My Saturday with Benjamin:-)

Pedro was on Nick Jr., so it was difficult for me to get Ben to pay attention to the camera for the earlier part of our playdate...
Yep, he's looking over the camera to see the tv, and there were several sighs of frustration involved as well...to be clear, those sighs were from Ben and not me:-)

Just in case you didn't see it in the first shot, Ben put a big shiny red bow on my head soon after I entered his front door...I forgot the bow was there for 3 hours!

Aha! I have a much more captive audience when Ben eats because I become the entertainment...

Here is Ben reacting to my kidney bean song and dance...

...and then my "sausage is good" jig...hey, I'll do anything to be sure my Godson eats:-)

...and my finale...the beans and sausage jingle, complete with big hand gestures...

It was a great day!!!!

I love you lots, and I miss you more-

oxox Auntie Beth/Bethie/Beppy GBAKYS

Raining like Crazy, and COLD!!!

Auntie Beth does not handle the cold or the lack of sunshine with as much grace as she would like. I'm a bit lazy since Auntie Shannon left but I have got to get off my booty soon...lots to do so I can come home...Ramona cleaned the apartment yesterday so it looks so pretty, and I finished a big tax client today!!!
I finally started wearing long pajamas because it's so chilly. These sheep pjs remind me of KK...partly because I think she picked them out for me a few Christmases ago, partly because of the pink! Here I am all showered and curled up on the couch last night, with the heater on of course...

Sending you big kisses...only 6 days til I get on a flight for CT!!!

My Saturday includes pilates class and a playdate with Ben for Auntie Beth:-)

I love you lots, and I miss you more-

oxxoAuntie Beth/Bethie/Beppy GBAKYS

Auntie Shannon's Visit

What a week! I'm sorry that I did not blog for awhile but Auntie Shannon was here for a visit so I took a blog vacation:-)
Auntie Shannon & I decided to visit Venice Beach early in her trip...This December in California is very cold...the wind was crazy, and the temperature was probably only in the 40s...but we walked out on the Venice Beach pier anyway!
My first attempt at a photo of Auntie Shannon...her hair would not cooperate...yep, all that swing in her hair is from the wind...brrrrrrrr!

The second attempt went better...but you can still see the wind whipping the ends of Shanny's hair...it seems we did not think the weather through very carefully:-)

I love this photo...it's very impromptu and silly and natural...no makeup, self portrait, with us just lucky that the hair was not fully covering our faces...we tried to get a tourist to take a photo for us, but he took a picture of his feet instead...I don't know how to explain that!

After our walk on Venice Beach, we ate at C & O (Cheese & Olive), a very famous restaurant there...then we crossed the street to the Cabo Cantina for watermelon margaritas...

We chatted with lots of different people living near Venice Beach..and on such a cold night,we especially enjoyed the fire pit above...very very very toasty!!!

I love you lots, and I miss you more-

xoxo Auntie Beth/Bethie/Beppy GBAKYS

My Playdate With Ben...and Randal & Lurene's Anniversary!

Randal had to work on his real anniversary November 24th, so he & Lurene went out to celebrate on Saturday night...
The Grimms have started a tradition of taking a family photo every anniversary which they proudly display in a special frame...until it is replaced by a new photo the following year of course...this is one of the photos from our picture-taking escapade:-)

Once Mom & Dad leave, Ben is all about testing how far he can push Auntie Beth...it's very cute because he already knows it's not very far...but here he is trying to convince me that being two inches from the tv is good for him...I swear, I thought he was gonna climb into the tv! True, I did let him do this long enough to take a photo, but then I promptly moved him:-)

My little multi-tasker...Ben wanted to play with his barnyard animals, but did not want to miss anything on Nick, Jr....so one hand on the animals, head turned toward the tv...shortly hearafter, Auntie Beth turned off the tv and gently shoved Ben toward a walk outside...which he promptly turned into a 45 minute run...Ben has never done this to me before and after an hour of pilates earlier in the day, Auntie Beth was tired...

As soon as we got back inside, Auntie Beth threw herself on the chase lounge in the living room (see photo of Randal on Thanksgiving)...she did not say hello to Mickey Mouse because she hadn't seen him yet...yep, the Grimm house is decked out for the holidays already!

This is Ben's reaction to not being able to get himself up on the chase with me...it's his "hey, no fair, help me" look...

...then Ben starts to roll around, knowing that I won't let him fall off...I love that he trusts me so much now...

...and Ben takes a bit of a lounge while Auntie Beth pats him...once Ben got what he wanted, which was the security of knowing I was there and ready with attention, he got sick of me:-)

...and slid off, with the help of Auntie Beth of course, to the foot of the chase...

...then Ben got so secure that all I could see was the top of his little blonde head:-)

This was his final act of independence, walking clear across the room from me---I just wasn't quick enough to catch his defiant look on camera...

I saw this box when I was leaving the Grimm house and it was painfully obvious that I had to take a picture...turns out this was actually a box from 13's apartment on the show "House"...makes more sense now:-)

Auntie Beth had a class tonight so I took a picture to show you how I looked today...you guys get bigger & you change between my visits, and so does Auntie Beth!

I love you lots, and miss you more-

xo Auntie Beth/Bethie/Beppy GBAKYS