Mother's Day here was lovely. This is what I gave my mom. Well, the real gift was that I spent the whole day with her...just her and me...no kids or husbands. We really had a nice time. I wanted to have something to give her though, so I made this the day before. For explanation, my mom has this thing about trees and has made a "tree room" out of what was once my sister's room at home. She likes to collect anything that has to do with trees. So...
It is the Candle Tree pattern from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker. It's an early edition...copyright 1968. Kathy gave it to me when she visited. I finished the square and then, wondering what in the world to do with it, adhered it to a piece of floor tile that I found in the basement and set it in a plate stand. Not too shabby.
The following weekend Claire and I made Italian Wedding Soup and had my parents over for dinner while Keith spent the day with his mom visiting and sprucing up the cemetery in Johnstown. Claire loves wedding soup! She also likes to cook so I thought we should give this a try. She made Oreo Pie for dessert and set the table just right.
Christian has been working, Kate has been camping and Elliot is counting down the days 'til his birthday! We spent Saturday and Sunday at Sandcastle Waterpark. This year I got us season passes so we can go whenever we want. This past weekend was a preview weekend...it doesn't officially open until June 9, but we wanted to get in as much swimming as we can!
I've been reading a lot, too. I haven't updated the "Good Books" page on the right, but let's see...Christian got me a book titled "Boo" for Mother's Day. It was a very enjoyable read and there's a sequel, I believe. I read a book called "Don't Look Down". It was pretty terrible, but I have this thing about abandoning books. I actually threw it away when I was done with it. Keith doesn't like to throw away any book (which is why we have so many boxes of books!), but this one had a LOT of bad language in it and just wasn't worth keeping or passing on. I also finished (BIG YAY!!) "A Breath of Snow and Ashes" by Diana Gabaldon which I've been trying to finish for a couple of years. I loved the first 5 books in this series and just couldn't get into the latest one. But I finally finished it and I still love the characters and story line. You can read about them here, here or here. I highly recommend the entire Outlander series. In fact, Keith says I'm a bit like a pusher trying to get people hooked. Call me. The first one's free.
I am working on a bit of a secret project. I'd like to have it finished by the middle of next week (Hint #1), but I'm not even sure if it will fit (Hint #2). I'll have more info here in the days to come.
What else? Keith had a baptism on Sunday and took in several new members. It's so nice to have those opportunities and be in an area that is growing as rapidly as Jefferson Hills. You could really tell that he was thrilled to welcome these new families into our church. Christian was inducted into the International Thespian Society on Thursday. He worked really hard to get in all of his hours including tech hours. He really enjoys the drama club at school and hopes to student direct the Fall play for his Senior project (which you do your Junior year??) They have had all of their year end band and chorus concerts. Last night Kate had a Academic Award night at the Middle School. She was awarded Highest Honors With Distinction, Golden Reader Award and Outstanding Student in Orchestra. Go Kate! Claire is nearly done with her first year of Brownies and has her big Jumping Ahead ceremony into Girl Scouts on Friday night. That's exciting! There's a dinner and square dancing afterward. (Betcha didn't know that, Keith!) Elliot has learned so much in Kindergarten and is well on his way to reading. He'll be six on June 13 and can build anything put in front of him if he has directions and the right supplies. He and Claire are quite the little water babies, too, and love playing in the pool.
23 days 'til the beach!! I have the condo keys in my possession!!
And now I have to go to the grocery store.
bye!
