A Visit From Grandma~

Wow, over 2 weeks since I last posted.  Life has been well, LIFE, and we've been living it to the full.

Our days have been very busy with homeschooling, which I plan to post about later.  We've also taken one fun field trip to Blowing Rock with our friends.  Unfortunately, I brought the camera without the battery, so no photos of that glorious day of picnicking, wading in the stream, ice cream eating and park playing.

Now on to Grandma!  Bill's mom flew into Atlanta early last week and stayed with Bill's oldest sister for a few days.  On Saturday, Bill loaded up our van with the 5 children, and met Grandma and sister Linda at the halfway point between our two homes.  They met at a Cracker Barrel and had lunch and visited, and then Bill brought Grandma home to our house for a few days. And what was I doing during the 7 HOURS that they were gone????  Well, enjoying every minute of it, since Bill had been out of town the week before.  I was productive though, and got some things done around the house and also had time to get some errands run as well.

     Gotta get the "rocking chairs on the porch photo" when you're at Cracker Barrel!

Ellie has warmed right up to Grandma on this trip!  She has learned to trust~ in a good way, not indiscriminately.  It's so evident that she's feeling MUCH more secure now.

The exciting thing about Grandma's visit is that she came to us ON her birthday!  And we LOVE to celebrate birthdays at our house! We celebrated Grandma's in typical family fashion with dinner out and then presents and cake at home, while wearing the birthday crown, of course!

 If you look closely you may see a #7 on Grandma's crown.  She's celebrating her 77th birthday!

Grandma and the kids after opening her presents.

And one last photo this morning of Grandma and the kids before church.

After church today we headed to Pei Wei for brunch and then spent the afternoon swimming at the pool one last time before it closes for the season.  The children were thrilled that Grandma brought her bathing suit and "got in" with them!  No photos of that per Grandma's request. :)  

Our plan was for Aunt Linda to drive to us on Tuesday, have dinner and spend the night, and then take Grandma back to her home again on Wednesday, but while writing this post, Aunt Linda just called to say that while at Cracker Barrel, she had pulled a muscle in her back.  Though uncomfortable at the time, she did make it home ok, but woke up this morning in real pain, and has been on ice all day.  She won't be up for the drive on Tuesday, so Grandma will be leaving our house on a jet plane for Atlanta on Wednesday.  We're so sorry you're hurting, Aunt Linda.  The kids are going to be SO disappointed not to see you this week.  We hope you will come for a visit soon.