Lazy days at Grandma's house

Wednesday 25 July 2007

Everyone went over to Meijer Gardens Wednesday morning

to play at the Children's Garden and playground.

I stayed home to do some household stuff

and the pictures taken at the Gardens are in Grandpa's camera still ...

In the evening, we had invited Roy and Nana

Suz

and Tom and Judy

to come and see everyone here from Texas.

It was a nice evening, so we hung out on the deck ...

Karis and Andrew
Karis decided to enjoy the kiddie pool, without water
Roy, Nana, Suz and Olivia
Roy was very happy to finally meet Sabrina and her family
Sabrina has made some beautiful cards for them
and she even made a very cool book of family pictures
and sent it to them a few weeks ago ...
Look at Nana laughing --
they are enjoying a story Sabrina is sharing about the kids.
This is Suz!
Suz and Sabrina are good friends -- they were roommates
at Calvin for three years when they lived at the
campus apartments.
And small world -- Suz's mom (Margie) and I know each other
from Detroit!
Margie attended a neighboring Detroit church
and our youth groups joined together for activities now and then.
Suz is a singularly wonderful person,
a great writer, and we always love to see her!
Tom and Judy stopped by as well,
although I failed to get them in a photo
(Tom was glaring at me like he didn't want his picture taken!)
We had a nice time of fellowship
and enjoyed a yummy dessert Mr. Jones had baked ...
Jackson got to stay up late and enjoyed himself hugely
moving furniture around our deck ...

Thursday 26 July 2007

We had hoped to go to Muskegon today to have another beach day.
But the weather did not cooperate.
Plus -- what fun is it to go to Muskegon
when Gail is away?
Do you remember me telling you about our friends
in Muskegon who live near the lighthouse?
Well, Gail was doing a mission of mercy
for her younger sister in Wisconsin, taking care
of all six of her children for a week so that
she and her husband could "get away."
So we didn't go to Muskegon.
Since it was rainy and miserable outside,
we went over to Rivertown Crossing Mall
so that Jackson could play at the Treehouse playground,
and we girls could shop.
Mr. Jones came along, but he is not a Mall person.
He was content to entertain baby Karis.


But first thing in the morning, the girls came and hung out in my room.
We tried on hats and looked at Grandma's jewelry
for awhile so that Sabrina could take a shower in peace.
Baby Karis at her cutest!
Is it even possible to take a bad picture of Olivia?
We thought this hat was perfect on Karis
Olivia looks ready to hike through the desert
in Grandma's safari hat ...


After we got home from the Mall and put the little kids
down for a nap, Sabrina and I escaped to one of her favorite stores.

Mystery Picture
Can you find Sabrina?
Which store is she in?

The rest of the day was spent doing fun stuff with the kiddos
We got out all of grandma's crayons and markers
along with her Ed Emberly drawing books
and made pictures and colored for quite awhile.
I had some sticker books for Jackson that we did
together the day before.
But I failed to take any pictures!


Later in the evening,
Olivia and I played her favorite game
(because she always wins!)
I have a beautiful Memory game.
It is just faces of children from different parts of the world
and you turn all the cards over
and try to match two cards together!
I am really really really challenged with bad memory.
Olivia won the first game 18 to 6
The second game, we gave me a handicap --
I could look at three cards each turn --
and I lost even worse that game!
Olivia had 20 matches to my pathetic four!
But we did have fun.
I thought Olivia was going to die laughing at me!
Notice the Title of the Game --

Emma and I played it a lot when she would come over.

She mostly liked looking at the faces of the children

and hearing about the countries where they lived ...

Friday 27 July 2007

It was time for Sabrina's family to pack up and go!
Grandma's toys were well played with --
they were no longer lonely!
Jackson especially liked the Matchbox trucks
that his uncles Jesse, Shane and Dylan played with
when they were little boys so many years ago ...

Three busy Rauch grandchildren ...

Jackson reading his new book about Diggers

(which is going to have to be mailed to him in Austin

since it was left here in the family room!)

And then it was time to load up the van

(which Sabrina did in an amazingly brief amount of time --

she is the most organized mom!)

with luggage, toys, children, memories ...

and a last kiss from Grandpa ...

And then they were off!

Mr. Jones and I will see them again in September

after we spend a week in Houston

with our new baby granddaughter.

Thankfully, September is not too terribly far away ...

but already our house seems lonely!