Dear Kids, Sibs & Mom
I’m home from my week at Meg’s and thought I’d just hit the highlights to catch you up. It was such a fun week. I was there for Siobhan’s 19th birthday and Meg and Stephen’s 20th anniversary. For the anniversary, the kids gave Meg and Stephen an afternoon of their own – out doing whatever they chose to do. While they were gone, Siobhan made a beautiful dinner, Shaila set the table, Aidan and Connor each held a twin, and Brandan just behavedJ The twins were sick and very needy so we really needed all hands to accomplish a surprise that Ethan and Siobhan had bought and prepared for the anniversary.
It was an 8’X8’ family tree “decal” that came in dozens of pieces and adhered to the wall going up the stairs. I will forward a separate email with pictures of it. The kids had already printed and framed photos of each family member, Meg and Stephen, and a group shot. Ethan and I assembled the whole thing while Siobhan made dinner. Even with Ethan’s 6 feet of height, he needed a ladder on the stairs – that was his part. I kept my feet firmly planted on the steps.
Miraculously, the whole thing was assembled, ladder and level and miles of paper scraps all cleaned up before Meg and Stephen got home. It was SO much fun to be a part of that, and Meg and Stephen were amazed and very pleased.
The weather was overcast but Meg and I took a long walk all but one day – thunderstorms all that day. Things are greening up as you can imagine. On the rainy day, Ethan drove the kids (all but the twins) and me to their favorite library. A beautiful historic building in Huntsville. They each chose books and movies and we stopped at Wendy’s for a frosty on the way home. Very fun.
Besides that Meg had planned an activity for me to do with each of the kids. I played ping pong with Brandan, read with Shaila, quizzed Aidan on questions for a Bible competition he is participating in next weekend, quizzed Shaila and Connor on another competition that they are in, observed their cell making “lab” with jello cytoplasm, malted milk ball nuclei, licorice lysosomes, fruit wrap endoplasmic reticulum….. (I might be a little mixed up, but it was an awesome feat!) I also had a lovely time out with Siobhan at a quaint coffee/tea shop and had “sweet potato/chai tea”. Ethan and I had great chats as he drove us hither and yon. Baxter and Cade played “people” with me. They have a container of multi-colored, plastic people that they love to put into and then dump out of the container, naming each color or counting each person. We also read books, threw balls, and intercepted toilet play.
My favorite part is being able to help Meg in any way I can. I’m not as good at laundry folding – the kids have grown so much, I have lost track of sizes and socks:/ But I was able to finish a pile of ironing and empty a bag of mending which now has replaced buttons and repaired seams. I also finished a “cut and paste” project that Meg is working on for a children’s class she teaches on Sunday evenings.
Every day Meg “sent me to my room” at least once, announcing that Grandma was going to have some time to herself. I would call John and just breathe deeply J That was usually when the kids were doing the dinner clean up and Meg was settling the little ones. Meals were amazing – Moroccan, Thai, Italian,??? Just plain delicious!!
Of course, with that many people in one place, a crisis of some sort is inevitable. On Sunday night while Ethan was driving Siobhan back to college and all of their friends were in church, Aidan had a very severe allergic reaction to peanut butter that was accidentally put into some cookies. He threw up, was covered in hives, and had very labored breathing. Meg and Stephen administered an epi pen and then found a neighbor who would loan them a car so they could take him to the ER. He was monitored for about 4 hours and prescribed a high dose of Benadryl for the next few days and came home.
It was such a blessed week!!
Love, Mom (Con)
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