2 Times the Fun

Haven't been able to blog the last few days. Our almost two year old granddaughter, Layla, has come to stay with us for six days while her parents have gone on a business trip. (I'm hoping for a new grandchild out of the deal.) Layla has teamed up with our two year old, taken the house over and left us very tired but happy by the end of each day. I'm sure Layla is delighted that her grandparents have toys and diapers and strollers in stock and an "uncle" to play with. We may be very old parents of a toddler but we're so very young grandparents . I think someone spiked the babies' apple juice today as there was a four in a row disgusting diaper thing going on with both of them but everything else was just peachy. Gotta go sleep before they wake up!

Is the Earth Off Course or Something?

All day I've been in a really bad mood. I don't know why.
Tonight, when my children spoke to me, I had this urge to plug my ears and yell, "Be quiet". I kept a nice mom look on my face but I was ugly inside.

Someone was eating popcorn on the couch with me and they were taking a hand full and holding it against their mouth and gnawing it. I could feel my hands wanting to wrap around their neck.

Some of the people in my family made me mad when I just looked at them.

I think it's because Fall has let me down so completely. It's been 90 degrees in West Virginia for the past two weeks. It's cooler in Florida than here. That's so wrong. I love hot in the summer but this is ridiculously past summer. I want to wear pants and stop shaving my legs. I'm sick of under arm wetness. I want to wear sweaters and not flip flops.

So basically I'm in a bad season mood. Is there such a thing?

A Little Respite

This weekend my husband and I slipped away alone to Gettysburg, thanks to our daughter Lane who not only happens to be a great sister and everyone was thrilled to have her here, but she's also a renal nurse and could do Grace's dialysis! (God was probably going...."This is going to be so perfect!", when he brought Lane into our family years ago.)
We stayed in the Gettysburg Hotel on the main square downtown across from a room where Lincoln stayed and right around the corner from the train station where he arrived at to give the Gettysburg address.
Touring the battlefields was sobering, realizing how many thousands of young men died and the impact those battles had on forming our country as it is today.
We had quiet time to talk, some wonderful meals, long walks - we hiked up to a water fall and best of all......H.G.T.V. in our room!!
The perfect weekend!

Hugs for the McKenzies

This evening after dropping the girls off at cheerleading I met my daughter Kara and her husband Nate and my youngest grandaughter Scarlett at Walmart. They were passing through town and so we shopped together for an hour or so. As I held Scarlett I couldn't help but miss my other 5 grandkids who are about to leave France and move to Africa. I want to hold them too. Please pray for them as they make their final preperations. Here's my son-in-laws most recent update.

Sugar and spice and a tongue like a knife

We have a "force" in our family. They are our dear daughters..one 14 and one 15. They're the best of friends and rarely do anything without the other close by. They can be thoughtful and sweet, lots of fun unless they gang up on someone. And lately their 17 year old brother Steven has been their hapless victim. If he utters a single word, both of them roll their eyes and look at him as if he just came off the bottom of someones' shoe. They obviously find him to be beneath themselves in every area. He looks, acts, speaks and even chews wrong. It's been getting out of hand. I've spoken to them about how unkind they're being, we've looked up verses about being loving and humble; there's been some small attempts to correct their attitudes but mostly they're just nasty to him. Tonight at dinner one of them answered Steven with a look of pure disgust. Their father at that very moment decided that he needed to step in and help with this problem. The offending daughter was sent to her room for the night, no movie with the family, no Youth Group. I won't say which girl it was but I will say that Grace should be done with her 9 hours of dialysis much earlier than usual tomorrow morning.

And for my next trick....

Our two year old has been learning new things in leaps and bounds. Just a little over a month ago when he came to live with us he didn't do much more than lay on the floor rocking his head back and forth. Our family in just being itself is apparently very stimulating for the little guy and he's decided to get up and join in the ruckus. This week he's added "the slide" to his favorite things. He's still a little cautious but he's letting go!

One More Time!!

We decided to wait till everyone else was in school to go to an amusment park this year. So Friday, we headed down to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia for a day of fun. It rained early in the morning as we traveled which must have convinced even more people to stay away, leaving the park almost empty. It was great...no lines!! David was our navigator and sucessfully led us to every ride in the entire park but one. We rode so many roller coasters my brain was hurting from hurling around in my skull. Gabby and Trent enjoyed the carousel and all the little guy rides. We made it home around 11:00pm, tired but happy. Meet us there next year, same time!