Good Kids, Good Day

I invited Maggie to come over with Levon and August since I'd be picking up the boys at Lily's house where they spent the night and because I kept thinking about August telling me he wished Maggie was going to get a pedicure with him and figured that a little more Maggie time might be appreciated. 
Of course Magnolia wanted to come. She loves those boys the way they love her. All the cousins love each other and get along incredibly well. Gibson and Owen both are so good with the younger ones. It's a beautiful thing. 
I brought them back here and it's been a very nice day, temperature and humidity-wise. I'm not sure it ever even hit ninety and at one point in the late morning, I opened the doors at each end of the hallway and in the kitchen too, to let the real air in. Of course air conditioned air that comes through a vent is real but air that comes in through a screen door or window on a breeze is much realer. And it's so nice when that real air is cool and sweet. It's not supposed to get higher than 82 degrees tomorrow so I bet those doors and windows will be opened again. 

I was quite pleased when as soon as the kids tumbled out of the car they raced to the Glen Den to dump the Lincoln Logs on the floor and begin building. They didn't even ask to watch TV! They played at that for awhile and then August asked me if I'd read him a book. 
Swoon. 
All three of them came into the library and we sat on the little love sofa, as Owen used to call it, and first we read "The Jolly Postman's Christmas" which is a very good book with lots of extra things tucked in to clever envelopes and the kids took turns reading those out loud and I read the book. Next came "The Chicken of the Family" which has been read at least a hundred times here and on this book we all took turns reading, page by page. We've got some good readers here. 
I was so impressed, not only with their reading but also with the very fact that they seemed to be happy doing it. 
  
The lunch menu was the usual. Levon wanted the peanut butter, honey, and raisin sandwich (the Mer Special, he calls it) and August wanted cheese toast with sharp cheddar. Maggie asked for her regular which is macaroni and cheese but I told her I didn't really feel like cooking and besides, cheese toast is basically the same as macaroni and cheese and surprisingly, she went right along with that. There were also sweet potato tortilla chips and salsa and BOOM! There's your vegetables. Am I right? Yes I am. 

At that point they wanted to watch some TV and I said that was fine. I know they didn't get enough sleep last night. Maggie told me at least three times that the boys had woken her up at six o'clock and I'm sure they did. So they watched some TV and I made them their special treats which were root beer floats. I believe they enjoyed them. 

Before we knew it, it was time for me to take them to their parents and I did. They were all truly well behaved and easy-going and I appreciated that so much. August and I had a very interesting conversation on the way to his house while we were in the car. He is keenly interested in how finances work and curious in a way that demonstrates he actually knows quite a bit. He grilled me on Boppy's and my financial status and if we have enough money to last us and so forth. He had the idea that since we are pretty old (he didn't say that but that's what he was thinking) that we really didn't need a lot more money. I told him that sadly, this was not true. I mentioned medical bills that increase as you grow older and repairs to this house and the house that Boppy just bought and the work he's doing on it and the things we might yet want to do and of course, food, and all that stuff. He listened closely and then he said, "You get money from Dunkin' Donuts for using your building, right?"
And you know what? I had totally forgotten that source of income. We rent to other businesses too, including the resale store whose proceeds go to hospice and, well, I guess us. But August, whose brain is going fifty miles a minute, had not forgotten. He even asked if Dunkin' paid for their signs or if we did. And then asked if we owned just the buildings or the property too? 
I mean, the kid is figuring this stuff out. 

I believe one of the things I love most about being a grandmother is having the distance and perspective to see how each child's interests and gifts unfold. It's fascinating! They're all so different, not just in interests and gifts but in the way their minds work, the ways they learn, the ways they react to what life hands them. 

Jason and his girlfriend are moving back into the house that he and Lily shared for many years. It's a long story but that seems to be the wisest option. He's been living with his mother for some time now and although there is room there for the kids, it has not been an ideal situation. I've been wondering how the children feel about this move back to their old house and I asked Maggie today if it felt odd or...what? and she replied, "Technically (her current favorite word) it feels like a miracle." 
Wow.
Kids can slay you. 

Mr. Moon will be home tomorrow and I will be glad to see him. I'm making myself some eggplant parmesan-related casserole tonight. I've literally and technically been eating salads and leftover soup since he left but I had an eggplant which was one day and fifteen minutes away from being compost and part of a jar of spaghetti sauce. 
A match made in heaven. 
I've roasted the eggplant and semi-roasted some tomatoes with a little bit of panko on them. I was not in the mood to go to all the trouble to dip the slices of eggplant in egg and then panko and then air-frying them and so that's what I've done. 

I will layer those with sauce and cheese and bake it and it will be fine. Eggplant isn't Mr. Moon's favorite so he won't be too sad to miss it although I feel certain he's eaten his own share of leftover soup this week. 

On we go. 

Love...Ms. Moon