Bianca weekend, sweet baby pictures

Life just keeps moving on, doesn't it??

I gotta tell you about our weekend with Bianca.  I have usually had Sammy and Bianca here on three-day weekends when their school has a Monday off.  Last weekend that was the case because of Presidents Day.  However, Sammy had two birthday parties to attend, so he could not come.  Hmmm.  Is he getting to be too popular for weekends at Mahna's house??  (That has always been his name for me - he made it up when he was just a year old!)   

So, this was the first time ever for Bianca to be here by herself.  It was about time, right?  She's 11 years old!  But seems much older than that, really.  On Saturday we met Steph about halfway to pick her up.

Hunter was eager to see her, so Lori brought him over.  We decided to play Monopoly.  BUT... Hunter had never played it before, and he was happily using up all his money to buy properties without thinking what might happen eventually when he would have lots of properties with not houses on them and very, very little cash left.  When that happened he was done.

  

I made White Chicken Chili for dinner.  Anthony came to pick up Hunter, and Bianca and I had some fun with an app on my phone in which I can do AI editing.  I took a picture of each of us, and then we told AI what to change.  We told it to give Bianca a blonde pixie cut, to give Dick brown hair and beard, to give me a brown pixie, smooth skin, and full lips.  Here's what we got, hahahaha!!

It was Valentine's Day.  I had gotten this for Bianca, because I knew how much she loves candy.

  

I smiled when I saw how she had her bed prepared.  Does anybody here remember when she used to bring SO MANY stuffed animals with her?  And she had a name for each. 

And look at this Valentine sweetheart!!!  Destiny sent me this picture and I nearly kissed my phone screen.  Doesn't she look older than three weeks??

Another thing Bianca and I did on Saturday was play clarinet and piano together.  I had a simple medley of God Is So Good and O How I Love Jesus that I had prepared for a girl at church, but we had never done it.  They were new songs to Bianca, and she had never really played her clarinet apart from the school band, but we kept going over and over it.  When I suggested that maybe we could play it together at church Sunday morning since the teens and tweens were going to be doing the call to worship, the sermon, the prayer and share time, etc.  (Pastor Jim was on vacation and had helped the kids to prepare for this before he had left.)  Bianca was unsure at first, but then said she wants to do it.  I was very careful to not push, because I knew that would definitely work the opposite for her.  

So Sunday morning we did the prelude!  It was I who messed up a bit at the beginning, not her!  I was SO proud of her!! 

Another highlight of the service was when Izabella gave the message.  She was so confident, and what she shared was very, very good.  It's been so fun to watch her grow up over the years we have been at this church. 

We had a full day ahead!  Our two afternoon events were both at State College High School.  At 1:00 there was an annual performance of West African drumming and dancing. 

 There were young children, older kids, and some adults (including Lori) performing.  It was all so beautiful and entertaining and meaningful!

Lori was drumming with the older group, but she was behind that side curtain with some other adults. 

From there we went to the other auditorium (yes, there are two!  The school is HUGE.) The drama department was doing the musical "Legally Blonde."   

It was good, I guess.  But I never even watched that movie, so I didn't really know the story line.  I didn't think the singers were as good as the ones at Manheim Central, which surprised me, being such a big school.  And I couldn't see!!  The auditorium did not have a sloped floor, and the lady in front of me was taller and each time I cocked my head one way to see better, she would do the same! Ugh!!  Plus I was so sleepy.  

From there we went to Texas Roadhouse with the gift cards we had been given for Christmas.  This kid ate a lot of those delicious rolls!!  

Back at home we laughed our way through "My Cousin Vinny" on TV. 

On Monday we went to Barnes and Noble and browsed, then got some sweets and drinks at their Starbucks cafe.  

She wanted to make brushetta for us.  So we went to Walmart to get the necessary ingredients.  She knew exactly what she needed. 

Back at home again she got busy with one of my aprons on! 

It was SOOOOO delicious!!!

Then we packed up, went over to Anthony and Lori's to take the pulled chicken I had made for them, then to Dick's shop.  He was getting off at 4:00 and we left from there to go meet Sam and Steph halfway. Always a fun time catching up a little bit!

On the way home we went to a car wash.  So did a LOT of other people. We had to wait in line a long time. The snow and slush and salt makes for very, very dirty cars!

This past week was pretty uneventful.  I went for a WALK one day!!  Because of my plantar fasciitis and the freezing weather I have not walked in months.  But it went up into the 50's that day, and the sun was shining, and I decided it was time to see how my feet would do.  Ahhh!  The did not hurt, and it felt glorious to be outside in beautiful weather.  Even this tree with no leaves was beautiful against the blue sky!

Another evening when I took the boys home from school there were beautiful sunset views from their driveway.

I spent this weekend catching up on some things and relaxing a bit more than usual.

I'm having some really, really frustrating issues with my computer.  It's an old MAC and it can no longer be updated to newer versions of software.  My music composer program has been seriously acting up and then my photos have frozen.  I'm truly surprised that by hook and by crook I was able to access my photos for this blog post.  

Hopefully Anthony will have time this week to figure out what to do next. 

And now some more pictures that cause this great grandma to do undignified things like kissing my phone screen!

Looking at her daddy!

Destiny's mom (on the right) was there last week.  On this picture Ozzy's mom is holding Ketsi.  They were celebrating Ozzy's younger brother's birthday.

Okay friends!  Goodnight!

 

Last days of our trip, life back at home.

Friday was our last day there.  As I said in my previous post, Elizer was home from school since he had been throwing up during the night.  I did all our laundry, did some cleaning, and of course held this precious little angel. 

For dinner Ozzy and Destiny took us to their favorite Mexican restaurant, Marisqueria y Taqueria La Furia.  I just looked this up in Google Translate, and it said "Seafood Restaurant and Taco Bar La Furia."  This is where we ate after Destiny's graduation from beauty school last January. They have a live Mariachi band in the evenings, but we went at 4:00 to protect Ketzi from the noise.  

I was too busy enjoying my food to get any pictures while we were eating.  Except after the rest of us were finished and Destiny was having fun with her big seafood bowl.  She had also gotten this last year to celebrate her graduation.  I said I guess this year she's celebrating giving birth!

We had a fun, relaxing evening at home after our dinner.  After a while Ozzy went for some Frosties from Wendy's for all of us.  We were really living it up our last evening together!

After getting the bathroom all nice and warm, Destiny gave Ketzi her first tub bath.  She didn't mind it at all!

On Saturday morning Dick and I got ourselves showered and dressed and then started getting our stuff packed up.  Of course Elizer woke up and tried to persuade us that we didn't need to leave.  I hated to tell him that we had to get back for church the next day, because I knew that would make him want to come along.  

When Dick folded up his air mattress Elizer noticed some brand new puzzles on his shelves that were still unwrapped from the shrink wrap.  He begged me to do some puzzles with him.  How could I possibly say no??

We did it!

I got this precious picture when Destiny brought Ketzi to Elizer's room.  

I turned it into a black and white.

Here's a picture of the front of their house.  They live on the left half of the house.  

The side of the house.  There's a small fenced-in lawn in the back with a parking spot.  We were fortunate that they are right next to a small food mart with a parking lot, so we could park at the very edge of that lot near their front door.  

We said our very reluctant goodbyes.  Elizer said, "I'm going to go call my dad and then I'll call you, because I'm trying not to cry."  Well.  Guess who wanted to cry after hearing that???

It was about 10:15 when we left and hit the road toward home.

It was a very cold day, and would get colder and colder as we headed east.  Our temp at home was to be below zero that night and the next day - with wind and possibly blowing snow.  

I could not believe it, when about half an hour after we left we got a message that our church service would be canceled Sunday morning due to weather conditions.  We wouldn't have had to leave!!!!!  

We had no problems on the trip home, and again Dick drove the entire way.  It was around 6:45 when we got here.  Of course we had turned the heat back and the hot water heater off, so you better believe we took care of that!  Time to use more electricity again.  UGH!!

It was actually good to have Sunday to relax and to work on the plans for next Sunday's music.

The plants at my front windows bloomed while we were gone.   I have totally neglected keeping them trimmed back and repotted, but they don't even care.  I'm pretty sure all of them were from planters Lori gave me for Mother's Day several times years ago.  

On Monday I made cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for us and for Anthony and Lori.  I took the food to their place and and stopped for groceries on my way home.  

Today was like a "one-day miracle" as they said on the news.  Our temps went into the high 30's!!!  I had to at least stand on the porch for a while to enjoy it.  I considered going for a walk, but the snow is piled on either side of the streets here and I would hate to have to jump into the snow to get out of a car's way. 

I spied a cardinal at the bird feeder this afternoon. 

Ok.  Now I'm caught up here and I can get started on all the music work I have to do!

Our week days at Destiny's, part one

Wow, it's hard doing these blog posts about our trip.  I want to be holding this precious baby instead!!!! 

On Monday morning Dick and I took Elizer to school.  I don't remember what we did during the school day besides holding Ketzi. Actually, I think I was doing Elizer's laundry and reorganizing his clothing drawers. 

We did some research on barber shops, and Destiny found one that was perfect about 15 minutes away.  After school Dick and I took Elizer there.  It was a corner Mexican barber shop with six barbers working, everyone talking Spanish and laughing - a really fun atmosphere!  They immediately took Elizer, and we showed the barber pictures Destiny had sent us on Dick's phone.  He did not understand English, we do not understand Spanish, but we communicated with those pictures and a text message Destiny sent us in Spanish.  Elizer sat there like a brave little man the whole time.  

He was so happy with his new haircut, and we let him give the barber the money for it.  He said, "Haircuts aren't scary anymore!"  Destiny will definitely be taking him there again. 

 We made burgers for dinner, then watched "Groundhog Day" since it was in fact Groundhog Day!  They had never seen the movie before.

More baby loving on Tuesday after taking Elizer to school!!  Oh that soft, kissable face!!!  I just can't stand it!

We went on a little "field trip" with Destiny and Ozzy to a Mexican bakery they really love.  Oh, the aroma when we walked in!  And the tremendous variety of baked goods!  I could see many more on racks in a back room.  Destiny said they sell out every day!  Of course we helped them out a bit!  So hard to choose!

We got back home just in time to meet Elizer at his bus stop nearby.  For dinner I made a favorite Hello Fresh recipe that Destiny had first made when they lived with us several years ago.  When I had asked her if I should bring any recipes along, this was the only one she wanted.  Creamy Lemon Spinach Ricotta Ravioli.  Here's the picture on the recipe card compared to my real-life dish.  Somehow I can never get it to look like the picture, but tastes good anyway!

Wednesday was a pretty laid back day.  

When Elizer gets home from school he can hardly wait to go to his room to play video games with his daddy.  Alex and Destiny got him a game system for Christmas.  So they play their video games together across the many, many miles and talk on the phone as they're playing.  I love the connection, but I'm concerned about the violence in the games, which seems to be typical.  Alex also reads books to him over the phone sometimes before Elizer goes to sleep.  So precious.  

Thankfully Elizer also loves to color, which he and I did together sometimes.  

I made meatballs for dinner.  Destiny didn't have any spaghetti noodles, so we used bowtie pasta instead.  Still delicious with the Rao sauce!

I chose Elizer's big brother shirt on Thursday for him to wear to school.  Always a clown!

More baby holding!  

She had a two-week doctor appointment that day and she is already a little more than a pound above her birth rate!

I made Ginger Sweet Potato Lentil Stew in the afternoon for us to have later.  We had a big field trip to go on!  Just a few blocks from their house is the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  It would normally be quite expensive for all of us to go there, but Destiny discovered that on the first Thursday of each month there is an amazing discount if you go from 4:00 and 8:00 pm.   We took Ozzy's younger brother along, and it was only $36 for ALL of us!!! 

It is four stories of SO MANY interesting things.   The entrance is on the bottom floor.  You could easily spend an entire day there.  We definitely got our steps in that day!  

Destiny and Ozzy taking a break from the walking.  This was a pretty big undertaking just two weeks after giving birth.  But she's strong and healthy!

On the very top floor is the carousel.  We got the boys on it just in the nick of time! 

The stew was waiting for us when we got home.  Elizer didn't want that so I made him some chicken nuggets from the freezer, and he also ate a whole apple.  He loves apples.  It was hard to get him settled.  He was fussing about his belly hurting.  I got myself settled on my bunk under his and then.....  Here's what I wrote on my Facebook the next morning, although I took it down because I didn't feel like reading all the comments about it.  

"Last night after we were all settled and I was trying to fall asleep, Elizer started crying, then coughing, then THROWING UP!!  I seriously did not know where to even start.  His bed is piled with pillows and stuffed animals and blankets.  I had to somehow help him down the ladder while he was covered in chunky vomit and crying in his sleep.  

Destiny heard the commotion and came over to help.  Some of it had fallen down onto my bed.  After about half an hour of cleaning up the boy, removing the bedding, throwing things into the washer (which thankfully is right next to the bathroom), and putting a blanket on my bed for us to lie down on, Elizer and I settled down together.  

For maybe half an hour when it started again!!!  I yanked him out of my bed so fast it all landed on the carpeted floor.  Once again Destiny heard the commotion and came over to help.  And once again we cleaned him up, I cleaned up the bedroom floor, made a place for us to lie down, and tried to go to sleep.  It was after midnight by this time. 

He cried and moaned again sometime later, and I grabbed the container we had ready.  But he settled down without further ado.  

He's staying home from school today.  I'm not at all sure how my stomach feels this morning. 

Here's the kicker:  Dick, sleeping on the air mattress right there in the same room, was completely unaware of it all.  How????"

Ok.  This is already way too long.  So I'll do another post about our last day and our trip home. Oh, and by the way, no one else got sick!!  I guess is was not a stomach virus, but too much food too late.