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!