Steve and I have officially earned our stripes as grandparents after keeping the kids for twenty-four hours while Nathan and Meagan celebrate their twelfth anniversary.
It’s been quite a while since the two of them have had more than a few minutes together without the children and they were well deserving of it. They picked the kids up about 3 p.m. yesterday and hit the road immediately for 5 days of vacation in Florida. A busy family . . .
and a beloved family.
Steve and I were proud of ourselves for keeping track of four kids with mealtimes, bedtimes, and playtimes. We are in awe of young parents in general and Nathan and Meagan in particular, as they raise young children. It is incredibly fulfilling–and exhausting!
I put together a pizza-making station for dinner on Saturday night. I told the kids, “There is no wrong way you can make pizza. Just have fun.”
And then? I discovered Andrew had put grapes and strawberries on his creation. Maybe there is one just slightly wrong way to make pizza.
These are Grands biscuits, rolled out a little bit. They could have been a little thinner but they worked pretty well. Just bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.
Here are a few miscellaneous photos from the babysitting stint.
Noah looks more and more like a teenager every day!
Hard to believe I first walked into this room as a 17-year old room. And now I live here as the official, card-carrying grandma of the house.
On Sunday, we had a church service in our living room (see video at the end) and then took the kids to an indoor playground.
Nothing makes my heart happier than seeing four siblings singing their hearts out in a worship song. The song is called “New Name Written Down in Glory.” By Charity Gayle | David Gentiles | Denita Gibbs.
My favorite lines from the song is this:
“Oh there’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes, it’s mine.
I’ve met the author of my story, and He’s mine, yes, He’s mine.”
I’ve spent the last couple of decades writing the story of my life on this blog and I love the reminder that the story I’ve been writing all these years has been authored by God.
What about you?
If you’re an older parent or a grandparent, what did you do to keep your kids busy back in the day?
Does anyone have any easy, fun activities for kids that we can keep in mind the next time we babysit?
Was music a part of your life growing up?
What’s going on in YOUR life this week?
Oh that video brought me smile after smile!
Guerrina,
I know; wasn’t that such a joyful moment?
You have such fun with your grands. I love Andrews fruit pizza. I actually make pizza with cheese and apples or pears, I leave off the pepperoni though.
Love the photo of the boys with the unbrellas. Look up the poem “Umbrella Brigade” I used to have my preschool class bring umbrellas when learning the letter U. We had many walks in the sun but they still loved the Umbrella Brigade.
A fun activity might be to make garden stones. You can buy kits. The kids could hunt for rocks, leaves, flowers, etc to press in. You could also do their hand and footprints. What a great garden path you could create.
I am late in writing as I have been busy all week with a cousin and sister week. I had 2 cousins from Texas and Kansas, and my sister from Illinois all come to my house in Michigan. We went to the lake twice beachcombing, lot of shopping, backroad exploring, and lots of eating. Even found a restaurant “Malia’s Mexican” that we had to stop at as my cousins name is Malia. My husband enjoyed some very quiet days alone, and tolerated some noisy nights full of girl chatter. They left today and it is very quiet in the house today.
Patti,
Hmmm. Pears sound really good on a pizza; I never would have thought of that.
Love the Umbrella Brigade! Too cute,
Glad you have a husband who is patient with a lot of girl chatter; sounds like you all had a fabulous time. You’re blessed to share a family friendship.
Happy anniversary to Nathan and Meagan!
I took piano lessons as a child. My cousin who is two years older than me took from the same piano teacher so we played many duets at our recitals. Sadly, I did not keep up with it and can’t really play now. My older brother took guitar lessons but don’t know that he can play now either. My younger brother started playing trombone in 5th or 6th grade. He taught band for 14 years and orchestra for 16 years. His orchestra got 1 ratings at state all 16 years. He retired in 2017 but went back to a part-time middle school band role this past year. His daughter just completed her masters in piano performance at University of Houston. She and her husband moved to Mountain Home, AR last week where he has taken a position as Director of Parish Music at a Lutheran church there. She hopes to find a teaching position and will also teach private piano lessons.
Not a lot going on i my week. Sunday was my birthday so friends took me to lunch Sunday and dinner Monday. It’s HOT in Kansas. Hopefully it will cool down a little this weekend. At least my birthday won’t be the hottest day of the year like it was last year.
Phyllis,
I love that there is music in so man areas of your family. Steve has always said the best thing about music is that you can do it your whole life if you want to. Sounds like your brother is definitely an example of that and now it’s passing down to your niece.
Happy late birthday!
Next time – cook the biscuits, use jelly and fruit and call it a fruit pizza 🙂 Looks like you all had lots of fun!
Grands are wonderful! As a grand to 3 girls (ages 1/2/3) it is the best of times! People have asked me why I think it’s so grand! It’s because now we have seen how fast time goes when raising our kids so we tend to take more time to just enjoy these grandbabies at every age/stage in their life! I am glad I am close enough to be able to help out our daughters/son-in-laws when we can, as I remember the busy/stressful times! Sidewalk chalk is always good to have on hand! The adults always seem to have as much fun as the kids. 🙂 Lots of music growing up on hymns and country. Now mostly all Christian music! Plan for the week – extra time with 2 of our grands while their Mom is out of town for work and their dad goes to work at 5 am.
Thanking GOD for Grands!!
Eswim,
Fruit pizza sounds great!
Wow. Have three grands so young would require a lot more energy; two of our grands our old enough to be self-sufficient and that makes a huge difference when watching them. But those young ages are the sweetest; I know your heart melts whenever you see them.
You summed it up perfectly: “Thank God for Grands”
Wow – that is a precious video. Admired Steve in continuing to play his part on the guitar. Great singing. Wonderful that Nathan and Megan could get away for 5 days. May they have a great time. Music growing up? Well, we were not a Christian family and my dad was known as the Lonesome Cowboy in Fargo. He played in bars with a couple other guys and my mom would go and sing. It wasn’t until 2 young ladies came to our house and asked if they could hold a Bible club that we really heard about the Lord. Dad played along as best he could on his guitar even though we didn’t know the choruses. Make a long story short, my dad became a minister and did so for about 30 years, The music and message we a lot different! When our kids were little we made forts with blankets and the coffee table. Played dominoes too.
Sharyn,
I remember making forts when I was a kid. Isn’t it funny how some activities never grow old? We’ll have to do that next time they all come.
I love the name The Lonesome Cowboy, and Fargo sounds like the perfect place for a cowboy’s music. How wonderful to know he ended up spending 30 years in the ministry; sounds like he had an interesting life!
Such a fun time with the grand children! I have grand nieces and nephews and they are so much fun to visit!
I’ve been wondering about Sarah and what she has been doing these past months since she and Gage moved. She must love having Nathan’s kids around. Aunties have such a special role in kids’ lives.
Gina,
You’re right–Aunties are definitely special. Sarah doesn’t get to see the kids as much as she would like but we try to get together as a family as often as we can just to hang out. She’s been keeping busy doing some free-lance video editing and is looking for a part-time job. Thanks for asking.
Love the singing at the end. Also love how the littlest one joins his brothers with the drumming on the table. Precious memories!
Anna,
Precious memories, indeed. You can tell those boys are the sons of a drummer, can’t you?
Your pizza making is such a fun idea with the grands. And using Grand biscuits? Perfect. lol.
What grand memory making days you created, sweet GRANDma ♥️
Cheryl,
I thought about the “Grands” connection after I posted but you caught it right off the bat! 🙂
What a blessing your family is. I have so enjoyed watching all these years and now watching your Grands grow up. Thank you for sharing your life with us all.
Kaye,
I am so honored that there are readers like you who have been here long enough to see our kids and now our grands grow up. What a journey it’s been!
Looks like great fun with the grands! Noah is really getting tall, all the kids are getting so big.
I have found that its worth it to have lots of things for the grandkids to do when they are at my house because otherwise I am exhausted from trying to keep them busy. For example- tricycle, scooter/helmet, sidewalk chalk for the driveway, lots of art supplies–large paper, washable markers, crayons, stickers, rocks to paint–, balls, Tball set, small basketball hoop, sprinkler/small pool, a fairy door with embellishments(huge hit with my 7 year old grdaughter), the garden hose with watering can and buckets, magnatiles, dolls, kids books, bubbles(theres a set on amazon that does really huge ones-great fun) , jump rope, jacks, making bead jewelry from little kits, a popup tent, little mini trampoline…..I know it sounds like a lot at once but if the kids are going to be around quite a bit (and you have 4 of them so far), none of whatever you get will ever go to waste.
My sister’s first grandchild is almost 2 and she called me the other day saying that she is now trying to find things for him to do when he is at her house. Yup, its like starting all over. We have decided that grandparents need grandbaby showers just to supply us with all the ‘stuff’ we are going to need at out houses. No one talks about this hahahaha. We could go broke!
Anyway, we are lucky to even have this to think about.
I love the umbrellas in the rain photo 🙂
Lesley,
Well, aren’t you a fount of knowledge? I wanna come play at your house!
Will definitely keep your list on hand; you’ve got some really great ideas.
And a grandparents shower? I think it’s an idea whose time has come. 🙂
I almost forgot to ask – how was the strawberry/grape pizza??
Sue Ellen,
Well, I gently told him that the strawberries and grapes might “melt” in the oven and maybe we should just eat them as a snack, instead. 🙂
Such sweet pictures! Something I like to keep around in case I’m keeping my great nieces is go to Michael’s craft store and buy little craft kits when they have their 90% off holiday item sales. So we might be doing Christmas crafts in June or Easter crafts in November, but the kits (which come complete with everything needed) end up being under $2.00 each! And the girls don’t care if it’s out of season, they’re just happy to get to paint, “sew” or whatever.
Sue Ellen,
That’s a great idea to not get hung up on what season a craft kit is from. The kids really don’t mind, as long as it’s creative and artsy. Good thought!
I loved watching Noah playing the “drum”! Possibly another drummer in the family??? Beautiful family!
Carolyn,
Yes, Noah does the same thing Nathan does, walking around beating on whatever he can find, even if it’s his legs or chest. Definitely runs in the family.
I love the tandem guitar playing. 🙂 My sister and I always say that our childhood was basically a musical. I think my college friends realized I wasn’t kidding one time when my dad and sister were visiting and the 3 of us broke out in song with no warning when something made us all think of the same thing. My dad played music for a living for 15-20 years and mom was a kindergarten teacher who made up a song for everything, and I mean everything. Need to learn how to tie your shoes? There’s a song for that! Need to learn how to write the letter B? There’s a song for that!
Robin,
Steve is famous in our family for bursting out in a song at the slightest provocation. Very entertaining.
How cool that your dad played music for a living all those years. Wow. That’s not an easy way to make a living; he must have really had some talent. And I love that you were raised by a musical mom. I’m the same way-love making up little songs to teach things. Makes it so much more fun and memorable.
Many years ago I played the piano for my oldest friends wedding. Their marriage didn’t last long after the groom joined a religious cult. It was such a stressful time, but he didn’t get away with their son. She is now happily married to an amazing man.
Cindy,
Didn’t know you played the piano! Sorry the wedding you played at didn’t have a happy ending but glad to know the bride ended up with a wonderful man.
That video just made my day. What a precious sight to see! I bet there were afternoon naps at the Smith house around 4:00 pm!
Karen,
Wasn’t that singing so sweet? I know Ken and Vernie would have been smiling hugely.
It looks like you had a LOT of fun, but I bet you were exhausted at the end of the visit! N&M have such a beautiful family. 🙂 Did you have their dog, too?
No little here, and no grandkids – my daughter has decided not to have children. But! I saw a tip on a website about giving kids a bucket of water & paintbrushes and having them “paint” a fence or a sidewalk. 🙂
Music was always a part of my life. My dad was a band director, and also the choir director at a church. My mother was an art major/music minor. I started playing the piano at 5, and learned various other instruments along the way. 🙂
I’m curious, and feel free to ignore, but you mentioned several blogs ago about finding a new church and thought maybe you’d found “the one.” Did you discover that it wasn’t right for you? I know it’s a very significant decision. <3
Oh! And! How’s your job going? Are you still enjoying it?
Stefanie,
Thanks for asking. Yes, I really AM enjoying it. Wishing the hours were a little less but it is the perfect job for my skill set and I have really cordial, friendly people to work with. It’s challenging without being overwhelming–at least most of the time. 🙂
Stephanie,
No, we didn’t have the dog. That would have been a bit TOO much energy.
Our two littles would enjoy “Painting” the sidewalk, especially since it would involve making a mess!
Multi-instrumentalists always amaze me. I guess you got your skills through nurture AND nature.
We are at a church where Steve is playing bass in the worship band and really enjoying it. We told them we would commit to 6-7 months and then see where we were at with it. So far, so good! Thanks for remembering to check.