The Clean Plate Club*

My post about our trip to see Pappy made me realize that I really need to talk more about some of the other grandparents. We visit Grandpa Blue and Grandma Jeane this weekend, but sometime's it's hard to remember to talk about the grandparents in town because we see them so often that it lacks the obvious "adventure" aspect to the story. But oh, are they special!

Nana has always embodied the sweet little grandma that you read about in the story books. And if not, then they should write stories about her. She's so tiny and so energetic that I think it's impossible for someone to not smile when they see her with her granddaughters. She wears her excitement proudly and is simply not capable of hiding it inside.

Books and learning are Nana's thing. Whenever she offers to take Ellie over night or for an afternoon, she always has a plan laid out. There is always an activity in store for Ellie - some learning experience, whether it be the county fair or a trip to the bookstore. Sometime's it's an arts-and-craft or coloring activity that she found online. Sometimes it's a new game she bought. Regardless, it's always in the spirit of learning.

And she makes learning fun. I can SEE the effect it has on my Ellie and I'm looking forward to watching it with Addie too.

Nana always has such a big smile on her face whenever she's with the girls. It's one of those smiles you KNOW is real. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they're practically the same size, but there is something about her that makes it so easy to get fantastic pictures. The girls simply adore her...

... both Ellie...

... and Addie.

She is a fantastic cute grandma and I love how her energy and love for learning rubs off on my daughters.

But let's not forget about Grampa! Oh Grampa! Nana likes to joke that he did it the right way. Grampa did not have any children of his own so he didn't have to deal with the same frustrations that come along with raising young children, yet he gets to be a grandpa. He gets all the benefits with none of the work. Or so Nana likes to say.

If there is an award for "Grandparent with the most laughs" then it definitely goes to Grampa. The children make him laugh out loud more than any other grandparent. I'm not sure why that is, but whatever the reason it's definitely apparent that he loves being a grandpa. Maybe more than anything else.

Grampa likes to try new things with Ellie. Both he and Nana do a fantastic job of trying to think of unique adventures to take Ellie on. I love it. So does Ellie. Ellie loves spending time with Nana and Grampa and often tries to convince us that it's Friday night so that we can go have dinner at a restaurant with them.

And Addie loves Grampa too. They have this special "bond" let's call it, where she likes to put her hand completely in his mouth. I don't know why, but she does. And she only does it to him. Strange, I know. But she thinks he's great fun because of it.


* And if you're wondering what the Clean Plate Club is... somehow these two have figured out the magic recipe to get Ellie to eat more than she does anywhere else. Ellie is always so proud to belong to the Clean Plate Club - but only if Nana and Grampa are around.