PLEASE COME BACK MOM!

My mom has been here for 11 days and just left yesterday. We had the best time. The boys just love their grandma and really enjoyed spending so much time with her.

Unfortunately we were all sick for 3 days while she was here so we spent a lot of time just hanging out. It was perfect. We did manage to get out and see a few things.

We went to Hillwood estate and gardens. It was founded by Marjorie Merriweather Post—the heiress to the Post cereal empire. Both of her parents died when she was 27 and she became the richest woman in America. Her 3rd husband was the American ambassador to the Soviet Union. They lived over there for a time, and she bought up lots of Russian art, china, and many other beautiful things, that probably would have been destroyed otherwise. She has one of the largest collections of Russian imperial art outside of Russia today. She also had many French pieces as well. We LOVED it!

The backside of her house. The gardens were amazing.

Her husband's daughter lived with them in the Soviet Union and put together an art collection of their time there. They have in displayed in this darling Russian dacha. I loved seeing all the pictures of the people and especially the children. It reminded me so much of my mission.

We hit the Leesburg Outlets while my mom was here and scored these awesome Hot Wheels shirts for $1.50 a piece. Thank you Old Navy Outlet!
Dellin's face in this picture is priceless.

We decorated Halloween sugar cookies.

Jacob and Tyra moved their family to New Jersey this summer. So we've been trying to get up and see them but haven't been able to make it work. We planned to go up for a few days with my mom but then the boys got sick. We did meet them in Lancaster Pa. one day. We had a blast despite the rain. We loved seeing Tyra and the kids.

I've been to Lancaster a few times but this time we went to Amish Village. You get to tour a real Amish home, a school house, farm and many other things. We learned a lot about the Amish people. I highly recommend this tour if you are ever there.
It was hard to say goodbye to my mom yesterday. She makes life so easy when she's around. It is so nice to have someone to talk with all day. We are missing her like crazy but realize that she can't stay with us forever. Thanks Mom for everything. (And thanks Dad for going without her for so long.)

We are looking forward to the holidays when we can see all our family again.