IT LOOKS LIKE TOMORROW IS GOING TO BE ARRIVAL DAY FOR OUR THIRD GRANDCHILD...unless he takes longer to get here (but we won't even go there!) His mom will go in to be induced at 6:30 A.M. I leave here at about 2 P.M. for Waco and am to arrive at 6 P.M. Hopefully, he will be here by then, or close to it. Since I won't be at my own computer and they have a Mac, you probably won't see any pictures of him until i get home about June 10. Tomorrow should be an exciting...possibly tiring, day. I must move along and finish my chores.

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO PUBLISH A PHOTO...the bad news is that I can't seem to get two in one blog so here is a picture of my two sweet granddaughters at the oldest one's third birthday party (a few days early) and the youngest's nearly three weeks old celebration as well! Don't the two of them already look like they will be a handful? They are cute as pie already.

YEAH! SUCCESS AT LAST...or at least I hope so. If everything worked out right, i will have a photograph on this website of my new granddaughter Quinn when she was about 3 weeks old. If I finish typing this blog and find that the picture is either the wrong one or it didn't publish like it said it did, i'll have to find a way to make it work before you get to read this. My friend Caron has been coaching me along...telling me that I can do this. So I hope she is right. The next thing I will have to do is learn how to make a link to my blog so other people can actually read it:)

My youngest daughter is also expecting a baby...and is overdue. I'm happy to know that her doctor won't let her go more than a week late. He will see her tomorrow and will either induce then or Wed. I leave here Wed. for Waco and hopefully, her son will be there by the time I arrive. I'm always relieved when they arrive safe and sound. It is something I don't take for granted.

I will close with a picture of my Seattle granddaughters. Aren't they cute? They are Caroline and Quinn. Doesn't Quinn look alert? Pardon me for bragging. I don't get to do it often. Bye for now.

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN... I arrived home last night after about 4 1/2 hours in the air from Seattle to Chicago...first class:) Now that was a treat! Then I was in the airport about 3 1/2 hours waiting for my flight that got me home...on time...at about 9:30 PM CDT. It was a long day and it felt wonderful to be in my own bed...with by own husband:) Needless to say, I slept in this morning and it felt VERY good.
I'm catching up on email, mail and laundry as I write. I also checked my plants that were started shortly before I left. They are all alive and thriving. My garden (of flowers) looks nice.

I DO miss little Miss Cuddles (Quinn) and Caroline's tales and made-up characters. Her latest is a "feometer". From the various descriptions of this animal that I have been able to glean, it is usually found in the water and can be very colorful. (ex. some have been "seen" that were purple with black spots.) No one seems to quite be able to catch or to photograph one!)

For now, I'm catching up on rest and finishing up on VBS craft preparations that will take place while I'm gone. The two ladies that will do VBS during VBS have led the work nights to set everything up and done a great job with that. I just have to teach a few people how to do a "macrame" wordless book bracelet. It is basically made with one knot. It should be quite easy for them to learn...especially since some want to learn it.
Well, on to my afternoon of a short rest and folding clothes...and waiting for our next baby. He is due in two days which means he could come at any time. I will be leaving for TX 5/31 to see him and help out there.

TIRED AND WEARY...that's how I'm feeling about now. I love visiting out here in Seattle with my now two grandchildren, but the weariness that comes with a new baby and all the work that entails is now coming back to me in a new way:) Shopping trips take longer than I remembered and often must be cut short for naps (for the older granddaughter) or feeding the younger one. Just getting out of the house in the morning is a major accomplishment! We did laundry yesterday and doing wash and drying it between all the other activities took all day long.
It is certainly worth the effort to do what we are doing. Each child is a delight! Our almost three year old--Caroline--has a mammoth vocabulary and an imagination to go along with it. Tonight she regaled her dad with tales of her day that were quite imaginitive, to say the least! I never know what direction her comments will take. For certain, they will be interesting and unique. She is a wonderful big sister to baby Quinn who tolerates the kissing of the feet and head pretty well. If Quinn starts crying, Caroline comforts her with, "It's okay, your big sister is here." It is quite touching.
Quinn just eats and sleeps with short awake times when she shows us how strong she is. She looks around and pays attention to all that is going on. Like many second-borns, she seems to take it in stride. Noise doesn't seem to phase her much and she doesn't "freak out" if she doesn't get immediate attention.
All in all, this family will do well after I'm gone I'm sure. Of course there will be hard days, but they will do well. My daughter and her husband work well together and enjoy their children. My daughter's in-laws are nearby too and they are extremely helpful. I can't even imagine what that would be like. I've rarely lived near any family.
I will be leaving here this Monday and will be home about 10 days before visiting another daughter and her new baby--who hasn't arrived yet. I'd better call it a day for now and get to bed.

TALK ABOUT CHANGING DIRECTIONS MIDSTREAM! That's what happened today. I woke up this morning expecting to fly out of the Peoria airport at about 3 PM. I was headed for Seattle via Chicago, for 11 days there with my daughter and her family including their newest daughter, Quinn. It seemed that all was going well, I was putting the final items in my suitcase and planning to tidy up around the house when the phone rang.
American Airlines was calling to tell me that my flight was being cancelled due to bad weather in Chicago and changed to an early flight in the morning. It is quite a windy day and thunderstorms are predicted for the afternoon even though none have materialized yet at close to 5 PM! So I will arrive in Seattle about 1:30 PM tomorrow instead of 7:30ish tonight. What to do?
I decided to have lunch with a friend that I have missed talking with for weeks and had a lovely time visiting and catching up. It was a delightful and refreshing time. Now I will be able to have a quiet evening at home with some light housekeeping that will leave things more orderly for Ron and probably make my life simpler when I return for a breather before going to Texas.
I guess it all worked out well after all. Sometimes life gets so busy and hectic that i don't have the sense to stop and breathe. I think God figured it would be a good idea for me to do just that before going to WA where things can get pretty busy. It will delay my arrival by about 1/2 a day (as far as awakeness goes) but gave me an unexpected breather that I am enjoying. Thank you Lord for taking care of me when I am not always wise enough to take good care of myself.

ANOTHER DAY IN ST. LOUIS! I went with a group from the classical school where I have been teaching an art co-op class in the afternoons this year, to the St. Louis Art Museum yesterday. We took two vans and a car. It turned out overall to be an uneventful day but a very interesting one. I was so worried we'd be delayed and I ended up being one of the ones who delayed us in the morning:( I was copying some sheets to make the trip interesting for the kids, got delayed in traffic and was very embarassed.)
We arrived about 5 minutes late in St. Louis (3 hrs. away) for our docent. They were very gracious and took us around for a highlight tour of the museum. I learned a lot. I think the children did too. The tour with the docent was one hour. She showed us a few paintings and told us stories behind them. It was a very interactive presentation that also included a lot of interesting stories behind the art. One story that was especially interesting was the story of the Burghers of Calais. It is not a painting but six life-sized statues. The real life ones are in Calais, France. Five of the six smaller copies are in this museum. It is a human illustration of people giving their lives for others.
After lunch we divided into groups and toured again on our own for about 45 minutes. We girls took one route that took us through a lot of art objects from Asia, Egypt (including mummies), Africa and New Guinea. Some of the items were rather dark as in witch doctor paraphenalia, masks, etc. Others were Asian porcelain or brass objects that were beautiful because of their color or intricate design. There was also a section of furniture that had some very intriguing pieces in it as well as ornate clocks and silver pieces. there weren't duplicates of any one item so it was quite interesting and as you can imagine, with a group of 2-6 graders, I was not able to read the information on them like I would have liked. We were just getting into a section that had shields, swords and armor, but our time ran out...or rather the time others decided had run out because they had planned to end the day with an hour at the zoo!! I must say, that took me by surprise.
I felt that we had such a limited amount of time for the art museum and we lost an hour of that. Oh well, I wasn't totally in charge of the trip, so on we went to the next thing.
The boys meanwhile, had gone to the U.S. artists and had seen the art I had wanted to see. For some reason, I didn't think to look for the area of artists that we had studied all year. . duh! I really enjoyed the trip and hope to return soon on my own.
I had hoped to include pictures of my new granddaughter Quinn here, but I can't seem to get them to coordinate with the dealy that transfers them. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure out how to do that soon. I'll be leaving for Seattle in a week. I have VBS crafts to get in order before then. I must get going!