About Me

My photo
I am a single Grandma of 5 kids and 7 grandkids. My home nest is in Queen Creek, Arizona where I have a beautiful view of the San Tan Mountains. After living my entire life in California my son gifted me with a beautiful 2 story nest almost 4 years ago. My days are spent in semi-retirement taking care of my 4 year old grandson, Caydon. My favorite times are when my entire family gets together!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Happy Holidays 2009

Our year as a family began with the birth of our little Miss Aisy, Jenna and Bryan's little one. From there the year has flown faster than reindeer toward Christmas. It has been a year of financial challenges for most of us and the creation of a zillion memories.



Jenna and Bryan went through many changes as Conlan went off to Kindergarten, Aisy grew through her first year phases, Bryan faced a fast paced work schedule, and Jenna went back to college working toward a degree in Interior Architecture and Design.






Audra was laid off from her job of 10 years and will continue her job search
after the birth of her baby girl. Sienna at 11+, now in middle school, finished for Christmas break with straight A's and is section leader in the band. She plays Baratone. Tristan is as always his energetic self at 8 years and is not a big fan of school. Video games are his favorite hobby to date. Kyla, age two is happy to have Mommy home while she awaits her new sisters arrival. I have yet to see it but have heard she does a mean dance to "All the Single Ladies" by Beyonce.



Jeremy is now living in his own place in Redondo Beach, California. He spends time in his recently acquired bachelor life between his job at Raytheon and time with friends.

Sasha (on the right) is working at the Physical Therapy office in Torrance. She will be managing the office sometime next year. She and boyfriend Izzy enjoy side trips to San Diego and Vegas.



Brianna works full time consulting for ICM on site at Honeywell. In May she started Massage Therapy. We lovingly refer to her as our "Anatomy Geek". If by chance you should hit a body part she is more than happy to give you the proper anatomy term for that part. Her 3 year old Caydon had some feeding issues this year, but with the help of our PT, OT, Speech/Feeding Therapists he has finally walked assisted in his walker, learned to roll from tummy to back and back to tummy, and we hope he will sit alone. Every step small or large is a miracle for us to treasure.







I spent 2009 searching for my cowboy. I found this one, but he was a bit too young.











Other than my cowboy search I have spent the majority of the year working with Caydon and his therapists, helping Jen with her kids while she attends school, began organizing my sewing/craft loft area, struggling to keep in shape during the heat with long walks, and squeezing in my handwork and crafts wherever possible. Always Grammy Nanny I spend as much time as I can with my grandkids. The highlight of my Halloween was creating the costume, at right, as the Which Way Witch. A slap at my own inadequacy in being directionally challenged! Thus the feet hanging at the bottom of my skirt.



Lessons Learned for the Year




We learned to get by with a little help from our friends.




















Joy and Caydon
(Thanks Joy for giving us Caydon's first experience ice skating)










We learned to be more creative.
(A squirt bottle aka turkey baster) Thanks Jeremy!









To always honor our elders. This one is for you Grammie Barbara! Brianna and Jenna gave this turkey his last flight.






To try new foods and beverages.











Learned to give hugs freely.

















Created solutions to major problems.











Conquered our fears!












Jumped a little higher!








The end of 2009 will be celebrated in California on New Year's Eve with the arrival of grandbaby #7. Making the score Boys: 3 Girls: 4.


As you walk into the New Year. . . . .
















May you find it a glitter with love, peace, and happiness!












Many blessings in 2010, Roxanne

Friday, August 14, 2009

Crazy in AZ

Things have been just a bit crazy here in AZ lately. So much for a relaxing summer. Between visits from Audra and kids, my friend Joy and daughter Destiny moving in with us, Joy traveling back and forth from Florida every two weeks and discovering termites in my dining room wall, garage, entry closet........well you get the picture. Crazy, busy, no matter what life throws our way we have managed to have some fun. So here are the highlights of our summer.

MY CUP RUNNETH OVER!

Discovering Tempe Marketplace

One of our more recent discoveries while searching Arizona for fun was finding Tempe Marketplace. It is an open air mall with couches and chairs, waterfalls, fireplaces, and a splash pad. It is fun to watch the kids cooling off from our 106 weather. You will also see an occasional adult stick a toe or two in the bubbling jumping water sprays.


Kyla Rayne finding the joy of water at Tempe Marketplace

What is your secret for longevity? This question was asked of a 104 year old Japanese woman on her birthday. She was quoted in Masaru Emoto's "The True Power of Water", as saying this. . . "I have ten experiences a day that touch my heart."









This picture also taken at the Marketplace did exactly that for me. Kyla seemed to find such joy in dancing through the water. Even though her face is covered it captured the moment for me and still touches my heart every time I look at it.














So I would ask you: What have you allowed to touch your heart lately? Can you find 10 things in one day that truly touch your heart? If not then maybe you should start looking!

The Three Funky Pigs

Summer is not complete at Ga-Ga Nanny's without our annual summer production. This years performance was The Three Funky Pigs written, produced and directed by Sienna. We had 4 very memorable characters:
Tristan as the Wolf - High Karate
Conlan as the Pig - booger (yes he did pick his nose, but only pretend so his mom would not get mad)
Sienna as Miss Piggy-Fru Fru (very voluptuous thanks to Nanny's bra stuffed with socks)
Destiny as Brainy Pig-who saved the day with her brainy stop the wolf plan.
















Grandma's Love Bugs

My dear friend Anita sent me this awesome sweatshirt. It has ladybugs with each of my grandkids names below. What Anita did not know is that granddaughter Sienna's nickname is "Bug", which is short for ladybug.


Sienna pointing to her bug.


Unfortunately friend Joy went a little buggy and . . .



The Mystery of the Scent

Recently while at the mall with my girls we found ourselves in the middle of a huge mystery. Before stopping for lunch we had stopped at Bath and Body Works. Those of you that know me well know that I have to wait 20 minutes at least before a perfume scent truly shows its pleasant scent or unpleasant odor on my skin. With a ton of energy and the enthusiasm of youth, Sienna and Destiny, followed me into the store on a mission. Goal: Find Nanny a new scent. You see every time I find one at the B&B Works they discontinue my fragrance. Well we went in search of just one that would work. I left the shop with every inch of both arms sprayed with scents until none of it made sense. We went to eat lunch and let them soak in. That is where the mystery begins. During lunch I sniffed the middle of my arm. It smelled delicious. "Girls, girls smell this." After a dozen sniffs our noses were so confused we could not figure out which scent was the one that smelled so Ahhh...some!


Inspector Sienna, Anxious to solve the mysterious scent mystery.













Sniffing for the right scent.











Comparing the scent strip to the chosen scent.











Destiny clearing her nose palette with Barbecue sauce. LOL.














Could this be the one?











Nanny - testing - comparing and eventually leaving without a scent.















Mystery Solved!
One week later Nanny realized that the scent that was so delicious had been a gift from Audra and that it was sitting on her bathroom counter. Okay I did finally confess to the girls. I had never sniffed it after it had mixed with the chemistry of my skin.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

What girl doesn't love jewelry, hats, scarves and trinkets? We do! So when Destiny and Sienna took me to Claire's they had a blast putting on a fashion show for me. I snapped pix and a good time was had by all.


My Mad Hatters












Sienna's Hat Magic











Destiny Striking A Pose














Nanny's Cow Girl Sienna















Not to be out done with the fun - NANNY'S FAB SPECS. Fab-u-lous!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

June 2006

Is Mommy Bree holding Caydon up or is the rolling pin holding Caydon down? Caydon at 4 months making cheese cake. If we tried to re-stage this picture now Caydon would have crumby feet because his feet would be in the crumbs! This is the perfect example of why we should take lots of pictures as our children and grandchildren grow. Caydon at 3 is super tall and sports his Harry Potter glasses.

Okay Girls Who Remembers the Wedding of 1989?

LOL! How many of these did we have? Barbie and Ken are sylin'. The ring bearer has his pillow. The bouquet is in Mom's antique birthday party cup. If you look carefully the wedding party is drinking a toast to the Bride and Groom. Please will somebody tell me what is going on with the ring bearer and flower girl's hair? Jenna where are the scissors? A comment was made by an unnamed source that Jenna was a wedding event planner even back then. Aaaahhh, sweet memories!


More Blast to the Past Moments - Xmas 1989 in Moreno Valley

Who remembers this Christmas Mystery?


Okay children the mystery is now to be revealed.







The elfish culprits are to the left! Aunt Neen and her co-workers from Castle Escrow! Yes, it was the best kept "Christmas Elf" secret ever!





Peeking at the tree from above.
L to R: Audra - Jenna - Brianna - Sasha - Jeremy






The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and this is how you all looked when you saw what was there. (Yes, that's Patches in Jenna's arms. Remember the attack of the killer cat when Sasha would laugh during America's Funniest Home Videos?)
Hey Grandma Barbara check out your Betty!


Jeremy and his new friend. Notice how he is keeping a very close eye on that candy cane. We all still talk about the Christmas his candy cane was taken away. He wailed like the baby he was until the minute it was handed back he stopped as if it had never been gone.







Merry Christmas turtles to Jenna. Michaelangelo was her favorite at the time.






"Hello Dolly" for Audra.











Little miss dress up for little miss dress up Brianna.










And Mama's little Christmas Cookie Monsters.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Blast to the Past: Disneyland 1989

Can anybody identify these people? Check out the waves and we don't mean the ones from Splash Mountain! Between the clothes and the stylin' hair, LOL.