"A Wonderful Day with Gramma"

One of the things Ilana wanted for her birthday on January 25 was "a wonderful day with Gramma". So on that Friday I drove up to State College to pick her up right after school and bring her down here for a quiet weekend with just the two of us. (Grandpa was on his way home from Africa and arrived very late Saturday evening.) As we drove the 2 1/2 hrs to my house, she wrote a list of things she thought would be included, such as "playing a speech game" (which she won three times!), teaching me "Hankey Pankey" (which I never quite got because it takes a circle of giggling girls), and lots of hugs.
We started the wonderful day with dinner at Cracker Barrel on the way, and ended the evening with popcorn and Ground Hog Day, learning about the ratio of commercials (5 min) to movie (6 min) and how to extend a short movie into a 2 1/2 hour marathon.
On Saturday we snuggled in bed until the cats insisted on breakfast. We made new clothes for Julie's beloved Paddington (who turns 29 on her birthday) and gave him new ears (I wonder how many pairs he has had in his lifetime?). We played M&M's Monopoly, started a Muir Woods puzzle, watched Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark, and went to the grocery store. Ilana played a long time with Rica and decided she needed a top and a skirt and proceeded to make them for the snake and then stage a beauty pageant for her.
And most impressive of all, Ilana learned how to run my big quilting machine and began to quilt part of her wild and crazy new quilt. She did an amazing job, and now I will finish it up and bind it, hopefully to give it to her in a couple of weeks.
We went to Church on Sunday--it was our Ward Conference. Then I drove halfway to her house and met Julie there to pass her off. It was truly a "wonderful day", for me especially.