Papa and Grammy Visit

My parents usually come out sometime in the spring and sometime in the fall-- this fall has been so busy for them, tho, we didn't know if it would work out. A week ago or so, they were able to plan it for this past weekend-- squeezing it between soybean harvest and corn harvest.

They arrived Thur pm for Chad's bday supper. On Friday, Dad spent the day recovering-- took THREE naps. :) We didn't mind, cuz every time he slept in the recliner, more money fell out of his pockets. :)

Mom helped me plan out a small flower bed I want to put in the front lawn, and then she and Micah and I went to the produce stand near here. Mom bought some little pumpkins for the girls to draw on with markers, and we got some black cherry cider. Mmmm. Meanwhile, between naps, dad took a drive to Big Pool and took a walk. After lunch, mom went to read to 3 of the grades at school-- including Jenna and Claire's classes. The kids (and teachers) all loved it, maybe no one more than Claire... for C's bday, mom had brought Happy Birthday, Moon to read to the kids AND another book she read had CLAIRE as the main character! She loved it. It was also C's bday treat day-- she had asked me to provide cupcakes, some yellow and some chocolate, and some with frosting, and some without. That way all her friends would be happy.

After Micah's nap, Dad and I went to school, too. We all watched Katie's volleyball match-- against the school with the best team. We did lose, but it still was a very good game to watch. Katie played for part of the first game-- and did a terrific job! She served twice, bumped the ball, setted the ball twice-- no mistakes at all. I was so proud of her!

On Sat, we first went to get our church directory pics done, which went very well, BTW. Then mom and dad joined us and we headed to Berkeley Springs for the Apple Butter Festival. It was a fun experience, but definitely not something I'd want to do too often. The weather actually got quite warm-- over 80-- and there were LOTS of people. The people are part of the fun, of course, esp here in WV-- just fun to look at what kind of people live in our gorgeous part of the USA. We watched a turtle race (which Dad thought was about as exciting as watching grass grow :) but Jenna esp enjoyed it, looked at several craft booths (mom bought something-- ask her), heard some bluegrass music, ate funnel cake and chocolate covered pretzels. I realized later we never got any apple butter.
Here's Jenna helping to stir some apple butter

This is how much Micah liked the apple butter festival.

And, later, at home, Papa read to Micah. Papa read him a few different books over the weekend.

Also Sat pm, we went to the Michaels' for supper-- always fun to get together with them. And great food, of course! Danny was there, as was Ben's wife, Jessica, who is visiting for a few days while Ben's in Afghanistan. After supper, the kids were all playing in the basement when Alex Lehman came in-- Alex is Danny's friend; they both were former 4th grade students of mine; and now Alex is one of Katie's middle school teachers. Katie had a look of complete SHOCK on her face when she came out of the basement and saw her teacher there! Hah! Teachers are only supposed to live at school...

Sunday was busy with church activities, but mom and I fit in some time at church in the afternoon so we could play piano and organ together again. Fun and sentimental at the same time. :)

Mon morning they stayed for Claire's bday breakfast and party, and then headed out by 8:45am. Glad they worked out the quick visit!

Other fun adventures-- Mom and dad got introduced to our lovely stinkbugs... Mom enjoyed watching Micah stir a stew outside-- in an old bucket, he puts in mud and water, sticks/acorns/grass and this time he added wiffle balls... Dad helped Katie with her math homework (which she really does pretty well at but she does not enjoy at all)... Dad and Jenna counted the kernals on an ear of his corn that he brought and then they estimated how many kernals in a bushel/acre/all his corn fields (she totally enjoys doing math problems like this)... Dad taught Chad and me about the Coriolis Effect and how it affects long-range bombing...