Grandparent pros and cons

I have been thinking about the joys of living close to grandparents these days. With them a greater part of our lives, my control has dimished just a bit, but our lives have certainly been enriched. As with anything there are pros and cons. For example take the kid's primary program at chruch--An event not to be missed by grandparents. Pros: They get to come. Cons: They get to come. The boys have been working all year learning songs for their program. So we are in church and she is passing out lifesavers to the kids. Even though I am the nutrition nazi I'm not so much annoyed at the treats as the timing. They can't get treats at the beginning of church right before the sacrament the most important part of the meeting. They crunch them and eat them and my mom being the good Grandma she is gives them a second one. Now the sacrament is being passed and there is definitely no eating treats now. I tell them they have to put their lifesaver in their pocket and they can eat it later. Tess has also found a lifesaver on the ground and even though it is a huge choking hazard, I figure I'll take my chances rather than risk showing everyone Tess' freak out dance. So now we have finished the sacrament and it is time for the kids to go up on the stand. They can't have their lifesavers now because they have to sing and I don't know when exactly their speaking parts are. True to his charge, Cale obeyed and didn't eat his lifesaver during the program. However, I would be rich if I had a dollar for ever time I saw his lifesaver. He held it up to the light to look through it. He put it on his eye to see if he could hold it in place with no hands while blinking. He rubbed it all over his face more times than I care to remember. Then when he went up to say his line he memorized, he looked at it intently as if it were giving him courage to say his line and then proudly put it in his shirt pocket and went up to the podium. I must say we were pleased lifesaver and all. At least this time Cale didn't stand on the stage and scowl the entire time. He even opened his mouth a few times! The question I have to ask myself is who's mother is my children's grandma anyway? It is certainly not the mom I remember.


So yes, there are times when I get mildly annoyed. But who else in the world would you let watch your kids when one of them was thowing up from 4:30-6:30 the morning of. That night, Jon and I were going out with friends and had purchased concert tickets months ago. We would have been so sad to cancel at the last minute. My mom insisted we still go. The boys were planning on having a sleepover at Granny's, but I told them with Tess being sick, I might pick them up in the middle of the night. Instead of whining or crying all of a sudden I hear chanting in unison: "Sleep over, Sleep over, Sleep over!!!" What am I to say to that? That night super late I went and picked up Tess. I checked on the boys and woke up Tate in the process. He had no clue it was me and said "I love you Granny." Yeah, I think Grandparents are worth all the life savers in the world...even at church!