"Does Katie Live on the Moon?"

Today, the kids and I made the journey to Apex to visit my college roomie Katie. The trip was a little longer than I had anticipated and the kids of course kept asking, "Are we there yet???" Finally, Graham said, "Mom, does Katie live on the moon??" We finally arrived to the lovely outskirts of Apex and unloaded the family truckster for our visit.

I haven't seen Katie since her precious little ones were born last August. Many of you who visit the BLOG will remember praying for Jacob and Clay when they were born VERY early last August. Jacob was only here with Clay for a few days before he returned to his angel position in heaven, but Clay has been working hard on gaining weight and learning how to do all the baby things since then.

We had a great visit and it was wonderful to see Clay so happy and alert. I wore a red shirt with a crazy print on it (imagine that! Me with a crazy print on my shirt?!) and he couldn't focus on much else when I was holding him. I think that for our next visit, I should wear a solid color! Katie made a delicious lunch for us. Graham hasn't stopped raving about the grilled cheese that "Granny Sandy" (Katie's mom) made for him. He told me tonight at dinner that I needed to get her recipe! Karis had a "bread samich"- you know bread with bread on it. : ) The three Meredith girls had chicken pie (homemade, of course!), deviled eggs, cucumbers with dill sauce and some delicious bamboo pickles. I'm in love with those. I'll post something about them later- I need to do some more research on where to find them. You know I had the wheels turning in my mind about my little bamboo grove in our Japanese garden at school... wonder if anyone would miss a few stalks now and then?

After lunch, we chatted and visited Clay's room. Katie and Michael had installed a screen door on the nursery doorway. What an excellent idea to keep the cat out and the room "open"!! I loved it. It gave the room a cool atmosphere... almost like you had stepped out onto a screened-in porch.

We had some awesome brownies with homemade cream cheese icing for desert, and Graham ate two of them. When Katie gave him the second one, he said "I wish you were my mom!" I chuckled a good one at that. I guess God-mothers are allowed to spoil their special ones from time to time. : )

We stayed until Karis was entering the "NO" phase - the one that says "it is really past my naptime and if you don't get me to my lovey and boppy soon, melt down is about to begin." As we were packing up to leave, we turned off the tv and I was APPALLED to see tiny handprints all over Michael's HUGE tv screen. Our tv is in the cubby above the fireplace and the kids can't reach it. Having one on their level is a new thing. Karis took full advantage of that when I wasn't looking. I'm sure glad we had a great visit because I don't think we'll ever be able to return!!! Michael, if you are reading this, I am SOOOOOOO sorry!!! Feel free to bring Clay over anytime for him to drool in my laptop or slobber on our digital camera!

We had a wonderful time and as we got in the car, Graham said to Katie, "When I grow up, I'm going to hire you to be my personal chef." (Remember that he only had a PB&J, a grilled cheese and 2 brownies... imagine what he would do if he ate her "REAL" cooking?!?!)

Thank goodness the kids fell asleep on the way home. I had to navigate back through Raleigh/RTP traffic at 4:45 and I wasn't looking forward to fighting four lanes of traffic AND two cranky kids. Thank you Lord. I recognize your hand in my day and I am thrilled with you help!!! : )

It was an excellent day and reminded me that we need to make more time for visits like that rather than filling our days with so many other things. My laundry was still here waiting for me when I got home... and I would have missed out on a wonderful opportunity to catch up with a friend if I had stayed home to finish it.

I leave you with a glimpse of your day... Clay wasn't in our group shot because he had already gone to bed for his nap. The one of him is from about a week ago, so you still get to see his adorable smile. Hope the rest of you had a wonderful day! Sleep well!