Kiddos

Christopher, one of the most recent roomies to leave the bachelor pad for a married life, was generous enough to come over and help get my rear in gear early in the morning. There are several projects around the house which need doing, and by coming over during his vacation, it got me going on one of the smaller ones, and helped with some of the decisions that needed to be made. I am not a decision maker. Very sad. Anyway, thanks Chris! We removed the door between two 2nd floor rooms, studded it and put up drywall. It will need plaster eventually.

Check it out. Is there a stud in here....besides me? LAUGH!!!


Well, today was the long awaited day dedicated to hanging out with the cousins. Actually, 1st cousins once removed. Thank you Jerelyn! :-) My cousin Melinda and her husband Don have three cute and very fun 9-year old triplets, Grant, Erin and Kira. The kiddos are staying with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of weeks, and I snagged 'em for a day. Sadly, Erin could not join us because she broke her hand this weekend and went back home with her parents to St. Louis :-(

Ice skating was the only thing on the agenda originally. Their aunt took them last year and they had alot of fun. I like to think of things on my own, but never can when I'm trying. It's kinda like stressing over big decisions in life. If you just let go and be patient, you'll be surprised at how many things fall in place. I'm learning alot about that this year. With things falling together last minute, we ended up with a VERY busy day!

Cookies!

They were sent to me with a cookie recipe and ingredients. Peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. It was a very easy recipe. During the 10-minute baking breaks, we checked out my blog (they're famous now!) and watched their favorite scene from the movie "Cars". Back in the kitchen, I see that their modest portions worked out nicely, whereas my monster size dobbles turned into one huge cookie. I never learn.




Puppies!!

Remember how Jon and Joy needed some dog watching help this weekend? A last minute request last night turned into fun today. We went down the street to play with the dogs and let them out. The extra hands actually helped out alot since the tiny ones have to go separately.

I just stuck this in here to show you what a safe driver I am. And that I still have SarahK's tradition exchange gift in my car. Sorey!


McD's

The triplets FAVORITE place to eat is McDonald's, and it was their Mom's idea to send us there for lunch. However, it occurred to me as Chris and I were working this morning, Jerelyn could probably have lunch with us! She runs alot of promotional stuff and training for the area's golden arches and is GREAT with kids. Thanks for meeting and enjoying my awesome cousins Jere!


The kids introduced me to a special drink called a "suicide". From Jerelyn and my roomie's reactions, I'm apparently the only person in the world who DIDN'T know what this was. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. I'll keep their exact measurements a secret until Jerelyn can tell us how they make the Big Mac secret sauce.

Ice Skating!

The main event - ice skating at Owen Center. We got there a little late, but that worked out because none of us had the footsie endurance for more than about 30 minutes total on the ice.


Another sweet thing falling together was running into some church friends, Craig, Debbie Jo and their family. Such an encouraging and entertaining (I want my book back Craig) couple. They found us while the ice was getting cleaned (an extra long cleaning for some reason) which gave us a ton of time to catch up and for Debbie Jo to get to know the kids. We have to work on how Grant explains his new internet popularity in public...




This is Grant falling....maybe.


Hammer Time

Before leaving the house, I showed them our punching wall. Chris and I didn't have time to take it down this morning so it was fresh on my mind. One whack at the wall with a hammer, and they were hooked. After coming back from ice skating, I think we got 1/3 of the wall demolished. Who woulda thought that the highlight of the day would be whacking holes in a wall with a hammer. Grandpa is going to be on edge until they go back Friday, making sure that they don't turn his walls into swiss cheese.






Special Delivery





Last but not least, the kiddos helped me deliver Jed and Julie's Christmas present to their doorstep.





I am legally obligated to tell you that Grant is cool in order to fulfill my payment for a piece of gum.

My cousins impress me so much. They are SOOO smart and observant. While I was tying their skates and thought we were having a conversation, they were figuring out if the lady at the snack machine was getting ripped of from the amount of change she got. You can especially tell that Kira is thinking hard in the back of her head about everything you say. Their conversations are really interesting to hear too. Since they share so much time and so many experiences together (ie school), they communicate really quickly. Many sentences are only half said because they know what the other half is. And they remember everything you say, so be careful!

You guys were so much fun. Thank you for coming over. I missed you Erin!! I wish I could sign your pink cast.


Capped off he night with small group time a few hours later. It was great meeting with the discipleship guys again after a three week winter weather hiatus.