Being a Grandma is Fun

I am a grandma by default. There are 9 grandchildren between my three stepchildren and six live here in Hardin. Three call me Grandma Pat, the others I'm just Pat and that is ok too. The kids range in age from 16 to 3. There are 6 girls and 3 boys.

Carl has two girls that live here, Alexus (10) and Mariah (7). These girls are the ones who call me Grandma Pat and they even call Jennifer their aunt. They really like it that Jennifer has the same name as their mother, even though she spells her name different. The two girls with their mother take tae kwon do lessons from us.

Donnie has three kids and a step daughter. Shayla (16) is his step daughter that we have adopted as ours. Brandon (14), Tristan (8) and Elyse (4). Brandon and Tristan take lessons from us too. To these kids I'm just Pat.

Linda is living in Evanston and she has three kids. Alyssa (13), Andrew (10) and Brandy (3). We don't get to see these kids.

I admit that I had a hard time with the kids calling me Grandma, but it has grown on me and it's pretty easy now. I would tell our friends that we would spend time with Gary's grandkids and they would look at me funny and ask "well, aren't they your grandkids too". You should see people's faces when I tell them that the kids are my grandkids. Some know my three kids and are surprised to see that they have kids this age. Then I have to go through the whole thing and explain how this works.

This weekend we were busy with grandparent duties. Friday night at the basketball game, Elyse and her dance class performed for half time. They were real cute and I got some photos. Not very good because my camera just doesn't have the range, but they will work. Brandon is in 8th grade and he playes in the high school pep band. He plays drums and is real good, he even gets to play the drum sets. I got some photos of him playing, but those didn't turn out at all.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon shopping with Brandon, Alexus and Mariah. We got them gift cards for Christmas. Gary talked to their mom and told her that we would like to take them shopping and out for lunch. The kids were so excited and couldn't wait until after Christmas, so we took them yesterday. Brandon turned down going hunting with his Dad, just so he could spend time with us.

I rode in the back of the pickup with the girls and let Brandon have the front. More leg room for him and he could visit with Gary. I colored with the girls. Been quite a while and my coloring skills in a moving vehicle are rusty.

We plan to take Tristan and Elyse later. The invite was extended to Shayla, even knowing that she wouldn't want to be seen out in public with us oldies.

Even though the kids' mothers are no longer married to Carl and Donnie, Gary and I still get along with them. We didn't take sides when they split and we always talked to Jenifer and Sasha. In fact Sasha works in the court house with me, so I always get updates on what the kids are doing.

Jennifer and I get alot of hugs from Alexus and Mariah. Mariah even got her Aunt Jennifer a gift for Christmas.

Being a grandma is alot of fun, can't wait for more.