New Grand Piggies!

Yesterday Odet Valerie's Guinea Pig had three sweet little piggies. Odet and Bat Pig are proud parents. Odet is such a cute mother. Right away, those little darlings were taken care of with all the mothering in the world. She knew just what to do to get them ready for the world. So, Robin, the only little boy looks just like his mom with hair standing up everywhere. His name is only fitting since his dad's name is Bat Pig. The two little girls look  just like their dad and one is named spot (because of a giant tan spot on her back) and the other one is named Patience (because she was so patient with people wanting to pick her up). I was so surprised that guinea pigs come into the world with eyes wide open and fully clothed in fur looking just like their parents and capable of eating regular food. Odet makes sure that they get plenty of rest but these little darlings are ready to take on the world. What a sweet Christmas surprise!

Homework....friend or foe!!!

Tuesday, this past week was to be Kate's very first day of homework. We all knew this as the kindergarten teachers had sent home a note letting parents know what to expect. It just so happened that Tuesday, I went with Valerie to pick up the kids from school. Out bounces Kate from the school. She is so excited that she could barely contain herself. She said, "I have homework for the very first time in my entire life. This is the best day in my whole life. I am so excited, I can't wait"...all the while unzipping her backpack to pull out the proof of homework as she was still bouncing towards us. Not more than than a few seconds later, a young boy (it had to be a kindergartner and probably in the same class) came out of the school and collapsed onto the lawn in total agony with tears rolling down his face as he proclaimed to his mother, "I have homework and I don't want to do it. I don't know how to do it. This is the worst day in my entire life". Poor boy was scooped by his mother who gave him a big hug but is didn't seem to console him much.  Homework....friend or foe? I guess it depends on your perspective.

Labor Day and Birthdays!

Sunday, we celebrated our daughter Valerie's birthday with a family dinner at the house. Valerie was born on Labor Day, on a Sunday, 33 years ago. I can remember it like it was yesterday. Craig was the Ward Clerk at the time and needed to make sure that things were taken care of on that end. Meanwhile, Everyone kept checking in with us and it was the real buzz that I was in Labor ON Labor Day. It's funny but I remember every little detail about the day that she was born and even the day before. And now, she has three kids of her own and I bet that she remembers every little detail about their precious births as well. Children are such a blessing...and even after they grow up, they continue to be so.

"I got pulled over for picking up rocks"

Yep, it is true! Kate started Kindergarten this year. It is so fun to hear those first stories out of the mouths of the babes themselves. Kate has always had a fetish for picking up rocks and bringing them home. She has always done this and most recently after the passing of her bunny Peanut, she and her brother had painted rocks from their yard and put them on his little grave. Apparently it is a real "no no" at school to collect rocks on the playground. She was told by one of the teachers at recess to put the rocks down and when Kate didn't do it, she got in trouble. When relating the story to me she said "yep, Nana I got pulled over for picking up rocks at school". I laughed my head off...later of coarse!  Out of the mouths of babes.

Michael back to being a Red Raider

All to soon, the summer is over and Michael is off to Lubbock for his Junior year of college. It seems like this summer offered its share of challenges with Michael looking everywhere trying to find a job. He managed to find a one-day-at-a-time hard labor job which required him to show up each morning at 5:30 and hope to get picked to work that day at minimum wage and most of the time was sent home without a job for the day along with so many others. Many of these jobs requiring him to lift over 100 pounds by himself. He found himself working  for three different temp agencies. He felt fortunate to get a short term job at Wal-mart through one of the temp agencies.Then finally, he eventually landed a job the last 5 weeks of the summer for The Jewelry Channel. It was truly the easiest of all the jobs he had this summer and the one that he enjoyed the most. Hopefully he will be able to work for them when he comes home for Christmas Break. They really like his work and are open to the idea. We will sure miss Michael. With him here, the entire Sharp family has been within 5 miles of the house the whole summer. It was an awesome summer and one that I will always remember.

Pwew-fume

My daughter asked me to pick up her son Dallin from day camp today. I had been shopping to get Michael's back-to-school stuff and Dallin was "helping" unload the car. When I opened the trunk it smelled like the wood chips as Craig had used the car trunk to load yard supplies and had left the plastic bags in the back that had held the chips. Dallin said, "Nana, your car smells funny. It smells like Pwew-fume". Out of the mouths of babes. That was my laugh for the day.

Round Rock gets over 11 inches of rain over the past 5-7 days.
This must be some kind of record, especially for July. Wow!

More Rain!!!

Who knew? We have now had several days of rain in a row in July. The news here said that we got 4 inches today. All I can say is Wow...July is NEVER like this in Texas. We are grateful for the nice green lush lawns and for the water that we so desperately need. The storms did take out our computer, phone, and internet for about 24 hours yesterday and today. We've had some pretty impressive thunder and lightening.

Jessica says Nana!

It is true! Yesterday I was out with my daughter and her three kids. Jessica, now 7 months, when Jessica said "Hi Nana". It surprised me so much that I said, "Did she say what I thought she said" and sure enough she repeated it several times. How fun! Jessie now knows Hi, Mom, and Nana! How awesome to be in the Top Three. She is the most adorable little Touch Me Not. Yep, it is true that she is a Mommy's girl but she will break away just long enough  to give you a big hug and kiss then it is back to mom. What an adorable grandbaby!

Rain in July?

Yep. it's true. We have had a couple of whopper rain, thunder, and lightening storms the past two days. So unusual for Texas. July and August are always our hottest months without the tender mercy of water. We are grateful for the water and grateful the the storm wasn't too violent! The grass will be unusally green for this time of year. : )

Michael lands a job!

It has been quite a summer for Michael. He really worked hard at getting a job, filling out applications, calling, and showing up about everywhere that we could think of. He finally resorted to going to a place called Labor Finders at 5:30 each morning at hopes of landing a job for the day.  It was a coin toss on the sucess rate but since there weren't other options...it was a blessing. Thursday he was called by another Temp Agency that he had an application in at and they told him that he had a 40 hour a week job for the next 40 days.  The job is Stocking Shelves at a Georgetown Walmart. We are grateful for any job and grateful that he will be able to earn money for next year's college.

Thank you Christopher!!!

Christopher came over tonight and got both Craig and my computers computing properly.  I haven't had sound for months...ahhhhhh and no repair bill! You're the greatest Christopher!

PAPA

The kids and grandkids were all over to the house for dinner this evening.  The grandkids haven't been here much since Craig's shoulder surgery and the grandkids were talking about Papa's arm being in a sling. My favorite comment of the evening was when Maddie told Dallin.."Since Papa fell off  the ladder he won't be able to fix the world." Out of the mouth of babes!  Love you Maddie.

William's 30th Birthday!!!
It is hard to believe that our second child turned 30 today.  We had a great day. The kids all came over to celebrate with Will. Things were a little different this year as Craig had shoulder surgery that was much more extensive than expected last Monday and is still having a hard time getting around. I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago and have had complications with that injury and have had a difficult time as well. Today, for the first time in a couple of weeks...I actually had a few hours that I wasn't in pain. Craig is usually the one to barbeque but today that was done by William and Christopher.   We had a lot of help in the kitchen helping to make this celebration a reality. Michael and I had decorated before the kids got there and Michael wrapped the presents and helped me hang decorations. I had set the table and made the cake and the baked beans and corn....the rest was put together by the men in our family. It was so great to be around family after not really being around them for a couple of weeks.  I sure missed everyone.Thanks guys for helping make sure that we could have a great celebration.  Happy 30th Birthday, Will!!!! Also, thanks Valerie for sweeping and mopping my floors.  I don't remember the last time when I just couldn't do this for myself.   Also, thanks to great friends for watching over us and for sending in a couple of meals to help us make it over the hump...we are so grateful!!!