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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Grandparents are MUCH more fun than parents.

A weekend at home means one thing to my kids:  clean room.  Okay, maybe eight things:  clean room, clean bathroom, clean kitchen, clean dining room, clean laundry, clean family room, clean dishes, and yard work.

We are NO fun.  I have witnesses.

Last weekend the kids had LOTS of fun...  we saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - ManOfTheHouse went to a football game - we (well, some of us them) rode our bikes down a steep mountainside - we (the others of us) toured the fire station and crawled around inside fire trucks - we had a cookout in the Canyon - we sang songs (not the ones mentioned in yesterday's post though) - we watched Fireworks - we went to a parade - we ate cookies... and ice cream... and chips... and oh my stomach is still recovering.  (can you believe I forgot my camera to document all of this fun?) We did all of these things not because of the holiday weekend, but because Grandma and Grandpa are INFINITELY more fun than us.

In a few weeks we will be back at their house for another weekend - less action packed, but still fun I'm sure - because they will soon be leaving on a mission... 18 months without their brand of fun might kill my kids... but our house might be cleaner :)  Yes, we will miss them terribly - but this is a good thing - this is a really good thing that they are doing and we know how quickly the 18 months went last time (for us... not necessarily for them).

I thought my kids were okay with all of this until we were between song-singing and lesson-learning...  Grandma mentioned that they were going somewhere and my eight year old mustered all of her attitude to let it be known that she was NOT pleased with this.  All she had to say was "Again"... in THAT tone of voice...  I'm sure she'll survive... after all, she does have those OTHER grandparents:


Shoot - you KNOW that a regular parent would not allow you to use them as a surfboard...  how's a girl supposed to compete with that???

Oh well, my turn will come...  I can hardly wait (oh wait... I can wait... I can wait a LONG time...).

but when it DOES come, I am SO going to be serving cake for breakfast!

believe it or not - the images are actually my own today... well, sort of... a friend took the picture... but that IS my daughter and MY dad... that counts as mine right?
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18 comments:

  1. Welcome to the Garden of Egan9/8/10, 9:30 AM

    Where are they going?
    Human surf board....your dad rocks!!!!

    Glad you have a clean house.........for 10 minutes.


    My VW: downsubi
    That is totally freaky! Your dad is the downsubi

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  2. Barbaloot9/8/10, 9:36 AM

    Good for them for having the energy to serve missions and play with grandkids. I'm on the younger end of grandchildren in my family, and while I have wonderful memories of my grandparents, they don't really involve anything active.

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  3. Kristina P.9/8/10, 10:01 AM

    It seems like the grandparent job is really the pinnacle in parenting.

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  4. Cluttered Brain9/8/10, 10:32 AM

    Ahh grandparents...
    Yes.
    i can't WAIT to be one.
    but on the other hand, yes I can...
    My oldest is 11...
    lol.

    Nice post.
    Enjoy your clean house for the 15 minutes you had it...

    ReplyDelete
  5. jennyonthespot9/8/10, 12:31 PM

    so precious :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous9/8/10, 2:02 PM

    I couldn't agree with this more. My g'pa used to give all of us g'kids hammers and nails and scraps of wood from his wood shop to pound nails in all day long. Nothing like putting a lethal weapon in a child's hand.

    Also, as the youngest sibling (which automatically makes me the coolest aunt), I remember going through a stage of my pre-married years when I didn't want to get married and have kids. I just wanted grandkids. Too bad you can't have one without the other!

    (VW: "rehyp". As in, time to get re-hip? I'm hip. I'm the coolest aunt!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. CB9/8/10, 2:52 PM

    What awesome grandparents!! That's the kind I want to be someday!!!
    The "A" Grandparents (wink!).
    Good for them for going on another mission - there is no better example they can set for the grandkids!

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  8. Annette Lyon9/8/10, 3:16 PM

    Adult as surf board. Nope. I won't do it. Until, maybe I'm a grandparent.

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  9. Heidi9/8/10, 4:42 PM

    My stomach hurts just reading about it--the eating and the surfboard thing. My parents did (I make it sound like a jail sentence, don't I?) 18 months in England. It would be hard to see them off on another round again. They are too old now so we get to keep them until . . ..er, um, well. Anyway.

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  10. Missy9/8/10, 4:58 PM

    Thank God for Grandparents!

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  11. Lisa9/8/10, 6:33 PM

    I totally get your 8 year old's feelings. My parents want to serve, but are stuck in a money pit business. If they sell it, they'll be on the first plane out of here, but a part of me says, "Hey, I don't want you to leave me and mine...what if they forget you and how fantastic you are?!" But you're right~a good thing. Blessings will abound for all of you.

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  12. Jen T9/8/10, 9:05 PM

    So where are they headed??? I can understand your 8 year old's feelings. My inlaws have gone on 3now, but my kids always look forward to getting "real" mail from them when they are gone.

    The weekends at our house sound like weekends at your house, cleaning and work, but have you noticed how short lived those cleaning sessions are?? 5 minutes later everything is a mess again. Ugh!

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  13. Holly9/8/10, 9:13 PM

    WOW!! The perfect grandparents... I married into this grandma thing and I just don't measure up. Perhaps it's because I'm not the REAL grandma...? Hubby is SO COOL, though. ;p

    Your folks ROCK!!

    Lisa: WOW! Your parents were talking about selling when we moved here 4.5 yrs ago! I hope they get it worked out because they will be AWESOME in the mission field. ;D

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  14. Saimi9/8/10, 9:56 PM

    When I become a grandparent, my house is going to be fun too! Ah, the joy...why does it have to take so long!!

    I guess good things come to those who wait...I can be patient!

    I'm so excited your parents will be serving a mission that is wonderful news!!

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  15. Teachinfourth9/8/10, 10:53 PM

    Chocolate cake for breakfast?

    Gotta listen to me some Bill Cosby soon...

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  16. Suzanne Benner9/9/10, 6:12 AM

    Hey... can I come over for the cake-for-breakfast thing? I need some vicarious benefit since I won't be a grandparent.

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  17. cold cocoa9/9/10, 12:14 PM

    All I know is that 18 months did NOT go fast for me last time! But hopefully because they are going where they're going it will put me more at ease. Them, too, I imagine.

    And give yourself some credit. I know you guys do fun stuff down there...

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  18. Charlotte9/12/10, 7:57 PM

    I want to be sure I understand correctly- the closer I live to grandparents, the meaner I can be on the weekends? Now I'm wishing I lived closer to my parents and/or in-laws.

    ReplyDelete

Now that you've made it this far - you really want to say something witty don't you?