like that BIG cat, that big cat is looking at me! Since there was no cat I had him point to what he saw. It just happened to be the "raccoon" in the border. So, being a sweet Nana, I took something and covered it up. We settled back down and it started again, this time it was the deer, then the squirrel and even the dog! They were all looking at him and scaring him!! OK, this could be a REAL problem because this border I picked for the playroom was now a forest of wild animals. Animals that looked fine in the daylight but turned scary at night! Since it was becoming impossible to cover up ALL the animals I decided to move Parker into our bedroom and set up his pack and play. He was happy again and glad to get away from all those "scary" animals! That is until he saw the "turtle" in my bedroom! "What turtle?" I asked. There it is Nana, it's in the corner...and sure enough it did look like a turtle. I had taken off my tennis shoes and folded my sweat pants and laid them on top of the shoes...that was the turtle! Once again I removed the scary looking turtle and at long last all animals had gone back into the forest for the night. Parker closed his precious little eyes, snugged his little blue blanket and went to sleep! But not me, I was wide awake looking at the ceiling trying to think of a plan to make all the forest animals in the playroom look friendly at night instead of scary! Maybe I should have went with the castle theme, no that had a dragon. Oh well lights out for now. Goodnight my sweet Parker, Nana loves you!

All Grown Up

Recently I had the chance to ride downtown with our son, Steven. Since he moved out and has his own house it's not often that I go somewhere with him. It's really strange to sit beside a grown man and listen to him talk, when only yesterday this man was your baby boy! Time has quickly changed and it seems our roles are slowly changing places. Here are some of the reasons I know it is happening...

-My baby boy bought his own house in Holly Springs.

-He works as an engineer everyday from 8-5.

-He explains things on TV to us that we don't understand.

-He shops at Lowes (he never understood why we went there).

-He cooks his own meals and washes his clothes.

-He comes to visit and offers to bring us supper.

-He leaves money on the counter if we bought supper.

-He calls to check on us to make sure we're OK.

-He tells us to drive careful when we go out of town.

-He calls when he goes out of town to say he arrived safely.

-He worries when we are sick and tells us to go to the doctor.

-He says if we need money to just let him know.

-He buys us really nice presents and says he doesn't need anything for himself.

-He says if we lose our jobs we can move in with him and he'll support US!

I never knew when I was rocking him to sleep and trying to make him feel safe that in a short time he would be the one to make ME feel secure and safe! WOW, what a touching feeling and what a super sweet son that is! Thanks Steven for the special "man" you've become!

Hello Tea Party.....I think!

My daughter Michelle came over for a while yesterday. Papa was playing with Cole so I got the privilege of playing with our only granddaughter, Ella ! Our little lady in pink has grown so much. It is so much fun to watch her as she WALKS from one thing to the next! I've waited for this day when she would finally be old enough to do "girl" things. The problem is I'm not quite seeing the interest yet. Her favorite thing right now is playing in the sand box. She loves scooping dirt from one container to the next while at the same time munching on dirt! We also fed the ducks but she loved throwing rocks in the pond, just like the boys do! By the time we came inside her clothes and mouth were covered with dirt and her hairbow was hanging! I set up a carpenter area for Cole with boards, nails and washers, but guess who enjoyed playing with it most...yes, Ella! She hammered away like Bob the Builder! Michelle made the statement that at home she was trying to make a worm farm for Cole, but guess who loved the worms! Later after we went inside she pulled open her drawer in the kitchen. I noticed as she pushed the stuff dolls aside and went for the more active things. I was beginning to wonder if this is another grandchild I will run and hide in the fort with while talking about transformers and super heros! But then I watched her open a book and as she quietly turned the pages she looked so dainty. She rolled her beautiful blue eyes at me and I could see the little GIRL! That told me yes, it will soon be tea party time....I think! For now I'll have to keep dreaming about it while our beautiful little GIRL, Ella Grace, hammers one more nail!

Our FIRST Grandson is Growing Up!

We knew it would happen but just not so fast. Our first grandson, Dalton, is growing up! The changes were so gradual we didn't notice. It wasn't a drastic change, but somehow over time we realized this is not the same little boy we played pretend with, dug in the sand with, build forts with and read books to. Things are more real to him now, the pretend world is quickly fading. I noticed it a lot Sunday when he came to play for a while. Our other two grandsons, Cole & Parker were playing in the playroom. Parker had the big T-Rex and was making growling sounds. Cole was shooting the dinosaur with the Nerf gun, but there was no Dalton. I went to look for him wondering where he had gone. I found our little Dalton (not so little any more) sitting beside Papa watching a college basketball game. They were talking to each other about the game and it sounded like two adults. Where has that little fellow gone? Boy, he sure is growing up fast! I went back into the playroom to play with the other two. In a few minutes Dalton walked in and I had the little house in my hands. It was the little house where the two of us always hid the baby dinosaur so T-Rex wouldn't get him. I watched to see if Dalton would remember. Sure enough he walked over, opened the little house and with a mature look on his face, looked at it and then smiled at me. Yes, he may be growing up but the good times we shared together when he was little will always stay in his memory! I'm so glad we had that time together, it's time you can never get back. Now, it's on to more mature things and we'll have memories from that, too! But wait, what did I hear.... Cole and Parker want to know where the baby dinosaur is hiding. "Wait a minute guys, Nana will show you the little house!" There's enough of Nana's love to go around to everyone!

Growing UP!

The Little House!

More love to go around!

"Short Rows"

Since I am tracked out of school Lewis decided to take Thursday and Friday off from work so we could be together. When we woke up Thursday morning we headed for the farm. We expected it to be a cold day but it turned out to be about 62 degrees which was perfect! Lewis got out the tractor and spent most of the morning plowing to get the spot ready for our garden. That afternoon he worked on the golf cart. I spent most of my day working in my flower bed and mowing. Friday morning however was a different story. We woke up to cold weather and pouring down rain. It was about 6:30 a.m. and we both decided it was too cold to get out of bed. We turned our electric blanket on high and opened the window so we could listen to the rain. Well, shortly after that we must have fallen back to sleep because the next thing we knew it was 10:00 a.m.!! Yes, 10:00, I have not done that since I was in my 20's and had no children! Lewis couldn't believe I slept that late because I'm up every morning at 6:00 a.m. whether I'm working or not! I looked at him and said, "we must be in the short rows now!" You have to be a country boy or girl to know the meaning of "we're in the short rows now". Tobacco was usually planted in very long rows but when you got close to the end of the field there were always a few short rows. When you were hot and sweaty, from working in those long rows, you felt a sigh of relief when the short rows came into site. You knew you could do them really fast and that you would soon be home relaxing ! As I snuggled close to Lewis I thought that's where we are in our lives. We have finally made it to the "short rows"! We're beginning to relax and enjoy each other more. We've come a long way down those long rows since we first met at 12 and 14. We've been through army years, baby years, school years, teenage years, moving years, run your own business years, college years, wedding years and now grandparent years! All have been fun and exciting but also very trying at times. Now that those long rows are behind us we are really enjoying the short rows! When they say we're in the prime of our life it's true. We're loving every minute of it and hope we can stay in these short rows for a long time!!

P.S. I love you Lewis-thanks for sharing the long rows with me. Let's have a good time together in the short ones!

Another Artist in the Family!

Our family has a lot of artistic people. It started with my dad. He could draw just about anything. Then our son, Steven, was born and once again there was an artist in the house. He could draw really elaborate designs. When he was a teenager I had him draw a design on his bedroom wall and we painted it. After our daughter, Lisa, married we found out our son-in-law, Joseph, was a super artist, too. I didn't realize this until they were at our house one night and we asked him to draw something. Oh, my gosh! Within 10 minutes he had drawn a perfect replica of our entrance way table with lamps and plants! Well, it seems the genes of the Morris' and Hardee's have joined forces because another artist is in the house! The new artist is Dalton. Back in December there was an art contest at his school sponsored by the PTA. It had to be a certain size and mounded. Lisa had forgotten about the drawing until the day before it was due. Since she had to work I ran to the craft store to gather the supplies needed. That night happened to be very busy so she told Dalton to quickly draw a picture before his bedtime. The theme was "WOW!" and he decided to draw an astronaut and planets. Luckily it was finished and turned in on time but that seemed to be the end of it. Lisa heard no more about it and decided some other drawing had been picked. That was until this week when Dalton received a letter from school saying his picture had not only won at their school, but it had won at the whole state level!! It has now been sent to the national level! The little hurry up, get this picture done, must have been better than Lisa thought! Lisa & Joseph are so proud of him and so are his Nana & Papa! It's fun to watch and see where the artistic flare will show up next. Maybe Ella, because she sure does love to draw on the walls and I've heard through the grapevine that her dad, Scott, is an artist, too!!

Congratulations Dalton, we're proud of the new artist in the family!


Could this be our next little Leonardo da Vinci!?

P.S. One more brag...I'm also proud of you Dalton for being pulled every week for pre-A.G. classes even though the testing isn't done until third grade. Way to go our little smarty-pants!!

Grandsons

Monday my daughter, Michelle, had a 3:00 appointment at the doctor's office for Ella (another ear infection). Since I tracked out Friday I was able to keep my sweet grandson, Cole. If you are ever feeling old just play with a grandson and they will wake you up really fast! I usually leave the rough housing to Papa but when he's at work Nana has to step in. We spent most of our time outside blowing bubbles with a huge bubble wand. (Michelle always finds the neatest toys!) I would swoop the wand and wait to watch the beautiful bubbles come out but Cole(being a boy) would do Karate chops on them with his sword as fast as they appeared! We later came inside and built a pirate fort where I tried to set everything up nice and neat but Cole decided it was better to chop & shot at dinosaurs who tried to invade the camp and then to knock down the fort because the dinosaur's big foot had destroyed it. Then we lined up the six different colored robots and had a competition to see which one would remain standing after they all plowed into each other. After that we had juice and cookies and started to watch a movie (quiet time at last) but boys don't stay still for long so instead Cole decided it was best to do somersaults and stand on his head! We moved on from that to racing cars, I wanted to make a parking lot and line them up by colors(the Monk in me) but that's not what boys want, so we ended up crashing them into each other! There was a little quiet time when he played a computer game in the playroom. It's called Kindergarten Jump Start and of course he was super smart at playing that (I'm not kidding...pure genius!). When any of my grandsons leave I often question whether I've been able to fill the role of Papa well enough. That answer came right before Cole had to leave to go home. He looked at his mama and said, "Mom, can Nana have a sleepover at my house?" That told me Nana must have done okay! Thanks Cole, for a fun afternoon and for all the exercise! Although I must confess, after three grandsons I'm really looking forward to Ella getting a little older so we can have a nice, quiet, little Tea Party and play sweet little babydolls together!

My sweet grandson, Cole!

The Eagle

It could have turned out like any other day as I drove home from work that afternoon, but somewhere between work and home my belief in God would change forever. Before my current job I had worked for eight years at Oak Grove Elem. school in Cary. My commute was quite long and took me down Blaney Frank Road which connects 1010 Hwy to Penny Road. This became known as my "prayer road" where I would drive and talk to God about anything and everything. This particular day was no different, only there was more concern in my prayer. It was March 8, 2002 and my dad's birthday. He had past away on Feb. 27th and I was feeling really low. It hadn't been even a year since I lost mom and my sister and now my dad was gone, too. As I prayed that afternoon I asked for strength and peace. My dad's favorite song and verse in the Bible were about an eagle. So, in a sincere prayer I asked God to please let me see an eagle to reassure me that everything was going to be okay and that my love ones were all safe with him. In my christian mind I really expected to see one, but in my human mind I knew that was almost impossible, because it is very rare to see an eagle. Still I watched closely knowing that at anytime one would fly across the blue sky. As I neared the end of my "prayer" road, and having seen nothing, I began to realize how foolish my prayer was. I asked God to forgive me for asking for something so silly and impossible. When I approached the stop sign at the end of the road I stopped and turn my head to the left to look for traffic then as I turned my head to the right there it was! Sticking up out of the grass was a big sign and right square in the center of it was a picture of the most beautiful EAGLE I had ever seen! My whole body got goose bumps and tears rolled down my face. I should have known nothing was impossible to God! I thanked Him the rest of the way home and couldn't wait to tell my husband. That was on a Friday and I wanted Monday to come quickly so I could once again see the sign on my way to work. I had been so shocked to see it that I hadn't even read to see what it was advertising. Monday morning came, but as I approached Blaney Frank Road it was clear to me that the sign with the eagle was gone. There was no trace of it anywhere. People probably doubt that it was ever there and I don't really care. I know there are 2 who saw it that day....... that would be me and God!

Happy birthday, Daddy, I still love and miss you!

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles." Isaiah 40:31

Moms' Weekend!

My two daughters just returned from a "moms" weekend at the beach. They went with two other moms and stayed at Lisa & Joseph's cottage. I know it was time well deserved and much needed. When I mentioned their trip to Lewis he said he was so glad for them because they need time away from the kids. That's when I said "yes"I wish I had been able to have a weekend away or do something for myself when our kids were little. He then said he knew I never had a night away or time alone for myself but he didn't either! WHAT?! Has his age erased his memory? This is the man who had training sessions out of town that sometimes lasted two weeks. This is the husband who went to the beach every fall and spring on a fishing trip, played baseball for two summers which consisted of two nights of practice and two nights for games and this is the dad that played golf every Saturday on top of all of this unless it was cold or raining! When I reminded him of this he said "yes", that was true but that was before we had kids! WHAT!? I remember hauling Michelle, Lisa and Steven (who was a tiny baby) to all his games! How can this man not remember that! Men are CLUELESS! All I can say is go ahead girls and plan all the trips you can, because if your husbands are like mine they will not remember ANY of the trips THEY took without you when they get older! They'll look at you with that little boyish frown and say they don't remember going ANYWHERE without you when the kids were small! Believe me it can happen to you because it just happened to me!! CLUELESS!!