The other stuff we did this weekend ...

We read a lot of books this weekend! I had checked out an interesting children's story book from our church library. I returned the book this morning, so I can't recall the title! What was neat about it was that these three kiddos wanted to read it TO me. It was illustrated really simply, and it was in kind of an easy-read format, dealing with seven parables that Jesus taught to his friends. I was encouraged by how well the children were reading. We went through each parable and had a wonderful time discussing each of them!

We watched a more recent version of "Lassie" for our bedtime movie. The kids and I really loved the story. There was a lot of relationship stuff going on and family conflict that had a happy ending! These pictures just show the kids reading other books while I was getting ready for bed before we turned on our movie.

Matthew has a very active imagination.
Here he is reading to his favorite
stuffed animals ... so sweet.

 It seems hard to believe, but all three children sleep in sleeping bags on the floor in the main room here. I sleep with them, but on the couch. They like me to be with them and I enjoy it too. After our movie is over, we turn on our favorite Michael Card CD and listen as he sings lullabies. I rub each child's back and face for TWO songs each, and then I get to upload my pictures from the day and edit them while the children finally go to sleep (which is nearly midnight each Friday night!).

It was COLD and somewhat snowy Saturday morning and I was wondering if we would be able to do our afternoon adventure ... I was so hoping to take the kiddos to another NEW place to hike.

We almost chickened out because of the cold, but finally we decided to take a BRIEF adventure over to Seidman Park (Ada). I had heard that it was beautiful and a great place to hike. We were not disappointed. 

I need to figure out what this creek is called ... isn't it beautiful? 

This was just a brief exposure to this great park. It was TOO cold to stay out very long. The wind was very blustery too! 

I love to watch how the children interact with nature ... especially streams ... they get as close as possible and just HAVE to make contact with that water! I totally "get" that! 

We will surely make many return visits to this beautiful place. We hardly even began to hike here. But we have a nice map for the future, and hopefully the next time we come it won't be so windy! 

This is Kaity-girl. I got to see her for a little while once I dropped the other children back home. Isn't she a sweetie? She is going to be tall, like her sister. She doesn't know me very well, but I can tell that she is going to warm up just fine and that we will have a lot of fun together.

An early trimming of my Christmas tree ...

I've never ever in my life put up my Christmas tree BEFORE Thanksgiving! But Thanksgiving is SO LATE this year, and I've been wanting (for the last six years or so) to trim my tree with my grandchildren!

Emma is such a great helper!
She was thrilled to assemble my tree with me!

I should back up, however, and first tell you the story of this particular Christmas tree! Since I live in a very small, rather teensy tiny place (!) I was looking to purchase a tall narrow tree this year. I had seen one at the end of last season over at Fruit Basket that was perfect for my little cottage. But I could not for the life of me remember how much $$ it was! So in the back of my mind all year, I was kind of planning on just getting that beautiful tree for this Christmas. However, when I was out shopping for it Thursday night I found that it greatly exceeded my budget. I prayed before I entered the store and asked the Lord to direct me to the right tree and help me to keep to my budget. I was so disappointed when I saw the price tag on the beautiful tree I had wanted! So I went back out to my car, prayed again, and drove on over to Walmart to see if I could find something similar ... but for less money. I was SO thankful to find this one at an astonishingly LOW price. It's not as beautiful, but it will do just fine. Thank you, Lord!  

We got the tree put together Friday night. However, the lights that I had purchased on sale to add to the tree were the wrong kind! So all of us drove over to Lowe's Friday night and we got the right lights for our tree. The good thing about going to Lowe's Friday night was that we found out about a great event for the kids that is going to happen December 14 right at Lowe's. I was able to get the information and once we register on-line, each of the kids will be able to build their own wooden Christmas train engine ... and paint it and everything, for free!

Emma dubbed herself the "light checker"
and was happy to plug in each strand to make
sure all the lights were working.

We played beautiful Christmas carols while we decorated the tree together. It was quite chaotic for awhile with all of the boxes of ornaments and three very grabbing kiddos ... but we managed to trim the tree without breaking a single ornament! Wow! 

I will remember this time with much happiness!

A few more pictures from this weekend ...

O LORD, you have examined my heart 

and know everything about me.

You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my every thought when far away.

You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest.

Every moment you know where I am.

 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD.

You both precede me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to know!

 I can never escape from your spirit!

I can never get away from your presence!

If I go up to heaven, you are there;

if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.

If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand

will guide me, and your strength

will support me.

 I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night --

but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are both alike to you.

 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother's womb.

Thank you for making me so

wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous -- and how well I know it!

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God!

They are innumerable!

I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!

PSALM 139:1-18 NLT

The children and I have been reading Psalm 139 every time we are together ... because I want them to know HOW PRECIOUS they are ... HOW MARVELOUS a creation ... and that the Lord NEVER stops thinking loving thoughts about them!

We visited Hagar Park for our Saturday adventure ...

Last week, a friend asked me if I'd ever taken my grandchildren to Hagar Park. Since I'd never heard of it before, I naturally told her that I had not! But after she described it to me, I knew that we just HAD to go there for our next Saturday adventure!

What a great playground! It is one of those "Age of Discovery" playgrounds and there is so much to do!  

I was overjoyed to find HIKING TRAILS too! Wonderful! I was so glad we got a break in the weather and were able to drive out to Jenison to check out this place! 

This huge playground overlooks a map of the United States ... can you kind of see it in the picture below? Michigan, obviously, is easy to find ... and Texas kind of stood out too! We ran around out there and claimed every state we could find as our own! 

We had seen the movie, "Eight Below" Friday night about the eight huskies that were working in Antarctica ... and we got to meet firsthand a Siberian husky named "CHIEF" at the park. He was a beautiful animal, and the children were thrilled to talk to him and his owner for a little while. 

It was a little bit difficult to convince the children that we NEEDED to take a hike out in the woods ... it was hard for them to leave that beautiful playground behind; but I promised that if we took a good long hike, we could return and play and play and play ...

Christopher is LESS than excited about the prospect
of walking ANOTHER path in the woods ...
Doesn't Grandma ever run out of places to hike? Yikes!

 But Matthew was almost as enthused as I was! He found himself a good stick to carry and proceeded ahead!

Hagar Creek winds its way throughout the park; but it's quite depleted of water and its banks are eroding. There were several places where it was being "worked" on and was all roped off ...  

I still found it to be a beautiful spot. Next fall, we'll have to come out here when the colors are still pretty and take lots and lots of photos. I did manage (in the span of three hours) to take 441 pictures ... those trees just NEEDED to be photographed! 

Catching all three kiddos smiling is always a challenge ... and they really get sick of me aiming my camera at their faces ... but for the most part, they put up with me! 

Matthew procured TWO sticks (percussion) that he used to make his own song on the bridge. He absolutely cracked me up watching him. I love to see him this happy!

And then all three of them danced a little jig
for me while Matthew was beating the rhythm ...

If it had been up to me, we would have explored ALL of the trails back here ... but the children really wanted to get back to the playground, so we left many trails UNexplored. We'll just have to return another day, but likely not until ... spring!

Swinging like monkeys!

These three kiddos really know how to have fun ... and they are SO GOOD for me! We laugh and laugh together. I love this time that we are spending with each other, so thankful! While we were at Hagar Park Saturday afternoon, we discovered a bunch of different swings that we had never quite seen or tried before ...

The swing that Matthew is trying out is actually for tiny kiddos, but he thought it might be fun to sit here anyway. He looks quite comfortable, don't you think? This is the neatest "baby" swing I've ever seen! There is a mechanism that comes down over the baby and secures them in the swing without having to adjust straps and everything. We didn't clamp it down on Matthew, because he is not a baby! 

All of the kiddos really enjoyed this round twirly swing ... I got dizzy just taking pictures of them ... twirling around on it! 

Don't they look like they are having the time of their lives???

Even the regular swings got a work-out from everyone. We finally decided that it would be fun to see how HIGH they could go and then J-U-M-P off ... 5-4-3-2-1 ... and land in the sand! I did best on filming Emma's jump. Chris was too quick to catch in mid-air! And Matthew was having NOTHING to do with jumping off a swing whatsoever! 

Although Matthew did enjoy flying like Superman on his tummy ... I like his poses! 

 

And Christopher too!

Watching these kiddos made me feel TEN years old all over again ... it's good to be a kid! 

Five minutes until midnight ...

It's been a busy day for a Friday. After working the last three days, getting up at 5:30 a.m., it's slightly past my bedtime tonight as I wait for these three rascals to go to sleep. We are all here in the main room, the children in their sleeping bags, and me on the couch. They are almost ... asleep!

I picked them up from their grandparents tonight at 5:20, and since I had not prepared any dinner, we ate at Wendy's ~ kids meals were $1.99 after 4pm ... so that's what we did and it was fun. We got home finally and right away read story after story from the library basket: three Mo Willem stories, and a really nice rendition of The Nutcracker with beautiful illustrations. We read quite few others, but I am too tired to recall their titles.

I checked out a book from the library a few days ago that I knew the kids would enjoy ... it's a LEGO version of Noah's Ark! Emma is paging through it in the picture above. 

I also found some nice origami paper at Michael's. Matthew just loves origami. We played for awhile, but then it was pj's and a movie. Tonight we watched "Eight Below" about eight husky dogs and their owner and the adventures they experienced down in Antarctica (based on a true story). We liked it! 

Tomorrow, we have plans to drive across town to visit Hagar Park in Jenison. We printed out a map of the hiking trails tonight ... so we are all set for tomorrow AND the weather is supposed to be fairly mild. I'll tell you all about it ... later!

Nice location, but only temporary ...

I started a temporary job yesterday that will last maybe six weeks ... at a business that is right next to the historic Sixth Street Bridge!

 So ... I am practically downtown! Only 800 feet away from the fish ladder ... working at a small security firm, sitting at someone else's desk, doing someone else's work ... 

But it suits me just fine, and I am very thankful to have it! I snapped these pictures yesterday morning because I was happy about the location and it was such a beautiful morning. Tomorrow is Friday, and I am looking forward to spending time with the grandchildren. They say some warmer air is coming our way for the weekend!