I had a legitimate reason for not blogging this week.  We went away for almost three days.  The previous two were busy with dinner guests one night and getting ready to leave the next day.

We had a lovely time with the Grandparents, and with the dear Auntie whom the children had not seen for something like 2 1/2 years.  Auntie I and Uncle N work overseas.  Auntie has come home a bit ahead of Uncle, who has stayed to finish up some work, and will be following in a month.  We look forward to seeing him also.

We went down on Wednesday morning and spent the afternoon (it is a three hour drive) with Grandma and Grandpa.  When we go down, we stay with them.  On Thursday we went to the home of Auntie's parents and had a lovely lunch and visit with them. 

Auntie I. brought lots of presents.  I will soon have some photos to post of the beautiful bedspread she brought us and the lovely Pashmina scarf/shawl she gave to me.  She brought Belle a beautiful outfit complete with shoes in the style worn in the country in which she works.  I've discovered that Belle is very photogenic, but as I don't post photos of the children, you will not be able to see her on my blog.  She had a great time dressing up in her new outfit.  Auntie also dressed her in clothes that she wears when she is there.

The highlight for me was seeing Belle's actions and face when she read the title of the book that Auntie brought her.  Belle has never been enthusiastic about books because she has had so much trouble learning to read.  However, when we were in Scotland we bought her a set of books on CD by one of my favorite childhood authors--Enid Blyton.  She loves them.  Auntie brought her the books.  Once she figured out the title she suddenly held the book to her chest with a look of pure joy!  And she is highly motivated to read it, on her own!  She was so proud when we got home that she had read the first page to herself in the car, that she told her grandparents when we called them.

Boo's favorite gift was the clay elephant "piggy" bank.  He has named it "Tembo".  Of course no one could let him take it home empty, so it has a few coins in it already.  It has pride of place on our mantel in the living room, since he has no shelf big enough to keep it safely in his room.

As all good times away come to an end, we left Friday morning to return home, via Costco of course.  The nearest Costco to us is inconveniently two hours away, so we make the most of our trips away.  I hadn't been to Costco since October.  We were out of everything we usually buy there.

Now it is back to reality--cleaning house today, church with dinner guests to follow tomorrow, and back to the books on Monday.  Oh well, spring is on the way, and so is our "local" homeschool conference.