Things are happening

Back home in Virginia. Big surprise. My amaryllis are doing great. The biggest is in full bloom. The two on the mantel nicely staggered with the promise of several weeks continues beauty.

Of course the refrigerator is empty when we just arrived but we had brought back a cauliflower and some cooked chicken. There was also a lonely sweet potato in the bottom drawer. The cauliflower and sweet potato steamed and the chicken heated in some Indian cooking sauce out of a jar off the pantry shelf made for a most delicious quick dinner. Need to remember this!

Next day: surprise! A winter storm. 

With the result that Sarah had no power. No electricity - no warming the house - no warming the twins milk - no pumping for breastmilk etc etc. Actually, Caleb asked his Mommy why she was sitting in the car in the garage early in the morning. Well, there was some power so she could do some pumping.

So of course she (they) came for a visit.

Lunchtime. We sent Papa to the store to buy some baby cereal. Their first food other then Mommy milk. There is of course the issue with the tongue and swallowing, but it went quite well.

Couple of days later I spent a night at Sarah's because Wade was out of town for the night. Sarah laughed and took this picture saying "the pleasures of trying to take care of three at the same time". I admit I was a bit frazzled.

Next morning (Friday) we dropped the twins off at the day care. While Caleb and I waited in the car, we had fun. VIDEO

Then Sarah treated us to a donut (Caleb's favorite) before picking up cupcakes for his school's St Patrick celebration.

Papa and I traded. He went to the swimming lesson and took pictures. 

Saturday was a good day again for a walk. It felt so good. We went to Meadow Farm again. Love the trails through the forest. Came across these bits of a cut-up stump of a dead tree. So unique. I like these photos.

The trail ended again at the farm. We were busy watching a groundhog. You can just see it in the middle of the picture before the house.

The donkey sneaked up on me and looked over my shoulder. He liked to be scratched on his nose.

There was a guide and we had a tour of the house. I think his name was Andy and he was very knowledgable. It was most interesting and fun.

Lace! I asked for permission to go closer (which I got) but it was machine made.

Every day the amaryllis change. One flower is over, a new bud opened. Just beautiful!

One flower stalk got too heavy and fell over. I cut it off. In Germany you can put amaryllis in flower arrangements all the time at open air market stands. It continues to do well.

And look what I found on Facebook. Sarah said her little guy is surprising her:

VIDEO pledge of allegiance 

One week later Sarah needs our help again. James has an appointment but I can take Caleb to the swimming. He is making great progress. He is getting much more confident. 

Look at those (very short) VIDEOS:

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

VIDEO 3

VIDEO 4

Soon SOON it is spring!

In-between the above activities I did a lot of sewing. Walking if the weather was nice. Sewing when not. Check out my blogs about it on "Love of Threads" or the tab above.

And very important!!!

The date for the twins' baptism is set at Christ the Redeemer Episcopal Church in Midlothian for the Easter Eve Vigil April 15 at 5 pm. It's only half a mile from where they live.

James managed to find flights kind of last minute for Helen and William. They arrive Friday midday but have to leave Sunday after lunch. Still, it will be a great weekend. Grateful!

Anniversary

Yes, two days ago. Could have celebrated my first blog ever which I wrote in 2011 ... but I wasn't aware. I just happened to make a few changes though. I made it easier (for myself mainly) to go to the blogs of others I follow. I added my own blogs about my Chrismons and about my Lace and Quilts to the right side here. That list is helpful because one can see when something is newly posted. And those other blogs now have "follow lists" too. Well, not the Chrismon one because (unfortunately) I am not aware of any other Chrismon blog ... but you never know.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Nashville - two weekend sleepovers and home improvement

Friday March 3rd

All day driving! We usually set our alarm and head out early. We see some snowflakes here and there but overall the weather is not bad and it is a good drive. We arrive in good time.

We are at the TN (townhouse) in good time. William wants to come for a sleepover of course and Helen can have a session at taekwondo by herself for once. William gives the best welcome hugs ever.

Saturday March 4

A leisurely morning. I forgot some of the games which go forth and back VA - TN. But we find a chess board so we make checkers pieces from paper. It works and William and I have several games. He is catching on to it and getting better with every game.

William is registered for a workshop at the Science Center. He loves those workshops and James takes him. It's all about weather this time, William's major interest.
James took this photo.

William comes home with a science project: fill it with some water and tape it to the back patio door we can observe evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection. 

Sunday March 5

Of course we meet Helen at church. It's at 9 am and William likes it very much. He is usually asked to help during the service with different jobs. And he likes especially the Sunday school afterwards.

We all go back to the TH and have some social time. Helen looks amazing!!! She has worked hard to get healthy, fit and trim.

She shows us that William can give her a hug "all the way around".

And can you imagine ... she lost the equivalent of William in pounds?

The rest of the day was spent playing ... like building a house.

Monday March 6

On our last visit in January we had finally looked seriously into replacing the nasty cheap awful looking carpet in the living room. Especially James had strong feelings about that and took action. As arranged from VA the material was delivered this day.

When we emptied the shelf units and sideboard etc we found something which reminded us of our friends in Paducah. 

Tuesday

Yeah, yeah, yeah, nothing ever goes quite like plan. It rained pretty much all day starting early. The work crew arrived but we mutually agreed that it made no sense to do the installation this day. Some sawing had to be done and it wouldn't be good to do that inside the house. We agree on next day early 8 am.

When we did some shopping, we saw this license plate though. I love clever things!

Things are not so easy any more since William is now in first grade. It's a long day for him, homework and reasonable bedtime make it difficult to see each other during the week. We manage to meet for supper in a Mexican restaurant close to their house though and have a nice time. It is always nice to have time with Ben too.

Don't know why but I selected not my usual Mexican food. This really was good and hit the spot. It was so much though that I could take home lunch for next day.

Wednesday

Yes, the crew came as agreed and did a super job! When we look at these pictures we wonder why we ever thought we could do this by ourselves. 

Thursday

The weather is getting better. James and I can actually do a little walking. Gosh that feels good!

Friday

Helen is off and comes for lunch. She had wished for a tomato pie. A good choice especially in lent with baked fish on the side. Success!

Fixing her shirt ... success too!

Papa picked William up from school for the weekend. Helen had brought the suitcase. William's suggestion so he would be faster with us.

After Helen had left, William and I went to work. We baked cup cakes. William is a big help.

Dessert for the rest of our stay.

Saturday

What a surprise when we woke up. The few flurries we were supposed to get had actually amounted to something. And all without William wearing his pjs inside out and putting ice cubes into the toilette (see a January blog).

We had breakfast and William helped in the kitchen.

Because the snow was unexpected William had not the right close/shoes but Helen came soon because we had sewing plans and brought what William needed. Yeah, he could go outside.

Well, Omi had to help a little. So prepared! I am sure you notice the naked legs.

Papa is a trooper. He took William to the TN State Museum because Mommy and I had a project we wanted to do. We are both participating in the Cotton Robin. Unfortunately at this time it is still a secret and we can't talk about it. 

We had been very sorry to hear that Helen had hurt her hand the night before and Ben even had to take her to the ER. Glad I was available to help her with her project. She was gung-ho about it and knew exactly what she wanted to do.

James even remembered to take some photos at the museum!

For lunch they walked down the street from the museum. William wasn't impressed with his mac+cheese but surely liked the muffin which came with Papa's meal.

Some more checkers play before bedtime. This is William's new board.

Sunday

Church of course. Lunch at the TH. More sewing and play. For our "farewell dinner" we all wanted to meet at Logan's (Christa had a hankering for steak) but that was a disaster. Table for five - waiting time about 30 minutes ... and (as James found out because he asked after seeing many empty tables) another 30 minutes waiting time for the food after you have been seated.

Change of venue. Another Mexican restaurant. Locally owned places are really more fun then chain restaurants. Nice family time with Helen, Ben and William and then we have to part ... with the promise to be back for William's birthday!


Monday

We got up very early to get going. A storm was forecast and we wanted to stay ahead of it. We managed that very well except for the last few miles from Charlottesville. When James was driving I knitted on William's wool socks. I seem to be working on these forever and now they are done but for the binding. I hope they still fit!

Time in Nashville always flies. We seemed to have accomplished a lot in a short time. We have arranged a few pieces of furniture differently and are amazed what a difference it makes. So much better.

William is a lot of fun to be with. 6 is a great age!