Saturday, December 22
Last Saturday I cleaned the house and lit candles afterward. This arrangement is one I bought several years ago at Michaels and I've added things to it from arrangements I've been given. I love it.
Sunday, December 23
On Sunday after our service at GBRV we met up with Anthony and Lori at Cracker Barrel for lunch. Calvary did not have their 10:45 service that day, but a 4:00 instead. I loved the beautifully decorated fireplace at Cracker Barrel.
We took the boys home with us afterward for the afternoon. It's easy to get a nap when they're here because Hunter naps and Austin plays games on his iPad. Hunter LOVES my piano. He and grandpa sat there for a long time after his nap.
In the evening Dick and I went Christmas caroling with friends from GBRV. What a GREAT time we had!! At some homes we sang outside, other places we went inside. Everywhere we were very welcomed. Afterward we went to our friends Bill and Peg Shuffstall for refreshments, and we had so much fun there too. We have been so blessed with great friends.
Do you like Dick's hat? He saw it at Cracker Barrel and liked it, so Lori bought it for him for Christmas. I'm not at all sure I like it, but he surely does!
Monday, December 24
On Monday (Christmas Eve) we played at the 3:00 service at GBRV. Afterward I needed just a few more groceries, and also we were hungry, so we went in search of a place to eat. A number of the places we would have enjoyed were already closed. But Subway was open! So we had our Christmas Eve early dinner at Subway, haha!
Later that evening we went over to Anthony and Lori's for our gift exchange. Lots of fun of course. We gave Austin a $50 bill and that put a big smile on his face. He already knew what he wanted to spend it on. We didn't think Hunter would be impressed with money, haha, so we got him a Fisher Price Little People Big Helpers' House. I had fun playing with it in the store and knew he would love it. He has a great imagination and good attention span. Austin gave Lori a necklace he had gotten for her and to Anthony he gave a cozy throw blanket. Lori got me a beverage warmer and I really, really like it! It keeps my coffee just the right temperature no matter how long it takes me to drink it.
Tuesday, December 25
Christmas day had a very low key start. Lori and the boys left for her parents' place in NYC. I actually did laundry like I do every Tuesday. In the afternoon I made a pan of lasagna and some peanut butter rice krispie treats in preparation for the arrival of Sam and Jenn and the kids. They got here late afternoon and things were fun and crazy. I didn't even take any pictures until evening after Bianca had already decided to go to bed.
Sammy and I had fun coloring with his new Sharpies and then making peanut blossoms. He unwrapped the Hershey kisses and pushed them into each freshly baked cookie. He was also reading to his parents. How's that for a nice switch? He loves to read, and he's learning to both read and write at an amazing pace.
Unfortunately, he had started to complain about an earache earlier that day, and as the evening progressed it got worse in spite of pain meds, especially after he had laid down for a bit. They decided it wasn't worth letting it go and possibly getting even more painful during the night. So around 11 pm Jenn took him to the ER at Mt. Nittany Hospital, and I went along for the ride. It wasn't busy at all, so we were home shortly after midnight. He was treated like a celebrity and enjoyed every minute of it, hahahaha!! They confirmed that he did indeed have an ear infection and started him on an antibiotic. He slept on a cot in our bedroom and woke up around 2:30 crying, so I gave him some more Advil and he went right back to sleep. The next day he didn't complain of pain at all. We were so glad we had decided to take care of it the night before.
Wednesday, December 26
The next morning Dick had to go back to work. Bianca was the first one up so I had a chance to play with her for a while. She is into "Cutie Cars." There are names for each one and she got a van to keep them in.
I made sausage and pancakes for breakfast. Later in the morning we left for Target. Jenn had a gift card to use and the kids had the cash I had given them. Sammy's choice was this! It really is beautiful and very soft and cuddly! He had fun placing it in strategic places. It's kind of startling to come out of my bathroom and find a big tiger crouching at my door, hahahaha!!
He also got the game UNO Attack, which we played the next day. Bianca got a lot more Cutie Cars. And would you believe it, as much as she played with them I got NO pictures of them!!
From Target we went to Discovery Space to play. We spent most of our time building things at the magnet table and then being silly with the weather map.
We were really hungry when we left there and went to Wendy's, Sammy's suggestion. We were trying to figure out what made him think of Wendys. Then I remembered that when the kids were here for a weekend in October we had gone to Discovery Space with Anthony and Lori and the boys and then to Wendy's afterward. Good memory, Sammy!
When we came home I tried my Instant Pot for the second time. Jeremy had sent me the recipe for Peanut Chicken. Sam was intrigued by the Instant Pot and was trying to help me figure it out. We had some good laughs as we bumbled our way through, especially when it was finished and we decided to let the pressure out. I didn't know what "natural release" meant in the recipe (Jeremy told me later), so we opened the pressure valve manually. Oh my goodness! Not only did steam come out, but liquid was spitting everywhere!! The chicken was very soft and delicious, and we ate it with rice. But it needed some color. Even Sam (who was never a vegetable lover) said, "Does it need peas or something?" I cracked up! I sliced some green onions and put them on top. The recipe did have a salad recipe to go with it, which I did not bother to make. Jeremy told me later that it's really a delicious salad. I also thought that cilantro would have been a good addition, both flavor and color. But I didn't have any.
After dinner Dick and I took the kids to the movies while Sam and Jenn went out on a date. We went to see Mary Poppins Returns. We LOVED it!!!! So much!! I took these pictures of us before it started. Trust me, Bianca was not sober faced most of the evening. She was on the edge of her seat sometimes and would have been dancing if there had been room to do so. The story, the music, the dancing, the creative imagination in this movie are absolutely wonderful. It was over two hours long and we did not get bored! I will definitely be buying it with a Barnes and Noble gift card I was given for Christmas.
The children were ready for bed that night!
Thursday, December 27
On Thursday morning I made bacon and cheesy eggs for breakfast. My plan was to take the children to Get Air - the trampoline park. Sammy was really looking forward to it. WELL. When we got there, the line was out the door!! Of course. No school all week and parents needing to get kids out of the house! We decided to go to the nearby mall to pass some time and check back later.
Our mall is kind of a sad place to be because of all the empty stores. Three of our anchor stores are gone - Penneys, Sears, and Bon Ton. Thankfully Macy's is still there. But we actually had a really good time there. Pet stores are always fun. We browsed an art store and a few other interesting ones as well as seasonal pop up stores. We ate lunch at Dino's Pizza which is still there.
On our way out we decided to do a photo shoot in the lobby area. Here are two of my favorites.
And some more. I love them all.
And this one! Sammy is such a cuddle bunny. Bianca can be too, but she's got a feisty streak and cuddling needs to be on her terms!
When we left the mall we went back to Get Air and there was no line out the door, so we decided to go in. But we got inside the first door and saw that the line was across the entire lobby. It looked miserable in there with so many people everywhere. So to Sammy's great disappointment, we left. There was one saving grace - we could go home and play his new UNO Attack game. Jenn and Bianca took a nap while Sam and I played his game with him. It is a hilarious game!! We had so much fun, and it was hard to stay quiet enough for the nappers in the house.
Then it was time for them to pack up and hit the road. Originally they had planned to stay longer, but they had a very important appointment on Friday that they needed to get ready for! A realtor, my friend Lisa Miller, was coming to take pictures and list their house for sale! They are planning to relocate to the Duncannon area where her family lives, which by the way, is an hour closer to us!! I'm excited about that!
Friday, December 28
By Friday evening it was indeed on the market! Now the waiting begins and it will not be easy. Selling a house and buying another is never easy. We are praying that the right family will find it and love it. It's such a wonderful house. I wish we were independently wealthy and could buy it as a second house. But that is most definitely not our situation!
Here is the Trulia link to their listing.
If you know anyone looking to buy a house in the Lebanon area, please share the word!
While they were prepping for their realtor visit yesterday morning Dick and I were at a funeral. Bill Spearly, a 94-year-old man who attended Fillmore UMC his entire life passed away last week. The Fillmore church building is actually for sale, but it was decided to hold the funeral there anyway. I had no idea the influence this dear man had in this community. He had a very small family, but FRIENDS!! The family visitation/viewing was to be from 10-11. However, people were already lining up at 9:15, and at 11:00 when the service was to begin the line was still out the back door. I snapped this from the piano.
What a wonderful service it was! The old Fillmore Choir sang, there was wonderful congregational singing, and lots of people shared, some very emotionally, their memories of Bill. He was a just a farmer who shunned technology, but his heart and influence were enormous. His mind was still as sharp as ever and he was still attending church regularly at GBRV. Unfortunately last week he went out to his barn to do some work and fell, causing a brain bleed that he could not recover from.
I'll close this post with an amazing shot of the sunset I got on my way over to Anthony's late yesterday afternoon.
We have a few big days coming up which I'll post about next year.
Happy New Year!
