Day 728. Last night I headed to bed at 12:20 am. Thankfully it was a calm night, not like the previous two nights. At about 5 am Tammy came, wanting her Daddy, and climbed into bed with us. Emmy came a little later than usual and also climbed into bed with us. But he woke up his sister, and then it wasn't long before they were up and running. And then Emmy came insisting on getting food. I was surprised that it was already 7 am, so about half an hour later than usual.
After breakfast I went downstairs with them, where I turned worship music on, gave them the instruments, and was worshipping God. Then I got out their Bibles, and we looked at that them together. When Randy came with his breakfast, I went upstairs to finish cleaning up and then work. It was already 8:15. Today I decided to get some work done instead of sleeping, like I have been the past few days. I was glad, but did get tired. Just before 11 am I went to the kitchen to warm up leftovers, and at 11 they came upstairs to eat. Tammy made the hugest mess. She enjoys putting both her hands into the food and smearing it everywhere. Neither her or her brother ate much chicken today, which surprised me, but at least Emmy ate a lot more of the other food. And he really enjoyed Daddy's green beans I had made for him; Tammy wouldn't even try them. Randy had to keep giving him more. Since Tammy refused to eat just a little more, she did not get any icecream today, which made her throw a fit. She had to watch her brothers eat icecream. As she was covered in food, I put her into the bathtub to rinse her off, so she just continued screaming, as she does not like that all. But she was clean. She seemed tired, and Randy went downstairs with her. I cleaned up and dressed her brothers and put them to bed. I had to stay and help Emmy a little, but it didn't take too long, and then I put Tammy to bed. It was only noon, when I did, which was good, as we had to leave the house at 2 pm. Thankfully she was tired enough that she did not stay up and play too long.
I continued working until I got too tired and had to close my eyes for a little bit. Emmy woke up first, and Randy went downstairs with him for a short time. Then Sammy woke up, and suddenly Tammy was up as well, which was unusually early for her. But it was practical that all three were up half an hour before leaving. We dressed them all and left just after 2 pm.
We had a one-hour trip ahead of us, all the way to the other end of town. We took a subway to the end, and then had to take a tram from one end to the other. Emmy was riding on the board attached to the stroller, and later he switched with his sister. When we arrived at the elevator to take us to street level to take the tram, it was out of order. It was the only elevator. The only option was to take the escalator, which is not easy with two strollers and three kids. I took Tammy and Emmy and together we went on the escalator. Then Randy came with Sammy, and then he went back for the second, empty stroller. It worked out pretty well. On the tram I sat on a bench with Tammy and Emmy again, and the girl can never sit still. And they enjoy making contact with the people around them.
We got to our friend's house just after 3 pm. The other families had already been there for a while. Just after we arrived it was time for the birthday cake. They had two beautiful cakes for their son's third birthday. Everyone sat down to have some. They had plastic champagne glasses, and so it looks as if Emmy had his first glass of champagne. They all enjoyed the cake, and using a fork to eat.
Then it was playtime. Tammy found a doll and a doll stroller and of course kept them for the rest of our time there. But it wasn't long before she discovered the pool, and so we put swim diapers on all three of them. She loved every minute of being in the water, and enjoyed playing with the other kids. Especially a 5-year-old who was also in the water. Emmy came into the water for a little bit, but not long at all. I put Sammy into the water, but it was really cold, so he didn't stay too long. He enjoyed most when I pulled him through the water, and make his feet splash.
After a while they moved on to other things like reading books, and Emmy found a toy lawn mower he enjoyed. And then the cat made an appearance. Tammy wanted to pet it, but it ran away again. It's not a cuddly cat.
The other families started leaving, while our kids were playing inside, with the toy kitchen, and the toy piano. All three got to play the piano. Then our friend made some pasta with butter, and each one of them got a bowl. Even though they had just had more cake not that long before, they all ate the noodles. I was surprised at how many, and that they liked plain noodles like that.
The cat came into the house, and Tammy tried again to pet her, so she ran away. Emmy was watching her eat her treat and then went to the cat bowl and put his whole hand into it. I had to go wash his hands.
It was getting late and time to leave. We put them into the strollers, put their shoes on, and they waved good-bye. It was after 6 pm, when we left. We got back on the tram, and sat on seats. Tammy was really restless, always moving, so she keeps you busy. Then we were back at the broken elevator. It was more of a challenge to go down the escalator with the strollers, and so Randy took Sammy out of the stroller and carried him down to where I was with the other two, and then got the two empty strollers down the escalator. We got on the subway, where both of them were on the seats with me again.
We got home just after 7 pm and immediately started getting them ready for bed. I gave them all a sink bath. They were pretty tired, and so it didn't take too long before they were asleep and I could walk away. I got myself something to eat, and went to work going through the many pictures I'd taken today. And that's why it's now after 1 am. In the past few minutes Tammy has been on her feet three times already, asking for her Daddy, and I've put her back to bed each time. Now I still have to clean up the kitchen, do the dishes, and again the girl is calling for her Daddy...
