Oma & Papa Arrive!

Even though I was able to have a leisurely bike ride and breakfast with Annie this morning (we actually saw a snake today!), our day was really full of frantically cleaning and getting ready for the visit. During this time, I spilled some of the hummingbird nectar crystals and, therefore, shared the secret with Leia Rose entitled what-to-do-when-mamma-gets-angry. I told her the best thing to do is to go up to her room, close the door very gently, and look at books. Mamma really needs to be alone when she's angry.

Then this evening Oma and Papa finally arrived in record time! We let Leia Rose stay up just for the occasion. And I guess I was so busy with the enjoyment of it all that I forgot to take any pictures. : ) Soon it was up to bed for Leia, though. And she asked Oma to snuggle. Just as I suspected, Leia Rose asked Oma to tell her some mistakes and shared some of her own as well.

Here are the mistakes that Leia Rose heard tonight (and will end up treasuring, I'm sure): 1. When Oma's first born (me) took the parmesan cheese out of the refrigerator and shook it into my mouth on the stairs. Everyone was confused at the resulting pile of cheese until they found out what happened. 2. Leia Rose shared her mistake a few days ago when we were drinking out of syrofoam cups (because we didn't have any water for me to wash our real glasses) and, even after I asked her to be extremely careful because these cups were tippily, she spilled her milk right down to the floor. It's the first time she cleaned up her own mess (while we sang the "Everyone Makes Mistakes" song, mostly to keep Mamma calm), . . . but I had to touch up her cleaning later. : )

Somehow talking about this led to a discussion of the girls knowing their great grandmothers (specifically Miney) and about how the special "Hi!" that Miney gave to Leia during our last visit may just have been the very last word she ever spoke. A tear really came to my eye about that. So then Oma chimed in with how young people can really give the elderly big laughs. She said that the girls' Great Great Grandma Staggers may have had her last belly laugh about me as a young child. She had sent me to the store to buy a little present as a gift from her, . . . and I chose binoculars. A strange choice for a child, maybe. Well, it seems that since Grandma Staggers had just broken her hip, she had to take her baths in the kitchen under careful supervision. I was confined to the couch in the other room to give everyone privacy. Well, it just so happens that from one vantage point, . . . if I leaned way over, . . . and used the binoculars, . . . I could see squarely into the kitchen to find out what was going on. Oma said that she and Grandma Staggers laughed until they cried when they figured that out!

And of course, Papa wanted to go in to Annie's room and peek at her sleeping. That's becoming a tradition, and it's so fun! It was just so wonderful to see him standing there with such love for Annie. What a blessing to have Mom and Dad here! It's been far too long! (Last time they were both here was when Annie was a newborn!) How we wish they would be able to sell their house so these visits wouldn't be so very few and far between.