Sunday, May 6

Last night we had part 1 of Lily's birthday celebration.  She loved her Bubble Guppie cake that I brought out from Cake Creations that used to be Bev Miller's in West Jeff.  It is now operated by Bev's niece, Beth Fry and the cakes are still just as delicious.  Lily was so much fun when she saw her cake and she wasn't shy at all about eating as much as she could.

 Lily in her Dora dress and tiara wait, not very patiently, for her cake.

 Happy Birthday, Lily from Mommy, Daddy and Luke

 Lily got a little icing on her dress when she leaned in to blow out the candles.

Aunt Sara and Uncle Matt enjoying the party.  Evelyn is asleep for the night already!
Today we all slept in a little longer than normal, except for Evelyn and Pop Pop who seem to get up each morning around 5 a.m.  Andy gets up so he can ride out to the barn with Chad. They had horses racing at Chester, near Philadelphia today so they had to get the horses ready kind of early.  Chad and Ed rode up to Chester with the horses, the rest of us went to Rehobeth Beach, except for Andy who stayed at the house to watch the Cubs.  Andy was probably the smartest as it was really cold at the beach.  It was cloudy and the temps never got much above 60.  Peg and I took Mylee and Luke down to play in the sand near the water and nearly froze.  Lily and Evelyn were asleep in the stroller so they were walked along the boardwalk.  For as cold as it was there were a lot of people their.

Saturday, May 5

 Evelyn's first t-ball game

 Lily playing in the dirt

 Luke is playing short-stop, has his glove above his head.  I would like to say he is catching a fly ball but the batter hasn't batted yet!

 Lily in Luke's gear.

 Melt down at the May Dance.

 Other young boys seemed to enjoy the day.

 Luke did seem to do a little better at the end, after it was over!

Today was a  very busy. Luke had to play in his t-ball game at 10 o'clock and then he had to go to Skull Mansion to do the May Dance at noon with his pre-school class.  There was a major melt down prior to the dance about changing from his t-ball uniform into his colonial clothes so some of the early pic may appear that he is rather unhappy.  He was, unhappy that is, right up until the bitter end. He seemed to get his second wind when we went downtown to eat and go on some of the rides.  Lily took a nap with me and Mylee is napping on Peg's lap right now.  Luke is still going strong.  Having a great time!  Now we are gearing up for the birthday celebration.

Wednesday, May 2

 Just what we need, more Canada Geese.  But they are pretty cute!!

 A very vocal male red-winged blackbird

 Grackles picking up worms in the puddle left in our yard after last night's rain.

The very handsome rose-breasted grosbeak.
Last night the rains were torrential.  We didn't even notice how much rain we were getting until I took Molly out and noticed that there was no where to go because everything was under water.  The garden was completely flooded and much of the soil is in the grass.  What a mess!  Our fish ponds were full of mud this morning and I found one of our fish washed up and laying on the deck.  I'm not sure how much rain we had but it must have been close to 2-3 inches.  So this morning we cleaned the two fish ponds, draining them and scrubbing the mud from the sides.  It was a beautiful day so as I caught my breath after cleaning I  watched some of my backyard friends and was elated to see a rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeder.  I really need to get my hummingbird feeders up.  Tomorrow Sara and Matt are taking Andy to the Reds vs Cubs game.  I am going to watch Evelyn here at home while they are gone.  Andy is pretty excited about the game and is hoping it doesn't get too hot since it is a day game.

Saturday, April 28

Oh, Happy Day!  Yesterday afternoon I picked Sara, Matt and Evelyn up from the airport.  Evelyn did great on the flight, not so sure about Mom and Dad but despite the chilly weather they were glad to get back to the friendly Midwest.  Our first order of business was to pick up Flyer's Pizza.  After stuffing themselves with pizza they were ready to stretch out and relax.  Evelyn is such a good natured baby and enjoys just observing everything that is going on around her and she laughs and smiles at everything and everyone. Pat and Kara came out to see Evie and Sara and Kara got her "baby" fix. Evelyn took several little cat naps but after a bath she fell asleep around 10 and slept until 7 this morning.  Today we had lunch at Los Mariachi's in London, another favorite eating establishment.  We stopped by the Madison House and took Grandma Great to lunch with us so she could meet Evelyn and visit with Sara and Matt before they headed on down to Cincinnati and some Skyline Chili.  I'm sure they are having a rocking good time in Cincy.  It has been more than a year since Matt has seen his family.  I doubt that Sara or Matt will have to hold Evelyn the entire weekend.  It is just great to have them home for a while.

Thursday April 26

I know, I said no more garden! But alas, here we are. Sweet corn, peas, green beans and 4 cabbage plants in just in time for the rain.

Tuesday, April 24

We are getting geared up for our Hawaii visitors and certainly hope that Matt's ship is steaming into Pearl Harbor tomorrow morning as scheduled.  They have air reservations for Thursday night and should be arriving in Columbus around 2 pm on Friday.  I know Sara is a little worried about how Evelyn will do on the flight.  Personally, I am more worried about how she is going to handle the time change once she gets here.  We are so excited to see them all and will be spending lots of family time both here and in Cincinnati and Dover.  Lily will be celebrating her cancer-free 2nd birthday on May 7 so I had to order a Cake Creations cake for the party.  Hopefully, it will be adorned with Bubble Guppies, a Nickelodeon cartoon, that Lily really likes.  Luke is going to be performing with his pre-school for the Dover Days festival that same week end so we are just going to be having fun, fun, fun. He will be dressed in Colonial period clothing and I think they might do a May pole dance.  Should get some great pics from the capitol of the first state.  The city square is so quaint that you would expect to see Ben Franklin coming around the corner.  When Lily was born we went to the state house and it was in session with everyone in period costumes.  Very neat if you enjoy history, which I do.

On a sad note, I was heartbroken last night when I realized that the young woman that was murdered in West Jeff was a former student and basketball player of mine.  What a senseless tragedy!  It certainly is a test of my faith when such bad things happen to good people.  My prayers go out to the parents and family who are surely struggling to understand how something like this could happen in our little village.
Photo shows Paige looking over my shoulder.

Saturday, April 21

Evelyn is trying on her traveling duds. Better dress warm and don't forget your shoes, no slippahs!
Yesterday was a very good day, the barn swallows are back and even better, Matt and Sara are one step closer to coming back as well. They have their airfare tickets and if all goes as planned they will be arriving in Columbus International Airport Friday afternoon. That of course is contingent on Matt's ship getting into port next week as scheduled. We are certainly looking forward to their visit and showing Evelyn off to family and friends. I suspect that the cold spell we are having may be directly related to Sara and Matt's visit. I said before that we would probably have snow when they came home, of course that was when we were expecting them in February! In Dover news, Lily just can't seem to catch a break. She has had an ear infection for the last month and her pediatrician wants her to see an ENT about getting tubes in her ears. No matter, we will still be having a huge birthday bash to celebrate her 2nd birthday in May which will be especially sweet since Sara, Matt and Evelyn will be here and we can celebrate her last two scans that showed NO neuroblastoma cells. Praise the Lord!