Don't let the difficulties of the present moments overshadow the reality of God's promises. God's promises still stand. And God's promises are stronger than our failures.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Fire Hydrant

Today I picked up three of my grandchildren after school and brought them home with me for the night. J, the 17 year old, sent me a Facebook message the day before asking if we could stop by the library on the way home so he could sign up for some kind of gaming tournament. When I first got his message I thought he might be checking out a book. That would be pretty weird since his mother is the high school librarian where he goes to school and he can get most of what he needs there, but what was I thinking? Of course it was a Nintendo game he was interested in. I should have known!




My 10 year old grandson, B, had one question too. "Do you have any snacks at your house Grandma?" Uh huh. Nice to see you too - how was your day Grandma? Right.... Since it was Happy Hour at Sonic I offered drinks to tide them over till we could get home and he decided he might just live that long. But not a whole lot longer!







Miss S, the 12 year old wanted to know why I was late picking them up (I wasn't), if I knew she had cough syrup in her bag (cough, cough, fake!), if she could sleep late in the morning, if I knew that tomorrow she could change her earrings (it's been six weeks since she had them pierced, and if she could "rent" a movie when we went to the library. I asked her what earrings she was going to put in tomorrow and she said, "Dangly ones!" I think there might have been a couple or twenty more questions she asked that I've forgotten. My goodness that child can talk! She'd make a great talk show hostess. :)





Have you ever noticed that with grandchildren, or maybe your children even, that when you pick them up the conversation begins as if you haven't been apart all day, or in my case for a week or so? There's no, "How was your day?" or "Hi Grandma..I haven't seen you in a while." It's just "you got snacks?" or something similar.


Anyway we were driving down the highway drinks in hand when all of a sudden B screamed "Fire Hydrant". I jumped three feet and slammed on the brakes! "What? What's wrong? I'm not going to hit a fire hydrant...I'm in the highway!" It seems Fire Hydrant is a game you play in the car. It's quite complicated. You watch for fire hydrants and yell "Fire Hydrant" as loud as you can when you see one and you count them up. The final score today was B 31 and Miss S 19. And she had help from J and me! I think B can see farther than anyone I've ever known - he'll be a great hunter one of these days cause I swear I think he could see a fly a block away.

The first thing the kids wanted to know when we walked in the door was what was for supper and when. They're kind of picky but if you know what they like, they're easy. So chicken on the grill, mashed potatoes, carrots with butter and brown sugar, and homemade bread and they are happy campers. Add to that the cookies I baked after supper (they keep sneaking in and eating another when they think I'm not looking) and I've almost filled them up. Till bedtime.
















17 comments:

Michelle said...

...and I bet you loved every minute of this journey.

Be blessed,
Michelle

Tracy P. said...

Oh, they are lucky! You know, my kids actually greet me pretty often. They have a morning radar for what day it is, and will walk in my room with eyes half open and say "Happy first day of March!" or anything at all unique about the day. So there, I'm counting my blessings. But in the same breath they will announce their agenda for said unique day. Once in a blue moon it will coincide with mine. But hey, I'm flexible. Kind of.

Enjoy your weekend!

Amelia said...

Kept you on your toes...didn't they? But we love them so much...they really are one of God's blessings.

Calamity Jane's Cottage, Bonnie said...

Marlene, I know you had a good busy day today, with lots of enjoyment.
Blessings,
Bonnie

Unknown said...

I am so looking forward to grand children...the ones I can spoil to deatha dn then give them back to their parents.

I am so glad you got time to enjoy with the littles. They are just so much fun!

Unknown said...

The #1 thing my grandkids have taught me is that I'm not as young as I use to be. Those two little adorable creatures can wear me out in a heartbeat! They are both chatty like your Miss S, and they fight over who gets to talk.;D

Dandelion Quilts said...

LOL...come on grandma.....you should know the game! I think it would have startled me, too. I need to go get the men in this house up and at them as I need some batting and threads, oh and groceries....I suppose I should get those too!

Teresa said...

Oh my goodness...is this what I have to look forward to with 5 grandchildren? LOL...love it!

Twisted Fencepost said...

Cute post!
We play a game here called "Punch Bug". When you see a Volkswagon Beetle, you yell punch bug and the color and punch whoever else is playing.
I haven't heard the fire hydrant one before. Maybe I'll get Boo on it the next time we're in town.

Adrienne said...

I love the way our grandkids are so comfortable with us it's as if life is just going on as usual. Nothing fancy in their greetings, nothing different in their world that day because we're such a part of it. All the time. Thanks for sharing your day with yours. Don't you love it? Being a grandma is the best thing since peanut butter! ~Adrienne~

Grammy Staffy said...

What fun memories you are building for them. I know that they love the time they spend with you and you do too.

We got home late Wed. eve from Utah. We stopped by my daughter's home on the way home and Austin was still up and wanted to come home with us. We had to work at the temple for 6 hours Thur. afternoon and eve. so our little Austin couldn't stay with us.He cried but we told him we would have fun when he comes on Sun.

When his mom picked him up from preschool yesterday at 3 he started crying because he had it in his little head that I was going to get him and bring him to our house.

He cried until he was so tired that he fell asleep. Mindy thought he would be fine when he woke up before dinner.... but no...he just started crying all over again. At that point she called me and asked if we would like a little boy to spend the night. Austin got on the phone and between sobs said..."Grammy I need you"... enough said....We changed our going out to dinner plans and got ready to play wii and watch "Cars" and "Thomas and Friends". Special times!!! Fun stuff.

You and I are blessed... that is for sure! (((hugs))) Lura

sewtakeahike said...

they sound like a couple of fun kids Marlene! So "fire hydrant!" must be similar to slugbug?

Val said...

Been there and done that. My 8 year old grandaughter wanted to do a craft yesterday. I said ok. I didn't realize she was ironing plastic pieces on my brand new iron!!! YIKES!

Angie said...

We don't have kids or grandkids - not human ones anyway - but we kind of get some fun out of it second-hand now the neices and nephews are grown and there are great nephs and neices.

Fire Hydrants would have scared me witless too! Great game though, when you know.

love, Angie, xx

Christine said...

LOL, I'm glad you didn't cause a wreck.

Love Bears All Things said...

Sounds so familiar!
Mama Bear

Dionne said...

LOL oh, I can just hear that conversation! My children seem to always speak from the middle of the conversation, as if we had been already speaking for 10min. and I have to remind them of the missing pieces! Her (aghast with horror): Her little sister watched that PG-13 movie! Me: Who is 'her' how old is the little sister and WHAT PG-13 movie?
Kids are never boring! God love them all the little blessings!
Cheers,
Dionne