September 23 Dear Kaity

Saturday:  Even though Kaity was not feeling quite herself today, Diana checked with her and it appeared as though Kaity DID want to still come over to my house for a little while--so I picked her up at 3:30. I prepared one of her favorite meals--chicken and rice with broccoli--cooked just right. Watermelon too! Kaity LOVES watermelon. She managed to eat her dinner just fine, but I could tell she wasn't feeling good. 

After dinner, we played a few quick games of UNO, all of which I won--THREE in a row! That's so unusual. Kaity handled it just fine, and we laughed about it. I love to laugh with Kaity.

We drove over to Altitude, and was it ever crowded with kids! There must have been a few birthday parties going on because it was just thick with children. Kaity's friends did not come--we are wondering if Matt's ankle injury is more serious than what we thought--we hope he is okay.

We were entertained by a lot of the kiddos tonight. It's so funny how athletic some children are and how UNathletic others are--it's in the genes! But everyone seems to have a lot of fun anyway. It's so good for kids to run, jump, and play this way!

I love going to Altitude with you, Kaity. You are very fun to be with and I love you so much.

September 22 Cleaning and Organizing!

Friday:  For a few weeks now, I've been working on sorting out old toys, books and art supplies. Emma moved out of the spare room (which used to be the Toy Room) into a house with friends of hers. I've been trying to decide what to do with that room--should I just use it as a toy room again--or should I put bunk beds back there and start having sleepovers with the little kiddos ... before they are all grown up and won't want to come over at all? I thought hard and long about it and decided to actually make that room into a second bedroom/toy storage, etc. So far, it's coming along pretty good! Ruthanne and Terry helped me paint it (well--they did all of it actually--I only taped around the window and woodwork). I decided to continue the nautical theme because I love it so much--so the paint color is called SAND DOLLAR--and it's really nice. The beds are ordered and should arrive Monday. I moved the toy shelves and toys back there--but I cleaned them and threw away stuff we haven't used in years. I also cleaned out both closets to use for storage. When you have a tiny place, it's important that every square inch is used to the maximum!

So then the main part of the house actually looks like a normal house once again. I forgot what it was like to have it look other than a pre-school room. Here are a few pictures:

I've never had my very own baby doll ... and Erin LOVES playing with dolls and changing their clothes and giving them bottles, etc. I have a few tiny dolls that she plays with, but I got to thinking that she would really enjoy a life-sized baby doll. This is JAMES. I named him that in honor of their Grandpa, who went to be with Jesus six years ago now. He was also called "Jimmy" and we will go back and forth with these names with this little doll. He came with his very own "stuffy" (a Hedgehog) and I've named him HENRY. The super fun thing is this: I saved a few newborn sleepers and outfits from when Jesse, Shane and Dylan were newborns. I've kept them all these years and they are still in good shape. James fits all of them! It will be so much fun to change his outfits and tell Erin about her dad and uncles when they were babies.

This is now the spare room--just one shot of it because it isn't finished yet. Once the beds are in, I'll take all of the angles of the room. I have further organized the toys and closets so that everything fits better.

Out in the main room, I moved the piano back against the wall, which opened up the window for a better view to bird watch. I even got a bird feeder that attaches right to the window. Yesterday, I had more chipmunks visiting me than birds! But it's very fun to watch them all eating and fighting (!!) outside.

The window seats are identical (other than the color) to my front room seats except these are brown instead of white. Terry and Ruthanne came over and assembled them yesterday. I would have had a difficult time doing it alone. I did assemble the white ones in the front room--but I think the hardware was easier to understand on those.

I also organized all of my piano music and put them in separate bins. There is something SO wonderful about organization! It just feels good.

September 21 with KT

Thursday:  I picked Kaity up from Jesse today--I was already in the driveway when her bus arrived! She ran to my car with such a beautiful smile on her face. She had a good day at school. She has many friends at school and loves to be with them. I'm so glad about that!

We ate our usual hotdog meal (she likes hotdogs!), played two games of UNO, and then drove over to Altitude. We practically had the entire warehouse to ourselves! Look! Almost empty of kiddos!

Kaity jumped all of her energy out! Look how exhausted she looks! Her friends did not come tonight--she was disappointed, but she stayed the whole hour and showed me how she can now fully to the splits! She is very stretched out and seems to get all the way down almost without effort. Yay, Kaity. She's been working on this for awhile. 

I enjoyed watching a young boy do his jumping today. He was amazing. He was probably about 8 or 9 years old, small framed but muscular child, and ... wow--could he jump HIGH. He enjoyed the amazed expressions on my face and tried to go higher and higher. He was very much in control of his body and rarely did he get "off" his jumps. His dad was very affirming to his efforts. It was nice to watch such a talented little kid and his father enjoying themselves.

We stayed a little over an hour, but Kaity's friends did not come. Perhaps will see them on Saturday!

September 20 Erin too!

Wednesday:  Cal and I drove back to his house and arrived by about 4:00. We got the kiddos off their bus and then played inside. I brought my camera with me (I don't always) and took these pictures of Erin as we played. Aidan had gone downstairs to play "Mario" and I missed taking any pictures of him today. I also missed out on Brendan because he was at Cross Country practice and didn't come home until after 5:00, at which time he went downstairs to have his turn on the screen. All of that is okay with me! I don't want to dominate these kiddos' time when they have just gotten out of a full day of school.lk

Erin, however, is so super social that she enjoys hanging out with me. She's now in Kindergarten and has really grown in her appreciation of doing ART, mostly in the form of coloring--but I've noticed she has gotten more careful and conscientious about space, color, form, etc. 

Erin likes to color very much. She especially likes it if we are coloring the same picture together. She'll hand me a marker and tell me what part of the picture she wants colored. I love doing this with her because then I get to listen to her talk about her day and hear about her friends. She is a very good conversationalist and has such interesting thoughts. I love her to pieces. Doesn't she have the sweetest freckles?

September 20 With Cal (mostly)

Wednesday:  As I walked over to the playground at Gymco, little Cal saw me and yelled out, "Gwamma!" and came running to the gate. I love to be greeted this way--it's so ... welcoming!

Cal is always super serious on our walk to my car from the playground. I ask him how "school" was and he'll look up at me with a very sober face and respond, "Good, gwamma. I played and played!" Well, I don't suppose you can't beat that!

I took the scenic route on the way back to my house, lots of back roads, playing beautiful music (Cal loves all the music I play and I even hear him humming to it). He was very busy today "reading" the books in the little bin I keep in the back seat. He was pretty happy reading "The Wheels on the Bus" about 10x before his eyelids began to get droopy and ... finally his little head bowed and he was soundly asleep. I'm always relieved when this happens because it means he will sleep about 45 minutes (30 of it out in my driveway) and is always pleasant and refreshed when he wakes up. I keep a close watch on him out in the car--listening and watching for him to wake up.

Cal always has a lot of fun with the toys at my house--especially the cars and trains. He's also super interested in playing puppets--all of which I LOVE. Rocky and Sweetie Pie got a tiny bit out of hand today, but that's alright--we were just pretending (they were "eating" everything in sight).

This little chubby face ... I could kiss it forever--however, Cal is not overly "kissy". He does appreciate 1 or 2 cheek kisses, but then he's gone in a flash.

Cal also enjoys sliced cheese. I have small cookie cutters (Pampered Chef) and Cal uses them to make cheese designs ...

Cal has also really been into my stuffs lately. He favors ferocious animals, so my two little lions are some of his favorites. I invaded his (pretend) napping area with all of my pigs today, which he protested at first, but then decided he was fine with it.

But Cal always comes back to the cars and trains ... mostly crashing them, but ... who doesn't like a major train wreck every now and then?

I really enjoy this 1-on-1 with Cal ... with any of the grandchildren actually! It's so much easier to focus on ONE than on FOUR. I'm finding that, when not in competition with his siblings, Cal plays rather quietly and independently. He's really a delightful little child and I am so thankful for this time with him.

September 16 with KT-Girl

Saturday:  Chris had a home game today at Olivet--but we didn't go. First of all, we had no tickets (but could have remedied that if we had known sooner); and then Jesse had agreed to "watch" Scott's kids for the afternoon (as Scott has done many times for Jesse). SO, Jesse and I decided that the next home game is NOT TO BE MISSED (September 30).

I picked Kaity up at our usual 3:30. We drove over to my little house (that I love) and hung out for awhile until we left to go to Altitude. I'll try to post these pictures--I've been having trouble with this little blog lately--not sure why, but once I post a picture I seem unable to narrate. Frustrating.

These photos reinforce how totally inept I am at motion photography. One of these days I will force myself to look it up on the internet--there must be a logical and simple enough explanation to where I could do a better job at it. Until then ... we are stuck with these.

Kaity loves to jump. She is crazy about "wall walking" and can do it 12x in a row before she collapses on the tramp!

We were happy to see MATT tonight. Jason was not with him, so we missed seeing him. When we walked in the door this evening, Matt came right over to say hi. He had the hugest smile on his face! Kaity was pretty glad to see him. My caution lights go on super bright over this--mostly because Matt has just turned 15. Kaitlynn was ELEVEN in June. She is in the fifth grade. She is so innocent. I'm glad they are friends, but I do have to watch this carefully. I don't want Kaity getting hurt. She would think that I have lost my mind to worry about any of this--but I'm really NOT. I enjoy Matt and Jason too. They seem like nice people.

The little African-American girl (up on the ledge) took a liking to Kaity and attached herself like GLUE to her. No matter where Kaity was, this little kid was too--not just quietly, either. She wanted to be picked up, always jumped on the SAME trampoline with Kaity and would NOT get off, even when we mentioned that Altitude has rules to follow about more than one person per trampoline, etc. Sigh.

It was good to be with Kaity today--as always. I love her so much. 

September 15 An unusual Friday

Friday:  We had to switch days this week due to my aunt's funeral on Wednesday--so I picked Cal up from preschool today instead. 

I really enjoy having a 1-on-1 with this little person. He is engaging, interesting, silly, rough, interactive, and a lot of fun. I took a few pictures throughout our time together that I am going to post. My "blog" has been giving me a lot of trouble the last few days, so it's been difficult to narrate about the pictures after I have loaded them. I don't understand technical computer stuff at all--so I am rather stuck. Perhaps Jesse can help me figure this out sometime in the near future.

Cal enjoyed playing with the small train layout I assembled before I picked him up today. I incorporated the Matchbox race set on my activity rug, got out the garage and cars, and it was ready-set-to-go when Cal arrived. 

I love to watch this little guy play ... he is SO expressive and ... quite intense!

Here he is being the young but highly dangerous and ferocious T-Rex!

We drove back to Cal's house in time to get the kids from their bus. Cal "played" with my car again, hitting every button that could possibly be reached: wipers, lights, radio ...

We had played for a very long time with my Stomp Rockets today over at my house. But I brought them with us to Cal's house so that we could share them with the other kids. We had a lot of fun blasting them off.

Erin is pretty exhausted after a full day of Kindergarten. She is the dearest little thing, though. She cuddles right up with me and shares her day. She is 5 going on 30 with much of her conversation ...

I had brought over a cute little book that had "hidden" pictures in it that could only be seen with a flashlight. Aidan figured it out immediately and proceeded to make some "hidden" pictures himself. He amazes me.

I told him that years from now I will probably walk into our local library and ask for all the books Aidan Pahman has written, and they will show me a WHOLE SHELF full!

Brendan was here too--but I hate to point a camera in his face every time I see him. He is 11.5 now and is growing up so quickly. He has the dearest heart and I love him completely.