Day 1098. I did not write a blog the past two days. We stayed home both days, and I tried to recover from the lack of sleep and exertion from their birthday. However, I taught four hours on Friday, and thankfully none on Saturday. Instead I spent the day catching up on office work for the ministry. We did not leave the house either day, except for Randy running to the grocery store once. The kids only spent a half hour outside with their new strollers, as it was too hot to stay any longer. Their hair was wet under their helmets. But they've been enjoying their indoor gifts, especially the drum set.
This day started just like any other day, with the kids being up early, and me telling especially Emmy it was not time to get up yet. Today I had a harder time than usual getting up, and Randy got up before me, which is rare. After breakfast I took them downstairs, where we read a Bible story together. Then I got the drawing stuff out for Tammy, while Emmy started playing the drums. Sammy wanted to do so as well, but I convinced him to play the piano instead.
Then I went upstairs and started doing office work. It was pretty late already. Thankfully I did not have to cook as we still had leftovers from yesterday. Tammy has been wanting us to feed her at meal time, and she ended up throwing a tantrum and going to bed, when we said no. Quite some time later, with the boys already eating their icecream, I ended up feeding her after all, but surprisingly, she did not want any icecream.
They spent a few minutes watching videos, then I put them to bed around 1:15 pm. Just after 1:30 I was able to walk away from them to return to my computer to work. But I was also very tired and closed my eyes at 2 pm to get some sleep. Randy had already gone downstairs to lie down, which he doesn't do often. I woke up, when Emmy walked into the room. He did not want to lie down with me but went to the kitchen instead to get some milk. Thankfully Randy was back upstairs, and he ended up going downstairs with him, while I fell back asleep.
It was already going on 3:30, when I woke up. I heard Sammy, then Tammy woke up as well, and Randy and Emmy also came upstairs. I hadn't slept this long in a long time. I got up and started making their dinner-to-go for church. Then we dressed them and go ready to leave, which we did at 4:15 pm. We took the 4:30 train and were lucky, when the tram came right away after. Still, the service had already started, when we arrived at church.
We went straight to the front, where they picked up the streamers to wave them. Randy left with Sammy to change his diaper. After a while they grabbed all the fabric and started running off with them. In any case, they were having fun. Once Sammy returned, I took him and let him play with the trash cans, then we sat down on the stairs, where he played with the fabric a little bit. It wasn't even 5:30 yet, when Emmy asked to go upstairs. Just after 5:30 we did.
We were the first ones in the toddler room. Sammy wanted to play with the kitchen, of course, and so I sat down on a stool by him to hold him up. Emmy was playing with cars, while Tammy was taking care of the babies. After quite a while I took Sammy to the table, where I had set up their lunch boxes, and he knelt down by a box full of toys to start exploring it, while I was putting food into his mouth.
At 6:15 Randy returned for the program, as their birthdays were going to be celebrated today. We did the beginning greeting song, then the individual song. Then we did the Bible song, and all three kids were holding their Bibles up in the air. Then the parent in charge today did a short teaching. After that it was already time to celebrate their birthday.
They each got a crown that was put on their heads. Then the other kids and parents made a circle around them, holding hands, and walked in a circle around them singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to them twice. Our kids were just standing there and watching. Then they each got a balloon that all kids ended up playing with, even though Emmy was pretty possessive and did not like that.
One time Emmy simply took a car away from a boy who was playing with it. I told him to give it back to him, and when he would not do so, I took it and returned it to the boy. Then Emmy threw another car straight at the boy's head! I couldn't believe it! Thankfully the boy was older and not crying. I got Emmy to apologize to him, but at first he was still saying he had not done anything wrong.
They were all still playing for a while, and eating a little, until we put their shoes on and left just before 7 pm. Sammy was again shouting Anna's name as we were walking down the stairs into the sanctuary, and there she was. She took Sammy, while Tammy was already running across the room to a lit-up painting of a church and cross. Emmy followed her. The service ended, and they ran to the front to use the ramp to the stage as a slide, which didn't quite work. Then Sonja joined us and gave them another gift - a bouncing ball that lights up when you hit it. All three of them loved it and started playing with it right away. Emmy was playing with Franziska for a while. Sammy also joined us, and after a short time we decided to get moving. We said our good-byes and left.
It was windy and a little chilly, when we left the building and started walking to the tram stop. I had Tammy on my shoulders all the way there. And just as we got there our tram already arrived, and we got on. Tammy and Emmy started watching videos while eating, and continued once we reached the platform our train was departing from. We had about 20 minutes until the arrival of our train, but then it was delayed by 20 minutes. The kids ended up eating ALL the food in their box, which is very rare. Then we got on the train, where they continued watching. It was already completely dark outside, when we arrived home at 8:30 pm. I had carried Emmy on my shoulders after getting off the train.
We got them ready for bed, and just before 9 pm they were all in bed. They had their new balls whose lights were even more impressive in the dark, and in the end I had to take all three away from them. I sat down by them for a little while, then walked away to get some food. It took me a while to go through today's pictures and edit them, and so it's already 1 am. Time to clean up the kitchen and join Randy in bed.
