Morning Visitors

I had visitors this morning! My living room once again become a playroom and there were squeals of laughter, cookies crumbs, and little voices. It was rainy and wet outside and so we played inside. The Naughties came in and out, tolerating the excited children extremely well.

It's hard to believe that little boy first came here when he was just 5 months old. He worked his way into our hearts and lives and then moved far away. I'm so glad they come to visit when they are back in the area.

Midnight Visitor

Last night we had a midnight visitor...

"Oh My!!! What did you do?"

Why I grabbed my camera, of course! :)

"Good answer! But....then what?"

It was about midnight when, over the hum of the air conditioner, and through the closed door, I started hearing noises downstairs. They didn't sound like noises The Naughties would make, and James was snoring, so I got up and peered downstairs into the darkness. I heard something shuffling around down there, so I put on my Big Girl Pants and sneaked down the stairs.

I could tell by the noises that something was moving about in Mom's room. (I thought about the book where an alligator hides under the kid's bed...) I flipped on the kitchen lights, but in order to turn on the light in Mom's room, I had to go in and that wasn't happening without backup, so I went upstairs to find help. I had only one choice of helpers and he was still snoring. Lucky for me he is not a terribly sound sleeper.

Slightly groggy from being stirred from his sleep, my brave assistant crept into the dark, and now scary, room and turned on the light while I watched from the shadows. My brother's old double barrel shotgun, propped in the corner, fell over making a terrible clatter on the floor. Neither the intruder nor my helper were shaken, and no crazed animal bolted for the door.. "It's a raccoon," James said and he picked up my sign that says, "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord" He held it like a weapon/shield and told the furry, masked animal to get down. That is when I went for my camera.

Our minds were spinning. We have trapped tiny rodents, caught birds in our hands, and knocked bats out of the air, but this guy was a little too big (and possibly vicious) for those actions. We decided to open the door and see if he would comply and leave of his own accord. Mom's room has two doors. We opened the door from Mom's room to the computer room, and then one from the computer room to the front steps. Then I closed the one from the computer room to the living room. James stepped out of Mom's room through the other door and I peeked through the crack to see what would transpire.

"Yikes! Then what?"

And then, after looking around a bit, the masked intruder very quietly got down from the buffet, waddled through the door to the computer room, out the front door, and back into the darkness.

My rescuer and I went into the kitchen to find the masked bandit had knocked a few things over; a container full of kitchen tools, a teapot full of Jade plant (into the sink)... He had licked clean the spatula and knife from the peach pie and dropped the knife on the floor. (The noises I'd heard from upstairs.)

Good thing I'd covered the pie with a giant Tupperware bowl or he'd have likely had a feast and been back tonight for seconds. 

And then we went back upstairs and tried to go to sleep. Ha ha!

"How did he get in?"

The only way would have been the cat door.

"Yikes! Good thing you had your "helper"...I would not have liked to go through that alone" :-/

I went to bed wondering how I could have done it alone, and decided probably just the same way, except perhaps without pictures and with much more fear and excitement.

"wow....that is nuts!!"

"You are such a great story teller! You should write children's books! I'm sure I'm not the first one to suggest that." :-)

Friends, Family, and a Little Bit of Rain

I don't get much housework done these days. Of course, traffic around here has been slower too, so perhaps that is a natural outcome. I just wish someone would tell the Great Dust Maker so I wouldn't have to see dirt accumulate upon table tops and book shelves. Then again maybe if my eyes weren't getting so disagreeable with seeing close up, maybe I would notice the house isn't really staying cleaner even in the absence of children. (ha ha!)

I have come to greatly appreciate my days off. I enjoy working and don't mind spending days with my friend, but there is something infinitely wonderful about the other days when I am able to catch up with myself, a friend, or a family member. Yesterday I was blessed with all of those. My sweet, swell daughter came to visit and encourage her sister with wedding plans. She brought along two loud and rambunctious boys. She didn't know my sweet friend Heather would be coming to visit with her smiling son, but I knew they would both be blessed.

The forecast called for rain and our afternoon plan called for visiting on the back porch. For a time all went according to plan and then dark clouds began to gather in the west. The rain eventually made its way our direction and for about half an hour we were able to stay on the porch and visit in spite of the downpour. There was no thunder or lightening, just a deluge of rain, and so two little boys scampered about the yard making wonderful summer childhood memories. (There is nothing quite like the downspout shower at the corner of Barn 3!) Then the wind turned, showering us with spray and threatening to soak Davin and his wheelchair, so we made a hasty retreat into the house.

Today the house is quiet and Hannah and I are planning to address some envelopes with wedding invitations. I guess we'd better get started.

Here We Go

Okay. I think I'm ready. There are a few nagging fears that I may have forgotten or overlooked something regarding tomorrow. Am I sure of where the course is being held? Is there something I needed to bring? Actually, I guess I don't really have any major fears or questions, but perhaps with a little effort I could conjure up some anxiety... and probably very little effort. My class starts tomorrow. The butterflies are multiplying...

Last night we had some unexpected visitors. While My Darling helped Child Number 5 change the brake pads on his car, I got to visit with Grandchild Number 7 and his sweet, smiling mommy. Spencer was
content to sit on my lap for a little while, but it wasn't long before he let us know he'd had enough of Grandma and wanted Mommy back. When James and Nate came back in, we offered some supper. I had a big tossed salad in my fridge and that, coupled with some grilled cheese sandwiches (James and I had red chili sauce in ours), made for a tasty light meal to share. The others enjoyed a bowl of chocolate almond ice cream following the meal, but I opted to wash the dishes instead.

In the past 10 days we've had evening visits from five of our seven kids. Beth and Adam came for enchiladas with the boys just over a week ago and we had a great time playing Apples to Apples with them and Josh. Jake made certain we did not forget the promised dessert of ice cream. Hannah and Sergio were here for dinner Monday night. Nailing her down can be a challenge. Between babysitting and social engagements, she keeps herself busy. Dave called on Thursday wondering if we could keep the three while he and Leta went out together for a couple of hours. A dinner of macaroni and cheese and hotdogs was enjoyed by all. Ben came over to pick up his tax return on Friday night and stopped along the way to collect a pizza. Morgan was working so we missed her. Last night's visit from Nate and Sabrina meant everyone "very local" had passed through. Very cool. I'm hoping next weekend will bring a visit from Joe who is only an hour away, two if you count the fact that someone has to go get him.

You may (or may not) have noticed Spencer's cute "Princess in the house" bib. He needed a fresh bib and all I could find in the drawers were bibs for girls. He didn't seem too ruffled by the experience but did wait until it was removed to puke down the front of his sleeper. Ain't that just like a kid?

Christmas Party 2014

Saturday. It feels like Saturday, but then every day for the past week has felt pretty much like a Saturday. I've heard the expression "a week of Sundays" but never Saturdays... (or was that "a month of Sundays?" Whatever it was (or is) it seems like there have been an awful lot of them lately.)

Our Minnesota family has come and gone. Yesterday we had 27 in the house for our Christmas party gathering. It was a little bit crazy here!

I absolutely loved having my little grandson here to visit, along with his mommy and daddy. We were disappointed to have Bethany sick with the flu not only on Christmas day, but on our party day as well. With a 103 degree temperature the previous night, there was no way she was going to make it. We were thankful to bring her in on Skype (on my new laptop) along with Gramanita who came in on Skype from Nova Scotia, Canada on Jim's Mac. Perhaps I do love modern technology.

Several of us took a turn holding our newest baby. He was passed from family member to family member and although Spencer didn't appear to mind the transfers, another small child was not pleased at all to find a strange baby on his daddy's lap. He toddled around the end of the couch to find his daddy snuggling his little cousin and burst into tears.

Gramanita stayed with us (on Skype) for almost 3 hours, taking in conversations, watching our gift exchange, and visiting with various family members. She was even taking pictures on her end. Austin tried on a bag hat while she amused him with antics all her own on the other side of the computer screen. I'm told Austin enjoyed the entire conversation and I think she did too.



I was lucky enough to sneak in a little snuggle with my faraway grandson. He is a busy little guy with a grand repertoire of facial expressions and a thirst to explore. He prefers toys and books scattered across the floor rather than put neatly in their places. He doesn't sit still for more than five minutes, and prefers to keep his daddy within eye shot. He's adorable, funny, and super smart, just like all my other grandchildren. (I think I know who they take after.)

This holiday didn't find us taking the group photos we'd anticipated. We were missing an entire family due to illness and I didn't want another incomplete group photo. Instead I am looking forward to Jim and Michele's return trip when the weather warms up (providing it ever cools off....) and we can gather everyone for a grand reunion. I smiled to see my middle son willing to humor me (and his grandma) by throwing Gramanita a kiss before she signed off the computer for the evening. I'm pretty sure she was smiling too.
:0)

The Arrival

Our Minnesota family arrived late this morning with one hungry and tired little boy. He wasn't too sure about this strange place, but after a drink of milk, a little bit of lunch, and a nap, he was smiling again.

We're taking it easy this evening, watching "A Christmas Wish" and drinking tea while the little guy wanders about kicking giant Lego bricks, making the dog a little bit nervous and checking out the light switches. He's too much cuteness wrapped up in one package!

Soup's On!

We had some visitors last night and one of them was oh-so-cute-and-cuddly!

I made a big pot of chicken soup, whipped up a nice salad and bought some rye bread. It was Spencer's first visit to Grandma and Grandpa T's house and I think he liked it.

I'd originally thought about inviting the entire crew, but fizzled out as the day arrived. In spite of that, we did have one surprise guest who said he was "driving through Williamson and decided to see if there was anything to eat at Mom and Dad's." I love when they do that! It was good to see Ben and include him in our visit.

Visitors

I knew I should have jumped in the shower this morning, but I stayed in bed an extra ten minutes instead. A little before 9 am my "across the street" neighbor knocked on the door with a small white dog in her arms. Sofie had escaped.  (Visitor number one, Mrs. C.)

Bethany came around nine with a small grandson who stayed here while his big brother made a visit to the doctor's office. (Visitors two and three) Two hours later Beth took Cat to the vet and Josh stayed to play. (Visitor number four)

My Aunt Margie hadn't been over in a couple of weeks so I wasn't surprised to see her mid morning. She came in for a cup of tea and told me about her visit to Florida. (She was visitor five.)

Not long after lunch a black jeep pulled into the driveway. (Visitor number six) I went outside to greet our old friend Adam and give him a hug. (I told you he was one of my "dropper-inner" friends.) I made a fresh pot of coffee and we had a very nice visit. I

This week I had ten children pass through my doors. Half of them were grandchildren. I had lunch with a couple of friends on Tuesday, and tea and coffee with a couple more today. It's been a rather full and happy kind of week. Next week is spring break. I wonder what I'll do then?

PS. Look! It's spring! :0)

Out to Lunch

Today we caught up with a friend from years ago. Roger is in town for some training with Xerox. We met him at his hotel this morning and went to church together in Webster. After church we planned to get lunch and spend some time visiting. The trick was finding a place to eat.

It was a little bit after one o'clock when we left the church. We decided to stop at a local Italian restaurant. The door was unlocked, but they were not open for lunch. They were hosting a baby shower. The Japanese restaurant a few door down wasn't open at all. Since Italian was still on our minds, we headed down by the bay and stopped at Basil's. They were serving brunch. The wait for three was about half an hour and they wanted the restaurant cleared out by three o'clock so they could get ready for the dinner hour... We began to wonder if we would find a place to eat at all.

We were looking for a place to eat that didn't have big screen TV's or overpowering music. It wasn't in our plan to fight technology in order to carry on a conversation with a friend we hadn't seen in 25 years, and since we knew Carrabba's to be more friendly to personal interaction, we headed there. We had eaten our appetizers, finished our meals, declined dessert, and had the check in hand when the waitress came over and said, "Wait a minute, I have something for you."

We didn't know quite what to think as we glanced around and wondered what in the world she might have. She returned a few minutes later with a plate of ice cream with a fancy glaze and candied walnuts, and three spoons. "This is from my friend Jared," she said, "He's the server with the spiky hair."

Talk about confused! We were full but didn't want to appear ungrateful to the mysterious Jared. We glanced around to see who this generous stranger might be and soon a spiky haired server showed up at our table. He was smiling. "I always watch to see if I see people I know," he told us, "and then I surprise them." James said his mind was spinning through all the people we knew wondering where to place the spiky haired young man before us, but I recognized him right away. We went to church with his family years ago, and he is the uncle of my little friend, Harper.

Off and Running

Well, kind of.... My faraway son is on his way home again, finally. The flight out of Rochester was scheduled to leave on time, ... until they arrived at the airport anyway. Maybe it was the weather this time. We did get a rather nice snowfall this afternoon. Southwest has been having a lot of delays this past week and rather than leaving at 5 pm, the departure didn't take place until 7:33 pm. That's a long wait with a 5 month old baby.

It was another whirlwind visit. We packed Christmas, New Year's and an early birthday celebration into just five days. We stayed up much too late, slept in strange beds, and threw any semblance of a normal schedule tot he wind. Now we gather ourselves together and make a grand attempt to jump back into our everyday routines.

It's always hard to say goodbye, especially not knowing when we'll meet again. Thankfully, we have pictures to bring these days back to memory, and we remembered to take a picture of this little one with each of our moms.

Safe travels, sweet child!

A Cousin Visit

Yesterday was a special kind of day. My cousin Ondra came to meet me in person for the very first time. It's only been a few months since we found each other through an online memorial site to her great grandmother, and since we both love family history, we've found meeting to be a fun adventure.

Family ties, especially distant ones, can be a little confusing and I often look for ways to simplify what otherwise appears difficult to understand. Ondra and I are third cousins and share a set of great, great grandparents. We are the grandchildren of first cousins, and when I look at that in the light of my own grandchildren and my cousin's grandchildren, the connection suddenly becomes pretty simple.

Since I'd had a busy Saturday, I didn't go crazy cleaning or baking special treats ahead of time. Instead Ondra and I shared conversation and iced tea on the back porch, and put together BLT's for lunch. She arrived with gifts (which I was not expecting); a small pot of Forget-Me-Nots, a candle in a jar, and a beautiful doily she made herself. I am blessed. I was able to send her home with the old photograph of her great grandma Hattie in France.

James was kind enough to take some time away from mowing the lawn to take our picture; first with our great, great grandfather, Garrett Shafer, and then just the two of us. It was a very nice visit and I hope there will be more to come. Maybe I can even drive out to Buffalo and meet Lisa, another third cousin who loves family history. Now wouldn't that be fun?

Soggy, Soggy, and a Very Sad Doggy

Soggy. That is the word of the day. For those who remember Teal Lake, it made a brief comeback yesterday, but My Darling removed the slotted drain cover from the underground pipe this morning which quickly drained our backyard pond into the local drainage ditch. No swimming in the backyard this weekend. Please don't fuss, it was much too cold for swimming anyway.

We had some surprise visitors this morning when our friend Vinegar showed up at the door with his mommy and sister. They had been out to the dentist and thought they'd stop for a visit before they went home. How fun! I put on a fresh pot of coffee and we pulled out the toys. Vin enjoyed a sit on Hannah's lap and a cupful of his favorite pretzels while little sister emptied a big box of toys. Our soggy morning was off to a happy start.

I caught two short naps on either side of a phone call this afternoon, and then set off for the veter- inarian's office with my three-legged dog in tow. She's been a bit off lately; itching, scratching, tearing out hair, and looking generally miserable. We feared she'd picked up some kind of mange, but a skin scrape didn't show any evidence of critters under her skin. We're having blood work done, and in the meantime she's taking Prednisone and antibiotics, and wearing one of those silly cone-shaped collars. She still looks miserable and my husband isn't convinced the vet is altogether knowledgeable. I'd like to know what happened to that nice man-vet who was very objective and didn't sit on the floor with my dog's head in his lap, say words like "poor baby", and generally make me feel like this animal was more human than puppy dog...

Pretty Pictures

Hidden away in my mother's room is a folder full of papers, old news articles, pictures, and drawings. On a typical day Mom does word search puzzles, but today she had visitors instead. Priscilla stopped by for a bit and then my Aunt Margie.

Aunt Margie stayed for most of the afternoon. I don't know when or why the stack of papers came out, but they spent hours looking through them and pouring over articles. It was nice to hear Mom talking and sharing her treasures with her sister. I especially liked a couple of Mom's drawings. I don't have much of her artwork, so these were fun to see.

As they poured over the papers, they came upon a drawing, a page full of faces. Aunt Margie was impressed and I made her a copy to take home. I had caught just a snippet of them discussing the picture which my mother said she drew, but on closer examination, I am thinking this is one of my father's creations. I wonder what my sisters will think? (Rachel and her boys are quite certain this is "Grandma Lene's drawing. I'm glad my nephews were around when she was drawing with the kids she babysat.)

On Becoming a Cuddler

Today I became a Cuddler in the NICU. Somebody's momma wasn't feeling up to par, so Grandma filled in and snuggled the baby for a bit. For an hour and a half I sat in the comfy chair with my grandson in my arms. It was quite possibly a once in a lifetime chance, in fact I don't think I've had the opportunity to hold a baby for that amount of time since my first son was born almost 31 years ago. Too many interruptions come along with second, third, fourth... babies, and now there are all my own babies to share my grandchildren with. It was wonderful to just sit and stare and love the little guy.

You might think the only thing in my life this past week was a new grandbaby, but we also had my son Jim and his fiance' Michele here for the weekend. It was another whirlwind trip for them. They even went down to Watkins Glen on Saturday and enjoyed a bit of the Finger Lakes. They came home with a grape pie! (To go along with the chocolate cheese cupcakes Michele brought from Minnesota. Oh, yum!) We love every moment we are able to spend with them and it feels like Michele has always been part of the family. They didn't get to hold the baby this time, but they did get to visit. Next time they will have another bouncing bundle to play with. How fun!

Dragging His Feet

I am still waiting for my grandson to arrive. I'd really like to hold him while he is still small...

Can I tell you how proud I am of my daughter? She is a trooper. I'm fairly certain she is tired of waiting for this baby to come, but she is taking each day as it comes and I haven't heard any complaints. Her due date came and went last week. She passed up her Auntie Kathy's birthday on Friday and Grandparent's Day yesterday, but she's taken advantage of the time by making a test run to the hospital Saturday morning, seeing a movie with a friend on Saturday (The Odd Life of Timothy Green), counting blessings yesterday, and running errands today. Tomorrow she goes back to the doctor's office.

I am looking forward to a busy weekend. My son's fiance' bought airline tickets for her and Jim to come home for the weekend. It was her surprise birthday present to him. It's his birthday, but it's like we're getting a present too! There are plans for chili and sopapillas, and I'm sure an apple pie or two will be finding their way into my oven. Can you tell I'm smiling?

V is for Visitors

V is for visitors. Where there is a wedding, there will be visitors. I like visitors, especially these visitors. Two came from Minnesota, and one came from Nova Scotia. They made the weekend all the more enjoyable. :)

For more ABC Wednesday fun, click here.

Small Visitors