Dunking cookies ...

Look who stopped by the Beach House to spread a little joy today! I was so glad to see my Little Fellow and his folks!

Clearly, this baby enjoys a freshly baked chocolate-chip cookie! 

 Brendan was being my little kitchen helper while I was getting some lunch ready. We ate the cookies for dessert ... these pictures posted out of order, but it doesn't really matter because I didn't take many pictures today.

Isn't this so cute of Brendan carefully dunking his cookie in Kelly's glass of milk? He was so pleased about it too! 

This is a much-loved baby ... very serious about his cookies! This is quite a threesome that obviously adore each other, which blesses my heart very deeply.

Our Saturday afternoon adventures ...

When I think of all the places we have visited so far on our weekend ramblings ... Townsend Park, Pickerell Lake, the Rockford Dam, Dwight Lidell Park, Stoney Creek ~ I'm just amazed there are SO MANY beautiful parks within such a short drive from my house. And as I thought about where to go Saturday afternoon, I couldn't make up my mind ... until I remembered we had not been out to Ada yet. HOW could I let Autumn go by without going out to Ada?!!!

Ada Park is the very spot where Dylan and Kelly had their rehearsal dinner three summers [and a lifetime] ago. But these kiddos did not get to attend that event, being somewhat stuck 1600 miles away. They were so delighted with this beautiful place! 

Christopher found the HUGEST leaf EVER. I told him it was as BIG AS HIS HEAD ... and he proved me right by covering his entire face with it! 

The colors were just stunning Saturday afternoon, and we drank in the beauty as we explored the woods together ... 

I love this picture of Christopher!
He carried his prize leaf around with him
all afternoon ... 

We walked many trails, taking all kinds of routes and turns until the children finally spied this incredible playground ... and that was it for our hiking! The children just about went wild with this playground. 

Matthew, on the geo-dome ...

I was telling a friend, who lives just a mile or so from here, at church this morning that we had visited this awesome playground. She told me they had recently added new equipment and had upgraded the entire playground area. They did a great job of it.

Emma thought this "wave" was extra cool. She said she was pretending to be "Jesus, walking on the water." 

Christopher was less excited about the "wave." I tried it for about one second and got right back off ... it really does feel exactly like a ... wave!  

I think Matthew's favorite thing here was the wooden house. He just loved climbing all over this thing and announced that this was "HIS HOUSE!" Matthew told to his teacher on Friday that every Saturday (!) he and Chris and Emma and their grandma go on an ADVENTURE! I loved how he claimed this house for his own, like a true explorer!

 These kiddos are quite the monkeys at a playground. Oh my ... they had so much fun!

 I think this is the best playground we have ever seen ... at least here in our area!

All three kids spent a lot of time digging here in the sand. They were all able to figure out how to work the digger and were really good at moving dirt around!

Since we were so close to the Ada Covered Bridge, we made a quick stop there before returning home.

I love this spot! The kids did too. 

Hunting for little shells along the river

 This is a wonderful place to relax and enjoy the beauty God has made ... so we did just that!

I think we will re-visit Ada many times throughout the year and watch how it changes with each season ... but this Autumn day is one I will remember and cherish for a very long time. 

Saturday at Home

All week long as I had checked the weather for the weekend, it was a pretty dismal forecast: 80% chance of rain every single day! I figured I'd best have a plan in mind just in case we couldn't get out for our usual afternoon outdoor adventure time ...

So Saturday morning after breakfast, we reviewed our Prodigal Son story and read it again, two more times, out of two different books that I had on hand. And then we decided to re-enact the entire story using my finger puppets. Emma was hugely interested in being the producer of our play, and while she was working out the details, Matthew invented his own story which he never shared out loud with us because he said he was still "rehearsing" it.

Emma and I did the story together, and since I was very involved in the production, I didn't actually take pictures of us doing the story with the puppets. Emma started out telling the story, but then she switched over and requested that I be the narrator. She was very helpful with all of the puppets and since I have so many puppets to work with, she decided which puppet to use for the dad, the younger brother, the older brother, the servants, and even the animals.  

Christopher had art on his mind, and so he listened to our puppet show very quietly as he was drawing this cool picture ... 

Chris is a very spontaneous and passionate
artist ... I'm so glad he loves to draw!

We played all morning and had such a nice time of it that I never once looked out the window to see what the weather was doing! But as I was making lunch, I noticed the sun trying its best to come out ... 

Mealtimes can be a bit hectic around here, mostly because I am not a good cook. I try not to make too much of a fuss about food in general; but we do enjoy eating together and I have found a few simple meals that are mostly healthy and enjoyed by the kids. 

By the time we were finished eating, THE SUN WAS OUT ... and we were off on our Saturday afternoon adventure!

I love Fridays ...

Fridays are definitely my favorite day of the week. I look forward to Friday afternoon all week long ~ because I get to spend the next 24-28 hours with a few of my grandchildren. We enjoy each other's company very much and have settled into a very comfortable relationship with each other. They are good for me ~ they keep me on my knees before the Lord throughout the week, and they keep me young as I try to keep up with them while they are here. I hope I am good for them too.

I slow cooked a 6 pound chicken
with vegetables for our Friday dinner 

 We stopped by the high school and watched the football team practicing for a little while. But it was a COLD and windy Friday afternoon ... I'm not much for cold and wind! We didn't stay overly long, but the kiddos are really into the Panther spirit and want to feel a part of their Comstock Park community.

We paid a brief visit to the public library so that the children could check out some books of interest. I already had a very full basket of library books at home, but I had neglected to get some titles they seemed very interested in ... so we checked some of those out as well. 

I had picked up a pair of pom-poms for Emma that were on sale this week. She is an aspiring cheerleader. She was very pleased to practice her cheerleading with them. 

Emma played with my "Think-it-Through Tiles" made by Discover Toys. I have had these since my boys were about Emma's age. She enjoyed herself for a little while, at least ... but this is a very educational toy and I think it reminded her too much of school (!) ~ [and WHO wants to think about school on a Friday night?] so she put it back on the shelf.

Matthew enjoyed my latest LEGO Magazine that had come in the mail this week. He and Christopher have a running list of what they want me to order them for Christmas from LEGO.com. Every single week (without fail), they change their minds and make a new list and file it away in my Gift file for safe keeping. 

Emma and I played quite a few rounds of dominoes. I really hadn't played for so long that I had forgotten HOW to. Emma was a very kind teacher.

We studied The Prodigal Son from Luke 15 and had a really good time discussing the story together after dinner. We read from two different books ~ first, we read it directly from Luke 15 (New Living Translation), and then we read it Sally Lloyd-Jones' version from the Jesus Storybook Bible. There are so many interesting things to think about with this story Jesus told about how He loves people and has come to rescue us.

We snuggled up nice and cozy at bedtime and watched "October Sky" together. I just love that story. The kiddos were SO into it! True stories can have such an impact, and this one is just full of relationships, hard work, tough times, friendships, heartache, reconciliation, and victory. And even though there is a lot of sad stuff in the story, it has a happy ending.

I think the children were all finally sleeping at around 11:30ish. After our movie is over, I turn on their favorite bedtime CD: "Sleep Sound in Jesus" by Michael Card and they drift off to sleep listening to the beautiful lyrics and music. Very thankful for another wonderful Friday.

More Saturday stuff ...

Right after lunch on Saturday, we headed outdoors. We had worked hard all morning on our leaf animals, and now it was time for ... hiking and poking around in the woods ... 

While they were waiting for me to get "ready," Emma and Christopher went about beautifying my little yard. I'm glad we still have lots of weeks left when leaves will come down. Emma wants so badly to rake up a "mountain" of leaves. I guaranteed her that there is NO lack of leaves around my place. Her dream will come true, most certainly. 

We drove back over to Townsend Park because those trees were ... waiting for us to come and have a visit with them! They are dressed right now in all their glory, and I think they want to show off a little bit while they are thus arrayed. 

A hiking we will go ... !!

Matthew was blessed to actually see a deer (with antlers even!) before it ran further into the woods. The rest of us missed it completely! 

In case you're wondering what is going on here on this bridge: Emma and Christopher were plunking gobs of leaves into the stream on their side of the bridge (which had a little bit of rapids and rocks) and then rushing over to Matthew's side of the bridge to watch them flow downstream. They did this over and over again ... I think for more than 30 minutes! They were quite enthusiastic about it the entire time. 

 Then they all found sticks and began to poke around in the stream, using the sticks to break up little dams of leaves and rocks that were blocking the flow. I loved watching their interaction and fascination with this beautiful place.

The two pictures above demonstrate something significant: Notice Emma's grip on Christopher's shirt. She is NOT going to let her brother fall into the creek. Chris didn't even seem to notice that she had his shirt in her hands. I think he is used to her "mothering." They finally tired of the bridge, so we walked further around in the park to one of my favorite little places ...

I'm hoping, with all of my heart, that heaven is a lot like this place: clean crisp air, stunning beauty, quiet and unbelievable peace ... having the grandchildren to share this with is the buttercream frosting on the double-chocolate fudge cake ... here and for eternity too.

Later in the afternoon, we did go back over to Dwight Lidell Park. We brought our football, kick ball, and soccer ball. By that time, I didn't have energy for many more pictures.

Chris throws a pretty mean pass ...

After all of our playing was finished, we met Nana and shared some fast food at the Wendy's over by her house. It was good for everyone to see each other again (no pictures)! I think the grandchildren and I made some pretty nice memories this past weekend ... and I'm deeply thankful for all of them.