More football and cookies

A busy, fun weekend coming up!  Dick and I will be driving to Manheim for Bjorn's game later today. It's his last regular season home game, but there will be play-off games.  Please, Lord!  No traffic tie-ups this time!

Meanwhile, Jeremy and Mike and some friends will be making the trip here from DC.  They're coming up for the Penn State game tomorrow, and they're taking Dick to it with them!  He has only gotten to one game before, so that will be really special.  

I'm sure they will get here this evening before we get back from Bjorn's game (hopefully around midnight.)  But I made sure there would be something here for them to eat.  (-:

We have been having a wonderfully mild fall.  It hasn't been good for the leaves - they are not as brilliant as some years.  But my flowers are still just blooming away!  My rose bush has enough buds to keep blooming till Christmas, haha!

We usually have big, bushy marigolds along the front of the house by this time.  But there weren't many marigolds left by the time Dick went flower shopping earlier this summer, so he got a variety instead.  They're not as big, but I like all the different colors.  I just dread when everything turns brown.  But then it will soon be time for Christmas lights to cheer up the outside of the house!

Gotta run!

Wordless Wednesday

Fun with Sammy, Bianca, Destiny, Austin

My goal for this weekend was to be able to see Sammy and Bianca.  Three weeks is a long time in an infant's life, and I don't want to miss more of Bianca's babyhood than I have to.  I also really wanted to spend time with Destiny, because this next month is going to be very busy, and I'm not sure if I'll get to see her until Thanksgiving.  

So I took a trip to Lancaster County without Dick this time, so I wouldn't have to be back home for his work on Saturday morning.  I left around 4:30 on Friday, remembering the horrendous traffic back-up we got into last Friday.  I was very glad there was nothing like that this time.  I went to Sam and Jenn's place first, arriving about 6:45.  Sammy is always so delighted to see me!  They had the delicious makings for tacos all ready for me.  I had fun with the kids for over an hour.

Then I took Sammy with me to Reading to pick up Destiny, who was just getting back from a movie with some of her friends.  As we were driving Sammy asked me,  "Where did everybody go?"  I wondered who he meant, and he said, "Where did Sophie go?"  I realized that the last time I was at their house three weeks ago, Lisa and Sophie were there.  It's so fun to see how he's getting to know and be attached to various family members, even at a distance.   Sam said that he had the greatest time with Jeremy and Mike last weekend.  They even went to the pumpkin patch at Renaissance Faire down the road from Sam and Jenn's.  

While I was driving to Reading, Dick and I talked on the phone several times as he watched the stats on Bjorn's game online.  We were heartbroken for him when we realized the game was over with the Baron's losing AGAIN, 14-21.  We just could not believe it.  They had started out with 14 points before the other team scored any.  But they were never able to score another point!  And most unbelievable of all, the other team (Garden Spot) had NEVER beaten the Barons before.  How sad is that??

Destiny and I had such a good time talking on the way back to Sam and Jenn's.  It was the first time I'd had a chance to hear all about her classes and teachers this school year.  I love to hear the things she's learning in each class.    

Sammy went to bed soon after we got back, and Destiny was not too far behind.  

In the morning Jenn had to leave bright and early.  It was her National Guard drill weekend.  It wasn't long till Sammy found me and snuggled with me for a while.  

When Bianca woke up, I pretty much held her for the rest of the morning until Sam and the kids left for a birthday party at Jenn's parents' house.   I gave her a bottle, she slept, and then she woke up and smiled and smiled and smiled.   She LOVES my singing!

It's easy to imagine her giggling out loud, isn't it?  But she's not at that stage yet at 10 weeks of age. 

Look at the laughter in those eyes!

And the tricks!

This is my favorite. 

After Sam and the kids left, Destiny and I slowly got ourselves cleaned up and beautified. (-:  We discussed our day, and we had so many ideas, but the time was slipping away.  It came down to Salvation Army, hahaha!!  Out of all the people we could have stopped in to see, or the funny movie we could have gone to watch, what we wanted most to do was go shopping at the Lancaster Salvation Army thrift store!   It really is sentimental to us.  We went there so often when she was little.  She would play in the toy section, which was right next to the children's clothes sections where I would be picking out clothes for her.  She just loved going there.

Our trip there took forever.  First of all we got into the backed-up traffic due to Renaissance Faire.   Then the Wendy's near Salvation Army, where we intended to eat lunch, was no longer in existence.  So we had to drive around looking for another place to eat.  The traffic was horrible everywhere.  We found a Subway, which is also sentimental to us, because we often used to eat at Subway after church when she was little. 

Before we left we had to do our restroom selfie pics!!

Then we made our way to Salvation Army again.  We were busy talking, and at one point I mindlessly turned into the street that leads into Park City mall.  Rats!!  We were NOT going to the mall!!  So we had to battle some more traffic to get out of there, hahaha!!  We were laughing so bad!  

FINALLY we made it there.  We checked out the shoes first, because that's what we always used to do.  Then we hit the ladies' shirts, NOT the children's section anymore.  They organize their clothes by color, and her favorite colors right now are blue and green.  So she told me to look through the greens while she looked through the blues.  She ended up with four really cute sweaters and shirts.  When we went to check out, there were 23 people in line ahead of us!!  But we had fun anyway, looking at the gadgets and stuff that were displayed on either side of the line.  

And then we headed back to Reading.  It was shortly after 6 pm when I dropped her off with hugs and kisses and more laughter.  My heart was so full.  Being with her is like fitting into an old comfortable shoe.  We know each other so well.  When I left to pick her up on Friday evening, I grabbed an apple and said to Jenn, "I'd better take this apple along.  She'll probably ask if I have any fruit when she gets into the car."  And she DID!  In fact she said that all week she had been craving fruit, and that evening she had told her friends, "I'm so hungry for fruit, but my grandma will have some for me when she picks me up."  Boy, am I glad I did!

I had a good, non eventful drive home.  Prairie Home Companion was my companion part of the way.  That always provides some good laughs.  I also called Bjorn to offer him my sympathy for Friday night's loss.  He was having fun on a hayride at the high school, so that made me feel good that he wasn't sitting at home moping, hahaha!  

When I got off 322 at our exit, I suddenly realized there was a Penn State game going on at Beaver Stadium.  There were cars and RVs as far as the eye could see.  The traffic director assured me I could go right ahead, that the game was in progress, thus very few cars on the road.  And I drove right on by the stadium without a problem.  

Dick was watching the game when I got home (around 9:15).   In fact, he stayed awake to see the end of the game, which went into double over time, and Penn State LOST to Ohio State by seven points.  Sad, sad, sad.  

We went to our two church services this morning, then brought Austin home with us for lunch.   I was just amazed again at my lovely hanging petunia when I walked into the house!  It is looking far better than it has all summer.  It's just teasing me, because one of these times that Jack Frost is going to do it's ugly deed.  

Austin brought some new Star Wars Legos along with him, and we had fun figuring them out with him.  

He's such a tease.  His smile looks sweet, but don't be deceived.  It surely had something to do with him  breaking up something I had built!

And now I need to get busy with music prep for the next few weeks.   Jeremy and Mike and their Penn State graduate neighbors are coming here next weekend for the football game.  And then the following week we're leaving for our annual trip to Lisa's in Tampa, complete with Sophie's gymnastics competition.  Meanwhile, this is my busiest season of the year at the church office.  No time to waste!

Have a great week!

Throwback Thursday

This picture of Anthony, Lisa, and Jeremy was taken in 1982. On the back of the photo I had written, "Dressed in some clothing Lori gave."   

My sister Janet used to give us boxes and bags of Lori's outgrown clothes for Lisa.  It was like Christmas at our house!   Lori would laugh if she could see these prizes she used to wear!  

By the way, was Jeremy the cutest little guy or WHAT?  I loved those curls!

Wordless Wednesday

MCDS Worship Team 2009 memory

On Sunday afternoon I had fun looking back over some of my YouTube videos from the past five years or so.  This was one of my first ones, and it made me homesick for these kids and the good times we used to have going from church to church on Sunday mornings.

This MCDS Worship Team was my last one in the spring of 2009.  (I left and we moved to State College after that year.)   Most of what we did was lead the congregations in praise and worship.  I led from the piano, some of the kids played their instruments with me, the others did choreography.   The song on this video was the one we did as a performance with an instrumental backup track during the offering, He Never Failed Me Yet.  One of the 7th grade girls, Molly Groff, was the featured soloist.   We were at my home church, Grace Community Fellowship in Manheim, on this particular Sunday morning.  I think Dick was doing the video, and you can hear him humming the bass line from time to time!  

All that to say - these kids were pretty darn good for 7th and 8th graders!  If you don't have time to watch the whole song, the last half is the most fun. (-:

Football, wedding, cousin lunch

Just as planned, we left Dick's shop shortly after 4:30 on Friday afternoon.  Everything had gone as planned for me that day.  UNTIL a few minutes after we left the shop.  We did not know there had been a four-vehicle accident just south of town on 322, and we were suddenly in stand-still traffic.  Ugh!!!  They were V.E.R.Y. slowly taking everyone off at the nearest exit onto a detour.  That detour eventually got us to where we cross Seven Mountains - one hour and forty-five minutes later.  That stretch usually takes us 20 minutes!

No question, we would miss the first half of the game.  It was homecoming, and I really hoped to make it for half time.  Meanwhile we were communicating with Jeremy and Mike, who had left DC at 2:30 and were making very slow progress as well.   They had their dogs along and needed to take them to Sam and Jenn's house before going to the game.  As it turned out, after they dropped off the dogs and headed toward Manheim, they were near the PA turnpike exit just as we were getting off!  We met up and carpooled the last few miles to the game!!  How funny is that?

We just missed half time, but got there for the VERY tense, exciting second half of the game.  The other team was ahead, then the Barons caught up, the other team pulled ahead, and the Barons A.L.M.O.S.T. caught up.  24-26.  There just wasn't quite enough time.  Great big sigh of disappointment!

Bjorn was a very, very disappointed boy after the game.  His mama talked some stern Swedish to him and told him he had worked HARD, he had done his BEST, and he'd better be PROUD, because SHE was PROUD!  She even got him to smile!

We had fun gathering near the field with Sam and Sammy, some of Dick's brothers and their families, Jeremy and Mike, Miki and her friend Kicki.  How COOL that Bjorn brings us together like that!

We went to Fred and Deb's house for a while before heading home.  Bjorn was HUNGRY after all that hard work and was eating right out of a casserole dish, haha!

Deb was getting out some grub for everyone.  Dear Deb.  She was the substitute mom for my kids many times before she had any of her own.  And now she's substitute mom for my grandson.  She gets the sister-in-law award!

We hated to leave.  How I would have loved to have more time with Miki.  How I wanted to go to Sam and Jenn's and have more fun with Sammy and snuggle Bianca and hang out with Sam, Jenn, Jeremy, and Mike.  But duty called and we headed home.  I drove the last half so Dick could sleep since he was the one that had to be at work by 7:30 am.  We finally got home at 1:30.

When Dick got home from work at 12:15, he quickly cleaned up and we were off to our little Fillmore church for a very special wedding.  Two of our dear friends in the choir, Kristine and Mel, were getting married.  What an absolutely joyous, fun occasion!  Two first class individuals who so deserve the love they have for each other. 

I asked Dick to snap a picture for me, and this is the sweet moment he caught.  "You may kiss the bride" is fun at any age!

There was a lovely, relaxed reception at Kris's home afterward.  I really enjoyed getting to know some of their family members.

From there I went to Anthony and Lori's to pick up Austin and his cousin William.   Will discovered Destiny's DVD of Tom and Jerry episodes and wanted to watch it.  Oh, the laughter!  I wish I had recorded it!

After Anthony and Lori picked them up, we had a very quiet evening here at home.  I think I was in bed by 9:30.  I was BEAT!

We had our two church services this morning, then went to Hoss's for lunch.  My cousin Lori and her husband Chuck were in State College to celebrate their anniversary this weekend, and we weren't sure if it would work out to meet up or not.  But it did!  We had the greatest time together!

Thanks to Facebook, I know so many of my cousins better than I ever did before.  It's so wonderful to be able to connect like we do. Lori's dad and my mom were brother and sister. 

Austin is at a super easy stage for eating out.  While we waited, he spent time coloring, writing his numbers, doing the maize on the placemat, then a game on Grandpa's phone.   He is loving school and doing great.  And growing up.  As he says it, he is now five-and-three-quarters.

Now a few pictures I've taken around here.  My hanging petunias are still showing off.  I SO do not want a frost to ruin everything.  But it's inevitable.  So I feast my eyes on these while I can.

I love the colorful combination of summer flowers and autumn leaves.

The street in Anthony and Lori's neighborhood where I used to walk Austin when he was a baby.

Another view outside my office window.  Be sure to check my header photo for my annual fall shot.

Have a great week!

It's Friday, it's football!

Friday already!

This afternoon at 4:30 we'll once again head to Manheim for a football game.  This is a big one - their homecoming game!  We're happy that we'll get to see Miki again.  Even Jeremy and Mike are coming up from DC for the game.  Miki and her friend did not make it to DC this week as they had hoped, due to the rainy weather, so this way they'll at least get to see each other. Sam and Sammy will be there again too.  I wish so much that we could stay down for tomorrow, but our budget says Dick really needs to get those Saturday morning overtime hours in at work.  Also, some dear friends in our choir are getting married tomorrow afternoon.  So that will be a fun time.   Always the pull to be several places at once.

Last evening on the local NBC channel down home, there was a short interview with Bjorn.  We discovered that we're able to get their newscasts live online.  So Dick videoed it with his phone.  I'm so glad he did, because I was teaching piano lessons at the time and would have missed it.  I just love Bjorn.  He's a really, really cool guy!



One picture this time, my annual autumn picture taken from the back door of the church office.  It was actually very warm and overcast on Tuesday when I took it, and I wished the sun were shining.  But I was afraid that if I waited I would miss my opportunity.  Turns out, it looks beautiful even on a cloudy day!  I'm going to try to keep my camera ready to go as we travel this afternoon.  The mountains are probably more colorful than they were on Sunday.

Great Sunday from start to finish

Yesterday was such a great day from start to finish.  

At Fillmore my choir sang a most beautiful arrangement of Wonderful, Merciful Savior, and they did such a great job.

At Houserville the praise team was awesome, like always.  The icing on the cake was the 15-year-old girl who sang the offertory.  She's the voice student of Carol, our violinist, and she was just terrific.  The way her song fit in with the message without her even knowing it was cool too.

After we left Houserville we stopped at Sheetz to grab lunch (they have a great fruit and nut chicken salad) and we hit the road for Lancaster.  

The family gathering at Doris's home came about because of these three, Michael, Chelsea, and Ashlyn.

Michael is my sister Barb's youngest son.  He was just four or five when the family moved to Idaho.  The last time he visited PA was eight years ago when he joined us for our annual retreat weekend.  He was a GREAT hit with the little girls in the family, especially Ellen and Destiny!

We, of course, had not yet met Chelsea and Ashlyn, so it was a big deal that they were coming East this weekend!  We totally fell in love with all three of them!

It worked out perfectly that Miki's trip to the States as tour guide for her friend Kicki, was over this very same time!  Here they are with Bjorn.  Kicki fit right in with our crazy gang.  I wish I had freedom in my schedule to travel around with them this week, especially since they're going to DC.

This was the group that was together last evening, the majority of them Doris's family.  Also there were my brother Dick and his wife Nancy in the middle, my sister Mary Ellen just in front of me, and of course Dick and I and the special guests from Idaho and Sweden.  Another first timer was Doris's grandson Carson, sitting so cute on his mama's lap in the front row.  Unfortunately, Doris's son Corey and his family, who also live in this lovely home, were away.  I wished I could have had Destiny there, but I couldn't figure out a way to do it in the short time frame we had yesterday.

Twenty-four people and we were not a bit crowded in that spacious home.  We hung out in the family room, kitchen, and screened-in porch.  No one was in the dining room, living room, or the sitting room in the basement!  I think they could host 100 people there!  

Here are random pictures taken throughout the evening, some of them by me, some by Mary Ellen, Doris, and Nancy.

Things were winding down when it was time for us to leave around 7:30.  Here I am with Miki and Bjorn.  It occurred to me that each generation is taller.  What will Bjorn's child look like someday??  Haha!

Have a great week!