Heart Surgery Boys are Good Swimmers...

Well, what a wonderful Labor Day weekend we had! I actually had all of my children, son-in-law and grandchildren under the same roof for a while on Monday. We also had Uncle Tom, Aunt Lisa, Grandma and Grandpa Oddone, and assorted friends under it at the same time too, so very fun, very hectic and very exhausting, but the best kind of exhausting. Thanks, Lisa for all your help! My sweet sister-in-law drove all the way from Pasadena to play with and help take care of the kids on Saturday and then came back again on Monday to visit and help some more. Uncle Tommy was no slacker, either, he went to the beach with us, gave both kids their baths afterwards and even rinsed out Drew's little underwear. He taught both kids to play wheelbarrow. Ava cried when they left Monday night, she loves them so much! Auntie Rachel gets kudos, too. She met us at the beach, basically took over the care of the kids, and barely reacted when Ava had a little accident (the unmentionable kind) on her cute little beach dress.

Drew is doing very well and recovering in mind and body from his last surgery. His stamina and activity level is higher than ever before and its wonderful to behold, although I'm sure the Himmelberger household is going to have some adjustments to make with his new joy of running, hopping, dancing and generally giving his sister a run for her money in the activity arena. He learned to swim right before visiting us and told me that, "Heart surgery boys are good swimmers." He shows his scar to just about anybody that asks to see it or mentions that he is a brave boy. He really seems to wear it as a badge of honor, as he should! I hope that he will always be proud of his scars and all he endured because he indeed is a brave boy.

Another cute story: When we were taking care of Drew and Ava over the weekend I was making sandwiches to take to the beach with us. I had some pepperoni out and both kids kept asking me for it. I gave them each two at a time, thinking it was too spicy for them, but they kept coming back for two more and two more. After a few minutes of this, Drew came up to me and said, "Grandma, come here, I have to show you something." As any good grandma would do, I followed him. He led me into the bedroom where my daughter's fresh water fish tank is and as Ava was dropping in one more piece, he said, "Look, we shared with the fish." They had pulled a chair over to the tank in order to open it and dropped in about 8 pieces of pepperoni and a few chunks of cheese.