Having the Grandchildren

It was Friday and time to return to work after an exciting Thursday off of work. I was at my routine by 5:30am, cranking out sit-ups and push-ups. The sky was mostly cloudy but the temperature was up near 70 degrees. I let the irrigation system run its course having adjusted the start for 430am. I must’ve woken Mindy sometime just after 6:00am. I delivered her coffee at the same time. I left myself plenty of time to do my thing: play on the PC, meditate, and stretch. I readied and left for a run by 6:30am. I ran shirtless, but looking towards the weekend and beyond, it doesn’t look like I’ll be doing that much longer. My run went well. Mindy had eggs ready by the time that I was back home. Before Mindy left for school, she said she made arrangements for Kenny to see the kids onto the bus so that I could leave for work by 8:10am. The pick-up time is supposed to be moved back to 8:05am just like last year. Until then, the bus isn’t showing up until 8:20am. I was showered and ready by 7:50am. I used the extra time to play on the PC. I called the kids down at 8:05am. I told them that I would see them onto the bus. The bus showed up at 8:18am. Mrs. Vanorder said that she’d be turning in the paperwork necessary for the pick-up time change today or Monday. We went through the same thing last year. I headed off to work at 8:25am and arrived around 8:40am. It was Friday so I expected it to be excruciatingly busy. However, turned out to be something less than that. But since I didn’t have any pressing errands to run, or anything I wanted to accomplish, I simply stayed at the office all day long. I ate my packed lunch, including a can of tuna fish, around 2pm. I called daughter Lindsey to ask about us having the boys for the night. She agreed but said that her mother promised to take them all to dinner, so it would have to be sometime after that. In turn, I asked if she could simply drop them off afterwards. She was hesitant to ask her mother but said she would. Lindsey called back a few minutes later and said her mother kindly agreed to drop them off. Figured it would be around 6:30 or 7pm. Mindy called after getting out of school to chat. Said that Grove City was hit with an incredibly heavy thunderstorm, and that traffic lights were out and that there was significant flooding in the streets. I put the phone down long enough to glance out the window. Dry in Hilliard, but threatening skies to our immediate south and east. I shared the news about the boys coming over. We also talked through the school bus arrival time thing and why I might be so yanked off about not being asked. I think I did a reasonable job of communicating my point of view. Lindsey called again before I left home and shared that her mom got off work early due to weather. Said they’d most likely be bringing the boys by our place earlier. She asked how early was too early. I asked that it be no earlier than 5:30pm. I shared that with Mindy, who also shared that G.D. Kaileigh would also be spending the night. We were missing only Olivia. We planned to order pizzas for dinner – most likely Sporano’s. I left work at 5:20pm after seeing everything under control. I didn’t make any stops and was home by 5:40pm. Mindy was busy working on school stuff. I leashed up Ykraps and took him on a walk. Judging by the depth of the pond, I could tell that it rained fairly significantly at our place sometime during the afternoon. Nothing like what was being reported in Grove City, however. I checked the weather radar. It looked like more storms were on the way but most would skip just to our north. Kelly & Lindsey dropped the boys around 6pm. I met them outside at the car. I took that opportunity to ask Kelly about Ashley’s planned move-in with Courtney. I expressed great concern over having my grand daughter living in that neighborhood, even though it is supposed to be temporary. Kelly said she was aware but then asked what I expected her to do. I asked that she use her power of influence over Ashley. After all, Ashley has always confided in her mother. That was the end of that conversation. I shook my head in disbelief and headed off with the boys. Even before heading inside, we took Landon to the bridge to feed the ducks. He loves doing it. After a few minutes we headed inside. Jacob and Rocky soon asked me to play football outback. After being begged, I agreed. We played for about 45 minutes. Because Chrissy was under the weather, Mindy ordered pizza for her, Jake, and Makayla, too. Just as we were finishing up our football, Bella got hit in the face with a putter head on Kenny’s artificial putting green by Makayla. She screamed to high heaven. Makayla ran off to hide and was crying too. Lots of drama. Mindy took care of the pizza order. We headed inside for pizza and subs. Soon after the pizzas were delivered, Shelly brought Kaileigh over. She also dropped off the frozen pizzas that we bought from her cheerleading group. Shelly didn’t stay for too long. The pizza and sub were good but I didn’t eat nearly as much as I thought that I might. After dinner Mindy got a bath going for the boys. Sadly, they smelt like cat piss. At first it was gonna be just Landon and Rocky, but Bella and Kaileigh asked to take a bath after the boys were out. While all that was going on, I tuned to preseason NFL football – Patriots vs. Redskins. I sipped a Jack & Coke while watching the game. The boys joined me on the sofa for a little while before Mindy declared it bedtime. Both boys, Landon and Rocky, were already falling asleep. Mindy also asked me to inflate the air mattress for Kaileigh & Bella. We had all the kids tucked into bed around 9:15pm. It went much easier than we thought. Mindy joined me downstairs in front of the TV and asked if we could talk more about the whole school bus thing, but I wasn’t up for any serious banter. I simply wanted to watch football and eventually drift off to sleep. Mindy headed up to bed before me. I probably joined her about 30 minutes later.