Benefit Barbecue Weekend

At the end of my last post I said we had another big weekend coming up, right?  Well I was right.  Partly because of this:

And partly because of this:

This was the weekend of the big annual egg hunt and barbecue sponsored by Houserville House of Hope and The MOGS Motorcycle Club, for the benefit of a baby with serious medical needs.  And Sam, Jenn, and Sammy were here for the weekend too.  

On Thursday afternoon, as I was teaching piano lessons at the church, the place was buzzing with activity.  Lots of people were there stuffing plastic eggs with candy - 12,000 plastic eggs!  Ladies were in the basement kitchen baking cookies, so it smelled heavenly all throughout the building.  I had a house to clean and laundry to finish, so I told the ladies in charge that I'd go home to get my stuff done that evening so I'd be able to help with more food prep on Friday.  I also had an important date at 7:00 with Sophie via FaceTime.

That's me sitting over there under the lamp watching her play her latest songs!!  I love technology!

Also that evening Dick had to go to a sleep center for the night.  He's undergoing some sleep apnea diagnostics.  He didn't sleep the best and probably didn't snore nearly as much as he does when he's beside me!!  Heavens, if I knew I was going to be observed while I'm sleeping, I'd never be able to go to sleep!!

On Friday afternoon and evening the House of Hope was again hopping with activity.  I grated more cheese than I ever did in my life for the awesome mac and cheese that Amy always makes.  (Of course the jokes were flying about me cutting the cheese.)  We chopped a LOT of onions, we made many pans of baked beans, we washed a lot of dishes, cooked pounds and pounds of macaronis for macaroni salad. 

And we had loads of fun in the process.  Yes, that's a guitar in the foreground of the picture.  The pastor's teenage son wowed us with the song he wrote as a book report for school.  How's that for entertainment while you work?

Outside Kevin assembled the very manly 8-burner grill that was purchased at Sam's Club in the morning.

Jeff broke the new grill in by making steaks to feed all us worker bees.

We all had a late dinner of steak, baked potatoes, and salad.  We were tired and a little cranky and a lot silly.  So much fun.

Dick and I got home just minutes before Sam, Jenn, and Sammy arrived.  As usual, Sam and Jenn went out for a while.  Dick went to bed, and Sammy and I played.  He was totally interested in Destiny's doll house!  Mostly he would put pieces of furniture on its roof and put the people in beds and chairs and on the toilet!  Here he discovered his face in the bathroom vanity mirror!

Eventually he got a bit weepy when he realized Mommy and Daddy weren't around, but a few good books were just what he needed.  He fell asleep as I read.  

On Saturday morning I had time to hang out with them before I had to leave.  I wish I'd taken more pictures, but he's always moving!  Here's the one I took of him trying to help Sam fill our water cooler jug.

When I got to the church it was time to transport the grills, the tables, the paper supplies, the drinks, and all the food to the Spring Creek Park down the street.  The weather forecast said it would reach 52 degrees, but it wasn't anywhere close to that at 10:00 am!   I had layers on, and I was still COLD.  When we were choosing what jobs we would do, I chose the one where I could stand right in front of the big grill.  They were afraid I'd catch on fire a few times, but at least I was a little bit warmer.  Here we are around 11:00 am, ready for business.  Dick was back on the other side of the grills where it was really warm.  They were making chicken, hot dogs, and burgers.

The first people were ready to eat at 11, and by 12 we were really hopping.  I think they counted over 600 people that came through the line!    All the while we worked there were live musicians in the pavilion behind us.  We just had to dance sometimes!  So that helped to warm us up.

Of course Sam, Jenn, and Sammy came.  So did Anthony, Lori, and Austin.  Both boys participated in the egg hunt, but I didn't have any chance to watch it or take pictures of it.

We loved this very gentle dog, especially Sammy who insisted on putting his head against its head like he does to their cats!  Thankfully the dog was very docile and forbearing!

After 4:00 the troops loaded everything up again for the trek back to the church.  There was still so much cleaning up and putting away to do, and everyone was beyond exhausted.

When Dick and I got home, Sam ordered stromboli from Pizza Mia, and it was delivered to our door.  PERFECT!  

When Sam and Jenn went out, Sammy was really tired.  He crawled up onto my lap right after they left and by the end of the third book he was sleeping.  I was too tired to move.  We just conked out together till they got home later. 

It's amazing what a night of sleep does for you.  All us weary workers were at church this morning and had a wonderful time praising the Lord together.  I know I've said it before, but we have such an excellent team of musicians.  It's an absolute joy to lead praise and worship with them.  There were some young people there for the first time because of the barbecue yesterday.  One of them is pregnant and will probably be able to benefit from the services of our Mommy Shoppe.  That's really cool.

After we got home from church Dick grilled sausages and turkey burgers.  Anthony, Lori, and Austin came too.  We had a wonderful afternoon all together.  Here are a few pics of the boys.

I love these guys so much.  Sam and Jenn left around 4:00, Lori and Anthony around 5:00, and we've been taking it EASY all evening! 

So many good memories in my heart tonight.

Now we're having a thunderstorm, of all things!!  (Didn't we just have 20 degrees a few mornings ago??)

Our Easter 2013 weekend

Easter 2013 in State College was not a day to write home about.  It was cold and rainy.  Hey, at least it didn't snow, which would not have been too hard to imagine!  Now it's April 1st, cold and rainy again.  Grrrr.  Yesterday at one of our services we heard this one:  "You've all heard of false positives, right?  Well, I have one for you.  Spring is here!"   Funny, but too true!

On Friday I drove to Reading where Destiny had spent a couple of her Spring Break days at her mom's house.  I brought her here for the weekend.  We were amazed when we realized she had not been here since January 1st!  It's funny how she seems to just fit right back into our home and activities as if she'd been here the whole time.  She and I went on a very necessary late-night grocery shopping trip - she in her footed sleeper with shower sandals.  Why did I not get a picture??  When we came home I prepped a pork roast for the slow cooker, complete with Caribbean Jerk Seasoning and COKE!!  The main reason I had to get groceries.  Yes, the recipe for pulled jerk pork that I got from Jenn called for slow cooking the pork in coke!  Ahhh, it was DELICIOUS the next day!

On Saturday afternoon there was a huge Easter egg hunt at the park in Bellefonte.  It was more like a "gathering" than a "hunt", since they were just lying all over the grass.  Destiny thought it was kind of ridiculous - she likes to HUNT for them. 

She's in the foreground here.

Austin is the one bending over his bucket in this photo.  You can see they had a bouncy house there as well.

Back at home Destiny played with the neighbor girls, Dick worked outside.  He already had to use some of that stinky rabbit repellant!  He noticed that they have been starting to chew on our just-born daffodil buds!!!  It was a cool, but sunny day.  Dick even grilled chicken breasts for our dinner.

Meanwhile I worked at messing up the kitchen.  One outcome was this:  Yum!!

We hit the sack earlier than usual that evening.

Sunday morning dawned COLD.  I didn't even get a picture of Destiny in her dress and sandals.  It was so cold she went to church with a jacket and a blanket!  Here's a self portrait she took with my phone!  Her dress and sandals did match that hairband.  You'll just have to take my word for it!

Anthony and Lori came for the day.  Austin looked quite dapper, as usual, in a plaid shirt. (I hate how the flash on my camera phone turns eyes into headlights!)

After lunch everyone snoozed for a while, except Destiny and me.  She was bored, so we pulled out the Scrabble board.  I tried to take a picture of her across the table, but she was feeling silly and wouldn't give me anything but funny faces!

Later we painted eggs.  We tried some new ideas this year - baking the eggs to avoid cracking open, shaving cream with food coloring, and dipping into colored water and vinegar after drawing on them with a wax crayon.  We ended up liking our original way of painting with Q-tips the best anyway.  

We invited the neighbor girls to come over for the INDOOR egg hunt.  I think that's the first we've ever had to do that!  Later, after Anthony, Lori, and Austin went home Destiny hid the eggs again and the neighbor girls hunted them.  Then the girls watched A Bug's Life.  I didn't even get one picture of them.  

Meanwhile, in Florida Sophie keeps wanting new songs to play on her keyboard.  I sent her the words and note names for "Old McDonald Had a Farm."  In a short time George texted me this video.  I love it - it shows her exuberant personality.

They also took a Music@Home poster that I had left there to their local music store.  Here's Sophie pointing to it!  Silly girl!

Today I'll take Destiny home.  We have another big weekend coming up, but a lot of "regular life" to accomplish between now and then.

My Grandparents Day trip to Florida, part two

As I said in my previous post, Saturday evening was a big one.  Lisa and George's church, Grace Family Church, has five services each weekend - two on Saturday evening and three on Sunday morning.  We went to the 5:00 Saturday evening service.  Also there, sitting with us, were George's mom and her husband as well as George's dad and his fiance.  It was a good service, as it always is - great praise and worship music and a wonderful message from Pastor Craig.

Afterward we all went out for dinner to a restaurant called Seasons 52.  

There were eight of us -

George and Lisa

George Sr. and his fiance Judy

Sharyn and her husband Beau

Sophie and I

Again, I felt really sad that Dick couldn't be there with us.  But Sophie was my partner, and we had a great time together. 

Sunday was truly a day of rest.  The forecast was for severe thunderstorms, so we decided not to go to Busch Gardens as planned.  As it turned out, the storms all went around us, but it was okay.  We had fun.  We watched the first three lessons of my DVD, The Musical Staff and Sophie did the worksheets.  We played Scrabble (I had taught Sophie to play on Friday afternoon.)  And we had a great time playing the keyboard.  Lisa discovered that she still knew how to play part of her favorite piano song, Music Box Dancer.   Watch this - she had a live dancer in the background!

We also had fun playing an old duet.

Not to be outdone, George wanted to show Sophie the one song he knew how to play.  Turns out, I knew a part to go with that one too!  We even had a little bit of dog percussion at the end!

Sophie learned a few more songs that day too.

For dinner we went to a vegetarian Indian Restaurant, and I tried some things I'd never had before.  I keep getting braver!  I wanted a family picture of them.  So I got this one first - 

with the promise to Sophie that I would take a funny one!

And that was the end of our fun together.  When we got home, Sophie had to go to bed and I had to pack.

Early Monday morning, Lisa and I left the house for the airport.  It was a very warm morning - I was hot with my light jacket on.  My flight left at 6:45.  Less than two hours later we landed at the Dulles Airport in DC in a white winter wonderland.  I felt like turning right around and flying back to Florida.  Little did I know what a day I was in for.

I knew I would have a layover of three to four hours.  But it soon became apparent that nothing was happening on schedule if it was happening at all.  My 12:40 flight kept being pushed back.  When we finally boarded at 2:15 we were told that the plane was too heavy.  YIKES!!  The small airplane freaked me out in the first place.   A small plane in bad weather was worse.  And a small plane in bad weather that was too heavy was worse yet.  When they offered $300 vouchers to two people who would voluntarily get off and take a later flight, I decided to do it.  

They rebooked me for a 6:30 pm flight, but by the time I looked at the board, it was already delayed till 7:30.  I thought, "Oh boy, here we go again."  I used the $10 voucher they'd given for my dinner and went to Five Guys.  I ate and read and people-watched for a long time.  I never saw so many people forget all dignity and just run full tilt.  Mostly they were people who had just landed and were probably late for their next flight.  Finding an empty outlet to charge my phone was almost impossible too. Everyone was needing to do the same.  

When they announced that my flight was rescheduled for 9 pm, I lost it.  I just wanted to get home so bad.  I called Dick and Jeremy.  They both suggested I go to the service desk to see if I could find out if there realistically would be any flight to State College that evening.  What a joke.  The line at the service desk was LONG and people were MAD.  When it was finally my turn I was told that the plane I was supposed to go on was still in Norfolk with mechanical difficulties.  But they were sure there was no problem with a scheduled 10:00 flight.  By that time Jeremy had already come to the airport and I asked if I could get a flight in the morning.  They booked me for 8:37 am.  

So I went to Jeremy's for the night.  Thankfully I had put my contact solution, case, and glasses in my carry-on, as well as my meds and a change of underclothes.   And even more thankfully, I had left my toothbrush at his house the last time we were there!  And I got to meet Watson, his new puppy.  Here I am with my grandgreyhounds, Molly and Watson!  (Sorry Molly's eyes look so strange.  The flash turned them into white headlights, so I blackened them!  I don't think it looks much better, ha!)

We had fun watching The Voice on TV.  In the morning I did the best I could to feel presentable.  I had a comb and lipstick in my purse.  I used Jeremy's Old Spice deodorant!  The day was sunny and noticably warmer and flights were leaving on time.  By shortly after 10:00 I was at the State College airport where Dick picked me up.  

I put in a seven-hour day at work and then tried to do some catching up here at home in the evening.  I'm still playing catch-up, but I'm gaining ground!  Now I can cross blogging off my to-do list!

My Grandparents Day Florida trip, Part One

I'm back home from my Grandparents Day trip to Florida.  There's so much to tell, so this may have to be in segments.

When I left early Thursday morning it was COLD!!  The little plane I was taking from the University Park airport to Dulles had not even been started up yet when we boarded!  Then we had to sit while they de-iced it.  I was freezing the whole hour long trip to Dulles, even with a coat and a turtleneck and sweater on!  At Dulles I got my  next flight to Tampa without event, and by mid-morning I was already being picked up at the Tampa airport by George.  He took me to the yoga studio where Lisa was working.  Later Lisa and I went to the shopping center where she meets Sophie's school bus.  We went home to THIS:

Oh, that warm sunshine felt SO GOOD!!  As I lay on one of the chaise lounges this was my view:

 
After a dinner of tacos we had fun with Sophie's kareoke machine.  It was just fun to be with her again.

Friday morning was the Grandparents Day event that I went down for.  George's mother Sharyn picked me up, and we went together.  George's dad had also come down from PA and joined us at the school.  How I wished Dick could have been there too. There was a WONDERFUL breakfast for the grandparents, and I had such a nice time catching up with George's dad.  We had not seen each other since George and Lisa's wedding almost fifteen years ago!

We enjoyed looking at papers Sophie had written.  Here's her commercial for the American Girl doll swing she invented.

And a description of her grandparents.  Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the second page where she had written more.

There was a packet of activities for the kids to to with their grandparents, and Sophie took us on a tour of the school.  She loved that she was allowed to use the elevator, since the steps may be hard for grandparents, hahahahaha!!

Then there was an assembly in the auditorium.  Each elementary grade did something special.  Here's a very short video of second grade's song - actually a round.


After we left the school Sharyn and I took Sophie to Panera Bread for lunch.  

That evening Sophie had gymnastics practice.

After we got home Sophie discovered a reward for the good teacher's conference they had for her last week.  A keyboard!!  Immediately I started introducing her to some basic info about the keyboard, and I was amazed at the way she soaked it all in!  Here she is doing her first "song" - the C scale, actually the ending run in the Do-Re-Mi song.  She was THRILLED!


And then she quickly learned "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".


On Saturday morning their neighborhood had a yard sale.   Lisa and George were really happy with how well they made out and with the room they would have in their garage as a result of it!

A pretty view across their front lawn.

Saturday evening was a big night.  Check back for more about that in my next post.