Ashley’s family got there first and the kids gravitated to the computer. They love to watch You Tube videos of dinosaur cartoons and animal videos. So Rylie climbed up on Michael’s lap to see some.
The “Layton”ites came along shortly. Ashley and Rachel don’t get to see each other often like they used to so I got a photo of them together.
And you can get another glimpse of Blake’s red hair. He has received WAY more attention due to his hair than he likes. He usually does not like to be the center of attention but he can’t get away from it at the moment. Becky held Haylee up out of the fray of excitement, but she enjoyed watching her cousins play. She was quiet, but would just follow them all around with her eyes.
Parker seems to gravitate to Andy M. as a playmate when he and Becky are around. It’s funny to watch!
Ashley gave a little lesson about loving one another from John 14:16-18. She has this nice book that has lovely photos depicting scripture stories. They use it Nursery at church so the kids are familiar with it (Nursery for us is not babies. It is 18 months thru 3 years of age). She taught about the Good Samaritan. Parker had a really hard time holding still until she brought on the picture took and saw the picture of the Samaritan caring for the injured man.
He came right up to the picture to look at it closely. A quiet reverence fell over the room. It was a very special moment. Well, that didn’t last for long as you might imagine. Parker is not still for very long at our house! Andy was able to corral him for a few moments while Ashley talked.
Rylie had an easier time though. She sat on her daddy’s lap for awhile (could it be because she is a girl?)
and then went over by Ashley toward the end.
It was hard for Parker. Andy swung him upside down for a bit and I think he liked it. But he does not always like what we think he will like!
At the end of the lesson we sang a children’s hymn that has motions that go to it. Here is a photo of Rach and Danny doing part of it. The lyrics are “Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too. When your heart is filled with love, others will love you.” Rachel and Danny are singing the “everyone” part.
Michael and Shae were on the less busy side of the room just watching everything that was going on. All in all it went very well.
Rachel and Danny were in charge of the activity. We played Don’t Eat Pete. Shae calls it a baby game (and it pretty much is!) but we love it and we all have a lot of fun.
It’s played by dividing a paper into four squares. On each square is placed a bit of candy. The person who is “it” goes out of the room and the others silently decide which square is going to be “Pete” (why the name “Pete” I do not know). The object is to NOT pick up Pete. The person comes back into the room to begin. They reach for a candy and if we remain silent then they can take it and eat it. If they start to take Pete, we all cry out together (you guessed it) “Don’t eat Pete!” and then their turn is over. The last time we played this Parker did not like it very much as it can be kind of loud and startling the first few times. But after several had their turns he was calling out “Don’t eat Pete!” also. It was very cute and funny seeing as he did not have the same reaction time as us so he was our little echo. : )
Even Halyee got a turn but “Mommy” got to eat her treats!
Rachel was the last one to have a turn so we increased the stakes a bit! When Parker saw that we had made huge piles of candy for her turn , he came over to look up close. He thought it was pretty amazing!
Rach thought it was pretty funny until the first pile she went for was- none other than Pete, so she got nothing! : (
Andy & Becky brought the treat which was Toll House recipe chocolate chip cookies (Andy was over here one day when we were eating some cookies we had made. He went bananas for them and asked for the recipe. I told him to just Google it since it is an age old recipe and he went home and made some right away. This was the recipe I used as a newlywed, but stopped using it because Raymond liked a cookie better that mounded up. But after all these years I pulled out the Toll House recipe and made it again. Blake and Shae really loved them and wondered why I had not made them this way a long time ago. I just laughed. After Raymond tasted those cookies, he changed his mind about those "ugly flat cookies" it and now they are the family’s favorite. Go figure. So Andy made a batch for FHE. I thought they would just bring something store-bought, but I think he will make these for as many occasions as he can! He is quite a good cook. Becky doesn’t really care about food much and Andy loves savory things so he is in the kitchen more than she is- at least for now while the working situation is the way it is).
At the end of the evening Parker wanted to swing in a blanket. He loves that and he tells you exactly how he would like it done. He knows his own mind!
We rotate each assignment every month. Next month it will be at Andy and Becky’s.
Afterward we watched Groundhog Day (none of the marrieds could stay, but that was okay. The "working women" start early in the morning and they have a 30 minute drive to get home). I have not seen tis movie in a long time. We watched it on the Clearplay. I don’t know if I told you about it or thanked you for it. I don’t have time to scan my posts to see if I did or not. Anyway, it is a DVD player that filters out all the junk. We bought it with the Christmas money you sent. It has been one of our better purchases! So thank you!!!
I was very touched by the movie. What a great message about how loving and serving our fellowman is the only way to true happiness and peace.
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