Hanging with the Hankens

I had a few days that I was going to hang out with Kelli’s family (our oldest daughter) over the weekend.  Sunday we were going to a family picnic.  Monday we were going to power sew a quilt we’re making that will be featured in the 30th Anniversary edition of American Patchwork and Quilting due out next year.  Then Tuesday she was going to take Georgia to the dentist and school shopping.  I was going to watch the boys and then depending on how things went, she might go right home or hang out for a bit.

So here’s a little recap of how all of that went.  We made it to the picnic on Sunday.  Here’s a picture of me and three of my siblings.  We missed my oldest brother Jule.  Pictured right to left is my brother Jim, me, Judy, and Jay.  Yes, we all have “J” names…and my maiden name was Johnson.  I’m the youngest.  Judy is the oldest and the boys all land in between.

There is a 16-year age gap between Judy and me.  I often say I don’t remember Judy at all before she dated her now husband George.  I was 3 1/2 when they got married…4 1/2 when their first child Jody was born.  That’s how it is that I was always much closer to my niece Jody than I was to Judy even though she is my sister.

We didn’t have a big turnout for the family picnic but I’m starting to learn that it might be okay if that happens.  I ended up feeling like I had a chance to visit the people who were there a little better.

I like to pick on my older siblings some…My hair is the least gray.  I’m the from-scratch cook.  I’m younger.  You know, all of those kinds of things.  I pick on them now as I was the one who was always picked on when I was young.  Fair trade maybe, I don’t know.

Truth is, I’m lucky to have them and I very much enjoy all of their company.

After the picnic, we drove back to my house.  We just hung out and stitched.  This is what stitching looks like with little ones…and dogs…

Kelli was stitching on her Pandemic project.

I was covered in dogs.  Can you see both Rosie and Kalissa’s dog, Betsy?  I’ve been dogsitting her while Kalissa’s family is on vacation.  I was stitching on my All Creatures Great and Small.

On Monday Kelli and I went thrifting.  It just so happens that on our way from the picnic we drove past a thrift store in the neighboring town.  They had a double stroller like Kelli was looking for.  The store was closed but the stroller was sitting outside.  We turned around, pulled up, and looked at it.  The stroller was nice and only $20.  But the store was closed so we couldn’t buy it.

The next day we ended up going back to the store…

We did errands on the way including a trip for me to the post office.  It’s been a busy week of two of me taking LOTS of packages.  Quilts and quilt tops are heading to helpers.

It turns out that a friend of mine works at the thrift store and she wanted to know if I’d ever want to volunteer at the store.  Hmm.  Maybe but just not yet.  I want to get more of the grandkids in school.  Right now I need to spend time with them.

When we got home, Kelli brought the machines down.  I set them up on the dining room table and we got busy sewing.  The project we are making needs LOTS of string pieces.  Kelli was the machinist.  I was the ironer for most of the afternoon…the kids were the terrorists.  It’s a miracle we got anything done.

Here’s Emmett digging in the strings.

I’m happy to say that in one day of power sewing with three kids, we managed to get almost all of the 270 or so string pieces sewn.  We worked so hard.

When we got done, the house was a disaster because we were so busy sewing we just let the kiddos do what they wanted…within reason of course.

We ended up sewing later into the evening and finally quit at 9 pm.  We had the boys in bed and we sat on the couches and stitched.

The plan was to get Kelli and Georgie off early in the morning for an 8 am dentist appointment.  That didn’t happen.  Georgie threw up in the middle of the night.  After cleaning that up, and getting everyone resettled, Kelli and I easily lost over an hour of sleep.  I couldn’t fall back to sleep doing the whole paranoid thing wondering if my stomach hurt and wondering if I was going to get the flu too.  UGH.

That morning Kelli and the kids went home in hopes that she could get there before the boys ended up having the flu and them throwing up on the drive home.  Kelli lives about 30 minutes from my house.  She made it with no one throwing up.

Before they left, Kelli and I did manage to get some pictures of Georgie getting her quilt from me.

She is totally in love with the quilt…like head over heels in love with it!  Here she is shaking with excitement from when I opened the quilt up.

I asked if she would pose with me for a picture and this is what she ended up doing…She said she wanted to show you all how she’d take a nap with it at school.  HA!!

I had a good big last hurrah with them before the new school schedule sets in.  Georgie’s preschool only runs twice a week so I’ll still see her on Mondays with the boys.  I don’t know what I’ll do once she’s big enough for Kindergarten.  Then we’ll have to figure out something different as I’d be so sad if I didn’t see her.

That was our weekend.  All in all, really fun except for the flu.  Isn’t it just like the flu to ruin a good time!!

Georgie just sent me this picture.  She took her puzzle home that we got when we were thrifting.  She did it!

I’m sure her mommy helped her some…but she was pretty proud of her puzzle.