My husband and I are the proud grandparents of nine boys, ages 7 months-20 years, and three granddaughters, ages 14-21. Our oldest son and his wife recently had twin grandsons for us. They were born May 26, 1999. The firstborn weighed 6 lbs.8 oz. and the second weighed 6 lbs.12 oz. We are really excited about this event and experience. It has been a very busy but happy time.

The parents of the twins have two boys already, ages 8 and 4. The oldest, Jonathan was in my babysitting care much of the earlier years of his life, while Mommy was at work. He is in second grade and making A's & B's. He is a precocious child, never tiring of looking for new adventures. He and his little brother, Joshua, just "love" to come to Papa's and Gramma's house. Jonathan feels he has to stay overnight at least once a week, but Joshua will only stay all night occasionally. They live close by, so it works out fine.

Joshua is full of energy, zest for life, and mischief. He's a hard one to keep up with, but adorable as can be. I have been his primary babysitter also, but Mommy waited until he was a year old to return to work, so I didn't have him fulltime at an earlier age as I did Jonathan.

Our oldest grandson, Andrew, will be 21 in November. He attended his freshman year at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, OK. He was accepted on full scholarship. Needless to say we are very proud of him. He is quite an accomplished musician, playing both the violin and viola and he has been composing for quite a few years. He composes both solos and entire orchestra presentations. He has a 3.98 GPA. One of his hobbies is making stained glass items. His goal in life is to serve the Lord. What more could a grand-parent ask for? He has now gone to Oregon to work with an organization which helps needy people, including those in foreign countries who are in need. He plans to attend college there in January.

Andrew's younger brother Christopher is a senior in high school. He is quite athletic and works as a lifeguard at the municipal pool during the summer months. He loves snowboarding and skateboarding.  He is not sure what occupation he wants to pursue.

Our oldest step-granddaughter, Sheri graduated from Concordia University in Mequon, WI. this past May. She is majored social work. Every summer she has to one of the disaster areas in America to help the victims of these disasters, some examples being the floods of the Missouri River several years ago and Hurricane Andrew in the early 1990's. She left to work in Kyrgystan for Lutheran World Missions. She will be doing social work there for one year.

Sheri's younger sister, Holly just graduated from high school and will attend the community college in Springfield, MO this fall. She loves animals and computers. She collects teddy bears and dolphin figures, etc.

Our next grandson, Robbie, is almost 10 years old, does quite well in school and likes basketball and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates (his Dad's and Grandpa's favorite teams--Grandpa is from Pittsburgh). Robbie could read before Kindergarten.

Robbie's little brother, Nykkolaus, is 5 years old. He is a soft-spoken, well behaved little boy who has a smile for every situation. I have heard him have one tantrum in his life. He has just learned to write his name.

Robbie and Nykkolaus have a step-sister, Krystie who is 15 years old and a step-brother, Steven, age 12. Krystie collects Holiday Barbie Dolls. Steven is an honor student. They were just little ones when our son and their mother met. We have loved having them accept us as grandparents, as have Sheri and Holly.

Although it doesn't happen often, since one son and his family live in Missouri and the rest of us are here in Las Vegas, the thing I like most to do is to have the whole family over at once, crazy, chaotic and wild as it may be. One son says the house isn't big enough for everyone, but I love it, even with at least one "disagreement" somewhere in the family before the day is done.

Well, there they are, all the grandchildren. I've bragged a lot, but isn't that what we grandparents are "supposed" to do?

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SOME REALLY CUTE THINGS JOSHUA HAS SAID:

Last August when my daughter-in-law and I were preparing a collage of my son's pictures from infancy to birth (for his 40th birthday), Joshua was very interested in some pictures Wendy was taking from her album. One was a picture of him and his brother. Johnathan had "red-eye". Joshua looked quizzically at the photo and then at me and asked "Gramma, who turned on Brother's lights?"

One day I was giving him some Lil Smokies sausages. He loves them and when he was finished eating them he asked "Gramma, can I have some more sausage "babies"? Later, when I was hugging him he told me I was "tightening" him.

One night when his daddy was kissing him, he wiped his face. Freddie said, "Don't you like my kisses?" Joshua said "Yeah, but I can't wear them all day.".

There are so many things that he and the other children have said that can "crack you up", but I have never written them down and cannot remember them. I wish I could, because between 4 children and 12 grand-children I could probably have a book by now.

I hope you enjoyed this little visit with our grandchildren. To find out about their parents, click on the angel or to see the twins click on the bird:

Our Children	The 2 latest twigs on our Family Tree

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This page updated August 7, 2000