Thank you, GrandmaOf4, for a GREAT visit!

Mom and me.
Mom and the kids.

We just had a wonderful visit with GrandmaOf4! The visit went way too fast, as they always do. We kept Grandma pretty busy!

Thursday - Grandma and DadOf3 came home from the airport around midnight.

Friday - the big kids went to school. Grandma, the Knight and I headed to the school Friday morning. I read to the Prince's Kindergarten class (They were SO cute!), and then we had lunch with the Prince and then the Princess. Friday night, AB and his mom came over to play. Grandma watched th boys for me while Princess and I ran to the school to see how things were going at set-up for the Festival. Friday night we grilled steaks and chatted.

Saturday - The kids were so excited to go to the Festival on Saturday morning! We headed out early and helped with final set-up preparations. The Festival was lots of fun. The little boys were ready to go by 2:00, but Princess wanted to stay. The boys and Grandma headed for home. Princess stayed with me and walked around with AB and his Dad.

Sunday - We got up too late for church. We were all exhausted. We had a really nice day which included naps! GrandmaOf4 and I went to see the movie W. that evening. It was good. It did not slam the President. It was merely an accound of his life up until the war. Interesting.

Monday - GrandmaOf4 watched the Knight while I took a test. After I got back, I took Grandma and the Knight out to lunch and then we hit the mall. We got back at 2:00. The big kids came home by 3. We had a great night and had beef burgundy for supper - YUMMY! Grandma read with the kids that night before bedtime.

Tuesday - Grandma headed for home this morning. We are going to miss her so much. We had tears after she left, but I reminded the kiddos that she will be back soon and that Grandpa missed her so she needed to go home. We will miss her a lot though... It is always fun when Grandma visits!

Festival Fun!

The school Festival was a lot of fun on Saturday! First, we ate at the school!
Here is the Prince telling the Knight how to play at the Fishing Hole!

Fishing was popular!

Time for Princess to fish!

Here goes the Knight!

The kids got their hair painted!

Princess trying to win a stuffed animal!

The Knight's hair painted and trying to win a stuffed animal. He didn't win the animal but he won a cake at the Cakewalk!

The boys and Grandma went home for naps but I still had to work a shift so Princess stayed with me. She ended up playing with her friend AB.

Princess tried her luck a the Nose Picker Booth!

Princess and AB

Tuesday of GrandmaOf4's Visit (October)!

We had to get up pretty early on Tuesday morning to get my Mom to the airport.

Princess was able to send Grandma off with a hug and a kiss because she gets up so early for school. The boys gave hugs and kisses the night before.

We just had the best time with my Mom. I wish the visit could have been for longer. She is one of my very best friends and I really love to talk to her!

Monday Of GrandmaOf4's Visit (October)!

Monday was another busy day. DadOf3 went back to work and Princess went back to school.

GrandmaOf4 and I took the boys to school to have lunch with Princess. It was a good lunch, everyone ate something!

Princess invited her friend, AB, up on stage and they had a good old time. It is a real treat for the kids when a parent comes to school for lunch because the entire group gets to sit up on the stage of the cafeteria. They get to be stars for the day!

That night when everyone got home, we got out the Pepsi that Princess won at the Festival and had Pepsi floats - yummy! That is a good childhood memory of mine, having Pepsi floats! This was GrandmaOf4's last night with us so it was fun to have something to celebrate with! :)

Sunday of GrandmaOf4's Visit!

Saturday night we tried (and succeeded!) to get the Prince and the Knight to sleep in the same room. The down side was that the kids were up until 10:00/10:30. We decided to skip church so the kids could sleep in and not be total bears to their Sunday school teachers.

Instead, we let the kids wake up on their own and then headed out to the park. This park is about a half mile from our house. The Prince and the Prince scooted the entire way and the Knight walked. It wore out the kids a little bit so they were able to take a nap while GrandmaOf4 and I went to see a matinée!

When we got home, we played some cards with the kids. I will post the rules to the game later!

Saturday Night of GrandmaOf4's Visit!

DadOf3 and GrandmaOf4 took the kids home around 2:00 after the Festival at Princess's school. I was signed up to work a booth from 3:15 until clean up was done. I showed up an hour early and told them to put me to work. And put me to work they did! I was in charge of making popcorn. What a hot and greasy job! We actually ran out of popcorn after I had made about 10 batches.

After clean-up, DadOf3, GrandmaOf4, and the kids came to pick me up. We all went out for pizza and then to the "race track" to show GrandmaOf4 how well the kids could ride their bikes!

We ended the evening with bath time, a piece of cake that Princess won at the Festival, and a picture of Grandma with my trio!

Friday of GrandmaOf4's Visit (October)!

We had a great day on Friday! Although I didn't bring my camera, it will always be a great memory! DadOf3 took a half day off on Friday and my Mom and I went out to lunch and then shopping (sans kids!)! (MOM - I STILL HAVE YOUR STUFF! Never fear! It is safe!) We went to Texas Road House for lunch and then shopping in a ritzy part of town. I am not really a ritzy type of gal but it was fun to see and we really did have some good luck! We were home in time to meet Princess's bus.

When she got home, GrandmaOf4 handed out the presents she brought with her!

Weekend Update!

We have had a wonderful weekend with my Mom in town! She arrived on Thursday night and we have been going, going, going ever since! Friday afternoon DadOf3 took a half day off work so Mom and I could go shopping and out to lunch. We had a fun time! Friday night we headed with Mom and the kids to Lifetime Fitness for a little swimming. Saturday was the BIG Festival at Princess's school. We were all exhausted after that! Saturday night we started having the Prince and the Knight share a room. They did it but all of the kids were up until 10:30 before they finally fell asleep. Because of that we opted to not go to church. We went to the park after everyone woke up and had some fun playing, Princess and Prince rode their scooters while the Knight walked. Today I headed to Princess's school with Mom and the boys and we had lunch with her. As class mom it is my job to get a class picture and I totally lucked out! We got a great picture and NO ONE was absent. Woo hoo! I will post more pictures from GrandmaOf4's visit tomorrow. Good night!

The Winning Answer!

DadOf3 called home tonight around 4:00 and asked me if I had started supper yet. Nope! Today was a busy day with GrandmaOf4 gone. I did a lot of room parent work and some (but not all) of the laundry. Apparently that was the winning answer! DadOf3 came home minutes later and took us all out to supper. Yippee! Ya gotta love that! We were going to skip going out tonight because we had done some special things while GrandmaOf4 was here like order pizza, order Chinese, and make Dream Dinners. I was ready to get out of the house though! It is lonely here during the day without GrandmaOf4. I was so happy to hear that GrandmaOf4 had made it home OK but I was really mad at the airline too. They just left her hanging. Grrrr! The kids were good on our Date Night. The Princess shared with me because she didn't want to eat pizza with the boys. The Prince and the Knight ate their pizza very nicely thank you very much. In the end the Princess was eating pizza topped with donated mushrooms (ick) from my pasta dish. She is a creative girl. Hey! At least they all ate, that doesn't happen during just any Date Night. Speaking of Date Nights. DadOf3 and MomOf3 have a big date night coming up. May 20th will be our 7th wedding anniversary. What does one give for the 7th wedding anniversary? A back scratcher? Ha ha! Just kidding. OK, wait a minute I need to google this. OK - I am back. Apparently the traditional 7th anniversary gift is something copper. Odd. The modern 7th anniversary gift is something made of wool or brass. Since we are already flirting with highs in the 90s, I am thinking the wool thing is out. Plus, wool is inherently itchy and we don't need to add any fuel to that fire! Time to get creative. :)

GrandmaOf4 Made it Home!

GrandmaOf4 finally made it home today. It was a harrowing experience. She actually made it to her connecting gate on time, but they fed her some baloney about having to close the gate 7 minutes before the scheduled time the flight takes off. Since when do they close the gates early? Usually all flights are late anyway. Personally I think they gave her seat away to someone else and filled up the plane and then closed it up. I am not happy and will be making a phone call to NWA as soon as DaddyOf3 gets home. Poor GrandmaOf4 was stuck in the airport overnight. She read her new book, finising up around 5:00AM. The flight she caught home left at 8:30 this morning. I feel bad because I scheduled the flight. I will never book her to arrive home so late again. It is not worth the savings in ticket price. Blah! Sorry GrandmaOf4. We hope you come back again someday!!! We are so glad that you are home safe and sound!

Wednesday of GrandmaOf4's Visit - Last Day

Well, today is the day we have been dreading. We have to deliver GrandmaOf4 back to GrandpaOf4. We will head to the airport after Princess gets home from school. It is going to be a family event because DadOf3 is going to come home to join us. We have had a great week with GrandmaOf4. My only complaint is that the week went way too fast! We had so much fun with Grandma and I loved getting little breaks while Grandma watched the kiddos. I cannot remember the last time I got two naps in one week! I was in heaven!

We are back from driving GrandmaOf4 to the airport. It was quite the lengthy drive, time-wise at least. There was an accident that was holding up traffic. I am glad that we started as early as we did. We delivered GrandmaOf4 in time to catch her flight. I am a bit worried because the connection she has to catch for her flight home is the last flight of the day. I think next time I will make sure she is traveling earlier in the day. We love you and miss you GrandmaOf4!

Tuesday of GrandmaOf4's Visit

Tuesday was a busy day here in FamilyOf5 Land. Grandma and I decided to play with the boys indoors since we had been busy almost every other day since she arrived. Princess had school so she was out the door early in the morning. The boys and I played with Grandma until naps and then Grandma and I watched the 4th Harry Potter film. We both love the books and she had never seen this movie. It was great! At 1:00, Grandma's brother who also lives in our state dropped by to say hi! It was great to see him and chat with him. He stayed until about 4:30 because he had to be home that night and he had a long drive. We could not convince him to stay for supper even though we tried. While he was here, I had to leave to pick Princess up from school and deliver her to Girlscouts. I came back to chat for an hour and then I picked her up and brought her home. It was a nice visit and I am glad that my mom had some time to chat with her little brother! For supper that night, we made one of the meals we prepared at Dream Dinners. Everyone ate the meal, including the Princess, the Prince, and the Knight! A good meal indeed when everyone eats it! Our last night with GrandmaOf4 was pretty low key. We watched some TV after the kiddos went to bed. We are sure going to miss her when she goes back to Iowa!

Monday of GrandmaOf4's Visit

Princess took off for school early Monday morning. I was going to take GrandmaOf4 and the boys to a restaurant with an outdoor playscape, but I changed my mind at the last minute and boy! am I glad I did. It rained, it poored, and it thundered and lighteninged (is that a word?) but we were safely in another restaurant and then safely at the mall where the boys were able to ride on some rides after GrandmaOf4 and I did some shopping. My sister and I got Mom and Dad watches for their 45th wedding anniversary and Mom's battery had fizzled out. We got that replaced and working again for her. Then we walked through a couple of other stores. We ended up at the rides and the Prince and the Knight got to ride three rides for being so good for us. We got home in time for their naps. The Princess came home and we all played for a while inside. It sure would be nice if the rain would go away! That night GrandmaOf4 and I hit the movies. We saw Blades of Glory and it was so funny! We laughed the entire time! We ate supper there, if you could call it supper. We had dessert and popcorn! Yummy! :)

Saturday of GrandmaOf4's Visit!

We had a fun day today! When the kids woke up, they played for quite a while inside. The Knight woke up at 5:30 - yawn! The Prince and the Princess slept until 8:00 - almost unbelievable - especially since they had a sleep over last night. They did a really good job with that though. GrandmaOf4, the kids, and I headed out about 10:00 for a fun time at the park and a picnic. The Prince rode his trike the entire way. We played for a while at the park on the swings and slides and then settled down for a peanut butter and jelly and juicebox picnic. It was a fun time and everyone ate their lunch - it doesn't get any better than that! After lunch we went for a hike. Even the Knight was able to keep up without being carried. A first! The Princess liked hiking so much that she wanted to go a second time. The boys didn't want to go so I took the Princess for another go-around. She was a little tired by the time we got back. She is in such good shape from all of her running at school though! We met back up with the boys and Grandma playing in the sand and then headed home to see DadOf3. He stayed home and worked on the deck all day long. The kids asked if they could help DadOf3, and he agreed. They were very good helpers and DadOf3 was able to get lots done! He is making some good progress. I will add some pictures. These blogs are turning into more of a play by play than any intellectual thinking. Maybe someday I will get my mind back and surprise you with my insights into Motherhood! :)