The Grandkids!

For many weeks I've been looking forward to staying with Clara and Robert, in September, while their parents took a well-deserved get-away to Rome and Venice. And then came Hurricane Harvey. In the midst of all that weather, Kelsey told me, "If our house floods, I'm not going to Rome." But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, their house was spared, so the trip was still on.

Dan and I drove to their house on Monday, September 18. Chris was already in Rome, working, and Kelsey left on Tuesday morning to join him. We were in charge from then until Chris and Kelsey returned, the evening of Wednesday, September 27. Although I've kept the kids before, this was my first time to keep them during the school year. I worried, a bit, over the new responsibilities of getting them up and off to school in the mornings, making sure homework was completed, keeping their allergies under control, and signing all of the take-home sheets that needed "parental approval." But it was a little like riding a bike - all those skills from my mommy-years were still there, and came back to me quickly.

The most challenging part of the day was the morning, making sure each child got up on time, got ready, ate breakfast, and had a lunch packed to take to school. Clara was pretty independent; all she needed was an occasional prompt to keep her moving. I packed Robert's lunch and walked to, and waited at, the bus stop each morning. There are six boys who wait for the bus together at his stop - no girls. Each morning they play a rambunctious game of tag, while they wait for the school bus. The manhole cover is "base."

Morning game of Tag.

Robert is a man after my own heart - a Beatles fan! This is his lunch box that I packed every morning.

The children were so amazing! There wasn't even one "Let's test Grandma" moment. I must have the best grandkids ever! I did have to make three trips to Clara's school . . . once to bring her some Benadryl for her allergies, and twice to bring her lunch, which she had packed but forgotten to take with her when she went out the door.

Besides Clara and Robert, there were two other youngsters in the house. Chris and Kelsey have opened up their home and their camper (and their hearts!) to a family who has been displaced by Harvey. They have two daughters, one Clara's age, and one who is a freshman in high school. They also have a chihuahua/rat terrier mix, named Brady, and a parakeet named Max, who joined in the fun. Someone asked Robert, while I was there, how it was having three "big sisters" now, instead of just one. His answer, "A little worse than before!"

Both Clara and M..are learning musical instruments in their first year of junior high school - M the clarinet and Clara the violin. 

Robert, reading a Ninjago book while Brady rests on his lap.

 On Saturday Dan and I took Clara and Robert to the theater to see the Lego Ninjago Movie. Robert is a real Ninjago fan, but all four of us agreed that the movie was really fun and entertaining, and deserved a "thumbs up."

On Saturday evening we met up with Dan's cousin, Rand Baker and his wife, Jane (who live in Katy), at Pappasito's Cantina for dinner. Clara had a rocky start, complaining of a tummy ache. But once she put a few warm, home-made tortillas down, she was feeling much better.

Here we are with Rand and Jane Baker at Pappasito's.

The kids - all four of them - spent as much time as possible in the backyard pool. See those wrinkly, "pruney" feet?!

One evening, after dark, I happened to look out the breakfast nook window and see a lizard climbing on the window screen. I took a picture of it, and tried to convince the kids, the next morning, that an alligator had been swimming in their pool, but they were way too smart to fall for that!

We had lots of fun -- baking cookies, playing a game called "Googly Eyes," having a build-your-own pizza party, and doing art projects, including making a "Welcome Home" door-banner for Chris and Kelsey.

Here I am with my "Googly Eyes" glasses on. They distort your vision, making it pretty hard to draw pictures that the other players have to guess.

M, Clara and T, enjoying the results of their pizza party.

The door-banner. It included lots of questions for Mommy and Daddy to answer about their Italian trip, some of them in Italian, thanks to Google Translate.

On Sunday morning, it was Robert's turn to have a tummy ache, so I kept him home while Dan and Clara went to church. Clara wore a new dress that their house guests had given her, and looked cute as a bug in a rug!

 Sunday afternoon, Chris and Kelsey Skyped us. The kids loved talking to them. Kelsey held the laptop up and gave them a tour of their suite, and let them see the views from the hotel windows - including, of course, canals and beautiful architecture.

Skyping with Mommy.

 I left for home on Thursday, the morning after Chris and Kelsey returned. Dan had already gone home, on Monday, to get himself ready to come BACK to Houston for the car race he had to work over the weekend (thus we had to bring two cars to their house). I was expecting to be completely wiped out, but it turned out to be a fun, enjoyable week, and I wasn't that tired. It was a great bonding time for grandparents and grandkids. Love, love, love those two kids!