Grandma

My Grandma hasn't been doing well since Christmas when she got sick and had to spend the holiday in the emergency room.  She always seemed to bounce back any time she got sick, though, and she definitely had some good days since then.  I was able to spend a little time with her when I took the boys down to St. Pete.  While she didn't look sick then, she just seemed old to me.  That might sound silly because she was just a few days shy of her 93rd birthday, but before then she had a lot of energy and that helped keep her "young".  I am happy to say that the last words I ever said to her was "I love you."  She truly was a remarkable woman and is missed by many.

My mom called Wednesday (June 19) to say that Grandma wasn't doing well and then later said they were taking her to the hospital.  It was hard to know what to do, but my dad said to make plans to come down that weekend.  Mom called the next day to say that Grandma had passed.  I know she had a lot of hard phone calls to make that day and a lot of decisions that she and my aunt Barbara had to make.

The boys still had 1 more swim lesson Saturday morning, so we took them, ate lunch, and then drove down to St. Pete.  Nick, Lisa and their families were on their way as well.  Funerals certainly aren't the best reason to have a reunion, but I'm so glad that everyone was able to make it.  It got a little crazy with 9 grandkids/cousins in my parents' house, but I know that they had fun together.

My mom will tell you not to look at Kayleigh and Taylor who are singing VBS songs (their churches both did the same VBS), but to "watch" Robbie in the background.

3, 2, 1, JUMP!

Sunday afternoon was the visitation and funeral.  My Grandma was certainly loved by lots of people.  It was so nice that so many people came, from mom and Barbara's coworkers to church friends and even a couple of workers from Grandma's assisted living home.  The pastor had some nice things to say about my Grandma and Grandpa and Barbara and Mom spoke.  My uncle Jack put together a slide show that played during the visitation.  It was fun seeing lots of old pictures.

Barbara



Mom - I didn't get all of it, though, because I ran out of memory on the SD card.  Sorry, mom!



Flowers from the Conleys (Grandma's sister and her family)

Flowers for the casket from the grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Loving Grandma and Nana

Flower arrangement

Alex opening and closing the door to the funeral home.

After the funeral and reception, Grandma's kids (2), grandkids (6), great-grandkids (12) and in-laws  (7) went to Olive Garden for dinner.  They had a private room for us and the kids were able to run around before dinner was served.  We did family pictures and tried to take some of the great-grandkids, but Robbie and Alex were not in picture taking moods.  Matthew took them home early and I was able to get a ride with Jonathan.  (We stayed at Matt's mom's place because she was out of town.)

Monday was the internment.  The funeral home brought the flowers from the service so the pavilion looked nice.  Dad, Jonathan and Scotty each said something and then it was time to go.  We drove to where Grandma and Grandpa were buried.  Nick and Robyn were going to drive all the way home, so they left pretty quickly.  The rest of the "Villacampas" had lunch at a closed gas station/restaurant.  We packed leftover sandwiches and chips to have for lunch, but we didn't know what was around as far as picnicking, so that was the best we could do!  It was shaded and there were chairs, you can't beat that.

Dad - Again, I ran out of space on the SD card.  Sorry again!



The pall bearers (Dad, Jack, Jonathan, Nick, Scott and Scotty)

Great-grandkids (except Robbie and Alex who were with Matt, Grandpa and GiGi).

Our "picnic" spot

Tuesday Matthew, the kids and I went to the beach and the pool.  The boys did better in Barbara's pool than they did at swim lessons.  I think it's because it wasn't as crowded or noisy.  We ate lunch and then headed home.  I'm glad everyone was able to take time off work so that we could be together.

St. Pete Trip

I can't believe how long it's been (nearly a month!) since we drove down to St. Pete and I haven't written about it.  It was just me and the boys spending time with my family now that school was out.  We left Sunday after church and lunch.  Church usually wears the boys out, so I was planning on them taking a long nap.  Unfortunately that just doesn't happen when they are in the car.  We still made pretty good time down, though.

Monday was the only day that I could get together with my friend Polly, so we met at the park with her 2 youngest.  Chat and the kids came a little bit later.  Even though the park reinstalled sun covers, it was still really hot, so we decided to go to "Jonathan's" Chick-fil-a to play inside and eat lunch.  All of the kids played so well together and had a good time.

Mom had some Chuck E. Cheese tokens, so Chat and I took the kids there around lunch time.  Obviously we could spend a small fortune there, but I think we made out ok, especially with the extra tokens that came with the pizza.  Chuck came out and has the kids walk around with him, then he dances and tosses out tickets at the end.  Robbie really didn't want to have anything to do with it, but Alex was ready to get right next to Chuck and dance with him!  Some of the kids there got a little crazy about snatching the tickets and I was worried about getting taken out by one of them!

Robbie still talks about the "American Flag Truck", but he didn't like it and asked to get off before it was over.  He still says he doesn't like it, too.

Whacking moles

I tried to help Robbie using my fist, so he decided to use his fist rather than the hammer.  Monkey see, monkey do!

Dancing with Chuck

Alex heading to the middle of the dance circle.

Watching Chuck

Saying hi to another Chuck on the stage.

Tuesday was also Jonathan's birthday, so he came to my parents' house after work.  Chat made a cake for him and grilled delicious steaks.  I love her cooking!

Alex and Abuelo

Jonathan reading birthday cards.

The boys eating strawberries.

I took the boys to the beach Wednesday morning.  Mom has a couple of buckets and shovels for the kids to play with and that's all we needed.  We were having a good time until Robbie asked for a snack.  I brought some Ritz Bits and thought it would be better to put some on the blanket rather than have Robbie keep sticking his sandy hand into the box.  It was a good idea until Robbie left the crackers unattended and a flock of seagulls came to get them.  Robbie was not happy!  I tried to chase them away (they didn't go too far) and I put the bag back in the box only to later see a seagull try to pull the bag out of the box!  I closed the box tight and we started getting ready to go because Robbie had enough of the seagulls!  I made the boys walk as far as they were willing to go before I picked both of them up and carried them as far as I could and then made them walk some more.  For some reason it's so far between the parking lot and the water.

Jonathan, Chat and the kids came by one more time that night for a visit and we left Thursday morning.  The plan was to drive for a while, find a Chick-fil-a to eat lunch and let the kids play, then finish the drive.  We ended up staying at Chick-fil-a for nearly 1 1/2 hours, so we were later getting home than I planned, but the kids had fun and that's what's important. :)

That weekend Robbie actually asked to get his hair cut!  He wanted to go back to where we got Alex's hair cut and I was more than happy to take him.  He needed it and wouldn't let me get near him with scissors.  I just wish the salon was closer to us.  Robbie did great, though you could tell he wasn't thrilled with the clippers, but he didn't try to grab them or swat them away.  When she was finished she put colored hair gel in his hair and gave him a faux hawk.  Robbie said that he had hair like "Ava's dad" who has a real mohawk.  Alex sat in the firetruck next to Robbie and they watched "Cars 2".  It might have also helped that we were the only ones there.  Robbie didn't forget about the toys they have to play with or getting a lollipop at the end.

Excited about "Cars"

Steering the airplane.

Alex checking out the firetruck

Grabbing the steering wheel.

Not thrilled about the clippers.

Look at all that hair!

The other chairs (sports car, police car, boat)

Watching the movie.

He's so cute!

Showing Robbie the clippers and letting him feel the buzzing.

Sitting so still!

Blowing bubbles.

Popping bubbles.

There's more work to be done!

Green hair gel

He loves it!

Robbie pointing to the pterodactyl tattoo.

Robbie looks so grown up!

Summer days

I forgot to post Alex's stats from his 15 month check up.  He is 22 lbs, 15.5 oz, and 31 inches long.  He's getting so big!  There have been a few times when I have had to carry both boys, and walking carrying 50 lbs of boys is not easy!  Alex also got his first molar a few weeks ago when the boys were down in St. Pete.  Apparently that wasn't a fun night, so I'm glad I wasn't there.

Last weekend we started swim lessons with the boys at the YMCA.  They both do "mommy and me" classes, so Matthew entertains one while the other one is in the pool with me.  Alex did much better than Robbie, but I expected that because Robbie really doesn't like getting his head wet.  Alex did reach for the side a few times, but he's less vocal, smaller and easier to keep hold of than Robbie is. Both of their classes were larger than usual because one of the pools was closed and they had 2 classes instead of one, so it should be better next weekend with less people in the pool and easier to hear the swim instructor.

Getting used to the water

Kicking his feet.

Sitting on the side.

Ready to come back in.

Robbie smiled after Matt took the picture, but that's pretty much how he looked the whole lesson.

Alex during Robbie's swim lesson.

Tuesday we spent time outside in the inflatable pool.  The boys were using me as a slide, but when Alex wanted to swing I pulled the little slide over to the pool and Robbie had a blast sliding in!



Then we had a picnic in the "woods".

Robbie has been asking us to use the potty.  He still wears pull ups.  I'm just not ready to deal with underwear and accidents, though I know I'm going to have to eventually!  I printed some potty training charts and Matthew bought Angry Birds stickers and here is how his chart looks:  (There are even more stickers under the big ones, too!)

Robbie is starting to sing more.  I love it!  He had a toy that you pull the handle and it either makes animal noises ("The _____ says ____") or sings a song.  I showed Robbie how to point the arrow to the song section and he played "The Farmer in the Dell" over and over and started singing along.

My Big Boys!

It's getting harder to keep track of time these days.  Not hours and minutes, but days and months.  Alex turned 1 1/4 and Robbie is now on the downside of 2!  I'm pretty sure they get cuter, smarter, and more opinionated every day.  Robbie "just wants to be naked" all the time and would swear up and down that it's ok to be naked in public even though we tell him otherwise.  (We only let him be naked at home, I promise!)  I let Alex drink from my water bottle and now that seems to be all he wants to drink from.  Whenever he sees it he does his own sign for water.  He's gotten much better at drinking from it, too.  Before he would fill his mouth up and if he didn't want it all he would just let the extra water from his mouth spill down his shirt.  Now he stops drinking early enough to not spill on himself! :)

Robbie found his Halloween costume the other day and wanted to put it on.  He looked so cute, but he was hot and sweaty when we took it off!

The banana is part of the costume. :)

We've noticed how tall Robbie is getting lately.  It became even more evident when toes started poking through his footie pajamas (or pajammies, as Robbie says).  We bought some more non-footie ones yesterday.

I know I posted these pictures before, but they are too cute to not post again.  I'm planning on updating these pictures every year and keep the old pictures in the frame as well.

I also (finally!) put pictures in their first year frames.  I feel bad that I waited so long, especially for Robbie, but it's better late than never.  I love seeing how much they changed their first year.

Matthew took the boys to visit his mom last weekend and I got to spend the weekend by myself.  I don't get too nervous by myself, but when I saw both cats staring at the front door I did catch my breath.  Then I saw they were stalking a frog.  I'm glad it was on the outside of the door!

Do you see the frog shadow on the bottom square window?

Juliet left when I started taking pictures, but Simba stuck around to protect the house.

Barbara bought Robbie a hammerhead when they went to the aquarium and he wanted me to take a picture of it.  I was happy to do it, so here it is.