Monday, September 30, 2019

Emma time ...

Sunday, September 29:  Emma spent the night (Saturday night), we just quietly hung out, played with Matey, caught up on each other's week, and watched one episode of "Designated Survivor" before going to bed.

 We worshiped at Calvary Sunday morning, came home and ate a yummy lunch. Emma was pretty intent on further taming our First Mate, so I set her loose on him. She is amazing and does not give up easily. Matey became quite comfortable with her hands and eventually was just hopping on and off her finger quite naturally. 

 See? Emma worked her "magic" with our little budgie! She even played happy budgie sounds to him from her phone, which he appreciated very much.
 Since Emma and I are attending a very important family wedding at the end of October, we needed to get a pretty dress for Emma to wear for that occasion. We drove down to Woodland and we really only needed to visit ONE store: "Altar'D State". We LOVE that name. It's a Christian store full of beautiful clothing, wonderful Christian note cards and plaques, and the whole atmosphere is wonderful. While we were parking the car, we noticed a fire truck nearby and lots of medical people surrounding a car. We prayed for whoever was in trouble, and we also asked the Lord to lead us to the right dress at the right price!
One of the clerks who greeted us alerted us to the special 40% off clearance sale that was going on that day only. We were able to purchase a truly lovely dress for Emma (she looks like a princess in it) for just $30! Can you believe it? We were pretty wowed by it. I loved sitting in the dressing room area on a comfortable couch while Emma was inside a pretty room trying on dresses. She would come out and show me how they looked. There are beautiful mirrors, and the lighting is wonderful in there. We had such a nice time.
 This is one of the plaques that were displayed ... I love that I've been studying various words from Titus 1:1-4. FAITH was one of those words this week. This is a very nice "definition" of faith.
I treasure these times with my dear Emma. She is such a gift to me.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

A hodgepodge with Kaity today

Saturday, September 28:  After my doc appointment yesterday, I came home and ached all over--every single joint felt fatigued and downright OLD, plus my head ached, and since I had gotten a flu shot--my arm hurt too! I woke up Saturday morning in much the same physical condition and decided it was time for Advil to the rescue--otherwise, how would I ever find the strength to play with dear Kaity-Girl today?
 Thankfully, the Advil took the "edge" of my discomfort off. Kaity was pretty understanding about me not having my usual energy and was okay with just playing for a few hours at my house. Kaity had mentioned on Thursday that I needed some "DOG BONES" for my railroad. I asked her HOW on  earth she knew what that was? She's a smart little cookie, and told me that she knows all about this stuff. Anyway, Thursday night I ordered a pack of dogbones (on-line) and a new switch track (which also came with dog bones). I never expected that they would arrive so soon--but they did! So Kaity and I used them to build a super duper layout. Kaity is an excellent builder of tracks--she has so many good ideas.
 But THEN, it was time for school. "Miss Kaitlynn" ordered us all into the classroom and we worked on some math problems together and did a little bit of reading. Kaity chose a rather difficult book: "SkippyJon Jones" but since HER teacher is reading these books to her first grade class, Kaity was pretty thrilled that I actually owned TWO of them and had them right on my shelves.



 We got all of our schooling done, ate a really yummy meal of chicken, broccoli and rice with chocolate pudding for desert. Yum.
 We decided to play for a brief time at the playground nearest Kaity's house. I love Kaity's enthusiasm for playgrounds, and the fact that she is SO happy when exerting herself physically. She has real strengths that I'd like to see her develop further.


 These monkeybars used to appear SO BIG a few years ago, but NOW Kaity can practically reach the ground--so we decided to make her use the upper bar (see how she is doing this?).

 We were asked to help a nice lady who was attempting to remove her child from the child swings, but this new little puppy was being too active, so she asked if we would hold the leash while she got her kiddo out of the swing. Kaity was very happy to be of help. Kaity--you are SO good with animals!
PS.  Matey was well loved by Kaity today. She would play for 10-15 minutes, and then announce that she was going to hold Matey for awhile. She would march over to his cage, open his door, reach in and grab Matey without flinching or hesitation. Matey got quite used to Kaity today--she is quite unrelenting! 

Matey's first bath

Friday, September 27:  Can you believe it? After all of these weeks of putting Matey's bird bath in his cage with fresh warm water each and every day ...
... TODAY, he took a few little sips of his bath water and then jumped in! I was so surprised! He actually splashed around for a little while, got back out, shook the water off, and then jumped back in. YES! His bath lasted probably five minutes in total--but it was a FIRST. He then proceeded to extensively groom himself, fluff his feathers, flap his wings ... and eventually he was both clean AND DRY. Good job, Matey!

Lunch and then Littles

Friday, September 27:  I had a routine physical examination downtown at my PCP Friday mid-morning, and then Dylan and I met for lunch. I don't even remember the last time he and I had a conversation ALONE ... so it was a welcomed event, for sure. We enjoyed a buffet at the Hong Kong just a few blocks from where Dylan works. It was SO GOOD to sit and visit with this youngest of sons. We talked over a lot of important stuff, and I felt more connected to him afterwards. 

We walked over to the library after we finished eating because Kellly and the Littles were there hanging out. I only snapped a few pictures of them while we talked for a little bit, and then everyone had to get on with their day. Darling Aidan was playing with the little trains (naturally).
 L'il darlin Erin was exploring everything in sight. She is such a little doll-baby.
 Look at her sweet little face. You are something, Erin! One of these days we are going to have to spend significant time together. I feel negligent of you, dear granddaughter. It will happen, though, I am positive it will.
Love you guys so much: Dylan, Kelly, Brendan, Aidan and Erin.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Happy down to my toes

Thursday, September 26:  I had such a happy time with Kaity tonight--I can hardly contain myself. I picked her up from school and we came right over to my house. I wasn't sure WHAT would be on Kaity's agenda for the evening ... but thankfully, she wanted to build a layout with the tracks and do trains! Easy. Have a go at it, Kaity!
 Kaity is a very good track builder. She has a good eye for it and sense of symmetry, etc. I heated up some food for us while Kaity built.
 Kaity was very happy to see Matey--who has stubbornly REFUSED to allow me near him all week! Brendan was able to touch Matey without getting pecked half to death! Emma was able to do the same on Sunday ... but NOT me. I was beginning to wonder if Matey would ever warm up to me.

There is something about Kaity and animals. She doesn't FLINCH and she is NEVER afraid. Animals know this! Matey actually let Kaity hold him in her hands! I was SO amazed. And Kaity was so gentle and so confident about the whole thing. Emma is the same way! Brendan did very well too. I guess old ladies can learn a lot from their little grandchildren--so I continued to watch as Kaity reached into the cage with both hands and just cupped them around Matey. 
 This made me super happy, because I was beginning to doubt he would ever allow us to handle him at all!

 Kaity built and played for a very long time. She has a wonderful imagination.
 The picture below: I have no idea what Kaity is exclaiming about!

 Kaity went back and forth between the railroad and Matey--she wanted to be sure he didn't forget that SHE WAS IN CHARGE!!!! She kills me.
 This is Kaity being silly (below).
 Another reason I am SO happy tonight is this:  I've been wanting to begin Bible lessons with Kaity for a very long time now--but she has always been very resistant to "stories" and books in general. So I began to pray about it and I wasn't sure how to even begin. But in the last few weeks, Emma has mentioned wanting me to teach Kaity and she even mentioned Jesse wanting me to begin doing Bible stories with Kaity--so it was certainly time to pray about it! I remembered the "Jesus Storybook Bible" early Thursday morning and felt led to begin teaching Kaity about the little girl, Jairus's daughter, that Jesus raised from the dead.
Above is a picture of Kaity coloring in an illustration of Jesus, Jairus, and the little girl. Kaity listened SO carefully to the story--and as you remember, Jesus got interrupted on the way to the girl's house. She was very sick and hadn't gotten out of bed for a month! But then a little lady, who had been sick for TWELVE YEARS, snuck up behind Jesus in the crowd and touched the edge of His robe and was immediately healed. Of course, no one can "sneak up on Jesus!" so He stopped His journey to talk with her and assure her that she was going to be okay. In the meantime, Jairus's daughter died. WHen I got to this part of the story, Kaity looked up at me and said, "This isn't going so well, grandma. She wasn't SUPPOSED TO DIE!" Kaity was obviously sad about this. Well, you know how the story ends--Jesus got to Jairus's house and "woke his daughter up!" and then they all had breakfast together. Kaity was very happy about Jesus bringing the daughter back to life. I told Kaity that the Lord does that for all of us who believe in Him. He gives us life everlasting and one day, we will SEE Him! At this point, she dropped her marker and said, "No way, Grandma! You mean we're going to get to see God with our very own eyes?!?!" Yes, yes, Y-E-S dear Kaity! Isn't that so great?
 On our way back to Kaity's house we stopped over at her school playground so that she could burn off the extra energy she has stored up inside of her ... lots and lots!



I loved every minute of being with Kaity tonight and I'm so thankful!

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Highest pleasure

Wednesday, September 25:  One of my favorite things to do in all the wide world is to cuddle up on the couch with this precious child and read a good story together. 
 We read, "Violet Comes to Stay", which is kind of an offshoot of the (beloved) Mitford series. The main female protagonists in the Mitford Series is Cynthia Coppersmith, a children's author of many books with Violet, the cat, the supreme object of her literary endeavors. Jan Karon has 14 books in the Mitford Series (so far), but these Violet books were written (evidently with Jan Karon's permission) by another author, who evidently all of us Mitford lovers would want a taste of Violet.
 Brendan loved this sweet little story about a kitten who couldn't seem to find his place in the world until a very kind woman adopted him into her book store, where we assume they both lived happily ever after.

Brendan also was pretty excited to share with me his Handwriting book. I've never seen him to enthused to practice his handwriting! Yes! Good job, Mr. Brendan!
 We even had enough time to squeeze in a little train time. I'm so thankful I have all this train stuff and that my little ones enjoy it so much. I like it too!
 Brendan's goal was to surround Matey by railroad--this time on the ground, instead of up on his table.
 It's wonderful to see Brendan building and enjoying himself just playing. I love you so much, dear Brendan.

It did my heart good to be with you today, Brendan. THank you, Lord, for this dear grandson.