We woke up on Day 5 ready to play with our friends, Sasha & Sydney. It was fun to see how often the older siblings "swapped" younger siblings; but the older girls had a lot of fun together too.
We headed out to the Tellus Science Museum for a morning and afternoon of fun learning!
We also got tickets to see their planetarium show.
When we got home, the kids went outside to cut flowers for Mrs. Nicole's table. Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent in and out of the house - building a fairy house & a fort, popping Mentos in Diet Coke bottles, practicing and performing dance numbers, and putting on musical shows. Nicole and I stayed up way too late, catching up in those sweet hours after the kids go to bed.
We were sad to get up and leave the next morning on Day 6. The kids snuck in a few more games and performances while I loaded the car and waited for Atlanta traffic to thin out. Unfortunately, we hit a bunch of traffic anyways, so the kids started complaining for lunch just as we were coming on Opelika. So we stopped at Chick-fil-a for their Cow-Appreciation Day. We had not come prepared (left our costumes at home!) so we ended up using their paper hats to get our free lunch. The kids were in a great mood when we were done, so I pushed my luck and swung through campus to get their photos with the big Auburn University campus sign.
When we got settled in at Grandma & Granddaddy's house, I tried to put Colleen down for a nap. (Up until this point, she'd been sleeping in the car.) She climbed right out of that pack-n-play and refused to nap. I tried a few different methods and she continued to climb out. So we moved on without one.
Tea parties and pretending to be a doctor are favorite activities at Grandma's house.
The big kids and I took a walk around the pond and counted more turtles than ever before.
The plans for Day 7 started with a trip to Grandma & Granddaddy's pool.
Unfortunately within 10 minutes of being at the pool, Amelia ran and slipped and fell. The cut on her chin was open more than any I'd seen before, so we got everyone out and headed back to the house. We were able to get her in with the pediatrician that Patrick's cousin works for; a few hours later, Amelia had 3 stitches in her chin.
The whole ordeal in the doctor's office reminded/taught me a few things:
1. God provides for you in advance - a friend had given us a spare mp3 player for the roadtrip, knowing that Amelia has been using music more and more to handle her emotions. I had thrown that mp3 player in my backpack as we were leaving for the pediatrician's, just in case we had a long wait (since they were working us in). That mp3 player ended up being Amelia's lifeline. She put those earbuds in and clung to it throughout the entire procedure. It really didn't matter what was playing at the time, just having it gave her an outlet. Also, having "Harrison, Maddie & John Hudson's mommy" as her nurse gave her an encouragement that she needed.
2. Amelia is a fighter, but she also was able to control her fight-tendencies more than I realized. She was an emotional mess as the doctor determined that she needed stitches. She begged me to take her home and physically acted as if she might need to be restrained. But she was able to use her music to focus on being calm once we got her to close her eyes once the procedure started. I was truly impressed that she handled it as she did; I would have bet money on a fight.
3. For my first time having a kid with a blood & guts medical procedure, I learned that I can hold it all together in times of crisis. But I'm definitely not called to the medical profession. :)
Amelia wanted to bake with Grandma after her stitches, so they made a delicious peach cake!
Later that afternoon, Colleen & Austin got out and played with the various outdoor toys. Grandma showed Colleen how to hit the t-ball, & Colleen showed us she remembered on a different day! Austin had fun trying out all the different balls and sports, but the badminton set was the favorite of the afternoon.
After dinner we convinced Granddaddy to play a game of Chinese checkers with us. It took a looong time.
We started off Day 8 by helping Granddaddy fill up his hummingbird feeders. The kids LOVED watching for Beaker, the frequent visitor to whom all other hummingbirds will now be compared.
Then we headed back up to Auburn to visit with Renee and her grandchildren, Halsey & Finn. Renee had found that the local Auburn storytime was that morning, so we headed out to the library for some playtime and stories. The kids immediately played with the puppet theater until everyone was called into the storytime room. They listened to 3 books about oceans and then participated in a fish craft.
Because my kids can't resist a photo opportunity, even at the library.
(Austin is attempting to keep the rocket from blasting off.)
After the library we headed back to Chick-fil-a (It's Renee's tradition to go there each week when she has her grandkids). It was the craziest-busy I have ever seen a Chick-fil-a in my life. And I've been to a lot of busy Chick-fil-a's. I'm not sure what was going on, but there were multiple sports teams, office groups, families, etc. The line wrapped throughout the entire restaurant. But eventually we ate and let the kids play for a few minutes before we headed back to Renee's house. On the way, both Finn & Colleen fell asleep. While I only intended for us to stay a bit longer, Colleen ended up sleeping on me for about 2 hours - completely unheard of! (Apparently she was missing that nap.)
The big kids all played nicely for the entire time while Renee and I got to catch up. It was so sweet for my heart.
We returned back to Grandma & Granddaddy's house, bringing our chaos and noise (even without turns on the piano!)
No comments:
Post a Comment