Memorial weekend was a big one for us. It was also very HoT and HuMiD. VERY. Here's a snapshot of our weekend:
~a piano recital - almost 30 students . . . . an hour and forty-five minutes . . . . YIKES! but very nice, I have great students, who thankfully like piano music!
~a wedding reception.
~a new (used) car for Lincoln . . . . fun times, another Miata . . . . . his 50th birthday is coming up!
~yard work . . . . the yard is really starting to look nice. . . . we laid down some mulch and planted more perennials. Over the last couple of weeks we've cleaned up and replaced old rotten wood with new brick pavers to encircle our flower beds.
~Memorial day concert in DC. We left right after choir practice on Sunday and headed downtown. They broadcast this concert on PBS every year and we've been to quite a few of them. I thought BB King was dead . . . . but no . . . . I can say I've been within 10 feet of him and his band . . . . it was an excellent concert. TV stars . . . American Idol singers . . . . General Colin Powell and more! Did I mention it was HOT this weekend!!!! we spent 9 hours out in the heat for the concert and then were greeted with our car whose lights had been on all day and had a dead battery . . . . . . . makes life interesting.
~Memorial day cookout for the neighborhood. Yummy food and good neighbors and missionaries makes a great BBQ . . . . . if only it hadn't been so . . .. . . . . HOT!
Valentine's Day can be fun . . . . . can be, when you are remembered, that is! This year I decided to get myself flowers (the tulips) and while I was teaching piano lessons a box from Pro Flowers came. I immediately decided that they were from Lincoln. As soon as lessons were over, I rushed over to the High School to pick up McKay from swim practice, swung by the local chinese take-out shop to get our dinner and came home to open the box, cut the stems and get the flowers in water. The whole time I thought they were from Lincoln. As an after thought, I decided to look at the note. WHAT???? Not from Lincoln? They were from my Dad. THANKS DAD!!! What a lovely surprise! Love you!
Lincoln did get me a card and a box of candies, lest you think he had forgotten me, but he was out-of-town and I wondered why in the world he would send me flowers !?!. . . . . .maybe he was feeling extra guilty for not being around to take me out to dinner . . . . . . ha! This goes to prove that you can't make assumptions about a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g!!!!!! Which is a lesson I need to learn, over and over and over again!
Have a bLeSsEd dAy . . . . . . . as Marylanders like to say! (I'm finally talking like a native, NOT) :)
It has become a tradition to have a family dinner on Christmas Eve. My sister's family and my mom and dad usually come to our house for dinner and then we open up the Christmas Eve Jammies. Mom and Dad were with their sons this year in Oregon and we missed them but we still had fun! This dinner is my favorite part of Christmas, which you'll note is the day before Christmas.
Lining up for the food, youngest to oldest . . . . . . hey! What is Trudy doing in the Front of the line!!!! (probably helping!)
I'd heard that hors d'oeuvres were much easier at Christmas time - NOT! At least they are pretty!
And they mostly tasted good!
McKay joins right in with the cousins . . . . the way they treat each other you'd think they are all brothers and sisters! Poor McKay
is like an only child in this household.
Gotcha Stevie!
The Bainters
And since our family picture didn't turn out . . . . here's our boy!
Christmas, in our family, starts on Christmas Eve. We all get together to eat and to open up our Christmas jammies. Here the kids are measuring McKay's growth over the year. I think he is finally beginning to make some progress! The eating . . .
more eating . . . . The cousins are always sooooo excited to unwrap their jammies. They got them all lined up according to age. The youngest goes first. Here they are in showing off their gifts! Lincoln won't be serious for a picture so I thought I'd get back at him and post one of his silly faces. In pictures that McKay and I looked good in, he was making a face and vice-a-versa. . . . Mom and Dad. The Bainters, also having a hard time getting a picture with no funny faces!! Christmas morning, which was sooooo weird with only one child at home. McKay chose to break with tradition and have all of his "Santa" gifts wrapped this year. Santa scored! Santa was nervous that McKay would be happy with his gifts because they took up such a small space in his bag. And WHEW! Christmas is OVER!!!!!! we made it through another year!
Today is Sunday and there is no church because of the snow. We just were participants in the greatest snowfall in December in Maryland since the 1920's!! I was laying on the couch in our front room and loved what I was seeing. An indoor/outdoor wonderland. We received anywhere from 12" to 18" I'd say! WOW!
Snow plows still have not come and the storm started Friday night. Our neighborhood has to hire a private snow-plow to come through and plow. The few of them that do hire out are probably super-duper busy! So we really are snowed in, unless Lincoln and a few neighbors decide to go out and shovel the street. I've been in my pajamas for a day and a half now . . . . and deciding whether or not to get dressed today . . . . . Lincoln had already cleared off the sidewalks and car . . . . it doesn't look like he even touched the car . . . but it was clear yesterday afternoon. Fun times!
This Thanksgiving, for me, was one of the best ever (and the worst ever). How come the best and the worst have to come in pairs so often? Could it have something to do with if you had no pain you wouldn't know what joy is? The only bad part was not having my 4 family members with us (Justin, Chancy, Halley and Ryan). The rest was pure joy. I can't remember a day when I've laughed so hard or had so much fun in a long time. Here's what our day included:
The men carving the turkey . . . . this is a tradition for us . . .
Family around the table . . . . The food! Wow, we are good cooks!
Painting and glittering of toe-nails! My poor mom is going to have a hard time getting rid of the glitter in her house!
Our "ginger" village complete with dads rendition of a geodesic dome house!
Game playing in which we laughed until it hurt!
And last, but not least our long-time standing tradition of singing Christmas carols around the piano. We didn't even start singing until 10 p.m. Where did all the time go?????
It felt really weird to have only one of our children with us. Hopefully in years to come we will be able to get together again . . . . . only time will tell!
I love to laugh at myself, and at my mistakes and misadventures. (My husband is the total opposite of me, and I try my darndest to protect him in his desires to hide his misadventures!) Please know that a goodly percentage of my posts are written tongue-in-cheek, and I am the first one to laugh at them as I write them. Because I feel the need to write this disclaimer makes me feel somewhat of a failure at protraying my wit as I feel each one of my posts are a monologue. At this too, I can laugh!! Here's hoping that I'm not the only one laughing . . . . . ENJOY!
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