M&M

No, this is not going to be a post about the candy that "melts in your mouth, not in your hands..." This post is going to be about all the fun my girls and I have been having with my niece and nephew this week. My sister-in-law Carla had surgery on Monday (Everything looks good, she is concentrating on recovering now.) I have been helping my mother-in-law keep the kids occupied. Monday we laid Me-Maw's library doubts to rest. She thought I was being a little overly optimistic when I told her how much the kids would love the library. She was surprised when we almost had to make them leave. They were enthralled by the sheer number of books and the fact that they could find so many books about a single subject. I think Miles has about wiped out the Nascar section, and Marissa's new found interest in cats has become a well informed interest. We walked around the park and had something cold to drink. I then went with my in-laws to take their kids and my younger two to see their parents. Carla's surgery was done at a hospital about an hour away, so we loaded up in the minivan and headed that way, library books in tow. We had a good visit with Bud and Carla. At the end of each lobby there is a wall of glass, and the kids were looking out it, pointing out neat things to each other when a nurse came up. I was worried we were going to get in trouble. The kids were being good, but kids and hospitals are not always compatible-even though it has improved vastly since my days as a child. She didn't get onto us, she took us down the next hallway to show us a better view. The hospital has a small pond, walking trail, gazebo and labyrinth! It looked so beautiful from above. We went back to the room and the kids took everyone who could walk to see it. We talked Pa-paw into taking us down for a closer look as we were leaving. It was a beautiful little area. There were people walking their dogs and jogging. As we were getting out of the van Marissa said something that I will treasure. She told me that she was glad I was her Aunt. She told me that she was glad that I taught and showed her things. I almost cried. It was just a sweet spontaneous moment. We enjoyed our time there. It is pretty enough that I would like to stop by there some day and take some pictures of the kids. Today we went swimming, back to the library and to eat at Taco Bell. The kids had signed up for the Summer Reading Program and had reached their first level of five books. We then came home-tired as could be possible- and they watched a couple of movies. We had so much fun! I have to work half days for the next two days, but perhaps we can squeeze in something else this week. I want to start a day of the week that we get together for the summer. It was like mini-day camp. There is so much we could do here at home or locally that we could explore. Summer can be so fun!

Love,
Shawna