Grandad & Nana Visit

It has been one exciting week for the kids.  It was their sixth week of school, so they have next week off (and, really, that's pretty exciting for me, too).  Our CC group had their last class for the fall semester.  And, most exciting of all, Grandad & Nana came to visit.

We tried to do our bigger, more time consuming projects before they came.  One of those was making our Middle Ages purses.  Apparently, they did not have pockets back then and we learned about how they wore their purses around their belts and robbers would cut their purse strings to steal their money.  So, we sacrificed one of Todd's old t-shirts and cut it up to make three purses.  For the most part the kids sewed theirs pretty well.  We did have a breakdown and tears by one child when they had to have a few stitches taken out.  But we survived it and they enjoyed the final product.  What I learned was that we had to make the purse strings tighter around their waists.  When they were able to get them off easily, they swung them around and used them as slingshots.

Tuesday, the boys enjoyed free pizza at our CC group.  All the kids who sold at least five items through our fundraiser were given a free pizza party.  I was only aware of our boys selling three items each, so if someone out there put them over the top through an online purchase, then thank you.  (Only our director was able to see those.)  The boys thank you for the pizza.  I thank you for not having to figure out lunch for them that day.  (It was also pajama day, which was why the boys were wearing their pjs to school.)


That afternoon, the kids had what Henry dubbed, "the best day ever."  Nana and Grandad arrived safely and had some very excited kids on their hands.

We enjoyed a meal out.  The food was good, and the hugs from Grandad were better.

The next morning, Henry was downstairs early and the minute he heard Nana's voice, he quickly turned himself around and started to run upstairs to her.  But he swung around too quickly and hit his face on the kitchen countertop.  He actually cut the skin just a little, but gave himself quite a shiner for the week.

We were impressed with the boys speaking so maturely to Grandad & Nana.  Josiah, especially, started out talking so nicely and in a normal voice.  (We still have to remind him to not use a baby voice.)  Todd determined that Josiah must feel he has to dumb it down when he talks to us, and that's why we get the baby voice all the time.

Caroline had her WAM music performance at church one evening.  Her class sang three songs with hand motions and then did a little Thanksgiving craft.  She sang her songs well, running to get a quick hug from mom after each number.  She was not the only child to do so.  Todd got to help her with the Thanksgiving craft, which turned out really cute.

On our drive home that evening, Henry serenaded us with three of his apparently ten WAM songs.  If he projects his voice for the performance as well as he did in the car, then I think he'll be a star in his program.  I'm hoping he does his hand motions, too, because those make the best videos.

Caroline has not been eating the best lately.  She just wants to eat carbs for every meal of the day.  So, she's had some nights that she's probably gone to bed a bit hungry.  One night, she woke up at 3:30 a.m.  She cried out like she was in pain.  It woke up both Todd and I.  I went to check on her and put my hand on her back.  "Are you okay, Caroline?  Does something hurt?"  Caroline, still asleep, said, "I'm hungry.  I want to eat cake."  All I could think of was she dreamed we had a cake that she couldn't eat because it was dairy or something.  A nightmare for any food-sensitive child.

Henry and I had a nice quiet morning just the two of us.  He has somehow come down with a rash covering a fair amount of his body.  We can't figure out where it came from, so we may be paying the doctor a visit tomorrow.  So while the others went to church, he and I drew pictures, read books, learned his next Awana verses, and played a mean game of Battleship.  Somehow every time I play him, our boards end up not looking the same at the end.  I sunk his Carrier twice, but somehow missed his Battleship completely.  He did knock one ship off during the game, but said he got it back on in the right spot.  He pulled out a win, but I think it may have had something to do with my ships going after his attacks.

We did get a good picture of Grandad & Nana with the non-rashy kids.

We're looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving week off.