Home Again

Happy Tuesday!  We're home!  Gosh, it was a VERY long day on Sunday.  After getting up at 3:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Sunday, we finally fell into bed about 1:00 a.m. Monday morning.  Then, after about 4 hours of sleep we were both up at 5:00 for Dennis to go to work and my body thought it was 8:00 like on the East Coast so I was awake too!  Needless to say we were exhausted last night and were asleep by 8:30!  After a good night of sleep, hopefully we're back on track.  It' not yet 9:00 and I've already done a load of laundry, vacuumed and gone to buy dog food.  Walmart is much easier for me to deal with in the early hours before it gets busy.  :-)

Yesterday I was busy all day long just catching up with things.  It's amazing how much there is to do when you've been gone two weeks.  Laundry, housework, mail.  Oh  my goodness, the MAIL!  So much junk mail but there were also some gems included that I'll tell you about later.

Saturday night we drove to the Washington Mall and took in the sights.  It was 71 degrees outside!  I couldn't believe we were walking around coatless in December!

All of my photos are taken with my Iphone 6 and I apologize for the blurriness of some.  The distance isn't helpful at all.

The White House was gorgeous with the Christmas decorations up in all of the windows and the outside.  Each of those windows on the bottom had a Christmas tree in front of it.  Absolutely stunning.

Another view.  You can tell that there was no wind at all because the flag on the top was hanging still.  I wish we could have gone inside but this was wonderful  There was a huge tree and a live concert going on right behind me in this photo.  So many people though, I couldn't get a good picture.

The Washington Monument.  Awesome and beautiful in it's splendor.

Here we are sitting at the base of the Washington Monument.  We were way overdressed.  We thought it would get chilly when the sunset.  We were wrong.

Brad, Mandy and Piper at the monument.  Aren't they a beautiful family?

We also visited the Smithsonian Museum of Aerospace.  This is a command capsule from one of the space shuttles.

The Spirit of St. Louis.  The men were having a wonderful time in this museum.  Since Brad is a pilot, all flight interests him. 

Our Princess.  Isn't she the sweetest thing you have ever seen in her Santa hat and princess nightgown?

We opened our gifts to each other before we left Sunday morning.  She loved everything.  Mandy and Brad got me the new Pioneer Woman cook book, Debbie Macombers new book, "Dashing Through the Snow", a pump to make a mason jar into a dispenser and a Target gift card.  So many nice things and very much appreciated.

There is a story behind the cookbook.  The nearest Costco where Mandy planned to buy the book is in Baltimore, very close to the airport.  Her plan was to buy the cookbook when she picked Dennis up at the airport a week ago, leaving Piper and me at home for her nap.  Well, Piper woke up before Mandy left and was insistent on going to get Papa at the airport, so we all went along.  She bought the cookbook, I thought for herself.  I proceeded to read it over the next few days and repeatedly announce that I loved it and was going to get one for myself when I got home.  Apparently I missed all of the looks she exchanged with her Dad regarding me being so dense.  When I opened it Sunday morning I was so excited!  I really think this is her best cookbook yet.  And now Mandy has to get another one for herself!  Ha! Ha!

Piper and I baked cookies last week too.  We were so busy baking I forgot to take pictures of the actual process but here are the finished cookies.  Not fancy but oh, so delicious and we had a blast together.  Notice the airplanes and angels!  We bought cookie cutters at the Oregon coast in October and brought them out here with us for Mandy.  We brought 6...an angel, airplane, seagull, sea lion,starfish and a cat because they have 2 cats.  Piper picked out four to use, the airplane and angel and a Christmas tree and candy cane that Mandy already had.    Such fun!!!!  These are the moments I miss with having no grandchildren living close by.

When we got ready to leave on Sunday, Piper was REALLY upset.  She kept saying, "No, Papa and Grandma live here now.  They can't leave."  Oh my, that broke my heart.  I think she truly thought we were staying there forever.  Goodness, I love that girl.


This little cutie is one of the surprises waiting for me in the mail when we got home.  Isn't she precious?  I've named her Lilly.  The giver wants to remain anonymous on the blog, but I wanted you all to see her.  Isn't she precious?  And my very favorite color.

Here she is introducing herself to the snowman family.

And this is the cute tissue paper she was wrapped in. I want to keep the paper too, it's almost as cute as Lily.  :-)

I had another sweet gift too from another blogger who wants to remain anonymous.  Honestly, I feel so blessed to know you ladies.  All of you.  I am so grateful for the people blogging has brought into my life.

If that wasn't all enough, in the huge stack of mail there was another blessing.  A check from Dayle and Teresa Kasner to help buy yarn for the mittens I'm making.  My heart runneth over from the kindness of their hearts.  When I buy the yarn, I will take a picture and show you what I get with it. Thank you, thank you Dayle and Teresa.  I need to get busy knitting.  It's 14 degrees on my deck this morning and those children need mittens!

And now I need to get busy.  I hope you all have a wonderful day and remember the reason we're celebrating this beautiful season.  A child was born.  But He didn't stay a baby.  He grew into a man, died and rose again for us.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."  Luke 2:10-11

Blessings,

Betsy