How to Have a Clean House

Grandpa and Grandma visited us for lunch after church. 

Grandma and Carrie went off to look at a barn, while Shane, Grandpa, and I went to the library.

Shane used his 30 minutes of computer time at the beginning and then started to shop for Magic School Bus books.

There's one new feature since our last visit: A toy library. You can 'check' out some toys to play with.

Sharing is encouraged. We talked to a mother from Milan (Shane whispered, "Is that Spanish?" I replied, "Why don't you ask? I think it's Italian"). Her son wiped out Shane's fort. 

Grandpa and I stayed on the book trail more than Shane.

We took turns roaming the adult area. Grandpa explored and I picked up Fellowship of the Rings.

We came home to chat and build a train track afterward. Grandma and Carrie were all about the chickens!

There was a lot of business talk afterward.

Shane wasn't so interested, but we had a fun outing for him in mind. When Grandma and Grandpa left, we went to visit a friend.

Dylan was watching for us by the window!

Dylan really wanted to show off his box fort.

The boys had a blast running around together. They were even nice to Eli (sometimes).

There was a lightsaber incident where Shane whacked Dylan on the head harder than expected. Dylan was p-i-s-s-e-d.

However, they managed to work through it (which is honestly what friends are for!).

The adults all played a game of Scrabble. None of us really expected to play more than a round. When things started to go really well with the kids, we all became afraid we would jinx it if we said anything!

The ladies won, by the way. Krista took first and then Carrie edged me out for second when I forgot that the game ended when someone ran out with tiles. I'd held on to an extra figuring I'd squeeze in another small word. That point felled me!

The kids did shockingly well most of the time.

Of course, we let them eat lots of snacks, play video games, and watch Snoopy so they had plenty of distractions.

Carrie got a picture, too, but Eli's finger was halfway to his brain. John and Krista may want to save it for blackmail when he's older.