Happy Birthday, JC!!

This guy turns 12 today - happy birthday, JC!!

They Survived!

On Monday, my spring flowers looked like this:

I left for my spring break visit in Iowa thinking that my daffodils and other flowers would not survive the 9 inches of snow covering them. But when I returned home yesterday, this is what greeted my eyes!

Four days later, the snow is gone and the flowers are going to bloom!

And actually are blooming around some of the stepping stones.

Funny thing, Mother Nature.

Spring Break - Day 5

We packed a LOT into our last day of visiting with Sarah! After we got the kids off to school, we hopped into Sarah's car and headed to Colona and the Stringtown Grocery, forgetting that it was Good Friday and that the Amish would be in church, not at the store. But the cheese factory was still open, so we were able to get some of our favorite Apple Jack cheese and cheese curds.

Then, we hopped into the car and drove down the aptly named Yoder Turnpike (A turnpike? In the middle of nowhere?) to Williamsburg and the outlet shops.

 We had a great time and bought a bunch of clothes at the Lane Bryant outlet. Sarah and I have matching Easter dresses! The girls took me to lunch afterward where we teased Lisa about curly fries (the previous day I had ordered some for lunch but she had gotten me regular ones. No biggie, but it did allow for some good natured ribbing as a result!)

Lisa and I hit the road about 3:00 PM Iowa time, and caravanned our way across Iowa and Illinois (counting hawks again - twenty-eight in one day!) We decided to pull off the freeway at Urbana amd grab dinner at an old favorite:

 The Courier Cafe! Legendary in our family - especially for this one particular dish:

Potato skins!  Memories of Jessie and her introduction to Sarah's then-boyfriend, Todd, over these went through our minds. Jessie will never live down that one! (So naturally, we instagrammed the dish for her.)

 I know of no other place where you can get real, old-time phosphates. Lisa chose strawberry, I had chocolate.

A photo of the two of us outside the building.

 And one of the building itself before we got back into our cars to do a quick tour of some special places.

 The Rose Bowl Bar. 

Not a place I've ever been in, but Abraham Lincoln used to stay in this building when he would come to Urbana as a young lawyer coming to court.

 The Urbana Free Library.

I think every person in my family would say that this is one of their most cherished places in their hometown. Often it was the first place I would go after having a baby - grabbing some books to read as I recovered at home!

 Urbana High School

Such a beautiful old building (there are several additions to it behind it.) All six of our children graduated from here. 

 Blackman Field - home of many soccer practices and games.

Thomas Paine School

All the kids went here and it was where I had my first job in education as a reading aide.

Such a trip down memory lane! And how much like home it felt. I guess when you live somewhere twenty-seven years while raising your family, it becomes so. 

Spring Break - Day 4

Today's plan - the Nauvoo Temple! There is NOTHING like being in the temple with your children. (So naturally, I had a good cry during our session.)

 Sarah and Lisa pose with me in front of the temple.

 We were trying to get more of the temple into this shot.

 A car parked on the streets of Nauvoo.

 A trip to Nauvoo isn't complete unless you stop by The Fudge Factory! (Easter candy, anyone?)

My beautiful girls. So proud of them.

 Lisa gets goofy.

Any wonder that I was crying tears of joy as I sat in the temple with these two? I am so blessed.

Rounding out a perfect day was the bird count as we drove to and from the temple - two bald eagles and fifteen hawks. 

Spring Break - Day 3

Since  JC and Trinity had school, Lisa and I decided to take the kids Subway for lunch - a treat for them and us. (Even more so when a lunch aide thought I was the kids' mom. Made my day!)

 Trinity had lunch first. (I think she looks SO much like Lisa!!)

 Then JC came in with the other 6th graders for his lunch.

After dinner, we headed to Church - Trinity had Activity Days, and the girls had prepared an Easter Egg hunt and party for the younger kids in the ward.

 The Spring Breakers.

 Abracadabra!! Trin makes small balls disappear and then reappear.

The Little Rabbit Foo Foo puppet show. (Trinity's neighbor, Grace, came along to help out.)

New Season!

It's almost time for the women's soccer season to begin!

And Ella is starting for the Chicago Red Stars again (that's her on the bottom right.)

Spring Break - Day 2

Tuesday I hopped into the car, made a quick run for gas, munchies, and Mary Lou Donuts (Sarah and her family LOVE them) and I was off on my trip to Iowa.

I went early so I could stop in Galesburg, Illinois, and visit some of their antique shops. The shopping there is legendary (Randa, the secretary at Yankee Ridge, used to drive over for the shopping.) I hit two stores, and had some luck - a vintage Breyer Brahma bull and vintage Breyer elephant. Not surprisingly, despite one building being three stories, I found no horse figurines to speak of aside from the usual salt and pepper shakers, a few plastic ones, and two over-priced Hartland horse and rider sets.

As I pulled off 80 and stopped at the light, I texted Sarah to let her know I was in town and where I was. She phoned me right back, saying, "Mom, look to your left." Believe it or not, she was at the same intersection and kitty corner to me. What are the chances?!

Trinity played some songs for me on the piano as I unwound from my long drive. Ironically, one was Somewhere Out There.

 Lisa arrived shortly after I did, and we decided to go to Azul's, the family's favorite restaurant.

Trinity has the chicken taco salad.

JC enjoyed a burrito (he is so proud of his Denver Broncos hat - he's wearing it constantly!)

Lisa and I both were wiped from our long drives, and since the kids and Sarah had school the following day, we all turned in early.

More Snow Pictures

The snow that hit us Sunday night turned out to be "historic" - it is the second biggest snowfall we have had after March 18 since 1877. Here are some more pictures from it.

"It's a marshmallow world that we live in!" to quote an old Christmas song about snow.

My poor daffodils struggling under the weight of nine inches of snow.

Spring Break - Day One

Nine to ten inches of snow. March 25. Yep, that's the way to begin Spring Break, all right!

It began Sunday morning with a fairly strong burst of snow just as we were leaving for church.

 But three hours later, that burst was over and most of the snow that had fallen was melting.

Then, about 4:30 in the afternoon, the snow began in earnest.

 Looking out our front door.

And out the back door. 

Heavy snow fell all night, transforming that furniture into this:

 That's about 9 inches of snow on the table!

 The chaise lounge looks rather comfy. Cold, but comfy!

 The top of the grill is mounded high with snow.

A close-up of the smaller patio table.

 Starlings clustered at our neighbors' feeder.

 The view out our front door prior to Craig shoveling it.

 And after. Catch that drift on the overhang!

 Isaac suggested I go out and hit it so it falls.

 Yeah, right on top of ME!! No can do!

 The snowcap on the wind chimes outside the front windows went all the way up to the shepherd's crook.

The snow was heavy and wet. Good for snowballs and snowmen, and definitely making a snowblower more than just a luxury.

The news says that this is the second  heaviest post-March 18 snow we've had since 1875.

What a start to Spring Break!

A Sisterly Adventure

I am on spring break, and I decided that I would head up to Delphi and go antiquing this morning. Since Leslie lives so close to that town, I invited her to go with me. We planned to go through two shops and then be home by 1:00.

Silly us.

A two to three hour jaunt turned into an all-day shopping spree!

Not that we bought anything - really! I passed on the old pump organ - only $195 and in beautiful condition!

Unfortunately it no longer played. How I wish Bruce Newman lived close so he could work on it! He did such a good job on our player piano, and I have wanted a pump organ for years. (I do have an electric organ upstairs but I prefer an antique.) But Bruce is currently living on the west coast and restoring circus calliopes - you can find his work on YouTube. I love to listen to those instruments play after he has fixed them! What a talent he has, and lucky us to have one of his restorations.

So, buying the pump organ never even made it past the "Wouldn't that be fun to have!" stage.

We scoured the two shops in Delphi, then decided we would head to Crawfordsville and wander the three storey antique mall, Cabbages and Kings. 

Only we went via Rossville, just a scant thirty miles or so out of the way. There were two nice shops in town, and it was there that I made my only purchase of the day.

I found a book from my childhood (which I still have but is falling apart) for only $4.50! Leslie and I then spent some time discussing black horses and their appeal to us when we were little as well as the appeal they have in our culture as the most popular horse color (and one that is very unusual to find!)

At the other Rossville shop, we found tons of vintage hats which we both agreed would be something Vanessa would like. We looked at a few, but weren't sure which would be to her taste, so I sent Vanessa a text letting her know about our find.

Then Les and I had a good laugh over "the brownie incident." As we were leaving the shop with all the hats, the proprietor thanked us for coming and suggested we go visit a store down the street. When we replied that we were already planning on going there, she rummaged through some baked goods on a table and handed us a brownie wrapped in plastic wrap.

"Do me a favor and give this to the man in the store. He loves them and comes down every day to get one."

Now that was odd - she didn't know us, and was trusting us to take something she sells and give it to another person in town?

"Er, what's his name?" I asked, wondering if she really meant it.

"Gary," was the reply. "Trust me, he loves these and will be happy to get one."

Leslie and I made some jokes then about her not knowing us yet trusting us to not nibble on the goodie, but she insisted we take it with us. 

And so we did, and Gary was quite happy to receive it! (I don't think I'd eat something strangers gave me like that!)

Leslie was nice enough to buy our lunch at the Rossville Arni's (her only purchase of the day) - a junior salad for me and a tossed salad for her, and then we were back in the car and cruising to Crawfordsville and its three storey antique mall. 

Throughout the day we found lots of Blue Ridge dinnerware (Grandma Honeywell used it and Leslie really loves it; I'm kind of hooked now, too!) but no HSOs (horse shaped objects) aside from some metal horses, an overpriced Hartland Davy Crockett horse and rider set ($215!!), and two mediocre Japan chinas, but still the day was worth the time and energy we invested into it.

Leslie finally calls it quits at Cabbages and Kings and heads to the car.

Home after traveling 160 miles!