September weekend

On Friday we once again left Dick's shop shortly after 4:30 and made it to the Manheim Central game in good time for the 7:00 start.  The Barons did a terrific job, winning 42-3!  Bjorn was out there with the offense every time.  I would HATE to be in his way out there, haha!!  He is a FORCE to deal with!!  Here are some action pics.

I took this one to send to Bjorn's mama and dad and sister so they could see their boy (#72).

The Cedar Crest band did a great job during half time.  That's the district Sam and Jenn live in.  Maybe some day Sammy will be out there playing with them!

After their big win the team had a "meeting" before they went their separate ways.  Our boy is right there in front.

A very, very happy boy, I might add!

Here he is with his guardians - Aunt Deb and Uncle Fred Stauffer.  Look at that smile…..

……it hasn't changed much since he was an adorable two-year-old, hahahaha!!

And speaking of smiles.  Look at Sophie's smile on Saturday morning at her first gymnastics competition for the season!  I wished we had a private jet that we could have flown from Manheim to Tampa overnight!  But instead we drove home right after the game, arriving shortly after midnight.

We've had a pretty low-key weekend, which we needed after that big Friday night.  After church today we picked up Austin, complete with his new toy - a rubber King Cobra!!!  He thought it was SO funny!  I hate snakes so bad, but I tried to be a good sport and play along!

Eventually our outrageously comfy sofa and pillows practically swallowed him up!

Later we went to Anthony and Lori's for hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire.  The cool temps this evening were just perfect for sitting around the fire and talking till dark.

Today Destiny turned 14!!  I can't believe it.  I have seldom ever missed being with her on her birthday.  But doing a long trip today seemed out of the question for us, and she had plans to go to a movie with friends.  We talked on the phone.  And I sent her a bunch of pictures last night, which she loved.  Here are a few of them.

Frank holding her soon after she was born.

The grandmas!

And here are some cute ones from her first birthday, which was right after 9/11.  We had lots of heavy discussions at that party due to the events of that horrific week.

This is such a great picture of people we were close to back in those days.  

And one more - a current picture of Destiny!  Please notice the shoes - they are the most important part of her wardrobe these days, haha!   SOOOOO like her dad!!

And now I'm putting myself to sleep.  Goodnight!

Clouds and geraniums

I am about finished with all my jobs for this week and now it's time to get ready to hit the road for another football game at Manheim Central.  This time we'll be driving the two hours back home afterward, which we are not looking forward to.  But we simply cannot afford for Dick to take off work too many Saturday mornings, especially with all the trips we'll be making to Lancaster County this fall. We'll take turns napping and driving this evening.  At least there are two of us. 

Here's a glorious picture I took outside my office door yesterday - zoomed in, of course.  The clouds were so amazingly enormous and puffy.

I'm also tickled with my hanging plants this summer.  I always feel guilty when someone gives me a hanging plant, because I'm bound to kill it after a month or so.  But I've taken more care of them this year, and it's paying off.  

Happy weekend, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

Football, hair appointment, band aids, and fun memories

We did not go to Bjorn's football game this Friday evening.  It was not a home game.  But we did keep close tabs on the game via an online live blog as well as the text messages from a friend who was at the game.  The Manheim Barons had a good lead for quite a while, but they lost in the end.  They were up against another good team, the Hempfield Knights.  It was a VERY hot, humid evening.  They will be glad for cooler weather for those games.

I got this picture of the game off the live blog.  I don't see #72 along the side, so I guess he's out there playing.  He told me he played every time the offense was out there, and every other time the defense was out.  That boy is living his dream!

On Saturday morning I drove to Manheim for a hair appointment with my all-time favorite hair dresser. It has been almost four years since I had him do my hair, and I miss his expertise so much.  I confess I have a high school class reunion coming up.  Haven't been to one in fifteen years!  So I decided to see if Jay could possibly fit me in.  Bless his heart, he was leaving Saturday night for a two-week vacation in Italy, but he made time for me at 11 am!  I felt pretty special.  We had fun catching up.

When I was finished I went to Fred and Deb's place to pick up Bjorn.  We were planning to meet Sam and Jenn and the kids at the Jigger Shop in Mt. Gretna, but as we neared it, a terrible storm descended upon us.  Pretty scary among all those big trees, especially after hearing all the dire reports on TV that morning about the potential 60 MPH winds that could accompany the storm.

As it turned out, the Jigger Shop was already closed for the season!  So we went to Sam and Jenn's place instead.  Bianca was sleeping when we arrived, and she slept while I held her the whole time we were there, probably an hour-and-a-half.

Sammy was cracking us up, as usual.  He has a band-aid obsession right now.  I think he had seven lined up on his one leg!  Bjorn had some major boo boos - a huge brush burn on his knee, gashes on his hand from someone's cleat.  It took some persuading, but eventually Sammy agreed that he could share one of his band aids with Bjorn, hahaha!

Here he was entertaining us with his drummer skills.  He really does feel the beat!

I took Bjorn back to Fred and Deb's around 5:00 and headed for home.

We had had fun reminiscing about the summer when Bjorn was two years old and their family was at our place for a month over Lisa's wedding.  Bjorn had a faint memory of playing out front with a ball.  I remember that Sam and Ray had such a great time with him, and that they were impressed with Bjorn's soccer skills at that point.  So I looked up those pictures a while ago and scanned them.  Such good memories!

This was Sam with Bjorn and Katrina.

And this was Ray and Bjorn - and our famous picture wall.  

This morning we were at both our churches, and this afternoon I took a much longer nap than planned.   I slept right through my alarm and several text messages, and woke with a start, wondering what day it was and why it was broad daylight!  

We met up with Anthony, Lori, and Austin at the airport park early this evening.  It's crazy how a week   can go by without seeing each other, even though I'm at their house several times a week!  We're like ships passing in the night, except it's in the day!  It was fun hearing what a great start Austin has had in kindergarten.

There was a hot air balloon floating lazily, and several airplanes took off while we were there.  It was an absolutely perfect evening - clear and warm and no humidity.

Wordless Wednesday

Labor Day Weekend 2014

As I said in my last post, Friday evening was Bjorn's first football game with the Manheim Central Barons.  Dick was able to get off at 4:30 and we were on the road toward Manheim shortly thereafter.  I had already gotten a sub and salad for us at a nearby Subway, so we were good to go without any stops.  We arrived about 6:45, walked a few blocks from where we parked, used the restrooms, and got into the stadium just as they were singing the National Anthem.  I searched the line-up for red hair, and found him!

There he was - #72, and what a first game he had!

He pretty much played in most of the game, both offense and defense.  AMAZING for one who did not come up through the Baron football system.

I think he's on top of the pile on this one.

Sam and Sammy joined us too.  Sammy was much more impressed with the band than the game.  No surprise there!  Music just calls his name everywhere he goes, all day long!

We were not sitting far from Dick's brother Fred and his wife Deb, who Bjorn lives with.  I caught this cute pic of them with their grandchildren.

The Barons won the game 42-6, again, no surprise there.  They have a long history of winning.  Bjorn was a very elated, very sweaty boy after the game!  The coaches had nothing but praise for him afterward.  I felt proud to be his grandma, but a little sorry for us as we walked away.  Sorry that we live so far away and can't be the ones taking care of him.  Then I felt ashamed of myself when I thought about Miki and Bjorn's dad much further away, not able to be there at all.  I'm so thankful for technology.  I sent a picture to them and to Katrina right after the game started so they could feel like they were part of it. 

Dick and I slept at his parents' house that night and had breakfast with them in the morning.  Last time I was there I took pictures of Dad's vegetable garden.  This time I got some of their lovely flowers.  I like this beautiful geranium.  Somehow an elephant leaf jumped up there and started growing with the geranium!

We drove home then and relaxed a bit until Sam and Jenn and the kiddos arrived.  

FINALLY I got a chance to hold Bianca after three weeks.  We soon discovered what a strong little girl she is!  She loves to stretch her long arms out, almost seeming to punch the air!  When you walk around with her, she holds her head up and looks around, and when you hold her up to your shoulder, she tries to stand on her legs!  And she has no qualms about letting her opinions be known, haha!  It will be so fun to watch her grow and develop.  But while she still lets me, I cuddled her and kissed her precious face just as much as I possibly could.  There's just nothing like a sweet baby face!!

It was lovely outside.  Sammy had a blast with a big water gun Dick picked up somewhere.  

He thought it was SO funny that he had made me wet!

We grilled chicken breasts for sandwiches and ate outside.

Later Sam and Jenn went out on their first date in a long, long while.  My cell phone camera did a terrible job on this one.  )-:

Pictures of our evening with the kids.

Grandpa still knows how to do it!

She took a long nap on this comfortable pillow!

On Sunday morning Bianca looked so precious in the middle of the guest room bed.  Sammy had slept on the cot in our room and wanted to kiss his baby.  But he was off and pesting his daddy before I could get a picture of the kiss.

Sammy was my little buddy at the piano at Houserville.   He just LOVES to sit beside me and play on the high keys and sing along.  He "feels" it, getting into it as the tempo and intensity of the music increases.  When I played a very gentle version of Majesty during the offering, he played gently on the high keys, and it actually sounded good!

Sunday was Lori's 40th birthday, and to celebrate she had a spa day at Bedford Springs.  So Anthony and Austin came to our place after church.  We had spaghetti, garlic bread, and caesar salad for lunch.  The boys had a high old time chasing each other endlessly around the "circle" inside our house.  Then they discovered that our bedroom made a great romper room.  So Sam monitored that for a while.   (please pardon the mess)

Then to save our sanity, I pulled out an old Land Before Time DVD for them to watch.  They were so cute sitting there side by side, chomping on crackers and grapes and drinking water.  

Then it was nap time for everyone.  Bianca slept in my arms and I dozed off too.

Around 6:30 we headed to Anthony and Lori's for a campfire.   Lori was home by then.  We have had so many cool evenings this summer, but this was NOT one of them!  It was really humid, and the fire felt almost miserable at first.  Anthony brought out a big fan, hahaha!!  Later it got cooler, but the sun went down too early, and the bugs were getting bad.  

So we went inside for the second course of our meal - Lori's ice cream cake.  Austin was as excited as if it were his own birthday!

Did I ever mention that he has lost his first tooth?

Holding Bianca almost all evening long was probably Lori's best birthday gift.  

We took Austin along home with us overnight.  This morning the boys chased each other some more; Dick took them to the playground behind our house, but the humidity was high and the gnats were plentiful;  they watched some Mickey Mouse;  they played with Scrabble letters (mostly built walls with them.)

Bianca did her arm exercises and stretches!

I made pancakes and sausage for breakfast.  

Bianca eventually fell asleep in her little seat/rocker and slept and slept and slept and slept through so much of the boys' noise, it was amazing!

Dick and I took the boys to the airport park while Sam and Jenn packed up.  

When Jenn and Sam came to the park, Bianca was STILL sleeping!  I got my last minutes of cuddle time with her.  I could just eat those delicious little cheeks!

I had fun making this collage of her many faces this weekend.

We also had fun looking at pictures of Sammy at this age.  They do look amazingly alike.  Here's a collage of them, each at 3 weeks of age. 

So that big, fun weekend is over, and here it is, almost Monday evening already.  Yikes!  It's time to get really busy with music prep for Sunday.