Made it to Monday...

It was a GREAT weekend!!

Saturday Nissa arrived from Michigan with her daughters and their children in the early evening. This meant we had a daughter, two granddaughters and two great grandmonsters. Saturday evening would be just them. Sunday we would add more family to the mix.

Here are a few pictures from Saturday evening.

Raelyn quickly found the little fan Claude got from Kentucky League of Cities. She was very happy with this gadget.

The clock that plays music each hour was where Raelyn asked about next. She was pulling a chair over so she could reach the button that lets her play the music when she wants. We called for Nissa to bring Nelson so he could learn about the clock. This clock will go to Nissa in the future. How fun to have her play with it with her grandmonsters?

Look at this mouth filling up with teeth. Our happy boy loved that the windows are low enough for him to stand and look out. He is by the door to the deck on the back of the house in this picture.

Raelyn had taken us downstairs several times to where the toy closet is located. She and I brought up the basket of baby toys so we had stuff on the main level for Nelson. We also brought us the play dishes. In this picture Raelyn is taking the toy knife to Claude's shoe. Then she took the little wand you put in bubbles and then blow on it to make bubbles fly in the air and put it in Claude's water bottle to try and make bubbles. Don't you love Claude's expression? And the fun begins!!

I downloaded a game called Puzzingo on my Kindle for Raelyn about 4 visits ago. She looks a bit grown up with her little legs crossed while she matches objects in the game. 

It was a good evening and we all went to bed a little before our bedtime, which was a good thing.

Sunday morning Claude fixed a big breakfast of biscuits and gravy for the family. I went to Church to play the organ. Afterward I went to the nursing home and picked up Papa to come out to the house for the day. Here is Papa meeting his namesake for the first time.

The Marx family joined us about midday. Here are a few pictures of them getting acquainted with Nelson and Raelyn. 

The Marx's brought a present for Raelyn and a present for Nelson. The toys were very welcome and much enjoyed.

Claude smoked a brisket and made funeral potatoes. Lunch was sooooo good. Moonshine corn, rolls, salad. Katelyn made a chocolate cake and we served that with ice cream. No one went away hungry. 

Then we settled into a few hours of conversation and play before the Marx family had to return home. Here are some pictures of that. 

Raelyn felt she needed to try to hang the turtle on the lamp. She worked very hard at this with no success. I was wondering if she was channeling her inner Christmas decorating genes.

Okay, these two pictures are just precious. Raelyn's dad is Drew. Drew LOVES ice hockey. His favorite team is the Detroit Red Wings. He plays on several leagues. He just loves hockey. Raelyn loves to watch hockey with her dad. More than that, she loves when she and her Mom, Katelyn, go to the rink and watch Daddy play hockey. She has even ridden on his shoulders while he skated around the rink. She LOVES this. Drew did not come on this trip. But Raelyn designated this part of the breakfast room as 'Daddy Ice' and pretended to skate on it a lot. Then she started to bring up and make use of toys on Daddy Ice. She used a toy golf club for a hockey stick. Then she found a plastic donut to use as a hockey puck. Away she went to Daddy Ice to play a game all by herself. I happened to be there to see it. And in true two year old fashion, she made a goal and raise those hands in the air and yelled "Goal"! Oh my heavens that was cute. I sent the pictures and the story to Drew. He was very happy to get them. I think he was missing his little girl.

I was going down the stairs with Raelyn to play with the toys in the basement. She found her Mother's high school picture on the wall. At the landing on the stairs is a long plaque about Claude and my history with Goldwing Road Rider's Association (GWRRA). At the top are two tiny pictures of Claude and I. I told Raelyn that was great Grampa and me. She thought for sure it was a picture of her Daddy. Hmmm...what to do? what to do? I went into the family room and found a picture of Drew, Katelyn and Raelyn when she was a baby in the swing on the porch of our home. I took it to Raelyn. She was overjoyed. She hugged that picture and said, "Daddy, Daddy!" I just let her carry it around. She would take it upstairs and play with it, lay it down for a while, then pick it up and play with it again. Happy she enjoyed it so much.  

Raelyn found the bag that the present for Nelson came in. This had to happen. Andie posted the picture of Raelyn with the bag over her head on our private family Facebook page. Jake commented, "Plese tell me someone took care of the bag lady joke in my absence." Andie commented, "I think we may have failed you in that regard." Raelyn does make a cute bag lady.

One of the books I read to Raelyn had the story of the cow jumping over the moon. From that point forward, she was saying "Moon" and jumping off of the sofa, the coffee table, a chair, etc. Okay, I know that jumping off a coffee table is probably not acceptable to some people. But I honestly don't have a problem with it. She will not be this little forever and it is fun to see them experience life. 

Papa totally enjoyed watching Nelson with the play dishes. I keep them in this toy dish drainer. We would toss all the dishes in it and immediately Nelson would begin to fling them out to find the one he wanted to play with. In addition, he really loved just sitting in the dish drainer. Such a cutie. 

He loves to wear Tony's cap. Tony is Aubrey's intended. Tony knows how much Nelson loves playing with his cap so he quietly tucked it into Aubrey's luggage when she didn't know it so Nelson would have something familiar while he was away. Nelson is only a year old but he knows how to get the cap on his head. He doesn't particularly care which direction it faces, just as long as it is on his head.  

My youngest grandson and my youngest great grandson having a moment. I love this.

Before the Marx family left, we took some family pictures. Foremost was to get a 5 generation picture for Aubrey and Nelson. (Sandi, Nissa, Papa, Aubrey holding Nelson)

Then an updated 5 generation for Katelyn. I picked this picture for this post because of Papa looking at Raelyn. She just fascinates him. She was really into grinning big for the pictures at this point and he was loving watching her. (Sandi, Nissa, Papa, Katelyn holding Raelyn)

Next we gathered all our grand and great grandmonsters together for a picture. We are only missing Paul in this picture. He is Nissa's son and fits between Katelyn and Aubrey in age. (Bailey, Katelyn holding Raelyn, Aubrey holding Nelson, Hayden)

We surrounded Papa with his grand, great grand and great great grandchildren. Again we are missing Paul. (Nissa holding Raelyn, Papa, Hayden, Katelyn, Bailey holding Nelson, Aubrey and Andie)

Time for Nissa and her crew to have their picture taken with Papa. (Nissa, Papa, Katelyn with Raelyn, Aubrey holding Nelson)

Then Andie and her family with Papa. (Hayden, Andie, Papa, Bailey, Michael)

Trying to get a picture of Claude and me with the great grands is almost a joke. While in Michigan we tried this and I have a lot of pictures with funny faces, kids moving, grandparents trying to hold them in place while laughing, etc. Their parents were in stitches going through those pictures after taking them. It was almost a reenactment of that in Sadieville. To honor that joyful struggle I post this picture. Yep, the struggle is real!! (Raelyn, Sandi, Claude, Nelson)

By this time the great grands were about done with taking pictures. The process is much longer than their attention spans. I had puffy Cheetos for them and we pulled them out. I told everyone I really didn't care if the picture had them eating their Cheetos. Please excuse their little mouths full of Cheeetos!! Silly Moi. What was I thinking? (Back Row: Sandi, Nissa holding Raelyn, Aubrey. Front Row: Hayden, Claude holding Nelson, Bailey)

Papa was worn out and ready to return to the nursing home. I believe he missed about three naps in the hours he was at my home. The Marx family had to leave by 4pm to get Hayden back to participate in a Boy Scout Honor Guard at 6:30pm. So we were all out the door at 4pm. We had a great time together. 

Nissa and her car full of family left this morning for Michigan. We will miss them very much but are so grateful that Nissa made this happen. I can't help but wonder what a good thing it was for her and her girls to have that time together as well. Good happened on so many levels with this visit. The Mini's have wanted to meet Nelson and were grateful to get this opportunity. Papa loved having family around for a while. He enjoys watching the little ones play. So, I am grateful for this opportunity for family time. Very grateful.