The Letter A

Our weekend started on Thursday when Polly arrived from Michigan- we celebrated with dinner at Fleurie. Originally, Polly was arriving mid-afternoon on Thursday but ended up arriving mid-afternoon in Baltimore. I told Ella she had boarded the wrong plane and wouldn't be here until Friday night. Ella then conveyed to her entire class that her Aunt Polly had "gotten on the wrong plane- can you BELIEVE that?". I then had to explain the situation to her teachers. So on Friday I dropped Ella off at school and filled out the appropriate paperwork for Polly to pick her up but added that they should not tell Ella about this in case of another mix up. Ella was very pleasantly surprised when Polly showed up at school. Here they are leaving for the weekend:

Hmmm... what is that blue bag? Well,... it is the class Bear that was coming home with us for the weekend. We were the first to have him spend the weekend with us. This, of course, includes a write-up in his journal of our weekend and a list of "A" words we found with Bear. Need I remind everyone that this school stuff is so new to me that I was lost after apple? Thank you Polly for your amazing abilities with the letter A. I should also thank Ella's teacher for reminding me Polly was coming in on an airplane. Thank God for great teachers and aunts. They make us less-than-great mothers look good.

Polly brought Ella a tea set, a princess dress, and amazing goodies for their party. A dress for Bear materialized out of nowhere (again, thank you Polly!). She even cut an apple in half and showed us how it can be a stamp of a star- and then packaged the apple stamp so it could go back to school with Bear. Polly- you are amazing (see, I can get the hang of this a stuff). Here they are at their party:

That night Wes missed out on going to Mas but he, Grandpa Bill, and Ella had their own party (and another tea party) at home. Polly and I went to the spa and then dinner with Steve and somehow made it home after midnight (when was the last time I did that?). The next morning, Ella fed Bear:

On Saturday we had friends over Steve's house to celebrate the completion of the addition to Terrell Road that my Mom started before she was diagnosed with cancer. She saw the groundbreaking but that was all so it was a bitter sweet day. It was also her birthday. Our friend Mary sent sunflowers to add sunshine for the day. When I told Ella, she said, "how sweet" without even realizing how appropriate that is (not to mention a good use of the letter S, huh?). Here is a picture of the addition (notice the adirondack chair):

The day was beautiful- so nice to see old and new friends. We had a sleepover that night and the next morning Steve and Ella fed Bear...

Bear also had his picture taken at the airport (see, I'm a quick study) and then at the golf course. Both Wes and Ella taught Bear how to play golf. There were no As to be found here, but since it is such a big part of our lives, we had to include Bear too.

And finally, everyone fell asleep...


I have copies of Bear's journal entry if anyone would like to learn more about the letter A.