Afternoons with Grandpa

My two oldest kids got a precious opportunity over the past couple of days....they each got to spend some one-on-one time with their Grandpa!

Zerin's turn was yesterday. He disappeared with Grandpa into his workshop for a few hours. They made Zerin a new walking stick, organized some things, puttered, and just were :). Zerin was all smiles when he came home, and it was all I could do to keep the walking stick out of his bed and not in his desk at school. He told me it is now one of his most prized possessions (his words) because his grandpa made it for him. I think his afternoon with Grandpa actually provided some inspiration. He now wants to enter the Reflections contest. This year, the theme is "Wow." He wants to take pictures of Grandpa's inventions, and then write about how his Grandpa makes him go, "wow" because he is such a terrific inventor. He adores his grandpa so much, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am he got the opportunity to be with him.

Liah's turn was today. She could hardly contain her excitement and wait until after preschool when it was time to go. She hurried home, got changed, snarfed her lunch, and piled herself and her backpack in the van (consequently, last night, she packed half of her clothes so she would have stuff to wear in case she got dirty working with grandpa ---hahaha!). Liah's not one to talk much about things, but when I would ask her what they did, I got her 15 year old, "Well," and then she listed off all their projects :) She cracks me up! Here she is scrubbing old popcicle sticks with Grandpa. When she was finished, she neatly stacked the sticks, hung the brush where it went, and reported for duty for her next task. I was impressed how quickly Grandpa trained her :) He found her a pretty box to put her treasures in, and Grandma wrote her name on it for her...Liah was afraid Zerin would think it was his...mind you it had flowers all over it :) She was so happy to be big, and to have Grandpa all to herself, it was a special time for her. She talked about it all the way home. Then she told me she was going to save all of her pennies and buy Grandpa a dog so the dog could take Grandpa on walks (not the other way around mind you). I told her dogs were a lot of work, and Grandpa wouldn't want to get another dog right now, and she just matter-of-factly replied that she would buy a cage with the dog so that Grandpa could put it away when he was too tired to go on walks. Life is just so simple when you are 4 :)

I can't get over how happy I am that these two got a chance to be with him today. I was blessed with two wonderful grandpas, and I know the deep impact they had on my life. So even though my kids didn't get the opportunity to know my father, I am sooooo glad they are so close to Bryan's dad. I just feel grateful grateful grateful!

"How to listen" by Aeden

On one of our many trips to the new house this week, the kids were sitting watching the progress unfold in our newly dug basement. At one point, I looked over and saw Aeden. He was looking away from the hole, holding something up to his ear and focusing really hard! As I got closer, I could see it was a snail shell (I was relieved to learn it was empty as I am terrified of snails!) He switched ears a couple of times, his intense look never changing. One of the many times, my children have taught me.

All I Want for Christmas...

Tomorrow, Bryan is going to one last doctor. I am not expecting a cure at this point, I am just hoping for some answers as to what he is dealing with. Don't get me wrong, if he fixes Bryan, I will be the first one to do the Toyota jump in the doctor's office, but wellness doesn't seem to be in our cards right now, and that's just fine. Plenty of people have it SO much worse, I know I have no room for complaint.

On that note, Bryan was telling Zerin last night that we are hoping to be in our new house by Christmas (I am hoping sooner). They talked about that for a minute, then the conversation went something like this:

Zerin: "Can I ask Santa for anything I want for Christmas?"

Bryan: "Yes, but Santa gets to pick, and you might not get everything you ask for."

Zerin: "If I tell him I don't want any toys can he make you better? That's all I want for Christmas this year."

Bryan: - Silence -

Maybe we'll write our letters to Santa today :)

Hard Worker

You know those moments where you look at your child, and you realize that at least one thing you have been trying so hard to teach them has stuck, maybe not because of you, but it stuck? That was today, and whattafeeling! Over the past couple of years, we have really tried hard to help the kids learn to love work. We haven't been doing so well :) The summer boredom has been slowly creeping into our home, and it seems to most drastically affect Zerin. When it gets hot, his desire to get up and do stuff...especially work...is reduced to almost nothing, unless he's getting paid, and then it's just above next to nothing :) So, understanding that, what happens next is just awesome.

We were at the house working today, and Bryan's dad came over looking for the kids because he wanted to do something with all of them. Pretty soon, they were all hauling rocks. This started just after 10 am. At about 12:30, there was Zerin...stuck to Grandpa like glue. It was all I could do to get him to take a break for lunch (and even then he wouldn't eat much). Then was back to work. This went on until almost 3, when Grandpa just finally tuckered out. Zerin then followed him home, and sat on the couch to wait for him to rest so they could go work again. He couldn't get enough of it. He told me that he had worked hard to do all of Grandpa's chores so he could have a "nice relaxing rest."

When we finally did have to leave, he cried and begged to stay so he could help Grandpa. Once we were home, I told him we could go back and finish, but I had to get things ready for Sunday. The next thing I know, he's getting out everyone's church clothes and laying them out on their beds. I think Liah ended up with a red shirt, a purple skirt, navy blue tights, and brown loafers :) Don't be surprised if she isn't wearing that to church tomorrow though...that combination of colors is a bit more than I can look past. But seriously, I was overwhelmed with how much he was enjoying working and being with his grandpa and with Bryan and I.