Fatherhood and teaching = Andy

I feel this message needs to be prefaced with a simple and completely honest comment. Andy is a wonderful father and teacher. We'll just have to remember, that everyone makes mistakes from time to time.

This evening Andy has been working with Evelyn on letters and words. Using a large MagnaDoodle, Andy has written down simple letters that Evelyn has easily identified and associated with the correct sound that the letter makes. It was all going so well, until...he started working on how the two letters...T and H...come together to make one sound...as in the word "the". Andy was explaining the sound combination to Evelyn by writing down the word "the". In his explanation he decided to use the word in a sentence to illustrate its use, function and sound. The problem came in the sentence he used. Andy said, "As in...Kick the cat."

My wide eyes and gasping sound quickly made Andy realize his mistake.

Andy continued to work on Evelyn recognizing/sounding out the word "the", but thankfully he used a different sentence. Evelyn kept sounding out T, then H, then the E sound. Andy kept asking her again and again, finally finding it frustrating after many trials. Finally Evelyn said she didn't want to play the game anymore. So Andy pulled out the "I'll give you a M&M for every time you say it right." Finally Evelyn said it correctly a few times, so she got her M&M's. The thing is, after she received the candy Andy wrote "the" down again. Before he could even show her the board and ask her...she immediately told Andy..."You ask yourself". Effectively ending his teaching session!

Another Great Grandma's passing...

Evelyn has lost another Great Grandparent. My grandmother, Thelma, on my father's side passed away January 7th. Even at one month shy of 83 years of age, her death was a shock to us. She was not sick and she had recently spent an entire week with us in May and in November. She lived in PA and they say she diedly peacefully.

While my grandmother was here for her week long visits to see us, she rode my father's horse and I fit her with new hearing aids that used a remote control. She loved them. Also while she was here, she was able to help babysit Evelyn every day. She enjoyed watching the same videos Evelyn wanted to watch, like Disney's Aladdin and Peter Pan.

This past weekend in PA was very sad and at times surreal. Her death hit me pretty heard, but really not until I saw her. Probably because part of me did not want to believe it. I had to be forced to see the truth, even whispering to her to come back to me, yet when she didn't answer... the truth stung. We were supposed to take Evelyn with us, but 1 hour before we were hitting the road for the 6 hour drive, we decided to leave her here with her Aunt Lois and her two cousins. The weather in the area where we were traveling was calling for record snow in a short amount of time. The trip there was not as pleasant as we were hoping, yet wasn't as bad as we feared. Friday night and all day Saturday it snowed and snowed. Sunday the snow wasn't falling anymore and the roads were fairly clear. Our drive back on Sunday was better than Friday's drive.

I'll share a few fun memories of my grandmother and some pictures.

My grandmother had a funny bone, always having a zinger to shoot back at you. Sometimes being the one to start the joking. I love the memories of visiting her as a child. She would give all of us kids anything we wanted. Her homemade Strawberry Jam was, and still is, the best I have ever tasted. My goal is to begin making it and stop buying that store brand junk!

The one thing I regret is not asking her to write out more recipes for the cookbook she created for us as a wedding gift over 6 years ago. I have cried over the fact that I had 6 years to ask her and I never did. If only I had asked. I miss you, Grandma and Evelyn will miss her Great Grandma.