Happy 12th Birthday, Ruthie!

 My baby turned twelve yesterday.  My how time flies.  Ruthie was born 4 weeks prematurely in a 16" snowstorm.  This year we have the windows open to let in the 65 degree weather.  Only in Maryland! 

 Maggie, Anna, Sarah, Ruthie (l to r) and I went to Red Robin for dinner.  The food was delicious.  This restaurant is friendly for folks with food allergies.  You can see the thick loose leaf binder in front of Maggie.  The foods are listed according to allergies.  Maggie and I split a chicken and spinach wrap.  Ruthie had grilled chicken on a stick, and Anna had the Teriyaki Chicken Burger wrapped in lettuce.  Sarah had chicken tenders.  All the meals came with bottomless french fries that we enjoyed too much.

(Mike, Allen and Lizzie didn't come because they had a ham radio meeting.)

 Here's my 2-week progress on Allen's lettuce.  I think they look weak and need nutrients. 

 Ruthie chose a western themed birthday cake, as usual.  Lizzie made the cake and did the icing.

 Make a wish! 

 We ate the cake with Vanilla tofutti ice cream. 

 We're making headway on our baby clothes for carenet.  We ended up washing 24 loads.  I washed them at home and then took them to the local laundromat to dry them.  (I have 2 washers but no dryers.) 

 Ruthie loves all the cute clothes.  Anna has taken over sorting the clothes into piles according to Season, Sex, and Size.  Whew!  I think that's the hard part!  We return the clothes on Thursday...and I will be glad to have my living room back to order.  

Our family watched two good Henry Fonda films this week.  We got both dvds, The Ox-bow Incident and The Tin Star from the library.  Both were family friendly with no foul language.    

 Last week we were so busy that I kept telling myself I had to keep my focus on Sunday when everything would be over.  On Friday we took Anna and Lizzie to Walter Reed for doctor appointments.  We left around 10 am and returned home around 7 pm.  Long day!

 Anna has been busy sewing and quilting.  She has a nice blog to feature her sewing projects.  Take a look!

Anna got up bright and early this morning to work on her treefort.  She loves warm weather.

 One of our friends from church sewed this beautiful tablecloth for me for Christmas.  I love it!  Mitzi sews curtains, tablecloths and upholstery for a living.  We lovingly call Mitzi and her hubby Tom, Mitzi and Fritzi. Thanks so much, both of you.  I've always enjoyed the pastoral scenes on toile.

 On Saturday evening, our church hosted a showing of Courageous for men and their sons.  My daughters had been baking all week to provide the cookies.  I heard someone say there were about 50 who came.  It was a chilly evening since no one remembered to preheat the building.  I took the above picture because it warmed my heart when I walked into the kitchen and saw that my good friend Bonnie had set everything out to make sure we didn't forget anything.  Thanks, Bonnie! 

The W-- ladies offered to help us serve.  The evening ended up being simple to take care of, so we ladies retreated to the toasty Teen room during the film.  Thanks for coming and helping!

This past Tuesday I made brisket and sourdough dinner rolls for dinner.  The next night Ruthie cut up the leftovers for fajitas that were delicious.  

Tuesday evenings is when Allen's banjo teacher comes to dinner.  Afterwards my five youngest take off to visit Meemaw and Grandad while we visit with Banjo Man.  We enjoy these evenings.

Abigail came over for the day on Wednesday.  She loved helping Maggie bake.  She also had fun running around with The Cousins.     

Guess who got worn out from everything?!

Right now everyone is busy baking for Ruthie's little birthday tea party tomorrow.  She has invited her 3 closest friends to come for the afternoon.  Maggie sewed up a fancy dress and I sewed the buttons on...but the dress didn't fit.  Neither one of us has the heart to sew another.

I've enjoyed this week immensely...I got to stay home today!  We thought we were going to get lots of rain, so we filled up the front and back porches with firewood...but so far we've dodged all the storms.  That's how it usually works!

Enjoy your weekend.  Many blessings ~ Kathie