July 24 and 25 with Emma

Saturday/Sunday:  Emma and I were ready for bed and actually IN BED by a little after 9:30 Saturday night. We were scheduled to meet with one of the Children's Ministry coordinators during 2nd service at Calvary--so we attended first service (9:00 AM) and then met with Zach, who walked us around the children's ministry area and got acquainted with us a little bit. We are scheduled to volunteer beginning next Sunday in the "Bears" room (3's and 4's). 

We came home from church, ate our lunch, and took about a 40-minute nap--which felt great and was super refreshing.

We knew it would be crowded at the beach no matter which beach we chose--so we went to Pere Marquette and had a really difficult time finding parking that was anywhere near to being close--so we drove around ahile and finally ended up in a section where we've never been swimming before--it was nice and close to the water. As we were looking for a parking place, we noticed one of the big ships coming into port--but today, we did not "chase" it. 

We swam for a little over an hour in Lake Michigan with waves that were just right--maybe 2-3 feet. It was very refreshing. Afterwards, we took about a 30-minute walk ...

I hardly took any pictures at all. We weren't close enough to the breakwater to get any good pictures of the lighthouse--and since I have 1,000's already from this very place, I was content to just snap a few to chronicle our day.

We drove back to my place, ate dinner, and then settled down to watch the Harry Potter movie the covers book six. I'm re-naming them "Scarry Potter" ... yow! However could ANYONE make up stories as dark as these?!?!? I am glad, though, that Emma and I are watching them. They have influenced an entire generation+ of people, so it is good to know what is going on in the story. Besides, these books are the first series of books Emma has ever read! Perhaps this has opened up an entire new world of reading for her. I have often said that "reading is the highest form of pleasure" ... it has been that for me ever since I learned to read.

July 24 A little bit topsy-turvy

Saturday:  Today was one of those sticky-hot, super-wet summer days. I knew that anywhere I took Kaity to swim would be crowded like crazy ... but I took her anyway. We once again went to Richmond Pool. Sigh. Crowded doesn't begin to describe it! And mostly with middle school kids who were quite wild ...

We swam for about 90 minutes--well, I only swam for 45 minutes--it was just TOO crowded for me and really LOUD and really CRAZY. I did not envy the lifeguards a single bit. They tried to keep things in line with their whistles and instructions--but it's pretty hard to maintain patience when your instructions are totally ignored. Kaity doesn't seem to understand how WRONG it is to disobey people in authority--she does really well about following the instructions, but seems dismayed when kids are called out for NOT keeping in line. There was also a lot of boy/girl serious flirtations with really rough-looking and acting adolescent kids. My heart was sad just watching them interact with each other. Kaity was intrigued with the whole "show" and it concerned me how much she expressed wanting to be "like those guys." Kaity is a pre-teen, but she isn't completely naive about the interworkings of boy/girl relationships. Anyway, I survived the 90 minutes we were there, but I was super glad to leave and come back to my place.

However, Kaity-Girl was really out of sorts over here. There wasn't really anything she wanted to do. We ate a healthy and fun supper together and played just a little bit, but she kept going over to the couch and lying down. She looked exhausted. Perhaps she was! 

I finally turned on a movie--which I regret, because the story was so poorly written and completely boring. Usually, even when we are watching a really fun and interesting movie, Kaity doesn't make it more than 30 minutes. But she just laid on the couch during the entire excruciating 90 minutes of this yucky story. It was called "Pets United" ... which we thought might be some of the pets from "The Secret Lives of Pets" but ... no. I took Kaity back to Jesse at 7:30, but my heart was sad. It was almost as if Kaity didn't want to be here today--like there wasn't enough to "entertain" her. Perhaps she was just tired. Love you, dear Kaity.

July 23 Bonus time with Kaity

Friday Evening:  I don't usually see any kiddos on Fridays. Usually, it's kind of a catch-up day around the house--laundry, grocery shopping, etc. BUT ... an unusual and rather serious situation arose late Wednesday with one of Jesse's closest friends in the whole world. His dear friend was admitted to the hospital in serious condition. It's a long story and quite personal, so I won't go into any details. Suffice it to say that Jesse desired to go and visit him in the Critical Care Unit at the hospital.

So ... I did my usual clean-up around the house, as well as running a rather crucial errand over to the Kia Dealership. Thankfully, Jesse noticed oil spots on his driveway--consistent with where I always pull in to pick up Kaity or Emma. He said this has occurred over the last few weeks. I photographed the "spots", but couldn't find them duplicated in my own driveway due to the fact that my cement is old and dark and cracked everywhere. I felt it was pretty important to check this out over at the dealership--so before I did my grocery shopping today, I drove over to Kia. As a result, I waited from 11AM until 12:30 PM but ended up having cost-free service and kind words from the service people. Evidently when I had the car in a little more than two weeks for a timing chain replacement, they put in a brand new gasket (whatever those are) but when they inspected it, they found a crack in it which was allowing oil to leak out. They replaced the gasket with another new one and now ... all is well! Good call, Jesse! Thank you, Lord, that Jesse caught this and that I was able to get it taken care of in a timely fashion today at no cost.

Anyway, back to the rest of the day. I grocery shopped, did a bit of weekend planning, painted a rock--or at least TRIED to ... and then I drove over to Jesse's to spend time with Kaity while he traveled over to the hospital.

I stayed at Kaity's and played with her at HER house tonight. We played a bnch of games like hide 'n seek with her dolls, etc. We also played quite a few of my home-made (kind of) Memory Game. Paco had come over to see Lily (!!!) and so the two of them played the game with us (!!!). Kaity "filmed" the entire thing ... like ELEVEN minutes of it. She kills me.

Jesse was home by 8:30 and I immediately returned home to my little place. I had a little bit more painting I wanted to do and I was pretty tired from my day.

OH! Also, I talked with my dear friend, Karen, today. She is going to put her "radar up" and be listening for a good place for Emma. It was wonderful to talk with Karen today. We ALWAYS have so much to share with each other about our families. I love her so much. Thank you for good friends, Lord. Please answer our prayers for Karen's grandchildren and especially her daughter, Carmen. Please continue to bring healing to Jesse's friend, and point him to YOU.
 

July 22 with Kaity-Girl

 Thursday:  I picked Kaity up a little bit early today so that we would have a little extra time swimming over at Richmond Pool. It was a perfect afternoon for swimming and Kaity was happy we were there. We were actually able to swim an hour and a half this afternoon. It wasn't terribly crowded ... and the water wasn't especially cold (it wasn't exactly warm--but it wasn't freezing either!).

We came over to my house to eat our dinner and then we just played with all of the toys in my house! We played a few games of Memory (Kaity won every single game), and we also played quite a few games of Hedbanz! All and all, it was a very happy few hours together. I'm so thankful to be able to swim with Kaity and still be "young" and healthy enough to enjoy physical activities with her. Kaity is happiest when on the move ...

This is my shabby attempt at photographing Kaity doing sommersaults underwater ... !!!

July 20 -- Part 2

Tuesday Evening:  I was so glad Callaghan was not taking a "nap" and I could actually play with him for awhile tonight. He is fourteen months now and a very sweet little soul of a baby. His facial expressions crack me up ...

Callaghan LOVES having his picture taken ...

And he ADORES his mama (he is looking at Kelly in the picture below).

He's not OFFICIALLY walking as of tonight ... but we witnessed him take TWO STEPS IN A ROW, stop, take another step and sit! He is starting to trust those soft and sturdy legs of his!

He's quite dramatic about the whole thing ...

... and super pleased with himself ... of course, he has quite an audience of fans surrounding his every move!

I could eat him up!

You are a sparkly little fellow, dear baby!

This pose (below) is accompanied by a very low growl Callaghan makes when he is super excited about something.

I love your smile, Callaghan!

Yay! You did it, Callaghan!

Here are the three "littles" enjoying each other ...

Brendan was in the basement playing a video game--I went downstairs for a little while, but I didn't take any pictures down there tonight. Brendan told me his Tech Camp went OK. I told him we missed him today at my house. Hopefully, next week Brendan will play with us.
 

July 20 At my house with Erin and Aidan

Tuesday:  Brendan was booked at "Tech Camp" this week, so we didn't get to have him over today. Aidan and Erin came, all ready to do their usual stuff. I was happy to see them playing with a toy we haven't played with very much lately--the Alphabet Robots!

Look at Erin's expression ... she kills me.

Aidan was VERY into transforming all of the letters into robots.

Aidan very reluctantly "allowed" Erin to transform a few letters too.

I love to watch these sweet little people at play. They are SO inquisitive. They just love to learn new things. And they LOVE to build stuff.

Erin and Aidan got all 26 letters transformed and lined up together. Erin and I were matching them up by colors ... but Aidan didn't want any part of that (I didn't even realize I was doing that ... until I was actually DOING it ... yikes). 

Both kiddos built with our magnet toys for at least an hour. They built houses and furniture and stairways and trucks ...

Erin enjoyed feeding Matey. He happens to really really really LOVE cucumbers--especially when hand-fed to him by this little maidan.

Erin does a really good job with Matey. She isn't one bit afraid of him and will follow him all over the house trying to get him to perch on her finger.

Isn't Matey a beautiful bird?

We had a very full day. I admit to letting the children watch "Frozen" ... I thought perhaps we would just watch an hour of it, but we ended up watching the entire movie. I was enjoying SITTING down for more than a few seconds at a time and got a little sleepy ... 

This is Erin ... I would say she was a little bit sleepy too ... she fell asleep about 15 minutes shy of her house while I played pretty music in the car.

We didn't get to Dylan and Kelly's until almost 6:00. I have a few more pictures to show you from their house tonight.