One more day!

Only one more day of spring break! We've been busy having fun and the days have flown by.

We had a visit from Stefanie, Paul's birth-mother on Tuesday night. She was in town for business and came to the house for dinner and a wonderful, warm and loving visit. We have seen Stefanie several times since Paul's birth, have known her family for many years, and share a mutual respect and gratitude. Our visits are very comfortable, which I think is wonderful for Paul and us and, I imagine, for Stefanie.



Today Ben took off work and we went to Baltimore to see Fort McHenry and the USS Constellation, a ship from the 1860's. The weather was warm and sunny, which was especially welcome after the two days of solid rain we've had. The bombardment of Fort McHenry, which protected Baltimore during the war of 1812, was the inspiration of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. There's lots of neat history for the adults and lots of cool cannons and water views for the kids, so we all enjoyed it. We ate lunch at The Abbey, a bar on Federal Hill known for it's hamburgers, and took a ride on the dragon-decorated paddle boats in the Inner Harbor.



While it was rainy we did a lot of shopping, mostly for gardening supplies. Along the way we spotted this neat brass teapot with herbs growing in it. I thought it wouldn't be hard to make myself until I realized that I didn't have a brass teapot! I also don't have a strawberry pot. We saw one filled with strawberry plants and had to have it but it was $60, which was a bit much. Paul had two strawberry plants coming up from last year so we bought a couple of new plants and are hunting for a nice, cheap pot to put them in.




In between going shopping, having fun, and doing chores, I've been trying to make some headway on putting together the quilt blocks made by the 5th grade Language Arts class as part of their unit on the House of Dies Drear. Sixty quilt blocks to finish off and sash together into a quilt top which then needs to be quilted and bound by the end of the month. I clearly was out of my mind to volunteer for this big project. And yet it is fun, I do really like the Language Arts teacher and the 5th graders that made this creative blocks, and I did volunteer without even being asked. I just need another few hours each day.... or another week or so.... or just more time.... somehow!