Sunday

Looking back over my posts for the last week I can see it looks like Travis has been the focus, and I guess that's okay from time to time.

Saturday I spent several hours over at the church in the nursery. There was a memorial service for a man who was loved and respected by many, many people. The sanctuary was packed, and they even had to put extra chairs in the balcony. I only caught part of the service on the speaker box, because we had 11 little ones in the nursery, but what I heard was powerfully emotional. Nathan Alexander was a good man.

I found it interesting to see so many faces I recognized from when I was a kid, and to see the offspring of people I went to youth group with. I know that most of them didn't recognize me, and I'm okay with that.

Today Jeff and I taught Children's church. We ran out of time. We actually ran over-time but managed to close with a meaningful prayer and dismiss before too many parents were standing there waiting for kids. We weren't even the last ones to pick up our nursery child, so we were doing alright.

After church Tyler went with Jeff on the bus run, Travis went to a friend's house, and I brought Tommy home for his nap. My step-daughter called to chat for a bit, and then Scott & Amanda came over with Josh.

Tyler, Josh, and the neighbor girl played in the pool for a long time, then played the PlayStation. Jeff and Scott helped grandpa put up a shade house tent thing. Eventually, after the kids were done in the pool, Jeff went in and then so did Amanda, then Tommy.

Grandpa asked, again, if this was a taste of how things were going to be. I said "yeah" and he started to shake his head and ask if his house would survive us...so I kind of cut him off. I reminded him that he is always telling people about the many parties they used to throw, and how they hosted youth group meetings and adult bible studies and other activities. His response was something about those parties being "within reason". I don't think having one couple and their one child over for the afternoon is unreasonable. I think he's going to have to compromise and adapt. I also think he may start to see why I want to set up a living room in the basement for us to entertain in.

We went to the churches softball game this evening, and grandpa opted to stay home. He probably wanted to soak up some peace and quiet. We met up with Travis at the game and all the kids quietly went to bed when we got home.

Mom, I got some pictures of the kids in the pool, like you asked me to, but my camera is out in the car so you'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Travis

This is Travis before I dropped him off for Big Splash......


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and this is Travis after he came home from Big Splash........








He had a good time and got to spend some time getting to know other kids in the youth group better. I have to say that makes me nervous, he's only 12 after all. Most of the other kids are 15 and older, and they don't realize he's younger. One of them was stunned to find out how young Travis is last week. Yikes!

Travis's New Bedding

So, today I decided to try to make Travis a little more comfortable in his room. Apparently it worked, because I overheard him refer to it as his "real" bed. I laughed and asked him it it wasn't real before changing the bedding, he said the fluffy pink blanket was not him. I guess that means the blue and green works for him.

I still need to buy the lime green sheets, haven't done that yet. I'm also considering lime green sheers to cover his closet area, and a dark blue valance for over the window. He did get a cool new hamper today to help him keep things picked up in there.

Much better than pink.

Keeps the pens and pencils corralled.

Not bad for a 20-minute craft project.

Our Day at the Zoo

Tree Kangaroo

Travis & Friend

He was disappointed the lion was sleeping.

Gotta Love this Kid.

Feeding the Wild Animal.

Travis thought the sloth bear was ugly and mean looking.

I thought he was kind of cute.

Leaping Lemurs.

I love this picture of the elephant's twisted trunk.

We've been busy.

Poor Jeff called me Friday night and asked me to pick him up at work. He came home and went bed, not to emerge until Monday afternoon when he went back to work. Yikes! He did not feel well.

We roasted sausages and made s'mores and Desiree's house on Saturday. The boys had fun. Travis started the fire in no time with his new magnesium and flint. Go Travis!

Sunday at church was weird...nobody was there and many of those who were there were wandering the halls instead of being in the sanctuary. I only had Tommy in the nursery, and would've gone home if it wasn't for the 5 middle school kids that were hanging out.

Monday we barbecue and worked on emptying out Travis's closet. Thank you, Mom. Tuesday Grandpa and Travis finished the closet and put up a rod to hang his clothes on. Major improvement.

Today I took Travis to the Woodland Park Zoo to make up for his train trip that was postponed. Now Tyler thinks I should take him in a couple weeks to make up for coming home early from Mom & Me Camp. Hmm....think you can babysit again in two weeks, Mom?

Rainbow, I'm sorry I haven't called you back. Melissa, it was nice talking to you tonight. I'm going to post some pics and hit the hay.

Good Night.