While we were away, Nancy Noyes of Fremont sent me two photos and some stories. She wrote:
“My granddaughter, Adeline, was a great excuse to do ‘fun stuff.’ We loved to have adventures outside in nature. The spring brought mushrooms, goose nests in the summer, fungi in the fall and snow in the winter.
“One fall our woods and yard were full of huge puff balls. Addie and I made a lady, seated in our patio chair. It is so important to make memories, because Adeline is 17 and away at college.
“I was a Head Start and preschool teacher for many years. I wish I had recorded the things kids say. Example: I was putting on a record for music and a child said, ‘Wow! Mrs. Noyes you have a big CD!’
“Another time I was helping a child print his name by looking and tracing each letter. Then I said, ‘Can you write your name without looking?’ He said, ‘You mean like this?’ As he looked just at me, he wrote on the paper. He really took my request very literally!”
Here are some stories involving Mari, our granddaughter in Norway who just turned 5. We were blessed to be with them.
This first story was reported by Jane and Nora, Mari’s older sisters. They told me Mari has one of those toy telephones with wheels and a cord for pulling it. Mari was making phone calls but then complained to her sisters, “The phone is not working. It is walking away!”
At dinner the girls were speaking with each other in Norwegian. Then the two oldest started laughing. Mari had complained one of her sisters was imitating her — but instead of using “imitating,” she said, “She is rhyming with me.”
The night before the birthday party, Simon realized he did not have all the ingredients for the cake he was going to make. It was a dark and rainy night. He said he would take Mari with him so she could help pick out the sprinkles and other decorations. They left and Mari was not wearing a coat. I told the girls I was worried about Mari not having a coat. “Don’t worry,” they said. “They will drive into the store.” “Into the store?” I asked. We started laughing, with visions of the car racing through the store as Mari grabbed sprinkles and marshmallows as fast as she could from the back seat! They explained that the store has underground parking and you don’t need to go outdoors to enter.
Terry and the girls blew up lots of balloons for the birthday party and for a few days, before and after the party, we had a lot of fun playing with them. Mari was showing Terry (Morfar, Norwegian for maternal grandfather) the balloons and was naming all the colors of the balloons. Later she brought a broken balloon to Morfar. She said its color was Sasha — the name of her cat who broke it!
Thank you to everyone who shares photos and/or stories. When you share your stories and/or photos, you brighten the lives of many people. Please email me at ghousholder@kpcmedia.com; mail stories to me at 816 Mott St., Kendallville, IN 46755, or go to funnykids.com to submit your story and read past stories.
