The far-away Grandmother

I feel that I've been remiss in not writing a blog about our new little granddaughter. Her name is Jessica Jinghree and she is a total cutie.

I've seen pictures of her, of course, that Meghann, Tony, and Nancy post on facebook. I hear tales of how fast she is growing through Bill (Grandpa), that Meghann tells him. I know she's there, and I know she's cute and I know I love her already...but I do't know her.

I am so glad that Grandpa got to go and bond with his little munchkin. He got to hold her at two weeks old, and feed her, and love on her. Even as grandparents, we need that bonding time, the time to fall in love, and kiss their heads (my favorite part) and smell them and laugh at their babiness...and be in awe at the new parents as they learn their new roles.

I am so excited to meet Jess next month. I love looking at pics, and looking at little girl clothes, and hearing the stories....but I want to see her for myself...and create that bond. I love her mommy and am so excited to hear what a wonderful job she's doing, and happy that she is a wonderful mother...and can't wait to see it for myself!!

I guess this blog is for Jesscia. I may not know you, but I love you and can't wait to hold your cuteness in my arms!! See you in April!

My daughter is 30.

As it turns out, when your kids turn a milestone age...it's kind of a milestone for the parents too.

Andrea turned 30 on Thursday. She asked me which made me feel older....being a Grandma, or my daughter turning 30. With about a 2 second pause, I said, her turning 30. Seriously, I feel like it was only yesterday that I was 30. Andrea was 8 years old, Tony was 6. We were bombarded by soccer, and girls softball...karate and pizza parties. LIfe was so busy, fun and full! My main role in life was MOM, even though I worked and was a wife. Married to Ron. My good friends at the time were Pam, Ann Higgins, and I worked at Thomas Davis. Man, that seems so long ago now that I'm writing it down. But life was good. I was happy....

As i looked at Andrea's 30 pictures, I was happy to see her....happy. With her new husband, and her new baby....she finally does have everything she never knew she always wanted. It's a work in progress though, as life always continues to be. As I watched her little video, I realized that my daughter has been through so much! Her journey has been fast and furious, with many mountains, molehills, and dips. But i raised her to be independent, self-efficient, focused and smart, and I am proud to say, she is. Okay, she's a bit out-spoken and opinionated, but what's a little diarrhea of the mouth between friends? Most people who know her either love her for it, or despite it, and that's the way it should be. Andrea is thoughtful and loving, and I really couldn't ask for a better daughter/friend. I know she has my back, and really, isn't that why we have kids? So that we get old and senile (which might be any minute for me) we have someone who will keep our best interests at heart (as opposed to theirs?)? I think so.


So today, i want to thank her for being a great daughter, one that I can be proud of, one that I can look at, look at her life and know, that I've done a good job. I also know....she's not done yet! Your thirties will be filled with new accomplishments and goals, and a whole new world of ...kid's stuff! I look forward to watching you being a team mom, cheerleader and cupcake maker....plus president of the PTA. I look forward to watching Jake flourish and continue to watch your journey through this next decade. Life is definitely a Roller Coaster ....and I embrace it!!

2010!

Here it is....the first blog of the new year. Many things on my mind. First and foremost, Jessica....why won't she come out?
Jessica, is another new grandbaby in our lives! Bill's daughter, Meghann just won't have her! LOL. Looks like they'll let her go until Wednesday, then dag-nabbit, they are making her come out. All us Az's are really anxious and excited for the newest member of our family to join us.

Then, there's the Christmas tree. It must come down. We bought a live one, and well, it's kind of a pain! I could leave my artificial one up as long as I wanted, and it made me happy! This one is dead...and making a mess, and looks like crap! I'm taking it down so that it goes on collection day this Tues...you know, the 12th day of Christmas? I'm kind of bummed.

Last, but not least....my new year's resolutions. I hate making them, but feel I must!

Of course, I must eat better, exercise and lose some freaking weight. It wouldn't be a new year without me thinking that. But, I think I need to FEEL better, and well, that's the way to do it I guess. hahha. I'm not a spring chick, so I have to work a little at it so I can stay, healthy, wealthy, and wise. Okay, not wealthy...

Again, my stupid novel, which has now become obsolete. At the time I wrote that book, there were no cell phones, or match.coms. I may have waited too long....but maybe I can just re-edit it. Or just TRY and get someone to read it before I die to see if it's worth anything...sheesh.

I think my main resolution this year is just to love my family. They are just so important to me, and I just love that new grandbaby of mine. Plus, I want so much for Meg and her fam to move here, because it just will enrich our family life so much! It would mean so much to both Bill and I, but especially to Bill. He misses her so much, and it is just killing him that she is having a baby, and he's so far away. i wish....I mean, I hope, that things work out so that it can happen, and I hope she knows that we will help in any way that we can.

That's what life is all about, right? Family? Love? Being happy with what you have and not what you don't have? I feel that life is all about new things and learning, seeing exciting new places, and meeting new people. My resolution this year is to have a little of all of that this year...not to be stagnate, but to experience LIFE! That's why God gave it to us.

I also feel that sharing what i have with people is also important. Whether it be my time, my food, my love for life....there are so many people out there with so little, or nothing....I want to make sure I do whatever I can to make at least one other person smile for no reason, or have hope again, when hope was lost.

I want to thank all of you who read my blog....I love that you visit! I wish you all the happiest of New Years, filled with God's blessings, and your dreams coming true. Wishing you health, prosperity and love....

2009....the highs and lows...

It's 12:20 a.m., and all is quiet so far this year! 2010! Unfortunately, Bill is starting if off with a cold, but other than that, we have high hopes for a wonderful year!!

During dinner we reflected on our past year. I talked about how many highs we had, and how many lows. Bill being laid off, Ron dying and the horrible job I had for awhile. Andrea's rough pregnancy. Kinda sucked, and I thought of how my old boss said I had a "black cloud" hanging over my head. But in retrospect, I got through it, and even though it was hard, and some parts were scary, and I spent a good 7 months holding my breath through my daughter's pregnancy, we made it. We pulled together as a family, and with God's help and guidance, we made it through! Yay God! Yay, Us.

As life will often give us, we had some ultimate highs this year as well. #1 on our list is....Baby Jacob. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. He is a remarkable baby, and when he looks into my eyes, my heart melts every time. I thank my daughter for letting me be such a big part of her pregnancy....it was an amazing time for me, and I won't ever forget it. It made my love for this baby so intense, a love I can't even explain, and it started way before he was born.



We also had a wedding in our family this year, the amazing parents of little Jacob. It was a beautiful wedding, filled with love! Not only does Andrea have a wonderful family, we have a great new member to our family. Chad. Koehnke. Koehnke party of 3. It's an amazing feeling to watch one's family grow! I am LOVING it!

Speaking of which, Meghann is having a baby too!
Any minute now! Jessica will be born and we will have a granddaughter to love and cherish and we only have one complaint....they are too far! We pray every day that Jessica, Meg and Tony move here to the Phoenix area and just add to our family fun! It would be amazing. I know Jacob would LOVE having a cousin his age to play with on holidays and be close to....Auntie Andrea wants to spoil her rotten, as do her grandparents! This is the number 1 event we hope happens in this new year...we're keeping our fingers crossed!

Bill is so happy in his new job, and he says the only thing that would make it better is to be hired on permanently to Wells Fargo. This is one thing he hopes for, coming only second to the aforementioned move. I am more than happy to be back at AZ Wo! There's a lot of things that we can hope for, but really, we can just take life one day at a time and do the best with it that we can! After 2009, I totally believe that God does not give us more than we can handle, and really...we can handle a lot more than we think we can.

Happy New Year everyone...and I hope that God showers you with as many blessings as He has given us, and that you look to Him to carry you through those inevitable lows that are a part of life. I wish you a year of health, prosperity, happiness and good surprises. Here's to 2010!!!


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A very Merry Christmas

Christmas has come and gone. Wow, it was so busy! You read my Thanksgiving weekend blog, and from that moment on, it didn't let up a minute!

The very next weekend, my cousins and Aunt from Cali came down for a funeral. It was a weekend filled with so many different events and emotions, and we all stuck together as we went through the roller coaster of that weekend. Even Amy, Vince and the boys made a cameo appearance, and it was great to see them. It was a crazy and busy weekend.

So of course, there was shopping, and parties, and wrapping, and decorating and just all the normal stuff that the holidays bring our way. I don't know why it was so busy this year, but it was! I always felt behind. Always. Til Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve consisted of Laurie, juan and the boys....Andrea, Chad and Jake. I had to work that day, so decided to have that night's dinner catered, so we had some yummy Mexican food, and I made the beans and lauire made the rice. (I burnt it, but we still blamed Laurie...lol) Everyone seemed to be relaxed and content...and we even played a rousing game of Taboo! It was a very nice night, and I can only hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

Christmas was a blast! We had a nice bkfst and I played with Jake and we waited for Chad to get off work so we could open gifts! We finally did and we had such a good time! Jake was up and alert as he sat in his little bouncer and watched as we all acted like kids unwrapping our gifts and stockings! I think he had his crazy moments of wonder himself!



The kids loved their presents, and were so appreciative of everything. Bill and i, after a rough year, were happy and grateful to have a nice Christmas, and were very aware of the fact that it could have been totally different. We prayed for those who weren't as fortunate, and we careful not to take anything for granted. But, we heard weird comments this year like, "more presents? I think I have enough now..." HUH?



Or hearing how happy they are with their gifts this year....even when I felt I really ddin't go all out...



...or hoping I made the newest member of our family happy. Sometimes I felt he was overwhelmed by it all!



I know Bill was!


But the best part of Christmas...was Jake. With his gloworm and his rocking horse, he may not have known what was going on...but Granpa Bill and Gramma Sandy did....and it made us feel very content...very happy....very fulfilled. It's wonderful to have a child back in our Christmas's....because that's what Christmas is all about. The magic of Santa, of believing...I can't wait to see the twinkle in my little grandson's eye when he realized it is something that can't be explained, but just is!



As great as our Christmas was, I would mention that a big part of our lives is missing...and girls, you know who you are!
Happy Holidays!

One wild holiday weekend!

Isn't it funny how Thanksgiving weekend is just not all about Thanksgiving? Although Thanksgiving has it's own day, it is always followed by Black Friday, which is the beginning of the Christmas season! Not much of a breather there!

Thanksgiving this year was at the Casa de Koehnke's. Andrea prepared the ham and turkey and I brought the sides, and it consisted of me, Bill, Andrea, Chad, Tony and Jake! There was more than enough food to feed an army, and I know Chad thought we had lost our minds!

But let me backtrack to my house. I woke up late as I had stayed up late to watch George Lopez Live. He's hilarious. But I was tired from a long week of birthday and a wild work week (short but oh so busy!). The night before I had decided to wait until the morning to cook everything...but starting so late and trying a new recipe for mac n' cheese...well, it was a recipe for disaster! Even though it was delicious and filled with 4 different kinds of cheeses, plus a bread crumb topping, it was more work than I thought! So then, Tony came over and was watching Green Bay (football) and I was trying to get everything done so we could hit the road at half time. Soooo....when I finally got the macaroni in the oven, ran to take a shower, and came back, it was almost halftime! I don't know why our Thanksgiving has to revolve around football, but it does! Ugh! So instead of preparing the Sweet potatoes and Green Bean Casserole at my house, I threw everything in a bag, and hurriedly tried to get everything in the car. I went to touch my head and my hair was still wet. In the meantime, I had decided there was not enough bread crumbs in the mac, so had added more and stuck it in the oven for a few more minutes. Hair dried, everything in bags and in the car, and we were off.

Bill, king of Lists, started listing. Camera? check. Phone? Check. Food? Brakes! I left the mac in the oven!!! hahaha...lol...yea, not funny. So I had to carry it out to the car with oven mitts and rethink my lists...oops...forgot the green beans in the freezer. Bill went back in mumbling all the way in. Hilariously enough (not so much) the more frantic I get, the slower Bill gets, as he strolls into the house to get the beans. He was like the turtle in The Hare and the turtle...haha. Anyhoo, I digress. We take off...listening to the game on the radio.

We get there finally, with minutes to spare on the game. Everything gets into the house and I start whipping everything together and Andrea asks..."Where's the pie?" Ahhhhhhhhh! In my fridge. Pie? No check! So we sent Bill out to the Fry's to buy one...good thing they don't close on Thanksgiving anymore! Sigh.

But we sat down to eat a little after delegated time...and we dug in after giving thanks to all the food, and family near and far.
It was a great day, full of family love and food, and football! We heart Thanksgiving!

The next day, Black Friday, the plan was to get up at 3 and go to the Wal-Mart with Pam. My BFF.
I had kind of decided to blow it off...there was no way I could get up at 3! But, at 3 a.m. Pam started texting me. This is her exact text. "Wakie...upie! Time to shop. I know you just said...I hate her! But you will love me when you have your videos of your grandson! I have your coffee!"

I read that (kind of) in the dark and thought....I'm going to kill her. I went back to sleep. Then, my alarm went off and right after that Pam's next text. She was already at the Walmart!!! Along with a hundred other people! She had mentioned there were only a limited number of the camcorders that I wanted, so I was awake, and figured she would continue to text me (which she did), and kind of didn't want to leave her alone in the middle of the night at Walmart, so up I got. I threw on some clothes, some makeup (and later noticed, not too well) and went off into the night, with no coffee!

As it turns out, there was lines for the different things, so I barely saw Pam. She was in the laptop for $198 line, and I was in the camcorder line at the pharmacy where there were only TEN camcorders! I was second in line. I got there at 4, so really I lucked out. I got a nice Samsung camcorder for $149....whatta deal!

At five though, when all the wrapping came off the deals...it was a free for all! I was scared as I stood there in line waiting for my thing! OMG! I tried to get my video on my phone to work, but couldn't figure it out at that time with no coffee. But there was even a fight between two women over the battery operated cars...and screaming and Wow! Usually, by the time Andrea and I get there it's a lot calmer than that! Anyway, I had my eye on some other deals, so as I waited for Pam, I went and picked up some stuff (without a cart, because they were all gone at 4 a.m. when I got there) and got some great deals! Pam, who got there at 3 a.m was 43rd in line and there was 47 laptops. She was very happy with her purchase! We went to IHOP to celebrate!

After a quick little nap, I was off to Peoria again to babysit for the kids while they went out to Jeff Dunham, the comedian. It was nice to see them dressed up, and looking forward to a good time. I enjoyed my time with Jake, and love my time with him, even though I was soooo tired! But it was worth it!

Saturday, it was a day with the hubs and we did some shopping, some eating and went to see the Christmas Carol. It was a great version of the classic, and we both enjoyed it. We put a good dent in our Christmas list, so that was nice! We spent the evening watching Christmas movies, and just relaxing!

Today we were sooo happy to hear that Meghann's baby shower went well and she got almost everything she needed for the baby. The shower was a big success! The doctor told her last week that she will probably deliver the baby early, so we might have a new grand baby within two weeks!! Another grand baby! Woot!

Well, that's my weekend...I wish you all a happy, Merry Christmas season. Don't stress out! Remember, Christmas is about Jesus, everything else is just the icing on top!

The moment has arrived! I'm a Gramma!

Here he is...Jacob Scott Todd Koehnke. My first grandchild, and oh man, is he a cutie! From the minute I laid eyes on him, here only minutes old, I was done. My life as I knew it, was going to change forever. I am a Gramma!

People ask me what it's like. Having a grandson. They ask me what it's like to have your kid, your baby, with their own child. I have to say, that for once...I have no words to describe it. It is surreal. Ok, that's the word, but it hard to explain. Andrea had to have a C-section, so I was there in the room when they brought her son to her for the first time and put him in her arms. She was so sweet! She said, "So you are the one who's been kicking me all this time..." and as she checked him over and told him how beautiful he was...she turned to me and said, "I don't think newborns are supposed to be this cute..." Anyway, watching Andrea with her baby, and just how much she loves him is just awesome. I can see the love, the tenderness she has towards him. I can see how she is visibly devoting the rest of her life to him, how in her heart, that's where he now lays. I can see this woman, my little girl, being transformed into a...mother.



Chad, also has thrown his hat into the father ring. He's so cute with that baby! He has fallen totally in love with his son, and he's all into it! Even the dirty, icky, smelly, disgusting diapers! Okay, he's happy when Gramma's there to change one, but otherwise, he's up for all the challenges that Jake is going to bring his way...and there are many! It started when he first came out, and he sat with him during his first feeding...he was a natural.



I can't say enough about my little grandbaby. He's adorable, and sweet. He has the perfect little fingers, and adorable little toes. He has his daddy's eyes and chin, and his mommy's nose and mouth. He has an adorable set of hair and a very loud cry! He smiles when he's content and sleeps soundly when they wrap him up like a burrito, as Chad likes to call it.



I could just sit and stare at him for hours...and love kissing his cute little head.



Even Uncle Tony is smitten!

As grandparents go, we couldn't be happier. We look forward to babysitting, to being a part of his life, to being there for him always, and oh, don't forget...spoiling. Okay, maybe I don't know what grandparenting has in store for us, but I know, it's going to be a fun ride watching Chad and Andrea raising him, and watching my little Jacob grow up. We have a lot of fun times ahead, and are really looking forward to them, but are just going to enjoy him day by day, as much as we can! I promise to love on that baby as often as possible, as I continue to love, support and encourage Andrea, as much as I always have, if not more! I didn't think I could love her anymore than I did, but seeing her in this new role...it gives me a whole new prospective. I've always been proud of you, Andrea Magdalene, but now, I see you in this new role, and my heart swells. I know you are going to be a terrific mother, and am proud of you and your little family.

Welcome to our world, Jake! Get ready to be showered by love, by everyone you meet I love you!!



I have to add that this picture of Jake and his grampa...is the sweetest thing I've ever seen!