pictures from the weekend

My sweetie came to stay.


His brother is pretty sweet too. He tried to wake up Uncle Tim, but Tim was NOT in the mood for morning. I overheard him telling t.c., "This is the reason I'm keeping the quilt OVER my head--because you are loud and a-noxious." Wow. That's blunt to an overly energetic nephew first thing in the morning.

But t.c. didn't take it too seriously, just groused at him, and then moved on to more awake people.

Yesterday he went along to Tim's basketball game and he cheered with all his might. He had a lot of questions and being there in the bleachers with him made me so happy, just the two of us watching the game together. Who knew life held a HIM?


There were other people sleeping over too. Jay made so many pancakes and so much sausage, and fried so many eggs, it felt like breakfast at the lake.


That little girl in the black shirt was here too, hilarious. I love her.


This is what Jay found last night at midnight, after he started running bath water and came to get his pajamas: A bed full of daughters and one grand-dog. He's a good sport, and they were gone by the time he came back. His face though--that I don't have a picture of.

(Can you see the picture on the wall way up on the right? That's the two of them back in 1987. The green frame on the left is something John and Dan did for us in 1996. It's pictures of the first six kids, each one at age two.)


A bunch of new babies have been born, so I've been sewing blankets tonight. This water lilies one is for a baby girl named Allison.


This is for a baby named Edith Grace. I'm going to sew her a more colorful one too.


This one is for a tiny girl named Olive, born two weeks ago. The fish blanket at the bottom is for a friend of Dannell's who had a baby boy not long ago. We don't know his name, but that's okay. He gets the fish blanket.


And now it's now, and kids are laughing down the hall, not sleeping, though their dad is sprawled out here, sleeping like a rock. Thank goodness for loud, rowdy Saturday nights full of wild kids, and beautiful, quiet, wonderful Sunday nights too. Onward to Monday, and hallelujah for MARCH. February's been great and all, sparkly, brilliant winter. Good. Done that. March is all about spring. Let's go. love, Val