Thursday July 23, 2009

 

 

Cousins’ Week

Twelve Grandchildren on the Premises

 

 

 Elizabeth was the first one out of the house, when Cerwin took her to meet a friend at 6:00 a.m. for her ride back to Maine.  Then there were eleven…

 

 

 Jordan was next, when he left for his job at Rohrer’s One Hour Heating and Plumbing.

At 7:00 Lydia and I went for our daily session at Curves, which we began when Cerwin started therapy for his shoulder – because Curves is next door.  Cerwin didn’t have therapy today, because he left for a seven-day trip to the Fergus Truck Show northwest of Toronto, Canada.  He and Chaplain Jake Wise are taking the chapel to the show to represent TFC.  Cerwin cannot drive the chapel, so needed Jake to do that for him.  He called shortly after crossing the border to say they were at a truck stop for the night, and that everything had gone very well.

 

 

 Our next job was to get groceries for the next three days. 

 

 

This is what happens when you turn eight grandchildren loose in a grocery store.  The three big boys (Jordan, Nate, and Josh) did their shopping after supper.

 

 

 They did choose lots of fruit – which pleased me.

 

 

 This was Jesse’s favorite purchase.  He kept it in his back pocket all day – and by then it was empty.

 

 

 After taking Nate to his job at a local dairy farm, and the children had been playing computer games, XBox, Game Cube, and watching videos, I said it’s time for a walk. 

While I visited with my sister-in-law Dot (and saw pictures of their new granddaughter) at the farm (about a quarter of a mile away), the children played in the sandbox, and on the swings and trampoline.

 

 

Suppertime

Jana told me she had a story to tell everyone, so I thought this was a good time.

“There was a lady who had a prized, pet chicken that got run over by a truck driver.  As you can see, it was flattened – and the lady was devastated.  The trucker offered to replace the chicken, but the lady did not want another chicken.”

 

 

 The trucker began to do this to the chicken, and said, “Does this look like your chicken?”  “No that does not look like my chicken,” replied the lady.

 

 

 “Does this look like your chicken,” asked the driver?  “No that does not look like my chicken,” replied the lady.

 

 

“Does this look like your chicken,” asked the driver.  “Yes, yes, that is my chicken.  Thank you,” replied the lady. 

  

~~~

The parents of these children may want to stop reading at this point!

~~~ 

 

Shortly after supper we had a beautiful, summer rain shower, and the children begged to run in the rain.  I figured that it was close to bathtime, so it seemed like a good idea. 

 

 

 

 

 Jared and Ian loved the sound of blowing on their wet arms.

 

 

 Then, because they weren’t wet enough, they had a water balloon battle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Little boys never miss a mud puddle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and Jesse never misses a thing his brothers are doing.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 Then the girls told me to watch them.

 

 

 This was the scene when they missed a movement in their routine.

 

 

 “Who do we appreciate?”  “Who do we appreciate?”

 

 

 “G-r-a-n-d-m-a”  GRANDMA!

How nice.    I had no clue that was coming.

 

~~~

 

It was ten-thirty by the time everyone was settled and I had the photos ready for posting, so I decided to do it in the morning.  So here I am, ready for Day Two of Cousins’ Week.  Everyone slept all night, Jordan is off to work, and several children are getting their self-serve breakfast of cereal and fruit.