:: a very full day ::

These two got up about seven . . . not bad! And came into our room and hopped into the bed with Papa & me. We watched a cartoon on PBS (I have no idea what we watched as Mark was crawling all over E. & me) and then got up to fix breakfast. MP & M wanted waffles and milk . . . so I pulled out the waffle iron and we started measuring and making the waffles. They are always soooo good . . . I am craving waffles just from writing down the “W” word!

We finally loaded up the car & left the house at 10:30 . . . after a stop for a at Wheeler’s Market for Coke Zero to get some caffeine into Bess and then one at Chick-Fil-A to get MP some chicken nuggets we got to Aunt Velma’s house a few minutes after noon. She had her famous vegetable soup and corn muffins for lunch and traveling cupcakes for dessert! The drive had been slow . . . lots of heavy rain and lots of slow traffic. Thankfully we only had about 10 miles of interstate where we battled with the 18 wheelers . . . but, I’ll say this . . . we were all glad to pull into the driveway at Aunt Velma’s pretty white house!

The first thing we do after eating lunch is go upstairs to the doll room and bring a few old friends down to play with!

{ I like this one of Aunt Velma with the girls }

{ So many cute babies to play with! }

{ Sound asleep! } { Aunt Velma’s upstairs is little girl’s heaven! }

Take notice of the necklace around her neck . . . she made this in the car on the way to Vela’s house. Made a bracelet on he way home to match too . . . what a crafty kiddo!

This little doll is the one that Mother found in the coal bin when she was a little girl probably around 1915.

The large doll is one that Mr. McMurray gave to Aunt Velma when she was a small child (I talked about Nell Sue yesterday, but couldn’t resist taking a new photo with this small baby doll who is part of the story) . . . I knew that story, but did not know that when she was four she would walk to the Dry Goods store downtown and just stand and look at this baby doll and rub it’s arms. On Christmas Eve Mr. McMurray brought this baby doll to Aunt Velma at their home. These two baby dolls took on a new fondness from me after I heard Vela tell where they came from.

{ baby dolls are irresistible }

The rain stopped for our drive home . . . the greens reminded me of the lush greens that we was in Scotland! I took this one through the windshield just shortly after the rain had subsided. Honestly, I don’t think that I have ever seen the fields so lushly green!

When we pulled into the drive we see Papa & Mark riding the Gator . . . MP could barely wait to get out of the car so she could take her turn behind the wheel! Baby was sleeping soundly in the carseat so we left here in the garage to finish up the nap. I kept watch on her while the other three enjoyed the rides with Papa.

Mr. Randal gave Mark a great haircut at Papa’s barber shop this morning. Bess called Papa’s cell phone to tell him to have Randal cut off a little more than usual. I think that Papa just loves taking the boys to Randal’s when they visit us. Uncle Mark had his hair cut earlier this morning and Randal told him that E. was bringing little Mark in at 12:30 . . . so he came back for a visit. After the haircut, the three guys went to Chick-Fil-A for a two hour lunch while little M. played in their play area with two other little boys. Woops . . . I nearly forgot to say that Papa & M. went to the Discovery Center for a couple of hours before the haircut date.

Anyway . . . we got home and I started supper for a maybe crowd. We weren’t sure just who would show up to eat.

Time in the swimming pool every day. I am in the kitchen!

{ Looks like Papa has had some baby practice! }

Mitchell brought a friend that he made from the Cross-Country team to our house with him after the movie was over the guys came to the house to see the baby. We asked them to stay for supper . . . hamburgers, corn on the cob, baked beans, tater tots. They must have liked it ‘cuz there was very little left over.

I mended a few of the children’s clothes & sewed up the rips and tears in Mary Paul’s blanket on the machine before I cleaned up the kitchen. The kitchen was a huge mess! And her old blanket is getting to the unrepairable stage of life I’m afraid . . . MP has been warned that soon I won’t be able to fix it! Mark was so tired that he told his mama that he was too sleepy to listen to a book tonight . . . he was asleep in about two seconds.

P.S. I think that this is cute . . . at Mary Paul’s school, they can bring a “blanket” for nap time that will fit into one hand. I had made MP a little drawstring bag about a year & a half ago to hold the scraps that I would need to cut off while sewing up her blanket. The scraps are frail and sooo very soft and she loves keeping them. She takes one large scrap with her to school in her back pack to rub on at nap time! I love this story that I just heard for the first time this evening.

{ This is one of my smiles of life to add to my memories! }

And yet another PostScript:

These are a few of photos that Papa made at the Discovery Center this morning! He is getting really good with his tiny point & shoot!

I didn’t know that he had taken any photos of his day with Mark. I am really proud that he thought of pulling out his camera.He got soaked to the bone at the water tables, but this is the most fun of all the activities for the children! The raincoats are provided for them to dress in while playing . . . they replaced the plastic aprons that gave minimum protection I guess.