May 2

Saturday:  I got to pick Kaity up and bring her to my house today--the first time in FIVE weeks. I know that they have not given the okay yet ... but since I am having Dylan's kiddos over and am already compromised, I can't see why to leave Kaity and Emma out of the mix. It's ME that we are protecting actually--the kids are not as likely to be at risk. Presently, I am willing to take the risk!

 Kaity requested to take a bubble bath, so YAY! She did that and I washed her beautiful hair that was in quite a tangled up mess! It took me 35 minutes to finally comb out all of the knots--but I had help with a de-tangle lotion and the fact that Kaity was comfortably watching her favorite Star Wars movie. I sectioned off her hair a little bit at a time and worked on combing through that part and then pinned the finished section UP so that I could see to work on other parts of her hair. I used a wide-tooth comb ... Kaity did not complain ... well, only one time when I DID evidently pull her hair while combing it. But I was super careful and her hair turned out very prettily as a result.

 Kaity brought over her monkey game (it's like the Twizzler game I have here that uses marbles, but Kaity's uses monkeys). We played a nice game of that and included Paco and Lily (naturally).

 Kaity had a lot of fun getting reacquainted with Matey-Bird. They had so much fun together!

 Below, Kaity is taking a little bow having successfully lured Matey back into his cage so that we could exit the house without worrying about him escaping to the outdoors. Kaity and I then went outside in front of my house and kicked a soccer ball around for 20 minutes or so. I love to play with Kaity!

 I drove Kaity to her house and switched her out for Emma! Emma played a LOT with Matey and they were so funny to watch.

 Matey has a favorite toy--it's a plastic straw. We THINK green is his favorite color, but we're not sure. Today's straw WAS green and he was just delighted to play "fetch" with it. You can actually throw the straw on the ground and Matey will bring it back to you. He's so funny when he runs around on the floor--you can hear his little nails clicking and now and then he slips and slides on the floor, which is hysterical to watch.

 Emma brought his straw back to the playroom and blasted it in our Hotwheels blaster. Matey would stand by, super alert, and when the straw blasted off, he would run and fetch it and bring it back to Emma to repeat ...

Anyway, it was very fun and I watching Emma take videos of our dear little bird friend. It was wonderful to have Emma spend the night once again. We watched two episodes of West Wing--I had never seen this show and Emma told me there are seven seasons that she and her dad have watched together. We went to bed sometime after 11:00. So thankful to be grandma to these precious girls.

May 1, Pickerell Lake

Friday afternoon:   Pickerell Lake is only about a 12 minute drive from my house. It was a beautiful, sunny, mild afternoon--so I decided we would just drive out there and take a little hike. I didn't have the kiddos' fancy double stroller, but I had my umbrella stroller that I figured I could use for at least one of the littles.

It's a beautiful place to walk and appreciate God's creative beauty. Everywhere you look there is eye-candy ... Aidan, naturally, adds to the beauty of the place just by his winning and jovial personality.

 Erin liked it out here too. She was very appreciative of the water.

 Brendan likes it here too, at least I think he does ... he seemed to enjoy our walk.

 This is my favorite picture of the day (below) ... it's difficult to get 3 children to look at you at the same time--obviously, I tried, but didn't achieve it! That's OK. I don't really like "posed" pictures anyway.

 Aidan's favorite thing was plunking rocks in the lake ...

 Erin broke free of the stroller and Aidan immediately grabbed it to sit in. Erin didn't mind one bit ... she was very happy to be out and about.

Cuties! I loved being with all of you today.

May 1

Friday:  At my house. I picked the kiddos up at 11AM from their place. Erin fell asleep in the car almost right away and Aidan soon after. I had supplied Brendan with a good Jack Hanna "HOW" book (about animals), so he was pretty content in the car. Since the babies were sleeping, I decided to let them sleep for awhile and just drove here and there ...

But finally, the kids woke up--we were just pulling into my neighborhood--so everyone went inside and started doing what they do at my house. Brendan immediately goes to Matey's cage and releases him from his bondage. I love this picture of them interacting ... 

 Erin, who is almost always hungry, gets right up in her little chair ready to consume whatever I put in front of her ... well, almost. She gives me a clear "NO" if it is something she doesn't want to taste.

 But she's a pretty hearty little eater usually, so that's good. I can't say the same for Aidan. I have no idea what he actually eats around here--mostly pretzels, veggie straws, and crackers. Sigh.

 More of Brendan and Matey ...

 Brendan colored a nice giraffe picture for my side door today ...

 Dear Aidan was totally occupied with the toys around here. He never loses interest in all of the cars and trucks and trains. I'm so glad, though. I love to see him playing so happily.

 Dear Erin has gotten into the trains too, much to her brothers' regret ...

 Erin loves Matey too. She likes to play in his seeds; however, I strongly discourage that because ... there is nothing but a mess as a result! She splashed around in his water today too ...

I put on "Finding Nemo" for them at about 2:30 so that I could do a little clean-up around here and get ready for our walk this afternoon out at Pickerell Lake.