A month in a nutshell?

Drove back from Nashville on Monday February 12 and the month since then has been so hectic and busy. Yesterday at a meeting I got asked why I am not blogging. She was missing reading my blogs. I told her that I had written several quilt blogs and she sternly said that she was not interested in those. She was interested in my grandchildren, travels and things like that. Well, I guess it is really nice to get that kind of comment.
But where to start now? James says I am writing about way too much (and I think he is right). I know I have always been longwinded.

But first ... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to me. On this day 7 years ago I started this blogging thing.
What else could I have done in that time of writing? Clean house, ha-ha.

The weather has been colder, windier and generally less enjoyable then our winters usually are. Everybody is sick and tired of it. But one things gives me a lot of happiness (besides our children and grandchildren) and its when my indoor plants are blooming. The amaryllis bulbs had shown signs of flowers coming before we left. I thought "oh no, I am going to miss it" but with the house cooler not much had happened while we were gone.

And I found that the orchid we had bought years ago because my mother always had one just like it (but yellow) was actually having a bud too.

The anticipation is a lot of fun. And then finally ....

Incredibly beautiful! Who can not believe in a creator?

February 23 - the first of my daffodils is blooming.

Next day we decided to visit Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. And there are things blooming too.

Last few days of the month I have to work on our church newsletter. I am desperate for a photo for the front page. On a visit to the Memorial Garden we discover some redbud almost open.

Tuesday March 13 - Snow again! Happy to say that the daffodils and hyacinth survived it though.

About the grandchildren - a few times we helped Sarah and Wade out with Caleb, Colin or Owen.

February 15 it was nice enough to take the children for a walk around the block.

February 17 the twins had to be bundled up because it was very cold.

On the walk around the corner we saw this license plate on a neighbor's car.

February 24 we were invited for dinner. Wade parents Kathy and Mike were visiting for the weekend. When we arrived they had a tailgate party in the driveway.

Later Caleb ate his dinner with the new gift from Auntie Helen, Uncle Ben and William. The earthmover and bulldozer tableware were just the right thing for him.

Saturday March 3 Caleb came to spend the night. He loves going to church with us Sunday morning.

Mommy had brought him and his little brothers never saw us.

I had remembered when children's hours are in our indoor pool and I had texted Sarah that he might want to bring his bathing suit. Oh yes. He liked that. The week before we had taken a turn to bring him to his swimming lesson and her are two videos:

VIDEO 1    (0:32)

VIDEO 2    (0:36)

That week Wade had to go away for two nights on a business trip. Not really a problem for Sarah. She could have managed to get all three in the morning to bring them to daycare and go to work. She does have to be on time at her work though and ... just in case ... I was happy to spend the nights there and help. James was invited to come the night before and have dinner too and we all had a good time. Sarah had the pleasure that all three wanted to be on Mommy's lab. They are active boys. No questions about it.

The alarm rings early in the morning. Everybody has to be ready and out of the house before 7 am. The children were so cute that Sarah took time to quickly take some photos.

Omi said: "Caleb, quickly, lets photo bomb".

And I was home by 7:30 am to take a shower and get ready for whatever was on the calendar that day.

What else was going on? (That will teach me to slack with my blogging) February 20 we had finally the front patio and the walk way to the front door fixed. Remember that the frost had lifted even the floor so that two tiles in the kitchen broke and the sliding glass door was jammed? I blogged about that HERE!

One slab was so much higher on the path that it was a tripping hazard. They drilled holes and injected some stuff which filled all the empty spaces and then hardened. In the process it lifted one slab in the front to even the gap.

  

Then Paco came again and used two more of the saved tiles from the attic to replace the broken ones. He did a great job ... except I gave hime the wrong color grout. When dry it is very hard to tell.

March the 2 James was a hero again. We hosted the annual vestry dinner again (vestry is our church council). It's a time when the term for three is over and three new people come on. It's nice for all to have a good start to get to know each other. Usually James and I just serve and disappear. This time I was sitting at the table too since I had just been elected. James decided he could do the serving by himself. Everything was staged in the kitchen and he did a marvelous job with the 4 courses.

Our friend Julie C. had lent him her apron which said "Have you hugged an Episcopalian today?"

Oh yes, he got hugged.

And then Monday of this week - - - snow again. Luckily it was gone soon. But it kept me from meeting my friends at the monthly lace meeting in Williamsburg (because I am chicken when I see a snowflake on the road).

Ha-ha, a marathon blog in honor of my 7 year blogging anniversary. And this was not all the happenings, besides I did a lot of sewing too. My fun at least when it is so cold outside.