June 9 The Grand FOUR

Monday: Today marks the first day (for me) of summer vacation where I will have FOUR GRAND children for most of the day. I can hear you saying that "this should be no big deal!" Ah, but then you would under-estimate how deeply my anxiety issues go. I don't want to joke lightly about this because ... for me it is a deterrent to much of life. I've been asking the Lord about it, confessing my lack of trust in Him, my frequency of being overtaken by fear, etc. And do you know what? As I seek Him and ask for His help, strength, and direction He tenderly grows me into being stronger, less afraid, and more confident in Him. Praise Him!

So why on earth would I be afraid to take care of these beautiful children for nine hours one day a week? I am not afraid of THEM. I'm afraid of ME. But that's a super long story that I don't need to detail. 

Anyway, our first 2025 summer day together ended up being beyond ... FAR better beyond what I could ever have conjured up in my head. It's not that we did anything stupendous--not at all. It was just GOOD to be together. We were happy and content, well-fed, and even got out in the fresh air for two hours. I'm going to have to divide our day into two parts. 

We'll start with my house:

I made spaghetti ahead of time for our lunch. The kiddos are usually robust eaters, and I made a TON of spaghetti. They did eat a helping each--but they were more interested in playing than eating today. That's okay! Aidan had his spaghetti without any sauce at all and ate it right down to the last noodle. Cal and Erin ate perhaps half of what I served them, and Brendan ate everything (including some cheesy garlic bread). All was OK and I cleaned up as they watched a 20-minute segment of Tom and Jerry (Erin's request). 

These pictures all loaded in reverse order, which is why I am starting with describing lunch. We actually arrived at my house at 9AM. All four of the kiddos had two pieces of cinnamon toast for breakfast, and then they played for the next three hours until I served lunch.

Look at this beautiful bouquet of rhododendrons! Erin and Kelly brought this to me yesterday, just before I was leaving for church in the evening. I was so surprised! I love rhododendrons so much.

One of Cal's favorite games is the "Battle Box" game. He cracks me up when he plays it though because he rarely waits his turn before he takes a shot and he's pretty grabby about the blockers too. When it is me and Cal who are playing the game, I kind of coax him through the rules. Erin, on the other hand, became rather frustrated with him and declared Cal was cheating. We smoothed that out without too much grief. 

Aidan observed the whole issue and decided to make Cal a little sign that indicated he was in the LEAD. Cal really likes to win. I loved this sign Aidan concocted out of nowhere.

Here is Aidan making the sign ...

Dear Brendan was very industrious building a train layout. He is such an excellent builder. And he is so incredibly patient. Did I mention how much I love this child?

We played a few rounds of JENGA, starting with Brendan and me and then Aidan and I played three games! I really like this game. Aidan is spectacular at it!

Erin had fun "cooking" and setting up all the food for some of my stuffed animals. She also brought food into the spare bedroom to feed the baby dolls. So sweet.

Bird watching was fun too. The Starlings have quite taken over my side yard--it's like an actual INVASION.

This is Erin telling me about being in the middle of listening to "The Horse and His Boy" (she noticed the Narnia series on my book shelf).

Aidan shot hoops for awhile--so did Cal. It was fun to watch them and listen to their strategies.

Once we had finished lunch and I did a little clean-up, I announced that we were going to a park to play for awhile. I got less than enthusiastic responses, but I decided to plod ahead with it anyway. First of all, it was an IDEAL weather day--clear skies, 67 degrees, light breeze ... it doesn't get much better in Michigan. I had already packed the stomp rockets and a few paper airplanes in the back of my car. The park I was thinking of has a nice open field where we can shoot the rockets off.

Please see next post for what we did at Dwight Lydell Park ...