Thanksgiving - Party of One :-(

I'm hosting a pity party for Thanksgiving - I'm the only attendee.

Our family of four, plus one grammy was planning on the long trek to Vero Beach this morning for a great visit with the entire family for a few days, plus the fun of a long-overdue visit with friends. Unfortunately my mom (grammy) was hospitalized with pneumonia yesterday morning, so plans were drastically changed & here I am at my pity party. I wanted Roger to still take the girls so they would be able to visit with their other grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who are all visiting from as far away as California and New York.

I had no idea that my heart would break into a million pieces as they drove away this morning. I knew I would miss them, of course. But the grief was and continues to be overwhelming.

I've had so many sweet friends offer to either have me attend Thanskgiving dinner, or even just bring me a plate....I'm so grateful for their thoughts and prayers. But for some reason, I just want this to be my Thanksgiving - party of one. I miss my family.

I am one with the wool...

....I have unexpectedly found my salvation! (And a life saver for my kids and dh as well).

My friend, Lee called last week to ask if I knitted...uh--no way. Too bad she said....she's into it & was hoping we could knit together while we visited in Atlanta. I didn't give it another thought until we got there & she showed me her projects. Wow! She created the most amazing things. We drank wine & conversed while she knitted away on a sweater for one of her daughters. The next morning, I accompanied her to the yarn shop, Knitch in Virginia Highlands...oh my gosh....for those of you in the Atlanta area....this place is heaven! It is NOT your usual yarn or craft type store....it has atmosphere that draws you in and MAKES you want to "be one with the wool". So here I am....completely addicted on just one moment!

Lee set me up with some circular needles & I picked some beautiful wool yarn, hand dyed from Montana...right near my brothers town! It is so vibrant & lovely.....so off I set to knit a hat for Anna...I had zero confidence that I could do it, but Lee was a great teacher and off I went! I was manic...I tuned everything and everyone out (except I could actually converse when I wanted to!).....I found my Zen, I found my Peace, I found my (long-missing) Sanity! I could not believe how relaxed it made me & I knitted until the wee hours of the morning while everyone else was asleep.....I would have finished the hat myself on the last row, but Lee was asleep & I didn't know what to do until I got to the end! But soon after we all got up, I finished Anna's cute hat! Hmmm.....what time does Knitch open today? Lee and I headed to Knitch & I got more yarn....I had to have enough for a matching hat for Natalie....Roger was destined to have a hat lovingly knit by me, and of course, my mom's blue eyes begged for the lovely turqoise....and I just couldn't resist the green for myself :-)

I began Roger's hat Sunday night.....on the drive home, I usually drive (to cut down on arguments :-), but I wanted to get a bit further on his hat, so Roger drove & the kids napped & thank God for the 2 DVD players which occupied them for awhile.....as it got dark, I popped on my reading light and knitted feverishly for hours, never looking up......Roger veered off on an Exit and I did look up & ask what he was doing...."Duh....we're home!" I could not believe it....I rode for hours, happily knitting away, completely oblivious to his driving (usually I can never rest, since I have to be sure he's driving OK, and awake :-) It was the most peaceful drive! Yay! And I was on the last row of his hat! Once we got the kids in bed I picked up the hat and completed it.

The funny thing is that Roger was acting like he'd never really wear a hat that I knitted for him (and after I so carefully selected the hand-spun, hand-dyed Manos from Uruguay!!)...BUT, once he tried it on, he couldn't take it off and actually slept in it for awhile & then wore it to have his coffee the next morning....he likes it! And Anna wore hers all day at the aquarium too & in the car.

So....I guess I have some apptitude for this....I'm anxious for more patterns & more learning. I need Lee. She's the best teacher in the world & so patient. My next project to begin this afternoon while sitting in the car for an hour at dance will be Natalie's hat. I might need to learn how to knit mittens for her.....that's what she wants. Lee?? Help!

Atlanta Trip

We went to Atlanta last weekend to visit friends and had a wonderful time. We started the weekend off playing at the parks, relaxing with wine and visiting with old friends and their children. We visited Fernbank & the kids got to explore the dinosaurs and a very nice frog exhibit (who knew there were so many kinds of frogs!) Sunday brought our first trip to IKEA, which Roger gamely tolerated for awhile until I suggested he and Britt take all 4 kids to a park & we would catch up with them later :-) They were out of there in a flash & I could relax & take in the IKEA experience.....I did enjoy the Swedish meatball lunch and Natalie actually loved the lingonberry juice! Very unusual for her to try something so unknown.

One of the highlights of our visit was riding thru the very tony neighborhood streets of Decatur on our friend's vintage tractor! He has restored it to it's original condition & we took it out for a spin thru the neighborhood. Needless to say, I'm sure the neighbors are aghast and the country bumpkins driving a tractor (!) down their street! Too funny!!

On Monday morning, we hooked up with our friends, the Laydens, at the Georgia Aquarium. This was our first visit and I highly recommend it! It was truly a lovely adventure and the exhibits were first-class as you can see from the slideshow. My favorite was the tropical tank...it is amazing how brightly colored and patterned the fish are. And they knew exactly how to display the fish to bring out their colors. Beautiful.

We loved seeing the Layden's again.....Natalie and Ian have been anxious to see each other...but they were pretty quiet most of the time :-) Anna and Li Li were two peas in a pod having fun and getting along just great. I can't wait to see them again. Debbie and Dan are always fun to be with....like we've known them forever.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

No, Anna is not screaming in terror at her pediatric cardiologist's office....she is happily chowing down on a yummy lollipop. Who has this much fun at their doctor's office? What an amazing job they did decorating the office......it was so cool! Wish I had gotten a picture of the yellow brick road they had created!




Below is our neighborhood "Chinese Contingent" for T or T. They had fun & got too much candy to haul! The only problem was that Anna was frightened within the first 5 minutes by a guy dressed in a "Scream" costume.....I don't think she will EVER forget that (and he wasn't even near her!) Needless to say, she spent the rest of the evening in our arms & would not get down to go up to the doors....and begged to go home alot of the time :-) She managed to pull herself together pretty well at the end with a lollipop, followed by Swedish Fish, Nerds, and anything else she could get her little paws & fangs on!