Time with Grandma Leader

In March my Grandma Leader was able to fly to CA from OH for my mom's wedding and to spend some time with the family. It was a little iffy as to whether she would be able to come or not because her health has not been the best recently. Physically she seems like the same grandma on the outside with a few aches and kinks, but it is mentally that the decline has happened the most, and that is sad to witness since she has always been the sharpest witted person.From the moment Grandma got to our house Alexis was smitten with her. She has only ever been around her a few other times since we do not live close to each other, but it seems like they always pick up right where they left off. Grandma had a velcroed Alexis to her hip and a chatterbox in her ears for the next few days.Grandma even humored her by letting Alexis teacher her how to play the Leapster.

Of course this was only Aiden's second time seeing Grandma and he was more interested in her shoes. This was during his phase where if your shoes were off your feet they were on his feet. He thought they were the coolest shoes because they made 'clopping' noises and he made sure the whole neighborhood knew he was having fun.

I really wish we had the time to get ALL the great-grandkids together to get professional pictures taken, but that wedding weekend was already chaotic enough. So, here are the 9 who were present out of the 14 total kiddos. I wish that we could spend more time with Grandma. I wish that we could live right next door to her so the kids could grow-up learning more about her then just what they know from my words and pictures. I know that the memory loss will only increase instead of getting better. I find myself shying away from calling as often since I am sad when the phone call is over, and then I am angry with myself for not seizing the opportunity to talk to her now while I still have the chance. May I take the time now, while I still have it, to spend as much time with my Grandma as I can. And may she have MANY, HEALTHY years to come.

**I also wish that we may be able to save enough to take a trip to Ohio this next summer so we can spend some time with her and the rest of our extended family**