Like Father - Like Son

Greg had knee surgery on Thursday. It turns out he had torn cartilage flopping around in there. Glenn has had 3 knee surgeries on the same knee and the same problem.

Greg was a bit drugged up and decided to make a face at the camera.

Glenn & Greg comparing scars. You can still see the doctor's initials on Greg's knee.

Glenn re wrapping Greg's knee.

I have a picture of Greg on my cell phone in his hospital gown waiting for surgery but can't figure out how to get it on my computer. Too bad, it's a good one. Better yet was his face when they gave him the 'relaxing drug' in his IV. The nurse told him he wouldn't remember anything we were talking about. Greg asked, "You mean I won't remember this? I won't remember ages 18 to 24?" I tried really hard not to laugh. Yup, he was a goner.

Thank you, Marie, for your comment. Now I can put the picture of Greg from the hospital.

Organization!

I love organization. I'm not saying my house is the neatest but I get such a thrill every time something is in its place. Although shopping is a death sentence I can spend a long time in Bed Bath & Beyond. Do you know how many things they have to organize your home?

Well, there's one main spot in our house that will NOT stay clean. That is my desk. Everything gets thrown on there. I clean it one day and the next it's a mess again. The other day I was laying in bed trying to wake up and I decided it was time to organize. A trip to Office Depot and now we're cooking. Glenn fell asleep in the car waiting for me. I admit I wandered a bit through all of the file folders and office supplies. I was in my own Disneyland!

Are you ready for the transition? I'm embarrassed by the 'before' picture. It took a lot for me to show this to you.

Isn't that awful?

Notice the 'purple' folders. I keep walking in my office just to look at the desk. I told Glenn that one of them has his name on it and asked him to check it every so often for his mail and 'his' things to take care of. He laughed at me. :)

Happy Birthday Erika!

Erika's birthday was last Friday, April 4. (Yes, I'm late blogging) We went to dinner with the family to BJ's restaurant. Why did Erika choose this particular restaurant? For the dessert of course. The food was good too but the desserts were worth the 90 minute wait to get in.

This is the afghan I made for Erika. I know it's not the same as cuddling with Robert but maybe it'll keep her warm while he's deployed.

We had a visitor in our pool this past week. Such a cute little frog. He sat (okay I don't know if it was a 'he') on the cleaning hose for the longest time. He finally swam to the edge of the pool and tried to jump out but couldn't quite make it. Glenn rescued the poor little guy.

Eggtraption!

Anthony and Papa worked on a project for Anthony's class at school. He had to make a contraption to hold a raw egg that could be thrown off of the building of the school without breaking the egg. There were, of course, rules to be followed. (I won't go into all of them)

Glenn & Anthony thought they had everything all dialed in on Monday when they slit open a football and decided to place the egg inside and surround it with packing peanuts. We didn't have the packing peanuts Monday night. No problem. They'd get them and get together before the project was due on Friday. Well.... between Glenn's work schedule and Anthony's visit to his dad they didn't get together until Thursday evening. Guess what? They threw the football off of the roof of our house and the egg broke. Oops!

You can't buy just a 'few' packing peanuts

The next 2 hours were filled with chicken wire, duct tape, bubble wrap, packing pillows, wire ties, pudding in a cup, toy parachute, foil wrap, string and ziplock bags. You get the idea. They climbed up and down the ladder and the result each time was a broken egg. They broke 7 of my eggs.
It was the 8th egg that made it. What did it? The egg was in a ziplock bag in the middle of a plastic jar surrounded with psyllium. Who knew?

I anxiously waited for Anthony to call me after school today to find out if the egg made it during the experiment at school. He called. "Grandma! It survived!" We were all so excited!!

He's in Our Prayers!

Robert (Chief Taylor) left this week for Iraq. He will be gone for about 7 months. It was hard saying goodbye. The kids and us said our goodbyes the night before and the 3 kids spent the night at our house. Erika drove Robert to the base in the early hours. She was allowed to stay with him for about an hour before he and the other soldiers formed up to leave. Saying goodbye was really difficult.
Our prayers will be with Robert while he is gone.

We went to dinner together at Robert's favorite mexican restaurant in Ojai.

Easter

The younger kids at our house hunt for plastic Easter eggs filled with lots of goodies. The older kids go on a treasure hunt using clues. The magic age is 10 so this was Anthony's 2nd year to go on a treasure hunt. Anthony loves old coins so for his treasure both years greatma (my mom) gave him coins she had that belonged to my grandpa.

After church we started the family get together with our traditional ham meal. Mom brought her famous potato casserole. yum yum Next was the egg/treasure hunt. My niece, Vicki, brought an animated version of the Easter story. We watched the first half up to the crucifixion, had dessert and then watched the last half about the resurrection. It was a really good DVD.

Launa is so used to having her picture taken that most of the time as soon as she sees the camera she poses. Papa was watching her pose and decided he needed to pose too.

A cake decorator I'm NOT. Really didn't get my Aunt Dorothy's decorating gene. I made cakes for our Sunday school class and one for our grandkids. First of all the frosting had to be chocolate so it couldn't look like the picture. But even using that excuse for my end result won't work here. I was truly afraid that my cake would send the kids screaming because it looks more like a Halloween mask. Luckily the taste outweighed the looks. Ha!

Surprise Visit!

My good friend, Tara, moved to Utah last year. I was so surprised when she called on Thursday and said that they were in California. She, Dan and their 3 boys decided to make a trip out without telling anyone. They came by this morning for a visit. I've been so excited the last 2 days waiting to see them. Unfortunately our pool isn't heated yet but they made due with a trip to the beach after leaving us. As if that were a chore. Ha!

When Tara lived here she also babysat Launa. Erika brought Launa & Kourtnie over to visit. Launa acted shy at first until Tara picked her up and then it was like old times. Launa loves Tara.

Any of you who know me, know that I live with a camera in my hand. Did I take pictures today? NO! I was too busy visiting. This is a picture of Tara & I the day she deserted me....I mean moved. :)

The Happiest Place on Earth!

We spent Thursday & Friday with Erika, Robert and our 3 grandkids at Disneyland and California Adventures. Glenn & I hadn't been to Disneyland since Erika was 13. Boy, has it changed. Of course, we'd never been to California Adventures. We had 2 fun filled days. The 2nd day our cousin Leah and her husband Alex joined us around 4:30. It was really fun having them there.

We tried dividing the activities between the ages. Launa, who just turned 4 yesterday, Kourtnie 8 and Anthony 11. This was a family trip taken mostly because Robert will be deploying to Iraq in a couple of weeks. But, Launa was convinced we were there to celebrate her birthday. We did have them sing and bring her cake at Ariel's Grotto restaurant. Launa was in heaven at this restaurant when the princesses made the rounds and came to our table to talk to her. Kourtnie rode her first roller coaster and liked it. Anthony, who is an old pro at these 2 parks, showed us the ropes. He played big brother and even gave up some of his favorite rides (ie thunder mountain) as he kept his own maps and directed us to places he thought Launa would like.
Launa & Cinderella
Launa & Sleeping Beauty
Launa & Snow White
Belle was the only princess Kourtnie wanted to have her picture taken with.
Launa & Belle
When Anthony's not upside down on a roller coaster he loves to drive the cars.
Grandma & Kourtnie waiting in line for the dumbo ride. This was before Kourtnie was brave enough to try roller coasters.
Anthony wanted this hat as soon as we got to Disneyland.

As for grandma and papa. We had lots of fun being with the grandkids but by the end of 2 days our feet, legs and backs were killing us. When we woke on Saturday my voice was gone from screaming on the roller coaster at California Adventures. The sad part? It wasn't the BIG roller coaster. Have you ever seen how close to the edge those cars get on the smaller one? Well, have you? Anthony & papa were in the car ahead of Kourtnie & I. When Anthony realized it was me screaming he apparently couldn't stop laughing.

At the end of the last day we watched the parade. Launa was so excited throughout the entire parade. However, when Snow White arrived Launa's face lit up even more.

May all your dreams come true!