Overnights

Viva had her first official overnight on Monday at Grandma Karen & Grandpa Tim's home. Kara helped Viva pack for her overnight visit. Kara asked Viva is she wanted to take a blanket. "No, Grandma Karen has blankets." Kara asked if Viva wanted to take a stuffed animal. "No, Grandma Karen has stuffed animals." Kara asked if Viva wanted to take a book. "No, Grandma Karen has books." I'm not too surprised that Viva had no favorite items she wanted to take. She's not a collector of things like her brothers. Viva packed some clothes and she was ready.

She sat by the door for over an hour waiting for Grandma Karen to pick her up. Kara told Viva numerous times that Grandma Karen wasn't arriving anytime soon and that she should go play, but Viva insisted on staying by the door. Finally Bentley clued us in--"Viva wants to make sure she gets to answer the door." We have had more than one fight over answering the door when Grandma Karen arrives.

Viva would not share with me many details of her overnight. She had too much fun teasing me by not answering my questions. Nonetheless I learned a little bit by talking to Kara who had talked to Karen and I talked to Matt who had been more successful than I at getting Viva to talk. Viva went shopping with Grandma Karen. They bought groceries and a new Barbie doll. You can color Barbie's hair pink, purple or blue and then rinse the color out. Grandma Karen had to get out the hair dryer so that Viva could try out all the colors. Grandpa Tim made steak for dinner. Grandma Karen and Viva baked brownies. Grandma Karen offered to read in Viva's bedroom until Viva fell asleep. Grandma Karen fell asleep first! Viva woke her up at 3AM when she needed to use the bathroom. Viva had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Since she didn't get to watch a movie in the evening (they were too busy with other things), Viva talked Grandma Karen into letting her stay through the afternoon so she could watch a movie.


After resting up a night, Grandma Karen & Grandpa Tim had Jake and Bentley stay overnight with them on Wednesday night. Like Viva this was their first overnight stay up the hill. Grandma Karen was smart to ask both boys at once because Jake is a homebody and not as comfortable with new adventures as his twin Viva. It was good for him to have Bentley along.

I quizzed the boys when they arrived home. They were eager to share their adventures. They built a huge fort using chairs and blankets and almost all the cushions in the house. They hid in the fort when Grandpa Tim came home and surprised him. (I bet the surprise was seeing so much disarray in his house.) They got new nerf guns and shot at the refrigerator. At bedtime Grandma Karen offered to read as many books as they wanted--Bentley picked 3 and Jake 2. When Bentley said as many as they wanted I envisioned poor Grandma Karen reading 10 or 15 books. Grandma Karen reported that they fell asleep within 10 minutes after reading time ended. The next morning Bentley carried all the folding chairs up from downstairs. I was amazed to hear that because he's not tall compared to a folding chair, but he is a hard worker. He then dragged all the other chairs to the table. They enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner. Bentley played Connect 4 with one of the guests. He won 7 games and lost 7 games. I'm sorry I didn't get more details from Jake. Sometimes he's a talker. Sometimes not. Right now he's asleep so I can't quiz him more.