Wednesday when I took the girls to dance, we’d made a big plan that we would get supper & stay late until the lights came on the fountain at Fountain Park right across from their dance studio.  It had been red all month to celebrate American Heart Month.  They usually get done before it’s dark enough for the lights to come on, so we hadn’t been able to see it in color.  As it turned out, it got dark so early because of the storm that was due to come in that it was pink when they got out of dance – and so pretty.  Clara is really hoping they turn it green next month for St. Patricks Day!

This past Tuesday, when Mallory & Clara were here, I went by & picked up June & Mason to come spend the afternoon, too.  What a fun time we had.  I’d been in Rock Hill to spend the day with Gran, so we were able to celebrate the first snowfall of the season with Krispy Kreme Hot & Nows, & glasses of ice cold milk.  That’s a hard after-school snack to beat.

We played outside in the snow for a while, & then after homework was done we started on a new craft project:  string balloons.  It was very much a trial and error process, but the kids seemed to have fun, so that was the important thing 🙂

Another fun day.  I started out by meeting Sherri, Shea, and Lesley at Elise’s church league basketball game at Mt Holly UMC in Rock Hill.  I was too far away for the picture to really turn out, but here is Leesy – #10 – shooting one of her foul shots.  She missed this one, but did score a basket later in the game. After we left the ballgame, Sherri, Boo & I headed to Epiphany Lutheran Church to meet Meg at their annual chocolate festival.  YUM.  Chocolate chili for lunch, nutella crepes for dessert, wine and chocolate pairings sampling, shopping for chocolate candies and chocolate baked goods – my kind of day.  We got a quick group shot before Boo headed home for a nap :-).

Last Saturday I met Meg, Mike, & Hope at Victorias in town for breakfast.  Hope’s friend Abby had been in town for the week, & was heading home that afternoon.  I wanted to meet her – at least that’s what I thought – before she went back.  When I got to the restaurant, though, we realized we had met on her first visit to Clover.  It was fun seeing her and Hope together, though.  She was a couple of days late getting into town because of the huge snow storm in Boston, and was flying home back into more snow!  Bless her heart.

All my life – I mean, seriously, I think I first heard of doing this when I was young – I have wanted to try turning bones into rubber with vinegar.  I never did it when I was little, & never got around to it when my kids were little.  Luckily grandkids are on the scene now, so we have finally made it happen.  We put the bones in a jar, filled it with vinegar, & left them for three weeks.  Sure enough, it worked like a charm.  You could bend them, and they were squishy exactly like a rubber ball.  Bizarre – and fun, and so glad I got around to doing it at last!

Poor Clara.  She got sick on Valentine’s Day, and even though she went to school and tried to make it through her party, she just couldn’t do it, and Lindee ended up taking her on to the doctor.  She was diagnosed with a virus, & spent the next six days running very high fevers, and having some pretty serious stomach issues – a scary combination.  The following Monday the kids were out of school for Presidents Day; then Tuesday they were out for the bad weather.  Wednesday the fever was starting to come down, but not enough for her to go to school.  I went out & stayed with her at their house.  About noon that day she was well!  She was up laughing and we played games and just had such fun.  She even felt like helping me make a chicken pot pie for her family for supper.  It is SO much nicer when the little ones are feeling good!

What an absolutely beautiful, wonderful day we had today at the Biltmore House – the first time either of us had ever been there.  The tour was incredible, and it included the Dressing Downton exhibit, which made it even more special.  We couldn’t take pictures inside the house, but here is Jeff afterwards standing in front of the house.  It was such a bright, sunny day that I couldn’t really see what I was taking, so cut off a little of the top of the house.  Just know that it was amazing!

With one of the lions that flank the front door, just before we boarded the shuttle to head back to our car.  Just an awesome day.

We are in Asheville, NC, this weekend – our Christmas gift from our children and grandchildren.  When we got to the motel last night it was the first time Jeff had been able to check facebook in like three weeks.  Needless to say, he was VERY fired up, and this was how he spent virtually his entire night 🙂

I’ll do a little bit of catching up while we are at the motel this weekend – with plenty of time to use the internet, and an excellent connection.  It just hit me that I never had shared this picture of the precious onesie my niece Diane made for me to give as a shower gift a couple of weeks ago.  Could this be any cuter?  She is so smart!