What a Week!

Sunday, September 21 the W's arrived from AZ/Lubbock about 3 p.m. and Kaki, CB and twins arrived around 4:45. JB had no vacation days and stayed behind, thinking he would be home all week. (He had to fly to WV Wednesday). Muffin took a day of personal family sickness to compensate for having Nannie in the hospital Thursday and Friday til 3 p.m. I taught every one of my 30+ students. It was crazy and loud, and funny and tiring.

On Monday the girls and Jonah went to Nannie’s house and she came over here as well. There was much screaming, giggling, dancing, playing sand castles, and saying “no” to Jonah. Gracie was adorable and spent time in the music room with me while Muffin played with Jonah outdoors. The movies that I ordered didn’t arrive until Wednesday, but we had DVR’d some of their favorite shows. Roo ran about spelling and Em covered her eyes when it was all too much for her, then arrived in the music room and "performed" by signing the alphabet.

Tuesday the girls took the children to the Zoo while I taught from 10:45 til 7 p.m. They tried to wear them out, and they did take long naps, waking late in the afternoon to take photos on the porch and make short visits to the music room to see me. Gracie kicked and smiled at the students and parents from the floor or from the sling that Boo “wore” her in. At 7:15 that evening CB, Kaki and twins left for home because Kak had to work the following morning. Roo had fallen asleep while drinking her smoothie, sitting in Nannie’s lap, and snored loudly with her blanket on her head until CB woke her to take her upstairs about 1 p.m. that day. Arriving in her pea pod (sleeping tent), she convinced herself that she had already had a nap, and tried to wake darling Em for an hour and a half. So, their trip home was wild—Em trying to go to sleep, Roo snatching blankets and shrieking, both of them being cute and spelling and talking and singing, both of them watching DVd’s intermittently. They finally slept 45 minutes and 20 minutes from the house.

Wednesday Boo, Gracie, Jonah and I stayed in to keep things a bit quieter. I did not attend Bible study and loved my morning with Jonah and Gracie and having coffee or "coppee”, as Jonah titles it, with Boo. Gracie let me bathe her 2-3 nights and just laughed and kicked water all over the bathroom. She did her first real belly laugh at our house! I think she gained a pound and grew 2 inches too. The headbands, bows and beanie hat with gerbera daisy arrived on Tuesday and Roo was so proud of her “hat”—a crocheted elastic headband with a peony with Swarowski crystal in the center. She also tried to make my red Theraband her “hat”. Em kept her bow in her hair for quite awhile. Gracie looks quite fabulous in her accessories. We want to teach her early that the “only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.”

Thursday we took Jonah to Fort Imagination at 9:45 and he played like a wild banshee until 11:30. There were 4 boys, ages 2-4 there beginning around 10:30 and they played so hard and ran for so long that you could actually smell them. One of the 4 year olds took his pants and underpants off and tried to go down a slide on his sweaty, bare behind. He finally made some incoherent noise and Boo and I suggested to his mom that he might want his pants back—she hadn’t even noticed. Jonah was grubby and worn out and had 4 cups of water, but he was starving. We fed him a quesadilla, which he can pronounce very well, and 2 more cups of juice, then found him drinking part of Boo’s Dr. Pepper. He was so tired, but kept having to go potty. Later that afternoon, he went to sleep and Boo and Gracie went to visit an old friend and her new baby while I listened to my concert music for next weekend and Jonah snoozed hard. Not too long after he woke, Grandpa was home from his work week. Although Jonah had begun to sorely test Boo and any rules she made, he changed into a different boy when Grandpa came in the door. Later than evening after some sand castles and dinner, and stories and Gracie cuddle time and some DVD time, he told Monte “Grandpa, you’re my best friend”. Muffin will live on that one for a long, long time.

Michael drove in from the DFW area and entertaining clients for 2 days, as well as seeing his sister for a few hours, and that got Jonah really revved up. Plus, he sneaked part of Michael’s 44 ounce Dr. Pepper and once again had to stay up to go potty about 70 times. After he went to sleep Muffin and I got some Gracie time and it was so, so sweet. I spent most of the late afternoon cooking—2 hash brown quiches (Melissa Moore), a chocolate sheath cake (Pioneer Woman Cooks), and as per request of my darling Becky, 4 dozen Snickerdoodles.

On Friday morning it was time for our precious daughter, son, and grands to return to AZ, this time by way of El Paso and Las Cruses. They arrived at 4:00 CDT today. It will be Thanksgiving, God willing, when we see them again and Gracie will be four months old. Jonah will be taller, more verbal, singing more songs, remembering far more details, and as God gives grace, will have grown even more in His favor and richer in wisdom. May we all grow in those paths.