It's been an interesting week to say the least. It started with two of our grandsons spending the night while several of their siblings attended church camp. Eight- and nine-year-old boys require a LOT of attention. And food. Lots of food. I swear while they were eating breakfast, they'd want to know what's for lunch and what I have on hand for snacks. It's never ending. For some reason they think we need to eat out every meal. McDonald's and Braum's are two of their favorites. I don't mind once in a while because when it comes to cooking, I really don't like to most of the time. I don't want their memories of me being “Nana never cooked; we just ate take out all the time.” So, I am constantly fighting the inner battle over that.
So anyway, I have a hall closet full of games to keep them occupied. We spent part of the day with me getting beaten at Hungry, Hungry Hippo, farm animal bingo, farm animal dominoes, Match the Sesame Street characters and Chutes and Ladders. Those boys cut me no slack. Don't they know they're supposed to respect their elders?
In between board games, we watched Sponge Bob Square Pants, Blaze and the Monster Machine, Paw Patrol, etc. After that the eight-year-old challenged me to a rousing game of basketball. I cannot play basketball anymore. My feet seem to be stuck to the driveway so instead of basketball we played a game where he drew random circles on the driveway in a semi-circle and we had to make a basket before we could move to the next circle. He had to act as my ball fetcher to get me to play and of course he beat me at that, too. He's very athletic. Although he's in football he could definitely play baseball and basketball since he loves to run. I don't know where he got that from, but he absolutely didn't get it from me. To give myself a little rest I let the eight-year-old play on the Oculus while the others watched television.
The next day two more grandsons were dropped off while mom and dad took one of their sisters to the doctor in Oklahoma City. Now we have four non-stop eating machines demanding our attention. We pretty much did the same things we did the day before times four. I just don't have the energy to keep up with four boys ages 14 to five. The fourteen-year-old is no trouble but the others have very high energy. I don't. The five-year-old has more energy than all of them combined. He exasperates me sometimes with his constant demand for attention, but I love it. He's a sweetheart.
After a couple of days, we took them home and came back home to collapse in exhaustion. The next morning the sister who had the doctor appointment texted and asked to spend the night so back we went to pick her up. Mind you, they live about 40 minutes away but they're worth it.
We played games, watched movies, and did some clay crafts. She made the cutest little key chain. So far, she has been with us four nights. She kept asking mom if she could stay another night. Unfortunately, I got sick on day four so now she has to stay until we're sure she's not going to catch whatever I may have had. She has a lot of siblings and if one gets sick, they'll all get it eventually, so it looks like she's here for another day or two. Luckily, it only lasted a day so whatever it was, it passes quickly. I'm delighted she wants to spend so many nights. I think she likes it because it's “quiet;” something she's not used to in a house with a eight kids. The rest have grown up and moved out on their own.
I do not like that at all. They're supposed to stay small and want to come hang out with nana and papa.
So, we've been enjoying having just one grandchild so we can spoil her although it's fun when all the girls are here. They can take care of themselves and aren't nearly as high maintenance as the boys.
We're really looking forward to a long summer of fun with the kiddos even though they may not be as anxious to come now that they've got a swimming pool. I wish we had one again, but hubby refuses to get another one because he knows he'd have to maintain it. I'd help. A little. Some. Okay, probably not that much but I'd be glad to play in it.