the first day

missed junk drawer on saturday....i was too busy....here's a bit of what i was up to.

snuggling in bed first thing in the morning with cartoons and a favorite blanket, a quick, simple breakfast, digging thru the toybox, getting settled into the new trailer for a first-time bike ride with Grandpa to the bakery.

riding on toys, playing with firetrucks, diggers, playhouses, blocks, and cars. 

chasing the cat and being "in charge" of the dog.

a nice, long nap and then off to the mall. choices to make at Build-A-Bear!!!

and date night, just the three of us, Grandma and Grandpa and little Grandson. at Champp's. where he ate all 3 food courses: appetizer, favored Grandma's chicken over his Mac 'n Cheese and polished off the Kiddie Sundae, cherry and all. (as he was hitting the bottom of the bowl we heard him say "more?".....but we cut him off).

sunday was a bit of a slower start and somewhat a relaxing day around the house and then they all headed home to Michigan.

so fun to have family visit!!!!!

just went grocery shopping and there were lots of things in my cart that are usually not there:

a great assortment of canned fruits and veggies, fruit snacks, applesauce, whole milk, teddy grahams, lots of extra bananas and apples, apple juice, cones for ice cream, mac & cheese, fig newtons.....and lots of other goodies.

guess who's coming to dinner?

the little grandson is coming for a whole 5 days...without his parents!

plus we plan to hit some of his favorite hot-spots and find new ones too.  did you know that Champs Restaurant is a favorite for 1 1/2 year olds? they love the menu, all the TVs, and the music. who knew?

yummmm!!!!!  soon the feasting will begin! 

soon the family will be arriving for the long weekend of Thanksgiving celebrations.  a house full of hungry souls.  i've been "dog-earring" and "post-it-noteing" cooking magazines and watching cooking shows for weeks.  then the lists started.  finally the $hoping began.

 on sunday it started with a trip to one of my favorite feast stock-up places, Trader Joe's.  everything they have is just the best.  and now they have some of their special holiday goodies.  then on monday picked up 21# Tom and he's thawing nicely.  and today headed to the local grocer with "the big list" to finish off the final $hoping.  took three stops to get everything but all went as planned.

tomorrow will start the baking and cleaning and final to do list. and thursday the big day of cooking.  i love lots of delicious, creative recipes with leftovers too.  so it will be a funfilled weekend of cooking.

i have the worlds smallest kitchen, nothing modern, not even a dishwasher.  but that's never stop me from having a yummy dinner.

yum-o as rachel ray would say...........bring on the guests and let the feasting begin.  there's much to be thankful for!

wow, didn't realize i'd been away so long.  thanks for not giving up on me and remembering to check back in.

in knitting news i finally wore my finished Scoop du Jour sweater today.  fun! fun! fun!  it is a fabulous fit and love the finishing touch of the oval buttons that i bought for that sweater on my trip this summer to NYC.  it's funny how you can feel good all day when you feel good in a snuggly sweater.  did you ever have that feeling?  i will wear it out tonight to dinner and to see the movie, "proof".

also on the needles; a christmas stocking, that has been "hanging out there for some time" and deserves to be finished.  by the way, i have been sooo inspired by all the great christmas stockings that i've seen in a the mail order catalogs lately: sundance, garnet hill, anthroplogie.....

in other knitting news i started and restarted and restarted and QUIT for now the Cabled Shrug from Fall Interweave Knits.  just too "fussy" for me right now.  gotta give that some more thinking time and see if it is something that i really want to buy into.

and that brings me to the birthday boy news.  i gifted the Wild Stripes (pattern at www.knitty.com see archives) one year old birthday blanket and i think he loves it.  i hope it will be loved to shreds for years to come.  i have lots of left over yarns and so i plan to do some christmas gifts for that little grandson with those.  i just love that yarn, and those great colors. 

speaking of the birthday......the party was so fun and my daughter did such a wonderful and creative job.  you can check out some of the details and pixs at her site.  www.confessionsofasahm.com   too cute.  and that one year old was the life of the party.

hard to believe November is already here.  a year ago tomorrow i was meeting my little grandson for the first time.  this has been a wonderful year of firsts as a grandma......with many more great years to come.

the weekend...............

yeah, i know, i just had one,a four day one in fact.

but that doesn't matter.  i can't still feel it.  it's not still there.  under my skin, holding me together, giving me any kind of peace,  keeping my shoulder blades from creeping up around my earlobes.

yikes, this job is crazy these days.  (for those of you who are new readers i'm a jr high teacher).  yeah i know, i chose it.

but i'm on my lunch hour right now and in about an hour i head home to my weekend.  and this weekend i will relax with a visit of little pitter patter of feet on my not perfectly clean floors, playing with blocks, fall walks with the stroller, messy meals of "learning to feed myself",  playing in the bathtub, chasing the cat, and six teeth smiles.

plus i get to do some cooking for the the family, watch the cement truck pour the foundation for our new garage tomorrow, maybe some knitting and a DVD rental and visit with my daughter and son-in-law. 

yeah for two days off!!!!!!!!!!!!

wonderful weekend.  full of traveling to michigan to be with family, relaxing, naps, knitting, reading and good food.

we met my daughter in fennville where we have been taking pottery classes this summer.  grandpa took the baby home and my daughter and i worked on our projects with three, cute, baby kittens sleeping and playing right along side us.  so fun!

in grand rapids where both of my kids live they have a great farmer's market.  we have a tiny market here but nothing like the market there.  there was a nice rain on saturday morning but after it cleared up grandpa (my hubby) and i put the grandson in his stroller and gave his mom some time home alone and we walked to the farmer's market. 

 i could have filled the bottom of the stoller and the wagon (if we would have brought it) but we just got a few treats for the day.  they had mini size pies so we bought 2.  cherry and apple.  whoppie pies!!! they were a must buy.  i used to make these for the kids.  little round chocolate cakes with cream filling in the middle (like Hostess Susie Q's).  my daughter and i ate one as soon as i bought them home.  red haven peaches.  blueberries.  and a bunch of  zinnias.

saturday afternoon we all took naps.  saturday evening we went out for mexican food and i was finally able to meet my son's girlfriend. she's the sweetest, cutest girl.  we had a great time.

sunday morning hubby made a big fruit salad with the fruits that we bought at the market and some other fruit that we already had and i made cinnamon french toast.  it was a wonderful, relaxing weekend.  the only thing missing was our son-in-law who is away working in China for another week. we really had a great time, but it's not the same when you are missing someone from the family.

yesterday was mother's day and saturday was my birthday.  i'm used to getting a lot of mileage out of those two holidays as they are usually close together.  but not right next to each other.

it is interesting to watch time move on. 

first, you are celebrating mom's day just for your mom.  then you become a mom yourself and it takes on a whole new meaning and you share the day with your mom. 

next,  you become a grandmom, as i did this year, and you share that day now with your mom and your daughter. 

the circle of time. 

 i love it.