i found out just what labor day really means! don and i took the 4 year olds ~ kendyl and siona with us to fairview for the weekend. (sorry, my camera died, and i didn't take any pictures). we didn't go down until late saturday night, so they were both zonker-rooed by the time we got there and went right to bed ~ no problem! the next morning, we got up (AND... grandpa even got up, and made breakfast of sausage and waffles with strawberries and of course, whip cream), while i made up the beds and got the girls dressed. i forgot how much time it actually takes to beg and plead, threaten, beg some more, etc, to get little girls to get dressed, then to comb their hair. siona's was a breeze... she has hair like my girls had - fine and not a lot. kendly's on the other hand, is as thick as a horses tail! luckily, tiff had it combed in a way that it didn't get too messy while she was asleep and all i had to do was just touch it up here and there. of course, when we sat down for breakfast, both of them wanted gramma to set by them, and both of them want to say the blessing on the food! so we had to have a little talk about taking turns... AGAIN.
after lunch, we went for a ride on the four wheelers up over the top of birch creek with some of the 'mugleston' clan and their friends. we stopped and let the kids play in the water at birch creek, cross a log across the creek and play in a waterfall. i thought for sure that we would have some sleepy kids by the time we got back to the trailer, but NO... they must have found some kind of 'fairy dust' or something (maybe it was something in the water), because when we got back, they were rip, roarin' and ready to go! they went down to the swing with donnie, and AGAIN, it's the "turns" thing. but then kendyl said to don, "grandpa, i think i'll just let siona go first on the swing, this time." don's thinking ~ "wow! kendyl, whats up with this?" then after a minute, she added to her sentence... "then we won't have to listen to her whine!". you have to understand this relationship. they really love each other, but it is constant competition (with each other), no matter what it is... whether it's over who is smarter or over who gets the purple paint brush, who gets to say the blessing on the food, who gets to sit by gramma (not that i don't have 2 sides or anything), who's rock is the prettiest, and yes, they even fight over the sticks on the mountain. i finally, had to go out and show them that there were so many flipping sticks on the mountain, that they didn't need to fight over any 'certain' one! (could have been worse... last year they fought over the stars in the sky.) we painted rocks with glue and put blue glitter on them and set them out to dry. and they painted a lot of rocks with just plain ol' water, (the best!!)
anyway... later, they both went down and helped grandpa build a fire, so that we could roast our hot dogs and bratts over the coals for dinner. and when i went to get the stuff out to take down by the fire, i had forgotten the hot dog buns (at home). no big deal for the little girls, because they would just as soon not have a bun, but not the best thing to tell donnie! anyway, we had our hotdogs and bratts, with ketchup and mustard and chips and salsa, for dinner. then some of the 'mugleston' clan with their friends, came up to the fire to make 'smores. jillyne had glow sticks that she handed out to all of the kids. they played around for awhile, until the kids were so tired, they could hardly keep their eyes open. they were both soooo dirty and i needed to bath them. kendyl was okay with that, but siona did NOT want to bath and especially did NOT want her hair washed ( i guess she thought the marshmallow and chocolate mixed with the dirt, in her hair, was a nice look). so i put them in the tub, with tears and all. scrubbed them down, washed hair, lotioned them up, put their p.j.s on and layed them down. siona was asleep in a heartbeat. kendyl got a second wind and talked my ear off until grandpa came in from the fire. monday morning, siona woke up as happy as a lark. we were looking for a needle to open some glue, when kendyl came to the side of the bed and said, "you woke me up!":(. i told her to go back up and get in bed and when she got up again to get up on the other side! (she had NO idea what i was talking about). when she figured out that we were working on our "BYU" glitter rocks, she decided to get up. we put a "Y" on the blue glitter rock, with glue and sprinkled white glitter on he "Y". then of course, we had to do glitter fingernails. they argued and played, while grandpa and i cleaned things up and got ready to go home. on the way home, they were little angels! teasing grandpa and giggling about it all the way.
i know why i had my kids while i was young! when you get as old as i am... no matter how good they are (and even if you do get a little help from grandpa), you get worn out a lot faster than you use to. and labor day brings on a whole new meaning! but i still love to take my grand kids with me and always will, no matter how much work it is!
