September 14 Jesse's housewarming party

Saturday Evening:  Jesse has been renting a house for just about four years now, and seeking to buy it. His very good friend, Scott--and Scott's dad--worked with Jesse on house projects over the last years and have added a nice bedroom, a second full bathroom, a laundry room, have re-sided much of the house, worked on the roof, etc. Scott lives right next door and owned this house--actually BOUGHT the house with Jesse in mind (super kind of him)--so Jesse has rented this place from him. BUT FINALLY, Jesse got a loan from the VA, made sure the house was "up to snuff", got the house appraised, signed papers and is now a home OWNER. He thought it might be appropriate to throw a housewarming party to celebrate; so he did!

You'd think that I would have gone around the house and taken pictures of it to show you the front yard, the side, the very cool "working" garage/workshop, all of the improvements they've made to the inside of the house, etc. I was too distracted by my grandchildren to notice anything whatsoever about the house. I even neglected taking a picture of Jesse--which is just about inexcusable. Sigh.

Here are some of the pictures I DID take:

Dylan and kiddos were already there when Kaity and I arrived. We were a little late because we stopped at my house after the Olivet game and ate a quick meal before going to Jesse's place. Dylan's kids liked Jesse's big screen TV and his fancy computer equipment too.

They especially loved these reclining chairs and wanted to sleep in them. They ARE very comfortable.

Kaity took us all outside to her back yard where we played for a little while. Brendan took it in hand to run circles around the perimeter of the house, with wee Cal following close behind him.

It was a super beautiful day to be outside, so we stayed out to play. Kaity wasn't wild about having the kids in her room. She recently just bought a LEGO technics set, assembled it, and it is sitting on her desk in her room. She was concerned the little kids would dis-assemble it if they played too much with it. SO ... we did not go into Kaity's room. That was OK, though, because we found enough to do outside.

Jesse has plans to "clear out" a lot of the overgrown brush back here. His property extends another 150' into the woods where there is at least one stream that flows. 

Erin and I sat in the driveway making stone towers for quite awhile. We wanted to see how many stones we could stack without them falling over. I think SIX was as many as we could stack without the whole thing falling over.

I know that stacking stones doesn't sound very interesting; but just about anything with Erin is interesting because she is constantly talking and telling me her ideas and the reasoning behind the decisions she makes. She corrects me, too, if she doesn't agree with my "take" on any subject. 

Jesse went over to JETS and picked up a few pizzas to share with everyone. It was nice for Dylan's kids to be able to hang out with their cousin, Kaity, for a little while. We don't get them together enough. Brendan and Kaity are both 12 now; so it's quite an age gap between even Aidan (7) and them. 

Here are 5 of 8 grandchildren! AND I saw a sixth grandchild earlier in the day (Chris)! This was a VERY GOOD DAY!

I found an airplane I had folded months ago inside Jesse's house. I brought it outside and we flew it around his yard for a very long time.

I made this montage of Cal flying the airplane--he certainly loves all moving vehicles! He does a very decent job of throwing a paper airplane too. Cutie.

It was nearly 8pm when I left the housewarming. I was tired from being away all day, and it was good to get home again to my cozy little beach house. So thankful for this place.

September 14 Olivet vs Wooster

Saturday:  Kaity and I drove over to Olivet University to see Christopher (#31) and his team play the Woosters (Ohio). I have never driven the trip to Olivet before--I have ridden with Jesse 2x, but have never navigated the roads on my own. Thankfully, Kaity entered the address to Olivet and her phone instructed us all the way there, without missing a single turn--and there were LOTS of turns!

It was a surprisingly WARM and sunny afternoon with highs in the mid-80's. Since I have had this unresolved itching all over my body, my doctor has warned me against being too much in the sun. So, after about 15 minutes in the bleachers, I found a shady spot (under a tree) within sight of the field and hearing of the announcers and the plays, etc. It was a relief to sit under that tree! It wasn't too long before Kaity joined me there. She doesn't like being out in the heat for long periods of time, unless she is swimming. Kaity was super tired today. She slept 75% of the drive from Grand Rapids. It's a good thing her phone was "talking" to me, or I'd never have made it there.

It was a good game! Olivet won Wooster 27 to 23. YES! Here are a few pictures I snapped while there; the first three are from the stands and then the rest are from where I retreated under a tree in the shade.

Chris plays defensive lineman (I think I am correct about this--Chris told me several times what his position is this year when he came over to say good-bye before he left for college--but I'm not good at remembering football details), second string--but a strong second string. He is very serious about the game, his scholarship to play, his grades, and his life in general. I am super proud of him.

This was my view of the field from the shady area under the tree in the nice, soft grass.

After the game, we all got to greet Chris to congratulate him on Olivet's win.

When Chris was a very little boy (say ... 3 years old), I would often say he was my little "Spankie" (from the Little Rascals). But as he has become a young man, he has grown very handsome--don't you think?

This is ELLA. Chris and Ella have been together now for FOUR years, which is quite remarkable seeing that Ella works here in the Grand Rapids area, and Chris is an hour-and-a-half away at Olivet. 

Doesn't Ella have a beautiful smile? I am quite thankful for Ella. I'd like to know her better; but from what I do know, she is hard-working, happy, seeks to know the Lord, and is supportive of Chris. I like the two of them together and pray that the Lord will bless them, keep them walking in obedience to Him, and bless their lives.

I like these of Kaity and Chris too. Kaity really admires her brothers. I'm so glad she does! 

I handed off my camera to Kaity and asked her to snap a few of Chris and me ...

Kaity and I did not stay long after the game--she was rather anxious to leave. She had actually asked, rather imploringly, if we could leave after the first quarter! I told Miss Kaitlynn that in no circumstances whatsoever was I leaving until the game was over and I had a chance to see and hug Christopher. I think Kaity didn't quite believe me and continued her request; but she finally gave up when she saw I was not budging. I think she was glad that we stayed. I did a LOT of yelling during the game, which she found annoying; but part of the reason she grows "bored" with football is because she doesn't understand the game. I'm no football expert, but it is one sport that I DO know the rules and I find interesting and exciting to watch.

Well ... we drove home; once again, with Kaity sleeping the whole way. That's okay. I listened to beautiful music about the awesome love of Jesus and was reminded over and over again of just how great He is.

September 13 Little Cal

Friday:  This is our second Friday ... just having Cal to my house while the bigger kids are in school. His poor mama had oral surgery yesterday and was home recuperating when I picked Cal up at 11:30. We went right over to my place, and I hope Kelly got some good rest throughout the day.

Little Cal has himself a good time over here with all the toys to play with and no competition (except from his grandma). I took pictures of him playing in the playroom mostly. We played cars for quite awhile, taking them to and from the fix-it shop, taking them through the car wash, and gassing them up.

But then Cal remembered my "bin" of rocks and beans and construction vehicles. I cannot believe how long he played with this! Hence, all the pictures...

Cal felt it was pretty necessary to bring Mr. Tiger and Mr. "No" Leopard (Snow Leopard) over to the construction site for demolition purposes ... they were very good at destroying whatever it was the trucks were up to . . .

We buried lots of vehicles. We found hidden treasures too!

Cal is quite an intense little guy with tactile toys ... he really enjoys them and is contented with them a very long time. I enjoyed just sitting and watching his delighted little soul.

We played out in the main room for awhile with the MagnaTiles and built a special house and camper for our magnet people. I didn't get any pictures of what we made, but Cal was very into it and quite happy the entire time. What a little JOY he is.

I then suggested we play with Play-Doh, which is something else he really loves to do.

We made all kinds of interesting stuff with our Play-Doh today. Cal wanted me to help him make a long "nake" (snake), so we did! We decorated him with little flower impressions and put google eyes on him. Cal was very pleased.

Since I had ALSO made a long snake, Cal decided the two "nakes" should FIGHT! So, of course, they did. Cal's snake won, big-time. I didn't let the fight drag out too long, though, because I didn't want the yellow and orange Play-Doh to get all mashed up together--then we'd just have a lighter orange color and NO yellow.

We also made Play-Doh monsters with various eyes, noses, arms and legs. Cal got a real kick out of this and tried to make his as weird as possible.

As you can see, I didn't get his mouth wiped off very good after we had our second snack--but that's OK. He's still the cutest little guy.

I put on a "Hot Wheels" video (20 minutes) for Cal while I was picking up toys around here, and then we zoomed on back to his house in time for Erin and Aidan's bus drop-off. Cal was soundly sleeping in his car seat--you can't believe how difficult it was to wake him up! He was SO tired. I gave up for about 15 minutes, rolled some of the windows slightly open in the car and let him sleep.

Eventually, we all played silly games inside the house until Dylan came home from work. He had plans to take the kiddos to the Huskie football game tonight, so they all left for the game at about 6:30 ... and I drove back to my very quiet little house! It was a very nice day with the kids, though, and I felt super thankful about it.

September 12 with KT

Thursday:  I picked up Kaity after school today. We had nothing special planned. It still amazes me that she wants to come to my boring little house and hang out; but she does, and I am so glad to have her here. It's Sunday night now when I am posting about our time together, and I can't really remember anything out of the usual that occurred except that Kaity had homework to do and got started on that right away.

School and homework is NOT what it was like 60 years ago. It doesn't even resemble it! Kaity does all of her school work (or at least most) on a computer that is assigned to her by her school. Her assignments are on a school website and each student has their own "account" their teacher has access to. It's kind of cool, actually. The teacher can just bring up each student's account to see if their work is current, assignments are finished when assigned, etc. A lot less paper that way. 

Kaity's math assignment, however, necessitated "showing her work" which she did on paper, and then entered the correct answer on her computer. I think this was addition and subtraction of decimals. At least I remember to do this kind of math--not much else, though; math was never a strong subject with me.

Kaity did finish her work; although when asked to help her with her Geography homework, she wasn't willing to actually accept where I was leading her to research; so I was promptly requested NOT to help. I complied!

We re-heated some chicken and rice for dinner and then drove over to Altitude where Kaity practiced jumping. She is learning a lot of cool maneuvers as she jumps, and it's so good to see her be physically active. She has a lot of fun at Altitude, and it's very entertaining to watch her. She actually cracks herself up trying new tricks. !!