Free, Living Water!

A gorgeous spring walk out in Lowell

A sleepover with Brendan

This is a random spring picture and has nothing
whatsoever to do with this post!
But it is FINALLY spring and I am so happy it is!

I got to have a sleepover with Brendan Friday night at HIS house. Dylan and Kelly were downtown for the weekend at a work-sponsored conference, so I picked Brendan up after work and away we went!

First, it had been years and years since I had seen Toy Story I and I thought that perhaps if I picked up a copy of it, we could watch it before bedtime. We headed on over to Best Buy and bought ourselves a copy. I thought I was going to take Brendan out for Chinese for dinner, but when we pulled up at the Chinese place Brendan asked if there was any pizza in there. I told him there was rice and broccoli and noodles and all kinds of yummy stuff ... but no pizza.

Brendan usually LOVES Chinese. But for some reason, he put his little head down and started sobbing that all he wanted was pizza, and "where was the pizza?" Oh my word. I was not prepared for this! I've never seen him do this behavior before ... and since we were still in my car, I told him we did not have to eat Chinese, we could certainly find some pizza somewhere. At first, he could not be consoled. So I got in the back seat where he was strapped into his car seat and I rubbed his little face and told him that we certainly could have pizza. Whew. 

We had our yummy personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut and then we went to his house. It has probably been 20 years since I had seen Toy Story. I must admit, seeing it now, that it was a little bit scary! Brendan did fine, but if I could pick again, I would not choose that movie. There was something so sinister about the neighbor kid and all of those spooky toys. Brendan and I read some happy stories together before tucking him in for the night.

Saturday morning, we played at The Beach House. It is easy to play with kiddos here ... something to do with the fun toys, I think.

Nothing unusual about our playtime. We had lots of fun, as always. We did a lot of pretending with our finger and hand puppets, and we laughed a lot too. I love spending time with this little person.

I think Spring is here ...

I took a quick walk a few nights ago just so that I could see the glorious signs of spring. I'm so glad it is finally here!

Frog Hollow with Brendan

I spent Monday evening with my Little Fellow. He and his folks have been passing a sickness back and forth for the last 10 days or so and Brendan has been indoors as a result, much more than he would like. Thankfully, everyone is on the mend!

We decided to drive over to "Frog Hollow" and enjoy the mild weather and the wonderful sunshine.

Frog Hollow is a nice park behind Metro Hospital that has lots of interesting play stuff. Dylan and Kelly often take Brendan there.

Brendan rolled down the hills ...

... in true bare-footed splendor!

He investigated the dry grass for quite awhile. He was so interested in the texture and color!

Brendan crawled through many tunnels ... I was sneaking my hands through the holes on the sides of the bottom one, pretending that I was going to "get him." He loves that.

Brendan played for the longest time with the wood chips (!!) making them into all kinds of things in his imagination. He is a very three dimensional person. He had a whole Christmas theme going with these wood chips for awhile.

We had such a relaxing time enjoying this little park.

When we arrived back at Brendan's, a fire truck drove up and parked across the street. The firemen waved at Brendan. He was thrilled to see the truck. I don't think there was any emergency, but it stayed parked there for quite awhile.

I got to tuck this little one in for the night, after we played for a little bit, editing pictures on my computer. He was his usual cuddle-snuggle self. I love him.

Kaity-Girl is stealing my heart ...

I picked Kaity up Monday afternoon and we went over to Wahlfield Park to play. It's just up the road on Alpine from where they live, a straight shot! I brought a few sand toys in my car as well as a few snacks.

I love to dig in the dirt, don't you? Kaity does too. She likes to play with trucks, just like I used to do when I was a little person.

Her mama had gotten a new dress for her with little kittens all over it. Kaity was so pleased to wear it.

Isn't she a cutie? I love her soft hair.

We ate our snacks under the pavilion where it was cool and shady.

Kaity was trying to show me how far away she could get. I think she thought it might bother me that she was walking so far away, but I was not one bit bothered.

Sometimes dresses and playgrounds are not the best match ... Katie's dress impeded her ability to climb--she finally gave it up.

Love you, little Kaity-girl. You are very close to my heart.

Weekend pictures ...

Weekends can be very odd sometimes, especially when you have no idea as to when plans can be made and with whom--but I am fairly used to that situation and have learned to have Plans A-C (at least) so that I can be more accommodating. As it was, Emma was able to spend the night Friday night--a one-on-one with my Emma!

 The only drawback was that, due to her schedule, I could not pick her up until 9:00--which I did! I picked her up at Three Mile Project and brought her over here. We hung out for a little while and then Emma used my computer for a bit while I was getting my jammies on, etc. She took these pictures on PhotoBooth. She loves to play with my computer.

 We decided to watch an easy, funny, happy movie so Emma chose "Tangled." Good choice, Ems! We laughed and enjoyed it very much and then went to bed and slept very soundly. We had a few happy hours in the morning too and did our Bible story of Nicodemus hearing the GOOD NEWS from Jesus and what happened afterwards! I love this story so much!

We had arranged to pick the other kiddos up at noon and I thought it might be nice (since it was an amazingly beautiful and mild day) to drive back to Hager Park and play outside for a few hours. I brought lots of snacks with me (as usual).

 The children always appreciate a nice snack.

 We ate at a picnic table near the playground ... but it was awfully close to families who were in the middle of arguments, mostly moms and pre-teens. I thought (hoped) we would spend at least two hours there ... but it did not turn out that way whatsoever.

 NOTE TO SELF:  (1)  Remember! Every day is a different day with these kiddos. Just because an activity worked three weeks ago, does not mean it will work TODAY. I have to write this out so that I will LEARN and not keep repeating the same mistakes. (2)  Secondly, none of the children (except Kaity) do well in the heat. It was just shy of 80 degrees in the full sunlight, just after noon, and I will say it was wonderfully hot--but I love heat! These guys definitely do not like heat. They also do not like bugs of any shape or kind: hence, bees, flies, mosquitoes, gnats, wasps, dragon flies, etc. They more than dislike them--they come rather unglued around them.  (3)  When kiddos are unhappy, do not try to force them to BE HAPPY. It is a ridiculous and not very respectful effort. When I mean not respectful, I mean: broken hearts should not have to mend at my demand! Life is hard enough without having to "put a smile" on your face when your heart is aching. Grandma's should not need to receive fake smiles just so that they can take a nice picture.  (4)  It is important to acknowledge their sadness and let them know I care and that I love them.  

So ... we packed up our picnic snack, loaded up the kiddos and drove back to The Beach House where we were able to successfully play for about an hour before it was time to take the children back to their house. I will eventually learn (hopefully) not to be so self-centered and be more sensitive to their hearts and wishes.

 The rest of these pictures are just ones that I took Saturday night on a short walk around the neighborhood.

Thank you, Lord, for the GOOD NEWS that I can be born into Your family. Thank you that the life you give is ETERNAL. Thank you that one day you will return and right the wrongs in this world and heal brokenhearted children.