Smarties

After Nathan had finished his afternoon snack (apples, oranges, and goldfish), he was allowed to choose two candies from the Halloween candy bucket.  He came up to me with a box of Smarties, and said, "Oma!"

Jon's Oma and Opa (so, Jon's maternal-grandparents), attend the same church as us.  I'm not sure when the tradition started, but every Sunday (without fail!) after we retrieve Matthew and Kayla from Children's Church and Nathan from the nursery, the kids, without being told, run downstairs to find Oma and Opa (which would be their great-grandparents).  Oma puts her mug of coffee aside and she reaches into her purse to retrieve a little Smarties box (like the boxes you get trick-or-treating).  The box is re-used each week, so it gets held closed with a rubber band.  She opens it up and then evenly passes out it's contents (usually Smarties) to each of my kids.

{ Photo taken on Father's Day 2015 }

It's such a wonderful sight, seeing it happen from week to week.  Most of the times there are no words exchanged, just hands held out in anticipation of Smarties being placed in them, a quick hug, and then the kids run off to run up and down the aisles in the sanctuary.  Once a year or so I try to get Jon to quickly take a picture of it happening because I never want the kids to forget.  I love that Nathan said, "Oma!" to me when he had his Smarties because it proves to me that he is already starting to remember the Sunday-tradition.