January 16 & 17, 2016

A Weekend With 

Some GRAND Kids

January 16 & 17, 2016

We are so proud to be Grandparents

 to this bunch of wonderful children.

Friday night, Ron fell asleep on the couch at Jeff's house.  Saturday morning he woke having a little trouble breathing and found our 4-year old granddaughter sitting on his chest.  After he lifted her off his chest, she snuggled in with him on the couch for a while before she was really ready to wake up.  When she was wide awake, she came into the guest room where I was sleeping and woke me up. 

Reading books 

 

Breakfast was soon started for the three early risers, Ron, the 4 yr. old, and me.  We had some biscuits and about an hour later I had breakfast ready for those who slept later.  After breakfast, the kids scattered throughout the house and played with Legos or played on the computer.  Most of the day was spent with the Legos.  Several took turns at the piano, playing for fun or practicing for their next lessons.  We read some books, but the television was not turned on all weekend, except for a brief time Friday night while the two oldest boys watched a video for one of their home school classes.

The 4yr. old who woke Ron up.

 

It was extremely windy all day Saturday.  Winds were gusting to at least 40 miles an hour.  The children did not even ask to go outside and the only outside activities were feeding the cats and taking out trash.  In the afternoon, the oldest of the boys went to a home school meeting for the high school seniors.  They were to do their photos in caps and gowns, but there was a problem with some of the gowns, so they only did some casual shots.  When he finally finished he headed to Los Fresnos for a Boy Scout meeting.

Attention to detail

 

Meanwhile, Ron had gone to a memorial service for a friend of ours and then took the second oldest boy to the same Boy Scout event.  It was for a member of their troop who had earned his Eagle Scout rank.  It was very late when Ron and the boys got home.  By then, I had all the rest of the children bathed and in bed. 

His security blanket had been at our house for a while

 for me to mend.  I don't know how he survived without

 it because he hardly turned loose of it all weekend.

 

Supper had been a difficult time for me.  The children were talking and laughing and playing at the table and the noise was overwhelming.  I took off my sound processor a couple of times.  They were just having fun, but it was too much noise.

Beautiful flower bed at their house

 

Sunday morning we were all up early and got ready for church.  I fixed breakfast and most of the children ate.  We finally were all ready and actually had a few minutes to spare, so I took a few photos before we left for church. 

The sun was so bright it was hard for them to keep their eyes open

 

Everyone went to Sunday School and then at time for church to start, Jeff and Barb arrived, having skipped the final class at the island, so they could be in church to hear their second oldest son sing in a quartet for the special music at church. (the singer is the tall one on the back row with the blue tie on.)  It was his first time to do something like that.  He just recently joined the church choir and loves it.

Church

After the church service, we visited for a while with various friends of theirs and then went to Jeff and Barb's where leftovers were warmed for lunch.  As we finished eating, friends of the children arrived to spend the afternoon playing in the yard on a beautiful day.  It was a little cool, but they were running and playing and didn't need jackets.

 

While all the children played outside, Ron and I had time to visit with Jeff and Barb.  About 4:00, we headed home.  When we arrived, my sister and her husband came over to borrow a chain saw to cut up a tree that had fallen at Mom's yesterday in the high winds. 

As Ron and I unloaded our cars, Ron pointed out a bird to me that was on the driveway playing with a couple of red hibiscus blossoms.  I got my camera and started taking photos.  It looked like a mockingbird, acted like one, was a little smaller than most, but had yellow on the top of his head.  It took me a while to figure out that the yellow was pollen from the hibiscus blooms he had played with.  I was about to decide we had a new variety of bird.  He was not bothered by us and kept playing around the area, and at one time landing just a few feet from Ron's head.  Cute little bird.

My yellow-headed mockingbird

Our evening at home was quiet and relaxing.  I talked to our daughter-in-law in New Mexico and caught up on emails and mail.  We had a very good weekend.