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Today Delaney had her first "girlfriends" movie date - she met 5 of her school friends at the movie theatre to see Soul Surfer.  After that they were going to eat supper at a fastfood restaurant a few doors down, then shop at Old Navy, Aeropostle, Claire's and Borders. She had earned some money over here, and was so excited to have a chance to use it.  When I took her inside the theatre to meet her friends (and one mom who was overseeing this outing) it was almost too much for me.  In the last few months she has grown to nearly my eye level, and definitely is moving into the next phase of growing up. 

Like the song says "Where did that little girl go to?" - and I know that the next few years will fly by way too fast!

Haha!!

Wishing everyone a Happy Saint Patrick's Day! 

I can actually claim a bit o'Irishness:  A am one-half Norwegian (my mother is 100%), one-fourth German (my dad is one-half), and almost nearly one-fourth English (my dad again- but the almost nearly includes my one Irish GreatGreat Grandmother who was a Gillilan).

But anyway, who cares - on March 17 everyone is Irish!!

We are in the midst of an icestorm here, and it could get ugly if the prediction of "widespread and longlasting" power outages comes to be.  Our lives are so dependent on the flip of a switch, that to be without electricity is probably the most daunting thought we can imagine.  Here's to keeping our fingers crossed that the sleet and freezing rain amounts will be lower than what is forecast!

One of those lovely things about home ownership is getting something repaired that you didn't even know was broken!  The brick masons finished tearing down our front fireplace chimney yesterday, and today they completely rebuilt it with new bricks.  It looks great, but then it looked great to us before too - haha!  Apparently it was deteriorating and at some point it would have developed lots of very large cracks in the cement.  A house that is 50 years old will do that I guess!  We are thankful to have it finished and the craftsmen did a fine job.  I have to say, there are alot of other things that I would have rather done with that investment, but oh well!

Happiest of Birthdays to Delaney Marie - she is celebrating her 12th birthday today, and what a lovely young lady she has become.  Her calm countenance, generous nature, sense of humor, and endearing naivete for her age is really something to behold.  She is a joy to have in our lives, coming along as she did so unexpectedly, and we wouldn't trade one second of the past 12 years for all the gold in the world!!

Loving Birthday wishes to Delaney for many happy returns of the day!

Our niece Alicia Ruth is being married this coming Sunday - she is the youngest of the nine grandchildren on my side of the family and will forever be Little Alicia Ruth in my book.  She was the sweetest baby, a talkative preschooler, had the longest golden-colored hair (I loved fixing it with lots of ponytails and barettes), the biggest innocent eyes and the most charming laugh.  My favorite image of her was captured in a photograph at about age five - she is jumping off the dock at my parent's cottage, into an inner tube in the lake below, her long braids flying out from her head.  The pure joy shown in that photo expresses the essence of Alicia Ruth perfectly!  She will be a wonderful wife to Matt, and when the time comes, a loving mother.  May God bless this young couple with a long and joyful marriage!!

 

Continuing with the abundance of September birthdays, we celebrated Melissa's on Saturday!  (Also the birthday of my good friend Barb)  We gave her a reconditioned bike that she was so happy to recieve - now she and the girls can take rides together around their neighborhood.   Yesterday at church Delaney took Communion for the first time and the ceremony was very nice.  She had attended an Early Communion class a month ago, along with another girl her age and they both were so very serious and excited to be doing this.  We gave Delaney an angel figurine and a book of devotions for girls. 

A very nice weekend!

Thinking back to 2001 today...

I love September, it is a quiet and lovely transition into autumn.  The days are still summerlike and warm.  The evenings are cool and open-window worthy for sleeping.  The flower beds and plantings have begun to wane a bit, but soon I will be adding mums.  Not just yet though, because when I do that it always seems like I have thrown in the towel on summer!

We had a nice Labor Day weekend with visits from Delaney and Ella.  Yesterday we had a nice indoor picnic (bothersome yellowjackets outside - dangerous for Steve) with everyone.  Mesquite smoked turkey on the grill, fresh cucumber (from Mr. Riffle) salad, deviled eggs (farms eggs from Minnesota), Old Dutch chips, Indiana State Fair Corn (from Matthew and Davie) and a delicious frozen Oreo dessert (made by Melissa).  We were entertained with a puppet show by the girls  before dessert time.  Oh my it was a good meal and a nice visit with our family! 

Yesterday was great - we had the Bischoff's with us.  They are our dear friends from our Minneapolis days - we can pick right up and gab and laugh as if no time has passed between visits.  Gerald had business appointments all day, so Deb and I went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art to stroll the grounds, stop at the greenhouses and then view the collections in the galleries.  In the evening we all were downtown and had the best dinnner at St. Elmo's Steakhouse!  Wow - I had forgotten how good the food was there as I hadn't eaten there since the first time down here to interview at Lilly 30 years ago!  (The restaurant has been in business since 1902 so I guess that says alot!)   It was a perfect day.