A Week at Grandma & Grandpa's

The Osceola Fire Dept. came out to my parent's house to fill their new pool.

Dad in the pool helping the volunteer firemen as the kids look on eagerly.

Seven GrandKids! From upper left: Lydia (4 1/2), Evan (7), Joey (8), Hannah (10months), Ethan (2 1/2), Jesse (5), Hans(6).

The kids caught snakes, skinks, frogs, toads, & endless bugs. Here Evan has a frog.

Mom took five of the kids to a local state park for story/craft time and a hike.

Friends have a house on the lake so the kids got to hit the beach.

My parents church has a parade float with which we were all recruited to help.

A shot of my cutie niece, Hannah, with her glasses. So sweet.

The last week of June the kids were lucky enough to spend a week with my parents. Last summer it had happened that the kids stayed for three days while Nathan and I headed home alone. Since then the kids have been asking and asking if they can stay a whole week without Mom and Dad.  It worked out that my parents could take a week off of work, come pick up the kids, keep them for a week, and them Nathan & I'd join them for the 4th of July holiday and bring the kids home again.  I don't know who was more excited as the week drew closer, the kids or my parents.  A whole week together! 

The pictures above show some of the highlights of the week. What they also capture is the love that is shared.  My kids have been blessed with four amazing grandparents. They're the kind of grandparents who take the time to be part of their lives. They held them as babies, read to them as toddler, play silly games to make them laugh, listen to them read, make them feel special, and spoil them not with things but with the gifts of time and themselves. As a result Grandma and Grandpa are loved and adored. It's a win-win proposition all the way around. Our kid, who we love the most, love our parents, who loved us the most and around and around.  Family is a pretty amazing blessing.