August went fast

I did it again. Wrapped up in all those five-minute jobs and didn't keep up with blogging. I don't have anything earthshaking to report but so many things give us pleasure.

Of course reports about lacemaking and sewing are reported HERE!

 

August 10 ~ Caleb came to spend the night. He was so cute trying to help to blow up the bed we brought from Nashville.

 

I

 

Caleb remembered that there was a Sweet Frog close to us and he loves ice cream. Afterwards Papa thought it would be a good idea to spend a little time in Target. Too hot to be much outside and this gave Caleb a little exercise and a 99 cents HotWheel. it took him a while to decide which one he wanted. Just like his cousin William.

 

 

August 13 ~ Saturday evening. We are invited for dinner. It's Wade's birthday the next day and his parents Kathy and Mike are there too. Sarah and Caleb are decorating the birthday cookie.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday August 16 ~ Sarah was so uncomfortable and in pain. Her Doctor had suggested to try a pool if she had access to one. It was the second time I was in our pool since we moved here in 2008. I must say it was fun. Cooper was spending the day with them and he was great with Caleb.

 

 

 

Wednesday August 17 ~ Trevor arrived. Just in time for Sarah to stop here on her way home from work. None of us have seen him for a long time or his wife Catherine (James' niece). We visited them in January of 2008 when they lived in New Zealand. They live now in Australia and we have an invitation to the Gold Coast. Wouldn't it be nice ...

 

 

We had dinner and talked a lot. Here James gives Trevor a little iPad lesson. He had recently bought one.

 

 

August 21 ~ our Priest is on vacation. James is leading both services this day and even delivers a sermon. I am so proud of my husband.

 

 

After church a friend (choir lady Linda) gives me a present.

 

 

This is a pawpaw fruit. Linda is a Facebook friend and sometimes reports on her pawpaw trees which I find very interesting.The tree is still young and has not many fruit. I am so honored that she parted with one for me.

 

 

Pawpaw trees are actually native to North America. Linda said that sometimes they are growing wild in the woods. If you are interested you can read more HERE.

She had told me how to eat it. Half for James and half for me. Oh was it good. William has many interests and one is seeds. He likes to collect them. So I wrote a letter to him about the pawpaw fruit and sent him the seeds. Just started first grade and can read the letter by himself. How great is that? He is a lot if fun.

 

 

I must confess though that a major part of my time (in the evening) was taken up by watching the Olympic Games. After all they don't come around that often. I really enjoyed them this time. Not sure why. May be seeing pictures of Rio brought back lovely memories of our visit there and other places in Brazil. Wished I could find my travel journal about it.

I decided I wouldn't feel guilty if I found something I could do while watching. I cluttered up our dining room table with pearls, beads and wire.

 

 

I made great progress making this year's Chrismons and those for the church bazaar too. No guilty feelings.

And how could I not like the closing ceremony? The part about the lace was terrific!!! I am sure all lacemakers enjoyed that.

 

 

Saturday the 27th we went to the "Concert in the Park", a free concert by the Virginia Opera. We took lawn chairs and 4 bottles of water. I could have packed a picnic but I had been busy and we decided to be nice to the vendors.

 

 

Oh gosh, the lamb gyro was delicious. Messy but delicious.

 

 

 

Yup, funnel cake. We were good. We shared one.

 

 

The concert was first class. We enjoyed it so much that we bought season tickets for the 4 performances.

 

 

 

Besides the really great music the weather was great too. A rare not so muggy evening with a lovely breeze. How lucky.

 

Posted with Blogsy

More about ... die Schultüte

We miss our Nashvillers very much, especially since we can't plan a visit at the moment. FaceTime is a wonderful way to stay in touch, but there is still the good ol' postal mail too. I looked for photos to include in a letter to William. He just started first grade but is already an amazing reader.
I reported about William's "Schultüte" here and here is his mother on her first day of school.

And 6 years later here is William's Auntie Sarah on her first day of school.

The older sister got lucky on that day. Can't remember what was in any of them.

It's clear from the pictures that these Schultüten were store-bought in Germany though. We must have had Opa Heinz or Omi Ulla visit before each event and bring them.
Love my girls!

Posted with Blogsy

Cheekwood and back to VA

Thursday

William is an excellent sleepover guest. I love his sleepy smile when he wakes up. He always asks for Omi's applesauce and oats for breakfast but he also likes boiled eggs on sandwich rounds.

Papa checks the weather and since we have a whole day we think we should go to Cheekwood first. James knew that there were 6 playhouses at the moment William would surely enjoy. The garden opens at 9am which is great to be in the cooler morning air.

From the parking lot we went through several gardens. William enjoyed telling me which flowers were in his Mommy's garden. Well, no water lilies. He so would have liked to throw little sticks into the water. Not allowed.

 

 

 

Omi just enjoys taking photos.

 

 

 

This was the playhouse William liked best. He couldn't get enough sliding down this pipe.

 

 

 

 

But of course he wanted to see the trains too. They are there permanently and he has seen them often. He run circles around it, only stopping when he had caught up with a train.

 

 

 

 

James and I had trouble keeping up with him. See James peeking from the other side?

 

 

Another playhouse. I love the hardware.

 

 

Oh well, back to the favorite.

 

 

 

 

Another ... the castle. Peek!

 

 

Peek!

 

 

And there was another playhouse on the other side of the lake. William didn't like it and didn't even go close.

 

 

He found the rocks, the lake and the little waterfall much more interesting.

 

 

Tadpoles and little fishes. Questions like where are the frogs?

 

 

He loved the stepping stones and we had to cross three times.

 

 

The last playhouse. Embroidered umbrellas making the roof.

 

 

Swings hanging from the cross beams.

 

 

 

We had brought a water bottle but we were soooooo thirsty. And it was close to lunchtime. If you are three people and they bring 4 complimentary little cupcakes ... who gets the extra one?

 

 

At lunchtime I got a text from Sarah. The twins were making trouble. She had gone to the Dr and was sent to the hospital. She is 31 1/2 weeks along. Too early. James and I decided that we should leave in the afternoon rather then next morning as planned.

William was wonderful. He understood that Papa and Omi needed to help Auntie Sarah and Uncle Wade with Caleb. He even helped us pack his blow-up bed in case he comes to visit us in Virginia to visit. The crib in Richmond really will not do any longer. Papa explained that we will bring it back if we visit first ... just like his car seat. He is a smart little guy.

And then we just had to wait for Mommy to come.

 

 

 

Leaving is never easy. We had planned everything so carefully ... going to dinner together near their house and then part ways. It's always more difficult for him when he has to leave our place. So sorry we had to shorten our visit those three precious hours.

And it's better when we can say when we will see each other again. He loves calendar pages where he can cross off the days. Don't know this time. The only promise we can make that it will be as soon as possible.

 

I wanted to stop here but then many would say "what about Sarah?" She is fine. So are the twins.

We had a good drive. Is that rainbow three hours into our drive an omen? First without and then with rain. Actually a very heavy downpour.

 

 

 

Wade and Sarah had kept us up to date of the situation during the evening. We arrived at 3 in the morning.

Friday

Things looked much better. Wade brought Caleb to the day care and went to the hospital. We went around 10 to relieve him so he could go to work.

I am very impressed with the care Sarah got. They even rolled a machine in for a scan. Everybody was excited that the twins were really doing great. It seems that

Baby A is about 5 pounds 4 oz and

Baby B is about 4 pounds 13 oz.

As the Dr said to Sarah: a lot of baby already in there.

 

 

 

The things over the faces look strange but it's just when the membranes are too close. Nothing to worry about.

At 5 pm James and I met at their house. James drove Sarah's car from the hospital and I drove the car we had come in. Wade got Caleb from the day care and we now took care of him so Wade could go to his wife. Caleb likes to help.

 

 

I didn't take the best picture though. When it got close to bedtime we watched a little "Curious George". Caleb sat on Papa's lap and Papa was fast asleep. The 4 hours in the night had not been enough after all.

Sarah got discharged on Saturday. Everything is fine. She just needs to take it more (much more) easily.

* * *

That was quite a scare. It reminded me of when we had to rush to Nashville when Helen was in a similar situation. I really could do with a hug from Helen and William right now.

 

Posted with Blogsy