Dear Reader:

Since I was heading back home yesterday and Charleston County called off school again for students (Giving teachers another work day)…Eva Cate went with her granddad over to Walsh and Mollie’s home so the guys could get Eloise’s crib put together for her room.

While there Mollie took the girl cousins’ pictures…This was the first time Eva Cate has seen her new cousin….due to hospital restrictions, then a snowstorm with ice preventing safe passage, and finally a stomach bug that hit her and little brother Jakie. But now the granddaughters have officially met.

My hope is that it will be a relationship that will follow them through every stage of growing up, as well as, adulthood and another generational motherhood. Eva Cate and Eloise…my “E” granddaughters! Hugs and kisses my pink princesses.

(Now don’t get me wrong…I adore my three grandsons…but to be truthful…after three of these cuties in a row…it will be nice to get a break from car, truck sounds and especially crash noises…Are little boys just born knowing how to make these sounds…it sure appears that way to me?)

Before leaving for Eloise’s home Eva Cate was busy drawing…a picture for Eloise, little brother Jakie, and a cookie girl for me…since Mandy and I hit the last tin of Christmas cookies hard and fast during the snowstorm! Eva Cate also made Eloise a little bracelet.

I had a terrible scare Monday afternoon as I was preparing to leave yesterday morning. John cleaned off (and started up) my car to give it a test drive… the engine started smoking…then the engine light came on and John was worried that something had cracked or frozen.

I had a sick feeling in my stomach…I had just paid all that money last month to get my old car fixed and now this? Thankfully John and I took it around the neighborhood…the smoke immediately disappeared…and I realized the light that I was so used to seeing on was the engine light…my old car has some sensory wiring problem with that light and it stays on all the time…even after having a thorough check-up……so it drove fine and got me home without a single hitch yesterday. God is good! Whew!

At home…the heat was on…the faucets all worked and nothing was running or leaking…Hallelujah! When everything you own is old…one can’t help but worry if old parts of heaters or plumbing pipes can take another extreme frigid cold snap. But they all came through for me.

Now my biggest challenge is taking down Christmas…today is the day…I am showing these pictures again…so on tomorrow’s blog I can show you a return to normalcy scene. (I need to put some motivational pressure on myself to get it done)

You know the snow is over when…(as I was walking out to my car yesterday morning I passed the spot where the children’s snowman was located) This is all that is left…a dirty patch of ice, a carrot and a strawberry (the other two strawberries forming the “mouth” had rolled down the hill)

Both Tommy and Walsh put their Clemson birthday surfboard snowmen out during the snow…I can’t locate Tommy’s picture of his birthday gift at this moment…but here is Walsh’s he just sent me…

Donna Clark left me this note and ornament to remind all of us Clemson fans that the Tigers had a terrific season… and through all the up’s and down’s …Clemson fans are in! (Thank you Donna…I did miss our annual National College Football Championship game viewing together…but the oranges noses are ready to honk at any time. We are ready!)

I am not going to wait until next year…but hang the souvenir on my bedroom lamp post to remind me that loyalty to (not just a team but people you care about)… through good times and bad, is the most important thing! Thank you Donna for this reminder gift…love it.

Look what welcomed me home…when I arrived. Lasagna from Gin-g (De-Leesh!)…the “All In” trinket from Sam and Donna and a book from Honey on 101 ways to stay young with thought-provoking anecdotes….What a wonderful way to be greeted. Thank you all…dear friends!

Summerville really did get a lot of snow and it was still on Vickie’s roof when I drove up…almost a week after the snowstorm.

So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

I think all little girls should wear bows, not just in their hair, but on their cute little bottoms too….maybe Eloise will start the new fad!