Brendan is quite an irresistible little person ...

So … what grandma could resist a little face as adorable as this? With cheeks THIS kissable! And such expressive eyes! I know … I've been in love with this little guy for a very long time … and it's quite acceptable because I get to be this little cutie's grandma!

Thursdays have become laundry day at the Beach House, and I'm so thankful because that means at least ONE day per week I get to be with this little fellow and his mama. 

Brendan was his usual sweet and curious self today … he managed to climb up and sit on my table today ...

 And he enjoyed exploring my refrigerator too ...

 Brendan really really wanted to reach all the way through my refrigerator and turn the dial at the back … he was stretching with all of his might but just could NOT reach all the way!

 And the Matchbox cars got a pretty good playing-with today as well ...

But mostly, he just wandered around … climbing and examining every little thing he could possible get his hands on. He managed to push and poke every single button on my boom box … he was very pleased.

More of the same ...

It's a good thing no one in the world actually reads this blog except ME … because there certainly is a LOT of repetition in these posts lately! But since I am using this as my very own personal photo journal, it really doesn't matter if this is interesting to anyone else in the entire world!

I didn't take one single picture Friday night. Jesse delivered the children to me (very kind of him) after school Friday, and we had our usual busy time together. Sadly, on his way home, Jesse had an accident with their truck via black ice and an icy snowbank that damaged their vehicle. Thankfully, no one was injured and no other vehicles were involved.

Our weekend Bible story was about Hannah and Samuel, but also about Eli and his wicked sons, Hophni and Phinehas. There was a LOT to talk about in these stories and as the children colored, I taught. We had a very enjoyable story time and hopefully learned about how kindly God answers our prayers, but also how serious God is about punishing sin. 

I went to the library earlier in the week and was excited that I could check out the movie, "Brave." None of us had seen the movie when it was showing in the theaters and we felt kind of jipped out about it. However, after now seeing the movie, all of us (!) decided we didn't really like it and that it was far too scary. I was pretty disappointed about it! I should know better by now than to show a movie to the children that I haven't seen myself first.

Saturday was at least warm enough to venture outside. Aunt Kelly was kind enough to loan us her two plastic sleds and we had no end of fun with them as seen in the following pictures ...

This happy activity lasted for quite some time … their enthusiasm was wonderful throughout! 

I love your beautiful smile,
Emma Joy!

 Earlier in the day, we had watched a short video on Youtube about three deer who were rescued from a small frozen lake … they had somehow gotten out in the middle of the lake, slipped and fallen, and could NOT get back up to go back to shore. The children were fascinated with the rescue process (two guys on a hovercraft!), and Christopher decided to pretend he was a stranded deer needing rescue … right on my front ice-covered driveway ...

 Emma rescued him on her sled after tying his legs up with the rope and dragging him several feet ~ but I neglected to get a picture of that. I think I was laughing too hard to think about my camera.

After we were sufficiently frozen, we reluctantly came back inside. We tossed all of our wet stuff into the dryer and got busy with our usual indoor activities. 

Ever since reading Mo Willems' "Don't Let the Pigeon on the Bus!" the boys have been making their own pigeon books. They draw perfect Mo Willems pigeons and make up the cutest stories!

While the boys were making their books, Emma and I worked on our "All About Spelling" lessons. We had a good time and I felt we made progress this week! 

Being a grandma is … so wonderful … much more fun than being a parent! For example, after our scrambled egg, hashed brown and sausage dinner, the kiddos enjoyed a small strawberry sundae (with yummy whipped cream) AND they also got to have a root beer float! Originally, I had given them the choice of one or the other dessert; but Christopher had never tasted either one and couldn't decide! So we decided to make the sundaes kind of little ones so that there would be room in their stomachs for a root beer float as well. As a mother, I never would have done this! The joys of grandparenting! 

Thawing … and other stuff

These first few pictures were taken Monday, late afternoon, when the snow began to fall … and didn't stop until another six inches of fresh whiteness was everywhere ...

Just 24 hours later, we were in the middle of a pretty significant thaw … and some of it was coming right INSIDE my little house! I called the snow expert around here and they sent me a few folk who climbed up on my roof with hatchets and all manner of ice removal tools and they chipped away at the ice up there for more than an hour. The water immediately stopped coming in. This is the second such incident in a matter of weeks at The Beach House. Before next winter, I think I need to invest in a roof rake!

 Today, Brendan and his mama came over. We had a nice visit while doing laundry. Brendan has had a head cold with a stuffy and/or runny nose which he finds a little bothersome.

 But we all made the best of it. None of us are really feeling quite ourselves these long days of an extreme winter around here. 

Brendan eating a "nana" today at my house

It's been raining HARD the last few hours, but it is presently too dark outside to see what exactly the rain is doing to all of our snow accumulation. I'm hoping it doesn't melt it all at once … that would really be a mess! It's supposed to be quite windy and then very cold come tomorrow. I'm counting the days enthusiastically until spring!

An "INSIDE" kind of weekend ...

Friday was Valentine's Day and so Matthew, Chris, and Emma got taken out to dinner with their mom and dad and Kaity-girl. They got dropped off to me afterwards! The prior weekend, Emma and I had watched a tutorial on Youtube about making origami hearts ~ it was the best instructional video ever, made by a young man who should grow up to be a teacher some day! We learned how to make very nice origami hearts and I made a bunch of them throughout the week to hide secret messages inside for the kids.

Our Bible story this week was about Deborah and Barak. The kiddos colored pictures of the story while I read it and talked to them about being strong in the Lord's might and how if we walk with God and love Him, He can and does fight our battles for us. 

We had such a great discussion about what it means to TRUST and believe what God says. These kiddos are at a perfect age to teach about the Lord. They love a good story and ask great questions too.

We also read a bunch of fun library books. Most of them were about horses, because I had chosen some special books for Emma (who loves horses).

Our Friday night movie was "The Little Princess" (1995). What a fun story! I was worried the boys might think it was only for girls … but they didn't mind it one bit and really seemed to enjoy it. Chris had a bit of trouble falling asleep … and so did Matthew, who sadly had a sore throat and a stuffy nose.  But by midnight (or so) the troops were asleep. Everyone slept in until about 8:30 Saturday morning, but then it was time to get up and have some fun!

 The last few Saturday afternoons we have played outside for an hour or two in the snow. I had planned for us to do the same thing this week AND Kelly had loaned me her plastic sleds so that the children could really have a lot of fun on the hills. But after struggling with Matthew's nose and throat Friday night, I felt it would be best that he remain indoors. We did a lot of cup stacking, origami, reading, drawing … the usual inside stuff.

Christopher didn't get into many pictures this weekend! He was busy, as usual, in the playroom building with LEGOs … Matthew made so many origami hearts I could hardly count them! 

The Valentines I made for Ems, Chris and Matthew …
Origami hearts with secret messages ...

Friday morning pictures ...

I got a surprise call early Friday morning … could I watch Brendan for a little while so that Dylan could go into work and Kelly could help to deliver a baby? Certainly! Little Fellow arrived at around 8:30 in the morning. He was still a little bit "down" from his cold, and he wasn't too sure about his mama leaving him, but we got along just fine.

I had to kind of dig around and come up with some "new" distractions for Brendan since he had just been over on Wednesday and played with just about everything in the house. 

Little Bear got taken all around my
Beach House in a tiny tin pail ... 

Same picture as above, altered with Photoscape
using Colored pencil, then watercolor effect ...

 Thankfully, I have a lot of STUFF that Brendan finds interesting. He played for the longest time on the kitchen floor with little odds and ends ...

Brendan knows where I keep my emergency
flashlight beside my bed ...

 He studied every little thing he could about making this little light shine, and then moved on to tucking my baby doll into bed ...

Meanwhile, Kelly helped to successfully deliver a baby girl … after many long hours of labor. I had to take Brendan back to his house to meet up with another caregiver by mid-afternoon because I had to prepare for my other grandkids, who were coming over later in the afternoon. It's always fun to be with Brendan, though!