3-11-22 FIRST FRIDAYS

For Christmas we gave our daughter Annie a promissory note:

Annie and Jordon have three of our eleven grandkids: Calvin, Beth and Tessa. They live seven minutes away near downtown Farmington. Because they live close, and Annie and Jor both work full time, the kids are pretty comfortable at Gummy and Gumpa's house. One of our Christmas gifts to Annie was what we call First Friday, a sleepover at Gummy and Gumpa's house on the first Friday of every month.

Last Friday my sisters took us to a play and dinner for my birthday, so our First Friday was switched to the second Friday this month. Traditionally (We've only been doing this three months so far, so I use that term loosely) Walter comes over and has fun with us till its time for bed, then he goes home, cuz he only lives five minutes away. Tonight Walt decided to sleep over. 

Forty minutes ago, after they were had all brushed their teeth and were snuggled down on their various spots in our master bedroom, I read from a book I used to read to my own kids; Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children. It's a series of relatively short excerpts from Classic literature. Inevitably children will be captured by excellent story development and trapped by the assemblage of tasty words... all of which combine to make a piece of writing classic. Tonight I read the story of King Midas, retold by Nathaniel Hawthorne. By the time the king's daughter Marygold had been kissed and turned to solid gold, there was rhythmic breathing in our bedroom. All four kids and one old Gumpa were sound asleep. I tiptoed out to write this down before I doze off with visions of gold sparkling in my head.

The creative exercise I write about today is the making of home made pizza. With my Grands.

First, we discussed what yeast is and watched it fizz and foam in warm water before we added olive oil and salt and measured cups of flour. We stirred it and plunked it on my pastry mat. Then we practiced kneading. "Press down with the heels of your hands, push away, fold it back and turn. Repeat". 

We kneaded until is had a slight glisten and just the right smoothness. Then we let it rest and rise while the girls took a bubble bath and the boys disappeared to the basement. 

An hour later we returned to the kitchen and pinched pieces of dough off, pulling it gently at the edges to make thin personal size crusts. Each of us topped ours with whatever we chose. 

I still get such a kick out of how Annie's two little girls will opt for mushrooms and onions and meats and fresh basil. When we stopped at the store to get ingredients after I picked them up this afternoon, Tess sat in the shopping cart and pinched leaves off the basil plant, nibbling like a bunny rabbit as we zig-zagged the aisles.

Beth even created a little calzone.

Each pizza was a work of art, visually and culinarily (is that a word?)

After Pizza we watched the movie we had rented at the Red Box down at Maverick. The Paw Patrol Movie. (I fell asleep, with Tessa on my lap.) When the movie was finished I found this little pile on the coffee table. This stuff is allowed at Gummy and Gumpa's, these kids think, and darn it, I tend to agree.

Thinking back on the last few hours with these littles, I ache to have had my Sarah's kids here. I feel these kids growing something like five inches a month, and they will be driving next year, then won't even want to come to Gummy and Gumpa's. So I sit here inhaling until I hyperventilate.

These yummy pizzas we learned how to make tonight (it was a first for all of us, by the way) were a nice piece of creation. But really, the greatest things I created were the parents of these kids, who in turn created these treasures. Well, our spouses had some part in it. And our Heavenly Parents. But if you were to ask me what things I have created that are most valuable to me? No question, it's those little soft forms tucked under blankets sleeping on my bedroom floor.

Perfection.