Day 1167. This morning I had to set my alarm for 8 am, which was pretty tough. We both had a pretty hard time getting up. But I had a 9 am lesson, and so time was short. I don't usually teach before 10 am, only when absolutely necessary. The kids were still upstairs and wanted to say hi to my 10-year-old English student. Then I asked them to leave, and Randy took them all downstairs. I was so very tired that I couldn't even get my eyes to function, which is unusual. Just before 10 am I was done. No more teaching until Monday. I was finally able to go back to doing office work for the ministry.
At 11:30 I went to the kitchen to cook lunch, and soon Randy and the kids came upstairs. Tammy and Emmy were watching videos, while I was getting the food ready. It was after noon, when we sat down to eat, but it seemed that we were done eating pretty quickly. Tammy and Sammy ate everything on their plates and had icecream, but Emmy ate little and didn't get any. They then wanted to continue watching videos. Randy left to go to the grocery store. At 1:15 pm it was nap time for them, and I sat down by their beds.
As usual the boys were first to fall asleep, while Tammy needed a long time. I had to come back a few times, as she was still talking. It was close to 2 pm, when she finally fell asleep. Not long after Randy returned from the store, and at 2:30 Sammy woke up after about an hour of sleep. I picked him up and put him by Randy's shopping bags. Then Emmy walked up to us, and a few minutes later I opened the curtains in their bedroom and started dressing the kids for church. When we left the house after 3 pm, we already had to rush to make our 3:20 train, as we left later than usual, but we made it.
After we got off the train, we got some fresh chestnuts, then got on the subway. We got off and walked through the mall to get to church. There was a supermarket that we sometimes go to, when we need something, and there were two items on our list today that Randy did not get, where he went, and so he went inside to check if they had it. And surprise, surprise, they did. The kids watched him through the glass and then joined him in the check-out area. Then we took the elevator up to the top floor. It was a small elevator, and so Randy had to take the next one up. I had all three kids with me, and Tammy and Emmy were having lots of fun, taking each other by hand, and dancing and running around.
We got to church just as the service was starting and went to the front, where we usually sit. Today they had someone playing the drumset, which is rare, and which was exciting for the kids, especially the boys. Emmy stood there for a long time just watching him play, and I held Sammy who was also watching intently.
After only 15 minutes Emmy was already asking to go to the baby room. We stayed a little longer, but they were running around and getting wild, so we left to go to the baby room. We were the only ones there, and they were disappointed that the cars were not there. They still had lots of fun with what was in the room. It seemed that it was a long time until 6 pm, especially with the TV not working so that we could not watch what was going on in the sanctuary, but we stuck it out. I was resting the first half of our time in the room, and Randy the second. I was on the floor with Sammy who was exploring the closet. He did really well with the way he moved around.
Just before 6 pm we left the room to go back to the sanctuary. The service was already over and people everywhere, so we stayed in the church coffee shop, where everybody was. We found ourselves a table, and I went to see what they had to eat, as that was gonna be the kids' dinner. They had apples and peanuts to start with, and then we got some ham and cheese toast, followed by cake. They all ate well. Then somebody we know well joined us and talked with us for a while, then he started playing with Emmy, throwing him high up into the air and more. Of course Tammy was asking for her turn as well. Then it was back to Emmy. They couldn't get enough. He then let them climb on his back and carried them around like a horse. They were sure having lots of fun! They now have a new friend at church.
It was time for us to go home, so we said our goodbyes. We crossed the mall and took the subway. There was still some time until our train's arrival, and so we waited, with the kids watching videos and Sammy being mighty cranky. Then we took the 7:30 train home, where we arrived at 7:45. Just after 8 pm they were all in bed. They let me leave to make my soup, but I had to eat it at the desk, where they could see me. And they already asked for Randy to come sit with them, which he did. All three kids still stayed awake for a while, which surprised me. Tammy then started whining that she was hungry, and so I ended up giving her a bar. After eating my soup, I started making my salad, and by the time I was able to sit down and eat around 9:30, they were all asleep. After eating I started working on today's pictures. Randy went to bed before midnight, and so I continued working in the kitchen. I took care of some other stuff that needed to be done, which delayed me finishing my report. Now it's going on 2 am, and it's high time to clean up the kitchen and go to bed.
