Diary of a Homemaker's Week: A Gramma's Week

 

Sunday:  Father's Day.  John and I adhere to the 'you are not my parent' rule and don't get one another gifts for these holidays.  I do tell him how grateful I am that he's come into my children's lights, but I think it's up to the kids to honor Dad and that's what they all did.  We keep things simple.  Text or call, say Happy Father's Day, and be done.  Katie got her dad a gift, but it hadn't arrived.

I struggled to remember what we did yesterday.  I am tired.  This week will be long.  It will not be tedious but long.  

We went to the outreach ministry yesterday.  I tried a snack I've been curious about and liked it.  A lot.  Too much.  We picked up pizza on our way home, then scrounged the fridge for supper last night.  I ate better at supper than I did for lunch.  I also had a great breakfast (homemade yogurt, peaches, and blueberries).  Hopefully balanced out the pizza and snack.

This morning we went to church, then to Katie's.

About two weeks ago, Caleb had a dentist appointment and liked it.  I didn't realize how much until he said to Bella this afternoon, "Hey...You wanna play dentist?"  I turned just in time to see Bella lie down on the floor and he picked up a toy and started to probe her teeth!  Who knows?  He might end up being a dentist someday.  Katie says he insists on brushing and flossing twice a day.  Good stuff, huh?

Both children were happy to see us and we enjoyed seeing them.  Caleb told me he wanted to tell me a secret.  I leaned down and he whispered, "I've got treasure..."  I whispered back, "What kind of treasure?"  "I've got a Gramma and Grampa!"  Oh my goodness!  I had tears in my eyes over that one.

Katie offered me a Dr. Pepper.  I opted for a cup of coffee, but she brought it to me with a doughnut.  I said I'd rather not have one, but she insisted.  So I asked if I might just have half.  Well, she had two kinds and brought me half of each.  

When we left, we stopped and got burgers, fries, and milkshakes.  Did I want a milkshake?  No.  But my mistake was that I didn't tell John  I would rather have a sugar-free drink or unsweetened tea.  I'll keep that in mind if we stop like that again.  I had about six fries and then handed them over to him.  I drank a little of the shake and then offered him the rest of my milkshake. I drank water. 

This weekend has been one of those more difficult sorts that come along when you've been eating really well and have started to lose weight.  Never mind.  I decided that I wouldn't start fresh tomorrow.  I'd start fresh this afternoon.  And that's what I've done. I had a lovely salad for supper.  I've had lots of water.  I had some apricots.  Tomorrow I will do better.

It was miserably hot yesterday and today, 97F but not humid which does help, though you might think not.  But it does make a difference.  The view across the river valley was clear and lovely, all greens and blues.

We should have gone to a church supper tonight but we didn't.  We have stayed home, anticipating how busy the week ahead shall be.  I've got the three children all day long tomorrow from early morning.  Sam is going to pick up Lily at the airport in Orlando.  Yes, it's a long way but this is the airport she is flying into and we can't change tickets or find any cheap tickets coming into or going out of Atlanta.  So it is what it is.  We will repeat this whole thing on Friday.  We will offer Sam our gas card to use for the trips.  It's all we can do.

They will arrive early Tuesday morning.  Yes, Tuesday.  Samuel is leaving early to beat the heat and get some extra time away from the kids.   More power to him.  He'll be tired when he comes in on Tuesday and he'll have them all that day.   Lily is going to spend some portion of Thursday with her sister. She's obligated herself to do some babysitting one night while here too...I'm afraid her week is going to go really fast.

Monday:  I texted Katie this evening just the things I'd done since 5pm.  "Made dinner, fixed plates, fed everyone, cleared things away, vacuumed, loaded the dishwasher and started it, baths and toothbrushing x3.  That took me from 5pm until 8pm.  It was a long haul.  

The day has gone well enough.  The children have been good and they have been here all day long.  It was an experiment on my part to see if they could stand a full day, and a night, here at the house without trekking across the field to go to their home.  So far so good.  

Funny argument this evening between the boys.  Josh and Isaac had been playing outdoors and Josh decided to quit.  "You always quit!  I'm never playing with you again!"  Isaac raged at Josh.  Josh sighed deeply and dramatically and said "Oh Isaac!  You always  say that!"  And then Isaac tickled me no end.  "I know I do!  I just keep forgetting that I'm never playing with you again!"  

I won't even think about what hasn't been done today.  I've done all I could.  The table across from me is stacked with toys that weren't put away.  The dining table still has a mess of things on it.  Josh has piled all his art supplies on another table.  Millie is whining about being scared in the other room. The door is open and she has a nightlight too, plus light from the lamp here in the living room. Josh and Isaac are on the living room floor in their sleeping bags, watching their tablets.  

From 8am this morning it looked a lot like about 900 hours until bedtime.  We've made it.  And I think I'm going to go to bed myself.

Wednesday:  We've had such a good time so far!  I hope the girls have enjoyed it as much as we have.  They are so polite and sweet and the two most awesome girls I've met in years.  They are going to be seniors this coming year and each of them works (Lily is full-time, and her friend Emma has TWO part-time jobs).  They do extracurricular activities,  have plans for their futures, and are just all-around nice sensible girls.   Lily will graduate early and plans to train as an EMT with her sights set on becoming a flight nurse.  

Yesterday morning, they stumbled in after a long flight and drive and chatted with us for an hour but they needed rest so we sent them off to bed.  When they got up I made sandwiches for them and we drove to the big old-fashioned farm peach shed and had peach ice cream and bought peaches.  They asked for the hot boiled peanuts but they were out for the day.  

We came home and they dressed to go out for Sushi with Aunt Katie, met Caleb and Bella, went to Buc-ee's and came home very late.   This morning we were all up and ready to go to a local burger place that is iconic in our area.  Everyone else bailed out on us, but we took the girls from there to Andersonville and had our burgers at Pioneer Park and then visited the POW museum and Confederate prison site.  John took the long cut home. He was enjoying playing tour guide and escorting the girls around.  When we got back home the girls took a nap.  They are spending the evening at Sam's, baby-sitting.  It was Lily's trade-off for him chaperoning them from Orlando here on Tuesday and back again on Friday.   

It's gone by so quickly.  But my fear that it would be awkward was for naught.  It's felt so natural to see her, talk to her, be with her, as though all those years behind us were never there.  She's a credit to her Mama.  

Thursday:  Another lovely day with my granddaughter and Emma.  We visited with Mama for a bit, then took them to eat lunch as promised and then we met up with Lily's sister who she hasn't seen in 17 years.  To see the two of them locked in a hug sobbing with joy was wonderful.  Jessica was taking them to a lake for swimming and they'll have dinner with her.  We'll meet up with them later to get the girls.  And tomorrow morning at 4 A.M. we will say goodbye.  I don't know if I'll ever see her again, but I praise God that I had this wonderful opportunity.

I sent Amie a note last night thanking her for letting her come and giving Amie all the kudos she deserves for this girl's raising.  

My Southern Mama heart is aghast at one thing.  So far, I've only made them a ham sandwich!  In the mornings they've been eating fruit It's not my lack of hospitality but everyone else's desire to feed them.  After all, we are all Southern, lol.  They have not gone hungry.  

It's gone too fast.  It's gone far too fast as I knew it would.  We have been blessed this year with so much.  Two weddings so far and a third in a few weeks time.  A new grandchild to look forward to.  The opportunity to meet and know this lovely granddaughter.  Time to spend with grandchildren who live near.  And this is just the first half of the year.  How much more goodness is ahead?

Friday:  The girls left this morning at 4am...None of us went to bed prior to midnight last night.  John's love language is laundry and he was washing, drying, and folding their clothes.  Bless him as he said prayers last night I could hear the tears in his voice.  I saved mine for this morning.

We all got up at 3:30.  John went to the other house to stay with the kids after the girls left and I went back to bed until 7, then got up to do minor housekeeping and plan meals for the day.

Lily came in not knowing any of this family and when she left she'd met her great-grandmother, two grandparents, five cousins, an uncle, an aunt, a sister, and her sister's husband (Lily's brother-in-law).  We met her and Emma and Jessica and Randy.  All of our lives expanded with this visit in a lovely way.  John kept saying to me all through the week, "God is blessing us..." and indeed He did, He does.

Lily on the right, Emma on the left in the ball cap.   Below is our generational picture with Mama.  I can't get the photo of Lily and John to download for some reason.

Sam hoped to make good time traveling down this morning so he could take them to Daytona to see the ocean to top off the trip.  I hope traffic was light and he was able to do just that.  The girls should be checking in at the airport about now.

And that was our week.  Now the kids are in starvation mode, so I must go get the pizza made.  It's been an awesome week!

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