Better Late than Never

Last night I finally saw the pictures that Uncle Mike took at Grandpa and Grandma's 65th wedding anniversary celebration. Here are a few fun ones:

This first one is of the girls (and Scott who snuck in the photo) after our meal at the Tea Room. Apparently this place gets used for actual tea parties and it was fun to dress up in the old hats and boas.
This is my favorite photo of G&G with the great grandchildren. I particularly like this photo because Bethany is throwing a fit, Grandma is trying to manage her wiggly body, while Grandpa watches on, Isaac isn't sure about the whole situation and Scott is snickering at his sister.
And of course a family picture. Getting all of us to look one direction and smile would take a professional some effort! Bethany was thrilled her her sucker and could care less about the family photo!

Thanks Uncle Mike for taking and sharing pictures with the rest of us.

Snow in July

Though we aren't having our traditional summer heat, this picture isn't of snow in the road ditch. Friday we had two different nasty storms roll through. They weren't wide spread storms but the damage the storms caused was huge for some.

I got a call from Ryan around 4pm. He was out on a farm call and the other vet had just called to tell him about his broken windshield, the calf huts that were flying all over, the broken windows, etc. Ryan was in the hardest hit area. It looked like someone had taken a rotary mower through farms and the clippings were strewn all over the highway. The soybean fields looked hay fields gone bad with little twiggies sticking out of the ground. Corn fields looked like locusts had come through and stripped the stalks and in some fields there was only about 18 inches of stalk remaining.

My phone call with Ryan was entertaining to say the least. Ryan informed me that I wouldn't have to worry about pulling the weeds in my garden. The garden was gone. There were remnants of plants but nothing salvageable. The good news was that we didn't have any trees down and our house was still there.

A short while later I left the office, stopped for a few groceries and picked up the kids. When we were leaving moms the sprinkling was turning to rain. By time I got home (10 minute drive and 7 miles down the road), it was pouring down rain, the wind was blowing and it was hailing like crazy. I pulled onto the lawn and Ryan met me at the van to grab the kids. I moved the van back to its normal spot, pulling it in the old garage as much as possible. As I ran back up the the house, through the rain I noticed a tree had fallen. It wasn't the whole tree and it didn't cause any damage. I was sure thankful that I wasn't still parked by the front door since the tree would have fallen right next to me and scared the tar out of me!

Today brings the usual Monday craziness with the added issue of storm damage. While my boss in on vacation, I get to act in his absence and this time I'm actually having to actually act in his behalf on a few things!

If you would say a prayer for those who have damage: broken windows, destroyed siding, partial and total crop loss. It would be no fun to be in their shoes!

Long Overdue Picture Update

A few from cousin Sarah's wedding: the first is me with cousin Jimmy and his wife Cathy (bride's parents). The second is Bethany dancing with Sarah - we still hear about this from Bethany so she must have loved that. The third is mommy and Bethany on her 2nd birthday which was celebrated at a wedding.

These next few are from the day we ripped the carpet out of "the carpeted room". Bethany was a good little helper and loved playing in the gathered up nasty old carpet.

And a few from the Parade on the 4th of July... neither of my kids appreciate the loud sirens

but they are good sports and wave to everyone...

Bethany and her Grandpa Danny. It was too cute that he drives a school bus and bought her a school bus for her birthday.

One night we went fishing at Beulahland, ate shrimp scampi that Ryan prepared over the fire, had peach cobbler from the dutch oven and played on the swings. Not your typical July weather but we managed to keep warm and have fun.

Kids' Birthday Party

We had a very fun birthday party with the kids. Take a look for yourself:

as requested... the Larry Boy cake

being told to wait to open gifts...

Where is my Hairbrush?

... maybe I have a little bit of Veggies Tales on the brain.  Maybe that's because I spent about 6 to 8 hours making Scott and Bethany an awesome LarryBoy cake for their birthday party on Saturday.  I would never want to volunteer to make such a cake if it hadn't been for Scott's specific request.  I must say that I was quite impressed with it.  I'll add pictures when I get a chance... maybe on Thursday.

 

I may not be searching for my hair brush but I am wondering where my time went.  Yes, the summer has been flying by.  Granted, I'm enjoying the weeks as they go by, but we're into late July and I've hardly been outside to enjoy the summer heat (or lack thereof around here). 

 

This past week or so we've had my dad here visiting.  I've tried to make sure I spend some time with him and at the same time make sure that I'm taking care of my other responsibilities.  I was off on Friday and my poor dad spent the morning amidst the chaos of me and the kids at WallyWorld.  That evening though was a little more fun.  All of us (being Ryan, me, the kids, my mom, ralph, and my dad) went fishing out at the beaulahland.  One at a time, I took the kids out on the little paddle boats with their fishing pole.  It was cool out and windy so we were wearing our sweatshirts and having fun.  The fish weren't biting much but we still had fun.  While the majority of us fished, Dad enjoyed the camping chair and Ryan was busy at the fire pit cooking up shrimp scampi and had peach cobbler in the dutch oven.  After supper, the kids played on the swings and though us adults were chilled, the kids couldn't get enough of the outdoor fun!

 

Saturday was the kids' birthday party.  This year we only invited family.  I debated on inviting kids but then they all bring gifts and I don't want them to do that since I don't buy for each kid on their birthday.  Plus, a friend of mine mentioned that she only did big birthday parties every 5 years and the kids appreciated that.  My kids, at this age, were perfectly happy with just having their family to share their cake with.  And they did share - it wasn't even a problem for the two of them to share the LarryBoy cake.

 

Last night I finally began reading a book that my friend Michelle let me borrow.  It's a book about God's perspective on being the help meet that God designed us to be.  I'm appreciating what I've read and though I've read other books about marriage, this one seems to have a little different twist.  The hard part is saying that its all great information when I clearly am not the stay at home wife/mom.  I don't know if God's working on my heart about that but I keep reading more and more about that and wondering how to possibly make that work out financially.

 

Lastly, I've been slowly working on our adoption fundraiser.  One friend informed me that she doesn't agree with the fundraiser idea.  It's her opinion that if someone feels led to adopt, then they need to sacrifice and do so.  It was good for her to share her opinion.  At the same time, I felt like I needed to qualify how we're sacrificing.  And even with us sacrificing things we want/need, we just can't save up the $40,000 that we've been told we'll need.  So this fundraiser is so far going to be an online auction of donated items from friends, family and even businesses and strangers. [if you would like to donate to the auction, please let me know and I will gladly take your donation].  So, that's taking some of my lunch time each day as I email and talk to people about possible donations and some time in the evenings putting the website together to host the auction.

 

Life is sweet, my husband is a wonderful provider, my kids are precious and God's grace is amazing!

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WHIRLWIND

As of the past few days, I've:

  - gone to a parade with the family

  - tore out carpet in the one room that has carpet in our house

  - watched as hubby tore out the wall in that same room (and was quite irritated with the results)

  - wondered if someone was in our attic when in fact the popping noises were fireworks and us old fogies were already in bed

  - made Bethany a black baby doll.  She's my sample doll and has an ugly shirt, no face and no hair.  Bethany doesn't seem to mind and Scott has requested one.

  - Wondered if it's okay for my SON to have a baby doll... how can I make it masculine???

  - Chopped my hair.  It was cute before the cut but needed a trim.  Now its short and thin (she said she texturized it).  Thank God hair grows back!

  - Practically begged people to provide child care for my little ones

  - Started my first batch of kombucha

  - Missed California

  - Dreamed of the possibility of being home with my kids and working from home.

  - Started thinking through a new fundraiser idea I have for adoption.  It will revolve around a meal and an auction.  More on that later as things (hopefully and prayerfully) come together.

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Go Bulldogs

I wore one of my new Fresno State Bulldog shirts today. Scott thought he had to wear his Bulldog shirt too. Bethany was MAD when we made her take off the Bulldog shirt she wore Tuesday night and all day yesterday. The clean, but a few months older, Bulldog shirt would not suffice for her today. That child!