mindy pitcher

Today was a fun day... after an interesting night of little to no sleep. Between Merrill and his sleeping sick sounds, Ashley whimpering in her sleep, and Lynn waking me up by pinching my nose to tell me that she loves me...
So a day with Grandma... It all began with mom trying to get a picture of all the grand kids, mind you all of their ages, 9, 7, one 4 almost five year-old, 4, 3, two 1 year-olds, and one little chunk of a 7 month old. So picture time was a blast. One adult with a camera and fie others trying to get all the little ones to focus on the camera and to get some resemblance of a smile. It's a first for mom. She has never gotten a picture with all of them. Ash asked her if they were going swimming. Mom was so happy that she remembered that. That was kind of the theme for the rest of the day, "I hope they will remember this!" She was so excited to have them all there.
The rest of the afternoon, they decorated cupcakes, ate lunch, played, and well, made a mess. At one point, she had one of the one year-olds asleep, was putting down the other one, when my dad called to see how the day was going. She loves it. Something that any other Grandma might not dare attempt, and she revels in it. I couldn't tell you how many diapers or pull-ups she changed, how many times she wiped a snotty nose, or broke-up a fight over a toy, I could tell that she was going to be exhausted, but she loved every minute of it. She was even preparing dinner for grandma and grandpa, and was still playing with the kids. There was one point when she had to chase a one year-old down the street, he saw a garbage can, and had the three year-old in tow. Meanwhile, four of the oldest were rolling down the small hill in the back yard. She came inside a little out-of-breath, and said, "I hope they remember this!" As the kids began leaving, she said that we were going to do this again, she had so much fun. We'll see. I bet she fell asleep during family home evening.
This is the contrast between the two "Grandma Worlds" my girls know. One grandma is like this... The other one buys. She isn't content with a backyard, imperfect picture. She buys coordinating outfits, and plans out the perfect holiday portrait. I am not saying that one is necessarily better than the other, but which one are the kids most likely to remember...