We typically go visit my parents once a week. Although they live less than 20 minutes away, and my girls want me to take them every day, the going and coming is usually a production—my girls pack up things to take; they always want to eat while we are there; and they are always sad to leave. So, it’s always a several hour process.

A couple of weeks ago, the girls asked if we could go over for breakfast one morning, but morning chores and school lessons take time to complete so we didn’t get there for breakfast—but we did arrive before noon. I wasn’t planning to stay long, but I took along a quilt to work on anyway because I like to have something to do with my hands while visiting.

My first attempt at large visible stitching on a linen quilt. I have decided that while tiny stitches work beautifully on cotton, this linen quilt with machine top-stitching needed some large hand stitching to create a contrast.

Just as we were getting ready to come home, the cousins arrived! Due to various factors—travel, illness, etc.—we hadn’t seen them since sometime before Christmas. Considering that it was a beautiful day and that the children desperately needed the time with their friend-cousins, I changed my plan. And we stayed at Gramps and Grammy’s house the entire day.

My youngest brother and his wife have children the same ages as my girls, and my girls really enjoy playing with them as well as my nieces who are a few years older. Just as I did as a child, they play in the closet under the stairs in my parents’ old farmhouse. Because they don’t all fit into the closet at once, the mess and noise spreads out into the family room. They also play outside in the playhouse that my Dad built.

At one point, I heard one of the children asking Mom for yeast. Emma and two of her cousins were making loaves of bread with stale flour that mom lets them use for their playhouse concoctions. They came inside to get bread pans, and Mom baked their loaves of bread in the oven—flour, grass, grit, and all.

Emma, bless her heart, told my brother that she was making “low-histamine” bread for mommy. However, she wasn’t using gluten free flour and was really sad when I told her that I couldn’t taste her bread. My mom, being the incredible Grammy that she is, was brave enough to taste it, and I am not sure how long it took to get the sensation of grit from small particles of dirt out of her mouth. Emma was crestfallen when we said that she couldn’t have a large piece of bread with butter and honey. Although I am sure that the oven killed most of the harmful organisms, I couldn’t bring myself to allow her to eat a large piece of bread filled with who knows what! Instead Grammy made a very special treat of canned biscuits served with butter and jelly, something that they get once in a blue moon as neither my mom nor I keep canned biscuits on hand regularly!

Ellie asked if they could build a fire in the fire pit next to the playhouse, and of course, roasting hot dogs over the fire seemed the only suitable dinner in her mind. Then one of the children asked for marshmallows for s’mores… Thankfully, they don’t eat like that very often!

While the children played, Mom, Judith (my sister-in-law), and I chatted. My brother and their oldest boys and my Dad dropped in throughout the day between farm chores. At one point, my brother mentioned that we needed to invite the rest of the family because it felt like Christmas! And, it truly did. We hadn’t gathered like that in so long that it felt like a holiday. We set aside the normal tasks to enjoy a day of which memories are made…

And no, I don’t have many photos to share of the day. You will just have to use your imagination. I was present instead of documenting the moments. And it was a rewarding way to spend the day.

A Good Day to Remember