Continued from yesterday's post "From Tornados to Whirlwind"
Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful, along with four chipper children whose batteries were fully recharged overnight! Breakfast preparations began in earnest while I "slept in" until 8:00--half-dozing, half-hearing the happy voices of the youngsters who have chosen to call us "Gramma and Grampa".
Larry was supervising the cook and kitchen crew as they voluntarily took on the task of fixing breakfast. When their goal was accomplished, the eight-year old cook (Nick) burst into my bedroom, beaming with delight as he proudly announced that it was time for me to get up because breakfast was ready. Sure enough! The table was fully set with everything one could possibly need to enjoy waffles and eggs, coffee and juice. "Need" included chocolate chips and whipped topping! A yummy breakfast to fill the kids with extra energy and happiness, plus enough happy noise to wake the dead, jump-kicked the day into high gear!
Afterward, I tackled the kitchen clean-up job, while Larry took on the challenge of herding the kiddos into the bedrooms and bathrooms to get dressed and get their teeth brushed. Then while I got dressed and did the routine transformation from the "fresh out of bed look" to the "well put-together look", Larry set the kids to work on their next assignment: picking up, putting away, and getting the house looking somewhat orderly, while he went to get himself ready for the day.
Then we piled into the van to head for the Saturday morning kid's workshop at Lowes. It happens every week (totally free) and the kids always want to go (every other weekend). Each week they hand out a different wooden craft kit project for the kids to build. We have seen definite improvement in the kids' ability to follow the instructions and nail the pieces together successfully (hopefully).
When we returned home, the kids instantly turned into "quick-change artists", donning swimsuits and jumping into the pool, almost before we could say "What would you like for lunch?" Apparently the wasp sting of the previous day was forgotten, for there wasn't any mention of watching out for wasps during the race to the pool. The noisy splashing, crazy "dives" (mostly creative jumping) off the diving board, and competitive plunges down the slide provided proof that their fun included "no fear"!
Lunch was next on the agenda: "build your own salads" with chicken bites and left-over pizza, along with a choice of juices again. Another video and a variety of other activities held their attention while I did kitchen clean-up once again.
They were still happily occupied when, immediately following my kitchen clean-up chores, I dug into their requested sewing projects. After repairing the 10-year old's torn skirt that she wanted to wear to church the next day, I began the job of sewing badges and other patches onto the boys' Royal Rangers vests, and was still at it when their mom arrived. She smiled that "happy mommy" smile as she was met by squeals of delight from four happy children. (I was happy for her, knowing that's the way moms love to be greeted after having a break from mommy duty.)
As soon as they were gone, we jumped into action--faster action! Since we were having a bunch of company over the next day, there was much to get done in a short amount of time. Larry had some yard work to do and I had house cleaning to do. We had only a couple of hours left before the time set to meet two other couples for dinner at a restaurant (at east 20 minutes away), plus we needed time to shower and get ready for the night out.
The evening spent with friends was really enjoyable! After dinner we went back to one of their homes for games and dessert. Lots of fun and laughter filled the house, but all too soon it was time to head home to get back to all that still needed to be accomplished before the families of our Bible Study group would arrive on the morrow, for lunch and pool party. So, as soon as we got home, Larry headed off to get groceries while I cleaned bathrooms, emptied the dishwasher and refilled it, dusted and ran the vacuum, and generally put the house back in some semblance of neatness.
We fell into bed at 12:30 A.M., exhausted, but still joyful over two days full of fun. We are so grateful for lots of good friends here, plus a family that thinks of us as surrogate grandparents, since, like us, they have none of their own family around.
That was Day Two of our Four-Day Whirlwind.
To be continued...again.
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