Love from Grandma & Grandpa

The first day of my parents visit we spent the afternoon swimming. Everyone had a good time even if it was a bit cold.
Natalie made major progress with her swimming. Her swim lessons are over, and she is still making huge improvements each time we go swimming. On Friday at her last lesson she could only go two strokes without being held onto. By the time we left the pool on Monday after swimming with my parents, she could go ten feet underwater and even come up and get a breath and keep going.



Natalie swimming with Grandpa. Two years ago, Natalie and Grandpa used to be "baldy twins," now look at her. The kids have been asking Grandpa questions. Natalie knows she and Grandpa used to be bald together and the other day she asked Grandpa when his hair was going to grow back. Stephen likes to pat his bald head and talk about everyone else's hair. He rubs Grandpa's smooth head and still says hair, but he has a funny grin on his face when he says it. Yesterday Natalie asked Grandma when and where she met Grandpa. The answer, in college. She thought about that for a moment (not sure she knows what college is) and then asked if Grandpa had hair when Grandma met him.
My Dad has Alopecia Aereata, in the last decade it has advanced further. The Christmas right after Natalie was born I went home and he had lost his eyebrows. He came this week and I noticed that his eye lashes on one eye are gone. The funny thing, is that it took me all day to notice it. I didn't finally notice until he was tired at the end of the evening and then it seemed VERY obvious. That is one of the things that I love about my Dad. I think his face is so animated, he has such a love and joy about him, that people don't notice or qickly forget about it. In a way, it reminds me how children are. when Natalie lost her hair from chemo, she didn't love that she was bald, despite the fact that we spun it positivly. But, she didn't let that bother her, that seems to be the case for most of the kids I see. I am always so proud of them, I feel that kind of pride for my Dad too.
Ready to leave for another adventure. Grandma and Grandpa can't get enough of the love, hugs, and cuteness!
Natalie and I went to pick up some pictures at JCPenny last week. They were all bent so we had to re-order them, but Natalie thought it would be a good idea to go shopping since we were already there and The Colonel was asleep. She LOVED the purses and jewelry and everything "green/blue." Green/blue is her color now, to match her blue sparkly shoes. That was always my sisters color, so even though I liked it, it wasn't my favorite...it is becoming my new weakness. The only problem is there are so many shades and Natalie LOVES all the shades. I came out with a very BRIGHT green/blue purse that Natalie thought I needed. When we were shopping I saw this dress and fell in love with it. Natalie liked it just OK, that is until she tried it on. Then after feeling so pretty and elegant, she loved it too. The other day she started calling it her "Olivia dress."
Grandpa can't believe how cute AND sweet The Colonel is!
We went to the Stockyards because my parents hadn't been there yet. With Grandma around (she actually has quarters in her purse) the kids got LOTS of rides on the horsies. Daddy and Grandma both spoiled them with candy from one of the shops too.


Natalie was the "leader" and she took us on the unconventinal tour...behind the scenes. Grandpa actually got that started and it was pretty cool to see the old, original structures of the Stockyard.
What a beauty. Grandma and Grandpa haven't seen Natalie in more than eight months, since her end of chemo ball. My Dad has just been marveling all week at how good Natalie looks, how much she eats (he couldn't believe when she ate a whole banana-he said it was the MOST he had EVER seen her eat at one time in her ENTIRE life), and how she doesn't rock in pain anymore. He couldn't believe that he hasn't seen her do that at all. It is amazing how much better she is doing.
Natalie loves to do beads, she used to do them a lot when she didn't feel good. She liked to re-string her courage beads over and over again. Grandma LOVES to do beads too and has everything to make FANCY stuff! We've been having fun!

Grandpa wanted to take the kids to Cabelas to let them feed the fish. Natalie has been saving quarters in her piggy bank for this VERY purpose, she LOVES feeding fish.


Grandma is turning Natalie into a hard core shopper. We've taken her with us for hours at a time. We had so much fun at Sam Moon. Natalie was so cute, looking for all the blue/green stuff and modeling it for us. We all got some fun stuff. I kept seeing people looking at her and overheard several people saying how cute Natalie was. Often, it was just because of the funny things she was saying. We were looking at the kids jewelry and she showed me a necklace package that she liked. It was a best friend's necklace with two in there. I told her it was cute, but explained that she needed a best friend before she could get a best friend necklace. Without missing a beat she told me I was her best friend. My heart was putty and of course she got the necklace. My sweet girl!
She picked out this this little purse to match her new 'Olivia dress.'


We went and saw Aliens in the Attic. Natalie was scared, but she kept watching as long as she was eating her popcorn. She is very careful to not eat "too much popcorn" or else she gets trouble. Once she made herself quit eating popcorn, she also started covering her eyes and missed a lot of the movie. She liked the end though.
As we made our way through the mall to the Disney store, the kids rode some of the little rides. They rode the carousel, which is one of the prettiest carousels around in my opinion.








Then Grandma and Grandpa spoiled us with lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Poor David missed lunch because he had to go to work, but the rest of us enjoyed it.
Grandpa coloring with the Princess.