ONE - TWO - THREE - FOUR - FIVE - OH MY!

Alright, most of you who have been reading my blog long enough to know we have FIVE grandtots.  Yup, and we dote on them and adore them and think they are the brightest and bestest grandtots ever.  Of course.   Doesn't every grandparent?

So yes, this is a Gushy Grandparent Post!   

It's my blog so I can write what I want, right?   LOL  All of our grandtots are ages 5 and under.    This VERY BRAVE Granmuddah and Granfaddah opted to take ALL FIVE in ONE day!   wheww......  

It started on Saturday morning.  Our daughters Erin and Heather wanted to get in some early Christmas shopping.  In the morning, they hauled down three grandtots to be deposited at our home for the day.  All three came in grinning and hugging and filling the aches in my arms that happens when it's been too long in between visits. 

Granfaddah had to leave and run to work for a couple hours, but I held down the fort and got in lots of hugs and cuddles and wrangling the little stinkers. 

By mid-afternoon, our son Dan and his wife Heather (yes, we have two Heathers in our family) brought their two for an already planned out overnight visit so they could go to the UWBadger vs UWGB Phoenix basketball game.  So now we added two more grandtots the pile! 

Soooooo , here they are .. it's very hard to get them all in one spot 

to take a photo of them sitting still.  

As it was, both Allegra and Mason turned their heads.  

I did try the trick I used to take a photo last year at Christmas.. 

I told them all to "PICK YOUR NOSE" 

which made them all look right at me as they did it.... 

 it didn't work out so well this time either.  

I think they are catching onto me. 

We had a VERY full day.

and a pile of pics to prove it:

Who can resist a couple little darlings having a tea party with a REAL china tea set?

The weather was warm enough to sit out on the front porch

a great place to watch for Big Trucks going past.... 

a favorite past time of the boys! 

 It's great that we live on a busy road, with a lot truck traffic going through town.  

They are supposed to slow down to 25mph, 

which gives the boys a chance to really see the trucks!

The watch for the oncoming trucks and guess what colors are coming next.

The livingroom was scattered with toys from one end to the other

And the foyer is the biggest toy area, 

as they haul the toybox out of the Munchkin Closet

I got in some snuggles and even got the littlest, Clayton, to nap for a while. 

And got some hugs with the oldest one, Jameson 

while he read me a story book he made in kindergarten! 

Granfaddah helped me tag-team all of them and keep them occupied and happy

 Looks like a tough job, eh? 

The girls, Allegra and Chelsea, decided they needed to "fix" the nails in the Munchkin Closet.  

Armed with plastic tools, they did a great job on it! 

Mason was checking out the photos on the quilted wall-hanging in the kitchen. 

I think I will have to print out some of these newest photos to swap them out.

Granfaddah herded them all into the kitchen for snack time! 

When we bought our house, there were two old fashioned telephones inside.  

They have become the most well-loved toys in our house!  

For children who only grew up with cell phones, these must be really "antique" to them!

I think I will call this photo "Crossed Party Lines"   LOL 

With all the toys scattered all over, one of the most favorite places to relax a bit 

is on the landing of the stairs in the foyer.  

We put up a baby gate to keep them on the main floor 

(so we don't have anyone tumbling down the stairs!) 

Another well-played-with toy is the old Fisher Price Farm 

that used to be at MY Grandma Kafehl's home.  

My children also played with it, and now my grandchildren.  

They would be her great great grandchildren!  

 I bet she is smiling down from Heaven each time it's taken out of the Munchkin Closet. 

Well, we played, we fed, we cleaned up, we hugged, we read stories, we literally wore ourselves out.  Whew!   By suppertime, Erin and Heather returned to pick up their three tots.  By this time all of them were pretty much played out, tired, weepy, and beyond naptimes.  The energy level was petering out of Steve and I as we fed the final two, and I got them into the bathtub to relax them down a bit before bedtime.

Relaxing?? Hmmm not to be.   We noticed a LEAK in the bathroom while I was taking little Mason out of the tub!  That Granfaddah hauled out some tools and a flashlight, which immediately drew little Mason to his side.  Tools!  Lights!  Fix it !     Check out his Little Assistant!

And they did, (we hope)  it was a loose fitting by the P-trap.  So far we haven't seen any more leaking in that area, so once it dries out good, we can tell for sure.   That was too exciting for us, as we just remodeled that bathroom and didn't need plumbing problems when everything is now more or less enclosed under new flooring and subflooring.  Ack!

The two bealers were still pretty hyped up, and it took a bit to get them asleep.  I crept off to bed about 9pm and we both drew deep sighs of relief.

By midnight, one woke up, and I was able to change him and coax him back to sleep, while our dog Duke cuddled up to him.  I tip toed back to my bed and hoped that was it for the night.

Then at 2 am, in toddled BOTH of them to our room (we move the baby gates to the tops of the stairs to keep them from wandering too far or falling down)   A cheeery little Mason piped up "HI!"  as he peeked over the side of the bed!   So after a potty break and a diaper change, BOTH of them landed into our bed for the rest of the night.  Ahhhhhhh

By 6:30 am, they were both up and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!   

I don't mean Granfaddah or Granmuddah!  

 But those early morning snuggles, giggles and stories are priceless! 

We brought them both home by noon, so they could be with their Mommy and Daddy again.  Steveio helped Dan with a garage door opener installation and I brought along a pot of chili to share for lunch.  Our ride home was quiet... too quiet....   we were missing them already.

And just so you know, we don't play favorites... Jameson is slated for the next sleepover on the day before Thanksgiving, and then both Chelsea and Clayton get a turn on Friday after Thanksgiving.

Gotta be fair and treat like them like my Grandma Kafehl did to us! 

(she had 12 grandkids to treat fairly and take turns) 

I wish to be as good a grandmother to my grandkids 

as she was to me....