and wow, that was fun!

#1 lesson learned after having two small children for five nights:  never ever ever say or allude to life being easier for someone who has only two kids.   Maybe it's because I'm 57 and a half, or maybe because I'm out of practice, but phew, it's work.  It's busy, it's messy, and frequently requires just a tad more patience than one possesses. 

But, it's also rewarding.  The warm fuzzy feeling of grandchildren, rocking Rhys, pretending Achilles is a robot, and making Robot Achilles a house out of Jenga blocks...it's special.  

So I'm thankful that I'm still able to manage it.

This fine morning, I went to the airport and picked up Kathryn and Darius...Camille held down the fort.  I had kept up with the laundry of their stuff, doing laundry for two small children is like playing house, ha.  We unplugged baby monitors and packed up bedding and the little portable-bed, and gathered the special little spoons and bibs and sippy- cups.    Mommy and Daddy came in, and off they all went.  

It's quiet here.   

Did I mention that our truck is out of commission?  The fuel line is cracked/broken/leaking.  So it sits in the driveway until Friday, there's a really nice repair shop down the road, we'll take it in on Friday...(Paul put a temporary patch on it, but we will NOT be bringing it anywhere but the shop!). Sonja has classes every day, so she has the car.  So home-sweet-home we'll stay.  

Until tomorrow, when Kathryn will probably need to go to the store, and I'll go and help.

This coming weekend is a youth conference, so I'll be babysitting some grandchildren here so their parents can go.  Some of our friends are having a nice dinner at their house on Saturday, we were excited about that, but totally didn't realize it was the same weekend as the conference, and I already promised I'd help with the kids. Now, don't feel sorry for me, because being with the grandkids is nice, it's just nice to be with my friends, too.

Last night's dinner, one of my favorites:  a chuck roast stew in the crock pot.  A splash of olive oil, an Aldi roast, $4.99 a pound, some red-skinned potato quarters, some whole carrots, trimmed and cut in thirds or so...two packets of Aldi brown gravy mix....when it was almost done (after five+ hours), I got the kitchen scissors and cut up the beef, then added a beef bullion cube and a cup of water.  After an hour, beef stew.  It was SO good.

Tonight's menu:  chicken fajitas....I'm headed to the kitchen to put the chicken to marinate in lime juice and some spices.  We have lots of peppers, and I bought some low carb tortillas.  I'll make some rice for the kids, too.  

I made my low carb peanut butter cookies on Saturday, as well as a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  

This is the peanut butter one, with a few mini chocolate chips, to render it un-keto, ha.  

Yesterday at church, there's nothing like rocking a small child to sleep...

The small child, Rhys.

They keep busy, they went shopping for way too many books.

Paul turned on some Dream Theatre...this is before the little ones got up and started dancing...

Ah well....winter is back to central NY state...some snow today, some snow tomorrow, and some FREEZING temps this weekend...can't say I love it, but I don't mind too much...have a really good afternoon!