Babushka duty

One of the benefits of being retired is that I get to see my grandkids more often. On Fridays I pick up Vika and Eamon from school and keep them with me until 5 or 5:30 when Mama and Papa are ready to pick them up. Sometimes this extends to dinner or an over-nighter.

Coming up with things to do on Friday afternoon isn't easy. First of all, I've been given strict instructions to be sure they complete any homework before having any fun. Not exactly the type of thing grandmothers like to do, but orders are orders! Luckily they don't have homework that often.


There is a park close to our house where we go occassionally. Here are a couple of photos from two weeks ago.
Last week the three of us went to IHop for a snack (these kids insist on having some kind of snack after school). Eamon wanted a cheeseburger - I told him it might be a bit late for that and it could spoil his dinner. He informed me, in a very serious manner, that he likes to eat a lot and he would still eat a lot of dinner even if he had the cheeseburger. He's so dang cute I couldn't say no!

I had ordered some hot tea and it came with a lemon. They both wanted to have it so I cut it in half and gave it to them. Eamon popped his half in his mouth, tore the lemon off the rind, and proceeded to chew it all without so much as one squinting eye. I don't know how he did it.

Vika decided to cut hers into little tiny pieces and eat them one at a time. When she put the first one in her mouth, her eyes started blinking and she leaned over to me and said, "My friend, that was strong!"

"My friend!!!!" I asked her. "Did you just call me 'my friend'?? Whaddya, John McCain?!?!? " She said, "Oops, that was an accident!"

We had a nice snack, did some talking, the kids colored. All the required utensils, straws, lemon pieces, crayons, etc. fell on the floor and gave them the opportunity to crawl under the table to retrieve them. One of the great joys of being a kid.

I think this week we'll make brownies.