Tuesday Update - Mother's Day weekend

We are finally having a nice stretch of sunny, warm weather!  So welcome after all the cool, rainy days we've had in the past month!

The rhododendrons are finally starting to bloom!

This morning I had so many reasons to keep hurrying, but when I stepped out on the side porch to put something in the recycling bin I decided I absolutely needed to take my coffee out there and soak in the warm sunshine and the beauty.  It was delicious!

On Friday evening Lori had a work event, so we had Austin for a few hours.  We went to Dairy Queen for dinner and dessert.  Austin's was a triple chocolate brownie.  Grandpa was threatening to help him finish it, haha!

After we came to the house Austin and I played Mancala for a while, then Jeremy called and was talking to him.  I told Jeremy that Austin is starting to have some good dance moves and that I would take a video to send him.  So here it is - without music.  I guess the music is in his head!

On Saturday morning I got to watch the live stream of the Florida middle school state track meet.  Sophie ran the 100 meter dash (middle one in red) and set a new personal record.  She now ranks 5th in the state of Florida in her grade!

As soon as Dick got off work around 11:30 we drove to Lancaster County for the day.  We had told Dick's parents that we would get to their place around 2:30, but actually got to Manheim with some time to spare, so we drove around some old familiar roads and streets that we hadn't seen for a while. It was so much fun.  Some things are so much the same; other things have changed a lot.  

As we drove into the southern end of town I said let's go see Dr. Nicolazzo's house.  He was our doctor the first years of our marriage and delivered all three of our babies.   In the early years his medical practice was in the basement of his home.  For a period of time he actually delivered babies right there!  Anthony was one of the first.  We took him home with us about an hour-an-a-half after he was born!

We spent a couple of hours visiting with Dick's parents.  Bless Dad's heart - he wasn't sure if he would plant a vegetable garden this year.  But he has green beans,potatoes, and red beets already growing and will soon be planting sweet potatoes.  

Then we went to Sam and Jenn's.  I had brought along a pan of lasagna and garlic bread.  Sam went to the store for some bagged Caesar salad.    Ray arrived from Virginia while we were there.  We had fun as always.  

Sammy on his throne!  He told me that when he wakes up in the morning all his stuffed animals and toys follow him because he is their leader!

I didn't get any picture of Bianca before she was napping, so I sneaked into her bedroom to get a picture of her in her cute bed. 

What I didn't mention is that it was very cool and rainy all day Saturday.  About 15 minutes after we left Sam and Jenn's we saw this rainbow as the sun was beginning to shine.

The skies put on a great show for us.

Sunday morning was really special for me.   A few months ago I thought of a song we used to do in Choraleers when I was a teenager - Try a Little Kindness.  It seemed like such an appropriate message for our time, so I decided to arrange it for my Fillmore choir.  I found the Glenn Campbell 2002 rendition of the song (which I shared in my previous post) and told my choir members to listen to it.  One time at practice someone mentioned how cool it would be to hear Anthony do the guitar solo.  I didn't actually think he would do it, but he said he would!  So Mother's Day was the Sunday we picked.  He actually played along with my little band for all the other songs as well.  It was fun for me to look out from the piano and see Lori and the boys in the congregation. 

Here's the video that Lori and Austin took with my camera sitting on the back of a pew.  It fell one time, LOL, and is missing a few choir members at the far side, but it sounds amazing!!

After the service Hunter was mesmerized by gentle Curie, our friend Ann's service dog.  

We went to Cracker Barrel for brunch.  

Austin was working on his 5x5 Rubik's Cube that day.  He had two sides solved by day's end.

Austin came home with us for the afternoon.  He helped me to make brownies from scratch. 

He could hardly wait till I allowed him to turn my old Sunbeam mixer all the way up to 12!

Later in the afternoon we went over to Anthony and Lori's.  

We were eager to finally sit on the screened in porch, but it was too cool and windy by that time.  So we soon went inside. 

Friends of theirs came over for the evening.  I enjoyed getting to know her.  She was adopted at the age of 12 from an orphanage in Haiti.  Their kids were so cute. 

Lori and Dick took the kids down to the pond, but as you can see by the way they're dressed, it was getting downright cold by that time.  And so windy!  

It was a very good Mother's Day.  I had lots of loving messages from our kids throughout the weekend.  

Have a good rest of the week.  I'm falling asleep here!