July 24 Games!

Wednesday:  I picked the boys up from Allison this morning at 11:30 and then we drove back to their house to be there for Erin's bus. Brendan was reading a library book--one of those Japanese animated stories that read from right to left--and he was reading it with a very loud voice in the car as he turned the pages of this "backward" book. First of all, the story wasn't very interesting to me--but rather than be super annoyed by everything about it, I began to ask questions--and one thing led to the next, and pretty soon we were all laughing about the absurdity of the storyline. I mean REALLY laughing (including Aidan and Cal). So we passed a pleasant ride to their house!

Erin came off the bus and we packed up my car with the four kiddos and drove over to my house. This car ride was made pleasant due to the fact that Aidan had picked up a little zipper pouch filled with dice inside--all kinds--big, little, colored, "story dice", etc. Erin really badly wanted to hold a few of them, but Aidan would not hear of it; instead, he took out a story dice and started talking about it. I asked him to describe the first picture and then we all began telling a very crazy story based on the picture that was "rolled" on the die. We had a lot of fun with it and got more and more ridiculous as the story went on. It's very fun to laugh with these guys. They have good imaginations and love a good story. 

Once we were here at my house we ate lunch (as usual) and then proceeded to play. Aidan was wondering if I would play a game of Chess with him; so naturally, I did! I wasn't prepared for how decent a chess player he is! He played two very good games, losing only by a play or two. Interestingly, he was not upset about the losses one bit--I think the very joy of playing an intricate game like Chess was all Aidan was looking for. Brendan too! He and I played only one Chess game, which I won by a narrow margin. Again, he was just pleased to play and plot and learn some moves as well. I'm not a very challenging chess player, believe me; but at least I know enough about the game to play it, and I do enjoy it. I did give "hints" while we played, i.e.: "Are you sure you want to make that move? Are any of your guys in danger if you do that? Etc." I found both Aidan and Brendan very receptive to taking a second look at their situation and altering their move--however, they allowed me no such mercy in return!!! Ha!

Here is small Cal looking at a Paw Patrol book. He loves looking at books and hearing them read aloud.

Look at that little face on him--he is the dearest little one!

Erin wanted to know what was inside the interesting "suitcases" on my bookshelf--she had forgotten that our sock puppets sleep there--so we got them out and played for a little while.

Aidan declared he was very hungry about 45 minutes after lunch and decided Cheesy chips were just the thing he needed.

Here is Cal playing with "Hammy", our rubber pig that snorts if he is squeezed. Cal likes him a lot.

Erin and Cal play quite well together with just the typical small spats over who is bossing who around, etc.

Doesn't Erin have such a great smile?

Brendan got this Great Wolf Lodge puzzle off the shelf and assembled it ...

We talked for a little bit about his 7th birthday party that I got to go to up at the Lodge with their family.

Here are Aidan and I playing Chess ... with little Cal watching the game ...

Look at the wheels turning in Aidan's brain ...

Erin! Look at her adorable freckles and beautiful little face. And Brendan! Could any child melt my heart like he does?

After playing for about 3 hours, I turned on a "Minion" movie for the kids while I did some picking up around the house, getting us ready to drive back to their house. We had an unremarkable ride back to their house, making up more ridiculous stories as I drove.

Aidan begged me for another Chess game on HIS Chess board when we got to his house. There were a few obstacles to overcome because "some of my pieces are missing" Aidan informed me. I asked him what then? "Oh--we just grab stuff and use them as substitutes"  he nonchalantly answered. SO ... One of Aidan's Minecraft guys sat in as one of his Knights, and a handy little triceratops filled in as a Pawn. On my side of the board, a very cool DOG pretended to be one of MY Knights, and then an ELEPHANT filled in as one of my bishops. Jeeps. My almost 71-year-old brain struggled with remembering just WHO was WHO! It was an absolute SNAP for Aidan.

When our Chess game was over, Erin challenged me to a game of Chutes and Ladders! I told her I would play it if she would kindly pick up all of the Dominoes she had scattered hither and yon across the floor for no reason whatsoever. She was quite reluctant about putting them away stating that she "might need them later." I pointed to the box they came in and told her she would have zero problems whatsoever in locating them if they were where they belonged. She finally agreed (I did assist).

I can't remember a nicer time I've had with these kiddos. So thankful God gave me strength for this day, and rewarded me by giving me such a fun time with all of the kids. I am a very blessed grandma indeed! 

July 20 with Kaity

Saturday:  What did we do today? We did more painting of rocks! We played several UNO games! We ate a nice meal together! We went to Altitude!

Kaity asked that I take a few videos of her doing front flips--she was actually attempting to learn how to do a SIDE flip, but ... she does a front flip really well!

I loaded the video, all 6 seconds of it; but it will not play! I will have to ask Kaity to help me fix this when I see her Thursday ...

July 18 with Kaity

Thursday:  I picked Kaity up a little earlier today from Jesse so that he could have some medical issues addressed over at the Veteran's Admin. I had a quick errand to run at Meijer's and then we came here to hang out. I had put all of the paint supplies away after last weekend because it takes up all the space on my art table, and I wasn't sure if Kaity wanted to continue with our rock painting or not. 

BUT after being here for about an hour Kaity asked if we could do some more rock painting. YES! So, I got all the stuff back out and we spent a lovely hour painting our rocks together. Neither one of us finished our rock--we ran into a few difficulties with how the pictures were turning out--so both of us painted and RE-painted, but it was fun.

We drove over to Altitude after we ate our hotdogs and fruit. Kaity jumped for about an hour, and then she wanted to show me how HARD she could punch ...

Which was VERY HARD!!! Kaity is a strong young girl!

July 17 These grands

Wednesday:  I had four very active kiddos today, with some of them being a bit cranky (mostly at each other, but sometimes at me!). We did survive our hours together, though, without any disasters, or major blow-ups; and I found enough strength to get through the day--thank you, Lord. It probably didn't help that I didn't sleep well Tuesday night and so had one of those "headaches." But still, we had a good time together.

The three younger kids did a lot of storytelling today--what do I mean? Well, they would make up stories with the toys and invent different scenarios, i.e. below, Callahan is coaxing DUSTY (the horse) and its rider (DARCY) to jump through the hoop--this was extremely important to dear Cal! I happened to be walking by at the time and he assigned me to be both the horse and rider and make them jump! So, naturally, I did--after a few failed attempts, Dusty and Darcy finally jumped the hoop!

Meanwhile, Mr. Aidan was very intense about making his own 3-D paper airplane ...

... and Erin was into making a sticker picture ...

Brendan found a book he wanted to examine ...

Cal got out our T-Rex puppet (ROCKY) and had him stage a frightful attack on all of the horses ...

... while still demanding that they JUMP through the hoop ... and make it snappy!

You can't believe how long Cal wanted to play this ...

A little later on, Erin got out the magnatiles and all of the kids built houses and vehicles, etc.

But this activity also involved a LOT of made-up stories ... Erin made a very fancy house with lights and a fenced-in back yard ...

Cal was interested in making a vehicle that was going to serve as the family camper ... Aidan was building another house for all of the family to go to when they were camping; however, Cal would hear NOTHING of that plan. The family was going to camp in HIS camper--NOT at a house. Aidan stuck to his guns (of course), and then a huge argument arose about the family's happiness in general ...

I asked them to perhaps ... maybe ... the family could do both--they could camp in the camper, and THEN they could go to Aidan's house to take showers and get cleaned up, etc. Cal did NOT go for this one single bit ...

In disgust, Aidan finally walked away and played in the spare room for awhile where he could be the boss of all the toys back there.

Brendan did some nice sketches at the table ...

We took a break from all of the pretend family stuff and had some Oreo cones together ...

We left to drive back to the Pahman house at about 3:50 in the afternoon. I was kind of thinking that Cal would immediately fall asleep since he had been rather "touchy" the last hour or two--but he did not--he stayed wide awake the whole ride. Once back at their house, we just hung out. The kids took their 30-minute (timed by my watch) turns on the television and Dylan and Kelly arrived home right as that was winding down. I will say that I was super glad to see them! I think we are about halfway through the summer at this point--so far, so good. 
 

July 15 Chris

Monday:  I've been struggling the last few weeks with a sadness that I can't really explain. You could call it "depression", and I suppose you would be right. But more than that, it's just an unsettled feeling and a higher anxiety level than I usually have (probably from watching/listening/focusing too much on the "news" instead of on things that are "true and honorable and right ... things that are pure and lovely and admirable ... things that are excellent and worthy of praise" as found in Philippians 4.8)  I am very guilty of being a political "addict." It's just that I find it so interesting (politics) and so compelling to discover just what is TRUE anymore. Anyway, that's all to say that I have been d-o-w-n more than usual. 

Pastor Jim's teaching this past Sunday was about the truth of the resurrection--that Jesus is truly and completely ALIVE, remaining a human/divine being for eternity. He challenged us to think it through: what if what the Bible says about Jesus being alive is ... a fraud? What if we have been deceived about this all of our lives? And then he went on to very logically and convincingly argue exactly what is proclaimed all throughout Scripture--it's TRUE--Christ is RISEN from the dead! In closing, pastor challenged us to ask the Lord Jesus to reveal Himself in new ways to us this week--show us He is with us--speak to our hearts personally.

I came home from church (and then lunch with Ruthanne and Terry) and had a really severe headache. However, I told my friend (Brenda) that I would come to the open house she was having for her daughter from 2:00-4:00 Sunday afternoon. I'm glad I did go even with not feeling well. It was so good to see Brenda again and give her a hug and get an update on all that has been happening in her family.

I was home again by 4:00, took some pain medication and lay down and then slept for hours. I woke up not feeling much better, so I just rested for the remainder of the evening--hoping Monday morning I would feel "better." 

I didn't! I cancelled my PT appointment and decided to continue to lay low. I just felt completely exhausted without one single bit of motivation or any energy whatsoever to do anything under the sun. I really hate feeling that way. I hate wasting time and accomplishing nothing in 24 hours. It makes me feel very old and useless.

And then ... out of the blue ... totally random ... I received a text from my grandson Chris. "Hey can I stop by if you're not busy." I wrote back: "Sure! When would you like to do that?" "Some time soon possibly" was the answer I received.

And soon afterward, Chris drove up to my house! He stayed for almost two hours and we just talked. I can't explain to you what a GIFT it was to see him, to spend actual time with him, to have a real conversation about real things with this person who means a great deal to me. He is my oldest grandson. He will be 21 in just a few months. He caught me up on all his news!

Chris will be in his junior year at Olivet University this fall. He received a football scholarship to Olivet as a freshman and will be playing the position of defensive lineman this fall (second string). He has worked super hard to achieve this. He works out 4-5x per week and was "under orders" to gain weight and bulk up. He now weighs 205 pounds, which is largely muscle. Chris speaks highly of the football organization at Olivet and has met a lot of good people through it. He has lots of friends on the team. Chris is a "people" person, which is a positive quality. He returns to college August 13 for football training and preparation for the season ahead. He has the possibility of becoming an RA (Resident Assistant/Advisor) in one of the dormitories or apartment complexes at the college--which would be a profitable thing for him, earning him some tuition relief. During these summer weeks he has worked two part-time jobs: one at Walgreen's over on Leonard (a rather rough location), and the other doing lawn care (on-call).

Chris and Ella have been dating for four years (almost) and are talking about engagement rings now. They go to "City Church" in Rockford pretty regularly. City Church is a Bible believing church that solidly teaches the Gospel. I'm so happy they are worshiping with a community of believers.

SO ... this spontaneous out-of-the-blue visit from Chris today was truly a GIFT from the Lord to my heart. Chris said he would try to stop in again before returning to Olivet. I would love that. 

Thank you, Lord, for seeing my sadness and for providing encouragement for me today. My heart is no longer overwhelmed with sadness. I feel stronger and more hopeful, and acutely aware that You did this today because I needed it. My sadness matters to Him. My life and struggles are important to the Lord. Thank you so much.

July 13 Painting with KT

Saturday:  I picked Kaity up from Diana today at 3:00. I've been wanting to let her paint a rock or two for a long time now (she has asked repeatedly); but haven't gotten up the courage to get all the supplies out and make sure the time spent is a positive experience for Kaity. Truth? I'm rather lazy and sometimes very pessimistic about outcomes. But I prayed about it on Friday and asked the Lord to just give me the extra "oomph" I needed to give this a try. I decided to go on the internet and look up rock painting, little animals; and then I printed off samples of what we might try to do. I found some really cute pictures, very colorful, and not too difficult to pull off.

Kaity was VERY enthused. Yay. I love to see her face "light up" with anticipation and challenge. I got all the supplies out before I picked Kaity up and we got started almost immediately after entering my place. First we went outside and picked three rocks each from near my lighthouse and birdbath area.

Here are some pictures:

Kaity did so well not getting paint everywhere! 

Look how nice Kaity's rock turned out?!?!?

It even matched her shirt! Good job, Kaity.

I will not even show you the beginnings of my turtle rock. It's pretty pathetic so far; but I'm not giving up.

Kaity received a text from her friend, Ayden, about meeting him over at Altitude near 6:00; so that's what we did. It's been many months since I've seen Ayden! I've missed him. He and Kaity play really well together--a little bit ROUGH, but they do have fun together.

What a nice 5 hours with you, Kaity! I'm so thankful you are my granddaughter.

July 11 Sweet KT

Thursday:  Kaity and I drove her dad to the airport today at 1:30--he's headed to Montana once again to visit his Megan. The last time he went, he took Kaity with him and she was able to meet Megan and her kids. Kaity especially enjoyed being with Adam, Megan's oldest son. They hung out together and had a good time; so Kaity (naturally) wanted to travel with Jesse again--but flying costs are pretty high and it's just not possible to take Kaity every month that he travels there.

I was sad for Kaity, but I also glad she didn't sink into a deep sadness. We had a nice time together today doing pretty much ... nothing. I asked her if she wanted to go out to Deer Tracks and walk around and see the animals--did she want to bring Kenzie too? But no. Kaity did not want to do that at all. We settled for just staying at my place, eating our usual stuff, and playing a lot of UNO. We played eight games! Kaity won 5, right off the bat! I did win 3 games--but Kaity is hard to beat!

I didn't take even ONE picture of Kaity today--so this picture is from about a week ago when just Kaity and I went over to the park to take a little walk. Her mom is giving her a very special birthday party Monday. Kaity has invited 6 or 7 of her favorite friends to go swimming at a public pool, jumping at Altitude, and I forget what else--she was telling me all about it today. This is a party just for friends--not family--I hope Diana takes lots of pictures of the fun!

I love you so much, Kaity. You are very dear to your grandma's heart.