This past Easter weekend, we celebrated, along with Easter, Megan's 3rd birthday!  Amanda made this rainbow cake!

And here was the blowing out of candles, with help from big brother, Charlie -

 

Megan loves the icing but not the cake, and Charlie loves the cake but not the icing.  They were quite a pair, eating their pieces of cake! 

Before the cake and ice cream, we had a nice dinner here - on Saturday night, the night before Easter.  It is something we have done since Amanda and Sam have kids - celebrate Easter the day before - so that Easter Sunday itself is a more relaxed day.  Not that it is relaxed - we had a Sunrise Service followed by our church services - but the afternoon is then free for naps for kids and adults alike!

We gave Megan an adorable purse for her birthday!  She loved it!  I will treasure the expression on her face, and her saying, "I got a purse!!!", forever!  I put inside the purse a cute little wallet with cards and play money, and a key chain with some keys on it, and a little mirror.  She started walking around right away with her purse on her shoulder!

 

Meanwhile, the truck that the kids ride around here at my house, has had its steering wheel break off and be fixed before, and it broke off again that night.  Grandpa and Daddy were working on fixing it up, but at one point, it was in the living room with the steering wheel off.  I walked in there to see what John was up to, and caught him with the steering wheel in his hands.  I didn't get a picture, because, as soon as he saw me, he looked panicked, like he was doing something wrong and put it down.  But I got the camera and got these shots -

We had lots of fun that night!

 

Now, I am getting ready to pack up AGAIN. . . headed to a wedding in St. Louis this weekend!

 

 

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Colorado to see Betsy and Andrew!  I was not a good picture-taker; I kept forgetting to take my camera with me to different places.  But I did get Bets to take some photos of the mountains while we were driving!

 

 

 

This new way of typing in a new blog and inserting pictures will take some getting used to!

 

And we did take a few pictures near the end of the trip.  I got a great one of Betsy and Andrew - at the mall -

 

And Andrew took one of me and Bets -

 

And here she is in my hotel room -

 

I drove out to Colorado from Virginia.  If I had a nickel for every person who thought I should have flown and thought I was crazy to drive, I would be a rich woman!!

I LIKE to drive!  And I HATE to fly.  I don't mind the flying part - it is the layovers that turn into minutes of running through airports because your flight didn't make it; having to take only one bag and stuff it full and pay for it; having no food all day except what you can bring, because there is no time to buy anything on the layover you didn't have; having to plan your packing carefully enough to fit everything and have small amts of liquids and remember a quart-sized bag; standing in line to go through security, having everyone behind you irritated because they didn't think you were fast enough at taking off your shoes and putting your quart sized bag and cell phone and all into the container, etc, etc.

I will fly if I need to, especially if we can get a direct flight, which is very rare.

But I LOVE to drive!  And I don't mind driving by myself!  I love to drive with Jim, but it is rare that he can get off work to go on a long trip with me.  So, I get books on tape to listen to, or some peppy music, and I spend a lot of my driving time praying for people, and I even practice fingerspelling the billboards that I pass. 

So, I left Tamarack, in Beckley, WV, after the psaltery symphony a few weekends ago, and started out across the country in my cute little car named Smurfette, who was packed exactly as I wanted, with everything in a place that I knew where it was, including a rug that I was taking out to Betsy.  I stopped at my brother's house outside of St. Louis - sorry, nieces and nephews who might be reading this - I love you all, but there was no time for a visit!  Then on to a hotel in Kansas the following night, then I arrived in Greeley!  It was a wonderful trip!  I love Kansas!  Beautiful farms, beautiful windmills, and tumbleweeds blowing across the highway! 

I was originally going to see Betsy in a play, but the play was canceled due to circumstances that the theater group could not help.  So, I spent lots of time with Bets!  We shopped, went out for coffee, and I had a chance to watch her do story hour at the library where she works.  I also watched a rehearsal of a children's play, Snow White, being performed at a local Deaf school - all done in ASL.  I went to church with Bets and Andrew and loved worshipping with them on Palm Sunday, and watching a wonderful interpreter!  And we shopped again, and drank more coffee and shopped some more!  I bought gifts for grandchildren and other daughters for birthdays.  We had a wonderful evening with Andrew's parents - they made a delicious dinner for us.  And when I had time in hotels by myself, I worked on my Bible study, did some cross stitch, checked email and facebook on my laptop, read, and went to bed early because I was affected by the time change (2 hours difference) and the altitude.

I was in Colorado for 5 days, then I did it all again coming home!  Kansas, St. Louis, stopped for a break in West Virginia at Tamarack where I now have friends there playing their psalteries and dulcimers, visited a few quilt shops and yarn shops along the way, and arrived home last night at around 9:30.  I was VERY glad to get home!  I don't LIKE being gone for 2 full weeks, but seeing Betsy and Andrew was soooo worth it!  I have missed my Virginia kiddos, and will see them this weekend.  I missed going to my own church, to my Bible study, and to my stitching groups.  So, I am glad to be home!  I will do it again sometime. . . maybe once I get unpacked from this trip!

 

Having a great time visiting with Betsy and Andrew this week!  For someone who really likes to stay home, I have been on the road a lot!  The trip started with a Psaltery symphony/workshop weekend, last week, at Tamarak in West Virginia.  Jim plays the psaltery - if you don't know what that is, you might be able to google it and find out, until I can post pictures.  This was the third year that Tamarak hosted this symphony - 4 days of practice, getting to know other psaltery players, and lots of fun!  I don't play the psaltery, but I love to listen to the music, and I bring some stitching with me to do while I listen.  This year, @JuliePaulsen and her husband came too, as he plays the psaltery, and we had a great time! 

 

Now, I am in Colorado with Betsy and Andrew!  Having a great time - the weather is beautiful - spent yesterday shopping with Bets and going to the library where she works to watch her do story hour with the littlest group - "Twinkle Babies!"

 

Today while she works, I am going to a quilt shop that I discovered last time I was here!

This past week was a challenge to get through!  Actually, more than a week . . .

A week ago Sunday, the elderly mother of a church member died.  She was also my neighbor, although I had only met her once.  She had been house-bound for awhile, and I would see her husband out walking, or at the store, but that was all.  Sad, but not unexpected.  I do feel like I got to know her family a little better through it all.

Then a week ago Monday, a 58-yr old single woman in our church died, very unexpectedly.  She was at church on Sunday, even kept the nursery.  Monday morning she was working as usual, left work to go to her car, and had a cardiac arrest.  58 - that's MY age!  Praise the Lord that she knew Jesus as her Lord and Savior!

Two visitations, two funerals, food to take, opportunities to be a blessing to family members . . . is how I had changed my thoughts that the week would be. . . but that all didn't happen for me.  Friday morning, Jim woke up very sick with the stomach bug that has been going around our area.  I was fine, went to the funeral that was that morning, ran a lot of errands afterwards, preparing to go to the next visitation that night. . . by that afternoon, I was sick!  It is a 24 hr bug, but it is awful, and left both of us wiped out!  First time in 34 1/2 years of marriage that we have been sick at the same time.

There were some very nice things going on in my week, though!  The weather started perking up, and by Thursday when I had my grandchildren over, it was windy, but nice enough to go outside.  They colored my driveway with sidewalk chalk and made it so pretty!

                                                                  

 

                                                                  

 

Charlie wrote his own name, but Megan needed a little help from Grandma -

                                                                  

 

                                                                  

 

                                                                  

 

I finished this quilt top for Charlie - it has construction vehicles and tools , interspersed with solids, using a Turning Twenty Again pattern -

 

                                                                  

 

For the back, I used another fabric with large construction vehicles and then pieced one of construction signs around it -

 

                                                                  

 

It is at the machine quilter's now, and when it is all finished, and the ones I made for Megan and John are all finished, I'll post more pictures of them.

 

Still on my knitting needles - this shawl I am making in Malabrigo yarn -

 

                                                                  

 

I lost a whole weekend with the yucky sickness!  So, my quilting and knitting are still waiting for me!

Xanga has changed the way we post a blog!  Hope this works.  I don't see any way to put pictures on here!  I think this will take some getting used to!

But my blog tonight is to share a video, made by my daughter's church, about her hearing loss.   This one was made for the youth of the church, for a study they were doing on staying close to God even when going through something painful they don't understand; trusting God through the pain when you can't see His plan.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkcezsWfpqw

 

I have no pictures to show, but I had a very nice weekend to write about.  Lots of parties involving food!

But let me back up to this past week since I last blogged.  The snow that lasted one day was beautiful!  And then it warmed up, rained, and it was gone.  I was thrilled!  We had one day of almost 70 degree temps, then it stormed and dropped to the 30's - such crazy combinations of weather all week!

Lent began on Wednesday.  I am not of a religious denomination that typically gives up things for Lent.  That can become legalistic.  But a few things about my life have been bothering me, and I decided to give up a couple of things for Lent and to use my time and food more wisely.  So, I gave up the detective shows I love to watch.  They were taking up so many evenings when I really want to be using that time to work on sign language practice or sew.  And I gave up chocolate.  I have been working on having a healthier lifestyle, have added more exercise and stopped eating so many carbs and desserts.  Hardly any desserts or sweet drinks.  But I felt that by giving up chocolate altogether for the 40 days, I could remember to focus on what God wants me to be doing.

AND . . . I had started playing some word games on Facebook, and they were getting out of hand.  I am not giving them up for Lent, but I am bringing them to a halt for awhile.  Not sure how long.  Possibly long enough to get back my signing skills and take my interpreter's test again.  We'll see.

NOW . . . this weekend.   Saturday - I spent some time in the morning at my church setting up for a women's luncheon we were having today, Sunday.  Then I spent the afternoon with my sign language study buddy, Gina, and we really got a lot of practice in, got working on the curriculum we have started, and I felt good about that.  Saturday night, Jim and I went to a fundraiser for the International Christian Centers for the Deaf, which establishes residential schools for the Deaf in Mexico and assists in many ways to reach the Deaf in Mexico and Cuba.  We have been involved with this ministry for many years, and we enjoyed the dinner and program they had on Saturday night.

Today, Sunday - I had the nursery for Sunday School, and then after the worship service we had a women's luncheon.  It was catered, so none of the women had to bring food.  I am a co-director this year for our Women's Ministry, and it was such a blessing to see such a good turn-out of women who enjoyed the luncheon, enjoyed chatting, and are looking forward to our women's activities for this new year.

Then, I came home in time to get ready to attend an 80th birthday party for a good friend!  It was a surprise for him, and he seemed so pleased!  More delicious food!

I had no chocolate, no desserts, no sweet drinks!  And for this Yankee who became a Southern girl when we moved to Mississippi when I was 25, turning down sweet tea is still not easy!!!

I went on a quilt retreat last weekend with about 13 women to a beautiful state park in VA, Claytor Lake.

                                     

We rented a large lodge, where 9 women stayed, and a 3-bedroom cabin, where 4 of us stayed -

                                     

The weather was beautiful, with highs in the 50's for a couple of days.  We sewed, took walks, enjoyed the beautiful lake -

                                     

                                     

                                     

I worked on one of the machine pieced quilts I am in the middle of, for Charlie, and then I made one flower in my Grandmother's Flower Garden project -

                                     

A snowstorm was coming in on Sunday, so a couple of us left early in the day.  We arrived home just as it was starting, and so I enjoyed watching the snow fall from home.  We had a lot of power outages in this area, as the snow was wet and heavy and was taking down trees and power lines.  Our power was out off and on through the night on Sunday night, and when I talked to Amanda in the morning, their power had gone out Sunday night and was still out.  So, they came over here and ended up staying overnight and into Tuesday until their electricity was on again.  We had a wonderful time!  The kids thought it was quite an adventure.

Here is the view, after the snow stopped, out of our backyard -

                                      

And the front yard -

                                      

And by Monday afternoon, the temperatures were warming up again.  Amanda took the big kids out to play in the snow while it was still on the ground -

                                      

                                      

It got warmer yesterday, and then up to 60 degrees today - most of the snow is gone! 

I am having a lot of trouble getting pictures posted on my blog, and then, it is almost impossible to link to facebook.  I have tried 3 different ways - firefox, internet explorer, google chrome, and I have tried to add it as just a link and no matter what I do, it takes sooooo long, with many attempts,  or doesn't work at all.  I will be the first to admit that it is user error, but no matter, I am just going to limit what I do.

So, I am giving up on linking to facebook for awhile anyway! 

We have had a week of birthdays.  John turned 1 on Monday!  Amanda made him this adorable dinosaur cake, with help from Charlie and Megan -

                                             

And he had a little help blowing out that candle!

                                           

Amanda and Sam had a little party for him with lots of family and friends.

Jim's birthday was yesterday!  He is 59.  Several of the different clinics he works in had cake and on different days, depending on when he was going to be there, so he celebrated a lot!  He got calls and texts and cards from the kids, and he and I went out to his favorite Roanoke restaurant, Alexander's, last night for dinner.

Last month, at Myrtle Beach,  I collected more shells on the beach.  I didn't quite know what I was going to do with them.  I put them in a basket, waiting for some inspiration.  I was on the lookout for a glass jar, to kind of go with my jars that I have shells in, on my canning shelf.  But the ones I was seeing were not jumping out at me, so to speak, and they were way too pricey.  Yesterday, I realized that I now had an empty new large vase, from the flowers Jim had sent me in Myrtle Beach for my birthday.  So, I put them in that, and then, after seeing a blog from  Cheryl - Jim walked up just as I was looking at her photo of her arrangement of bottles - and he said that my shell shelf would be the perfect place for that, to add varying heights, as she had on her shelf.  So, this is what it looks like now -

                                           

The vase on the right is the one with the newer shells.  I like it!  

                                        

A week ago, I made this Spicy Spiral table runner quilt top with my friend, Janet.  I had made one last fall, in a class, to go with the colors of my new kitchen and living area.  Janet suggested we make another one, using the ruler you needed to buy, before we forgot how!  So, I had 8 fat quarters in my stash that all went together - the number needed for the table runner.  I still need to trim it up, put a back on it, quilt it, and then I think I'll use it this spring!

                                       

                                       

And I knitted this black scarf made from that new mesh-type stuff -

                                       

Currently on my knitting needles - this shawl, called Multnomah - also from a class I took last fall.  The feather and fan border has been quite a challenge -

                                       

I am knitting it from this yarn - it is beautiful and soft -

                                       

I am working my way through projects that I have either started or had on my list for this year!

At the Sisters' Sewing Retreat, Julia gave me this mug of one of her prize-winning quilts, made by the American Quilter's Society!  I love it!  For some great pictures of the Heatwole family retreat, go to her site.  She asked that whenever I use that mug to please pray for her.  I am, Julia!

                                           

Yesterday I had the kids here to play for the morning; well, only two of the kids, because Charlie went to work with his daddy.  John takes a morning nap, so while he was sleeping, I had an opportunity to spend some time with Megan!

Before John's nap, they each played awhile -

                                          

                                          

Then, Megan and I read some books -

                                           

Finished up a Lite Brite picture of an airplane that she and Charlie had started -

                                           

                                           

                                           

We got out my very old Paint with Water books and painted a few pictures -

                                           

When John woke up, it was lunchtime!  You get to see the messy room!

                                           

                                           

                                         



                                       

                                           

I had the pleasure of driving to Bridgewater, VA, today to visit some xanga/quilting friends!  I have been "xanga-ing" with Polly for several years now, and about 3 years ago, I finally met her! -  at the annual Sisters and Family Sewing Retreat that they have at one sister's home.  And now I have gotten to know, personally, not just on xanga, many of the family members of these wonderful and creative women.  I have visited them in Bridgewater and have taken a class from one sister, Barbara Cline, here in Salem. 

The quilt at the top is one that Polly is making for her son's wedding.  Here she is, signing a book written by her sister, Barbara, that I bought today from Barbara - many of the women have little excerpts in the book, and I got a lot of signatures! 

                                     

I chatted and visited and saw some beautiful quilts! 

Barbara, and their mother, Mrs. Heatwole-

                                      

Julia -

                                      

Julia is making this quilt from their father's shirts that they collected after he died -

                                      

Their mother makes these beautiful velvet doll quilts -

                                      

Coleen, in this picture with me and Polly (why is it that I could crop this on picasa but it wouldn't stay cropped on xanga, even using another server?)

                                      

Coleen was working on this beauty -
                      
                                      

Barbara's month-old granddaughter, Brighton, is such a cutie pie!

                                      

A niece with her T shirt quilt -

                                      

And Polly and I posing together -

                                      
                                      
I had such a nice time!  These gals are fun, creative, and friendly.  I have been facebooking with them and following their blogs for some time now.  And to spend time with them is such a joy!  Coleen and I were saying that we only get to chat a little bit when we are together as there are many other friends and family who want to spend time with them.  But I am thankful for each little bit of time!  I loved meeting these women, seeing all of their sewing projects, and spending a good bit of time catching up with Polly.  She has become a good friend.

Thanks, all of you, for inviting me to visitor's day at your family retreat!  It was an honor to be invited and I always come away feeling very blessed for having gotten to know you all!

That book I bought from Barbara?  I left it there!  But I called on my way home, and they said that they were able to get one more signature, and that they would send it to me.  And as I was leaving, Julia gave me coffee mug designed with one of her quilts on it - I'll put a picture of that up soon.