November 1 Beautiful Kiddos

Friday:  I am super behind posting on this very unknown, insignificant photoblog of mine--well, it's very significant for ME, but not for anyone else. It's been an eventful few days, not many photos taken, too much "checking in" on the "news" coverage of the 2024 Presidential election, etc. Oh! And also my printer has broken down, Jesse declared it officially "DEAD" and I had to research, purchase, and have Jesse install a new one (which I haven't yet learned to use--but that's my goal for today).

BUT I have finally uploaded pictures from Friday's time with the kids. 

Cal is faster than lightning to dump various bins out on the playroom floor ... I try to limit him to two bins at a time because otherwise, there is no walking or playing room to be found with all the toys everywhere.

We went from cars to space ships and a bunch of miscellaneous toys to ...

... a more sedentary activity like PlayDoh. Yes! Sitting at a table molding soft PlayDoh is much easier than being up and down on the hard floor.

Young Cal is completely obsessed with making PlayDoh monsters and having them fight to the finish--which usually means our monsters die in a big heap of ... nothingness. But this is very pleasing to this little guy.

We watched three "short" movies (4 minutes each) of the Minions ... but Cal kept asking for a "longer"movie. Instead, we roughed around on my chair with Cal spinning and jumping and cracking up ...

This went on for much longer than I had contemplated ...

But finally it was time to drive back to Cal's house and get the little kids from their bus. They were happy to see us!

These after-school kiddos like to unwind in their basement watching various "shows." I think they are watching "Dino Dex" and found it very interesting. All of these kiddos love dinosaurs.

Look at Aidan inside the Thomas the Train tent!

"Dino Dex" was quite captivating evidently. Everyone just seemed to need to relax a little bit. I hope we didn't watch too many episodes. I was in need of a few minutes to put my feet up as well.

I'm glad these kiddos have a nice playroom to rough around in. They have a great yard, too; but it was a bit chilly outside this afternoon.

Beautiful children--your grandma loves you!

October 31 Scary Kaity

Thursday:  It's Halloween today. It's never been my favorite "holiday" mostly because ... it's difficult for me to transcend my Christian upbringing to get very excited about a day that is celebrated right up there with Christmas (practically). It IS fun to see little kids dressed up in costume and it's also FUN to watch them be excited about their "trick or treats"; but all the SUGAR!!!! Yikes. Dylan and Kelly are handing out Pokemon packs this year instead of candy--good idea! I LOVE sugar, but I'm learning more and more about how harmful it actually is for our bodies ... especially our brains. And lots and lots of the costumes are super cute, but there are also plenty of devilish ones that I don't like one single bit--because the devil is REAL and I don't think we ought to mess with him whatsoever. 

Having said all of that, I was uncertain about Kaity's plans after school today. It turned out that she has been invited to go over to Emma's to help hand out candy to the neighbors where Emma is now living. I was the designated transport person to take Kaity over to Emma's after school--and I am so glad I was able to do this simple little thing today. I miss Emma so much and rarely see her anymore. So it was a real bonus to go to her house today and visit with her briefly. Koda was there too, so I said hi; as well as meeting Kodak's mom, Tiffany (and her little dog).

I didn't take any pictures of Emma today--I didn't want to mess up my visit by imposing on her. Personally, I hate it when people snap pictures of me unannounced; so I can understand the irritation of my grandchildren when I am constantly pointing a camera at them. Nevertheless, it sure was good to see her! She has gotten a nice washer and dryer for her house that fits perfectly in its designated space. It's SO nice to have your own laundry area instead of having to pack up dirty clothes and get them clean somewhere other than home. 

I snapped a few pictures of KT with my phone:

The mask is pretty creepy, isn't it? I completely forget who Kaity told me this costume IS ... rats.

This is Emma's house!

A few more of Kaity ...

And here is Belle-Belle. She is 14 years old now. Emma told us Belle is going blind, which we were very sad to hear. Belle is considered an OLD cat. But isn't she beautiful?

I'm glad I got to bring Kaity over to Emma's today. It made my day special, and cheered me up a bit too. It was also nice to visit with Jesse for about an hour. He was showing me Youtube videos of SpaceX--very cool videos. Jesse loves (has always) rockets and space travel. I love to hear him talk when he is enthused about a topic. 

Thanks, Lord, for this nice day. My heart feels a little cheered tonight instead of so "down." I have to remember (always) that the Lord sees me, cares about the stuff that hurts me, and is always close to comfort me. His love is full of kindness and mercy; and unlike ours, it is eternal. 

October 26 with Kaity

Saturday:  I was expecting to hear tons about the dance at the middle school last night--but Kaity had already "moved on" to other things! I think Kaity was with me almost four hours Saturday, and the entire time (other than about 5 minutes), she was on her phone talking to Tyler (who recently moved to Tennessee). They sounded like they were having a good time together, so I didn't protest, thinking that any minute Kaity would end the "conversation" and somewhat join me for a little bit. 

To be honest, much of time time Kaity and Tyler weren't actually talking. Kaity was listening to Tyler and his friends play a game of some sort and now and then, they would talk to each other. I have a difficult time relating to this at all since I am an old woman now and completely "out of it" when it comes to how young people communicate in 2024. I don't mind Kaity having her phone with her and checking out videos--and even playing games--she usually shares stuff with me that she finds interesting. But this was different, and I guess I have to admit that I felt sad about it. I'm not sure what I can say/do to actually spend time with Kaity instead of just being in the same room, cooking our hotdog supper, and then driving her back to Jesse; but I need to figure something out. 

Kaity does enjoy playing games. We do play UNO quite a bit--but even that has been awhile ago now. Perhaps I should just have a bunch of games ready before she gets here to see if I can entice her away from her phone for at least a little while. When I was recently in Grand Haven's cool toy store, I bought something called "trampoline pong" which is a smaller sort of ping-pong table with netting like a trampoline. Kaity and I HAVE played it, but it's hard to get use to the size of the table and get a good volley going. I'll have to get it back out and encourage her to learn the game with me. 

My heart is still sad thinking about Saturday's time with Kaity. Hmmm. I really need to plan ahead for this week, so that I feel I have at least offered something different for Kaity to do. Please help me to do this, Lord.

October 25 TWO kiddos!

Friday:  When I drove over to pick up Cal late this morning, I was greeted by ERIN LUCIA! What on earth, I asked her, was she doing home? She coughed and then hugged me, telling me she was sick. "Also, grandma ... today is Friday; and if I am sick on Friday, I get to come to your house!" Ah. Well--it was very apparent that Erin was indeed SICK, so I wasn't worried she was pulling a fast one (!!) just to come over to my house. 

NOTE:  A lot of stuff has "gone down" over the last few weeks in my personal life and I am truly exhausted. I have wanted to have each of Dylan and Kelly's kiddos overnight (1 and at time) for quite awhile now; but I am not well enough! Hence, Erin hasn't been over to my place since school went back in mid-August. I miss her playing at my house--no one else plays with any of the dolls anymore!

Cal was a bit "put off" that he had to share my place with Erin today; and usually one of them was in the front room while the other one was back in the playroom--both wanting me to be WITH them. Not surprising, but I was pretty tired of running back and forth during the three-and-a-half hours they were here. 

We did read a few books together. Erin is learning to read now too, and she is doing a good job of it!

I surely didn't take many pictures today! This is evidence of how "sickly" I am feeling myself. Usually I snap many more pictures!

We had a very nice few hours here and then drove back to their house to get Aidan from his bus. Kelly was home before 6:00 tonight, which was very kind of her--I drove back home and ... went to bed!

October 24 with KT

Thursday:  Tomorrow is Kaity's first official school dance--I think it is to celebrate Halloween. Emma gave Kaity her pretty Green Party dress to wear--it looks beautiful on KT like it did on Emma. It was super nice of Emma to give KT her dress. Anyway, when I picked KT up from Jesse late afternoon, KT let me know that she "needed" a few items to go with her dress for the dance. So we girls went shopping. Yippee! I love to shop with Kaity!

What KT needed was a tiny bit of make-up to supplement her dress, as well as a strapless undergarment to wear so that her dress wasn't spoiled by straps showing, etc. We ended up driving over to Kohl's, because they have a lot of things at a good price. We found exactly what we needed! 

Here are a few pictures of Kaity trying on her dance outfit and new make-up:

Kaity is almost twelve and a half now. She doesn't really NEED make-up--she is already a very pretty girl; but at her age, make-up is kind of a novelty--so it was fun to watch her enjoy it.

Isn't her dress so pretty? However, I find myself wishing you were so much younger ... you are growing up super quickly now.

I love you, dear Kaity. What a fun time with you today! You have such a pretty smile. I hope your first school dance party is fun and a good memory for you.

October 11 More ...

Friday (continued):  After the car/train, Cal slid down the tube slide a few more times . . .

. . ., and then we visited the goats. We purchased our $1 cup of "grain" for the goats ... but as soon as we entered their pen, Cal was overcome by three rather large goats who took the cup of grain right from his hand, which then dropped to the ground, where they consumed it in a heartbeat. Cal thought it was pretty funny.

Cal was very tender with the little goats ...

We washed our hands thoroughly after our goat encounter and then went inside the country store and purchased some gummy bears and an apple cider drink for Cal (in his very own pumpkin cup).

We sang in the car all the way to my house where we ate lunch at about 2:00, watched the birds, read a few stories, played basketball on my door hoop, chased each other around, and then Cal settled down to watch a 20 minute program while I picked up toys ...

We played with our Sunny puppet too for a little while.

I had a sleepy little Callaghan in the car on the way to his house this afternoon. I finally woke him up after we had been in their driveway for about 15 minutes. The kiddos came home on their bus, ate some snacks, and then everyone decided to play outside for awhile. It was such a nice weather day.

Brendan is getting good at shooting hoops ...

And, of course, so is Cal; however, his hoop is considerably shorter, and he shoots at a rather short distance ... but such facial expressions!

And enthusiasm!

I failed to take a picture of Aidan this afternoon. He played outside for awhile too, riding his bike and playing with neighbor kids. Erin hung out with me for a little while--but she was also busy playing with neighbors outside.

Here is Erin singing a little song for me--she has a very strong voice, and very good pitch too. All of these Pahman kiddos are musical. What a gift and a blessing!

October 11 (continued)

Friday (continued):  Here are pictures of the little tractor/train we rode through the orchard. It sure was a bumpy ride. Cal really liked it. Not bad for $4!

There was probably enough room for both Cal and I to fit in one car; but I felt he would be happier if he could have the car to himself--look how much fun he is having ...

Cal has a keen sense of LIFE ... I love to watch his reactions to new experiences. He was surely enthused about this little car/train.

I sat one car behind Cal ...

Cal--you are just the cutest little kid ...

Our driver made the ride very run. He zig-zagged in and out of the rows of apples ... every kind of apple under the sun!

Near the end, the driver made a circle of all 12 cars--only the first 6 were occupied.

We played awhile longer at the orchard ... see next post ...