|
|
|
Blue Springs, MO —
They are gone, all 12 of them. What a whirlwind!
This past week I had three of my long distance married children and their families visiting. Jared, Adam and Kortney (et al) came to visit Grandma at the same time.
Grandma is not used to having babies in-house. Hence, it was a circus.
I had a 1-year-old, three 2-year-olds, a 3-year-old and one 5-year-old.
Half of my garage was dedicated to trash bags, full of diapers, baby food and empty ice cream sandwich boxes.
Adam and Sam’s kids call me beach grandma since that is normally where we visit in the summer, meeting at my parents’ home, joined with a trip to Dewey Beach. They think I live at the beach.
Don’t I wish?
In one year, Adam’s kids had grown. Last year, 1-year-old Ava would break out of any door. At the beach, she’d run into the ocean.
This year was no different.
Ava opened every door, even locking a few (including bathrooms, which are a critical need with 16 people). She opened fence gates and if the garage door opened, she would run like an escaped convict.
At night, her parents would put her in her crib and two seconds later she was out of the crib like a high hurdler. What a crazy girl, with blond curly hair and a cute smile.
Adam’s two other kids, Ethan and Malia, slept on cots at the end of Grandma’s bed. That’s another column.
Then there is Kortney’s Camille. She knows everything and answers questions with a “no.” The one thing I loved was that she knew me because she lives a little closer, in Ohio.
Yes, Ohio is close when the others live a thousand or more miles away.
Camille called me “Nama.” She is a busy little 2-year-old with the will and energy to clean and organize everything, modeling her mother.
Kortney and Chase are expecting a boy in October. Camille will handle the extra cooking and wash, I’m sure.
We also had Jared and Emily with Allister and Fiona. Boy, do they have their hands full, with a 2-year-old and a 12-month-old.
Allister wears hats. I think they’re called Ivy Caps, but I’m not up on hats or caps. Fiona just wears her beautiful eyes and gorgeous matching clothes.
They are gone, all 12 of them. What a whirlwind!
This past week I had three of my long distance married children and their families visiting. Jared, Adam and Kortney (et al) came to visit Grandma at the same time.
Grandma is not used to having babies in-house. Hence, it was a circus.
I had a 1-year-old, three 2-year-olds, a 3-year-old and one 5-year-old.
Half of my garage was dedicated to trash bags, full of diapers, baby food and empty ice cream sandwich boxes.
Adam and Sam’s kids call me beach grandma since that is normally where we visit in the summer, meeting at my parents’ home, joined with a trip to Dewey Beach. They think I live at the beach.
Don’t I wish?
In one year, Adam’s kids had grown. Last year, 1-year-old Ava would break out of any door. At the beach, she’d run into the ocean.
This year was no different.
Ava opened every door, even locking a few (including bathrooms, which are a critical need with 16 people). She opened fence gates and if the garage door opened, she would run like an escaped convict.
At night, her parents would put her in her crib and two seconds later she was out of the crib like a high hurdler. What a crazy girl, with blond curly hair and a cute smile.
Adam’s two other kids, Ethan and Malia, slept on cots at the end of Grandma’s bed. That’s another column.
Then there is Kortney’s Camille. She knows everything and answers questions with a “no.” The one thing I loved was that she knew me because she lives a little closer, in Ohio.
Yes, Ohio is close when the others live a thousand or more miles away.
Camille called me “Nama.” She is a busy little 2-year-old with the will and energy to clean and organize everything, modeling her mother.
Kortney and Chase are expecting a boy in October. Camille will handle the extra cooking and wash, I’m sure.
We also had Jared and Emily with Allister and Fiona. Boy, do they have their hands full, with a 2-year-old and a 12-month-old.
Allister wears hats. I think they’re called Ivy Caps, but I’m not up on hats or caps. Fiona just wears her beautiful eyes and gorgeous matching clothes.
So, what did we do? We visited the elk and buffalo, went to the wave pool, had two barbecues, filled the backyard baby pools (and the Slip and Slide), held Ava and Camille’s 2-year-old birthday party, ate Mexican food, ate at Stroud’s, shopped, played and ran 58 loads of laundry.
Then they all left, two families driving home in cars and one flying home.
While they were here I was happy, busy, exhausted and very fortunate to have such wonderful children and grandchildren visiting.
When they left, my heart broke. I cannot wait another year to see them. They grow up too fast. Our last night together, Ethan and Malia awoke in the middle of the night and told me they were scared. I told them to crawl next to me and I’d hold their hands.
There I lay next to my most precious commodity, a treasure. I whispered to them to watch for the sun and listen for the birds, because they would wake us, when it was time to get up. They fell back to sleep.
I feel that a piece of my heart left this weekend. The Bible verse Matthew 21:6 comes to my mind: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
