Mother's Day After

Today is Monday, the day after Mother's Day.  It's so cool to read all the Happy Mom's Day blogs and see pictures of my adorable extended families out there.

Mom's Day here began with a late phone call the night before, from Alison, telling us that Ray was moving back home with them.  What a nice Mom's Day present for her.  And for Eric, too.

Our day started out normally...getting up, having coffee and some healthy sort of breakfast, then getting ready for church.  Ed always goes 3 hours early to help set up, so I get ready with just Sophie for company.  So far a normal Sunday at our house.

At church, waiting for the service to begin and just chatting with others, someone came up to me and said "Hi there.  Happy Mother's Day!"  And it was Erin and Grace!  They had tried to go to their church, got caught in a big marathon race, knew they'd be too late, and came to our church instead.  Aaron and Charlie were there, too, of course.  What a sweet surprise on Mother's Day!  It made my day!

Then, later they all piled over to our house for one of those lunches where you all dig around in your fridge and eat what you find there.  Grace ate lunch, got so covered with food she had to have a bath, then napped, Ed sort of napped, Charlie dug in the dirt and played with his ''diggers" in one of my big pots, Aaron & Erin and Sophie took a walk, we all enjoyed some sun!! (amazingly).  Alison called and caught us up on what's going on at her house.  A perfect Mother's Day.

Charlie was playing in the dirt and had a runny nose.  Ed said, "Hey, you have something coming down out of your nose."  Charlie looked at him, gave a big sniff, and said, "There.  It went back up."  :)

Love to all of you, the best moms and aunts and grandmoms in the world.
Get a nap today.  You deserve one.

Big Day!

Last Thursday was a BIG DAY here at our house.  First, Charlie showed up early early to stay with me while Aaron and Erin took Grace down to Children's Hospital for her regular checkup with all the specialists and nutritionists, etc.

Charlie got into the chopstick drawer and did this while I wasn't looking...

Chopstick Charlie

I thought that was pretty cute and pretty smart!
Then Jenny and Courtney showed up for a great visit...

Courtney and Charlie

Then Ed came home for some soup and a bite of lunch and to say hi..

Ed with Jen and Charlie and Courtney, who I think just swallowed some soup...:)

Then Aaron and Erin and Grace came back home and had lunch and visited...and had the MOST amazing news.
Grace can eat normally...no food restrictions except those most 10 month olds would have.  Her little body is metabolizing food correctly.  What an answer to prayers we didn't even know to pray!

Jenny and Grace, Jen's first time to meet her.

The amazing cousin twins...Erin and Courtney

Photographer being photographed taking a photograph of Erin, Grace, Raye, Jen, Courtney

The girls that day

And, finally, Charlie early in the morning, after we measured him on the measuring doorway.
He wrote his name himself...and he is exactly 39 inches tall.

A BIG DAY... in so many wonderful ways!

Done and On

Last week I posted a blog about the sweater that Ed isn't going to get.

Here it is...done and on.  Not blocked, though, which will definitely smooth out the stitches.  But I couldn't wait to try it out.

(These pix also star the world famous Hardly Famous Used Goods sign from the old Alligator Soul Restaurant...may it rest in crunchy chicken gumbo jambalaya red beans and rice peace.)

Finishing the neck...pre-shower.  Lovely.

Hardly Famous, but all done.  The only change I made from the
pattern was to make the cuffs twice as long.   Post-shower, much better.

The back, in Zumba stance.  This is a very warm and cozy sweater, almost
like a sweatshirt knitted by hand.

Okay, that's enough pictures.

Grandbaby Date Night

Hi, there!

Last night Charlie and Grace came for a visit while their dad and mom had various things to do/attend.  We made a night of it.  Ed and Charlie played trains, played Scrabble, played Match the Shapes, played silliness, made popcorn, and generally wore themselves out...especially Grandpa.

Grace and I mainly kept her out of things she shouldn't be in (trains, Scrabble, Match the Shapes, popcorn...) and danced and shrieked and danced some more.  Grace especially loved listening to Ed's I Phone tunes and dancing the night away.  She also sings...very very loudly.  It is so funny.

Charlie and Grace had baths and a tiny nap (Grace), then Mom came to end the fun.  Ed said, "(relief in his voice) Hey, I see your mom driving into the driveway."  Charlie: "OOOOHHHH! NOOO!"  :)

They left at 9:44-ish.  We were in bed by 9:47-ish.  :)

We slept very well.

Dancing with Grandma is a blast!

Grandpa's got good dance tunes on that thing.  I especially like ABBA!  :)!!

Let's see if I can get this to stay on Gracie's head...I did it!  (He was very proud of himself!)

Mexico in Pictures...Thank You, Jill!

Finally ~ some pictures from our trip a couple weeks ago.
I learned a lesson...take the big camera.  But thanks to Jill, here you go.
Enjoy!

Welcome to the Penthouse!  Raye and Judy, just after arrival...no tans or burns yet.

All Ed's on deck...on our huge deck, that is.

Love these frogs on top of a gate on the way into Bucerias.

Hola!

And Hola some more...

Kissing Alley...Jim W., Judy S., Raye and Ed

Avocados with shrimp...I could eat this every day!

Last night...at Adautos on the beach in Bucerias.
Ed,  Raye,  Judy,  Jim.  (Ed S., so sorry you weren't feeling well!)

After the Paella Lesson.  Jill,  Raye,  Ed.

Is there any more paella left?

Sometimes You Get What You Wanted

Remember way back, you who are my beloved regular readers (all three of you), when I mentioned the bad timing of the timing belt on Ed's Audi?  And how it cost more than a treadmill or a trip to Mexico?

Well, we did the trip to Mexico, because that was paid for way before the Audi came along.  So, even though the timing belt cost as much as the trip, I was still pretty sure I'd still get to go to Mexico, all things remaining equal.  I was quite disappointed about the treadmill, though.

Then an amazing serendipitous thing happened...I got a treadmill, too!

Because one of our good friends knew I was looking for a particular brand and because this brand rarely if ever shows up for sale used anywhere, when he saw one brand new IN THE BOX at a recycle store here, he called right away.  Of course we ran down there to check it out...and it was (is!) the exact model we had been looking at for over 2 years now.  When I heard what the guy was selling it for, I almost literally had to pinch myself.  It seemed to good to be true...and you know how that goes - if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Well, this time was the exception to that rule.  The treadmill is brand new, in perfect working condition, and is downstairs in my "family room/morphing into a workout room as we speak room" right now.  Ed and I both love it!  Because of my back, treadmills are better for me than street walking, especially longer distances.  This one is everything the reviews said, and more.  And Ed is getting into it, too, which is a huge plus.

I did have to promise the recycle guy I wouldn't tell how much I paid for it, but suffice it to say, you might have shoes that cost more than that treadmill.  It was the deal of the millenium, as far as I am concerned, thanks mainly to a thoughtful and observant friend.

I love that verse where Jesus says God loves to give good gifts to His children.  I know Jesus wasn't talking about treadmills, but He knows how happy I am with the good gift of that treadmill.

I Am Back...Plus Some Germs

Well, we are back from Mexico...and, true to form, I got a cold which morphed into pneumonia.  To be fair to Mexico, I actually got the cold before we left.  It went with me on vacation, then attacked with a vengeance when we got back.

But no way was I going to skip the trip to a warm and sunny clime.  And it was sunny...so very nice and warm and sunny.  If you must be ill, be ill in the sun.  It's so much nicer than in snow and wind and rain.

Our trip was as nice as it always is.  We took along friends who stayed in our...Penthouse!! rooms with us. We had rented a two-bedroom and were upgraded free to a penthouse when we checked in.  That was SO cool.  We had the most amazing deck with a gas BBQ and a hot tub and tons and tons of space.  What a nice surprise.  

One of the things we do miss down there is having the ability to BBQ, since they aren't allowed in the regular rooms.  But this time we used that thing!  Jill, our friend, bbq'd poblano chiles and made homemade chiles rellenos...SOOOO good.  She also taught us about grilled jalapenos...grill the chiles, then put them in the freezer on a plate for a bit, until they cool.  Then slip the skin right off.  Clean the seeds out...and, this is important...squeeze lime juice all over them.  Then eat.  Yes, eat straight...they are so good and the lime kills the heat.  We learned a lot about Mexican cooking this trip, and that was fun.  Our favorite breakfast (other than the chiles rellenos) was freshly made corn tortillas with black beans and avocado salsa, which is basically tomatillo salsa (or green salsa) with an avocado whirled into it.

We could totally live in Mexico. Such sweet people and such amazing fruit and veggies!!

What did we do this trip?

We walked into Bucerias, the little town near our condo, at least 1 or 2 times each day.  That is a 40 minute walk each way, but what else are we going to do?  We were on vacation!
We saw our good friend Javier, the rug maker.  He said he had expected us in December, and he said also that the week before, he had thought he'd seen Ed walk by and he'd run out and hollered at the guy...who turned around and gave him a strange look.  :)  He is such a sweet guy.
We ate at our favorite restaurant, Adauto's.  When Adauto saw Ed and I, he rushed up and gave us a huge hug.  See why we like Mexico so much?  Besides, they have the most amazing avocados I have ever had.
We grocery shopped at our favorite store, Mega Foods.  That is one absolutely fabulous grocery store.  It gets better every time we go.  (The first time we went, on our first trip down, we were not impressed...but it is so stunningly improved, it's like a new store.)  I love grocery shopping in other countries.  Such a great way to learn about the people and their lives.  I mean, everybody eats, right?
We ate meals on the deck...our deck was the place to meet for all the meals when we ate in.
We sunned and swam and relaxed and read...and the Kindle was perfect!  What a great way to read.

The week went by so fast.  But it is so nice to be back home, too.  The flight down was non-stop, but our flight back had one stop in SFO...and Ed forgot that he had bought a bottle of vanilla for his boss in the PVR airport after we had checked in.  We had only carry on baggage this time, and he just stuck it in his bag.  When the bag was re-scanned at SFO, I heard the guy say to himself, "What is that? A bottle of water?", then he yelled, "Bag check!"... And Ed's boss did not get any vanilla.  And the other Ed who was traveling with us lost his bag of pork rinds.  Learned something new: You cannot bring any pork products into the USA from Mexico, even unopened bags of pork rinds...not that I will ever be trying to sneak any of those in, but now you know.

Usually we fly nonstop PVR to SEA, plus we usually check a bag, so it's not a problem.  This time, we didn't, and Ed just forgot.  I told him to just get some vanilla at Costco.  :)  Someone in San Fran is enjoying pork rinds dipped in Mexican vanilla right now.

One thing we did NOT do is take a lot of pictures!  I have to get some from Jill, who turned into the Go To Picture Taker.  We do have a few, and some of them are here, mostly from the first day we got in, and mostly of the deck, because we all loved it so much.  :)

This was our hot tub.

Right after arriving from Seattle - Raye, Ed, Judy S. and Jim W.

Just part of the deck:  Judy checks out the BBQ while the two Ed's plan steak dinners.

Mr. RED...after the first day out...and forgetting sunscreen...and forgetting to turn over.

Walking into Bucerias one evening.  Love the bouganvilla!!

My favorite little green house.

Jim W. with his cute new friend, the Chiclet Seller Kid.

Ed S., Jim W., Judy S., Jill W., and me with my eyes closed (!!) at Adauto's on the beach.
And yes, it was chilly enough every night to wear jackets or sweatshirts.