"WILL THE REAL KID PLEASE STAND UP?"

This past weekend, two of my adorable grandchildren came to Des Moines. My youngest son was here for the Drake Relays and I had the mere pleasure of visiting with the kids. One is 11-years-old and looks to be about nine and the other is seven. They are happy-go-lucky, flighty little girls who love to play with grandma. Did I say PLAY with grandma? Yes, I did. WE play with dolls, preferably Bratz. They brought all of their little dolls in a bag or case and the fun began. This one has a boyfriend and that one does too. We start in with our little story line which is usually two of them having a disagreement or maybe one is in trouble for some reason or another. We make things up as we go along, talking for each character. There is a playroom in an upstairs bedroom for my grandkids to enjoy when they come and visit. After playtime we go downstairs, maybe watch a little T.V., and this time it was “Veggie Tales.” We sang and danced to the music – oh yeah, the most important thing is that we went to church. They love to go to Sabbath School with grandma because I teach a class and they enjoy it (even though they are too old for my cradle roll class).

Our activities for the weekend included not only McDonald’s Play land but Chuckie Cheeses, visiting around, going to a portion of the relays with daddy (who was supposed to be getting a break from the kids and mom was going to have them the whole weekend to herself),

At one point, the seven-year-old went upstairs and started to play music (did I say music)? Let’s just say “started to play” a little organ I have in the playroom. Grandma joined her with a bunch of teddy bears lined up like a choir. We pretended they were singing and grandma was directing. If anyone had come to visit, I might just have ended up in the nut house or something like that. All in all, it was a blessed weekend with a touch of Ernie from Sesame Street who kept looking for his pal, Bert, who I have not purchased yet, but fortunately “Rubber Ducky” was there to comfort him. (I love it).

I had an opportunity to talk to them about why they should eat healthy fruit such as vegetables and fruit, and how eating hamburgers and French fries all the time is not good for them – so I took out the Bible and read in Genesis, the six days of creation. When I got to the third day, I attempted to give a lecture on how God created vegetables and fruit for us to eat and how those things are better for them and will keep them from getting sick. So, the 11-year-old tells me – “Grandma, I told Mommy that potatoes are fruits that are good for you.” (This was an attempt at trying to persuade me that French fries are good). I said to her, “well you should eat things in moderation so too many fries are not good for you” – she replied “you mean like eating too many carrots are not good for you either?” That one stumped me, but I answered by telling her how potatoes can turn into sugar when they get into the stomach, and she was okay with that one. It was a great weekend and as usual it is hard to see them go. Now I look forward to having Mr. Kolby down in June – that will be another story as Kolby is a character. Dat’s all folks (it’s enough – eh)?