Fiona's visit

Fiona had a great visit!  I am so happy.  We had our photoshoot last night and in a few weeks, a picture of all 7 of us together will hang on our living room wall.  Like those Visa commercials--priceless!  :-)  Today in the morning we had to spend most all of it at the dance school while KC had his classes and then Lissa had hers.  Fi was gracious and patient, during what had to have been sort of a boring time. We chatted some and she and Rob spent a lot of time looking at videos on his phone and listening to his playlist.  After that, the littles wanted to go to the park across the street and play with some of their friends for a bit.  Fiona hung in for that, playing tag in the field with abandon.  Like Chet, sometimes she is so child like that it belies her years.  Other times she speaks with the wisdom and pain of her life experience. It is a strange dichotomy and one of the hardest things I deal with in parenting her.

Then we went to the shop where we were bringing her dress for alterations.  The owner was quiet and hard to understand when she did speak. I think she may be Eastern European as I usually can glom onto an accent and get a conversation done pretty easily. But something about her cadence and inflections were very hard for me to get.  However she clearly knows what she is doing and the dress will be completed by May 6th.

Then we got picnic food and went to a couple of parks to hang out and play for a while.  It was fun and the weather was so beautiful.  We have been starved for spring.  Not so much as my Minnesota and Michigan friends for sure, but it hasn't been a great or early spring in the Northeast like that darn groundhog promised! When we came home, Fiona was tired and needed some down time. So she and I made some peanut butter cookies while the littles played outside with Rob.  She enjoys cooking and it is a companionable thing to do together.  We brought the completed snacks out to share with the rest of the family and the neighbors who had by this time joined in the play and just hung out and chatted for the remainder of the time she was here.  It was a great day and we will travel into town on Tuesday to see her schools annual Art Extravaganza.  I hear she has a dance number in it.