I had planned on blogging weekly and then along came May.  What a month of extreme emotions!  I was delighted to welcome Becca and the Grands for an extended stay, however during that time my sweet Holly had a health crisis and crossed the rainbow bridge.  Heartbreaking beyond words!  Still can’t talk about it.  So this will be about all the love and joy of spending a month with Becca, Bella, Emilee, and Maddox.   

Becca had not been for a visit since I moved to Salem, so we had a lot of catching up to do.  We took advantage of every minute and managed to squeeze in many fun activities!

We took several trips to the beach…

The first day was perfect weather.  The next trip, true to the Oregon coast weather, was cold and blustery.

Ems had not seen the ocean and once she got over her fear she was ready to get wet!  Bella loved the waves and we both got soaked as neither of us can stay out of the water!

We also Celebrated a special 2nd birthday!!

Visited the zoo

Gramps and I made an early (and I mean early while still dark out) morning trip to the ER with a very sick Ems.  All the kids had ear infections before the visit was over…

Auntie Erica came to visit so I just had to take them to the absolute best ever bakery that specializes in cakes!  Erica loves her cake and this place makes about every variety you can imagine!

While Erica was visiting I sold the girls on the Budget Binders so we spent one day creating them. We also created Menu/Recipe Binders and Knitting binders.  Yeah we all have a bit of the organizational bug.  But let me tell you that budget binder has really transformed how I spend and the menu planning has made cooking less of a chore as well as saving money on my food budget!!! 

Erica also created her IDLife binder.   Ems wanted to join so we got her busy coloring.  

 

Of course part of the visit we spent shopping. First were yarn shops. Bella posed as a sheep at Teaselwick Wools.

Salem has two awesome yarn shops. Teaselwick Wools which is in the Mill Museum and just brimming with treasures galore.

And Tangled Purls.

Sorry about the small picture, it is from their blog as I did not take one. At Tangled Purls Becca and I fell in love with an infinity scarf knitted out of a Cascade yarn. We decided it would be our project while she was visiting. Of course Becca had hers done in a few days while I took several weeks. They turned out beautiful and were fun to knit.

Becca’s is beautifully blocked and completed, mine is awaiting blocking and sewing. But look at those yummy color ways!!!

We also got in lots of yard sales and Becca was able to aquire a great deal of clothing for the kids.  They way they grow so fast, second hand is the way to go!!  And we went to Goodwill on a regular basis.  Look at the yarn haul I got for $24.  It contained amazing goodies even numerous skeins of Noro!  I was thrilled as was Becca when I shared my haul with her!

Here is just a small sampling of all that I got!!

Being from Walla Walla and enjoying the wines, I wanted Becca to have a chance to check out some of the Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs.  So on the way to the beach we did a bit of wine sampling.

While the wines here are good, I still have yet to taste anything that compares to some of the WW wines.  Different climate and soil so of course it is bound to be different.  

We had a grand time and it was so sad to see them go.  While here Maddox went from not being able to sit up to sitting up and crawling all over the house.  Ems is a whirlwind and we called poison control 3 times as she ingest anything she can possibly get her hands on…and she is quick as lightening.  Luckily nothing she got into was poisonous.  These grandparents are out of practice!  Becca will be back in a month for a revisit to her neurologist and I cannot wait!  I have more adventures planned and new knitting projects.  Perhaps we can even get in some sewing…but with a busy crawling baby and an active toddler probably not…

Losing Holly was one of the toughest experiences I have had to face.  It was so quick and unexpected.  Having Becc and the grands here certainly helped to ease the pain.  

Now if I could just get those other girls here with their kids!!  Summer is here…time for grands to be popping in!!