Tuesday evening ramblings

This evening after dinner all of us packed into the minivan and headed to Home Depot and the health food store. Evan had to pick up a few things for work, and rather than face the evening without him, the kids and I chose to tag along. Chloe is big enough now that she can walk through the store without having to be in the cart (well, when there are two parents anyway), so she felt pretty special. It was interesting to see the people that noticed the kids and smiled at or talked with them, and those who were intent on their shopping and the kids totally missed their radar.

Evan and I have come to the conclusion that Chloe has three different styles of dressing. She's the queen of dressing up. I'm not exaggerating when I say she goes through at least five outfits a day. That's not getting them dirty; that's just enjoying the power of choosing her own clothes and the ability to dress herself. So, what are her three styles? Grunge, princess, and nude. Grunge consists of a pair of Jed's shorts, which hang past her ankles, and one of his shirts. Princess usually includes a frilly princess dress and matching headband and shoes. (Someone Evan works for gave us a big bin full of the stuff.) And when she's between outfits and hasn't had time to put anything normal on, she just wanders around in her Pullup. The other day I finally had the brilliant idea of putting her normal clothes at her own level in the closet (hers were on a higher rod), on the same rod as Jed's. So now we're finally seeing our little girl wearing normal little girl clothes more, even if the same outfit rarely lasts more than an hour!

Evan has hit upon a brilliant plan for Bible time in the evenings. Since Chloe is so energetic it was hard to get her to sit still for a Bible story, so Evan has started doing Bible skits with them. They LOVE it! Their favorite skit is the story of Noah. Chloe is usually Mrs. Noah, and it's her job to load all the animals (stuffed animals) onto the ark, a.k.a. couch in the playroom. The other day as the kids and Evan were wrapping up the skit, Evan asked what God sent as a sign that He would never allow another big flood. Chloe pointed up at the ceiling and said " 'ainbow!" It tickled us to no end to see that she's catching on!

Another funny thing happened recently when Evan and Jed were talking about the Noah skit, hashing out who was going to play who. Jed said, "I'll be Noah. You be God. Sometimes it's hard to be God!" Amen, buddy. Thank you for that reminder to just let God be God in my life.

My aunt Ellie and uncle Don recently moved to Georgia. Aunt Ellie has been the primary caretaker of her mother, my grandma Sweet, who lives in a nursing home in Peterborough. Grandma stayed behind, and I have the privilege of being her caretaker. (I don't know if caretaker is the correct word here but I'll use it for lack of a better.) The plan is for me to visit her about once a week, make sure she has all her supplies, be the contact person if there's an emergency--that idea. I love my grandma. If any of you have ever met her, you know what a fun person she is. It's amazing how sharp and alert and young at heart and fun-loving she is for a woman in her mid-90s. I just wish I could get over more often.