Three, two, one, wedding day!!

What a week!!  It was packed full of good people and good times.  But before I start telling all about it I want to show you the flowers that are showing off in my kitchen.  The planter of poinsettia and amaryllis  was given to me from my choir after our Christmas cantata.  It took weeks for the amaryllis to bloom, but wow!!  It was worth the wait!

Tuesday, February 12

Now, back to last Tuesday.  When I was posting my blog that day we had had snow and then freezing rain.  I did not realize how much snow we'd gotten until I went outside to do some shoveling.    Ugh!!  Miki and Ingo were also out there shoveling, and then when Dick got home from work he joined in too.  They got the job done.  Then the five of us (Dick and I, Miki and Ingo, and Kicki)  gathered around our tiny kitchen table and ate the Southwest Quesadillas I had made.  I made a lot, even some extra ones filled with leftover scrambled eggs and bacon!  But we almost licked the platter clean!

Wednesday, February 13

I somehow took almost no pictures on Wednesday.  I made sausage and pancakes, both blueberry and chocolate chip, for breakfast.  Miki finished up everything for the wedding guest gift bags, including 5 Hershey kisses inside each of those boxes.  

I made sweet and sour chicken and fried rice for dinner, and Anthony, Lori, and the boys joined us here.  

Thursday, February 14

On Thursday morning we all were up bright and early, getting everything packed and into the vehicles.  We left for Lancaster County shortly after 8 AM.  It was a bright, sunny day and the ice-coated snow glistened.

Dick and I stopped in at Sam's place first to unload our stuff, then went to our favorite A & M Pizza in Manheim to FINALLY see Katrina for the first time in over ten years!!!  Oh my goodness!  I was just as smitten with her as I was when she was a baby!  She is absolutely delightful!  Her accent just melts me!!  We had so much fun eating lunch with her and Miki.

After lunch Miki went back to Fred and Deb's where she, Ingo, and Kicki would be staying.  I took Dick to his parents' house.  I forgot to mention that his knee started giving him trouble on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning it was so painful he had to use a cane!  We had brought our heat pad along, and he was taking ibuprofen.  He was glad for the chance to just sit instead of gallivanting around with Katrina and me.

Katrina and I had the best time!  Her boyfriend in Sweden asked her to get him some cinnamon fireballs.  So we went several places in Lebanon in search of them, only to see later online that Walmart and Target have them in big plastic containers.  But we were running out of time to go to either of those places.  

As we drove, we had some heart to heart talks and plenty of laughs, even a few tears.  It was so precious.  The last time she was here in the states she was 15 in October 2008.  Here's a picture from back then!  Do you recognize these people?

Katrina was the first one to make me a grandma back in 1993.  She got ALL the attention when they came over here that Christmas.  

On Thursday evening we hung out at Fred and Deb's house.  It was a great time.  Some of Jess's family were there, also Fred and Deb's daughter Laura's family.

We slept at Sam's house that night.

Friday, February 15

On Friday afternoon we were at Jess's parents' house helping with last minute wedding prep.  What a fun time!!  Miki and Kicki were there, Katrina was there, Bjorn and Jess were there, of course Jess's parents were there, as well as her younger brother, Bjorn's dad Krister was there from Sweden, we were there.  Everyone had jobs to do.  Pictures to put into frames,  errands to run, lists to coordinate, cakes to bake, chocolates to make, and more.

We were sent on some errands, and in our driving around we passed two of my childhood homes!

The rehearsal, at a church in Columbia, was held in the early evening, followed by a yummy meal of sandwiches and goodies in the church hall.  Sam and Jenn and the kids were there too because Sammy was a ring bearer.

When we left the rehearsal I found out that Jeremy and Mike were getting close to the Airbnb in Lancaster City that they would be staying in with some good friends.   It was his birthday, and I wanted to see him!!  So we decided to drive to Lancaster before going to the Airbnb that we and Anthony's family would be staying in near Mount Joy.  

We got to Jeremy and Mike's place about the same time they did.  It was an amazingly redone city house!!!  They were going to be going out with friends, so we didn't stay long.  Just as we were ready to go out the door I remembered that I wanted a picture with Jeremy on his birthday.  So I handed my phone to Mike to take a picture.  We started taking off our coats, but when I looked down I remembered that the last time I had a picture taken in that top I looked so heavy.  So I decided to keep my coat on for the picture.  I looked up and Jeremy was doing the exact same thing!!!  He looked at me and said, "Or maybe we'll keep them on and cover things up!"  We CRACKED UP!!  And there was no getting serious after that!!

Then we drove to the Airbnb that we and Anthony and Lori's family would be staying in.  We got there about exactly the same time they did.  What a wonderful house it was!  So comfortable, clean, and beautiful!  Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, kitchen/dining room, and laundry.  We loved it.

Saturday, February 16

Because the wedding was only starting at 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday, we had a leisurely morning.  Lori worked on my earrings.  (Miki had already made my necklace,bracelet, and earrings earlier in the week, but I wanted the earrings reworked.)  Hunter enjoyed the toys that were there.  Dick used the heating pad on his knee.  At lunch Anthony picked up some pizzas for us.  Sam had to take Sammy to the wedding early to get dressed with the guys, so he dropped Jenn and Bianca off at our house.  They got dressed for the wedding there too.  Bianca looked SO CUTE!!  I don't know why I wasn't taking more pictures.

The wedding was at a  beautiful church in Columbia.  Just the week before, Destiny had moved to the outskirts of Columbia with her mom!!  Wow, that made it so much easier to pick her up than if she still had lived in Reading 45 minutes away!!

We sat in the front with Katrina.  Miki was ushered in later and sat beside Dick.  When I had Katrina take this selfie we had a photo bomber, hahaha!!  That's Fred back there!

As we waited, I turned around and saw our family, and my heart was almost bursting.  I just had to quickly stand up and take a picture of them.  (Anthony and Austin hadn't come in yet.)  The guy in the foreground is Fred and Deb's son-in-law Mark, Laura's husband.   Their children were also in the wedding.

Here come Sammy and Payton, Mark and Laura's daughter.

This was Bjorn getting his first look at his beautiful bride!  Very emotional.  I love him so much.

Pastor Dustin gave a wonderful relationship message from Matthew 18 and 19.

Connor (Mark and Laura's son) and Sammy stood like little soldiers during the entire service.  And it was not a short one either!

Saying their vows.

They took communion together after their vows.  Bjorn's dad (looking on from the side) was his best man.

After the wedding a lot of pictures were taken.  Here's one of Dick and me with Bjorn and Jess.

And this one is Bjorn and Jess with his cousins who were present.  Except Hunter, who was acting like a terrible two at the time and refused to stand there, hahaha!

They did take a picture of our whole family, but I didn't think of asking someone to take it with my camera.  So I don't have that one.  I could have taken more pictures, but it is so rare for so much of our family to be together, and I just hated to miss any conversations and all the fun of being together.  

From the wedding we went across the Susquehanna River to the lovely John Wright Restaurant. We drove across on the "old" bridge for the first time in years, looking across at the "new" bridge.  Not exactly new anymore, haha!  But when you can remember something being built, even if it was in your teens, it seems new, right?

And that's all for this post.  The reception was fantastic!!!  I'll write all about that in the next post.

Snow days, fun with grands, cousins, Swedes

We're having an ice day here in our area.  We got snow overnight and now freezing rain.  Although I haven't really heard any rain the past few hours.  But all schools are closed today, including Penn State.  We have a houseful, but more about that later!

On Friday I went down to Sam's overnight because of my plans for Saturday.  Dick did not ask off work Saturday since the weather was going to be ok for driving, and I went by myself.  

As usual I had a ton of fun with Sammy and Bianca.  I made sloppy joes while they were showing off all their tricks with Sam.

And of course, no evening with them is complete without a dance party!

On Saturday morning I made pancakes and bacon for everybody, then got ready to leave.  I had a cousin reunion to go to, but I had another very important stop to make first!

My Miki was at Fred and Deb's house near Manheim!  She and her husband Ingo and her friend Kicki had arrived from Sweden on Thursday evening.   We had a sweet time catching up.  She showed me all the crafty things she's making for the gift bags for Bjorn's wedding.  

Deb served a delicious lunch while I was there.  

Then I left for my girl cousin reunion at my brother's house.  His wife Nancy and my sister Mary Ellen were the hosts.   These cousins are on my mother's side of the family.  There were also some of our male cousins' wives present.  

Nancy has a lovely snow backdrop in her basement where we gathered, so we took pictures of family groups in front of it.  We have many more cousins who were not able to come. 

I can't believe I did not take any pictures of the food display of cheeses, crackers, dips, chips, fruits, veggies, cookies, candies, and more.    It was beautiful and so delicious!!!

I had an uneventful drive home.  Well, almost.  I gotta rat on Dick a little bit.  I was feeling sleepy the first half of the trip home, so when I got to the Sheetz at Duncannon I pulled into a parking spot, reclined my seat, set my timer for 15 minutes, and started to snooze.  After a few minutes my phone started buzzing with a phone call from Dick.  I decided I'd better take the call.  He was working on one of our bathroom fans that has been extra noisy lately.  He wanted to vacuum it out, but couldn't find some parts for the vacuum cleaner.  One part was something we have never had for this vacuum cleaner (which we've had for almost 14 years.)  The other part was a brush that he just couldn't find, and I really couldn't help him find it over the phone.  So that was the end of my nap.  I wasn't sleepy anymore.  When I got home I went to the closet where we keep the vacuum cleaner, moved one thing, and there was that brush.  What is up with men and finding things????

On Sunday morning we went to our service at GBRV.  I found out my flute player Brenna was still sick and wouldn't be there.  I had so many beautiful parts planned for her - a descant with two of the hymns, a guitar/flute duet in the middle of our choir song, The Gift of Love, and a flute/piano duet for the offertory.  I was so sad she couldn't be there. 

We went to Calvary's service afterward.  I saw Lori before I went into the service and found out she would be doing the announcements.  I said, "I'll be videoing you!"  She rolled her eyes!  So would you believe I thought I was taking a video the whole time she was doing those announcements, and discovered later that I had really just taken a picture at the beginning and at the end, hahaha!!  I was holding up my phone that whole time for nothing!

We had a nice afternoon with the boys.  Hunter napped for at least 2 1/2 hours, and I napped too.  Austin was on a super creative streak.  I didn't get pictures of the other things he made, but here's his Lego creation.  He doesn't look at any instructions, just invents stuff.  

After we took the boys home Dick and I went grocery shopping, stocking up for our week of guests.  Then we stopped for some Dairy Queen cones.  Perfect Sunday night treat. 

On Monday morning Miki, Ingo, and Kicki made the trip here from Deb and Fred's place.  After lunch they made a shopping trip to their favorite Michaels.  I was making Middle Eastern Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew.  Plans were for Anthony and Lori and boys to join us for dinner.  However, we were going to be getting snow and ice in the evening, so I met Anthony late afternoon when he was making a run for more salt, and gave him some of the stew and also some meatballs I had made for the boys.  I knew that the stew would not be a big hit with them.  

Miki had already started using my dining room table as a craft table, so the five of us cozied up around my tiny kitchen table for dinner!  Ingo was an enthusiastic audience for Dick's deer hunting stories, hahaha!  

In the evening I was helping Miki with the gift bags.  Of course we were having a little bit of fun too, and some heart to heart chats. 

So this is a nice stay-at-home day with Miki and the crew.  I made bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast, I'm getting my laundry done, getting this blog updated before our huge weekend, and will be making Southwest Beef Quesadillas for our dinner.  

Have a good rest of the week!

Warmer week, windy day, creative boys

What a ferociously windy day we are having!  Looks are deceiving!

We had much milder temperatures this week and a whole lot of rain the past day or two.  I guess this wind is introducing our next dip into winter temps again. 

The only thing I really took pictures of since I blogged on Saturday was when the boys were here on Sunday afternoon.  Both of them were doing such creative things.

Austin is into medieval things, so he decided to make a mace.  I had never heard of it, but he knew exactly what he wanted to do.  Most times he will look things up on the computer to get ideas how to make them.  This time he didn't even do that.  He just started by crumpling two pieces of computer paper into a ball and wrapping them up in duct tape.  

Then he proceeded to add duct tape spikes to the ball.

Next he rolled up a piece of red paper and covered it with duct tape to make a handle for it. 

And there was his medieval mace.  Probably a weapon of torture, unfortunately.  Yikes!

Meanwhile Hunter wanted to draw.  He drew a face with glasses, hahaha!!  When I took this picture he was adding hair to the head.

He just loves this book.  I probably showed it before.  Each animal in the book gets a booboo.  So first we clean it, then we kiss it....

..... and then we put a bandage on it (5 of them provided with the book!) and say, "ALL BETTER!"  

We went over to their place to watch the super bowl that evening, but not in the barn like we have done sometimes.  It wouldn't have been worth seeing on the big screen anyway.  I just enjoyed the chance to catch up with Lori.

So my week has been the same stuff as usual - cooking and doing music prep, choir practice.   Except one new thing.  A few weeks ago I got a dress at Ross for Bjorn and Jess's wedding, but I can't find any necklace and earrings to go with it.  I decided to buy stuff to make my own.  Here's just a little sample of some of the beads I got. I also got some bigger ones to add variety.  I got a few little pliers too, but I'm waiting for Dick to have time to help me put the clasps, etc on the ends.  We shall see how this goes!

Oh I forgot one funny story.  One day this week Hunter stuck a pea up his nose at daycare.  They had to call Lori to come because they are not allowed to put anything up a child's nose to get it out.  Later she sent me a picture, hahaha!  I didn't even remember to ask her if he blew it out himself or if she had to fish for it, lol!

And one more funny picture.  As you know, I cook for two households and we don't all have the same preferences.  Lori prefers that I use organic meat, but for ourselves I really don't care.  I figure at our age we need all the preservatives we can get.  Just kidding!  Anyway,  I try to keep our things in the freezer clearly marked, and sometimes I like to have some fun with it!

I need to run along now.  After I pick up Austin from school and take the Curried Chicken Soup I made over to their place, I will be hitting the road for Lancaster County.  Hope I don't blow away!  

Tomorrow afternoon I will be getting together with a bunch of girl cousins at my sister-in-law Nancy's place.   I also want to stop in at Dick's brother Fred's place because some very special people arrived there last night.  Our daughter Miki and her husband Ingo as well as Miki's friend Kicki!!  They flew from Sweden yesterday, of course because of Bjorn's upcoming wedding on the 16th.   Tonight I'll sleep at Sam's and have some time with Sammy and Bianca.  

Have a good weekend!

A family funeral, a sick boy, COLD temps, snow, and soup!

Time to catch up here!

Last Friday I took some of that ham and bean soup (see previous post) over to Anthony and Lori's, and I have not driven since!!  Dick came to their place after work, and we left from there to go down to Sam and Jenn's overnight.  We had a fun evening.  I had brought the ingredients along to make chili, and Sammy was helping me (kind of!).  At least he enjoyed dressing the part, haha!  We also had a hilarious time looking at old high school yearbooks that Sammy had found in a box.

Saturday morning we went to pick up Grandma Mary to take her along to my Aunt Dorothy Witmer's funeral.  As I said last week, Dorothy was married to my Dad's brother Luke.  She was a warm, cheerful, friendly woman, and just six months ago was diagnosed with acute Leukemia.  I was so very touched and inspired as many of her children and grandchildren shared stories of how she loved them and stayed in touch with them and prayed for them.  There were tears and laughter.

It was a very cold day, so our family (Dick and I, Doris and Dale, Mary Ellen, and Dick and Nancy) decided not to go to the burial.  Instead we stayed with Grandma  Mary at the church until everyone came back for the meal.  We had good conversations with people we hadn't seen in years, and of course some good conversations and laughter just amongst ourselves.  Grandma Mary is a very entertaining story teller!  We love her so much!

The meal time was absolutely wonderful.  There were so many cousins and some aunts and uncles that I had not seen in many, many years.  I needed a LOT more time to catch up with everyone.  My heart was so full when we left for home.

On Sunday morning when we left for church we were completely surprised at how it was snowing!

When we left the service at GRBV it had stopped and the roads were clear.  So we went to Calvary's 10:45 service.  When we left that service it was really snowing again.  We went to buy some much-needed groceries, then headed right over to Anthony and Lori's.  I took this picture as we headed up their private road.  We had some trouble because the van does not have four-wheel drive, but we made it.

Lori had already left for the airport.  She had a work trip in San Diego.  And as so often happens when she has a work trip in the winter time, Hunter was sick!  Not sure how that happens!  We had gotten some pizzas to make, and also a bucket of fried chicken.  We stayed there with the boys while Anthony went to Lowes to stock up on salt.

Later Dick and I went home in the truck to get my stuff.  I decided that with the snow and Hunter being sick, I would just plan to stay at their place till Lori came back on Wednesday.  I cancelled my Monday piano lessons, so I would have no need to drive anywhere.  Dick sleeps better in our bed, so he came to Anthony and Lori's each evening after work for dinner and time with the kids.

It really was a beautiful place to be, especially knowing that I had no need to come or go.  We had more snow later in the week.

Hunter started out with a cough and a fever.  He was actually quite cheerful at the beginning of the week.  But then he started fussing with his ears and seemed really, really miserable.  On Wednesday morning Anthony took him to the doctor.  I went along for the ride and to get some more groceries.  He did have an ear infection. The rest of Wednesday he was a really sick boy.  I could barely get him to eat or drink.

At the same time the horrible Polar Vortex was hitting our area and we weren't even sure Lori would be able to make it back home that day, but thankfully she did.  When Dick and I left for home that evening (in the truck, because I was not about to try driving down their road) he was perking up just a bit.  All schools, even Penn State, were closed on Thursday due to the sub zero weather and wind chill.  Lori said Hunter was pretty lethargic all that day.

We also cancelled choir practice Thursday evening, so I had a whole day at home to do some catching up.

Friday morning Dick took me over to their place before he went to work so I could stay with Hunter.  He finally started feeling better!

I didn't mention Austin at all.  He had actually been sick a couple of weeks ago and missed a whole week of school, so he was good to go this week.  Here are a couple of pictures I took of him this week.

Here's a cute video of Hunter singing Old McDonald.  

It snowed most of Friday.  Dick came over after work, and once again we both went home in the truck.  My van is still parked over there, haha!  It's warming up some today, so this afternoon we'll go over and clean it off and I will see if I still know how to drive after a week, lol!!

So what did we eat all week?  It was definitely a soup kind of week!  On Monday I made a big pot of my favorite recipe of chicken noodle soup.  On Tuesday we just had hamburgers and the fixin's.  (Once in a while you have to make something that Austin likes, haha!)  On Wednesday I made cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese on rye.  On Friday I made cream of potato cheese soup and bran muffins.  I think I gained two or three pounds this week!  

Here's a Throwback Thursday picture I posted of a big snow in February 1979.  I think we got about a foot-and-a-half and built a big snowman.  That's Anthony at age 2 and Lisa, age 5.  How easy and uncomplicated those days were.  

And another fun one.  I saw on FB that some people were posting a picture of themselves and their parents and then asking which one they look the most like.  So here's mine.  With very little exception, everyone thought I most resemble my dad.  I am definitely a Witmer. 

Well, gotta run now!  Hope you're having a great weekend!