The saga of Brendan and my car ...

Brendan and I had a fun day today … this little fellow asked if we could play in my car for a while, so that's exactly what we did! The following is a little story of our "car" time.

And I love you too, Brendan, sweetheart!

PS  I must add that I did eventually put the keys into the ignition and set the car on auxiliary power. This little guy just went wild with turning every possible switch to "ON": windshield wipers, inside lights, radio, defrost, etc. He was delighted to pieces! He's a very cause-and-effect toddler … and I love him fiercely.

Brendan today at the Beach House ...

The nicest thing that ever has happened to me in my life is having grandchildren. I can't explain it exactly. It's just that … it was meant to be! There is less stress to being a grandma than being a mom … for all of the obvious reasons. I can just experience the pure joy of being with children without … raising them! Kelly asked if I could spend a little time with Brendan today while she met with some clients and ran some errands. Y-E-S !!!

 Brendan loves to play outside. It's been a real cold spring in Michigan … but cold does NOT bother Brendan! We played for quite a while on my little front porch today ...

Brendan has the sweetest little face!

 Before long, Brendan was using my deck chairs as … a slide! Well, why not?!!

 I love his exuberance! He had such a good time!

It never really warmed up enough for us to actually take a walk or do any outside exploration … and the WIND was blowing up a storm today! But … none of that bothered our little fellow one single bit. 

 Brendan enjoyed building with all kinds of weird objects on his little handyman cart today ...

 And then he also checked out the little lighthouse that I use in my bathroom … just for decoration, and because it was a gift, and … because I love lighthouses!

 The hours raced on by ...

This is Brendan enjoying a little candle I lit for him … and then he blew it out … and then I re-lit it, and then he blew it out again … repeat … repeat … repeat ...

Our first overnight in quite awhile ...

After I dropped Brendan off at his house, I zoomed on back to the Beach House to prepare dinner and clean up the place before I went over to pick up a few more grandchildren.

Little Kaity-girl has gotten used to me and decidedly likes to be with me. I like to be with her too. She is a sweetheart. However, she is still too little to spend the night at my house with her older siblings. The older children and I do stuff that would be impossible to do if we were taking care of Kaity too. But her time will come ... 

We arrived back at the Beach House, ate our dinner together, and then we played and played! The last time the kiddos were at my house was the weekend that Emma had gotten so terribly sick … three weekends ago. I surely had missed interacting with these guys.

We resumed our reading of "The Magician's Nephew." I wish I could put into words how profoundly I have been impacted by this story. C.S. Lewis presents God (Aslan) in such a way that I want to KNOW Him, nothing and no one is His equal! I love that He is both fierce and majestic, as well as lowly and compassionate. And such wisdom … He is able to get right to the bottom of our hearts, discern our thoughts and motives (with such understanding!), show us our need of Him, and draw us to Himself. I have been so pleased that the children have kept right up with the story and have asked such great questions. I'm so thankful for this. 

 Our Friday night movie was (believe it or not), "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!" I purchased a $5 copy of this awhile back, hoping it would be enjoyable for the children. It was a little bit outdated for these kids, but I actually think they enjoyed it! They certainly laughed a great deal while watching it! Matthew fell asleep near the end and didn't even remember the six-minute back rub I gave him … he reproached me in the morning for NOT giving him a back rub. I had to gently tell him that he slept through the entire thing; but just to be fair, I gave him a nice back rub Saturday morning too.

 We did a bunch of indoor stuff Saturday morning. I even got out my old crate of Playdough and everyone created cool stuff out of it for quite awhile actually! But then the beautiful spring day caught our attention, and after we ate our french toast and sausages, we headed on out to what we thought was going to be an enjoyable few hours over at Schwallier's Country Basket. We had checked online and it said that it was "OPEN." But the internet isn't always accurate. Good thing we had a Plan B that was only a mile away.

There is a very nice playground over near 8 Mile and Alpine. I've forgotten the name, but we used to take the children here years and years ago, before Jesse joined the Army. So … seven years have gone by and it is still a nice place to play! 

The children always insist on my participation. I'm a dunce at getting these diggers to work, so they show me time and time again. At least I can keep my feet on the ground while trying to dig. But ... 

 Emma was completely intent upon me sliding down the fire pole, which was quite HIGH I might add. She did it over and over again to show me how easy it was!

Christopher, too, demonstrated his prowess on the fire pole and challenged me to "Try it, Granny!" I finally gave in and DID try it. Yikes. Never again! I'm too … well … I'm NOT too old … but I'm a bit too clumsy I think to risk sliding down poles! I did manage to survive my attempt without any broken bones or catastrophies!

 Matthew just has a blast at any playground … look at the smile on his face!

There were lots of other children at the playground too. We met a very tiny girl named, "Nevaeh" (Heaven spelled backwards) and I don't think she was very much older than a year. But she wanted very much to climb backwards up the slide (she was watching other children do this) so Emma helped her. From that point on, Nevaeh wanted Emma to do everything with her! This little child's mother was an older woman who was quite amazed at the instant attachment between her daughter and Emma. But I think it was because this little baby saw Jesus in Emma and felt safe … because Emma loves the Lord and she is gentle with little ones … And speaking of Nevaeh's mother ~ may I? Well, her appearance was of the type that I normally avoid for all the wrong reasons! She was rather unkempt, missing several teeth, and a little harsh with her speaking. Her husband was much the same. Why do I think myself "better than" folk like this? I am NOT! I asked Jesus to stand next to me while this mom and I talked about her little girl, and the Lord blessed our brief conversation. I had the opportunity to learn why this older mom named her baby, "Nevaeh Sky" (because Nevaeh is "Heaven" spelled backwards) and then the mom went on to tell me how thankful to God she is for this little girl. Thank you, Lord, for helping me to meet this dear woman and NOT run away from her just because I didn't like the way she looked (which is a dreadful thing to do!).

The following pictures are very sweet of our Kaity-girl … I think Kaity-Jane has a lot to do with Emma's ability to care for babies. When I drove the kiddos back home, Kaity was there waiting for us. So we played with her for quite awhile. Here she is, sitting in her very special pink rocker while looking through her favorite "Peek-A-Boo" book ...

I love these pictures of Kaity. The sunlight coming through her bedroom window made it possible for me to shoot without a flash … much better result, because Kaity squints and makes squishy faces at flashing cameras ... 

Emma re-introduced me to her pet turtle, April. Emma found her last April in their back yard in El Paso. April was flipped over on her back and a crow was trying to have her for dinner. Emma rescued her from the crow and she has been part of the family ever since. 

PS  Emma and I also had a very sweet answer to prayer Saturday that I really need to journal or I might possibly forget it. It was time to load everyone up in my car and begin our Saturday afternoon adventure (which we thought was going to be over at Schwallier's, but they were closed … remember?) … suddenly, Emma had a panicked look on her face and told me she couldn't find her dolphin necklace anywhere! We searched and searched but couldn't find it. The boys went out to the car, but Emma and I came back inside. We had been reading in the "Magician's Nephew" story how Aslan liked to be asked when there was a need. So Emma and I hugged each other and asked Jesus to please show us where that necklace was! I went into the main room to search again, and Emma went into the kitchen and not TWO SECONDS went by when Emma shouted out: "Grandma! Jesus answered SO QUICKLY!" And then she began to laugh. I asked her where on earth she found her necklace? She was wearing several layers that day … and discovered it was already around her neck but was in-between two shirts! She was smiling from ear to ear when we hugged again and went out to join the boys ...

Brendan still surprises me ...

I got to spend a whole lot of time with Brendan on Friday. His mama had been up the entire night assisting a woman in delivery and wondered if I could entertain our little fellow while she caught a few hours of sleep. Yes! I could certainly do that.

I had a bunch of errands to run, but Brendan was very pleased to run them with me. We took Dylan to work downtown first and then headed over to Meijer's to do some grocery shopping. We listened to some pretty music on the way. I have an old CD of children's music from Meijer Gardens. Brendan's favorite selection is, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" which switches over to the ABC's and then back. 

Grandma! Can't we even go grocery
shopping without you bringing your
CAMERA???!!! Yikes.

 Brendan clapped his hands as we drove into the complex where I live. He knows the way to my house and he loves to play here with me! I'm so glad that he does! 

 We always get a lot of play time out of the cars and tracks. Brendan's favorite cars are the ones whose little doors open and close.

Grandma! Put your camera DOWN!

We ate an early lunch of apples, bananas, cucumbers, cinnamon toast and crackers, and then … we headed over to Celebration Cinema (at Woodland) to see "Frozen." I have wanted to see it for a very long time but waited until it came to the "cheapie" theatre. Brendan had already seen it and since he enjoyed it hugely, Kelly was able to purchase the DVD for him as well. I told Brendan as I was fastening his seat belts that we were on our way to see, "Let it Go!," and he clapped his hands with JOY. 

Little Fellow really enjoys his popcorn ...

 Brendan knew every single song! And he enthusiastically (and loudly) joined in on every one … I don't know WHY I was surprised but I really could hardly contain myself when I heard his voice, perfectly on pitch, sing every song effortlessly. He just opened his mouth, and out it came … 

I will always cherish and will never forget being with Brendan today ...