Empty Nesters...For a Bit...

Monday morning...(Think 'The Mama's & Papa's')...and the Mini's are gone.

Yesterday was the last day of our 'Mini'-Vacation. Such a play on words...Jake's literary talents may have a bit of a challenge here.

Sunday was our final day of watching Hayden and Bailey. Bless their hearts they slept in until 7am. Now, if my body hadn't started waking in preparation for their waking, it would have been GREAT (Think 'Tony the Tiger'). I do love the early morning snuggles with two little cuddly kids.

Breakfast was easy with those little boxes of cereal. Hayden downed two of them and Bailey ate one and a yogurt. Pa woke up and joined us.

I teach the Gospel Doctrine class at Church on Sunday mornings, so Pa had grandmonster duty while Gramma headed to Georgetown. Pa took said youngest grandmonsters to the basement for the 2nd Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

We had a storm come through the night before. We had amazing wind, sound and light action in Sadieville but only a little of the rain. It was interesting to watch the difference as I got into Georgetown. There were downed trees in lots of places. The crew was out on one residential street with the cherry-picker truck cutting up a big one that fell in the street. When I got to the church parking lot, one of the little trees on an island was snapped right off at the base.

I enjoyed my time at Sunday School and then headed back to Georgetown to catch the very end of Harry Potter.

That was enough TV time for a bit. We decided to pull out the painting projects. Andie sent ceramic train pieces to paint and I had paint-by-number sets for each of the Mini's. We spread out on the breakfast table and enjoyed some painting time together. Then the kids played with the trains.

Time for lunch...I had a can of 'Cars' Spaghettio's for Hayden and a can of 'Princess' Spaghettio's for Bailey. Bailey downed almost her entire can. Hayden wasn't up for Spaghettio's so he enjoyed apple, cheese stick and chocolate milk.

With their tanks full it was time to play. Then Hayden remembered his snorkeling gear. Bailey and I filled the tube while Hayden finished eating. Then into the tub he went. I set the time for 1 hour and he was under the water and, I believe, pretty much stayed under the water for about an hour. Amazing.

Bailey busied herself with imaginary games and I set to work gathering, packing and cleaning up. Somewhere along the line we lost Bailey's light sabre and could not find it anywhere. I'm sure it will turn up in a very obvious place after all of us looking through every place we could think of.

Now it was time to switch places. Bailey to the big tub and Hayden with Claude in the basement to watch Incredibles, well, the last half of Incredibles.

The Mini's found two fly swatters and, wonder of wonders, the Quidditch match was on. Hayden even figured out the brass door knob to the deck looked like the Snitch.

We got a call from Andie and they were going to meet us in Shelbyville for dinner at Taco Bell at 6pm. We had all in order and headed to the car between 4:30pm and 5pm. I don't think we forgot a thing. As we headed down the road, I gave the Mini's their Shrek sticker books, we turned on the kids music CD, I started to read Harry Potter to Hayden and Claude drove us down the highway.

After a few minutes I looked into the back seat. Bailey was out. As Claude told Andie, "We won!!" Hayden's eyes were drooping but he hung in there for his Harry Potter reading.

We met rested and happy Michael and Andie in Shelbyville. We enjoyed a nice meal and chat time about our respective adventures.

Michael and Andie gave us Red-Neck Wine Glasses to say 'thank you'. These are made out of Mason pint canning jars with Ball lids. The lids allow you to shake and store your 'wine'. These are truly a unique find!! Thanks Andie and Michael for these treasures.

Michael switched the car seats and moved their treasures to the Marx van. We had final hugs until we see them again in two weeks. And we were all off to our respective homes.

Claude and I came home to a clean home that was very quiet and empty. The intent was to sleep late this morning. Not so much.

Now we have an empty nest until this coming weekend when we get Aubrey Anne and Paul for an entire week!! Hope we are rested for them.