Grandaddy & Nana Visit!

Todd picked up Grandad and Nana from the airport Tuesday evening.  The kids were eagerly looking out the front window, waiting, anticipating, watching all the cars pass by.  I told them that when they did pull up, to just let them get in the house before plowing over them in excitement.  Nope. The very second they saw that it was Todd's car pulling up, they rushed out by way of the garage.  Todd said he saw three sets of feet dancing up and down as the garage door slowly moved up, releasing them to hug on Grandad and Nana.  The excitement was palpable.

Earlier in the day the kids had gotten out on the driveway and drawn welcome greetings to Grandad and Nana.  Chalk is not an easy medium, but Josiah can create some clever chalk drawings.  He does shadows and shading.  It's really cool.

Caroline even made a gigantic cup tower for Grandad and Nana, but sadly it was knocked down before they got here.

The weather's been cooperating, so for their first day here, we were able to get outside and Henry got to toss the baseball with Grandaddy.  The menfolk and Caroline have since been in the backyard practicing their batting skills.  Josiah says he's interested in playing baseball in the spring.  We shall see how that interest holds up.

The kids have loved having their grandparents here.  They have loved it so much that they want to be as close to each of them as they can be at all times of day.  They have fought over who gets to sit next to whom at every meal, who gets to sit next to them on the couch, who is their partner in the store, who holds their hands in the parking lot.  Three kids and two grandparents.  Before they even got here, we were having the same type of issues in our car.  We have two seats in the middle and the row of seats in the back.  Everyone wants to be in the middle two seats so they can stick their heads out the window like a dog.  So I wrote up what I titled, "Ridiculous Seating Arrangement Schedule" for our car.  It's written up for two months time because I cannot handle any more arguing about it.  Can't you learn to just rotate on your own?!!   I think now we're going to need a "Ridiculous Seating Arrangement Schedule for Meals" as well as a "Who's Your Partner Today? Schedule."  There is so much love for Grandad and Nana that no one wants to rotate once they get time with one of them.

We had our last week of CC for the semester.  It was so, so good to finish that day knowing we didn't have to go back until January.  It's been a busy (but good) semester and a break came just in time.  For Josiah's last Essentials class, the students had to play teacher by leading the class in a 6-minute game using their vocab words or their grammar charts.  Josiah chose to do a game using their vocab words.  He went through many game ideas at home and settled on the simplistic game of "Telephone."  He had all his classmates sit in a line, he spoke the definition of one vocab word into the ear of the person at the end, and as it made it's way through, the last person had to say the definition and then say the corresponding vocab word.  Josiah was up there in the front of the class talking like a game show host.  He was in his element loving the whole experience.  At the end, his tutor gave all the kids superlatives for their games.  Josiah's got Funniest Game as some definitions didn't make it through the whole telephone line and one time he gave the same definition twice in a row.  After all the games were played, they had a cupcake party.  They got to pick a bald cupcake and decorate it with frosting and toppings of their choosing.  Last year, at the same time, Josiah ended up eating three cupcakes at the same party.  This year, thank goodness, they invited all the other kids on campus to make cupcakes, so Josiah ate his one and only one cupcake.  Henry, however, enjoyed his one and then repeatedly petitioned me for more. 

The kids also turned in their Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes at Awana this week.  We were running late that night, nearly forgot to bring them in the first place, so as we stood outside our car in the cold, windy parking lot, it was a "Hold this. Smile. Go inside!"  Grandma made a box for us as well, but they're packed full of things, so they're actually quite heavy, (therefore I did not load them down with another to carry).

This weekend, Todd and two-thirds of our children were able to take Grandad and Nana to Sweet Tomatoes.  Everything went according to textbook at the restaurant.  Salad.  Soup.  Muffins/Bread.  Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes.  Sprinkles for Caroline.  Nap for Henry.  He has seriously fallen asleep at nearly every visit to this place.  He must overdose on the tryptophan in the chicken noodle soup.


Since I am horrible at taking pictures of the kids with their grandparents throughout the day, we made sure to get at least one picture at church with them all together.

The kids basically have the best week ever next week.  They have no school (schools around here get the whole week off), they have Thanksgiving with all the deliciousness that comes with it, and they have Grandaddy and Nana all week.  They'll be in heaven.  Assuming we have a seating schedule.