One Thing After Another

I was up my usual early and around 7:30 I heard noises from the basement, the boys slept on the pull out bed down there.  I was worried someone did not get enough sleep and may be grumpy but I found them cuddled up with the tablet giggling.  Zayden's family has waffles on Sunday and I did not want to break that tradition and I wanted to use my new Belgium waffle maker from Aldi anyway.   The boys requested red and green waffles and my parents and I stuck to regular tan waffles.  

Z only ate one quarter of his but Baylor ate a whole one.  He loved them.  

I made them go outside for a while because they were just glued to the Wii.  They were out there less than 20 minutes when Z said he was done and going inside.  Not my kid, not going to argue of course.  So they went inside while Dad and I tried to get some more snow to melt.   

Z left in the afternoon and Baylor and I said goodbye to my parents as well.  It was great having them over and helping me out so we could still have the sleepover as the boys were looking forward to it for weeks.   Baylor wanted to do some Just Dance on Youtube, he really thinks he is the one earning the points on the videos.  He has not figured out that it is a video and not his performance!  

But he looks so cute doing it!  

We had one more event to go to Sunday night, a Pampered Chef party at Meghon and Lauren's new home.  There was a lot of family there and I took a selfie with Aunt Betty. She is 93 and still a spitfire.  I guess being the baby of the family made her one tough cookie.  

Baylor crashed on their couch around normal bedtime but the party was not over yet.  After I put in my order and those of my co-workers,  I had to carry him part of the way to the car and part if it he had to sleep wake, which did not make him very happy.  But it was a short drive home and we both collapsed into bed!! It was a busy weekend, and a good one.  

Baylor's First Sleepover at Our House

It was a sad start to what was originally planned as a fun day.  Julie's Mom died on Monday and as soon as I heard that, I called Mom to see if they would help me out depending on when the funeral was.   When Julie said it would be Saturday, we arranged for Mom and Dad to come over Friday night so Mom and I could leave early in the morning for the funeral in Martinsburg, WV.  Dad and Baylor had lots of fun together and even went to breakfast at the Peppermill.  And I would need someone at the house when Zayden arrived in case we were not back yet. When I went out to warm up the car, the sky was just beautiful!!  Mom and I drove down and had some nice conversations about life and death.  We did some crying but we also just enjoyed being together. 

We were walking across the street when a well dressed lady with a cane asked us for help getting past the ice on the sidewalk.  I spotted a clear path down the street and asked her if she didn't mind walking down there as it was much clearer.  I walked down with her and Mom made the treacherous ice crossing.  It did look bad, I cannot believe she did it.  The women then showed us how to get into the church, where the restrooms were and how to get upstairs.  Since a funeral is not a RSVP event, Julie was surprised to see us, but thankful we were there. 

 It was a Catholic service, which I am only vaguly familiar with but it was a nice service.  Funny note: when the priest was blessing the bread and the wine he would dip down below the top of the alter.  I was a bit taken aback, looked at Mom and said, "Peek-a-boo." We both giggled, quietly of course.  

After the service we decided to stay for the luncheon being held in the downstairs room. All the food was brought is by 'good Christian women' as Mom  If there is any part of a church I long for, it is the community.  Being a part of a group that comes together, to support each other, pick you up when you are down, to eat together. That is what I would love to have.  I get it sporadically through the year visiting friends but never in a group setting.  Anyway, I found Amy's mom, sister and niece and we sat with them at the same table.  Mom was able to talk to Amy's mom (similar ages, lesbian daughters, lots in common!)  And I had Cullen next to me to play with.  Lochlan was with his mom's at the next table but came over to play peek-a-boo around the post with me.  I told Amy of my Peek-a-boo story from upstairs and she said she thought the same thing!  

Of course I had to take a few selfies with this little guy.  

And had one with Mom in the back ground. 

And as it goes with little ones, the fun never ends when you find a new game so it was back spinning around the post. 

Mom and I made the drive home and we had missed Zayden's parents by about 15 minutes.  The boys were already playing video games so we let the go until supper time.  I walked out to get the mail and was excited to see a letter from England with Pippa's hand writting.  Well it was from her mom telling me that Pippa died in June, but did not say why.  I was so glad Mom was there because I really could not comprehend what I was reading.  I had wondered why her FB account was deactivated but people can come and go on there for their own reasons. We have been friends since the summer of 1992 or 1993 when we worked at Camp Sequioa in NY as counselors and teachers in the art/photography programs.  We wrote letters, sent emails and then connected on FB years ago.  To say I was gutted would be understating it.  Her daughter turned two in July 2015 and she was something Pippa tried very hard for and never thought she would have.  I know Pippa will be watching over dear Freya but I am sad I will not be able to watch from this side of the pond.

  Later and after I had recovered from the sad news on a sad day, we all piled into the van and had supper at Tokyo Diner.  We all loved the food and the show.  Nothing like clicking knives and flying rice to brighten one's mood.  

Especially the onion volcano!  

Young kids came be such goof-nuggets!  I love it!  

Zayden was pretty especially focused on the video games and while Baylor went along with it, I think he wanted to play at times too. The found this perch to be a better view of the TV apparently.  

Around normal bedtime they started wrestle so I sat in the chair in case it turned deadly.  

After wrestling, they wanted to watch a movie, The Avengers: Age of Ultron.  After it was over, around 11:15 Baylor and I were about to pass out (bedtime is usually around 8:30) and Zayden was complaining he was not tired.  I told him we were and the lights were going out. If he was not tired, play quietly on the tablet until you are but we are all going to bed!  

Moonrise and Sunset

While going out to start the car I saw the moon in the cloudy skies.  

And when we got home the sun was setting just beautifully. 

Only The Shadow Knows

School just had a two hour delay so things are getting back to normal.  I found a photo from high school (I am in the center with the long hair on one side) We were recycling, something fairly new in 1989!  I posted it on my class FB page as a Throw Back Thursday.  

In trying to post to Instagram everyday, I try to find something other than my face and the sun.  At work I found an interesting shadow on the blinds.  

But when we got home, it was selfie time!!  

While I don't love my face, I want Baylor to see it in photos.  He deserves that.  

Even though he still may not understand why I took all these photos of the sun in various states of rising and setting. 

Snow Day #3

School was closed for a third day but Landon's dad had to go to work.  But Gloria did not so Landon came to our house for the day.  Gloria said they were giggling all morning and had a good day.  Joey got off work early so Landon was gone by the time I got home.  The sun was setting beautifully while I was walking to get the mail.  

Inside the fur babies were happy to see me.  Eddy was ready for dinner and Grimm is always looking for treats.  

Snow Day #2

School was closed again Tuesday and Baylor went to Landon's again.  And again, they had a good day together.  When we came home we saw that there was graffiti in the snowbank across the alley from the neighbors.  What is the little town coming to?  (it was the neighbor's youngest daughter and her mom!) 

The weather was warm enough that the snow was getting wet enough to pack into a tidy ball and throw!  Finally, some snowball action. 

It became a game for us to throw snowballs at each other on the way to the mailbox.  His aim is about as good as mine so neither of us had much to worry about getting hit with snow!  

Snow Day #1

Baylor did not have school on Monday but Gloria and I had to work.  Landon's dad said his work was closed for the day and he offered to have Baylor come over for the day.  It helped me in that I did not have to pay extra for daycare and he did not have to be the primary playmate for Landon all day. Not that he minds that, he is a great Dad.  But he is a single Dad and I know it helps him out a lot to have one of the boys over to play with Landon.  The morning sunrise was beautiful.  I love capturing them.  

The day was good for all of us.  Food day was tasty and delicious.  Baylor and Landon had fun all day and Gloria, well it was a normal work day for her!  When we got home we had to get the mail.  I walked down the neighbor's drive, I think I will be doing that for a few weeks until all this melts, and Baylor was my spotter again.  Around 5:00 there is a lot more traffic and there was a very narrow space to run over to the mail box between cars.  He panicked a few times as I tried to get the mail and get back to the driveway while he saw a car coming down the road.

Walking around the back of the house I had an excellent view of the sun setting.  Another beautiful sky! 

Sunday Clean up

Sunday was bright and beautiful and all covered in snow!  The neighbors were out and clearing their cars later in the day but were still all buried in the morning light.  

The basement window was buried almost to the middle of the window.  

Thankfully I had filled the bird feeders before the snow started.  But when that runs out they are going to be on their own until I can get out there.  

The girls came over to play but did help with the van for a bit.  They did the best they could helping and playing both of which were difficult due to the depth of the snow everywhere.  

Eddy came out to try to walk on some non-snow covered areas.  Gloria was stir crazy had drove the to snowblower place to arrange for them to pick up the blower sometime so there was a bare spot for her.  The snow was fluffy and deep and would not support her. Or me, I stepped off the side of the driveway trying to help Baylor who was stuck. Now we were both on our butts in the snow and he was short a boot, that was also now in the snow!  We both survived to walk again!  

My pretty girl!! 

Baylor forged his own paths, mostly to nowhere!  But loved it, other than it was still not snowman making snow.  A total bummer really. 

Snow selfie with Baylor's Stormtropper hat.  

In the afternoon I decided I should try to find the mailbox or we might not be getting any mail for a while.  Baylor sat on the snow mound being my car spotter.  It was Sunday which is usually slower out there but there was no one out really unless they had bigger vehicles.  

This was my task, to find that mailbox peaking out of the snow.  I found it eventually.  But there was no finding the garbage platform.  That was going to have to wait for another day.  

The house looked nice but once I saw all the snow on the roof, it certainly brought some new concerns into my head!  

Again, he was all about walking though the snow.  I stuck to the neighbor's cleared driveway.  The official snow depth was 30.2 inches and our annual snow fall is 30.6. It was a lot of snow for us for one day but we were pretty lucky. Those south of us got more than 10 inches more!! 

Monday was food day so after we changed into warm, dry clothes I made seven layer dip to bring into work.  It was so pretty and looked so good!

No more snow on Sunday and a sunny day to clear things off, And to end the day, there was a full moon.