Beautiful summer, lots of time with Austin

Weekly update time!  Last week's blog post was all about my weekend with my sisters Mary Ellen and Doris.  There were actually a number of things I skipped over, so I'll add them into this post.  First of all, I took the picture of this beautiful flower on Lori's porch about two weeks ago, and it's still as beautiful as ever.  I LOVE that color so much!

Last week I picked Hunter up from daycare one day and this is how I found him.  Reading a book aloud, word for word, as he followed each word with his finger.  We are as amazed as anyone at his ability to remember almost everything he hears or sees.  Yesterday Lori's sister (from Atlanta) was at their house and gave him a Dr. Seuss book.  She said he read the entire book as soon as she gave it to him and knew every word!  I told Anthony that I remember his second grade teacher telling us that whenever she needed to leave the classroom to copy papers or whatever, she would sit him in front of the class to read a book to them.  I think Hunter's kindergarten teacher will be able to have him read to the class, lol!!

Another thing I did not include in last week's post was the "tea" I attended right after my sisters left for home that Sunday.  At GBRV we had a ladies tea.  I had found a few songs about spring and summer in an old Lutheran hymnal I have from my childhood days at Manheim Christian (Yes! We had a Lutheran hymnal at a Mennonite school, haha!  I'm sure they must have been free!)  So the ladies from the choir sang those songs with me as we wore our fancy matching fascinators on our heads.  My friend Vicky had made them.  I don't know if anyone took a picture of us.  The food was AMAZING!!!  Someone put a lot of work into all those fancy little sandwiches and goodies.

Last week school ended for Austin, and at this point he hasn't started in any summer camps, so he's been my buddy pretty often.  On Friday he decided that we need a deck here at our house.  I said, "They cost thousands of dollars."  He said, "No, I mean you could buy the things and Grandpa could build it.  I'll show you what I mean."  So he proceeded to draw up this plan for our deck!  I should have taken a video of him explaining it to me.  He knew exactly how many of each post and piece of lumber, etc.  I think we have a future architect here!!

My front flower bed is looking better than it ever has, thanks to Dick's green thumb and hard work.  Actually, this picture is almost a week old.  The lilies have gotten a lot taller.  Pretty soon they'll be showing off their dark red and bright yellow flowers.  And hopefully, the impatiens in front will do a lot better than they did last summer.  We just had way too much rain last year.  

Remember when Austin insisted we buy the pack of dark red sunflower seeds?  He's been checking out by the shed where Dick planted them every day he's been here.  Just yesterday the first chutes popped through the soil!  He hasn't seen them yet.  He'll be so excited!  

Last Friday evening I was sitting here at my computer and I noticed that a FB friend in Lebanon County had just posted a picture of a vibrant sunset.  So I quickly looked out the window and ran outside with my phone.   Later a lot of people posted pictures of the sunset.  I love that we were seeing the same beautiful sky as people who were several hours away from here! 

This was the weekend of the annual yard sale here in our community.   I did not feel like taking the time to sit out front selling stuff, so on Friday morning I set up my card table with a huge "FREE" sign taped to it.  I put a bunch of stuff out there, adding more stuff as there was room.  I got rid of all of it!!  Easy peazy!!   

On Saturday morning I had fun walking up the street looking at peoples' things and meeting our neighbors.  I found something for Austin for $5.00 that you'll see later in this post.  I cleaned the house and got other necessary stuff done around here in the afternoon.   Dick worked in the morning and then was over at Anthony and Lori's for most of the day, mowing and working on the "hunting shack" that he and another guy are building in Anthony's woods.  I'll tell you more about that some other time.  He's very excited about it!  

It was another beautiful evening and Dick didn't get home till around 8 pm.  I sat out on the side porch, feeling a little bored.  So I entertained myself with these wild Snapchat friends, hahahaha!

On Sunday we went to our service at GBRV and then to Calvary.  In the afternoon at 3:00 we had a "hymn sing" and fruit fest at GBRV.  For almost an hour I played piano as people called out the number of the hymn they liked.  We sang first and last verse of each one.  There was only one that I wasn't quite sure I knew, but I figured it out!

Lori left for a work trip, so Dick and I went over to their place for a while afterward.  We were bringing Austin here for the next few nights.  Before we left with him we went down to the pond so Austin could do his favorite thing.  He loves to catch frogs in the net, hold them for a while, then release them back into the water.  As I sat watching him I was overwhelmed by the beauty of everything.  There was a lovely breeze and the fragrance of honeysuckle, the sound of the birds, the music of a live band at the nearby VFW wafting up the hill, so much beauty all around!  

We stopped for groceries at the new Giant on the way to our place and got a new toy for the cats.  Austin had so much fun!  Cookie, usually the lazy old man cat, came to LIFE trying to catch that thing!! 

On Monday I showed Austin my yard sale purchase and he built a remote control car.   It worked!  Another time he decided to build his own thing without following the instructions and ended up with the "tank" in the lower right picture.  

Another thing he worked on was his next project for Kids' Day at Arts Fest in July.  He's making spinners, each one decorated differently.  He told me a song he wanted me to find on YouTube that he likes to listen to when he works.  I found a video of the same song playing over and over for 10 hours, haha!!  Trust me, he didn't do this for ten hours!  And I need to work on his pitch!  He needs a good music teacher, hahaha!!

On Tuesday morning I had a hair appointment.  Lori had told me to see if anyone there would have time to do Austin.  So while my color was processing, my girl cut Austin's hair.  Of course, his iPad entertained him the rest of the time.  I'm lucky I got that smile.  Almost every picture I tried to take for his mom ended up being a silly one, sticking his tongue out.  Boys!!

Later we picked Hunter up from daycare, then took Austin to his Ninja class.  Hunter accompanied me to the grocery store, then we picked Austin up from his class (he was a HOT, sweaty boy!!), got some Burger King, and headed over to Stauffer Acres.  Daddy took over then, and Lori got home later that evening, along with her sister from Atlanta.  

Today the sisters and the boys are leaving for New York till Sunday to visit the other grandparents.  

Yesterday I made a big pot of potato cheese soup and bran raisin muffins for the guys.  Anthony and Dick will both be batching it.  While Lori and the boys are away I'm going down home to spend some time with loved ones.  I'm kind of winging it, since this is a last minute plan.  I know I'm sleeping at my brother's place tonight.  And I'm going to be with Destiny later this afternoon.  The rest I'll plan as I go!  

One more thing!  When Austin was three, Lori had sent me an audio file via text message of Austin singing "You Are My Sunshine."  I remember how my heart MELTED when I heard it.  This past  weekend I was looking for something from Spring 2012 on my blog and came across my attempt to share the audio file.  It did not work.  I decided to go to my computer files and put "audio file" in the search bar.  Would you believe, when I clicked on the very first file at the top of the list I found it!!!  I decided to find a picture of him at that age and make a video while listening to the song, so it would be sharable and easier to find.  So you see, there was a time he sang in pitch!  He's not a lost cause, hahaha!!