Closing out the month ...

Saturday, March 30:  I picked up these two dear girls at 3:30 Saturday afternoon. The boys were invited too, but they declined! We headed over to The Movies @ Woodland to see "A Dog's Way Home." It was a nice little movie about a dear dog named Bella and how it gets lost and found, and then lost again, and then home again after 2.5 years--and all kinds of adventures in between. We shared some popcorn and the snacks I had brought, and actually made it all the way through the movie without having to leave for Kaity to use the bathroom! 

We ate our main meal here afterwards. And then we played for a little while with Kaity. Emma had brought some make-up homework that she has been working on with Kaity. Here Emma is instructing Kaity on some of her language arts lessons. This was so cool to listen to and to watch. I'm so glad Emma cares enough about Kaity to be such a good helper to her.

 These girls actually worked quite hard on this school work, and gave me opportunity to clean up the kitchen. But then it was time to PLAY. So Kaity chose to do some balloon fun. Emma played too, for awhile, but then she took to making short videos of Kaity and I cracking up. It was a lot of fun to laugh and play with these dear granddaughters.

We took Kaitlynn home at about 8:30 and then Emma and I returned here. Emma spent the night. We watched one of our favorite movies, "The Help" and laughed in all of the same places we usually do ... but it's such a good story, and both of us love the people in it. We were in bed sometime after midnight, and morning came too early!

Sunday, March 31:  We went to second service to worship this morning. It is always wonderful to have Emma with me at church. I love her so much, and I want her to come regularly so that she can sing praises and study and learn more about Jesus every week. It was such a good time of worship. Tom was teaching about FEAR from Isaiah 41 and especially verse 10:  "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  This is the very verse that my brother, Kevin, found so special and one that he sent to me so many years ago. God is with us--Immanuel! Jesus has promised never to leave or forsake us! This is SUCH GOOD NEWS. Help us to believe it, Lord, and to LIVE in Your presence every day.

Five very active hours ...

Thursday, March 28:  What a beautiful spring day! I took Kaity over to Rogue River Park to run out some of her energy. It's the first time we have been to a playground in 2019! Kaity had a blast. She has SO MUCH ENERGY!

 And look how happy she is!

 This kiddo plays with a lot of GUSTO. She is really something!

 Look how HIGH she swings! No fear!

 I just HAD to take a peek in the woods since we were right THERE ... everything is pretty dead still. Not much that is beautiful to look at ... probably my least favorite time of the year. But give it a few weeks, when the buds start forming and leaves start to grow and blossoms are blooming, and I will be delirious ...

 Kaity met a few other children to play with, but she basically just gave herself a full work-out.

 I love these happy smiles she gave to me!

 Kaity! You are such a delightful little person. I love you so much!

 It was actually 61 degrees! We could hardly believe it!

 When we arrived at my house, we played with various objects for a little while, blew up a couple of balloons, played with some of our camping toys ... but then Kaity decided to design a layout. When she gets out the railroad stuff, she finds a friend in her grandma--not that I am so stuck on trains or anything--but I like to build. What's nice about these wooden trains--especially on a hard wood floor with this much space available--you can make your track different every single time!

 Kaity uses every single available track and train car that I have. She doesn't miss a single one!

 This week, she used my blue baby blanket as our lake. She got out my shell turtle (Terry), along with the pretty stones I purchased while up north. She made a nice beach area with the lighthouse and the ferry boat! We made a lot of bridges and tunnels, testing each of the tunnels out to see if there was enough height for each train to go under--she never runs out of different plans or ways to make the track connect. I love playing like this with her. It is very fun for me!

But then it was time to go back to Kaity's house. She is always a bit reluctant, claiming that we didn't get to "do anything!" But I try to rehearse with her ALL the fun stuff we DID get to do, and she relents! See you Saturday, Kaity!

An unusual Wednesday

Wednesday, March 27:  I usually pick Brendan up from school on Wednesdays. Today, Dylan and Kelly had a parent/teacher conference with Brendan's teacher, so they asked if I could watch the kiddos during that time. It was a beautiful afternoon, so the kids and I just hung out on the playground over at the school! Look at the two babies in their deluxe "Cadillac" stroller!

 Look at Aidan's happy little face--oh my! And darlin wee Erin! She kills me. Her darling little smile and beautiful eyes. I love her to pieces. Brendan is sharing his siblings with Lydia, one of his classmates--who, by the way, is one of TEN children (the oldest being 12 years of age). She told me she is #5. I mentioned that it must be very fun to have so many brothers and sisters! She responded in the negative, not in a bratty sort of way; just honestly speaking!

 Brendan showed me all of his playground stuff. He loves to climb and slide and play. He is not afraid to try anything whatsoever. 

 When conferences were over, Brendan and I came over to my house. Brendan played with Legos while I heated up some supper for us. THEN we had a bunch of homework to do: Math, spelling, history facts, etc. Brendan worked very hard at all of it. He is the dearest little soul. Too soon, it was time to get in my car and drive back to his house.

 Brendan has a high appreciation for music. I have a good variety of both children's music, praise music, hymns, etc. When my player got to the song, "Awesome God," we both bellowed it out quite loudly as I drove. We repeated that song over and over and over. When we arrived in Brendan's driveway, he asked me: "Can you play it one more time, Grandma?" Naturally, I did!

I love this dear child so much it hurts sometimes. I love his dear heart. I love his great sense of humor. I love that he has very detailed conversations with me. I love that he is interested in everything under the sun. I love that he loves to learn new things. I love that he is wonderfully curious. I love that he is sensitive and kind. So blessed that I get to be his grandma.

This little love of a boy ...

Monday, March 25:  I missed this little person last week while I was on vacation. But now, we are back into our usual routine and Mondays are one of my favorite days of the week. I GET to spend a few hours with Aidan Paul!

We started out at Baker Book House. I wanted to check out their used books for The Mitford Series, which I have fallen in love with. They had a few of the volumes at a good price, but I want/NEED the entire series and I don't want some to be hardcover and some soft--even though there was a 50% off on used books today! I later got on Amazon and found the entire 10-volume set, softcover, for a total of $43 (shipping included). Yes!

But then we just went to MY house where this little cutie could play to his heart's content ...

 I posted a lot of pictures, just because I couldn't choose which ones NOT to post ... his facial expressions just kill me ...

 Aidan is very easy to be with. You do not have to entertain him at all. He just plays and plays and plays.

 And he has the happiest little heart!

 It was very fascinating watching the garbage truck ...

 Yikes! I could just eat this little dumpling right up ...

 Isn't he entirely TOO MUCH?!?!?

 We built some train tracks together. Aidan just loves to play with these little trains. I'm so glad I added some Brio trains to my collection of other trains.

 Aidan made a little bit of music on the piano before we went home today ....

... and I snuck in lots of kisses and hugs too.