August 18 Summer's End

Monday:  Today will be the last time, for the next few months at least, of having all four of these beautiful grandkids with me at my house. They are a busy bunch! I am an OLD lady ... so I do get a little bit stressed at times when I can't quite listen to four conversations all at the same time, or look at what each them wants me to see ... because I only have TWO eyes and TWO ears! Mostly, though, everyone does okay with me and we have a good time together.

When I drove into my little driveway today, I announced that Paco and Ramone were threatening to pack their bags and move to Mexico. When the children inquired as to why, I told them that Paco and Ramone feel very neglected lately--that when the grandchildren come over, NO ONE plays with THEM!

SO ... upon entering my house, dear Brendan went right over to the puppet basket and picked up Paco and dressed him up with "tusks" and did a little skit for us! Ah, Brendan. You have the most tender of hearts.

Erin is always ready to pose beautifully for a picture--unless she is in a mood to make faces--but she wasn't today. She was very happily wearing one of the new dresses her mama bought for her for the upcoming school year. Look how beautiful she looks!

You would make a lovely child model, Erin!

Brendan has somehow figured out how to play PacMan on my computer--for free! He played for a long while and was able to access a few other games ... until ... suddenly the computer flashed all kinds of warnings about viruses, etc. Everybody panicked because these "fake" warnings are very well made--they are LOUD, very colorful, pulsate, and it's impossible to even think while it is all happening. I've had this happen to me several times now and I've NEVER EVER called the phone numbers listed to "help" a person clear the viruses. First of all, I have a MAC and they do NOT get viruses. It's all bogus! In huge letters across the screen they caution you NOT to turn your computer off without dire consequences!!! So I shut my computer off and left it off for 10 minutes. We were able to turn it back in without further incident; but I think we need to steer clear of these "free" video game sites. Poor Brendan. I assured him that this has happened to me multiple times, and I usually call my Apple support people to fix the problem.

Young Callaghan busied himself with the space LEGOs. Cal is a very good builder of LEGOs and finds a lot of happiness building with them. I'm so glad!

Erin took the regular LEGOS into my bedroom where she could play without being interrupted.

Meanwhile Einstein Aidan was in the spare bedroom creating an entire CITY complete with race track, stadium, parking lots and multiple other attractions. He was very pleased with himself.

It actually worked quite well to have the kiddos in separate spaces today. They needed to just be able to create something on their own, without someone else intruding on their ideas and projects.

While I was trying to do a little clean-up, the kids watched the first 30 minutes of a movie titled, "IF" which stands for ... I forget! NO, no, no! That's not what it stands for. I can't remember! I got a lot of my house cleaned up while they watched the movie, and then we headed back to their house. We didn't get there until nearly 3:00!

I can't believe the summer has flown by so quickly. The kiddos return to school this Wednesday--all FOUR of them will be in school full time this year. Kelly and I are still trying to decide which day will work best for both of us for me to be with the kids after their school day. Also, I hope to have an overnight, one-on-one every other week ... this Friday is Cal's turn! I will pick him up after his full day at school and bring him here to play with me. I am looking forward to it very much.