{"id":10600,"date":"2019-07-21T05:49:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-21T10:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=10600"},"modified":"2019-07-21T05:50:02","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T10:50:02","slug":"just-taking-it-all-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=10600","title":{"rendered":"Just Taking it All in"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019m an \u201call in\u201d kind-of-gal. I\u2019ll admit that being all-in is easy when it comes to savoring the moments with my grandchildren. Sweet one-on-one time with my grown-up ones — Braden and his wife, Ruth, and Barrett, while I was in Austin doing animal care. Braden and Ruth are still “honeymooning” after nearly three years of marriage. Maybe 2020 will be the year for a great grand-baby; at least that\u2019s what a little bird told me! I\u2019m not holding my breath, but, after seeing \u201cLion King\u201d with the four younger grands, I started getting excited about the potential of the \u201ccircle of life\u201d continuing in our family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I brought the two youngest grandchildren home with me from Austin and of course, with the two who live here in Frisco, my home is the \u201chappening\u201d place. Actually, it’s more like \u201cthrow caution to the wind\u201d place. My usual pristine home, with little out of place, goes free-spirit when the grands are here. I get caught up playing their games, leaving the beds unmade, and allowing their feet on the furniture. In the light of eternity, will it matter that I didn\u2019t nag them about keeping the place tidy? But in the light of my eternity, they\u2019ll remember Nana for being fun, all-in with them. I am still amused when I hear them say: \u201cNana, will you make us chocolate milk in our sippy-cups? And, yes, I did! Those sippy cups have been around for all of their lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When trying to decide \u201cWhat should we do today?\u201d and the suggestion of Chuck-E-Cheese came up \u2013 we were all in\u2026. again! (Yes, this crew STILL wants to hang out there) \u2013 so funny to see them all so determined to chalk up more tickets than ever before \u2013 final count after pizza and two hours of play: 3,150! The next day they chose Ninja Nation \u2013 an American Ninja Warrior-like facility where obstacle courses give kids and adults body challenging action. Only problem was the blisters on their softy hands from hanging on bars and other obstacles. The new “Lion King” movie gave us all great feel-good feelings. The story line is similar to the original animated version, but the computer-generated life-like characters, music and current one-liners made for such a great afternoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In between all the go-to activities is always Nana\u2019s standby oldie but goodie, Nintendo 64 \u2013 Mario Party, and other games that make me laugh, considering the current high-tech versions of video games on their phones and theater screens at home. A bocce championship on the courts in my community made for hilarious competition: Bryson and I on one team and Payton and Brennan on the other. Bryson and I, calmly accepting or not getting another \u201cclosest to the palino\u201d score, while the other two highly-competitive guys throwing themselves on the ground in defeat or chest-bumping each other in the win. We had to have a play-off for the championship game and Bryson and I, gracefully, congratulated the winners in all their glory! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maybe you\u2019re still in the parenting mode, but, before long (Trust me\u2026..the time flies!), grand-parenting will become a part of your world, and in that case, my PRO-Nana recommendation is to get intimately involved in their lives. Moms and dads are no doubt the greatest influencers, but grandparents can come in a close second. My husband and I teamed up for the first many years of the older kids\u2019 lives. The youngest two only get me \u2013 so I have to step it up and be all in for both of us now. It isn\u2019t a hard task. It\u2019s a circle-of-life pleasure for me.
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We always wanted our grandchildren to know that we pray for them, stand ready to be there for them, and to support them as best we could. I’m, by no means, wanting to be dishing out a guilt trip to anyone that doesn’t have that “bent”, but I assure you, there is nothing to compare to that precious love and hearing: “Nana, I love you so much! Am I your favorite?\u201d And my reply, \u201cYes, you\u2019re my favorite Payton! Alexia! Bryson! Brennan!\u201d Along with this over-the-top, care-free spirit of this grandmother, is a brilliant one who knows\u2026I love them too much to compare them or to even want them to be alike in any way. Just like God, I love them with the love of a devoted, grateful, and indescribable love that only grandparents AND God understands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m an \u201call in\u201d kind-of-gal. I\u2019ll admit that being all-in is easy when it comes to savoring the moments with my grandchildren. Sweet one-on-one time with my grown-up ones — Braden and his wife, Ruth, and Barrett, while I was in Austin doing animal care. Braden and Ruth are still “honeymooning” after nearly three years…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3062,14052,5853,3141,652,6783,4367,14056,296,14053,132,14051,6784,14055,11762,13549,14054,259,14050],"class_list":["post-10600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bocce","tag-circle-of-life","tag-favorite","tag-gift","tag-grandchildren","tag-grandparent","tag-grateful","tag-involved","tag-let-it-go","tag-lion-king","tag-love","tag-minecraft","tag-nana","tag-ninja-nation","tag-nintendo-64","tag-parenting","tag-sippy-cup","tag-support","tag-taking-it-all-in"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10600"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10610,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10600\/revisions\/10610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}