Two years ago, on the day after Valentine's day, Brett and Megan took off for the hospital on an icy and snowy morning. By the end of the day their family of two suddenly became a family of four. And Paul and I suddenly went from being grandparents of two to being grandparents of four. The little twins, Elliot and Albion had made their entrance into the world.
Not being identical twins they were so different. Albion was a little peanut. Elliot was a little heftier. Elliot had a mass of dark hair. Albion had a tiny bit of blond fuzz topping his head. Elliot has more "stranger danger" and is shy in new situation. Albion heads into a room full of people with a "Hi.......here I am. Aren't you glad to see me?" look on his face. 
Two years have passed and they have grown up, from tiny squirming, burping babies to healthy, active, sweet little toddlers. They can sing their ABC's and count to ten. They can kick a soccer ball and they can dance (sort of). They like to paint and they love to eat. They love their books and they love their mom and dad. There is a wonderful feeling to being a grandparent......to knowing that your legacy will continue. Just when you thought you were through with those old toys and books and games it's time to haul them back out again. It's time to get down on the floor and play or snuggle on the couch and read, just like you did so many years ago. 
One of the nicest things.......that bare refrigerator is getting filled up again with artistic masterpieces so the grandchildren are never really more than a glance away.
Happy second birthday, already, Elliot and Albion. You make our life so happy.
Valentine's Day is a sweet "holiday". It's not only for lovers. It's a time for children to sit down and get creative with white lace doilies, glue, red construction paper and stickers.
They write sweet notes on their creations to let their friends and family know how special they are to them. Some of their creations get taken to school and stuffed in the Valentine box to be passed out to their friends. It's a time for children to remember parents and parents to remember children. Too often Valentine's Day wanders away from the sweet and simple and becomes victim of the "gimme gimme" world with people expecting expensive roses and fancy dinners and even weekends away.
Paul always gets me a card. I can always tell by the card that he has spent lots of time at the card store picking out just the right one. Most of the time it is just a card. That's all I need. Really. He reminds me every day of how much he loves me. But I had a happy surprise this morning when I came down to the table for breakfast.
Paul had not only a card but a gift and a little box of, oh yum yum, chocolates. What a nice thing to wake up to. So simple but so nice. He sheepishly admitted that he got the gift at Carl's True Value white elephant sale. But he knew it was something I would like. He was right. He found some nice wind chimes. I love wind chimes. I hang them everywhere. I love to hear their sound no matter where I am outside. And now I will think of Paul whenever I hear them chime.
I hung them right away on the lilac bush outside the Belly Acres room so that when the windows are open in the summer I will be able to hear their sound as I'm sipping my iced tea or eating dinner.
Paul spent the rest of the day working on an old gun that he is restoring from the late 1800's. It belonged to Paul's late uncle and he has put lots of TLC into it. As I've said before, Paul loves to fix things. Hmmmmm....maybe that is my Valentine's gift for next year. With Paul you never can tell.
For our Valentine's dinner I made a nice pot of lentil soup. Not what you would call a highly romantic meal, but it was cholesterol free. And what better way is there to tell your man how special he is by cooking him something that will help keep him around a bit longer!
Happy Valentine's Day to all the special people in my life. I love you all.
Every day I spend my lunch half hour with a small but very enlightened and intelligent group of people. It is by far the best part of my day. For almost 30 minutes we are away from children and can enjoy adult (well, almost adult) conversation. It is our oasis in a hectic and crazy world. We are a mixed group consisting of a secretary, nurse, instructional assistants and teachers. Our conversations range from the mundane to the hysterically funny to the bizarre.
With our varied lives, ages and experiences we also learn from each other. I have learned things I never knew. Important things, like Grey Goose is not Aunt Rhodie's favorite pet that just went belly-up in the Mill Pond but is the brand name of a Vodka. I never knew that until last year. I have learned that there is a particular name for someone who collects an inordinate amount of "friends" on Facebook even though they have no idea who those people are. (Facebook whore) In return I have been able to enlighten them with information they may not have known, such as the intricacies of artificial insemination in a cow.
The other day someone shared with us a bit of information that took most of us by surprise and had us all saying, "I NEVER knew that. All these years and I NEVER knew that." At first we didn't believe it and had to be shown the proof. I wonder how many of you who read this will say the same thing.
Do you sometimes get frustrated when trying to unroll aluminum foil or waxed paper from the box and the tube keeps popping out of the box? Do you know that there is a way on some boxes to prevent that? Look on the ends of the box. You will see little tab indentations with words next to them that say something like "press in to hold tube in box." Go ahead. Press those little tabs in. You will find your tube will lock right into place and frustrate you no more. Not every brand has these little tabs but most of them do.
How could I have used these boxes all these years and not known about this neat little secret? Were it not for such an enlightened lunch bunch I still would be in the dark.
"Hold these for me, Midge, while I glue them," Paul said to me as he put his bedroom slippers in my hands. I looked down at the old, very old, objects that he had just placed in my hands. Paul loves to fix things, but these slippers are so old. Really really old. Almost as old as I am. His mother gave these to him when he had his nose operated on. That was before we were married. That makes the slippers at least 42 years old. "Why", I asked, "Why are you mending these old things. The lining is so flat and matted down." "Yes," he answered. "That's what makes them so comfortable. They conform to my feet."
I know he will never get rid of them. He will take them to the nursing home with him. He hangs on to old things, mending them until they are worn beyond mending. It seems that men do this more than women. A woman would happily buy a new pair when they get to the ugly state. But, like Archie Bunker's chair, old things must hold some sort of comfort for men.
Like Paul's shirts...........................
He's had these shirts FOREVER. The elbows have worn out. What better way to mend a worn elbow than to slap a little bit of black electrical tape on it. It will last almost forever and when the tape wears out, replace it with more. But the thing I REALLY don't understand is that he goes out_in_public like this. Do people think that his business is not going well when they see him? I know he will not get rid of these shirts until they are nothing but threads. He has tried to buy replacements but he says they just aren't comfortable enough.
And Damon......the old apple-doesn't-fall-far-from-the-tree kid........has an Archie Bunker chair which I know he will be buried in. It's an old recliner that belonged to his grandfather. When his grandfather passed away Paul's mother gave it to us. We used it in our living room for a while until it started to show some wear. When Paul began mending it with duct tape I decided it was time to put it somewhere else. Damon wanted it for his room so up it went. He spent lots of time in it. It was his favorite place for studying or napping because it was comfortable. He had a friend who would always sleep in it when he spent the night even though he was offered a real bed because it was comfortable. Paul recovered from shoulder surgery in it because it was comfortable. When Damon moved to Chicago the chair went with him. When he moved to Seattle the chair went with him. The chair held together with silver duct tape will always be part of his home wherever he goes, I know. When he finds the girl he wants to spend the rest of his life with she is going to have to take the chair and him or she may find herself alone.
Do any of you have an old, ugly and mended comfort item that has been with you forever that you could never part with??
Brett and Megan and the twins spent a grandparent's dream weekend with us. The boys are growing up so fast and and change so much everytime we see them. We had so much fun enjoying every minute spent with them.
The boys are busy busy busy and kept us grown-ups very busy busy busy. We had a nice snowfall all day on Sunday. I think the boys have inherited the Frueh love for snow. They asked to go out in the snow all day so they could "make snowballs" and "make snow man" and "go sliding".
Even Egon the dog was happy in the snow.
When we weren't outside enjoying the elements we were inside in the Belly Acres room in front of the fire watching the winter weather from a warm and dry perch. Brett introduced the boys to the old Fisher Price garage that he used to play with. I wonder who was having more fun?
When I was little I used to play with an antique metal horse just like this at my cousin's house, galloping up and down their big porch. Albion seems to enjoy it just as much as I did. He calls it his "carousel". 
