Weekend round-up

Unacceptable. And that is all I will say about snow just three days before April.


Last night I went to my first ever "I Like Your Sweater Better" party. I'm so sorry if you've never been to one, because they're heaps of fun. A whole bunch of girls converged on Ivona's house (thank you, Ivona!) with bags and bags of clothes we didn't want or need anymore; we piled them all around the living room, and went shopping. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy digging through mountains of skirts and eating oatmeal cookies and watching impromptu fashion shows, but you'll be pleased to know I used my time wisely and came home with one shirt, one dress, one pair of pants, two pairs of shorts, two sweaters, and three skirts.


This afternoon we had Julie and Jenith (our ministers) over for lunch, and that was, as it always is, a lovely time. I would have liked to take a picture of this, too, but I didn't. I'm sure I was distracted by the preparation of our very fancy, extremely labor-intensive lunch of soup and bread.


Then, earlier tonight, we went to the home of our friends Caleb and Jen, who have recently adopted a baby boy from Ethiopia. They traveled to Africa in February to bring him home, but today was their official "Welcome Denekew!" open house. We met him several weeks ago, but never miss an opportunity to hold him and coo at him and pat his little round tummy. Caleb and Jen are very proud parents, Ocean & Jaguar are a doting big brother and big sister, and we are thrilled for them all :)

Zooooom

On Saturday we had a date at the Museum of Flight. It's really an amazing, amazing place. The pictures here don't come close to doing justice to what we saw and learned. If you've never been, you should go. That's an order.

The picture above and the one below were taken in the Red Barn, which tells the story of Boeing from 1916-1958.

Jan did not volunteer for this shot. I made him do it.
My favorite exhibit of all was the Personal Courage Wing. It's full of planes, memorabilia and history from both World War I and II, and tells personal stories about the people who were involved in fighter aviation. It also highlights the role of women in the wars, which was quite interesting.

A Red Baron plane - Jan learned that he painted his planes red and was of noble blood... hence the name Red Baron.
Charles Lindbergh, alive and kicking :)
This was taken in the Great Gallery, which houses 39 full-size aircraft, and traces the history of the first century of flight. (I'm totally lifting some of these descriptions from the Museum of Flight website, can you tell?)
The Aeroauto! Soar around in the clouds, fold the wings back, and off down the freeway you go! Somehow I doubt that many families in the '60s had one of these :)

Cheery day, cheery me!

Thanks to the organizational prowess of Elaine, a bunch of gals from meeting have been getting together a couple of times a week to walk. I LOVE it because it's good exercise and lovely, wonderful company. Today I met Beth (with Joe & Danny) and Yumna (with Liam & Jaden) and we walked to a really fun playground near Beth's house. I'm quite camera-happy (you couldn't tell, I know) and it was delightful to have such beautiful subjects :)





Hardworking mamas!

The second part of our morning included tea with Elaine and Maxine at Elaine's house. Maxine and Joe are special friends. He calls her Grandma :)

The grand finale was a visit with the goats. This is Fireball.
And this is Cobalt. Such a shy, retiring creature.

And then, because my morning was fraught with so much drudgery, I went shopping. The shoes are just this side of ridiculous, but I can't help it. One of the countless things I appreciate about Jan Michael is his indulgence in my silly whims and his willingness to still be seen with me in public :)

We rock.

Our band, Jefferson Davis Hogg, made its debut Friday night, and we are AWESOME. Tour dates and t-shirts coming soon.

Ultramarine

This was the sky, yesterday afternoon, right above our house. It makes me want to turn cartwheels in the grass, this blessed return of the sun :)

Spring!

Today is the first day of March, which is, according to me, the first day of spring. I don't pay any attention to that March 20th mumbo-jumbo. We celebrated by prowling around a river.