Most folks who know me know that I really don't like surprises....I'm a bit OCD about schedules and plans and when something happens to my plans, I get a bit - scattered. I carefully plan my days off to get a lot done, mostly in Springfield; shopping, appointments, meetings, etc. I had such plans for this last Tuesday. Some necessary and some fun. Mom and I left the house and did several errands and while in one shop, I got a text. It was from a nephew telling me he and his family were arriving in Springfield at around 1:30.....TODAY! Now, I mistakenly wrote down their visit for a week later. Fortunately, I wasn't actually driving yet or I might have needed to stop the car to process this wonderful news. Mom said she'd not seen me like that - twitchy and undecided on a course of action. I mean, I had things to on my plan for the day and this was gonna really throw the spanner in the works. Once I got my head a,round the thing that I wouldn't get done that day (believe me, it was nothing special, just part of the plan), I was excited about their visit.
We kept in touch via text all the while they were driving down to see us. Finally met up with them in a parking lot and after many hugs all around, we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Then off to the farm.
The last time I saw my nephew, he was 16 years old. The day they visited, R was turning 40 the next day. R and his wife, T, and their two children, E and A spent the afternoon and part of the early evening with us. Mom and I had not met T nor the children and I must say, they were delightful. Here are some pictures of this wonderful family.
This is T, R, and me...picture taken by the indomitable E. (You will note he is much shorter than the adults, being only 6 years old)
Mom and A (A is 5 years old and a kindergartner)
Mom and E (7 years old in December, he is in the first grade. He has been sending his Nana Bette emails every time he loses a tooth - her mailbox
is getting full!)
Mom, R, and T.
R is the principal at the High School he attended. He is smart, erudite, funny, and loving. T. is a preschool teacher specializing in Bi-lingual education. She is a perfect partner for him. She is fun, sweet, smart and a really good mother. T speaks Spanish to the kids at home and R speaks English...They think and talk in both languages seamlessly.
The children got to spend a lot of time out with the chickens, and the vacas (cows). They asked quite pertinent questions and were answered with details. I took them into the barn and they seemed to like it. When Uncle John came home, he took them with him to feed and move the chickens...And E was fascinated with our compost pile - John has just cleaned out a huge bunch of manure in the field and it was on top. E was interested in why we had poop on the grass pile. When his dad explained how compost was made, and I explained why we used compost, he was perfectly satisfied...even went over and picked up a big handful to feel what it was like. We then commenced to show him the water spigot for washing. They looked at bugs and caterpillars and used their mom's cell phone to take pictures and movies of all the creatures on our farm.
I'm participating in a yearly Knit-A-Long again. The project is a shawl - the rest of the information about it is a mystery. I've done it for the last 3 years. The designer is Stephen West and he is a wonderful designer - albeit a bit OUT THERE. To say he is flamboyant is tame. But I love his creations and always, ALWAYS learn something new. So I pulled out some yarn (no, I agonized over my stash for hours) and finally settled on 4 colors that I thought would make me happy and this past Friday the first Clue came out..each successive Friday another Clue will be released until all 4 are out and we can finally see what we are making. I'll show pictures next week once I get a little more into the knitting...right now it's just a small mess!
Thanks for stopping by.
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