One Party after the Other

A week ago it was Sarah's party. This week there will be more. First the Friday evening Olympic Opening Ceremony.

But first we had to go shopping to get ready. See Grandpa and William?

Had to make another stop.

William loves going places in the car. Here he is playing with his mother's sunglasses.

He is such a big boy now already.

And he is very good playing even by himself.

Yes, the Olympic Games are starting.

Helen baked Cheese Crisps. Yumm! A whole pound of sharp cheddar cheese.

We did a beef roast in the crock pot. Can't grill outside if you want to watch the opening ceremony.

It's going to be a bit much watching TV in the next few days.

Helen is ready for Saturday afternoon. It's Ben's mother's birthday and we will have a get-together at our townhouse.

This is Joy's birthday present from Helen!

Helen wrote a nice blog about it. You can read it here!

This is a picture from earlier in the week. Helen is hand-sewing the binding ...

... while William is taking his nap.

Finished!!! Really, read her story (link above)
This is her first quilt and she did a great job.

But first we had cucumber sandwiches (because Joy likes savory) and then an ice cream birthday cake from DQ.

The cake was especially enjoyed by William.

William liked the cake so much that it was better to re-locate to the living room.

William and his great-grandmother GeeGee.

Helen could not wait to finally give her "birthday 2008 gift" to her mother-in-law.

Whenever Helen had worked on it she kept saying "I hope she will like it".

Well, there was no doubt about it, she did! 

Then we played. The simplest things are sometimes the best. It started with Omi putting William's old homemade rattle (little empty water bottle with dry lentils) on her head ... and catching it when it fell down.

Then we put it on William's head. You should have heard that boy giggle and laugh. 

He had so much fun with it.

And could not get enough of it.
















Then we all had to take turns. Mommy first.

Pops

Mops

Grandpa

Then we played with a pot and old golf balls.

I hope our screaming didn't disturb the neighbors. How much fun one can have with just "stuff".

It wore him out. When Mops and GeeGee had to go home we watched a little Olympic games.

Then we found that it was really pleasant outside for a change but see who climbed into my seat just because I got up for a minute ...

... and being so proud of himself.











Another party tomorrow (Sunday): it's Ben's birthday

My Nashville Sunsail

Last time we were in Nashville I put up the "sunsail" provisionally (you can see here). James had a good idea how to do it better and we had already bought the materials but run out of time to do it.

With temperatures over a 100 degrees we had to do it early this time. Actually it is a very easy thing to do but since we had no directions and "invented" our project "on the go", it did take a little longer (and a couple of trips to the hardware store) as necessary. 

 As you can see, we attached 4 poles (1/2 inch conduit which is really cheap), each to a corner of the deck.
The poles come 10 feet long. So James cut the two close to the house 2 feet shorter = 8 feet. The two on the other side he cut 3 feet shorter = 7 feet high.

The cut-off pieces we used to make the two cross bars longer. You need "set screw coupling steel" for that (comes in bag of 5).

 To attache the poles you need "two-hole straps" (comes in bags of 10).

For the corners you need "pull elbow inside corners" which are the most expensive of it all $4.50 a piece.

Oh, yes, forgot the "conduit hanger with speed thread" (bag of 5) and the carabiner hooks.

The sunsail was my birthday present. It is amazing how much it helps to keep the kitchen/dining area cool but I talked about all that in the link I gave you in the beginning. I love it. We might have lunch outside today.

Omi still got it

It has been more then 2 months since we saw William last.

But yup, Omi still can rock William to sleep for his nap.

We did the all-day drive on Monday. Helen and William were at the townhouse when we arrived.

By Tuesday lunchtime we were settled and we could play the rest of the day. Omi has to learn what William now likes to eat and drink and play. After a nice bowl of lentils and veggies (my new recipe) he had a good nap.

Grandpa had to read again. Ha, seems like luckily nothing has changed.

The Sandra Boynton books on my iPad are still a favorite. 

Look how intense they both are.

William's little finger are quick to do the things on the touchscreen.

The new 'wheels' since he outgrew the old, brought all the way from Richmond. 

Fast learning. He can get off and on by himself already.  Only the legs are still a little too short for pedaling.

It needs to be investigated though.

And then suddenly he decides he is ready to go and brings his sandals to grandpa to put on. Did he notice that Mommy is packing up too?

 But Mommy is not quite ready to leave.

Ha-ha, then he walked backwards two steps and plopped down on grandpa's leg.