My Grandchildren-Why They Fill My Heart Space

For anyone who is a grandparent, you already know the magic of loving your grandchildren. It is different from being a parent, because there is a freedom there to spoil at will, and to love without the added stress of worry: am I a good parent, is what I am doing going to adversely affect my child’s future, am I raising this child to be a responsible citizen, etc. Really, to love this new life unconditionally without all of our own issues interfering, as it often does in parenthood.

I have four, wonderful grandchildren that range in ages eleven through three. Being an out of state grandmother makes it difficult for me to be part of their lives in the way that I want. One of the hubs I wrote this past year addresses the many ways that make it possible to stay connected to grandkids when they are living far away.

Although I visit as often as I possibly can the distance between us is too far for a day trip. They live in Michigan and I live in North Carolina. So, when I do visit I take lots of photos. In fact, I have gone through several cameras taking them…and the family knows that I won’t leave until there is at least one group shot.

I try to visit during both holiday time, special birth years, and ordinary down time-which is usually a week in the summer when school is out and we can do some fun activities like berry picking. My annual Christmas photo consists of a group ‘grandkids’ photo with me stuck in the middle.

My two oldest grandchildren belong to my youngest daughter, Christa and my two youngest grandkids belong to my oldest daughter, Cara. An interesting fact is that each daughter had her daughter first followed by her son. If you’ve been following my work you have undoubtedly seen their faces on Hubpages more than once.

So, here are some photos from my collection with an explanation of why I love this child and what the photo means.

Olivia is my first born grandchild. She has olive skin and penetrating hazel eyes. She is a very serious, deep thinker, so it is a rarity to catch her laughing in a photo. She loves animals and her favorite now is the wolf. Her nickname is: Wolf Girl and I wrote a hub book review about wolves that I dedicated to her. She also loves to sew and actually created a minature wolf doll, and a wardrobe of clothes.

She is an awesome writer and has won Honorable Mention from a Writer’s Digest competition for a submission I made when she was ten. In sixth grade she was selected by her teacher as manager of set design for their school play. Along with her writing talent she has a strong artistic talent which has reaped her recognition in the school district.

This year, Olivia will be entering the same junior high school that her mother, aunt and grandmother attended. She'll be in seventh grade.

Marco is Olivia’s younger brother. It is amazing to see the two of them stand side by side and know they are from the same parents. Marco has a fair complexion, blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes like his mother. He has a sensitive heart and loves to help out. He also loves to cook and often will whip up breakfast for himself or his mom, and is very competent doing so-this at age seven.

Marco is ‘all boy’. He has a lot of energy, which he directs in his karate class; is a cub scout and won first place in the soap box derby contest last year; and swims competitively for the same swim team as his sister, each of them winning multiple awards and ribbons.

Marco also competed in a local triatholon this year and placed third for his age division. He also competed in the Upper Peninsula bikathon contest: Ore to Shore, and won second place for the second consecutive year.

Grace is the oldest daughter of Cara, hubber Cardelean. She is five now and has just started reading and writing. She created a cover for her writing journal and enjoys spending time in her backyard writing in it. She is a quietly observant child, which reminds me of her mother. She has a kind heart and is willing to help out, especially with her little brother, who happens to be only a year younger!

Grace loves gymnastics and is unafraid of the parallel bars, the trampoline or climbing the rope to the top! I watch her play at the park and am amazed at her upper body strength and lack of fear on the rock climbing wall. She will be starting kindergarten this year and is happily looking forward to it!

She loves to help her mom in the kitchen and has participated in Monday cooking sessions for the Kids Cook Mondays series, which you can view by going to cardelean's profile page. Her father loves the Japanese culture and regularly uses chopsticks to eat with. This has influenced Grace, and her brother Alex, to learn to use them as well. Quite impressive I must say.

Alex is the ‘baby’ of the group of siblings/cousins, but don’t call him that to his face! Both he and his sister have the blonde hair, big blue eyes that both parents sport, but Alex has knockout lashes that are the envy of many ladies. He is a HUGE flirt and can melt your heart in a flash. Oh, and what a sense of humor at age three already. No doubt, he is surely going to be the class clown when he is in school.

Alex has been going to story hour at the library, as well as preschool, for about a year now and he loves to ‘read’ books along with mom and Grace. Both Alex and Grace love to sing, dance and play musical instruments. He just started gymnastics along with his sister and clearly enjoys the activities. He is also a very active, typical boy, who loves his mama very, very much-especially at night when he wants to climb in bed and snuggle.

Alex is also a cook's helper in the kitchen and has become quite adept at handling the kitchen gadgets, and even taking a turn at the stove at age four, with mom's supervision. He loves to play with his friends and sister and keeps the family entertained when he makes up his own songs about anything and everything.

Alex's special birthday is on the Fourth of July!

I am proud of each of my grandchildren. I enjoy seeing traits of their parents in them, especially of my two daughters, Cara and Christa, although it is fun to also catch the traits of their fathers as well.

I love their individuality and my relationship with each of them, appreciating them for whom they are. It's fun to stay in contact, especially through skyping, and I am always looking forward to my next visit with them.

I hope you enjoy my photo gallery of my pride and joy.