Wow – the last three days went by like a blur. Friday was a fun day. My mom and I spent the day in Kalona with my daughter Abby as she lives there. She was off work for spring break. We visited the antiques stores and specialty stores and went out to lunch. It was the first time we’ve ever done that and it was so much fun. No pictures were taken of course. We’re not a picture taking bunch. Kalona is such a fun little town to explore. It’s an Amish town. You see horses and buggies everywhere and lots of fun little shops. Our first stop was the Amish bakery. Lots of yummy pastries and fun things to see. Then a little shopping and lunch at the family restaurant and more shopping. We didn’t buy much. I picked up a little yellow vase and a potted plant. We just enjoyed the day with each other. Hopefully we can do this more often.
Then Saturday Joe and I took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. It felt so good to get so many things out of the house. Just the beginning of clearing things out and trying to simplify. Grocery shopping while we were out and then back to Kalona to babysit our grandson Braxton so Jeremy and Abby could go out for supper. He’s such a sweet little boy and he and Uncle Drew have so much fun playing together. I can see they are going to be quite the pair when they get older as they are buddies already. We could have our hands full!
Then Sunday was spent in the timber at dad and mom’s cutting down trees and splitting wood. It was a beautiful day – a nice cool breeze and sunshine. A perfect day to be outside and working. The timber is my happy place. I spent hours and hours down there when I was growing up. Wandering around, exploring the creek, sitting quietly for hours watching the squirrels and the fox play, picking wild raspberries, riding my horse, Cherokee. It was heaven for me. Now I hardly ever pass up a chance to spend time down there. We have wiener roasts down there and just take the mule down and ride around and spend time cutting down the trees that have died. It’s a great place for Drew too – he loves to spend time exploring and playing as did all the kids as they were growing up and they still do when they can.
A busy, busy weekend. Very little time was spent at home. But a lot of time was spent with family. There’s nothing better.
I love this quote – and the fact that it comes from an old sampler makes it mean even more! (Not a good picture but I didn’t want a picture of me in the photo!) One way that I keep saved the memories of my ancestors. My great-grandma’s dressing table. Dresser scarves stitched by my grandma. The glass powder container was my mother-in-law’s and a cigarette case that belonged to my grandfather. And a couple of pictures of my mom when she was little. I love keeping saved the memories of my ancestors by decorating my house with their possessions. These possessions mean so much more to me than anything new I could buy in a store!
Another fun performance. Every Pop Concert they have soloists. There is a group of girls that are extremely talented and I always enjoy their solos. This is Eric’s Abbey, as Drew calls her. That’s how he differentiates between his sister Abby and this Abbey! She’s a senior too and a very talented young lady. I love listening to her. This was a very dramatic performance and she looked and sounded beautiful. I didn’t take anymore pictures of the choir. Eric’s not in choir. He sings like his mom – which is not good. All the kids got my singing voice which is sad. Their dad can sing. I can’t! Mr. Stichter, the chorus instructor, does a great job too. I had him as a music instructor when I was in elementary school so that tells you Mr. Stichter has been around for a long time. You tell he loves doing this and he loves working with the students. We have been lucky to have him at our little school for all these years. It was a wonderful concert and sad and yet exciting to think there’s only one more for these seniors before they move onto their next adventures in life.
It snowed yesterday morning. The snow came down fast and furious and in big wet flakes. And then it was gone. I took this picture from the kitchen window. I wish we would get one more nice big snow before spring. I love the snow!
One week after Drew’s surgery. It’s been a long week! He’s bored. So bored. For the most part he’s feeling pretty good but he gets tired and listless at times and just wants to sit and watch his Kindle. He’s been outside a time or two which helps but the past couple of days have been cold and windy so no going outside to play. He spent yesterday morning with Grandpa and Grandma which he thoroughly enjoyed. Lots of one on one attention there! He’s got his fort all decked out with a light, music and books. That has been a big help in keeping him entertained. I can’t wait to take it down though – I’m tired of seeing it in the living room!
I finished this little cross stitch yesterday. I condensed the pattern to fit into this frame I already had. Love grows best in little houses. After almost 27 years in this little house I like to think this is true. We’ve looked at different houses over the years but never found anything we thought would be the perfect fit for us. We’re not that picky – at least not where the house is concerned. Our pickiness is directed more towards location. We have to live in the country. In my younger years, I wanted someplace that was far far away – gravel road, long drive, no neighbors. Now that I’m older, I can appreciate the fact that we live along the highway. We can always get to town, no matter the weather. And very little gravel. You have to turn onto the gravel to get to our driveway but that is all. I would like to not even have that at this point. Gravel dust is not fun when it’s dry out. And neighbors are nice to have. We have great neighbors. They aren’t that close but it’s nice to know they are there!
