Day 1126. I was looking forward to this day, Sunday, a day off from teaching. It also meant sleeping in, which only works after I put on a video for them. And so it was 9 am before we got up. It was just after 10 am before I came upstairs after having read a Bible story to them. And so I only had just over an hour to get any work done. At 11:15 I went to the kitchen to start cooking.
They came upstairs before noon and started watching something, and at noon we sat down at the table to eat. After their meal they had icecream, then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and the continued watching videos. At 1:15 I put them to bed and sat down by them. I was really tired. Once they were asleep I left, fully intending to get a much-needed nap myself. However, it never happened. Emmy was already up at 2:20 pm, and a few minutes later his sister came, having woken up from Emmy's loud crying, because he wanted his pacifier back. Then Sammy woke up as well, and Randy went downstairs with them.
Just before 3 pm I started making their dinner-to-go. Then Randy came upstairs with them early. I continued getting everything ready, and put long-sleeved shirts and long pants on them for the first time. Summer was over! We left the house early at 4 pm.
Tammy was in the stroller by herself, while Emmy was standing on the board attached to Sammy's stroller. We took the train and then bought chestnuts for the very first time this season. They already cost 3€ for 9 pieces and were split between 4 of us, as Randy doesn't like them. We took the tram and got to church a few minutes before the service started. We went straight to the front of the sanctuary. Today the family brining the flags and streamers wasn't there, and the kids were disappointed not to have any to dance with. But Emmy then danced without them, and I took a little video of it. I had Sammy for most of the time, trying to keep him occupied and happy. He once sat on the stairs all by himself, and I took a picture of it.
At 5:30 we started making our way upstairs, to the toddler room. We were the first ones there. Randy returned to the service. I put Sammy by the toy cars, but he immediately started crawling to the play kitchen. I had no choice but to once again sit down by him and hold him up so he could play cooking. Maybe he'll become a chef some day. I quickly realized that Tammy needed a new diaper, when she came up to us. But how to change it? Sammy throws a fit, when I leave the room. I then decided to put him on the floor and change her diaper right there, but he threw a fit just because he wasn't standing by the kitchen any more and couldn't play any longer. So I put him back on his feet. Then Tammy opened the "oven", and there were lots of items in there. And so Sammy was happy to kneel and explore the contents. That was my chance. I quickly put the cloth diaper on the floor next to him and started changing Tammy right there and then. The only issue was another kid coming up one time, making Tammy think it would take her plates and stuff she had carefully put on the table, but that was not the case.
I was glad, when it was finally time for the program. We sat down by the round carpet, did the starting song, and then the individual greeting song, then the Bible song. They all lifted their Bibles up and sang along at times. Then one Mom started teaching. After she was done, she had paper so they could draw, and Tammy and Emmy jumped at the opportunity. I was impressed with Tammy's drawing. I took Sammy to the table and let him eat, and then he soon wanted to go explore the boxes, so he knelt down in front of it, holding on to it, which gave him pretty good stability. He stayed there until the end. Randy then returned, and then clean up time started. Then we put their shoes on and returned to the sanctuary.
Sammy was eager to see Anna again; especially as it had been 3 weeks since our last time there. Emmy also ran to her, and so she held both boys for a few seconds. They were pretty loud, and so we walked into the lobby. Tammy and Emmy were running around and playing wildly. We then started putting their coats on and left. We walked back down the hill to the tram stop and just missed a tram. They wanted to watch videos, and so they did, while eating their food. They then continued on the tram, and then sitting on the platform waiting for our train home.
By about 8:15 we were home. We got them ready for bed, which took over half an hour. Then I sat down by them. They were still pretty awake and needed some encouragement to fall asleep. By about 9:30 I was finally able to walk away. After some food I started working on today's pictures. Now it's after midnight and time to clean up the kitchen and then go to bed.
