Kaity and then Brendan too!

Last week Monday (December 19), it was Kaity-Girl's usual afternoon here. I picked her up over at her house, we came here to The Beach House and she wore me to a frazzle (!!) for the next three hours--I say that with a smile--because if you could be a fly on the wall around here when Kaity is over, you would understand completely that I am NOT exaggerating when I say she is a bundle of energy.

About 15-1/2 years ago now, I purchased this wooden tool set in preparation for Emma's coming. It was $57.00 at the time and it was a LOT of money for me at the time. But I am so glad I bought it when I did. It is sturdy, full of activities to do, and every one of the grandchildren have enjoyed it thoroughly.

 We decided to race cars for a little while this afternoon too. We decided to beef up our track a little bit!

 We made our very own slinky tunnel!

Naturally, we had to try ALL of the Matchbox cars to see which ones could go the fastest through the tunnel and off the ramp without crashing first. That took awhile ... thankfully ... because while we were doing that, Kaity was focused to ONE activity instead of three at a time ...

 We were expecting Brendan to come over and play mid-afternoon and were looking forward to it. However, Brendan did not get dropped off until LATE afternoon. So we made the best of the time we had together. Kaity and Brendan are polar opposites--but they do just fine together and seemed to enjoy that hour that they played.

However, all good things must come to an end ... ah, until next week!

Mary Had A Baby

Last week when Brendan was over for a visit, I asked him if he would sing "Mary Had a Baby" for me BECAUSE the day he sang it in his church program, I did not video it.

Brendan is a performer, you have to know this about him. He did not hesitate even one second. I barely could get PhotoBooth up in time and get him situated in the right place before he was singing his little heart out ...

Also, I did not understand there was a second verse to the song! You see, at the end of the first video, Brendan is doing a little segue into verse two--I thought he was finished and cut him off--but then I realized my mistake and turned the video back on. He leads in by saying (sweetly) ... "Let's get the shepherds ready ... " 

I posted these videos on Facebook and my friends went crazy over his sweet little voice. Oh my word, I love this child.

The cutest little angel EVER ...

Having been the darling-est sheep in all the world LAST year in the Christmas program, this year our little sweetheart was an angel ...

 Here he is with his darling sparkling halo, his wings, and everything. His mama told me she saw him stretching his arms and attempting flight earlier that morning ...

 I think (naturally) that he is the most beautiful angel I have ever seen ..

 The Pre-K and Kindergartners sang, "Mary Had a Baby" and Brendan knew every word ... you could hear his voice above the rest--very confidently singing with his perfect pitch notes! Look at the JOY!

 Brendan was excited that his Grandma (me) and his cousin (Ems) were there to see him perform. We got front-row seats too!

 Aren't the halos too much!?? Yikes--SO cute.

 After they sung THEIR number, there were many other numbers that followed. Brendan enjoyed each and every one and had this little angelic smile throughout the whole program ... until ...

 Brendan's friend, Reuben, leaned over and whispered, "The program is over!"

 Brendan bowed his head, covered his eyes with his hands, and broke into tears!

 Oh my goodness ... I thought my heart would break for him! He was SO into the performance, he simply wasn't ready for it to end! Brendan answered Reuben, "No it's not! It CAN'T be over!"

 Reuben repeated that indeed the show was done, without knowing Brendan's little heart was SO sad.

 I tried to cheer him up. He wiped his precious eyes and did his best to give me a smile.

I was able to catch these two pictures of him out in the hallway. I asked him: "What DO angels say, Brendan?" 

They say, "Fear not! Do NOT be afraid!" was his very apt and accurate reply!

More pictures of the grandchildren

There is nothing super about any of these pictures ... except they are of my beautiful grandchildren, who have made my life full of purpose in these last few years. I love them dearly, and they love me too. I'm thankful for them every day. Kaity really truly loves each one of my stuffed animals (and I have a LOT of stuffed animals).

 This is Christopher studying the LEGO catalogs to try and decided what to order for Christmas.

 And this is Emma, showing me one of her early Christmas presents. I hope she is able to get this to work ... it is a door alarm for her bedroom door at home.

Here is Kaity re-arranging my Nativity Calendar. She doesn't quite grasp the concept of an actual calendar yet, so she is just arranging the characters in whatever fashion she chooses.

 I'm just glad that she likes it as much as she does! I bought this Nativity calendar before Emma was born! I was on a short "sister's vacation" with my sister Ruthanne and we were somewhere up north ... Charlevoix I think is where I purchased this.

 Brendan came over and WE designed our very own layout incorporating a few lighthouses for extra benefit.

Brendan loves trains like nothing else! He can make pretty authentic train sounds too ... constantly actually! :) 

 Rudolph got to take some special rides in Brendan's Police car ...

 This is Matthew playing our bean bag game, the one Emma made for me out of an old box I had in my shed.

 Matthew and Emma video-ing our bean bag game. Grandma was the Victor with 165 points!

More of our winter wonderland ...

It has been astoundingly gorgeous around here for the past two weeks. It is almost too much for me at times--seriously! The pure beauty of fresh show ... outlining trees, fences, wild grass, fields ... 

 I found a new little area to explore about a week ago. I was walking just beyond where I live and found a little opening in a fence (yes!), so I walked on through and took a few pictures.

 A beautiful deer bounded past me ... I was so shocked I didn't even aim my camera at her!

 Here is the "gap" in the fence that allowed room for me to most likely trespass on my neighbor's property ...

 These following pictures are from Townsend Park ... one of my favorite places, no matter what season in Michigan ... it's just the loveliest spot ever.

 And this is the view from my "deck" on my little house ...

 And the front of my house ... sure wish I had taken down the flower boxes before all of this snow arrived ... sigh ...

Random pictures from the last few weeks ...

I love preparing for Christmas, decorating my house, designing my Christmas card, telling the Christmas story to my grandchildren, and having them over to share the joy and beauty.

 Kaity and I built a nice layout the other day and she actually played with it for an entire hour, calming enjoying herself, before deciding that all the trains MUST crash, the tracks MUST be destroyed ... wherein, we put them back in their storage box for another day's play. But still! She played for an HOUR, and we had all sorts of scenarios happening with our little wooden trains that did involve crashing at all!

Emma's choir concert was a Tuesday night, December 6 (I believe). It was actually a combination of ALL the Comstock choirs grades six through twelve, including their special singing group ... the one I can never remember the name of! 

 It was a really nice concert. The eighth grade choir (the one Emma sings with) sang TWO numbers. The first was in French, the second in Latin. Emma did a wonderful job singing these songs. I was/am very proud of her.

 Brendan has been over quite a few times. He and I have read and acted out the Christmas story using our FP Nativity set quite a few times. He loves the story and I LOVE telling it!

 I love this little hands-on nativity set. There is nothing you can do to harm it and it is a wonderful tool to use with the narrative of Christmas. Beautiful music in the background also helps! Brendan loves the music of Christmas. Me too.

 One of the days, we lit ALL of the candles available in my little Beach House. Brendan is fascinated with fire. We turned all other lights OFF and just enjoyed the candlelight.

 Brendan entertains himself pretty constantly. He loves to make-believe and act stories out.

There are more pictures to come ...