Weekend Reboot

Happy Monday everyone, and Happy Inauguration Day America! 

Don't at me. I know not everyone is excited about today, but I absolutely welcome the change. Not everybody does but hey, that's America in every election cycle. May God bless her as we usher in a new administration. Nobody should be hoping our new president fails at his job.

Moving on...the weekend. Linking with Holly (Pink Lady Blog) and Sarah (Sunshine and Books) for their regularly scheduled Hello Monday weekend recaps.  

There are grandkids in the house, toys on the floor, marinara sauce on my dining room chair, and a morning coffee hour that now includes legos with a side of lots of questions asked and answered. 

We love it. 

I don't have many pictures from the weekend. While there's something we call multitasking, there's this whole other something which is multitasking with jet-lagged toddlers who need stories read, snacks procured, games played, and laps to sit in. Doesn't leave a lot of room or hands free for picture taking. 

Backing up to Thursday which I long ago declared the official start to the weekend. Hubs flew to London last Sunday/Monday so he could fly back to the states on Thursday with Daughter1, her three children, each toting his or her own backpack and snack box, a wagon, five oversized-overweight-overly heavy suitcases, two car seats in travel bags, and a partridge in a pear tree. 

Since my son-in-law will be in the UK for a couple more weeks, wrapping up his job there before he can join his family here, and since we parents never stop wanting to help where we can, off hubs went to do just that. The kids (the grown ones I mean) were grateful, and hubs could sleep without the thought of his girl trying to manage all of that on her own keeping him awake at night. 

These grands are seasoned travelers and trans Atlantic flights ain't no big thing to them. It's all the  'stuff' associated with flying that frays the nerves. They landed in Atlanta late afternoon then had to get through immigration and customs, and the nightmare that is Atlanta traffic anytime at 6 o'clock in the evening, then another two hour drive here, but they did it!! They arrived home about 9 PM. 

Of course by 9 pm little miss had finally hit the wall, so my daughter plunked her into bed in the clothes she'd been wearing all day and night and then I looked at my daughter and kind of wanted to plunk her into the bed right beside her. 

She's an absolute star y'all. 

Friday started early because jet lag is for real.  Everyone was surprisingly cheerful, and we pulled out the toys and they got to work playing. I bought a doll stroller for little miss and she spent most of the day pushing it around the house, putting all her stuffies and special things in it, taking them out, chatting happily. The boys put together legos and Nana (that's me) made french toast because it was a french toast kind of morning. I also played Battleship and Rush Hour and listened to little boys explain which transformer is which and just soaked up that familiar feel of family in the house that is so precious. 

Daughter1 worked on unpacking their belongings and making sense of how to temporarily settle in to our house while they find one of their own. They can move over to the in-laws lake house (the in-laws don't live in it full time) if the home buying process takes too long and that's the plan sometime after my son-in-law arrives. 

She's also in a wedding (we don't do things by halves here) mid-February, out of town of course, so she had to get herself to the alterations lady Friday afternoon to have her bridesmaid dress basically remade before she needs to be in it. Whew. It's all kind of a lot on day one. 

As an aside, why are bridesmaid dresses sized so ridiculously ridiculous? Why aren't they sized like all the other dresses women wear? 

I'd invited the other grandparents aka the in-laws, to come for dinner along with my son-in-law's sister and brother-in-law, so it was a fun welcome home celebration. I made lasagne and a pan of baked ziti the day before, and it was so good. Yes I am saying so myself lol. It was though! 

I also baked a cake for dessert. Southern Living put out a calendar of cakes, one to bake each month of the year, and I thought I'd try it in 2025. I need to do these when I have company in the house so they'll get eaten so this was the perfect time to whip up the January recipe-

Buttermilk cake-

I'd never had a buttermilk cake but the ingredients give it a taste similar to pound cake, although not nearly as dense. The icing was scrumptious! Very much like a caramel frosting. I would definitely make this one again, and thought it tasted even better the second day. 

Saturday dawned early again, for the boys anyway. Apparently little miss had been up on UK time five hours earlier, then went back to sleep about the time the boys were getting up, and this is just how it is with kids and jet lag. 

Once everyone was really up, fed, and dressed we got out of the house for a bit. We went to a small museum one tiny town over called Museum of the Cherokee, and everyone enjoyed it. Hubs is always up for an arrowhead hunt. 

Afterwards we walked to the cheesesteak place for lunch, then wandered into a couple of shops before heading back home. 

Everyone was tired. Ti-red. I laid on the couch for a few minutes trying to finish the book I was reading, but then a tea party was happening right in the middle of my keeping room, and who doesn't want to drink tea poured (mostly) carefully by the cutest little server ever???

We had left overs for dinner and everyone went to bed early. 

Sunday little miss was up early, but the boys slept in and eventually we'll all be on the same page. The sun was shining so we took a walk in the neighborhood and soaked up some much needed Vitamin D. 

Hubs had some real estate-ing to do on Sunday and we all watched a movie that afternoon. I made an easy dinner, a chicken dish I hadn't made in years that I probably over made back in the day, but everyone liked it. We used to call it Russian chicken but I don't know if that was the official name. You mix apricot jam, a packet of Lipton's onion soup, and a bottle of Russian salad dressing together, then pour it over the chicken, cover and bake. Still delicious. 

And at this point my daughter was fading. Here's something I know about motherhood...no matter how old your children are, you never get over the instinct mothers have to help, soothe, and fill in the gaps where they need filling. 

You will one day look at your grown adult daughter and think, how can I help? How can I make this moment, this transition, this whatever easier? 

You send her for a warm shower and her pjs while you read her children bedtime stories, and oversee teeth brushing and bedtime prayers. 

You remember the exhaustion that lived beside the sweetness of mothering young children, and the memory of sitting on her bed listening to her bedtime prayers leads you to say one of your own..

Now I lay me down to sleep, thank you for this life so sweet.

Birthday Blogging

If you're here looking for this week's Hodgepodge questions they're one post back. 

September 10th is the one day of the year I do my best not to skip blogging. My baby girl celebrates a birthday and she expects me to mention it here. There might be three decades worth of candles on her cake, but she's forever my baby girl. 

There's no cake though, because her baby girl can't handle dairy. Mothers excel at doing what must be done, even if it means no cake on your birthday. 

Years ago, during a particularly busy September, I told my daughter I might not get a post written on the day, and she told me reading my blog on her birthday is one of the highlights of her day.  

Let me never miss being a highlight in her day. 

I've been birthday blogging since 2009 which means I have to dig a little deeper with every passing year to say something that hasn't already been said. I need to get creative, but am not feeling especially so, mostly because I've been with the birthday girl's kiddos all weekend. Three full days with a two year old and his 7-month old sister is, in a word-fantabulous. 

Or to put it another way-exhausting. 

Let's just say it is fantabulously exhausting.

Hubs and I also have birthdays this month and the weekend confirmed what we already suspected... 

We're not as young as we thought. 

All weekend I was reminded of how much a break is needed every now and then when you're a mom to littles. Needed and appreciated. 

Mothering wee ones is non-stop doing-thinking-being. It's cooking, washing, wiping, serving, playing, planning, answering, making, soothing, reading, praying, watching, standing, bending, singing, looking, swaying, listening, noticing, and caring.

It feels like a million little things because it is a million little things, the importance of which can be lost in the noise of a culture that says bigger and more visible things matter more. As a mom to now grown littles I can say the minutes spent doing the mundane are an investment that pay off down the road in ways that make your heart grateful for every snotty nose wiped, every crumb swept, and every lullaby sung on the road to here.

I look at my daughter with her babies and I remember my cheeky one who at the age of two liked to say I was not the boss of her. The blonde haired beauty who wasn't big on sleep but had the bluest eyes and a smile that made you forget the nights were short and the days were often oh so long. 

my baby

Those years though? They flew. She's a mother now, two babies of her own in as many years, and coming out of the fog that clouds a new mom's brain. 

her baby 

When I look at her daughter I see my own. Almost. They're each their own person, but I pray her little miss has the patience, intelligence, and love for Jesus her momma has. 

Happy birthday Daughter2! Keep finding great joy and satisfaction in the glorious mundane of mothering. I'm forever grateful God blessed my life with yours xo 

Good Mor-nin' America How Are You...

Good Monday morning all! Hope you have some fun plans to celebrate our nation's birthday this week. The weather here has certainly screamed summer lately and looks like we'll have more of the same all week long. 

Linking up today with Holly and Sarah for their Hello Monday blog hop. I'm going all the way back into last week with my recap so you might want to grab your coffee and get comfy. 

I spent all of last week at daughter2's house as she was recovering from some minor surgery and couldn't do any lifting. She's 100% fine so no worries, but I think I know now why all moms my age have aching backs.  

High chairs and bathtubs and car seats and baby carriers. So.much.lifting. It's got to leave a mark. I carried the baby in the baby seat to and from the car whenever we went out, and also into and out of any shops or restaurants we visited. I know I did that when mine were babies but I don't remember them being quite so ridiculously heavy and awkward. 

My daughter might say the awkward part is just me, but whatever. She quite often is managing the baby seat with one hand and wrangling a 2-year old with the other. I don't feel like a weakling, but this week kind of makes me wonder.  

All my grandchildren have wonderful dispositions, but our little Sugar just might be the happiest baby on the planet. I could eat her up with a spoon.

She's a beauty like her momma. 

It was nice to have a low key week with my girl. Her hubs was traveling for work so once the babies were in bed we hunkered down and watched the entire new season of America's Sweethearts-The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. It's on Netflix now, but there were several seasons prior on another network that had a slightly different format. 

This new version is a bit more documentary style, and we loved it. When we finished that we moved on to Spring Baking Championship. She and I both love to bake and while The Great British Baking Show is our favorite we like these seasonal baking shows too. 

We tried to plan a little outing every day. There was gelato one afternoon- 

And of course there was a teensy bit of shopping because there's the cutest children's shop very near her home that I like to visit whenever I'm in town. They have a beach trip later this summer so I bought the kiddos something beachy. 

Hubs did not go with me this time because the little brown dog also had a minor surgical procedure this week and he needed to manage that. 

Such a handsome fella. 

I got home from Tennessee late Friday afternoon, unpacked, then hubs and I went out for Mexican food. We caught up on the week over margaritas and chips and salsa. Honestly this could be my meal when we go for Mexican. 

Saturday I did all the things that needed doing after a week away. 

Maybe not all, but many many. I did get all the laundry done and put away, made a menu for the coming holiday week, then hit the grocery store. Saturday morning is not my favorite time to shop and it was as zoo-ey as I expected.  

Question-do you shop just once a week? I don't know how people pull that off. I feel like the produce doesn't last the way I'd like it to so I usually shop twice a week. 

After lunch we went 'back to town' as we say here, because I had an Amazon return and discovered I could do that at Staples without any wrapping or label printing. Easy peasy. We need to replace some of our flameless candles so made a quick stop at Hobby Lobby to see if they had the size needed, but no. Amazon it is. Again. 

I've ordered about ten smallish things from Amazon in the past three days, one at a time though. Oops. I wonder if anyone looks at the orders and asks why this woman can't get it together to make a single order? They've managed to consolidate it into less than ten deliveries so kudos to Amazon. 

Anyway, since we were in town we decided to pop in Lowes for something, and saw they had their chest freezers on sale so we bought one. I have two refrigerators, both with drawer style freezers, but there's just not enough space in either one to store much of anything. They deliver which meant that was pretty easy peasy too.

When we got home I spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen. Our basil plant was out of control so I made pesto to have for dinner. 

The smell of fresh basil is heavenly. 

I had some basil infused olive oil and used that instead of regular which was delicious. My daughter1's in-laws brought over a big bag of home grown cucumbers while I was away so I made a pesto chicken dish for dinner with a cucumber-tomato salad on the side. 

We thought about going into town after dinner to an event at the local brewery, but the temperature was still something like the surface of the sun so we opted instead to sit on the deck and listen to our own music. Such a relaxing way to end the day. 

Sunday was spent at home as we had a delivery window we needed to be available for. We watched a movie and I baked a quiche to put in my freezer for breakfast later this week when we have people in the house. 

A college friend gave me this recipe and it's never-fail and so so good. I use whatever veggies I have and this one is bacon, spinach and red pepper. With cheese of course. 

It was still ninety degrees at 7 PM so we wrapped up the day with a float in the lake. Looking forward to fireworks from this very spot in just a few days. God bless America! 

Visit Holly and Sarah to read more weekend recaps and add your own. 

And The Seasons They Go Round And Round

In my hunt for some pictures for yesterday's Hodgepodge I came across this photograph-

...and I keep thinking about the way it made my head spin. My heart too. 

That's my oldest daughter in the picture, sitting in the grass in front of Canterbury Cathedral on one of the brightest blue sky days there ever was in the history of England. 

She is seventeen. 

It's funny the way a picture can peel back the years and remind me that once upon a time I had teenagers living in my house. If you have teenagers at home you might wonder how in the world you could ever forget this season of intense everything, but I'm here to tell you time is sometimes blurry in the rear view mirror. 

The now grown women I birthed and adore, the ones I talk to about recipes and books and parenting and politics and culture wars and Jesus and everything under the sun, well they used to be teenagers. Not so long ago they were sleeping in their bedrooms upstairs and eating breakfast at our kitchen table. They were asking for rides or cash or permission, doing homework, dancing, dreaming, and planning their futures.

Was it not so long ago? 

Nineteen summers have come and gone since this photo was snapped. The teenage girl in this photograph went off to uni, worked in our nations capital, married her doctor-captain -major-now civilian, birthed three children, moved west across the country, east across an ocean, then south, then up and over to the midwest and, as I type, is preparing for yet another move. 

A move that will bring her back to the dirt she is sitting on in this photograph. 

England. 

Her hubs will complete a six-month orthopedic surgical fellowship there and she will introduce her children to tea and scones, the English countryside, village life, 1000 years of history, kings and castles, old churches and new experiences. The same language only different.  

The seventeen year old girl in that picture had no idea all the ways God was going to work out His plans and His purposes in her life. 

She's going back to the place she first learned the world is big and change is a given. That when a door opens wide we can walk on through, knowing God goes before us. Knowing too that He meets us there and walks beside us wherever we may roam. 

She doesn't have to wonder if that's really true. She knows it because she's lived it. As a young teenager moving across the pond, as a young wife moving across the country, as a young mom giving birth in South Korea. In all the places and seasons and changes life has brought God's been there. 

I cannot wait to hear how that seventeen year old girl sees England now...

Through her grown up eyes and the lens of time. 

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Isaiah 139: 9-10

Friday Faves-Episode 2

Who blogs late afternoon on a Friday? Just me? Who reads blogs late afternoon on a Friday? I guess we'll find out.

I love Friday afternoons. My hubs may be adding sand to the firepit patio as we speak, is washing down the chairs there, and in general making everything in that area of the yard squeaky clean for friends to enjoy tomorrow night, but I've declared it quittin' time and am sitting with a cup of tea, my laptop, and a gentle breeze on the deck thinking about blogging. 

We're retired. We can call it a day at 3 PM on a sunny Friday in May. 

Well hubs can't because he's a machine when it comes to yard work and chores, which I have to say, is not a bad quality in a husband.

I'm linking a little bit of this and that from the week that was today with Erika and Andrea on Friday Favorites. 

First things first...I'm still walking with the Better Me app and invited hubs to go with me one day this week. Normally I like to do these walks alone, listen to my book, and not think about my achilles and these hills. Hubs likes to say things like, 'These hills are so good for you!' and 'We should do this twice a day' while in my head I'm wondering why it is he bounces up the hills like it ain't no thing and I huff and puff like it is? 

Our neighborhood has walking trails through the woods that connect the various sections. I like hubs with me when I take any of the wooded routes, on the off chance we see a bear. We've never encountered one on a walk, but they are in the neighborhood from time to time. 

If hubs walks with me his number one fan gets to come too. 

Second fave-I had lunch with a friend on Wednesday, which was long overdo. And since it's graduation week at the local university we opted for a drive in the country and lunch with a view. Crazy storms came in later and the mountains were already feeling it, but still gorgeous. 

Another fave...On Thursday nights in tinytown they close the main street to cars, invite food trucks in and have a stage with live music. We hadn't been in ages but made it there last night, and it was so much fun. 

We got there early and had margaritas and shared some nachos before the main band played. We ran into lots of friends, which is one of the best things about small town living, and the weather was perfection. 

My favorite fave-I did some grocery shopping this morning while hubs was at a meeting and then sometime after he walked in the door with these-

Fresh flowers are one of my love languages and this arrangement is over the top. 

Lastly, I'm wishing all the mamas out there a weekend filled with the things and people you love. I'm so grateful to still have my mother in my life. She taught me how to mother and has loved me with her whole heart from the very beginning-

I'm so very grateful too for my own sweet daughters...

...who mother their littles with patience, humor, and intention in a way that makes my heart go to absolute mush. 

What To Expect When You're Expecting (not that kind)

The kind of expecting where you're looking forward to something happening and then it does, but not in the way you expected. 

I spent this past weekend with daughter2, mostly holding baby girl who we've decided going forward will be known here as 'Sugar'.  She's so sweet y'all. 

Anyway, I spent almost all of my time with this little miss in my arms so daughter2 could hold her brother. He was feeling puny, wanting momma and only momma. You kind of forget what it's like to have sick kids in the house until you have sick kids in the house. 

Was this our weekend plan? 

No it was not. The original weekend plan was for both my girls to be in Tennessee with their littles while all of our hubs had their own obligations to tend to. I'd been looking forward to this for weeks because it's been a long while since it was just us girls (plus their 5 small children, but whatever). This was going to be both girls and me in the same place at the same time, no boys allowed. 

Except for the 6 and under set of course. 

Anyway, we girls were going to have some fun, take a picnic to the park, laugh a lot at all the cousins playing together in their matching cousin t-shirts, share deep thoughts and skin care products, and gab late into the night (well, later than 8:30 which is our usual bedtime when kids are in the house) for three complete whole entire days. 

Didn't happen. 

I did drive to daughter2's on Thursday, and daughter1 did plan to arrive with her crew on Saturday. 

There's that word again-plan. 

Things started off nicely. Friday morning daughter2 needed to visit the jeweler so we loaded up the baby and big brother and off we went. While my daughter was in the shop chatting about an order I was outside with the mister watching a large construction crew operate all the big equipment just across the highway. There were cranes and bulldozers, dump trucks filling and dumping, and best of all a 'digger', all making a lot of noise and moving a lot of dirt and rock. Little man was in heaven. When he waved at the digger operator the driver lifted the bucket up and down in the form of a wave back and it was the best.

We had lunch before heading home for naps, but by the time we got to the house it was apparent sweet baby J was running a fever. Bother. We finally had to tell daughter1 not to come because we certainly didn't need to share those germs with her family, and that was that. Plan blown. Expectation unmet. 

What can you do? 

Nothing really. Life happens and we have to adjust and move forward even when what we really want to do is stomp our feet and rail at the universe a little bit. 

We don't though. We adjust and move forward. We choose to find the silver lining...the bright side...the blue sky if you will. Maybe not in the first five minutes but we do get there. We pull on our 'let's make the best of it britches' and then we do just that. 

There are hours and hours of snuggles with a lapful of Sugar. 

There is the same book read no less than fifteen times because sweet baby J is not his usual oh so happy self and when Nana reads '....sometimes you're happy, sometimes you're sad'...and makes a great big sad face, he laughs. Somehow my sad face makes him happy and it's pure gold.  

There is sunshine. Glorious sunshine. We load everyone up in the strollers and feel the sun hit our faces and Vitamin D flood our veins and we can say with complete honesty that there is beauty in this day, this weekend, in spite of cancelled plans and unmet expectation. 

After babies are tucked in tight me and my girl (just one not two, but we're making the best of it remember?) sit on the couch and watch Next Level Chef. We discuss in great detail the choices these contestants make because we both love to cook, but we talk about many, many other things too.  

And suddenly, somehow, I feel grateful, not for cancelled plans, but for being right where I need to be. Lending a hand (or a lap), and having a front row seat to watch my baby girl mother her very own babies. What a gift. 

There is grace for the day y'all. 
For the ones that go swimmingly and the ones that fall to pieces too. 

No Such Thing As Too Much Sugar

So it's been a minute. Where were we? Oh yeah, we were waiting on a baby and she's here! 

Our fifth grandchild was born a little over a week ago, a precious little girl who already has us completely wrapped around her teeny tiny perfectly formed fingers. 

You might think number five would be no big deal, but I'm here to tell you every single birth is a very big deal, every birth an actual miracle. It's amazing to look at the 11-week ultrasound snapshot hanging on my daughter's frig and recognize the beautiful baby I'm holding in my arms is that same girl. 

I drove over to my daughter's house early (in fact, almost three weeks early) because the doctor was convinced this little girl was in a hurry. Turns out she really wasn't, but I don't mind. It was nice having some time with my own baby girl and it calmed nerves knowing I was in the house should she have to go to the hospital in the middle of the night. 

She did not, but! she was able to get her haircut, see the dentist, and have a pedicure without her toddler in tow. These are all things that going forward will require a lot more planning and likely be far less relaxing, at least for a while. 

To everything there is a season. 

My granddaughter's momma (aka Daughter2) was not big on sleep when she was a baby and hubs and I spent many a dinner hour with her wailing (and possibly me too on occasion). But you know what? We laugh about that now. It was just a part of who she was and who she is...a girl who knows her mind, who lives large, and who loves her momma. 

I look at my girl now, married woman and mom of two, and I remember her sweetness. I remember her spunk and her joie de vivre, but the night after night of interrupted sleep? The days where it seemed like bedtime would never get there??? Well those moments not so much.  

Which I know is not a great comfort when you're in the thick of it, but true nonetheless. Being with my daughter and her newborn baby girl and her 20-month old little man whose world has been rocked a little,  it comes back to me how absolutely exhausting those early years of parenting are.

And how absolutely wonderful too.