Our Day without Mum

**IF YOU CARE TO SKIP A RATHER LENGTHY DESCRIPTION ABOUT OUR DAY WITHOUT MUM, PLEASE FIND THE PICTURES IN THIS POST.**

We survived.......only by the sheer grace of the Lord!!! There were no major accidents, mishaps, spills or tragedies yesterday while Mum was gone. :) Mum left yesterday at around ten in the morning after giving 'surgery' to a Raggedy Andy's foot, kissing her children good-bye, singing to her husband to wake him up, and then going to meet someone at an undisclosed location concerning my birthday gift. :( And she left me pondering all day what in the world it could be. But I digress. :) Our day was filled with delighted shrieks and giggles from the 'middles,' Sara and Ronnie, while they played rod hockey. Anna was my helper (and mostly shadow) in the kitchen. She was perfectly outfitted in a princess apron and chef's hat! And of course she asked me why I didn't have one. :) While Mum was gone we were living 'high on the hog' with grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, chocolate chip cookies (that had WHITE flour!) for snacks, and chicken (breaded with REAL bread-crumbs!), potatoes and greenbeans for dinner. :) It was a very good day....aside from all of us missing Mum so much and feeling like there was a huge something missing.

That morning before Mum left, she sweetly chose to sit in her rocker/recliner and talk to her littles and play with them. Wednesday night Mum and Dad came home bearing gifts! :) A dear couple from church is moving very soon and are having a yard-sale soon and they gave Mum and Dad a sneak peek! They came home with a myriad of items; a few of them made us children's day. :) We all got yo-yo's....they are sort of challenging for Ronnie (but her persevered!) but I FINALLY got the hang of it! :) It has taken me almost sixteen years to figure out those darn yo-yo's. :) Anyway......they brought home also, a vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that are absolutely precious! By the time they got home Wednesday night, Ronnie and Anna were asleep so Ann and Andy were waiting for Anna when she got up yesterday morning.

She was absolutely enchanted with them! We told her they needed lots of hugs, kisses and lots of love. :) She took her mission very seriously and began playing with them on the spot. :) She gave them an honorary tea-party with her most special princess dishes and laughed a little at Ann's bloomers. :) Andy's foot had a rip in it so Mum quickly gave him 'sowrgry' as Anna calls it. And he is as good as new! However Mum is making both of the dolls black crocheted shoes. :) Mum quickly packed a little food for her drive out, kissed us all goodbye and was off! :) I set about making oatmeal and unloading my dishwasher while Ronnie and Sara played downstairs on the rod-hockey table. They were SO delighed with it! I don't know who shouted more. :)

Lunchtime came around and I wasn't quite sure what to make. We had hotdogs and baked beans but Dad kindly went out to Aldi's in the rainy and drippy day to pick up some WHITE bread, pickles, tomatoes, red onions and cheese, among a few other things. We were having REAL sandwiches for lunch! I know how much Dad loved a good grilled cheese sandwich so I set about making some. Ronnie and Sara opted for cold ham and cheese sandwiches with pickles and mustard, but Dad, Anna and I wanted grilled cheese. But not just any grilled cheese, mind you. Gourmet grilled cheese. Dad used to work at a resturant called Palmers and he always loved their grilled cheese. According to dear Dad, they had sour pickles, cheddar cheese, red-onion and tomato. YUM!!!! Anna wanted plain but Dad made his two sandwiches with the art of a master. :) I made mine without the red onion-I had a piano lesson later. :) It was SO darn good. Especially the pickles since they are a delicacy in our house.

Anna and I baked chocolate chip cookies during that late morning-early afternoon. I realized the butter needed to soften and I called Dad to pick up some brown sugar since we were out. I got everything I could ready with Anna's lovely help beforehand and then came lunch.......and cleanup of lunch.......then the cookies! We used Betty Crocker's recipe and I decided to make a double batch so I could bring some to my piano teacher. It is a good thing! Ronnie and Anna, mostly Anna, were 'little mooches!' of the cookie dough. :) Okay, okay....I was too. :) I was so tired after I pulled the last batch of cookies out of the oven about five minutes before we had to leave for piano lessons. I got to rest in the car on the way there. :) I'm now learning Canon in D. That song is TRICKY! But I love it. :) I got back and Dad had to take my aunt to look at her (now) new car. Dad is the king of finding good, reliable cars for people and he does it with such a willing and helpful spirit. So.....we had to eat dinner early so Dad could take my aunt down to get her car (she completely trusted Dad with finding the perfect car for what she needed and wanted) so we had to eat early. The potatoes took a little longer but the chicken I cut each breast in half as Mum instructed, and they didn't take too long. :) Our Aunt Maureen (Dad's sister) stayed for dinner (because she loves chicken!) and then they were off. I was done!!! Gosh was I bushed and it was only quarter past six! Sara sweetly took care of the littles and cleanup so I could rest. Maybe catch up on a little schoolwork. :-P

The littles went to bed nice and sweetly-Anna loves to have books read to her-and then I came down, got in my jammies and lounged until Dad got home from his hockey league. He got some mini deep-dish pizzas from Aldi's and he told me to pop four in the oven as a snack for Sara, he and I. YUM! They were really good. We had some sweet father-daughter time, munching on our mini-pizzas and talking. He put on a Dean Martin Roast of Frank Sinatra-because EVERYONE knows how much I LOOOOOOVE Frankie. It was from 1977 and the tape was stopped at the middle and after Dean Martin talked for a moment, a dear, old-looking Gene Kelly came on and gave an absolutely sweet and precious tribute to his old friend, Frank Sinatra. There were film clips from (SNIFF SNIFF!) not from It Happened in Brooklyn, but On the Town, Take Me Out to the Ballgame and Anchors Aweigh. Those three are my OTHER three favorites of his. :) Gene Kelly looked so old and so sweet-his Irish smile was still bright and his voice was still strong with a Pittsburgh accent. Dad and I, since we are both, as Sara termed us, 'sappy' both got a little mistyeyed during that part. :)

And that, our probably rather bored readers, was our day. :)

Sweet littles and Raggedy Ann and Andy. Don't they all look so cute!!!???

The incredibly vintage and adorable looking 'operating room.' :) That sewing box was my great-grandmother's.

My wonderful little helper of the day! With her sidekick, Bolt the doggy.

The recipe and a legacy between Dad and Sara and I since we were little. :) We ALWAYS made chocolate chip cookies from the Betty Crocker cookbook together.

Anna Bananna! She took her job so seriously. :) It was hard not to laugh and smile at her silly hat.

Ronnie playing rod hockey. It was SO funny.

The hyper-hockey players. :) Look at his big blue eyes. :)

FACEOFF!

The whole thing.

Sara's team.......

Ronnie's team-they had a power play because the blue team was short one guy. :)

What was left of lunch. :)

The ingredients!

Cream butter and sugars then mix-in eggs......

The cookie-dough! Any memories, Dani!? :)

They are technically drop cookies but I roll them. It's tradition. :)

Almost done!!!

Cooling with mouths watering in anticipation. :)

A tired me right before leaving for my piano lesson.

We all love this quote. :)

Dinner time!

HURRAY! I didn't burn or over cook the chicken!

Well that's it folks! Now I have to get breakfast started. :)