A Very Nice Weekend

It has been a very good weekend filled with good friends and family. It all started early on Friday with a full day of babysitting Skeeter. Yay!

Next up Friday evening I was able to chat online with my brother and my wonderful niece G. Her Easter package from Gugu K had arrived already and Daddy let her open it. It made very good time, only six days to get to the other side of our planet. A sent me a bunch of pictures, including this one of G in the PJs I sent for Easter. (Please note the Santa Claus still up in the background. I would mock him more, but since I still have my Christmas tree stand in the living room, perhaps I won't...)

Saturday brought a very nice baby shower in Grand Rapids in the afternoon and an evening with my best friend J. I was a little late leaving the house because Skeeter and his parents stopped by so kind E could clear our driveway of snow. So Skeeter and I HAD to get his pigs kissed, sing a song, blow some bubbles, sing another song.... you get the idea.

The baby shower was fun, although I couldn't participate in the diaper game. I couldn't even watch others inspect the melted candy bars in the diapers without getting queasy. Since the guests of honor are two of the few people who ever read this blog, I would also like to take a moment and thank them for inviting me. I had a ball and it was so nice to see them after all this time! Then I popped down to Portage to visit with J and L. After taking some gratuitous ribbing for forgetting L's birthday and catching up a little, J and I headed out to dinner. (Point in fact: I DID remember her birthday was the 25th, but I thought is was the 25th on the 23rd when I called... and I think I should get points for that!)

Sunday afternoon was Easter fun with Skeeter! Since he is way too little for Easter candy, Mom and I bought a toy for him, and doggone it, he KNEW it was for him! First he had to lick all the pieces, but then he got down to some serious playing. He also didn't mind wearing the bunny ears. Yes, a very good weekend

Happy Easter

Two Good-Lookin' Kids

These are two of my three favorite kids on the planet. If you have ever glanced at this blog before, you are familiar with my nephew, whom I have nicknamed Skeeter. This lovely girl is my best friend's daughter L. She was my first special kid, the first one to call me Aunt K. I actually think of her as my "god-daughter," even though I an not actually. I lived with her mother through her pregnancy, I was in the labor room, I watched her get her first bath and I got to give her her first bottle in the hospital. She is now sixteen, and I feel old, old, old..... These pictures were taken before Christmas, but I have been pokie in asking for copies from my brother-in-law and sister.

Hello Mr. Cutie!

Yes, I put the toy on his head, but I'm not the one who took the picture.

Spring is in the air!

To most people this may mean warm weather, spring flowers and more time in the out of doors. To me, this means it's almost time to head back to the pottery studio. Woo Hoo! Six weeks away to be exact. Break out the bubbly and dust off the clay tools, it's time to get dirty!

Here is a picture of one of a series of pieces I have been playing with for the past year. I love the glaze, chocolaty/toffee brown with black and navy reflections in it. I brushed the detail with copper carbonate, and it burns through the glaze with a metallic gleam like wrought iron.

Man, I'm getting my sketchbook right now! There is no time to waste. I'll probably post more pictures as my spring fever takes over!

Bubble Boy is on the blog!

I don't have an awful lot to say today....it has been a lovely, relaxing week-end. Skeeter and his mommy came over on Saturday. We played and played and played... B is manning the camera, I'm manning the bubbles and Grandma is manning Mr. Cutie.

Two red heads taking a nap

There is no two ways about it. My mother has stolen the heart of my orange beastie. She denies it of course, but only because she doesn't want to take a turn at the litter box with a shovel.

Where oh where has my little G gone....

*Big fat hint* I'm afraid no one has sent me any recent pictures of my favorite 9-year old lately....(sigh) *yes this hint is for YOU, brother mine* This is one of my favorite pictures from her first visit to America, playing in Lake Michigan. I really hope there is some way she can visit again this summer and we can play art in "our" craft room. *oh yea! Another REALLY big hint*

I want to play art with you too, Kiddo! I just can't figure out a way to do it through the Internet.

Granola and no Skeeter

I am in the midst of Skeeter withdrawal, and man, it is HELL. My sister and her family are in the U.P. (that's the Upper Peninsula to the random lurker not familiar with Michigan) visiting my father's family. I had a Skeeter-less "Skeeter Thursday" and am not looking forward to the Skeeter-less Tuesday coming up. How can one little 8-month old boy rule my life like this!

Anyway...below is my most recent favorite picture of Skeeter-Man. I've been looking at it frequently and laughing/muttering/shouting/saying "Where is my best friend Skeeter?!?!?"



So my other newest obsession is making my own granola. It's dead easy, makes a lot and is very yummy. I am not sure I can buy cereal ever again. I found the recipe here, at another of my new favorite things. This batch I substituted maple syrup for honey and added walnuts and pumpkin seeds instead of pecans or almonds. And added dried cherries, yum!

On sadder news, I found out this week that an old friend had died over two years ago. We had lost touch. He moved away and neither one of us was a very good pen pal.... I saw him about 6 years ago, we traded numbers, but I lost his and never heard from him I couldn't get him out of my mind all day on Thursday, so I searched for him on the Internet, and I found his obit. It is just so sad to think of a world without Dennis in it, sadder still to think it has been without him for TWO YEARS. So outrageous, so wonderful he was. Sometimes life is so shit.