Just hanging out at The Beach House

Saturday, February 24:  This post is out of order, but oh well! Saturday was Kaity's last soccer game of the season over at the high school, Court 3 in the gymnasium. Poor Kaity, though, was physically exhausted from the cold she had (cough and sniffles). She just wasn't her usual hopping, skipping, jumping self.

 That's OK because we love her just as she is. She gave it a try for a few plays ...

But she never once ran ... or hopped ... or skipped ... or jumped! 

 Until she finally gave up and came to cuddle with Jesse. That's just how it goes sometimes. Her grandpa Larry and grandma Judy were there to watch her play as well. We have gone to every one of her games and cheered her on. This has been a very good experience for Kaity.

 Just one picture of the flooded Grand River. This is what it looked like up at Northland and the intersection of Cannonsburg/W. River. The building over there is built up on stilts (I guess that's what you call it) and there is a parking lot underneath--and there are large boulders that line the parking lot and then descend into the river. Usually, there is a good 6-8 feet below the parking lot before you hit the river ... but not on Saturday!

 I picked the kiddos up at 3:30 and we hung out at The Beach House for a little while. Kaity is always SO glad to be here. She is quite a spit-fire of a kid. She was feeling better than she had been at her morning soccer game.

I had purchased a TOY Wilson basketball hoop and put it on my front door, where the ceiling is highest, and the kids had so much fun shooting baskets!! 

 I have enough small, soft balls for everyone to get in on the action; so everyone did!

We did a lot of drawing and art work too ... 

 I love it when the kids sit around my table and draw stuff. 

 Kaity is really coming along with her letters and her drawing too. She seems very happy while she is creating a picture. I'm so glad about this!

 Kaity also enjoys my piano. Emma does too ... but she isn't happy when I take her picture, so I'm trying to respect that as much as possible.

 We played a game of UNO, but I didn't realize I had a double deck--which stretched the game out WAY TOO LONG ... and Kaity didn't know how to play, and the older kids didn't want me to teach her because it would be too interruptive ... so we finally gave up trying to get to the end of the game.

 I love being with these kids. I love watching them grow up. I keep asking the Lord to shine His light on their hearts, open their eyes to see Him, open their ears to hear Him, and give them hearts that seek to know and obey Him ... all the days of their lives. Nothing less will bring them happiness.

 Kaity kind of wandered back and forth between our game table and the round table, where she was doing stickers and other things ...

 Christopher !! He cracks me up. He was really enjoying himself during the game.

 I absolutely love these pictures of Matt. He has a tendency to be "down" on himself and be prone to sadness, but he actually did very well during our game (even though he was not winning) and it was just good to be with him and play a game together. Emma was here at the table too, but I did not take her picture.

Well, that's all for now. Thankful for these children, every one of them ... so good of God to allow me to be their grandma.

This precious person ...

Monday, February 26:  I got to spend a little quality one-on-one with baby Aidan Monday afternoon. His mama had a bunch of errands to run and so I came over to his house to play for awhile.

Aidan is a tiny little dumpling of a baby. He measures just 2% for height and 20% on the weight scale. It doesn't seem to bother him one bit.

His folks also took him to an allergist last week. It seems this little one has a pretty severe allergy to tree nuts, peanuts in general. He is also highly allergic to anything dairy-related. He also seems quite intolerant of gluten. SO, Kelly has been doing a good job with her diet, so that her milk doesn't upset him.

We played with the leftover birthday glasses from Brendan's party ...

And we spent a lot of time in the high chair eating various snacks and playing "catch" with all of the toys he would drop over the side. Aidan thought it was quite amusing. But he has a very ready sense of humor.

The sweetest time of all, for me at least, was after we had played down on the floor for awhile--me pretending to chase him as he crawled as fast as his little legs would go (cracking up all the way down the hallway, thinking he was getting away from me!) and then I would snatch him up and kiss his tummy--anyway, that was NOT the sweetest time--it was actually nap time (which Aidan resists with all of his heart). He finally fell asleep on my lap, all warm and snuggly, after we had read a few good books, drank his bottle, and played with my boat necklace. He also wanted me to suck on his fingers (he thought it was super funny), but then he drifted away ... so quietly and softly. I rocked him for about an hour with him all cuddled into my arms, and I rubbed his little face with my fingers and spoke words of love to him. Nothing quite like a dear little baby ...

February 21 through 25

Wednesday, 2/21/18:  I had to switch my Thursday date with Brendan to Wednesday this week, but it worked out just fine. Brendan came over to my place to hang out for awhile. We always have such a nice time together. I love this little person so much. He is so delightful. He loved playing with my new PlayDoh.

And Brendan always enjoys my Toy room. I'm so glad I have lots of toys to play with! Brendan especially loves my Matchbox trucks--he always has! 

We had quite a rain event in Grand Rapids on Tuesday and Wednesday. I believe we picked up 3" of rain here--more a little south and east of us ... but enough, combined with the warmer temperature and melting snow, to make rivers quite ... F-U-L-L! This is Plaster Creek, across the street from where Brendan lives. 

 This pathway runs under the overpass and then there is a nice "river walk" that winds along for quite a distance--but it was completely flooded out.

Saturday, 2/25/18:  This was Kaity-Girl's LAST soccer game of the season. She has really learned a lot about the game and her skills have improved; however, yesterday she had a cough, she was congested, and she just was not "herself". So instead of hopping, skipping and jumping WHILE she was running, she wasn't running at all!

 Kaity was just too "down" with this cold to really participate in the game very much.

 She finally found comfort in her daddy's arms and sat out the rest of the game.

 Below is a picture of the Grand River up by Northland Drive. I haven't seen the river this high EVER in the month of February. It has been this high in May, but never (in my experience) in February. It was due to crest Saturday night (and it did). Today is Sunday, and I can tell it is thankfully already receding. 

I picked the kiddos up at our "usual" time of 3:30 in the afternoon. We had a lot of fun just doing our usual activities. 

 I did buy a WILSON basketball hoop and a few balls thinking that it might be something fun for the kids, never expecting they would go absolutely crazy with it! They really loved shooting baskets, even though it is only a toy hoop. The boys got quite good at it. Kaity was completely enthralled with it and played her heart out.

Thanks, Lord, for these few good hours of play time. I love being with the children so much. 

Emma was here with us too, sitting at my computer and supplying all kinds of beautiful songs from Youtube while she watched DIY videos. She has been rather opposed to having me take any pictures of her, so I have to respect that--it's hard, but I'm making myself comply.  

We did some art for awhile. I've always enjoyed just sitting around a table with art stuff scattered about. It's just a nice way to sit and chat for awhile. 

 Kaity is making real strides in writing her name--FRONTWARDS no less! School has been very good for her. She showed me a picture of all of the children in her class--it was posted on their refrigerator when I took her home. There are 19 kids in this Readiness Kindergarten class. Kaity told me about each of them as I pointed to their pictures. I'm glad she has friends at school and I am happy to see her more focused.

 I love this picture of you, dear dear Kaity. Doesn't she have such a pretty smile?

We decided to play a game of UNO. I had no idea that there were TWO decks combined ... the game went on forever ... 

 ... there were some tense moments, but for the most part, I think everyone had a good time. We did a lot of laughing at least.

 Kaity played with other stuff while our UNO game was going on. She would come and sit with me every now and then and I would let her play one of my cards for me. She is old enough to learn how to play the game, but the other kiddos did not want to have to teach her and they didn't want me to teach her either. I understand. Kaity takes a lot of my time when everyone is over. I try to figure out a way to include everyone, but I'm not always successful.

 These next pictures of the boys need no comment. I love these pictures!

Thank you, Lord, for grandchildren. Thank you that you teach me about YOURSELF through these children. Thank you that I get to be their grandma.