So much joy in one little boy ...

 A week ago Thursday (July 14) I stopped over for my usual Thursday time with this little person. I decided that since it had been a really LONG day at work, that we would just play at Brendan's house. He has so many great toys to play with.

 Brendan immediately brought me to the playroom in the basement where all (or most) of the trains are set up. Brendan has a deep love for trains and he gets hours and hours of good play with them. He has a lot of really great train stuff, most of which Dylan and Kelly picked up on the cheap!

 Such a happy face, Little Fellow! We made up all kinds of stories with the trains--it was so much fun.

 The hours zoomed on by so quickly. Brendan is the easiest little guy to spend time with. 

So thankful for you, dear little grandson.

Pictures from Monday

Evidently after I went to bed Sunday night (Emma spent the night again--yes!!!), Emma wasn't quite sleepy yet so she wandered on into the toy room and got creative. I'm so glad. She built all of this cool stuff and I never heard a single sound.

Emma has always been a builder. She is very good with three dimensional projects. She can plan out stuff in her head and then build it. I'm glad she has those abilities. This marble run she put together works far better than the plan that was outlined in the box it came in.

Monday morning, Emma showed me all of her night-time work.

Emma and I relaxed Monday morning, had our Bible study time (about the healing of Naaman, the leper, and Elisha the prophet--such a wonderful story!), and then Kelly dropped Brendan off just before we left to pick Kaity up. On our way to get Kaity, we witnessed an accident over on W. River Drive and since we were the ONLY witness and the offender drove off, we stopped while the victim alerted police and then waited for them to come so that we could tell what happened. It was all very routine--no one was hurt, thankfully.

Kaity and Brendan play very nicely together. They like each other and are so cute together.

After they played trains, we got out the Playdoh and had a bunch of fun with that for awhile.

But then it was time for Brendan to leave with Aunt Kelly. We continued with Playdoh ...

Emma even joined us ...

We played for such a long time, we forgot all about making our milkshakes until it was too late and we simply had to end our Monday time. It was a very nice afternoon, though. Kaity is getting more and more relaxed at my house and she knows where everything is that we play with.

Last Thursday with Brendan ... and Saturday evening too!

Last Thursday after work Brendan and I went over to the Kia dealership to have my oil changed. There is a nice waiting room there with a large window looking into the service area. We watched them hoist my SOUL up, up, up ... they rotated the tires, changed the oil, and checked a bunch of stuff, all in a flash with us watching! Brendan was delighted (always).

 We took our Cocoa kitty puppet with us just in case we needed a little entertainment.

 Brendan really got a charge out of watching them take the tires off my car with their super duper power machine.

 Afterwards, we went over to my little house. Brendan hadn't seen my Playmobile Country horses yet! He loved them and played his heart out while I was fixing us a bite to eat.

 He loved their names and their riders and enjoyed himself hugely.

 Trains are still his favorite though. I can't believe that I have assembled a train track in my bedroom and haven't taken it down for weeks now. I have to use every nook and cranny around here for play time and I guess my room is fair game after all.

 Brendan is such a blast to watch as he makes authentic sound effects of whistles blowing and engines chugging along.

 And we also made our car wash out in the front room, complete with a mini-dryer, spinning brushes, and everything.

 And then to top everything off, I made Brendan a chocolate milk shake with whipped cream on top. Ah, this grandma thing sure is wonderful.

 Look at Brendan's chummy little face. Isn't he so sweet?

 He is very serious about his chocolate, this little man.

 He slurped it all the way to the bottom.

 We also went over to see Nana, but that was SATURDAY evening I think. I'm all messed up with days and dates lately because I am so behind posting pictures. Yes. I think it was Saturday night that Brendan and I went over to say hi to Nana.

 Brendan tried out all of the exercise equipment in the basement, even though it was a touch too big for him.

 After we visited with Nana, I got to tuck Brendan in. We read several of our favorite stories to Chickie-poo because he had never heard "The Gruffalo" OR "The Gruffalo's Child!" We had so much fun together. Wonderful in every way.

Another Sunday sleepover ...

Emma spent the night again Sunday. After we had visited the zoo, had ice cream cones at McDonald's, and drove the other kids back to their place, Emma stayed with me. We arrived at the Beach House at about 8:00. We got into our comfy clothes and decided to watch a movie together here on my cozy couch. Emma decided she wanted to see "We Bought a Zoo" again. I love that movie! We had such a good time watching it together.

I didn't take any pictures Friday night OR Saturday morning. Emma is almost fourteen now and she gets a little tired of me snapping her picture. I need to respect that too!

I think we finally went to bed at about midnight, after talking for awhile after the movie.

Monday, we slept in! We enjoyed a nice breakfast together and then we had our Bible story time. Our lesson this week was about Elisha and the healing of Naaman, the leper. What a great story! Another salvation story of healing and cleansing and coming to faith--all without cost, offered for free! We learned about "Greedy Gehazi", Elisha's servant, who was not content with what he had but lied and disobeyed God by asking for some of Naaman's gifts. 

When we are doing our Bible time, Emma listens so carefully. She also paints a picture as I teach the story. Emma remembers our stories and God is using them in her life. She has many questions, and I am so glad. They are good questions, always! But no question is a bad one! However, she asks especially thoughtful questions, which tells me how much she understands and how she hungers to hear more. I am so thankful for all that these Bible stories have taught me and how they have helped to grow my faith. More than that, though, I am so thankful for the work I see God doing in Emma's life. Protect her, Lord Jesus, and keep her from every evil thing. Please give her eyes of faith and a heart that follows after You and loves you completely!

Kaity time ...

This past weekend was the July 4 holiday weekend. I wasn't sure how it would work out to see the children, but everything worked out just fine. I picked Kaity up as usual Monday afternoon. Emma was still with me because she had spent the night Sunday night. Emma decided to spend Monday afternoon with Kaity and I. 

 It was a little chilly in my house, and Kaity was wearing a cool and comfortable little skirt and told me she was cold. I went to my closet and pulled out an old "sheep" robe and we tried it on Kaity.

 It was a little bit big, don't you agree?

 So Emma rolled up the sleeves and tied it just right around Kaity's little waist. Look how sweet she looks!

 Kaity and I did our usual routine. We played with stuffed animals, toys, books, pretend food, cooking, eating snacks ...

 I love this little child. She is so precious.

 Kaity had set up our pretend food and shared all of it with the horses: Luna, Nico, and Dusty.

 I think the best thing we did together, though, was our painting.

 Kaity was very interested in mixing colors to see what she could create. She is so funny when she is exploring. She is very intense!

 Kaity was so pleased at all the colors she made!

Emma does not appear in any of these pictures! But she was very helpful to me when she was asked. Mostly Emma played in the playroom, put together a marble run, looked at books, and just relaxed. I loved having these beautiful granddaughters over at my place.

The ZOO plus four!

This was the first time I have ever taken four grandchildren to the zoo with me. I was a little hesitant at first, but ... either you brave it and try it ... or ... you don't! The three older kids and I have often gone to the zoo together, and Kaity and I have done zoo adventures too; but there is a lot of years between Kaity and the older kiddos. I prepped the children ahead of time, reassured them that we would see each exhibit they wished to see, asked them NOT to whine while they waited a tiny bit, PRAYED for the Lord to help us, and ... we had a wonderful time.

Meet "Baldy" the Cockatoo. He is new at the zoo this year. His space is behind the penguin house in a nice shady spot, a little down from the Macaw (he is new too). Baldy talks if he takes a notion, and he has the BEST voice. The children were so delighted with him! 

 They used monkey ropes for a little while ... all of them are good climbers.

 Kaity and I went into the barnyard to visit with the goats and sheep. The other kids decided to watch us from outside the fence where it was less smelly.

 Kaity brushing the goat's hair. She thought this was pretty cool.

 We then walked down to the Budgie place. The birds were super friendly. I love it when they land, two or three at once, on our bodies.

 Kaity was still a little overwhelmed at how aggressive the birds were. She was finished feeding the birds quite quickly and decided to watch from outside the cage. Christopher was waiting out there to keep an eye on her.

 All of the kids are wonderful with animals. They connect so easily with them and just love being with them. Look at Matthew's face. I just love to see him like this.

 The birds really loved Emma's hoodie for some reason. She was a little bit surprised how many birds could land on her at once.

 Aren't these great pictures?

 One little bird loved Emma's hair so much that it crawled behind her hair and sat on the back of her neck for awhile. Emma was cracking up.

 These are some of the sweetest moments to put in my memory bank. Such happiness.

 We certainly could not neglect the stingrays ... so we walked on down to their pool.

 Kaity-Girl was not very excited about putting her hands into the tank to touch a stingray. We talked about "Finding Dory" and Mr. Ray ... but she decided she would NOT touch a stingray.

 I love watching the children interact with these beautiful animals.

 There are TWO young stingrays this year and they are so cute!

 The boys are SO gentle with them!

 We decided to go and visit the grizzlies and saw a few large cats on the way ...

 It was a perfect weather day to be at the zoo. Mid-70's and sunny with a gentle breeze. I love it here.

 A mountain lion. We never did see the snow leopard because it refused to come out.

 Kaity wasn't a bit frightened of the grizzlies.

 We took a little snack down by the pond and visited with Nessie for awhile. We ate fresh fruit and cookies and granola bars.

 Christopher pointed out that Nessie's head moves! Changes direction! I had never noticed this before.

 Dear sweet Emma ... how could you be nearly 14 already sweetheart? What a wonderful granddaughter you are. I love you so much.

 And Kaity-Girl, true to form, mimicking everything Emma does. Kaity adores Emma.

 We took ourselves over to the playground for a little fun before going home.

 It is a very nice playground. I'm so glad the kids are still at an age where they can enjoy climbing and exploring.

 Kaity would invariably climb up up up but then she was too afraid to come down down down! I was her rescuer every time!

 We played for an hour at the playground. We met many other children. We relaxed and visited and explored. Does it get any better than this?

Good-bye Nessie! See you soon!