Grandma Riddle

The last few weeks as we knew our time with Great Grandma Riddle was drawing to a close we spent alot of time remembering all the fun times we'd spent with her.

March 1st, 2011

Johann and I had many opportunities to get to know her since we lived with her 3 different times over the years. We lived with her for 6 months when Johann came out for his internship. Then when he graduated from BYU we moved back in with her for almost a year. Simeon lived with her for the first 6 months of his life. Then when we were in between houses we moved back in with her for a few weeks.

I remember when Simeon was born, my grandma Jenson had come out and the 2 of them were so excited for Simeon to arrive. They told me how they sat in rocking chairs out front waiting, then when the waiting at home got too hard, they headed up to hospital. I remember them being outside the labor and delivery room hoping that Simeon had arrived.

When we sold our house on Western Rd and were moving into our current house we had a time frame of about 3 weeks where we were homeless. Grandma so graciously opened her house up to us. She cleaned out the 3rd bedroom so the kids could sleep in there, and her basement became our storage room. We even set up our swing set in her backyard. The kids LOVED her backyard and had such a great time exploring it. The waterfall and pond and all the animals that came by for a snack were their favorites!And looking out her back porch with binoculars at the birds was also such a highlight of grandma's house.

When Ammon was 10 months old at Easter we went to her house. She gave them these towels that were in different shapes, and when you put them into water they expanded. I remember Ammon not understand what the water was for, and crawling over to it and drinking it out of the bowl!

Just a few years ago she again helped with our kids. Corrine had a dance class at the University of Iowa. The boys were so bored at the class. Grandma offered to watch them. So once a week for a few months I'd drop Simeon (4 yrs old) and Ammon (toddler) off at Grandma's house where they'd have snacks, play with grandma and watch tv while Corrine and I went to dance class. It was a special time for the boys to spend that time with their great grandma.

And her hedgehog that made noise when you squeezed it! Oh I am thinking of so many wonderful memories of her as I write this. I hope the kids remember how special and kind she was to them. She truly loved her great grandkids and loved being with them.

The last 2 weeks we have spent some very special quiet time with her. Corrine truly touched my heart when she came to visit her the day before she passed away. Corrine, knowing that grandma couldn't respond to her, brought along a favorite book and sat and read it to grandma, and talked to her. She gave her kisses and told her she loved her. She was as sweet as could be.


Rebecca LOVED to go visit "grandma riddle". Each time we'd go to visit she'd bring something new to show her. Curious George came one day in a dress and princess crown. Rebecca loved putting the crown on grandma's head and calling her "princess grandma". She also brought lots of books that we'd read to grandma. Rebecca also loved to give grandma kisses. Even when grandma wasn't able to talk anymore, when Rebecca would give her a kiss she would pucker her lips and we'd put Rebecca's cheek down by her lips so she could give Rebecca a kiss. When grandma stopped puckering her lips to kiss Rebecca back we knew she was looking more in heaven then earth and our time with her was very short.

Each time we visited we spent some time talking with the other residents. Rebecca would show them her books or toys she had brought. She even got hugs from some of the residents. I know Rebecca really liked to go visit grandma and she knew when we were going and would get so excited. Right by the sidewalk to walk in there was area full of rocks. When we'd walk in Rebecca would always walk right past the rocks, but when we walked out we'd stop and play with the rocks for a few minutes. She was so excited to go see grandma that she didn't have time to stop and play on the way in!




One time when we were visiting the kids were taking random pictures. I'm glad they did it now because they took pictures of the things around her room that I wouldn't have taken a picture of.






I'm going to go through pictures and add some of the kids with her through the years. I'd love to get a baby picture of each of them with her and playing in her backyard. I'm grateful that we took pictures with her so often. We visited her every holiday and many times in between. We always seemed to go during lunch when we went on a Sunday!

I know her memory will live on with our kids. The kids gave her a Willowtree angel for Christmas a few years back. That angel now sits above our piano. A reminder of the sweet loving great grandma who is now watching over us.

Easter

This morning we woke up to a blue sky, which was such a treat after having so many cloudy gray days. Since we have church @ 9am, we told the kids we would do baskets and an egg hunt after church.
A few weeks ago I bought something and the kids saw it. I told them it was for something else. They kept asking for it so I told them it was for their Easter baskets. So from then on they knew mom was the Easter bunny and that dad did the egg hiding. I'm wondering how long it will take them (Corrine, Ammon & Rebecca) to figure out that the tooth fairy, Leprechaun and Santa aren't real either. For now we'll let the magic last as long as it can.
On our way home from church we stopped at Scott Park to take some pictures of the kids. None of them had on any new Easter clothes, but I wanted some pictures of them today.







When we got home from church Rebecca wanted to keep her pretty dress on and she was playing in the front room when she walked around the couch and saw a basket sitting there. She looked at it, then hesitated for a brief minute then picked it up. When we told her it was hers she was super excited. She saw lots of monkey things in her basket.
The big kids found their baskets hiding in the basement, then it was time for the eggs. Johann hid the big kids in the basement. He made them pretty hard, but thankfully he remembered everywhere he hid them. Rebecca had her own egg hunt in the front room that the big kids hid for her. She's been practicing finding and carrying around a basket of eggs this week, so she was ready to go today. Once she figured out these eggs had candy in them, you couldn't get her to let go of her basket for anything!!





This evening we went to Grandma and Grandma Smith's for dinner and an egg hunt. The kids needed to find 13 eggs, but only one of each color or design. The kids decided to find 13 eggs each, then when we came inside make sure everyone had one of each color or design. And really the ones with the money in them were the only ones that they really needed to have only one each.


Uncle Justin took the candy out of one of the eggs, and but a locus shell in it. Corrine got that egg and it was the very 1st one she opened. She opened the egg, saw the shell, and picked it up with quite the look on her face. She ended up laughing about it and found it quite funny.

Grandma Riddle's Birthday

Today was Grandma Riddle's 76th birthday. A few weeks back we took a picture of all her great grandkids with her. We framed the picture for her birthday and Corrine also brought her some flowers. Unfortunately Simeon & Rebecca were dealing with stomach issues and weren't able to go visit her today.



Ammon & Corrine both had turns with the camera, and since I have it on 4 pictures a second we have many, many pictures from today!



This is the picture we framed.


I'm so grateful that when I was a child my parents made it a priority to visit with grandparents and for us to get to know them. That instilled in me the importance of these visits, and I feel the same way with our kids. I want them to get to know their grand and great grandparents as much as they can. It's hard being so far away from my side of the family and not having the opportunity to see my grandparents as often. I am so thankful for the relationships I've had with my grand and great grandparents over the years.