A very quick interactive story....Get ready to do actions!!!

Every once in a while, you have to do the actions or it just doesn't make sense. So get ready for audience participation in this one.

Emma has some problems....keeping her food down...with reflux....okay, she is a puker...and Jane would be the first to admit it.

When we were in Fargo last weekend, Mazie was talking and playing with her favorite cousin when...it happened. Mazie went running to Jane and said:

Janie, your baby just spit....

Audience participation: place your hands at your chin, palms up.

Now extend your hands STRAIGHT out...

Mazie continued: OUT!

Projects for Mom and Dad before they come home!

I thought that making stepping stones for Betsy and Jon would be fun. We had fun in Fargo with Auntie Jane and so let's continue the fun with Nana. Ummmmm....there was a missing ingredient in the "fun with cement" with Nana...Yep....Auntie Jane. Seems that there is a trick to making cement...cement and not....mmmmm....too wet! But....I mixed up a sloppy cement mixture and then we had to let it set...what a better place to go than...Red Mango. We had to celebrate and in Nana's mind...nothing says celebration than ice cream!!! So we set off for our celebration!

We headed home for the printing and decoration. We had skyped Betsy and Jon and they told us about the sea glass they were finding so we decorated our stepping stones with sea glass to remind them of their trip to Puerto Rico when they looked at the stones.
Simon decorated a square stone and...

Mazie did the flowered pattern....

Two very proud kiddos...BUT...

PS. Sloppy Cement causes cracks and makes for very sad kiddos. SUPER JON to the rescue ... Jon came home and fixed the cracks. Next time...maybe we will do this project with oh...Papa, Andy, Jane, and if it isn't a surprise...SUPER JON!

Mazie graduates from Preschool!!!!

Graduation Day

Mazie was so excited to see me come to her class on Wednesday morning. Her class was sitting all ready for the big ceremony. And what a ceremony it was!!!!

There was singing...the days of the week song, the months of the year song, and here the building song...with actions....Mazie LOVES action!!!

Each student was able to come up and get their diploma from their teachers. Then the pose with each student. This is Nana running a camcorder AND taking a still picture...even Mrs. Deckert thought that was pretty good. On the way home from school, I asked Mazie if she knew this girl. She got all excited because it was Emily, her favorite babysitter. Emily has been in college this year so every time she sees her she gets very excited. What could get better than getting out of the truck and seeing Emily on graduation day??????

Walking to the courtyard to play for a bit with Emily...wow will the fun ever stop?

What precious times. Mazie introduced me to all the kids in her class. She wanted me to know all of them. She is such a precious little girl.

Last day of School...

It was a pretty early morning for the Tengesdals. We had to get ready for that last day of kindergarten and graduation from preschool. It was an exciting day in itself...

but it was packed with things to get ready because...

Mom and Dad are coming home today TOO!!!!

Last night...tonight...Boys Town and US

Dear Betsy and Jon

Dear Betsy and Jon,

You are on the plane and coming home today. I want to share some fears and thoughts with you. When I said I would be here for a week, I did have fears. I was afraid that the mothering skills that I had in the past would return and I would be impatient with the kids. I was afraid that I would count the hours until you were coming home. I was afraid that living in 720 square feet would send me over the edge. I was afraid to drive with the kids alone. I had nightmares of Lacy being run over by a car. I was afraid that one of the kids would get sick and I wouldn't be able to deal with it.

Let me begin by saying none of those fears were a reality. I know you are excited to come home and see your kids. I am excited for you to see them but a little part of me is sad that this experience is going to end. If it is possible, I love your kids even more than I did before. It has been a treat to be here. There has not been one moment that I wondered if I was going to make it.

I loved seeing Simon improve in TKD in just the 3 weeks that I watched him. He has really taken to the sport and is doing a good job of it. He is such a neat little boy. He really is a little man. He takes his responsibilities seriously and I love him so much. He has been my helper and teacher. When I had questions, I knew that Simon would know the answer. The things that he has said and the things that he has done while I was here will be a treasure trove for many years. What a blessing he is in our lives. He is so appreciative of things that you do for him and rarely forgets to thank people.

Miss Mazie. How do you even describe a delight like Mazie? We have had NO "No Kissing Nana Days!" Yesterday she said, "Nana, I don't want my mom and dad to come home...I want you to stay here with us." What a joy that after a week together we didn't feel like we could hardly wait until our time was over. She has caused me to giggle and burst with pride. She has been such a responsible little hearing aid wearer. She has her own fashion sense and I love it (She was forbidden to wear her rain boots today, 3 days to school was enough.) When she saw her clean room after school the first day she said, "Wow Nana...I love it." She loves to hide her sheets in the morning. She may have a few more dirty clothes because her clothes hamper is really special to her. Mazie makes people feel so special and her animals also make people feel so cared for.

Lacy is still alive at this writing. She has run. I have looked for her. I have cried and prayed that I would find her and she still insists on sleeping with me.

It hasn't been perfect. I have missed buses. Gotten hopelessly lost. Gotten to places late or on the stroke of on time. I have gotten lectured by the bus driver. I have been reminded about time from him SEVERAL times. I have set the alarms off and have had to have other family teachers come to the apartment to help me.

Thank you for this time. I loved this time. I loved going to TKD, to Graduation, to Fargo to spend time with Gma and Gpa and Jerod and Jane and Emma. It was fun to see Emma through the eyes of her cousins. I loved story time and movie time. I loved the little time we had to go outside. I loved bath time and snuggle time. I loved eating peanutbutter sandwiches with them and watching cartoons with them. I loved telling them stories and having them be so attentive and help me with the plot line. I loved every moment of the day. Thank you for going to Coco Rico and letting me stay here.

I love you and am excited for you to come home because I know that you have missed these little munchkins. I have to say, it will be hard for me to say good bye on Friday morning when I leave for Fargo.

Love, Nana, Lois, & Mom

Random thoughts and stories....

* While driving through a particularly bad rain storm on Friday on our way to Fargo, Mazie pipes up from the back seat and says: Poppa, it is raining cats and dogs and leopards and bears and whales and...and...and

* Steve had to get to the airport at 4:30 AM on Sunday morning. I wasn't feeling the greatest and so was having difficulty sleeping. I set my alarm on my phone for 3:30 AM because Betty (Jon's mom) said we had to leave their house by 4:00 to get to the airport. Because I wasn't sleeping, I saw a flash from my phone and realized that it was out of battery and it wasn't going to make it to 3:30. But...Betty had an alarm clock right by Steve so I set that.

I decided that I should go out to the couch and see if I could sleep out there...sitting up. I didn't do a whole lot better there but the last time I looked at the clock was 3:15. I opened my eyes at 3:55 and ran in to the bedroom to tell Steve he had 5 minutes before we had to leave. I opted for jeans and a sweatshirt instead of my pj's which was heavenly directed....We left and he got to the airport!!!!!

I drove home and rounded the corner to Betty and Carl's house and was struck with a bit of panic. It was now 4:45 and I realized I didn't take the key to their house. I prayed that it would be open. I crept to the door and tried the knob and NOTHING....Here are my options and why it did not make sense to me with little sleep and rational thinking pretty much out of the picture...

Option 1: Ring doorbell or knock at the door. I didn't think it would wake Betty and Carl but I thought the kids would wake up and they needed their sleep.

Option 2: Call Betty and Carl....very rude behavior from a guest!!!!

Option 3: Drive to Jane's....if B & C weren't up...chances are neither were Emma and Jane.

Option 4: Call Jane....faulty thinking connected to option 2.

Option 5: Sleep in the car and wait until morning. So back to the car, tucked my purse under my head and thought about sleep.

Here is where it is really important to get very personal. I have a panic bladder. I am fine unless I think that there is no place for me to go to the bathroom. I panicked and had several options:

Option 1: Go out in the back yard...See Option 2 above!!!

Option 2: I wasn't sleeping because I had a list of things to get at the grocery store before we left for Omaha the next day...go to the grocery store NOW! So off I went to the store, used the bathroom and came home at about 7:00.

Crept up to the door and listened...nothing....went back and fluffed my purse, tucked my arms in my sweatshirt, and went to sleep. I woke up at 8:20 and went to the door.

I knocked and Mazie finally came to the door. She greeted me with, "oh, hi Nana. Could you please make me some breakfast?" Right on her heels came Simon Bear with the same request. I asked about where Gramma and Grampa were...they were still sleeping.

Recommendations....um....I don't think I would recommend it!

* We were getting ready to leave for Omaha. I was nervous driving the 400 miles with the kids and no other adult. The weather was proving to be a challenge with sever thunderstorms that could produce hail and tornadoes looming on the path to get home. When I first got to the Tengesdals (I had slept at Jane's that night) both of the kids were in the car and in their car seats before we had the car loaded. I suggested that they wait because I figured that they would spend a great deal of time in the car.

Later when we were ready to go, Simon came up from the basement where they were both had been playing and I said, "Simon, where is your sister." He said, "She is playing in the basement. She gets distracted like that, you know."

* Bed time is never a favorite time. One of the nights we were trying to get the kids to bed. Mazie had to be put to bed several times. The last time she was escorted to her room and I knelt down to tell her again why she had to go to bed. She held up her finger and her thumb about a 1/2 inch apart and said, "Nana, sometimes I don't like you this much." Then she looked at the space and increased it to about 2" and said, "No, more like this, sometimes." All I could do is laugh!!!

* Betsy and Jon's apartment gets exceedingly hot. To open the windows in the big apartment you have to shut the alarm off. I decided that I would just open the windows and run to the office and press the okay code in INSTEAD of punching the code and then the individual windows. So it went like this...Open the window...LOUD alarm ringing....run to the office. I did this for about 5 windows and went into the kitchen. I couldn't get the window up so I called for my man of the house to help me. The conversation went like this...

Me: Simon, could you open the window?

Si: Yes, but this is what we are going to do. First, you go to the office and tell me when you get there. I will open the window and then the alarm won't go off for so long.

Me: Si, that is a great idea.

Si: [waiting with a funny look on his face, primed to turn and open the window] Well, go to the office. [I run to the office]

Si: Are you there? Are you ready?

The window was opened and the alarm went off much quicker....

So...I do not know who is taking care of whom but I am thoroughly loving being with our kiddos and looking forward for a few days with Miss Emma who made her mommie so happy when she rolled over on Saturday several times...but then...she stopped. She hasn't rolled since. Oh how I love being a Nana!!!! It truly is an amazing blessing from God.