Weekend Visitors

Mom, Dad and Josiah came to visit us for the weekend. I know we just saw them for Thanksgiving, but we can never get enough!!! They came in Thursday afternoon. I thought it would be nice after being on the road to come into the inviting warmth and smells of beef stew simmering all day. So I bought a slow cooker, looked up some recipes and put together something very very yummy. I marinated beef tips in merlot and garlic overnight and then put the rest of the contents of the stew together the next morning to let it simmer all day. It was soo very good! I was able to sneak out of work a little early on Thursday and I took Friday off. Thursday night we relaxed with the stew and homemade banana bread (a friend gave to me). We watched the Sound of Music and drank hot chocolate. It was so great to watch this family loved classic-- we sang along to all of the songs! It was Josiah's first time seeing it and he didnt mind it too much. Judah keeps singing, "When the dog bites! when the bee stings! when Im feeling sad..."

The next day I took Judah to school and then we went out to breakfast at The Red Apple. It is a little diner much like Ohio Deli. I took them for a little tour around town. First stop was what Judah deemed as one of the coolest things about Greenville-- The buffalo!

There is a buffalo farm (?) at the edge of town and it is neat to see them close up. They are huge majestic animals. Thank goodness for the electric fence!


Then we went to a few of the little antique shops around town. We found some interesting finds. Mom made the comment that it was interesting how some items she remembered using as a kid are now "antiques" and how that made her feel "old". These were some of my finds--

Owl salt and pepper shakers hanging from a little tree!!! I thought these were so cute.



an old mason jar and I bought a "sprig" of snowflakes to decorate for winter.

We also checked out the thrift store, a chocolate shop, and book store. It was fun checking out all of the little shops that always seem to be closed when I have the time to venture out. I think I pushed Dad to his limit, but he was good and didnt complain. He found a few treasures as well.

Mom and I had a little fun picking out sweet treats at the chocolate shop too. My favorite were the dark chocolate truffles. We met my friend and her son at Cunetto's for a late lunch before picking up Judah. I also took them by Greenville college and we visited the christian book store and had some "java" at Jo's Java on campus. I think Josiah may consider coming to Greenville for college... haha! we'll see : )

Friday evening we headed out to Lebanon to a little town that was supposed to have a lot to see in the way of Christmas lights and shops. When we finally got there we found the beautiful shops with decorated windows but all of the shops were closed. Classic small town theme I am learning. I really have no idea when these places of business actual do business as they are always closed when normal people can visit them. Mom and Dad were total optimists and had fun "window shopping" anyways, before we got too cold. Here are some of the pictures..

what you see here is after I asked Judah to stop making "gang" signs in our photos.

Cute but Cold Mama

I asked mom to give me "wonder"

The boys

see the gang signs? Judah says its "I love you" and when I asked him to stop, he says, "you dont want me to say I love you anymore!?" ---sigh, I cant win.

We did not find the winter wonderland light show that was supposed to be in Lebanon as well so we mapped the nearest applebees and ended the night with dinner before returning home.

On Saturday morning I took mom to pick out donuts at the Bakery Nook in town. It is this little place that makes really good donuts like vanilla creme filled devils food with chocolate frosting!!!! ridiculous.

I then took them into St. Louis and we visited the St. Louis Science Center. It is a lot like COSI except it is FREE!! We had fun "learning" and exploring the different exhibits. We had lunch at Triumph Grill and Moto Museum (motorcycles!) which was DELICIOUS! Then we headed back home saw some Christmas lights along the way.

Josiah and Judah manipulating a tornado with the BARE HANDS!

Christmas tree exhibit

My lil bro!

Cute little moment between Gpa and Judah at the dinner. He loves him so much!

Gma and Judah proudly displaying his "lego cabin"

Yay for our Visitors! Thank you for a fabulous weekend!