The best news this time is Cadence … your potential next great-grandchild. Teri and Josh are hoping and praying to be able to go to China soon and bring home Maddie’s big sister. We’ve put this “out there” to have as many people as possible praying for the process and for the financial means to be provided. Your estate provided the means for Maddie to come into our lives. Who would have known you would have built up a large enough estate to do that? And most of it while you were living on Social Security and investing what little you could each month?

So many things going on in our lives right now that I wish I could discuss with you. We had so many LONG phone visits over the years but this one would take up most of a day and you’d probably go through an entire coffee pot of your black liquid. For the most part, I can’t write about our situation on a public forum but just to let you know you’ve been in my thoughts so often the past three months and I’ve missed you as never before. I guess that’s good … shows we had as good a relationship as a mother and son could have had.

But I can tell you about these grandchildren of ours and that’s one of my favorite past-times these days … talking about Jackson, Logan and Lilly.

Last week we were watching the children while Josh played his final softball game. He and his friends are starting a team for a local adult baseball league … needless to say, he’s excited about playing hardball again. Anyway, Heather wanted to go to the game so we played with the children.

Jackson loves to be chased and loves even more to have a ball and be chased in the back yard. Logan, of course, had a ball and was trying to emulate everything we were doing. Lilly was in her own little play-dough world at their picnic table under the patio cover.

When that got a little old, Janice saw a roly poly and wanted to show the kids how it rolls into a ball when touched. They were fascinated! Until Lilly got a little tired of waiting for the bug to unroll itself and crawl again … so she decided to just eat it. Fortunately Janice got to her before she could actually get it in her mouth. Three times!

We took Jackson with us on a Saturday morning to get him a donut and let him get out of the house for a while. We passed a playground and he immediately wanted to play on that playground. Being fully in control of this outing, we played on the playground. Then he wanted to go to another playground where Josh had taken him because it has BIG slides.

While there he was going up the steps when I turned my head just for a second, turned back and saw him falling off the stairs and landing flat on his stomach, eating wood chips and dirt! Had I been able to move at all, I might have at least stopped the fall a little, but it happened so fast I had no time to move. He was more upset with a mouth full of wood chips, I think. But after he settled down, he let us know the next few days that he fell and hurt himself.

And speaking of Jackson, we were eating out at a favorite restaurant when he started handing out those yellow packages of Splenda while telling us, “You don’t have to pay for these!” I think he got that from his Grinmama, but she denies it.

A lot of our memories are being formed in the context of restaurants as Josh and Heather love for anyone to go with them to help keep the kids corralled! Logan is pretty good if you just let him have his own fork. So long as he can keep food on the end of that fork and get it to his mouth, he’s happy as a lark. But forget trying to feed him … he will do that himself. And forget feeding him by hand. He wants that fork.

Lilly, on the other hand, is more interested in something sweet than something healthy. Must get that from me, but I digress. Heather got a small order of cinnamon sticks with icing and Lilly quickly discovered the better part of that order was the icing and started dipping everything in the icing! Plus her face was absolutely covered with icing.

Sunday we were eating at a favorite burger place (the owners are friends and very nice people) and Peggy (one of the owners) brought out a couple of pieces of birthday cake from one of the employees. Lilly was biting on the wipes container and accidentally pulled across the birthday cake, covering one corner with blue permanent stain icing. She licked that off and discovered a new way to enjoy a favorite meal!

And finally, they were going to Disneyland for an afternoon of relaxation, to the extent you can relax with three children that age in an amusement park. Heather put out an appeal on FaceBook to borrow a double stroller that had side-by-side seats. They have one with front / back seats, but whichever twin is in the back pitches a fit because he or she cannot see past the one in front. You would think inventors and engineers would figure these things out, wouldn’t you?

This week ends the present school year for Heather and she can hardly wait to be able to enjoy those children for the summer. They have a little pool with a slide and will play in that for hours when it’s warm enough. More than anything, though, they just want to be outside where they can run and play and be free from the confines of the in-doors.

I’m just the opposite these days. Just give me something cool to drink and let me veg out on my recliner and I’ll stay out of everyone’s way!

[Blog readers: Do you feel sufficient guilt? It was my best shot at passive-aggressive manipulation to get responses!]

Your cousin, EC, died and his funeral was yesterday. I know how close you were … close enough you could really have some knock-down-drag-out-no-holds-barred verbal fights and then go get a McDonald’s hamburger together! I also know that your determination to see him come to the Lord had a LOT to do with him finally giving his heart and life to Jesus … and that was when he was well into his 80s, as I recall.

It’s also interesting that his funeral would come on April 15. Your cousin, Janet, said he loved paying taxes and I don’t know if she was being sarcastic or not. I know Elaine and Mike were there to represent our part of the family. They had a wonderful visit with Shirley and saw Bob, Willette, Diana, Betsy, and Andrea as well as the few left from the Mitchell clan. A shrinking clan as far as the first and second generations from your parents.

Don’t know if Rex or Alan made it up for the funeral, though I doubt Alan would be able to get off work. I do know when it comes to anyone representing our small part of the Mitchell family, you could always count on Elaine far more than you could any of us boys.

Last night Jan and I kept the kids while Josh and Heather went to see a Braves game down in San Diego. Good thing I didn’t go as Josh and I have never seen the Braves win a game, but he has when I was not along. Braves won last night 6-1 after a butt-kickin’ from the Padres in the last game.

They enjoyed a night out together and we enjoyed playing with the kiddies. They never cease to fascinate me … Jackson and his conniving ways, Logan’s incredibly sweet personality, and Lilly’s captivating smile and “evil” laugh that seems to come at absolutely random times. All of them just melt our hearts. But you know all about that having had a slew of your own, both grands and great-grands.

Anyway, after watching about 90 minutes of some kid’s contest shows they had recorded, I turned over to NCIS while Jan was putting the twins down and it was just Jackson and me. The word, stupid, was used in the conversation on NCIS and Jackson is not allowed to use that word. Anyway, I hadn’t even noticed the word used when Jackson told me, “Grindaddy, I don’t use bad words like ‘stupid’”.

I told him I was proud of him for not using bad words. Then Janice came home later and asked me what bad show I was watching on TV with Jackson. I told her we were watching his recorded shows and when we’d seen them all, I turned it to NCIS (one of your favorite shows). She said Jackson told her I was watching a bad show … and then it clicked: He’d heard the word, stupid, and therefore the show was a bad show.

I certainly understand why Josh and Heather don’t want him to use certain words, including the “S—-d” word, because he will be calling his brother and sister (or his parents) that word. However, as he matures he will certainly need to rely on that word for any discussions relating to politicians on any level … especially the present administration and congressional leaders!

One more, just for Jackson to read later on … he called me on Tuesday night and said, “Grindaddy, come to my house and we’ll go get ice cream! I have a dollar … it’s right there.” The last 2 or 3 times I took him to get ice cream, it was just a ruse for me to get him out of the house! Once in the car, he just wanted to go to our house to escape his brother and sister … and maybe his mom and dad! Who knows, but he wasn’t interested in ice cream.

So I told him, “But you don’t eat the ice cream.” He put the phone down, looked at his mom and had this very perplexed look across his face (so I was later told) and said, “Grindaddy said I don’t eat ice cream.” He was quite upset with that accusation from me and hung up the phone. A couple of minutes later he called back and repeated his offer for me to come to his house and then we go get ice cream.

Of course, I’m no patsy and certainly am not going to cave in to some almost-three-year-old’s demands, giving up my evening of relaxation just to drive into town for a kid to not eat another ice cream cone from McDonald’s. There comes a time when a parent or, in this case a grandparent, must take a stand. You would certainly understand that.

However, since he ate his ice cream this time, I guess I’ll save that “stand” for another time.

But we’ve had different life experiences and maybe therein lies the difference in and depth of faith. It was only after your death when we started sharing stories among ourselves did I realize just how much you endured over the years. No wonder your faith was so strong and your eyes so fixed on Jesus.

Your daughter is becoming an artist (to add to her many talents). She recently sent me a picture of “The Bear” that she did freehand. I might have done as well had it been paint-by-numbers, but then I don’t remember any of those things that I did very well. You would be very proud of her ever-developing walk of faith. She sounds more like you these days, which is good. For the most part!

The children continue to entertain us. Lilly is the one to watch as she has this determination to live life on her terms. She crawled over to the oven last week where Heather had some cookies baking in the oven and stuck her tongue between the oven door and the oven!

You remember the kind of “fits” Tara could throw, right? So much that we now refer to “Tara fits” in our family. The other day Janice called me into the family room at Josh and Heather’s to witness Lilly having a “Tara fit” on the floor. Quite impressive, to say the least, for a 14-month-old. She did another one last night, but to her credit, she was tired and sleepy. We have a vibrator thingamajiggy that you sit on and it massages your back. Lilly wanted the control to it and pitched a fit when the control would not come loose from the unit.

Logan is becoming a “Grindaddy’s boy.” If I’m around and he’s not pre-occupied with eating, he wants to be in my arms and will grunt his way into my arms. No complaint from my end, though it does make it somewhat difficult to help Josh do things around the house with Logan in my arms. He always knows when we leave with Jackson that something’s not right. So we finally took him out by himself the other day and I honestly think he knew what was going on and how he’d just pulled one over on his siblings.

Jackson was with Josh the other day at Lowe’s when the cashier asked Josh, “Is that your son?” Josh replied, “One of them.” Before she could say anything else, Jackson volunteered, “Hi, I’m Jackson.” On the other hand, he can put Josh to shame with how shy he can be. Just never know.

He has figured out not only how to send text “messages” on iPhones, but he recognizes his favorite people’s text settings. He knows how to send them to Jan, Heather, Brittany (Heather’s sister), Jessica, myself, and others. Pam (Jan’s sister) got a series of text “messages” consisting of random letters that had her so concerned, she called Janice to see if everything were okay. Sometimes I get texts from Jackson as fast as every 10 seconds or so.

His latest thing was to use a black magic marker to paint his fingernails. I guess it could have been worse … such as walls and furniture, or Logan or Lilly. Never a dull moment around those children.

Dave (our preacher) asked if I would be a part of a monthly series in July where one of four men from the church preach on each Sunday of that month. My Sunday is the third one, and I’m not only honored to be asked, but quite excited about actually speaking at Chorus Church. My topic is on “Fellowship.” Still debating just how much to share about the concept of “fellowship” in which we grew up. But I have a while to work out the sermon.

Had a nice visit from Don and Leota last week … don’t remember when we last saw them, but we thoroughly enjoyed a couple of hours together as they are both quite fun to be around (in their individually unique ways).

Otherwise, things are about the same. We have busy times and we have incredibly slow times. Just hope the busy times will be enough to pull us through the slow times, economically. You lived through worse times than what we’re enduring, but with this present administration in D.C., who’s to say we’re not heading into another depression in this country.

I think a lot about what it would be like to be homeless. But that’s about all the hope my level of faith can produce at times! And that’s why I’d love to talk with you. Sometimes you just want to talk with someone who has been down your path.

Much love . . .

We spent Christmas morning at Josh’s house to enjoy the first Christmas in which the children came down the stairs to the delight of seeing what Santa brought them. Of course, the twins had no idea what was going on, but Jackson was just overwhelmed by it all! Logan immediately started his way back up the stairs laughing all the way, thinking he was really getting away with something. I was behind him and when he reached the top, he was so proud of himself … only to be taken back down the stairs to where we were trying to interest him in unwrapping gifts!

Josh and Heather did a great  job of making it a fun Christmas for them (and for us) while not spending a ton of money. None of us had much to spend this year, but it was a fun, funny, grandchild-filled day. The down side of it all is that Jessica got a cold from the twins, so she wasn’t worth much on Saturday. As I write this, she is still in bed on a cold, sunny, Sunday morning. We had our “weekend” worship service on Thursday night and our church isn’t meeting this morning so we’re doing something very, very strange for us … staying at home on a Sunday morning. When it warms up maybe I’ll go out and have a devo with Chipper.

Jackson is making the most of his being two years old. Jan and I don’t remember Josh nor Jessica going through that “terrible twos” syndrome, but I think Jackson has hit it full stride! He can throw a fit that would make Tara proud, and he can do it at the drop of a hat! So now Josh and Heather are trying to work through this while keeping some degree of sanity. They tell him, “Jackson, if you want ______, you’re going to have to ask nicely.” The other morning he wanted more pancakes. (He eats the little silver dollar ones that come frozen in a package of maybe 60.) He’d only had about 16 of them so far, and wanted some more, so he started throwing his little tantrum. He was told if he wanted more, he had to ask nicely, so he demanded said, “Nicely can I have more pancakes?” It’s hard to remain the disciplinarian when the kids are outsmarting you like that!

He also loves to take pictures with our iPhones (you would be amazed at what you can do with a cell phone these days) and often goes to the picture app and shoots away. I’ll get my phone back from him sometimes and go to the photos and there will be dozens of pictures in there of things such as the floor, a finger, Janice’s nose very close up, an ear, etc. Apparently he got his mother’s phone and took some snapshots while she was in the shower! Fortunately she discovered the photos before Jackson was able to figure out how to email them!

We got Lilly and Logan a keyboard that can be folded in half so that each one of them have a half-keyboard, facing each other, or it can be played as one long keyboard. Found it in a drug store for $5, marked down from $30 … we just happened to be in that store looking around while awaiting a call to go pick up a body on that side of town. Anyway, when they opened it and discovered it made sound, all three kids started pounding on it, only Lilly seems to be able to play it only if she is sitting on one half of the keyboard while beating on the other half! The children got LOTS of toys that makes LOTS of noise this year.

I guess we’ll look for a few spare minutes in the evenings this week to take down the outside lights and the tree, and store everything away for one more year. You remember how you eventually stopped decorating for Christmas after Dad died because it was just too much of a hassle and you were the only one living there to enjoy it? Well, I’m getting into that frame of mind as well. We just put up a tree with the barest of decorations and some lights outside and that was it. Seemed like just too much work to get it all down from the rafters over the garage when it’s just Jan and myself. Josh and Heather bring the kids by occasionally, but it is such a hassle to get them all in the car at once, it’s just easier on them if we go to their house rather than them coming over here.

We didn’t get presents wrapped until Christmas Eve and never put a single one under the tree … just stacked them in the living room so it would be easier to move them to the car when it was time to go over to Josh’s house. Just never got much into the spirit of the season this year other than enjoying the music of the season. We had a very good Christmas Eve service, but he music would have been far too loud for your comfort. The praise band opened with a couple of Trans-Siberian Orchestra songs and did a very good job on them before moving into the more traditional music.

You would love the preaching and the people at Chorus Church, but the volume of the music??? Well, this is a different generation we’re trying to reach and so the music is a far cry from what you and I grew up on but it does “speak the language” of the present generation. I love playing in the praise band with them and so far the only “complaint” from our worship leader and other musicians is that I don’t turn my amp up loud enough. Maybe I’m still trying to keep it down just in case you are listening in!

Maybe when it warms up this afternoon after Jessica heads home…I’ll start taking down the outside lights. Or not.

Lots of love on a post-Christmas / pre-New Year’s and final blog of 2009.

Last Friday morning it was Jan’s day to watch the kids. She got there a little earlier than usual and Jackson was already up and downstairs. When Jan walked in the house, Jackson announced, “Granmama’s home!” He still thinks she lives there but for some reason is not always at home.

There is some really bad news, though, and I hate to have to share this. Recently we obtained evidence that Josh is possibly not the father of the twins. So strong is the evidence that Kevin (Heather’s dad) is wanting to have paternity DNA tests done.

They were eating out recently and while Lilly was munching away on snacks, Logan was devouring corn, mushrooms, and black olives! Obviously, he can not be a child of Joshua as no progeny of Josh would ever voluntarily eat such trash! Pizza … chicken … chips … spaghetti … lasagna … yes. Maybe even corn, as Josh has been known to eat corn on the cob. But mushrooms and olives? Not a chance.

Earlier in the week, the twins turned one year old! What a year it has been … filled with every kind of emotion and anxiety and joy and sheer fascination! Jackson continues to charm and connive his way deeper into our hearts. Lillian has the most adorable fake laugh and knows exactly when to turn it on. Logan is like a shark … an eating machine. That kid will eat stuff food into his mouth all day long if allowed to do so. On the good side, the snacks they eat are on the healthy side.

Much love, Muz. Still miss you every day and think of you often.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last brought you up to date on the grandbabies.

Thanksgiving for another year is history. As usual, we spent the afternoon with Tom and Arlene and friends. Of course, Gladys was not here this time around and we all missed her. We were looking through pictures and there were a couple that included you, as you always enjoyed being with Tom’s family and you and Gladys quickly became friends when you had the chance to spend any time together.

Jessica was with us and stayed through Saturday evening, so she got to enjoy the babies. She’ll be coming back this weekend for the 1-year-old party for Logan and Lillian. Should be fun.

Logan and Lilly never cease to amaze us with their very different personalities. Logan is a charmer to the max. He has the most wonderful personality and always smiles and laughs. He’s also learned to scream for no other reason than to hear himself scream! At first it’s cute, and then ….

Lilly has developed into a 15-year-old adolescent at the age of 11-1/2 months! She can give a “look” that just says, “Don’t mess with me!” Or she can just ignore you completely. She, too, likes to scream and see if anyone is paying attention. Last week we were eating out at a pizza place (hey, it’s Josh … where else do you think we’re going to eat out?) and while Jackson was charming his grandparents, and Logan was seriously munching down on some Cheetos, Lilly decided to get the attention of the people at a nearby table. She succeeded.

Finally, Heather took Lilly out of the chair and sat her on the table right in front of her and attempted to correct her behavior.

Have you ever seen a scolded puppy that won’t make eye contact with you so long as it’s being scolded? Just sort of turns it’s head and looks down? That was Lilly at the table! We were cracking up while trying to remain serious for Heather’s sake. So … she’s got “the attitude” at one year of age, can’t imagine what it will be like a year from now! At least we can go home and leave her with Josh and Heather!!

The other day, Logan took a color marker from Lillian, which really ticked off Lilly. She not only got the marker back, but held it with a death grip the rest of the day. Would not let go when it was time to go to bed, and held it tightly all night long! Logan and Jackson may have their hands full with this little sister!

Jan and I took Jackson to the park last week and he decided to get on the swing. Not the swing for children but the one for adults. After he got relaxed in it, he would tell us, “Faster! Swing faster.” So we’d push him just a little bit harder and he’d immediately say, “Slow! Slower!”

But the most fascinating thing about the swing was his shadow. Jackson was amazed by his shadow, once he figured out it was “Jackson’s shadow” and when he moved a finger or kicked his foot, the shadow did the same thing. We had a lot of fun with him at the park.

However, the twins have figured out that we come and pick Jackson up and leave them behind, so they are on to us and they don’t like it one bit! For now, whoever is left behind with the twins has to deal with their abandonment issues.

Heather ordered a play pen for the twins so they could be somewhat corralled while she is doing something in the house. It only took moments for them to escape! Now with the Christmas tree up and decorated, Logan is drawn to that like I am to Guitar Center. He just can’t stay away.

And finally, we were having dinner the other night and looking forward to just kicking back and relaxing with NCIS shows we taped on the DVR. I had two bites of ham left, a bite of Navy beans, and a bite of my roll when Jackson called. “Grindaddy, come here! Come here and we can go get ice cream!”

You would be proud of me for not caving in to his request. I stood firm and let all involved know that just because Jackson “needs” me I don’t always drop everything to respond to a 2-year-old. He needs to know that I am not wrapped around his little finger.

So as soon as I finished my dinner, I told Janice I needed to take Jackson for some ice cream and asked if she wanted to come along. I think I showed them all just how strong I can be.

In reality, all I had to do was ask my 27-month-old grandson. When he saw it on the wall, he asked for the “little guitar” and was promptly granted his wish … which is basically my role in life these days.

I told him it was a mandolin but he insisted it was a little guitar. He also insisted that he needed some picks. Didn’t want a pick or prefer a pick … he needed picks. Multiple picks of varying colors. “I need a red one.” He knows I keep a lot of red picks around the house.

Jackson loves to put things in holes and, as you can see from this picture (with “Grinmaw,” his latest name for Janice, looking on), the first thing he did with my little guitar was to explore the sound holes with his finger.

One of the many picks I gave him (I keep a small container of picks on a table in the living room under the four instruments hanging on that wall) was a thumb pick used for my banjo. I didn’t want him putting that pick into the mandolin as it would be difficult to retrieve it, so I took it from the pile of picks and hid it in my pocket.

Jackson told me, “Grindaddy … not take picks.” I didn’t quite understand what he was saying, as he was talking into the mandolin rather than looking up at me, but Janice let me know he wanted that thumb pick back … which I promptly returned. (Again, my role in life is to grant his needs!) I hope it’s a while before the twins pick up on just how easy a pushover I am. Or do they already know? Is that something babies instinctively know about grandparents? You had almost 30 of them … were you a pushover for all of them?

Jackson never actually used the picks to strum the strings … he just kept them in a pile beside him and made sure I didn’t steal any more of them.

Life simply doesn’t get any better than grandchildren! And the twins are FAST approaching the age when they will be in the floor, each with an instrument and I’ll be standing over them awaiting my next instructions as to what they need to keep them happy.

Saturday evening, we decided we “needed” to take Jackson with us to Home Depot and possibly pick up an ice cream cone on the way home. He kept saying something about someone’s house that we didn’t understand. Finally, Janice figured out he was telling her we were going to “Depo’s house” (Home Depot).

Finally (and this really makes my heart swell with pride), I downloaded a Three Stooges application to my iPhone. I can choose one of the three (Shemp is not included) and have three pages of sound effects. I keep the default Stooge on Curly. Jackson opened up that app the other day and started tapping the icons to get the sounds of Curly and would just laugh at Curly’s sounds! His favorite app on my phone now is to go to Curly’s page and listen to my favorite (and, apparently Jackson’s) Stooge.

[Note: Two weeks ago when I was asked to fill in for our worship leader, I eagerly accepted the offer / challenge. Little did I know that last Sunday I would get sick with some crud that seems to settle on the vocal chords. Two nights ago, I got out of bed and went to the keyboard to see just how low my voice was going. Normally I can sing tenor. I was easily hitting the lowest A on the keyboard! Ever hear those people talk holding a little amplification gizmo to their throats? That's how I sound much of the time. Should be an interesting Sunday morning! Thankfully I have a good band / singers working with me ... but they don't know they will have to carry all the vocals!]

Anyway, as you know, we always enjoy time spent with Randy and Beth. I also returned the mandolin on Tuesday because the lower strings caused a rattle. Didn’t notice that until Randy pointed it out. Give the guy a doctoral degree and he starts trashing your instruments … sheesh.

After much research I finally decided to go with a rather non-traditional mandolin (acoustic / electric) made by Ovation. I was sure if I got one, it would cause some minimal rift in my relationship with Steve Hay since he is a purist when it comes to bluegrass instruments, but I talked with him the other day and he actually had some good things to say about the Ovation. Even played one for a while in a bluegrass band.

Enough of that … these letters are supposed to chronicle the grandbabies.

While Josh and Heather were taking some much needed time away in Hawaii, Lilly was coming into her own! She found a plug in air freshener with a country apple scent and somehow managed to get it all over her. Smelled like a cheap French cat house the rest of the day. Not that I know what a cheap French cat house would smell like, but it just seemed the right description for the moment.

Monday night when I was helping Janice not only get the babies down, but also trying to get the trash out to the curve for a Tuesday morning pick-up, Janice placed a trash can at the top of the stairs on the stair side of the gate that keeps the babies from going downstairs unannounced. Lilly crawled over to check things out and stuck her hand through the gate just far enough to push the trashcan over, spilling dirty diapers and used wipes all down the first flight of steps and onto the middle landing. In a way I was sort of proud of her! Up to this point, she’s been so quiet and reserved.

On Tuesday evening, Josh and Heather’s flight home was delayed, so we brought all three of the children to our house so Janice could shower and wash her hair, and to just get them out. At one point, they were all three sitting at the kitchen sliding glass door, looking out at Chipper. It was a Rockwell painting waiting to happen. I grabbed my iPhone to capture the picture only to have Chipper decide she was no longer interested in those little people on the other side of the glass.

Then I heard Logan screaming! Not the kind of squealing he likes to do just to hear himself squeal. Not the mimicking squeal to echo Jackson’s squeal, but a scream of either pain or aggravation. I turned to see what was  happening and saw that Lilly had him pushed up against the wall by the door and was trying to eat his face! She does that a lot … trying to eat things. Sofas. Chairs. Ottomans. Anything she can get her tooth into. The way Jackson and Logan tend to run over her at times, I think she finally let Logan know she was not going to be the pushover any longer. I did rescue Logan before he looked like a scene out of a Hannibal Lecter novel.

On our way back from Stockton, I got a voice mail from Jackson. He needed a guitar pick. Didn’t want a pick … he needed a pick. Josh says the twins were making so much noise, Jackson couldn’t hear himself playing his ukulele they brought back from their trip to Hawaii.

He needs a lot these days. “Grindaddy, I need your iPhone.” Not, “Can I see your iPhone,” but a need to have it.

Anyway, on Tuesday night, we took him over to the house to look through my picks and get the one(s) he needs. He liked the green ones. But there is a story even before the pick story … we had removed his car seat for our trip to Stockton and had not put it back in the car. That bothered him very much, so when we got to the house (yes, Janice held him on the trip from his house to our house), he would not even go into the house to look at picks until we got that car seat put back in the car! “Jackson needs car seat” he told us.

I need a new mandolin. Why doesn’t that work as well for my needs as it does for Jackson’s needs? I need a grandfather to fix my needs!

As for one of your grandbabies, we stopped on the way back from Stockton to have dinner with Jessica and see her apartment now that it’s all set up. The last time we were there was moving day and it was chaos! She is considering a change in vocation now that her two year commitment to the school has been fulfilled. Her supervisor does not want to lose her, but she can make so much more money in a private sector and have the opportunity for advancement that she doesn’t have now. Plus, many of the companies will pay for her graduate school, whereas the school is only helping her with part of the tuition. Something for us to keep in our prayers.

Maybe we can get Jackson to call some of these companies on our iPhone (he knows more about those phones than we do) and tell them they “need” to hire his Aunt Jessica. It seems to work with me.

I think I asked him to go through it so I would know he knew how to use it and he said that was not necessary. When you returned  from your trip, you had over 200 photographs developed and every one of them was out of focus! I guess you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

So we are keeping the grandkids during their absence, splitting the time with Heather’s mom. You would really like Heather’s family, including grandparents on both sides. Should be an interesting time to say the least. They are so much fun, but I’ve not stayed a night with them and we still have to run a business.

The twins haven’t done much to write about since my last letter other than Lillian (we call her Lils because that’s what Jackson calls her) finally decided she’d go ahead and crawl forward. She had the backward crawl down, but never seemed to be able to shift her weight off the leg she was sitting on to actually start a forward crawl. Logan has started climbing up the stairs, making it to the second riser with Jackson’s encouragement that he can do it! He’s also pulling himself up on anything within his reach.

I did dry, diaper, and put pajamas on the twins tonight after Janice bathed them. Lilly was okay other than she was tired and fussy. Logan? Trying to put a diaper on that boy is like trying to change the fan belt on a car with the motor running! He can arch his back and then twist away from you so fast, you don’t hardly realize he’s escaped! After putting his right foot through both arm holes, I finally got him dressed for bed. When they get sleepy, they go down amazingly fast! I have a bit more respect for all Josh and Heather deal with on a day to day basis. Make that a LOT more respect!

Jackson has picked up the habit of telling us, “Stop it!” Actually, he says that to just about everyone except me as I allow him to do whatever he desires. When I asked Heather where she thought he got that, she said she’d been paying closer attention to her interactions with Jackson and she was the culprit.

Anyway, Janice was on the “Stop it!” end of Jackson the other day and she told him, “Jackson, you don’t tell Granmama to stop. You say, ‘Please do this …’ or ‘Please do that,’ okay?” Jackson thought about it and said, “Okay, do that!” Cracked us all up.

He also has a tendency to add the word, “either” to his sentences. So we now hear him say, “Stop it! Either.” Most of the time, he uses his name rather than the personal pronoun, “I,” very much like scriptwriters did for Native American roles in the early days of television. Indians always said things like, “Tonto need wampum”* instead of “I need wampum.”

So Jackson will say, “Jackson go outside … either.” Of course, Josh and I picked up on the opportunity to add that to our sentences either. It’s just funny to observe how his mind works and puts things together.

That’s about it for now … sure wish we could share these stories via phone conversations. Every time they do something cute or funny I want so much to share it with you.

Much love . . .

* Some script translations / interpretations render “wampum” as “woman.” I guess it depends on the context. Either.

Even had I remember the right month for your birthday, for the life of me I can’t remember how old you would have been, but I’m guessing about 85 or 86. But then I didn’t know how old I was on my birthday the past two  years. Josh had to bring me up to date both times.

Maybe the funniest grandchild story comes from your grandson and not our grandchildren this time. Last week Heather told Josh she’d had her B-12 shot. Not only was he not too responsive to her comment, he thought it was rather silly for her to have even had the shot and didn’t know why anyone would even want that shot. When he got home that night, she questioned him about his response and it was then that he discovered she’d said a “B-12″ shot. He thought she’d said a “beached whale” shot!

We went to Josh’s softball game the other day and I was holding Logan in my lap. Heather was feeding Lilly and Jan was all over the place trying to keep up  with Jackson. I’m telling you, it takes a village to raise these kids! Anyway, I’ve been growing a goatee lately (I go through this phase every year or so … let the thing grow for 2-3 weeks then shave it off. Janice  hates these episodes in my life.)

Logan eventually looked away from the game and up into my face, then back to the game. He immediately turned his head back up to my face and started feeling the whiskers on my chin. I would not have thought he would be so aware of details at his age, but he sure knew something was different about this guy holding him, so he explored my chin for the longest. I guess eventually he decided it was safe to stay in my lap and went back to watching the game. Lilly kept eating.