visitors!

My dad & Nicci were here visiting for a few days and left yesterday. We had a wonderful time while they were here and I am so grateful we get together once a year. I had a blast cooking a few vegetarian dishes for them; beans and cornbread and apple crisp on night one, tofu stir fry with peanut sauce on night two (and Kendall made cherry dump cake for dessert- all by herself!), and an Indian feast on night four that included butternut squash and yellow lentil stew, chickpea & artichoke heart masala, and my favorite was roasted root jumble which included fennel bulb, carrot, sliced lemon, red onion and topped with feta (mmmmm).

My dad jumped on the trampoline with Kendall and played soccer with her while Nicci cheered them on, Justin played guitar for them. We watched a movie one night. Dad, Nicci, Kendall and I had lunch out one afternoon while Justin was in school. They attended Justin's basketball game on Saturday and Kendall's soccer practice which followed. We had Ned and Claudia over Friday night and had the most delicious pizza and salad delivered in from Z Pizza. My Dad and Ned have been longtime friends. Last time Dad and Nicci came to visit, we had them over as well as their daughter, Sarah, her husband Steven and their twin girls. This time around, Sarah wasn't feeling well so they didn't make it. Kendall was SO looking forward to playing with the girls- she is very much into children that age and even has some "mother's helper" experience with some neighbors! But...illness is definately going around. Nicci, Dad and I went to downtown Apex to walk around and spent the best hour + in a used bookstore finding all kinds of treasures!! Keith was sick during their visit and rested much of the time, but he and my dad did stay up late one night to watch the Suns/Celtics game on TV and enjoyed watching the Suns whip up on the Celtics :) On their last night here, we were pleased to give them their first euchre playing experience. They read up on the game prior to leaving for their trip and so were familiar with the game before we sat down to play. They did well too!

They departed Sunday morning as we would've left for church, but we decided not to go due to Keith's lingering cough. I can't imagine anyone would appreciate his hacking everywhere or fits of sneezing that bring 20 sneezes in a row (it's really quite impressive!). Kendall did have two indoor games during the afternoon, which her team won 10-3 and 9-3 with Kendall scoring two goals in each game. Her team played amazingly well with multiple girls scoring goals. Truly fun to watch. And then...she woke up sick today :( 100.3 degree temp, stuffy nose, cough coming on. Thanks, Keith, for sharing your germs!! Thankfully she is tracked out and is on the sofa with OJ and a blanket. Hope Nicci and my dad stay well during the rest of their time away from home.

Oh- and one more fun item to report. Justin finished up quarter 2/semester 1 with honor roll again! Way to go Justin!!!!!!! A/B honor roll for the first half of sixth grade :)