December 3 Happiness!

Friday:  What an unusual day it was today ... for me, at least. We had to switch out Tuesday for Friday this week with the little kids. Their nanny was out of town several days this week, so I was able to accommodate her absence today. I picked up Aidan from pre-school at 11:15 and then took care of all of the kiddos at their house while Dylan was at work for a few hours.

We had a little bit of a scary beginning to our time here. Erin and I were at the top of the basement stairs, me holding Erin because she jumped into my arms when I walked through the front door of their house. I thought twice about carrying her down those stairs and told Erin I didn't think it was a good idea for me to do that. So I lowered her down next to me, thinking that we would just walk down together ... when instead, Erin toppled head-over-heels all the way to the bottom. Yikes. She cried really hard. I checked to make sure she had broken no bones, cuddled with her on their couch for a little while and then she was off and running. I was so glad she wasn't hurt.

I am not often in charge of the care of Callaghan. Do you see the sweet expression on his little face? This is totally his personality ... at least part of the time! When he speaks, however, he growls like a little bear cub. It's darling! We played in the basement playroom for most of our hours together.

However, this is THEIR territory ... so the TV was on for most of our visit which had Brendan pretty mezmerized, but the littler kids played as they usually do. Here is Aidan making faces and looking like a "scawie monster" as I snapped his picture.

Brendan was in charge of the remote ...

I was trying to take a quick picture of Erin and I with my phone but Aidan kept photo-bombing us ... so I asked him to join in on the picture. Here is how that "idea" turned out ...

Mr. Aidan will NOT be denied ... this is him growling and being as "scawie" as he can possibly be! I will say, though, Aidan was more cuddly today than he has been in a very long time. He was so content to just curl up in my arms ... for the longest time! Thank you, Lord.

Dylan was home from work before 2 o'clock, so the older three children piled into my car and we played over at my house for the remainder of the afternoon. They hadn't seen my house decorated for Christmas yet. 

Erin: "I wewy wewy wuv your wittal twee, Gwamma!"

We sat at my table and I delighted in watching the children draw and create for a solid hour today. What joy. Brendan was a little "off" today ... more serious and subdued than he has been for awhile, a little harder to connect with today. But we all have "off" days. I love this child so much.

Erin loves to use my colored pencils ... especially the "spawkwy" ones.

Our prolific author, Aidan Paul, was busy writing yet another book this afternoon ... with so much enthusiasm. He kills me.

Here is the third page of his book. This is his scary monster. I really like the teeth and toes, don't you?

Brendan quietly drew and colored today ... he has a ton of ideas that he works on.

Mr. Aidan decided to add an octopus into his story--so he used one of my stencils to help him draw an octopus. He was super pleased how it turned out too.

Erin and I went through the colored pencil container to try to find all of the special colors she likes. She told me her favorite colors are: "Puwple, Owange, Gween, Wed, Yewwow and Bwoo." When I asked her to narrow it down to just one, she could NOT do that. She declared she "wuvs them all!"

Here is Erin admiring my tree and finding all of the pictures of the grandchildren. This while singing, "Deck the Halls with a Holly Jolly." Erin did a LOT of singing today. She loves to sing. If I could figure out how to do a video on my phone, I would try to catch her during a song. Her lyrics are completely hysterical.

Your twee is SO bootiful, Gwamma!

Aidan and I sat on my window seat while he read me his latest book. He was so proud of his work. There wasn't really a story line, but this didn't bother him. He had a bunch of writing of letters all over the pages which he read phonetically, even though there were no actual words. It was hilarious to listen to.

We did enjoy a bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream with two chocolate striped cookies ... Erin was covered with it, but super happy.

What a sweet day with these kiddos. We drove back to their house by about 6:00 and were treated to pizza and more playtime. As I was saying good-by, Erin ran up and gave me the sweetest little kiss. I drove away at 7:00 filled to the brim with the precious love of these kids.