Double trouble

Monday, May 27:  I'm only kidding about the title of this post. These two are not trouble at all! They are BUSY, and baby Erin is WALKING, and they were literally tearing their house to pieces (well, not literally), so I scooped them up, plopped them in their Cadillac stroller, and off we went for a walk. I was hoping to get a mile in, but we fell just short of it.

 Aidan looks like he would like to jump ship in these pictures ... probably because ... he wanted to run around and play. But he DID settle back finally and enjoy the ride.

 Below is the expression baby Erin will give when asked to smile ... oh my! What a scream.

 We walked across Madison and onto the streets near the creek. It was quiet there. Not much sun today. We walked and talked and watched the birds and smelled some flowers.

Erin was beginning to nod off, which I did NOT want until I could get her home and into her nap space ... so we turned around and high-tailed it back to their house! We played in the house for about 30 minutes until it was quite obvious that both dear babies were very tired. Erin now naps in a porta-crib back in the changing room, and Aidan naps in his own bed with Peeka-Choo and his other friends. They both went down with only minimal fussing! I love tucking Aidan in. He will lie down, all snuggled with his soft quilt, and let me rub his head and tell him sweet nothings for a brief minute. I tell him good-night and kiss his little face (I adore this child) ... and that's it! Erin, however, put up quite a loud (but brief) fuss and seemed absolutely indignant to the core that I would put her in a crib, kiss her, and walk out the door. Mmmm ... I love these littles.

Time with Emma

Saturday/Sunday, May 25&26:  This photo is from a few weeks ago ... I didn't take any pictures of Emma this weekend. She's not a little kid anymore--so I can't just snap away and act like she doesn't notice ... 

Emma had a school project to work on during the afternoon hours on Saturday. She was over at her friend's house working on the Holocaust project that is due early this coming week. I wasn't sure if she would be home when I dropped off Kaity or not ... I didn't want to hope too badly, and then be disappointed. So I decided to just let it go, enjoy the time I had with Kaity, and then let come what may.

But YES! When I dropped Kaity off at nearly 9:00 pm Saturday night, Emma had her back pack all packed and she was ready to come with me. I was so pleased!

We did our Bible story about King Rehoboam. He followed his dad, King Solomon, to the throne of Israel. He made some really bad decisions and the kingdom ended up splitting (and never reuniting) under his reign. There were so many consequences to his poor choices! All of the GOLD that Solomon had acquired was taken by the Egyptians! All of the cities Rehoboam had fortified were conquered! Rehoboam replaced the solid gold items with cheap bronze ones. So we talked about how that happens in our lives too. We trade the good things God gives us for imitation ... pretend worship, fake relationships, etc. What God really wants is our hearts ...

After our story, we watched an episode of Sherlock Holmes and laughed ourselves silly. I love to laugh with Emma. I had never seen an episode of this particular show ... and there are three seasons of it. We decided we would continue to watch episodes together. I'm looking forward to it.

We slept well and went to church Sunday morning. We were studying Isaiah 48 and about God knowing what is BEST for us, accepting what He brings into our lives. It reminded me of what Emma and I were studying last night about King Rehoboam. At one point, he actually humbled himself before God and said, "God is Just!" If we really believe that what God is doing in our lives is the BEST, we can trust Him to be fair and to walk through the hard times with us. We came home after church, ate some leftovers and some deli-chicken, and then I drove Emma back to her friends so that they could continue working on their project. I am so thankful for this time with Emma. It means so much to me.

What a beautiful place

Saturday, May 25:  This is a crazy amount of pictures to post ... this is just a sampling of what I took out at Morrison Lake. It's gorgeous out there. 

 It was super windy, the sky was nice and interestingly cloudy (which beats a clear sky any day), the water was rough, and the boat ride was wonderful.

 I love reflections, don't you?

 The birds are crazy out here.

 This is a loon of some sort ...

 Out of the 181 pictures I took, 57 of them were of the swans ...

 I think swans are one of the most beautiful creatures God made ...

 Five cygnets!

 I can't wait to make cards out of these pictures!

 It was difficult to take a bad picture ...

 I altered these next two ... just for fun ... I bet autumn is breathtaking out here ...

 Here are Robin and John getting set up for the fishing ...

 Some of the houses surrounding Morrison Lake are new and gorgeous. Others are old, but still beautiful. Some are tiny and quaint looking ... small cottages and the like.

 Wonderful view!

 This is the house where John and Robin live. Their rent is very reasonable! Location, location, location!

Thank you to Robin and John for inviting us out today, for feeding us grilled dogs and chicken and a host of other delicious food! This is a little piece of Paradise, no doubt about it.

A few firsts for our Kaity-Girl

Saturday, May 25:  What a great time we had today! Kaity and I got to go on a fishing expedition! On a real boat! Kaity had never taken a boat ride EVER before in her life. She was pretty pumped. My friends, Robin and John, a renting a lake house on Morrison Lake and they just got a pontoon so that they can enjoy the lake.

 They invited me and any of my grandkids who usually come to my house on Saturday. The boys haven't come over in a very long time--mostly, it's been Emma and Kaity on Saturday. But Emma had a big school project she needed to work on this weekend, so she was at her friends' house. Which meant ... only Kaity came with me out to the lake. Well ... Jo-Jo came too!

 Kaity did great on the boat. She listened well to the rules and paid close attention to everything that was expected of her. I was super proud of her.

 When we actually went OUT on the lake, Kaity had a very nice life-jacket that she wore without a single complaint.

 John is showing her his "fish finder" which is a radar screen that shows WHERE the fish are hiding. Kaity was pretty fascinated with it.

 Phinheas McGee (the cute dog wearing the yellow life-jacket) went along for the ride. Phin loves the boat, the water, the fish ... everything. Kaity was pretty enthralled with Mr. McGee. No surprises there--Kaity loves animals.

 It was a super windy day and a tiny bit chilly--not too cold, but certainly NOT hot. The wind made our boating a little bit tricky.

 Here are Robin and John showing Kaity all about the fishing pole and casting, etc.

 I thought Kaity would last about two seconds with this entire procedure. She completely shocked me with her patience and tenacity! Actually, the first time Kaity put her line in the water, her bobbin sank and she landed a HUGE bass. She wasn't expecting that kind of a fight (I don't blame her a bit!) and the big fish jumped off her line. We all saw what a big fish it was though. Kaity was super pleased that she had gotten a bite.

 I'm posting a few pictures of the swans (I took a LOT of swan pictures) because I want Kaity to remember them ...

 A whole swan family ... mama, dad, and FIVE cygnets! Yikes! I was SO pleased.

 Kaity kept at her fishing, even though no one was getting any bites. She was really something.

 What a beautiful and relaxing place this is!

 Look at this little sweetheart, fishing with all she's worth!

 We finally had some dock the boat so that John could grill some food. While he was cooking, Kaity played around their dock.

 Kaity had so much fun. I just loved watching her be so happy.

 After we ate our dinner, John offered to do a little fishing with Kaity right off the dock. John said Kaity kept at it and was carefully watching her bobber ... and then she said, "I've got one!" and she reeled her fish in all by herself. YAY, Kaity!

 Her happy little face ... I can hardly stand it ... it's just priceless to me.

 Kaity was the ONLY one of us who even got a bite out there! AND she is the only one who caught a fish.

 This bass was a little bit too small for the regulations, so it had to be tossed back in the lake. Kaity was just fine with that. John removed the hook and we touched its smooth body and looked deep inside its mouth before he threw it back in the water. 

What a great time we had. How kind of John and Robin to share their dear place with us! Thank you, Lord, for everything!