Fun, full week

Last week one morning Dick had just left for basketball at the Y when my phone rang.  He said, "You gotta look at the unusual clouds in the sunrise!"  He was RIGHT!  And I'm so glad he called.

In a short time it had changed to this!

When I want to take a picture of the sunrise I stand on a chair at my dining room window and poke my camera between the slats of the mini blind.  That's how I got the two pictures above.  However, one time recently I broke a slat doing that.  Grrrr.  My dear husband took a couple of hours on Sunday evening taking an extra slat off the bottom of the blind and using it to replace the broken one.  Bless his heart!!

When I posted this on FB, Anthony commented, "Here's a tip.  Next time pull the blind up first."  Well, can you imagine what that would look like if anyone was outside?  Me standing on a chair in my pajamas!  The likelihood that anyone would be out there is pretty slim, so maybe I'll start taking his advice!

Last week was Penn State's first week of classes, and Lori was back in the classroom.  I'm still babysitting Hunter on Mondays and Wednesdays, and he goes to daycare the other three days.  Unfortunately, our sweet boy, who has had a stuffy/runny nose for a few weeks, had a croupy cough to go with it last week.  That is such a hard sound to hear.  Through it all, he was almost as sweet and smiley as usual, but not quite. 

I wanted to send Lori a picture of her boy, but I got a picture of two of her boys, haha!

On Wednesday Jeremy and Mike arrived from DC, and of course Molly and Watson too.  Austin was in doggy heaven!

The weather on Wednesday evening was absolutely perfect for relaxing on the screened-in porch.

As I've mentioned before, lots of work is going on at Anthony's barn these days!  He has enormous dreams for this property, but the big push this summer has been the upcoming Jeremy and Mike wedding taking place here on September 10.  Lots of planning and prep got done last week.

My boys scoping it out and making decisions. 

We all got into the dreaming and scheming!

And Hunter said, "Bless you, Jesus!"  Hahaha!!

The bench that was being built (you can see it on the deck) will be one of two benches by the pond.  

These steps will make it so nice for going from the lower floor of the barn to the upper level.

Lori's dining room table became a designing and crafting table last week.  

And my dining room table got a new centerpiece out of it!

On Saturday the guys did a trial run putting up this enormous tent, which will be one of two tents going up.  No easy task!!!

Lori and I took the boys to Whipple Dam for a couple of hours while the men worked. 

I had fun digging in the sand with Austin.

These were the islands we made. 

King of the island!

But of course it needed to be jumped over!

Anthony had smoked a duck and some turkey legs in his smoker all day long, so in the evening we had those meats along with a salad that Mike put together, grilled pineapples made by Jeremy (YUM!!!), and the best S'mores ever!!  Jeremy and Mike had found S'more makers to hold over the fire.  The graham crackers got toasted and the chocolate and marshmallows inside melted.  They fell apart when we ate them, but they were worth the mess!  

The guys found a string of lights at Sams Club that we tried out that evening.  Anthony will be getting a lot more of them to hang all over the place.  

On Sunday Jeremy and Mike returned home to DC,  Dick and I had our two church services, and then we had a good relaxing Sunday at home - just what we needed after a big, fun week. 

Yesterday I was back at Anthony and Lori's.  How beautiful is this right outside their dining room? 

This sweet boy is coughing less, thank you, Jesus!  But that nose still runs like a fountain!  Nevertheless, he's just as sweet and smiley and content as can be.  

There was lots of work going on outside yesterday, and as I left I noticed that the first bench is being put in place by the pond.  Can't wait to sit there!

Have a good rest of the week!

Goodies and good times

I'm starting off this update with a picture to whet your appetite!  Last week Destiny and I made Palmier Cookies.  I never made them or even heard of them before, but Destiny found the recipe and was set on making them.  WOW!!  They were so easy and deliciously crispy!

She started off spreading melted butter onto a sheet of puff pastry, then sprinkling brown sugar and cinnamon on top.  This was done on both sides of the puff pastry sheet.

Then she rolled it up from both sides toward the middle and cut it up into slices.   We couldn't believe how they expanded in the oven!  We decided we felt rich when we were eating them!

She also wanted to make chocolate chip cookies for her dad, so we did that too.

On Thursday I went to work at the office early so I could get off early so we could go to College Buffet, a Chinese restaurant that we like.

She's a chop sticks pro!

On Saturday when Dick got off work at noon we left to take Destiny home to Reading.  We immediately got caught in sit-still traffic due to an accident.  I think we sat and crawled a bit for about 45 minutes.  After we finally got beyond it we felt sorry for the traffic coming from the other direction.

After we dropped Destiny off at Frank and Lauren's in Reading we went home by Lebanon to pick up the phone charger I had left at Sam and Jenn's the previous weekend.  Jenn was away at drill for the weekend, so I suggested we take Sam and the kids to nearby Friendly's for dinner since we all needed to eat anyway.

On our way there I remembered the date - August 20.  In 1994 August 20 was also on a Saturday, and that morning I drove to Children's Home of Reading to pick up a 16-year-old boy named "Sammy."  And the rest is history!!

Bianca colors with both hands!

I thought they looked cute sitting in front of their house as they watched us leave.

On Sunday Lori needed to cram to get ready for her first class at Penn State Monday - 120 students!  So we were delighted to have Hunter at our house for the afternoon.

We also had another visitor.  Allyson Balmer was in my music classes and choruses at Manheim Christian from kindergarten through seventh grade (my last year there.)  She was also in my drama club and the middle school worship team.  Now she is a new student at Penn State, a junior, and it was delightful to be together and catch up.  Allyson is an agriculture education major.

Look at Hunter's new seat!

He loves when I sing "Ride a ride a horsey" while bouncing him on my knees.

On Monday morning when I got to their house he was sitting in his new seat and cracking us up.  He apparently learned a new sound overnight, and it sounded like he was singing the blues, hahaha!!

Have a good rest of the week!

Party Sunday

As I said at the end of my previous post, we went to Grace Community Fellowship in Manheim on Sunday morning.  That was our home church for 25 years before we moved to State College, and it still feels like home whenever we go there.  We took Sammy with us, and of all things, the children's message was about Samuel being called by God in the night!  He was his talkative, very entertaining self during the children's time!  He enjoyed the music too.  What a boy!

When we got back to Sam and Jenn's afterward Bianca's party was already underway.   The first thing we saw was this birthday cake on the counter, made by Jenn's friend.

She was already opening gifts and came to show us this outfit.

Sammy was eager to help her open gifts and show her everything.

Their house was made for big groups!  Jenn's parents, her aunt, her sister, and some nieces and nephews were there.

Singing "Happy Birthday, dear Bianca!"

Bianca almost became too shy to come in the door when she realized she was the one we were singing to!

As soon as we'd had our cake, Dick and I had to leave.  Bianca was thoroughly enjoying hers, but she still stopped eating long enough to say in the SWEETEST voice, "Goodby, Mahna.  Goodby, Grandpa."  My heart was in a complete puddle!

We headed to Reading where we first of all picked up Destiny from her mom's house and then went to Frank and Lauren's for another birthday party.  Jada's fourth!

I was glad for the chance to hold precious little Alaya.

She slept through so much noise!

Piñata time!  Frank held it up with a broom!  One of the guys said, "Now that's ghetto!"  Frank said, "No, it was my dad's idea, so it's Mennonite!"

Somebody gave Jada a dress-up set, complete with high heels.  She put that stuff on and even did the piñata in high heels, hahahaha!

We left for home around 6:30 with Destiny in tow.

We did two of our favorite things when we got here to our house a few hours later - we had a tea party with her little china set that she bought with allowance money she had saved up when she was around 7 years old!  And we played a few rounds of Mancala.

On Monday evening she looked through all her old photo albums and pictures and was having fun sending them to her mom, her dad, and her friends.  Here's an adorable collage of her two-year-old pictures that I'm letting her take home to put on her dresser.  

She also got out her bead kits and made a few bracelets, including one for me.  Boy, does my skin look like a Grandma or what???

On Tuesday evening we made cookies.  Yes, she has RED hair now, hahaha!  I told her she blended in with my curtains!

Today we were at Anthony and Lori's all day.  She found a very old favorite movie, Land Before Time, on Netflix, and watched it.

Hunter was having an animated conversation with the toys hanging in front of him.  

And now I think I'm all caught up!