Ryan and Lily's First Overnight Stay With Grandma and Grandpa

31 January was a big day for us--it was the very first time Ryan and Lily spent the night away from their parents, and they spent it with us. Jen and Jay wanted to spend an evening with friends and our having the kids over here made things a lot simpler. We arranged that I would go over there at about 5:00 pm, leave my car there and bring the kids back here in Jen's car. Much easier than switching car seats all around. I was on my way over at about 3 minutes after 5:00 and my phone rang. It was the kids, telling me they wanted to come spend the night at my house! I told them I would come right over and get them. I'm not sure they were surprised when I arrived about thirty seconds later....

Anyway, we came back to our house and things went pretty well. I fed them a dinner of pizza and/chicken nuggets. Actually, on the way back to our house I gave them a choice. Lily chose pizza. Ryan chose chicken nuggets. ::sigh:: I should have remembered that is how it goes when you give two different children choices. No matter, I made both items, and they ate well. After dinner, I asked if they get a bath on Friday nights. Now that I think about it, they never really answered that question, but they loved the idea of a bath, so I gave them one. All I can say is both children are working on perfecting their flutter kicks--and Michael Phelps would be proud!

Once they were all clean, with freshly washed hair and their monkey pajamas on it was story time. Somehow it was decided that Grandpa needed to read stories, and he did. As soon as he finished a story, he was handed another book to read. Good thing my supply of books is limited to about five just now! (I have others, they were just not easily accessible.) After stories came songs. Then prayers. Lily obviously wanted more attention, so I tried settling her down by lowering the lights and speaking softly. This only goes so far towards quieting a child when her brother in the same double bed is still using his playground voice. Both kids finally got settled down, but Lily kept wanting to go get Grandpa, who was working in the basement. Then Ryan asked me to make up a story, so I thought I would tell a story about their Mommy when she was a little girl. It must have been a boring story because I barely started when Lily piped up with "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!" So I told a different story with Minnie Mouse as our heroine. Eventually I realized I needed to just leave the room and let them go to sleep. Lily said she wanted Grandpa to come sing songs--"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Workin' on the Railroad, cuz that's my favorite." I told her I would go see if Grandpa wanted to come sing. I didn't tell her I intended to wait about a half hour before I did.

I'm sure Jen and Jay expected their babies home sometime the next morning, but we were having fun. We played with the puzzles Tom and I picked up the day before, and we played on the computer. And of course we made cookies! Well, I made cookies while the kiddies were totally distracted by Grandpa. Seems he likes to make funny sentences with the refrigerator magnets. Like"Ryan is a girl." Naturally this annoyed Ryan, so he would change the letters to say something about Grandpa. So silly, but they were having a great time. Sometime after noon, Jay showed up at the door. He did call first, but my phone was still on my nightstand and I didn't hear it. Anyway, he drove my car over. He said Jen wasn't feeling too well so he made sure she had everything she needed and then left her alone--which is her preference when she doesn't feel well. Besides, it gave him the chance to come over and help Tom with the renovation. He even got to use the 'shot' that he had to forego last time because he was needed at home. The kids played with me upstairs, checking on the men downstairs every now and again.

Surprise of surprise, around 3:00, Jen showed up! She was feeling a bit better so she came over to see what we were all doing. We talked about their evening the night before. She said they had a good time, so I was glad.

Eventually I realized dinnertime was headed our way. The guys were getting a lot done and Jay really seemed to be enjoying it, so I just threw together several easy dishes for dinner and they all stayed. We had a DiGiorno four cheese pizza, jambalaya, InnovASIAN General Tso chicken over rice, green beans, baked sweet potato slices, and chicken nuggets. Everybody got something they liked. After dinner, Jen got all the kids' things together while I cleaned up and they headed home. I loved having the kids overnight. I hope we get to do it again.