Shelley needed some time to get some of her drawings done yesterday uninterrupted. Not that she minds the interruptions by Matthew; she can just get more done in a shorter amount of time when she has some alone time. She is working on deadlines for two books that she is illustrating. So Grandma got to spend some time with Matthew! We had fun - but I was exhausted!
I decided that I wouldn't even bother him with pictures yesterday, so I went about the day and tried not to even think, "Wow! I wish I had a picture to remember this by!" It worked most of the day, but when he was running through the sprinkler with pure joy, I couldn't help myself and he was so busy running and laughing that he didn't really care that I was taking pictures.
We started the day by coloring in a big coloring book of Thomas the Tank Engine pictures. Then we used an assortment of markers to do some drawing. Matthew loves anything having to do with art, so we had fun drawing many things. He watches very carefully when we draw things and tries to copy them. By then it was time for lunch, so he climbed up in a chair and watched while I made us some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bagged some grapes and cheese cubes, and got some napkins and something for us to drink. Then we packed it all up in bags and took off with the stroller to the school playground down the street. We laid out a tablecloth on the ground under a nice, shady tree and ate our lunch. It was a hot day so the shade tree was nice, and we had a nice time talking and eating. We cleaned that up and then played on the swings, slide, and threw a ball around for awhile. We were going to run around the bases on the ball field, but there were several gigantic hornets flying around home plate, and if you know me - I hate hornets and won't go near them! So we scratched that idea!
When we got back to the house, we went into the backyard and blew some little bubbles and some big bubbles for about an hour. Then I asked if he wanted to run through the sprinkler and he was enthusiastic about that, so we got everything ready and he did that for about 45 minutes just running and giggling the whole time. When he got done and we had dried him off and changed clothes, Grandpa stopped by for a few minutes to see some new golf clubs that he had purchased on ebay. They had come with the mail earlier. So Matthew watched Grandpa hit some balls into the pool and thought that was very fun. But Grandpa had to go back to work, so we built with blocks and made up stories while building things to go along with them. Then we played with play dough on a big table leaf on the family room floor. We used little plastic knives, forks, a huge wooden meat pounder, toothpicks, etc. to make all kinds of things. When we tired of that we decided to use watercolors at the family room table. We had just gotten started when Shelley walked in. She stayed for a while so Matthew could paint and then they went home! See why I am tired? But it was a very rewarding time spent with a grandson that I love very much! I love days like this! 
What could be better than spending my day with such a sweet, innocent little boy who loves doing so many things? I offered him some watermelon yesterday because I was going to have some and he said, "No thank you, Grandma." I wanted him to try it, but what could I say to that sweet answer? Kids are fun.
