Weekend Getaway

We took advantage of a nice weekend and went up to see Bonnie, Joe and Abigail in Smithfield.  We took them to lunch at a fabulous restaurant, the Elements.  http://www.theelementsrestaurant.com/ .  Bonnie and I did some shopping, and we played games and had dinner at their home.  It was very relaxing.  Abigail is 15 months old now and has lost all of her baby looks.  She is an active little girl and we enjoyed playing with her.  We got her these soft plastic blocks for Christmas and she loves to knock down whatever you will build for her.  I love to hear her giggle!

She loves to play on Kevin's Ipad.  She has always been a fussy eater and sometimes the only way Bonnie can get her to eat is to distract her with her favorite show on the Ipad.  Then Abigail will kind of zone out and eat two or three containers of baby food.  According to my Mom, I was the same way - but no Ipad then!  Reading me stories usually did the trick.  Hurray for modern technology!

 

Christmas Part 2

More Christmas fun . . .

Benson was one happy little boy on Christmas morning!

Checking out the new flashlight while reading assembly instructions.

Lizzy has a loose tooth, so this is her tooth fairy pillowcase. 
It has a little pocket and the fabric was very glittery.  I am still
finding glitter on the ironing board.

Joe and Abigail enjoying the chaos.

 

Love this picture of the cousins - Abigail and Lincoln!



Kevin with Benson  and Brian with Cole.  These children are such a
blessing to all of us!

 

Up On the Housetop

No, it is not Santa with his reindeer, but a crew ripping off the east slope of our roof.  We had enough  damage from the winds in December that the insurance allowed for a full replacement on the damaged side.  They are taking off the two layers of shingles and we will be starting from bare wood.  It is raining shingles right outside the den window as I write!  It is very noisy and feels like they will come right down through the ceiling.  Good thing Santa and his crew are not this noisy!  Yikes.

Christmas

Where did the two weeks go since we celebrated Christmas?  We were all gathered that morning and it was a joy to be together.  I'll put a few photos on today and add more this next week for those who didn't have a camera.

Surprises

I like surprises - pleasant surprises.  I had one on Monday.  Mondays are kind of ho-hum days - doing laundry, cleaning up after the weekend, ironing, etc.  But I had a phone call on Monday morning from Bonnie telling me that Joe had taken the day off work and that they were coming down and would take me to lunch.  How great is that!  And as a bonus, I took care of Abigail while they ran some errands.

She loves balls and she squeals with delight when you play with her.  She also loves the stairs and we are constantly watching her and have had to put up things to block them from her.  What is the fascination?  Fortunately, she has not figured out how much fun it would be to bounce the ball down the stairs or we would be in real trouble!



34 Photos

It is always a good day when I get to spend time with grandchildren.  Cole came with the cutest hat on.  I thought I could get some cute pictures of him - you know, 5 or 6 photos.  In quite a few of them he seemed to know when that flash was coming and looked down.  Can't see those big blue eyes, so I kept going.

Then we had several of the sleepy eye shots, which Megan is famous for in our family.

Then he began to slide down the pillow.  He can't sit up on his own yet.  I think boredom was setting in.

Finally got him to smile a bit.  He was pretty good about leaving his hat on.

34 photos later - here's the smile that I love!

Blowin' in the Wind

Thursday we had hurricane force winds - the worst we have had in a decade.  Centerville wins the prize for the highest wind gust - 102 mph.  We were without power for 12 hours.  We lost shingles and a chimney cap off the roof.

Our garage door was blown in and was hanging by just one wheel on the right side.  We will be getting a new door - hopefully by the end of the week.  Kevin took the picture after he reattached the door to the track.

Some of our neighbors fared a lot worse.

One casualty that Kevin was happy about - the pyracantha hedge will have to come out.

Having just celebrated Thanksgiving, I tried to see the blessings in all of this havoc:

1. Had the storm been a week earlier, on Thanksgiving Day, we would have missed out on a wonderful traditional meal.
2. I am grateful to have gas fireplaces and a gas stove.  We stayed nice and cozy.
3. I appreciate a small house and good insulation.  That helped keep us warm.
4. None of our windows broke.
5. A church and state that have counseled us to be prepared for emergencies.
6. Electrical workers who labored long and hard to restore power.
7. A neighborhood and community where people watch out for one another.
8. The garage door did not completely blow off and damage our cars.