Baskets Birthdays and Bunches of fun

Of course there were presents. Eva managed to fill a big bag full of wonderful little 'finds' that only Eva can produce every birthday. I'm sorry the pictures are a little out of order but I had already downloaded the other pictures while waiting for Bud to send me the 'phone pictures'. I hope you enjoy all the pictures and feel like you were along with us celebrating the birthday and enjoying our weekend together.

It was Jessica's birthday and I forgot to take my camera to dinner so we are left with the pictures that Bud took with his phone. Here is the birthday girl with her birthday dessert. Eva brought the candle and we didn't have the wait staff sing to her, we just sang at the little corner booth that we had. It was a great dinner and celebration. Doug, Jessica's friend Angie and Jessica at the birthday dinner.

We went to Grand Rapids this past weekend. This is another basket that I made for Jessica's birthday. I made this one pretty big because I wanted to see how big it would be if I used 100 feet of the rope. It is much brighter than the others that I have made. It is quite tall too. If I was to do this over, I would have made the base bigger and the sides not quite as tall. I didn't put any decorations on it because it really was quite bright.

We bought some matching bluebirds to represent spring. However it really wasn't very spring like in Grand Rapids this weekend. We woke up to snow on the ground. Jessica said that it always snows on her birthday. This year was no exception. We did our best to have fun by planning inside activities.

Shopping was the main activity for the girls. Ann Taylor Loft was having a major sale so I did pick up some summer tanks and things like that.

Eva bought 2 new pairs of shoes, one of them will be comfortable and the other one is more dressy. Yes, she did buy a wedge even though Jessica doesn't like wedges.

Jessica was shopping for some material to make a new quilt to use as a throw in her living room. She was having some difficulty finding solid colors but we found 5 pieces that will look great together. We talked about how it will look, she is making it in simple stripes with the brown separating the colors. I hope she sends me a picture when she is done so that I can post it here. She decided to take tomorrow (Monday) off from work so that she may enjoy extra birthday time and maybe start on the new quilt.

We were treated to a new view of Eva's decorating. Some of you may remember this OLD cabinet/dresser that was in the basement at the farm. Eva insisted that we drag this VERY old and decrepit piece out of the basement. It was really heavy but they did it for her. It even looked worse out in the light but Eva took it to Grand Rapids and performed her 'magic' on it. She painted it black and then 'distressed' the paint. It sits in her guest bedroom upstairs. It looks pretty good. She is looking for a mirror to hang on the wall above it. She had one but wasn't really terribly excited about the look. She did find 3 small ones that she loved while we were out on Saturday. I think she should go and get them.

This is the bench that she has at the end of her bed. This bench was given to Dad when he retired and it was painted a gray color I think. The story about this bench is that it was given to Dad by the guys he worked with because he would use it every day to take a nap on. He would eat his lunch at work and since he had an hour lunch he would then use the rest of his lunch break to take a nap on this little bench. They gave it to him at his retirement dinner. You know Dad, he could take a nap anywhere.
Here we have the 'Coleman Room' known as the guest room downstairs. You may take note of the quilt that I made for her on her birthday the year before Mom died. You may also notice the dresser beside the bed. The large milk can is sitting on the dresser. This was the can that Dad used to bring milk to the house after milking the cow. I also see the old clock that was always on the dresser at the farm, and a kerosene lantern.

This is the dresser that Mom and Dad used for many years, before Dad built the dresser in the bedroom. Notice the little green stool beside the dresser. I think it was built by Josh on one of his summer visits. It was painted the green color of the porch. There were 2 such stools, I think that Leo took one to Josh this past winter.

This is the bookcase from the farm. I always remember this bookcase and don't know where it came from. The earliest pictures of the family always have this bookcase in the living room. Dad loved to go to auctions and buy dressers and such so I imagine that he bought this at some auction. It is one of the few pieces that Mom didn't refinish so it has that original old varnish look and we never broke the glass. Inside the bookcase there are many little mementos of the farm from books, the glass bulbs from the lightning rods, a church plate, a couple of watches, a couple of sketches that Mom drew in school, Mom's old pencil box and many more. On the top you see the violin that Dad received from his family. The story is that it was made by his Uncle George. I really don't know whether he was from the Lewis or the Clarke side of Dad's family. It is in the original box. It is quite a piece.