It was a rainy day so there were six adults and seven children ages 4 months to 9 years old, anxiously awaiting and then playing with Christmas gifts, enjoying a special holiday meal, and basically just having a good LOUD time. It was wonderful!
Before the gifts were exchanged, all seven kids were in the front room playing with blocks. They were so good and got along great. Check out the HUGE pile of quilts in the background. The grandkids are always allowed to play with quilts when they are here. I get a kick out of watching them choose which quilt they want. There wasn't much time for them today, but the pile did get a good going over to find the perfect one for Bailey when she wanted to sit on my lap.
And quilts make a great cover for a gift that is too big to wrap. That looks like a grill, doesn't it?
Look how attentive the kids are when Nikki was taking a picture!
The annual "special" book from Grandma and Grandpa followed by a fun-filled stocking always happens before the actual gift exchange. Apples are always found in the stocking, along with a few other items that are meant to intrigue.
Bailey found a troll hair headband in her stocking and she looked adorable wearing it.
Remember that big gift that looked like a grill? It was a big Barbie house that was a huge hit with all the kids. Nikki and Zach got it for Avery and Peyton and they didn't realize how big it was until they went to pick it up. It was so inexpensive that she couldn't pass up the deal, even though it was huge. Ty just shook his head when he saw how big it is. All of the kids played with that house off and on the entire day. It was a big hit!
Pirate Ronan had fun and was adorable wearing the hat and eye patch. He even had the pirate growl down pat by the end of the day. It was fun to watch when the pirate was playing with Barbie in her house.
Bailey loves her ladybug riding toy; and Quinn and Sadie were having fun with their gifts too.
While the youngsters and I played in the back room, Nikki, Lynn, Zach, Ty, and Jack prepared our annual Christmas meal that includes mac and cheese, shrimp, crab legs and a few other specialties.
After eating, it was time for more playing and we all had a blast. I laughed out loud around 7:30 when Peyton came running to me and said, "Oh no, Grandma! We forgot to take a nap today." I just picked her up and gave here a big kiss. She's right. There were no naps today, except for Layne; but it wasn't until they were packing up a little bit ago that any of the kids started showing signs of being tired. I'm pretty sure none of them made it more than a couple of miles from here before they were sound asleep.
I love days like this. Yes, it was LOUD and crazy; but it's so quiet now that it seems odd. I'd much rather have the noise. :-)
Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you get to spend your days with loved ones.
1 comment:
No wonder you love substituting - you love all the noise. Loud noises tend to be triggers for migraines for me. Therefore, we try to keep the inside noise down and use outside voices outside. The two grandchildren that were here for two and half days were glad to be here and they were excellent. We left the gift opening all for their house when they get home, so that helped with the noise level. Also, I have cellulitis in my right arm, so we were trying to keep things calms, too.
Last year and this year, I've been tutoring inner city children who are brought to a church by van. They are rowdy. Supposedly, they know the rules and if they don't obey the rules, the disobedient children cannot return. I have never heard the children told the rules at the church. I recently learned that on at least one of the two vans the children are unruly on the ride to/from the church. No wonder they are wild when they get there. It's difficult to get the children to concentrate. I am suspicious that the child that I had last year and this year until recently when he dropped has ADHD issues. I say that because my son and my daughter who are now adults each had them as children and my son who is 40 still has to be conscious of his control over hyperactivity. The church director over the program has suffered heart attacks and a stroke and really needs help to keep track of what is happening. The same children are saying the opening prayer and memory verse week after week and it gives the appearance of favoritism. It's just chaos in the room.
This year I have been going to a grade school close to the church I attend and it is a dream. I'm working with a 4th grade teacher that is thrilled to have help. She tells me exactly what she wants me to do with a student. Ex: Help the student to print the alphabet the way you were taught to print. The student is printing the alphabet the letters in a way that will make it difficult for him to go from printing to cursive. He is going from the bottom of the letter to the top. Then the student and I sit in the hall and we repeat the alphabet several times. With the added information, I can encourage the student for what he is preparing. He told me he had tried cursive and didn't like it. I told him that we were working to make it easier for him the next time. I told him that he probably hadn't been corrected like I was helping him to do letters easier in preparation for cursive because some thought they were going to teach the students to do cursive and now they will be working on it later and I'm there to help him and we will get it together. The 4th grader worked his heart out for me. Then weeks later, still printing, we were working on writing paragraphs. I've working with other students who had troubles with printing. One week, I worked with students on a story about Pearl Harbor. If the student could not read the story fluidly, I read it to the student. Regardless, we went over every sentence for meaning and looked for pronouns and underlined them. I'm loving this tutoring. The teacher seems to really appreciate my help. The children pay attention and they come from low income homes, too. They seem to like the one-on-one help. The teacher has no idea that I have an education degree, a masters in education and I was 2 classes and a dissertation away from a doctorate in gifted education. I don't hold a teaching certificate. I was a computer programmer for years. I wish my health were such that I could volunteer to be an aid for her full time. I love working with these children.
What I'd really like to find is a student to tutor in Algebra I - that's my love.
I loved the doll house. We have a smaller Barbie dollhouse in my living room.
Merry Christmas and God Bless You for all the charity quilts you make. I wish I lived closer so I could take an umbrella class.
Susan
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