We've spent much of the weekend on the front porch.  We've had lots of visitors, too.  Jason and Tiana have been in and out, coming up yesterday afternoon to spray paint some wicker furniture Tiana had gotten "pre-Jason" before it was time for the dinner the Korean congregation of our old church puts on every year. 

We were all enjoying the porch for a bit between their work and their dinner, and Faron had left the Kubota parked in the side yard, just off the porch.  There was a small branch in the front yard that the wind had brought down the other night, and Tiana went out and got it, and put it in the bucket of the tractor and told Faron where to dump it.  There's a pile of stuff that's in the gulley between our property and the neighbor's. (Mostly their stuff, and all our property, so Faron talks about having a bonfire down there sometime...)

They were telling us about our friend, Jerry, the jeweler where Jason got Tiana's engagement ring, and where they got their wedding bands.  Everytime Jason's been in, they've been waited on by a different member of the family, and each of them comment on how great our house looks. They live on the hill up and behind us, so we're right in their line of sight.  Their daughter, Ashley was Jason's first "girlfriend," when they were both babies.  Back then, we were higher up the hill than they were.   So first, son Jared, who now works with Dad repairing and creating jewelry, then mom Debbie, who is a great saleswoman with her gorgeous smile, and finally, Friday, Jerry himself waited on them, commenting on the house. 

Jerry said, "How's your dad takin' care of all that yard now that he got rid of the orchard?"  Before we had about 2/3s less to mow. 

Jason replied, "He got himself a little Kubota, and he's having a ball." 

"There's nothin' like a tractor for thinkin'.  I do my best thinkin' on my tractor!"  Jerry was very excited, Tiana said.  (You'd really have to know Jerry, and this old tractor that came from his parents' farm - he putts around the neighborhood on that thing in his suit with his tie flapping over his shoulder - he looks like Oliver Wendell Douglas come to Hooterville, except Jerry really does know what he's doing with the thing.)

Tiana just rolled her eyes.  But then yesterday, the tractor was sitting there, and she was roaming around - I suspect the plastic lawn chairs aren't so good for her back.  Finally she climbed up on the Kubota and announced that she had some serious thinkin' to do.  We all laughed and then I said, "Take it for a ride, Tiana - then you can really think!"

"Ooooh, noo," she says, in her Minnesota accent.  "I can think right here." 

But a few minutes later, Jason went down to start it for her and show her what to do, and then she was off.

Notice she's got her finger to her chin.  She's thinkin'. 

She went all the way down the hill to the gulley and SHE put the branch just where she wanted it.

Here she is coming back up:

Doesn't she look like she knows what she's doing?  She told me afterward that she was sure she was going to roll the thing down the hill.

Later she said, "Yup, I got some real good thinkin' done on that tractor."

A bit later, while we were all still on the porch, our cleaner, Kelly came by with her friend Narcissa.  They were so cute I just had to take a photo.

Narcissa spends almost every weekend up here with Kelly these days.  She's from the Phillipines originally, but now lives downtown.  She said, as we sat there on the porch, "I like this, listening to the birds..."  It was very sweet.  They came yesterday because she can't stay with Kelly tonight, as she has a dentist's appointment tomorrow.  That means she won't come with Kelly tomorrow while Kelly cleans our house, and she won't get to give me a hug.  So she had Kelly bring her up yesterday so she wouldn't go two weeks without a Cindy-hug. 

The loveseat to the wicker stuff Tiana has is the perfect length for me to be comfy on the porch with my legs up, so Tiana gave it to me.  They went on down to the Korean dinner and came back with two "take out" boxes for Faron and me.  Faron said, as they left, "We've got ourselves two good kids there."

We certainly do. 

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Imagine Amy's relief, both of them sleeping at the same time!  She just posted these on her blog, and I couldn't resist snagging this one.  They're all adorable, of course, but this one - just too cute.

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While looking for another photo entirely the other day, I came across this one:

My husband (with much more hair than is his fashion these days, although his hair is only slightly thinner) holding Hazel's firstborn grandson, Erik James, 24 years ago. 

I took this photo a few months ago:

Faron, standing in almost the same place but facing in the opposite direction, holding Kael James, Hazel's firstborn great-grandson, and Erik's firstborn. 

I knew Kael looked like his daddy, but until I pulled that picture out, I really hadn't known how much! 

Today was gorgeous, and the kids surprised Faron with dinner and birthday cake and I surprised him with those nifty magnetic "Bug Off," screens for the French doors in the living room and in the dining room.  He's been looking forward to warm weather when we could let the doors open wide and let wee Derek run in circles from one room to the other via the porch.  Now with the screens I'm happy to do that, too. 

Faron's birthday was on Tuesday - he's 55. He hadn't been ignored, of course - he got his rocking chairs two weeks ago.  And now this celebration.  Not bad for an old guy! 

We were taking note that perhaps the grass IS starting to grow.  3 weeks.  Think it'll come along?

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Sorry I didn't get these posted yesterday - I had a busy day and by the time it wasn't busy I was having computer issues and had to work on finding a bug.  Still not sure it's gone but it seems to be behaving better. 

Anyway, we had a lovely weekend.  Joe and Amy called Friday night to say they'd be up the following day, so I was buzzing with excitement, and so was Grandpa Faron.  He went out the next day shopping for food and presents for our wee guys.  Not that Jared had any interest at all, but one must be fair! 

They arrived about noon and stayed all afternoon.  We managed a few photographs:

Derek discovered Grandma Cin's scooter.  We declined to show him that it actually moves, upon the advice of his parents, who said we'd never get him off of it. 

I divided my time between enjoying the feel of a tiny baby in my arms and enjoying the antics of a 21 month old who knows he's the center of the universe, at least for the four adults involved in that day's activities!  Jared's a beautiful baby, but quite a hefty armful, especially compared to his brother.  At 1 month old, Jared's already more than 9 lbs.  At 21 months old, Derek's about 21 or 22 lbs.  Derek is getting taller, and he's changing his looks.  Jared is pure Amy, although his coloring is Joe's. 

Little Jared is very strong, holding his head up for long periods.

He makes full eye contact and even tracks things moving in front of his face. He grunts and snorts and farts like an old man.  Derek giggles at all the various noises that come out of this strange intrusion in his life.  He (Derek, that is) is adjusting fairly well, although he still doesn't care for Joe to hold Jared.  Daddy's working long hours these days, going to school nights and of course, Guard duty takes time away too.  Derek's used to being the sole focus of his father's attention when Joe's home, so when Joe pays attention to this new kid, Derek's ticked off!  On the other hand, he is quite concerned when the baby cries, following Amy to where ever she goes to tend to Jared's needs, watching every move she makes.  All in all, he's doing pretty well. The only evidences of a "Terrible Twos" type temper tantrum are when Joe holds Jared, and they don't give him any attention at all while he does it.  We didn't see a single evidence of it.  Of course, I held Jared as much as possible...

Faron  had a few projects going on and Joe took Derek outside to see what Grandpa Faron was up to.  Derek was most interested, Joe said, checking it all out. 

Of course, the pile of stones that Grandpa was working with were interesting too. 

As was the garden hose.

My poor husband is getting quite frantic at the lack fo grass growing, despite his avid attentions, repeated sowing of seeds, etc.  If you have any ideas, please let us know!

The most interesting thing Derek discovered outside:

We had a great day.  Jason and Tiana had gone up to the Glory Barn with a large part of the Meyer Clan, where they were spending Easter Weekend.  They came back early because of tiredness.  Jason hadn't had a lot of sleep in the previous days. 

Joe and Amy and the children left around 4 to go to Joe's cousin's house for dinner.  Joe's grandmother died Saturday morning after a very long illness.  Their family, like most families does at such times, had need of gathering together.  Because Joe's mom would be involved with funeral arrangements, we invited them to eat with us at noontime on Easter Sunday, and they accepted.

We had another good visit, and Jared spent most of his time safe in Grandma's arms, although I got plenty of time to play with Derek, too.  Amy did have to feed Jared, after all. 

Tiana brought the giant hoola-hoops we'd made last weekend in to show Joe and Amy, and of courses, that led to all of them going outside to try them out, despite Joe's and my warnings to Amy to recall that she's recovering from major surgery.  She wasn't much impressed.

No matter  that she's 4 weeks out of a c-section, Amy did just fine.

Joe did ok, but didn't go as long as Amy. 

Or Tiana.

Derek got a turn too, but with his own interpretation.  Amy keeps going...

 

I think they proved that theyll be a great success at the reception!

Derek demonstrates his own take on art.  The most exciting part appeared to be dumping out the crayons.

Pardon the cange of direction of this video - it's still worth watching, as Jared is engrossed in the DVD he's watching and follows along with their dances and action.  So cute!

Without considering what it would do to the video, I rotated the camera to get Derek marching.  Sorry!  As I said though, it's still precious.

We're looking forward to seeing Joe and his sweet family in just two more weeks as we will spend the night there on our way out of town going to Las Vegas.  We're flying out of Baltimore. 

I've been tired these past two days but otherwise fine.  Wedding prep is going well.  Faron needs a new jacket and new sneakers before we  go, but he seems to think he has plenty of time to get them!  Driving me nuts. 

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Kael spent the night with Grandpa and Grandma Kriner the other night, and Darla very kindly brought him up for a quick kiss and snuggle with Aunt Cin.  He was plumb tuckered out ...

but he roused very nicely for Aunt Cin to change his very wet diaper and he seemed to enjoy playing as much as I did. 

 

Of course, everything goes in his mouth, from this rattle, to two stuffed toys at once:

to the fringe on the fleece blanket my friend Jane sent me last year:

He launched himself from where he was lying back against my left knee over to where this fringe was peeking out beyond my right knee - and I was sitting "Injun style."  I almost lost him over the side of the bed!  He wanted that fringe! 

He's just such a sweet and precious boy.  He's chatering and squeeling quite a bit now, and the whole time he's stuffing things in his mouth he's making noises.  He tends to have a serious, rather inquiring look on his face most of the time.

Gosh he looks like his daddy, but there's quite a bit of his mama there, too. Amazing how that happens, isn't it? 

When he smiles he's almost always in a full laugh - no half measures for this boy!  He's also mastered the little fake cry, that's really just a "Hey!  I'm HERE!" kind of notice.  All in all he's a very delightful baby and we had a good visit. 

I hope everyone has a terrific weekend enjoying family time and rejoicing in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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from the two best kids in the whole world, Faron says. (I happen to agree.)

Jason and Tiana surprised Faron today with this early present, the rocking chair, that is, because he'd told me he was going to go buy one today!

He actually got two - one from me, but he can only sit in one at a time. 

He's talked about rocking chairs for him and Peter to enjoy since before the porches went on. Now we just have to get Peter here!

Anyway, Faron asked me specifically to  get this on NOW, so here it is.  Thanks kids - he's a very happy man, and not only because of the rocking chair. He loves you guys so much. 

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And yesterday we had a co-ed wedding shower for Jason and Tiana - it was a great success.  We all had a great time, the cake was delicious!! (many favorable comments) and Jason's own Princess Bride was thrilled with all the loot!

And now the photos:

We started off by playing our one and only game, the "Oldlywed Game," with 5 couples.

 

Faron and I, with close to 34 years under our belts, were the "old guard," Duke and Darla, with 15 came next, Mel and Stacy, with 7 years were our last married couple.  Then was Jason and Tiana as the engaged couple, and following them, my nephew Tim, and his new girlfriend, Gretchen, who are dating. 

We did it the "legal" way, sending out the men while we women were questioned:

We had the party at Lycoming Centre Presbyterian Church's fellowship hall, and one of the youth groups is putting on some kind of play - hence the backdrop!  Robin, on the left, standing, was our emcee, and a very fine job she did of it.

Umm..no match. A BIG FAT ZERO! Robin said that gleefully every time we didn't match. 

Jason and Tiana matched over and over again.

Mel and Stacy, not so much:

Mel and Stacy didn't get all that many right, either. 

I can't tell you if Darla's celebrating or wringing Duke's neck...they got more wrong than right, too.

As far as I know, the affianced couple didn't miss a single question! 

They won a bottle of sparkling wine. 

Maggie had a unique way of enjoying her refreshments.  Under Daddy's seat. 

Our Aunt Jean with three of her nieces, my cousins Connie and Karen on either side of her, and my sister Kim.  Our dear friend Sue Koch is on the far side of Kim. We've been friends so long she qualifies as family, too. 

Oh, here are the menfolk, working on their answers.  We women were sequestered in the kitchen.  The men went outside, but to save me doing the seven or eight steps again, we stayed on the same floor, just a room over. 

No gathering of the clan would be complete without Ron getting a few mug shots. He was a real charmer.  Tiana's friends were all falling in love with him. 

Then we moved on to cake and opening presents. 

Jason's displaying years of training for marriage in the Meyer clan.  He's sitting there with his mouth shut and his hands folded in his lap. Robin has often pointed out that she could always count on her uncles to be lined up together like that at weddings and funerals, while her mother and aunts were where ever the most noise was! Good job, J!

The invitation to this shower asked that one bring either a game, as Jason and Tiana have none, other than a deck of Uno cards and video games, or a recipe and the special pan or ingredients to make it.  This is Aunt Kim's favorite recipe and the pan to make it in.

When Tiana began to remove the tissue from this basket from my cousin Connie, she said, "This thing has whole party in it!"

 

It held the makings for tuna noodle casserole and chocolate marshmallow fudge.

Speaking of fudge, our cousin Karen found a recipe for brown sugar fudge that my mother had submitted to their old church's cookbook years and years ago, and she gave that and the recipe to the kids. Very sweet and meaningful. 

They enjoyed the variety of stuff they got...

And with the plethora of gifts being given in gift bags these days...

it's rather difficult to make the old "ribbons and bows" bouquet.  Tiana put her own spin on it:

Who's minding the zoo?

This little sweetheart is the child of one of Tiana's friends.  He was so good!  He just toddled around and ate Hershey's Kisses. 

He's got a sweet mop of red hair under that cap - adorable!

The cake - both chocolate and yellow, each with a pudding filling, and buttercream frosting.  Soooooooooo good! And very untraditional decor, suiting our happy couple.  My sister Kim spent a lot of time folding the crepe paper ruffles, btw - they worked perfectly with the cake colors!

Tiana and a group of her workmates, several of whom will be at the wedding in Las Vegas.  They are excited, I can tell you!

All in all it was a great afternoon and I'm so thankful, once again, for my wonderful, wonderful family for jumping in to make it all happen, knowing the details are beyond me.  Stacy did almost all of the pre-party leg work, while Robin and Cathy showed up to help her set up and keep things moving.  As mentioned above, Kim made all of the lovely crepe paper ruffles, and while they all worked on cleanup (including a few others - Hazel, Meldon, Duke...I'm sure I'm missing a few!) Kim and Cathy worked especially hard (Lycoming Centre being their church, I suppose) to make sure everything was ship shape and left in better condition than we found it - a Meyer tradtion.

The wedding itself is just over a month away!  Wowsers!

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Jared Thomas is finally home!!!

Jared Thomas Regel, born March 16, 2009 @ 12:44 pm weighing in at 8 lbs 2 oz and measuring 19.5 inches.  Quite the hoss compared to Derek.  But still just a cutie.  We have determined that Jared looks just like Derek.  They are my set of twins just 20 months apart!  Here is how our last week was spent....after Jared was born he was eating like a champ, only he had some projectile vomit...not spit up...across the room-you need a new shirt-vomit, so they took him off to the NICU Wednesday at 2 am to see if they could figure things out.  By Wednesday night he was still in the NICU and I was alone with Joe in the Hosptial room and there was nothing I could do for my baby, so I asked to be dischared...yes 2 days after a c-section.  I get better rest at home, so it works.  So we get to go and visit Jared in the hospital for the next few days and by Friday we haven't been able to talk to a doctor or a nurse practicioner so we haven't gotten an 'offical' word on what is wrong with him and when he will be able to come home, we just got the nurses words with the words followed by, but you will have to talk to the dr...well where the heck is a dr to talk to!!!!!  Anyway, I was able to meet with his Dr on Friday afternoon and she explained to me and showed me the e-xrays of what was going on.  He had to have a barium enema...yes at 2 days old...and through the test you could see that there was a portion of his small intestine blocked up with meconium plugs (the infant tar like poop), and the barium just pushed them right out of the way.  Shortly after the test, they began feeding him, and he didn't throw up, and he was pooping normally.  We had to wait until he was taken off the antibiotics and was eating good for a certain period of time, but the dr assured us we could take him home on saturday...and we did!  He arrived home (much to Derek's dismay) around 5 pm this evening and is getting tons of love from his grandma and grandpa and 3 aunts, mommy, daddy and big brother derek!  Here are a few first shots to show just how cute and cuddly our new lil guy is!  * * * * * * * * * * * * I agree, it's a huskier version of Derek. Can't wait to get my hands on him, AND Derek!  Much relieved to hear that our sweet boys are finally under the same roof.  And I look forward to hearing from Mommy & Daddy about that first night!  Interestinly, those nights that Amy was home and Jared wasn't, Derek was suddenly sleeping much better.  Wonder if that continued? me<><

And here he is!

Jared Thomas Regel, weighing just over 8 lbs (nearly a pound more than his "big" brother, Derek,) was safely delivered via C-Section yesterday afternoon.  Mother and baby are doing well, although my poor sweet Derek, while he's enjoying Grandma Sue (Amy's mom) he is very much missing Mommy & Daddy.  He found Amy's pajamas yesterday and carried them around saying pitifully, "Mommy?"  "Mommy??"  But he didn't cry.   

Can't wait to see them, even though it looks like it won't be until late April, when we spend the night there before flying out of Baltimore for the wedding. 

Praising God for the safe delivery of Jared Thomas, and for the generosity of his parents and grandparents to share such precious duty as being grandparents with Joe's "other" parents. 

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PS  I've had cellulitis and lymphangitis again, but after one of those special shots Dr H likes to give me in the backside, and several days of a new ointment, I'm healing very well.  But I'm gonna lay low and be very, very careful between now and time to leave for the wedding. 

Faron has been friends with Ed for at least 10, maybe 15 years.  They were running buddies, and Ed has employed Faron to help around his farm, especially during haying.  (Long-time readers will know Faron was haying at Ed's when he fell from a ladder and shattered his ankle nearly 5 years ago, effectively ending his running career.)  But now they're just good friends.  Faron still helps out at the farm, but right now the two of them, neither of whom is running right now, are working with other buddies to put together their own marathon, a training run before the Boston Marathon, for some competitive runners in the area.  Saturday they went out to breakfast and did some planning, during which Faron asked Ed if he could borrow his grading rake.  Ed said that of course he could borrow it, no problem, just come and get it.  Faron was busy all day Saturday, moving dirt, but hoped to get over to Ed's Sunday afternoon. 

But about 10 am Sunday, we eard a truck in the driveway, and there was Ed, unloading the grader. 

And this while he's dealing with some pretty devastating news in his own family.  His wife, who has been struggling with a serious condition for some years, has had a recurrence - more serious this time.  Those of you who pray might lift up Ed and his family from time to time.  They will need a great deal of support.

But before he can use the grader, Faron has some large piles of dirt to re-locate. 

Duke, Darla, Paige & Curtis had been planning to come up one night to play Texas Hold 'em, and Sunday afternoon was elected to be the time.  They'd have that lovely wee lamb all weekend and I lookedforward to getting my ands on his sweet baby-ness.  Then Duke called and said that Erik and Amber would be there shortly to pick him up.  NO TIME WITH KAEL??  I told Duke that he needed to keep the baby and write an extorntion note, "We've got your son. To get him, go to Aunt Cin's.  In two hours so she has time with him!"

Darla walked in first, and I hollered, "Do you have the baby?"

She hollered back, "Nooooo."

"Then just go home!"

Then Duke came on back, carrying the baby, asleep in his carrier. 

He slept for perhaps 10 minutes before his movements let us know he was coming awake.  He woke up perfectly happy.

Isn't he sweet?

For close to an hour, I had him almost completely to myself.  He spit up a bit just before we took him out of the seat so I stripped off his shirt and pants in favor of a new one, and he was so delightfully sweet in just his diaper that I kept him that way.  Oooooh! I do love a nekkid baby!

I kissed him and cooed at him and he kissed me and cooed at me.

He loves to give kisses!  He would press his face hard into my cheeks and growl and rub his open mouth over my cheek.  I got wet from nose to neck!

He's so adorable - I'd wallow in baby drool if that's what it took to keep him happy, but I must admit, he's such a sweet boy, it doesn't take much.

Soon, the kids were all here - Erik and Amber another surprise, since they told me that Paige & Curis were going to take him home!

Erik and Amber hadn't seen their boy since Friday so they were eager to love him up, too.

Love this shot of Erik and his boy. 

And here's one where Amber was peeking in from behind:

Finally they all went out and it was time to play poker.  Uncle Faron's baby-entertaining skills may have been buried about 24 years deep (since Erik himself was a baby), but he certainly knew what to do.

Both of them look perfectly happy, eh?

Wasn't long before Kael needed a snack.  Both parents ok'd a crust of bread, so here are Uncle Faron and Kael negotiating that:
 

 How cute is THAT?

Oh, one last Kael photo - this one when he got a bit restless and Grandma wanted to show off her "Kael-soothing-skills."

She did get him to sleep and he slept for about 5 minutes before his parents came. 

And as for the poker, well, I was terribly distracted by Kael, especially considering his hands were often in my hair, courtesy of Uncle Faron's keen positioning!  I loved every minute of it. Never won a hand.  In a "winner take all" finale, Paige won it all. 

We had a fun time, and I must say Kael is lovely and sweet and makes me ache to hold that new grandbaby of mine who'll be here in just a week!

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