L'Opa gets a Lecture

 After being in a neighborhood for the last few years where our friends regularly came to us, the kids were a little bit at a loss that they did not have daily play dates.  Dom and Will quickly learned that if they stayed in their room and quietly played games or worked on legos, I would not conscript them into emptying out boxes or folding paper...granted, I did this anyway, but perhaps not as often as if they were always in my line of sight.  As a result, the two have remembered that they share many of the same interests and are really good friends.  Lucky boys!

Molly used this time to attempt to meet new friends in the neighborhood.  She would ask to go on walks alone.  I never allowed this, an instinct that was confirmed when she admitted she wanted to knock on people's doors to inquire if there were in little girls around to play with... However, one time she did leave the house unbeknownst to me and I saw her out our front window introducing herself to our neighbor.  They are very kind and more than happy to talk to her for a little while and introduce their dog to her.  But, after that, I started locking the front door.

Luckily, our first house guests arrived two weeks after we moved and the kids had something to really look forward to!

 Nana and L'Opa arrived on a Monday around noon (Molly does not have her days of the week quite straight).  And by 12:30, they were playing Harry Potter Clue and getting many lessons out of Hogwarts, A History.  Unfortunately, one of our resident experts was expelled from school due to a series of unfortunate events.  William was devastated, which overshadowed a bit that Molly and Nana one this first round of games.  (For the record, Dom was also expelled, but that had a little bit to do with a bitter younger brother taking some house points away for something that I can't remember) But, Molly did not let that dampen her spirits and we had another lesson in the house rules that you probably should not start a game if you are not prepared to lose.

 L'Opa greatly helped the situation by immediately challenging Will to a game of chess.  To be honest, I don't remember who won this round.  I know at least one of their games ended in stalemate.

 The rest of that day was spent playing other games and telling L'Opa everything they knew about Harry Potter.  Whether he wanted to hear it or not.  This continues a tradition that started a couple of years ago where the professor becomes the student in our house.  After 8 hours of lecture, reading excerpts from the book aloud,  and a film, L'Opa was just about done...until they broke out the spell book.  Now, we are into Latin Roots!  School is back in session!

 Unfortunately/Fortunately, the Tuesday of their visit was rainy.  Which made it a great day to play games inside.  I emptied out several boxes of books and Nana helped organize Molly's bedroom.  L'Opa played Star Wars Risk against the boys (we do have other interests from Harry Potter).  But, by that evening, John wanted a seat at the game table.

 I Spy Go Fish was his game of choice.  Naturally.  It was actually the first time he played all on his own.  And as it turned out: He won!  We played a couple more games of Go Fish, a game of Uno, Star Wars Risk, and one more game of chess the next morning before Nana and L'Opa hit the road for their next stop on their trip to visit family members.

It was a nice treat to have them visit when we were all a little blue from leaving our friends.  Then to make matters even better, shortly after they departed, the mail arrived with a box of goodies from Grandma and Grandpa to lift our spirits even more.

 John spent the rest of that day playing with the little sponge creatures that emerge from these plastic tubes.  And Molly was thrilled to get a bit of decor for her very own room.  All in all, it was a super exciting 48 hours.  Our kids are pretty lucky to have such wonderful grandparents and they love them very much and look forward to seeing them soon!