Tag Archives: grandpa

Grandpa Diary #33

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Dear Kaylee,

I sure am glad they invented Facetime and Google +. You can make a video call and see someone, as well as talk to them. This was especially good when I was visiting my mommy and daddy, so they got the chance to see you “live.” They enjoyed that so much! Got the chance to see you smile and make faces.

My favorite thing is like what happened last night. I called your mommy on Google+ and she said you had been fussy. Yep, you were doing a bit of whining in your crib, but when your mommy put the phone in front of you and I said, “Kaaaayleeee! Kaaaayleeeee!” you stopped whining and broke out in a big smile.

Grandpa’s voice did the trick!

It is funny how my voice calms you down when, of course, I am a pretty loud person. So, for you, loud means, “Grandpa!”

I can whisper to you, too, so I guess that will sound like a normal person and Nana will like that better…

Love,
Loud Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #31

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Dear Kaylee,

Well, you are four months old today. Happy four months! You must be eating quite a bit because you now weigh twice what you weighed at birth. You are just about 15 pounds, which is about the weight of my bowling ball. So, you know what’s coming…

Kaylee, my little bowling ball!

Grandma gave me a picture frame for two pictures and one of them is you doing your best imitation of Katy Perry singing, “Roar!”

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Katy Perry is one of the most popular singers in the world right now. She started out as a Christian gospel singer. Her dad is a pastor just like Grandpa. I have her first album with songs about faith and Jesus. She wrote every song on that album herself. Even as a teenager, she had an amazing voice.

Here is how you can compare yourself to Grandpa. When I was your age, the most popular singer was also a Christian who sang faith songs, but he too is much more famous for his other work. His name is Elvis Presley. “Heartbreak Hotel” was the #1 song when I was born.

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You are already a wonderful singer. I love to listen to the songs you come up with your primordial singing. I know you will grow up to be a beautiful singer because your mommy is one, and the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Or I should say…

The bowling ball!

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #30

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Dear Kaylee,

Why is it so easy for you to smile? This always happens. All we have to do is smile first. We make eye contact with you, wait a bit, and then there it is: Bright smile.

We can learn from this. The urge to smile that we have doesn’t go away when you get older. It is still there. We might be able to resist it, but not for long. You see Kaylee, when you make eye contact and smile at most people, even if they are strangers, they will smile back. It’s just how we are designed by God.

You have a wonderful tool that God uses to bring joy to your mommy and daddy. And, because God has unlimited love, there is more than enough joy to go around. Your mommy is a math teacher, so she will explain to you God’s math. It starts with infinite love. Infinite joy.

So, the more love you give away, the more love you receive. The more joy that you share with others, the more joy you receive. You can’t outgive God. Always more than you need so you can overflow with what he is giving you.

Keep smiling Kaylee- you are making the world around you different.

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #29

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Dear Kaylee,

Happy Halloween! You are our little pumpkin and you are visiting your mommy’s school today so her students can see you in your ballerina pumpkin 1st Halloween costume. Your mommy is dressed like Amy (Dr. Fowler) from “The Big Bang Theory.” You’ll have to look that one up when you get older…

Lucky Nana is bringing you to lunch with her friends and then taking you over to the school. You did visit me today, so you could trick or treat with the preschool kids at our parade, so I didn’t get too jealous.

Kaylee, make sure mommy reads “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” to you. It is one of her favorite Halloween memories.

My favorite part of Halloween today was, of course, kissing you on the cheeks over a dozen times. This is like taking vitamins and your cheeks are my daily allotment. So, no matter what candy I eat today, you will still be the sweetest treat!

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #28

Dear Kaylee,

Here’s more Halloween memories from Grandpa.

The first thing my brothers and I had to do was carve pumpkins. I don’t remember where our pumpkins came from, but because we lived in a city that was close to farms in Wisconsin, I suppose the local farms supplied them. My daddy, your great-grandpa would carve a pumpkin, too, and it was always silly, rather than scary.

I would also go trick or treating with your uncles. We knew everyone in our neighborhood and so we would go out by ourselves, while your great grandma and grandpa would stay home and hand out candy. My dad would always hand out full size candy bars because he wanted the kids to get something real good! After a few years trick or treating, you learn who has the best stuff.

We would get some things you probably won’t get when you go trick or treating. Apples, popcorn balls, and maybe even five pennies taped together with Scotch tape. I guess those people didn’t like candy, but I think it is more likely they ran out and so they improvised!

We would use pillow cases for the candy and they would hold a lot. Because your uncles are brothers, we would fight sometimes. This was especially fun when you would hit each other with pillow cases full of candy. Your Uncle David is the strongest, and so when I was swinging at him I wish I had all apples in my pillow case!

Your mommy didn’t fight with your uncles, though. She was always tougher than they were until they got older, and then they liked her too much by then to fight, though she could still punch them good if she needed to!

Another thing that happened on Halloween is that older kids would try to scare you. They would hide and jump out from behind a bush or a tree. They would be ghosts or monsters or something else scary. This didn’t work for us Hanson boys, however.

You see, Kaylee, our daddy and grandpa were funeral directors. We grew up seeing dead people at our grandpa’s house because he lived over the funeral home.

So, when you’re used to seeing dead people at your grandpa’s house, some kid with a wolfman mask who jumps at you from behind a bush might surprise you, but he sure isn’t going to scare you!

No one will scare you when you go trick or treating because your daddy will be with you and he is a strong man who doesn’t even need a pillow case full or apples!

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #27

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Dear Kaylee,

Halloween is coming up! This is an American holiday where children get to dress up in make-believe and go to their neighbor’s houses or apartments and do something called, “Trick or treat.” This is when your knock or ring the bell of your neighbor’s house and say, “Trick or treat!” Then they open the door and put candy in a bag that you are carrying. When you are finally done, you go back home and your mommy and daddy help you sort out your candy and tell you how much of it you can eat.

Well, minus the candy that mommy and daddy sneak out of the pile and eat themselves, that is!

If this sounds like fun, that’s because it is fun! You already picked out your pumpkin, too, at the pumpkin patch. When you are a little older, you will get to carve your pumpkin and give it a scary or a silly face and there will be a candle inside that makes the light shine inside and it looks amazing at night. You will really love that.

So, what was Halloween like for Grandpa?

Well, we would dress up in costumes just like you do. Grandpa’s favorite costumes were a Superman costume and being a cowboy. Grandpa liked Superman so much that he insisted on using his name for a long time. In school he even signed his homework,

“Dana Edward Superman Hanson!”

Grandpa’s teacher didn’t think that was a good idea…

Kaylee, your mommy had really cute costumes! Nana would make them. My favorites were Princess Jasmine and a cow. We still have the Jasmine costume so…guess who is going to be Princess Jasmine for Halloween in a couple years? My guess is-

You!

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #25

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Dear Kaylee,

Your uncles were home for the weekend to celebrate their birthdays. As you know, they are twins, so one birthday means two cakes! Your other uncle, Matthew was with us, too, and we all went out to the Pumpkin Patch. You were fascinated looking around and seeing all the commotion. There were tons of people, a band playing music, we saw many animals- what a day! We took pictures, of course, but we couldn’t sit you on the hay bale because it bothered your bare feet! The pumpkins were big and small, with many strange shaped gourds, too.

Your uncles especially liked that some of the gourds were really strange shaped, but you will have to wait until you are much older to ask your mommy why your dad, your uncles and grandpa were laughing so hard…

When your mommy picked out your pumpkin it was just the right shape and size. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it is carved and lit up.

When we left, I just wanted to hold my pumpkin, who is just the right shape and size.

My Kaylee-pumpkin doesn’t need a candle inside, though, because her smile is always lighting up wherever she goes!

Love,

Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #23

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Dear Kaylee,

It was your uncles’ birthday yesterday. Uncle Greg and Uncle David are 22 years old. This made me stop and think. This means that the last time Grandpa changed diapers was over 20 years ago!

It doesn’t take long to change you. We used cloth diapers for your uncles and that meant diaper, pins, and plastic pants. Now we use disposable diapers and its “Zoop, clean, zoop, ready to go!”

By the way, I call you “frog” when I am changing you because you kick your legs back and forth as I am getting down to business. We are getting pretty good at the routine. I am thinking about promoting synchronized diapering for the next Olympics. Grandpa and Kaylee can be in the “senior” division.

One thing you are learning about your uncles that you will grow to appreciate. They are both hilarious. They will be fooling around with you all the time, just like they do with your mommy and daddy. Uncle Greg said he wanted to teach you a bad word for your first word.

“Crap.”

So, your mommy said if he does that, y’all are going to call him “Uncle Crappy.” Sure, enough, your mommy sent a birthday picture yesterday to “Uncle David and Uncle Crappy.”

Don’t worry, Grandpa will make sure to put a stop to this particular shenanigans. We’ll teach you a different nickname for Uncle Greg that starts with the letter, “G.”

Uncle Goofy!

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #22

Dear Kaylee,

It was really good to see you this morning! Now that you are at our house during the week, the weekend seems like an awfully long time to be away. Nana was out with you at your house on Saturday, as she was helping your mommy decorate your new room, so at least she got to see you one more day (Jealous Grandpa!).

Kaylee, I wonder if this is going to ever get old? You know, where we take each other for granted and not being with each other isn’t a big deal? Where Grandpa doesn’t mind if he doesn’t see his little Kaylee Q ( I call you that sometimes now, and I don’t know why) for awhile. I don’t think that will ever happen as long as we stay connected.

You see, to say that you are my granddaughter is saying you are part of me. You are part of my identity. On my driver’s license there should be one more category that describes me. Here is what it would say:

Sex: Male
Hair: Not Much
Eyes: Blue (just like a little girl I know)
Height: 6’2″ ( shrunk, 6 1 1/2″- gravity)
Weight: 190 (target weight:))
Kaylee: Yes!!

Love,
Grandpa