Labor Day Weekend 2014

As I said in my last post, Friday evening was Bjorn's first football game with the Manheim Central Barons.  Dick was able to get off at 4:30 and we were on the road toward Manheim shortly thereafter.  I had already gotten a sub and salad for us at a nearby Subway, so we were good to go without any stops.  We arrived about 6:45, walked a few blocks from where we parked, used the restrooms, and got into the stadium just as they were singing the National Anthem.  I searched the line-up for red hair, and found him!

There he was - #72, and what a first game he had!

He pretty much played in most of the game, both offense and defense.  AMAZING for one who did not come up through the Baron football system.

I think he's on top of the pile on this one.

Sam and Sammy joined us too.  Sammy was much more impressed with the band than the game.  No surprise there!  Music just calls his name everywhere he goes, all day long!

We were not sitting far from Dick's brother Fred and his wife Deb, who Bjorn lives with.  I caught this cute pic of them with their grandchildren.

The Barons won the game 42-6, again, no surprise there.  They have a long history of winning.  Bjorn was a very elated, very sweaty boy after the game!  The coaches had nothing but praise for him afterward.  I felt proud to be his grandma, but a little sorry for us as we walked away.  Sorry that we live so far away and can't be the ones taking care of him.  Then I felt ashamed of myself when I thought about Miki and Bjorn's dad much further away, not able to be there at all.  I'm so thankful for technology.  I sent a picture to them and to Katrina right after the game started so they could feel like they were part of it. 

Dick and I slept at his parents' house that night and had breakfast with them in the morning.  Last time I was there I took pictures of Dad's vegetable garden.  This time I got some of their lovely flowers.  I like this beautiful geranium.  Somehow an elephant leaf jumped up there and started growing with the geranium!

We drove home then and relaxed a bit until Sam and Jenn and the kiddos arrived.  

FINALLY I got a chance to hold Bianca after three weeks.  We soon discovered what a strong little girl she is!  She loves to stretch her long arms out, almost seeming to punch the air!  When you walk around with her, she holds her head up and looks around, and when you hold her up to your shoulder, she tries to stand on her legs!  And she has no qualms about letting her opinions be known, haha!  It will be so fun to watch her grow and develop.  But while she still lets me, I cuddled her and kissed her precious face just as much as I possibly could.  There's just nothing like a sweet baby face!!

It was lovely outside.  Sammy had a blast with a big water gun Dick picked up somewhere.  

He thought it was SO funny that he had made me wet!

We grilled chicken breasts for sandwiches and ate outside.

Later Sam and Jenn went out on their first date in a long, long while.  My cell phone camera did a terrible job on this one.  )-:

Pictures of our evening with the kids.

Grandpa still knows how to do it!

She took a long nap on this comfortable pillow!

On Sunday morning Bianca looked so precious in the middle of the guest room bed.  Sammy had slept on the cot in our room and wanted to kiss his baby.  But he was off and pesting his daddy before I could get a picture of the kiss.

Sammy was my little buddy at the piano at Houserville.   He just LOVES to sit beside me and play on the high keys and sing along.  He "feels" it, getting into it as the tempo and intensity of the music increases.  When I played a very gentle version of Majesty during the offering, he played gently on the high keys, and it actually sounded good!

Sunday was Lori's 40th birthday, and to celebrate she had a spa day at Bedford Springs.  So Anthony and Austin came to our place after church.  We had spaghetti, garlic bread, and caesar salad for lunch.  The boys had a high old time chasing each other endlessly around the "circle" inside our house.  Then they discovered that our bedroom made a great romper room.  So Sam monitored that for a while.   (please pardon the mess)

Then to save our sanity, I pulled out an old Land Before Time DVD for them to watch.  They were so cute sitting there side by side, chomping on crackers and grapes and drinking water.  

Then it was nap time for everyone.  Bianca slept in my arms and I dozed off too.

Around 6:30 we headed to Anthony and Lori's for a campfire.   Lori was home by then.  We have had so many cool evenings this summer, but this was NOT one of them!  It was really humid, and the fire felt almost miserable at first.  Anthony brought out a big fan, hahaha!!  Later it got cooler, but the sun went down too early, and the bugs were getting bad.  

So we went inside for the second course of our meal - Lori's ice cream cake.  Austin was as excited as if it were his own birthday!

Did I ever mention that he has lost his first tooth?

Holding Bianca almost all evening long was probably Lori's best birthday gift.  

We took Austin along home with us overnight.  This morning the boys chased each other some more; Dick took them to the playground behind our house, but the humidity was high and the gnats were plentiful;  they watched some Mickey Mouse;  they played with Scrabble letters (mostly built walls with them.)

Bianca did her arm exercises and stretches!

I made pancakes and sausage for breakfast.  

Bianca eventually fell asleep in her little seat/rocker and slept and slept and slept and slept through so much of the boys' noise, it was amazing!

Dick and I took the boys to the airport park while Sam and Jenn packed up.  

When Jenn and Sam came to the park, Bianca was STILL sleeping!  I got my last minutes of cuddle time with her.  I could just eat those delicious little cheeks!

I had fun making this collage of her many faces this weekend.

We also had fun looking at pictures of Sammy at this age.  They do look amazingly alike.  Here's a collage of them, each at 3 weeks of age. 

So that big, fun weekend is over, and here it is, almost Monday evening already.  Yikes!  It's time to get really busy with music prep for Sunday.