Did I show you the flowers Dick gave me for Mother's Day? There actually were three red roses, but I didn't take a picture until after I had to throw two of them out. I love them so much!
Last week Lori was away on a work trip (in Panama!). I helped Anthony out by taking Hunter to school each morning and picking him up from his after-school program. He is such a fun kid! We played lots of games as we drove - the alphabet game, the "I Spy" game, the "I'm going on a trip" game.
He loved going to this park near their place, because he has met a few kids there that he likes to "play" with. Mostly he talks the whole time and loves when people think he's funny. LOL!!
Thursday was a gorgeous day on that hill. He met a few new kids while we were there. Then I took him home. We had choir practice in the evening.
On Friday morning after I took Hunter to school I went for some groceries. I was amused by these ducks!! It looked like they couldn't agree on where they were going.
I made a new BBQ chicken recipe that day. I picked Dick up at work when he got off at 5:00, we went to Hunter's school and picked him up, then we went to the playground near their place and give him ten minutes to play. There were a few kids there that he hadn't met before, but he had fun impressing them with his humor, lol! It had turned very cool and cloudy that afternoon and started raining lightly just as his ten minutes were up.
After we took him home we drove to our "halfway point" near Harrisburg to meet Destiny and Ozzy. We were getting Elizer for the weekend. We got him a cheeseburger at the Hardees drive-through where we met. He fell asleep on our way back home - soon after 8:30. I thought, "Oh no, this is going to be a late night for me." I assumed he would wake up when we got home. I was wrong! He went right back to sleep on the couch. Later I took him to the bathroom to pee, I put a pull-up on him and put him in the guest room bed. He went right back to sleep.
I slept in on Saturday morning and was awakened at 7:30 am by a little boy standing next to my bed saying, "Hi Grandma, it's wake-up time." Melt my heart!
It was a dreary morning outside. Grandpa and Elizer had a lot of fun building with the Lego blocks and then the marble roller.
When there was a lull in the rain they went outside because Elizer wanted to ride his "wheeler."
After lunch we went to pick up Hunter and took the boys to Get Air.
By the time we took Hunter home the sun had come out and I was able to get some beautiful pictures of their rhododendrons.
When we got home it was really sunny and warm. We decided it was too wet to start a fire, so we settled for grilled hot dogs and eating on the side porch. First time for this year and I loved it!! We have had such cool, rainy weekends this spring.
We went to church Sunday morning. The choir did the song "Never Once." This arrangement of the song had a verse of "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" in the middle of it. The lyrics of those two songs were a powerful testimony to what we have experienced in the last year of building our new church.
One of my choir members had a gift for me. I CRACKED UP when I saw it!!! That is an issue at practice many times!
When we came home from church it was too beautiful to be inside the house. So we sat on the porch for a while. Of course Elizer did not sit.
This arrangement that Anthony and Lori gave me for Mother's Day is SO beautiful!
After we ate some leftovers for lunch we loaded up both of Elizer's bikes and went to "airport" park. Anthony dropped Hunter off. Elizer had fun riding his little bike and Hunter had fun riding Elizer's new bike. Both of them were a bit too big for the bike they were riding, but they didn't care.
Next step will be teaching them to ride without training wheels. Ugh. I'm not sure where we would do that. Anthony and Lori's place is on steep hill. Our place is right on the street.
Another picture of the rhododendrons when we took Hunter home.
Destiny and Ozzy came all the way to our place to pick up Elizer that evening. They didn't have time to stay, so we pretty much said "hi" and "goodbye."
We are having SUMMER!! And I love it!!
Monday morning I had to get some things at Walmart. Would you believe that someone with an identical van to mine parked right beside me while I was shopping. When I came outside, I somehow walked right past my own van and opened the back hatch door of the second one. I immediately realized that that wasn't my stuff in there. I quickly shut it and looked around. Lo and behold, there was my van right beside it. I'm really glad no alarm went off. And I'm pretty sure no one saw what I did. When I pushed my cart to the cart return I looked around before I took this picture.
Monday evening our women's group had a mountain pie party. The weather was PERFECT.
Once again, with no one to pick up or take anywhere this week, I am struggling with motivation. It's not that I don't have a long list of things to do. It's that those things do not have deadlines.
I had a dentist appointment this morning (Tuesday) and afterward strolled through Michaels and Home Goods. I didn't buy one thing. I'm always looking for things in colors that are apparently no longer in vogue. And everything is so overpriced.
Well, that's enough complaining. It's a hot summer day, which I LOVE, and now I'm going outside to do some weeding.
Sophie was at the ACC Outdoor competition in Atlanta last weekend, and she did really well as a freshman! We got to watch her 100 meter dash on Friday evening. I got the following pictures and stats from the Canestrack Instagram page.
On Saturday evening she was in a 4x100 relay, and her team came in 4th.
Later she was in the 100 meter finals and did amazing!!
On Saturday evening we were invited to the home of friends from church for dinner. We had the nicest time getting to know each other better. We really don't do that kind of thing very often at all. I forgot to take pictures.
I took this screen shot from the video of our worship service on Sunday morning. Notice how flute player Brenna's dress matches the light around the cross! After the service was over a man came front and asked if we had noticed that, and of course we had not. Maybe whoever has control of the light around the cross did that on purpose?
Here's an abbreviated video one of my friends took during our choir song. We sang a version of "Jesus Loves Me" that alternates between two melodies and then combines the two. We had the kids come up and sing with us.
After church we were home by ourselves for a few hours. I had ordered a new blind for the kitchen, just one to be sure it was the right size and that I liked it before ordering more. Dick installed it. I liked it and ordered more.
Then we went to pick up an order of BBQ from Prospectors Rib Co. Anthony and Austin came for the evening. Lori and Hunter went to her mother's apartment.
Austin went straight to the piano. He had become obsessed with trying to play a song, "Rush E," along with a video. We could hardly get him to take time to eat!
Anthony brought me two outdoor plants. Here's a picture of one of them. Isn't it gorgeous??
I heard from each of our seven kids that day. SO SPECIAL!!!
Later I heard from Destiny. She and Ozzy had taken Elizer to an aquarium in Philly. She sent me so many amazing pictures and videos. I know he had so much fun, and that makes me so happy.
I took this screen shot from a video she sent me to show how they were surrounded by the sea!
This week I've been helping Anthony out while Lori is away on a work trip - to Panama!! She'll be back tomorrow night.
On Monday after I picked Hunter up from school we went to their place so he could feed his fish. He has four of them, and they each have a name, but I can't remember them.
I took these pictures outside.
I took Hunter to the playground near their place, and he had fun with the other kids that were there, some the same as last week. He is a TALKER!!! And a comedian. It is so interesting to listen to him in a setting like that.
My irises are really showing off this week. Aren't they the prettiest things??
On Tuesday evening Dick and I drove down to Duncannon for Sammy and Bianca's Spring concert.
Tall, handsome 6th grader and beautiful 4th grader with their mama Jenn....
...with daddy Sam and Steph....
...and with Grandpa and "Mahna."
Bianca plays clarinet with the 4th grade band. God bless that director!!
She also sings in the 4th grade chorus. They were so good!! It really made me miss my music teacher days.
Sammy plays percussion with the 5th and 6th grade band. You can see him in the back.
And here he's on the far left.
On Wednesday I picked Hunter up from school and took him to the park again. It was really cloudy, felt like it could start raining any time. There were no other kids there this time, but we still had fun playing guessing games while we walked and he flew high on the swings.
When I took him home I picked up Austin and brought him to our house to play my piano. This boy is gifted, as we have already known. That song, Rush E, that he was trying to learn on Sunday when they were here for Mother's Day, now sounds like this!!! He NEVER played piano before. Since Sunday, Anthony has brought his portable keyboard from his studio in the barn up to the house for Austin to practice on.
And here's an adorable picture from Elizer's new preschool FB page. Can you find him? He's doing really well there, and we're so happy about that!
Destiny is feeling the time crunch of needing to keep up with all the reading for her class at the American Barber and Beauty School, plus all the other aspects of real life. We are praying that there will be a summer childcare slot available for Elizer at this same school.
I thought I would be having more time to blog and get caught up with other things, but that doesn't seem to be happening. As I always knew, I get the most accomplished under pressure and with rigid time constraints. Ugh.
But on the flip side, I did take the time to go for several walks last week, and it did my soul so much good. One day I actually walked past the homes of several friends from church who were outdoors, and we had time to chat - uninterrupted, no less!
I took this picture of my friend Diana's lilacs.
This is the sweet little azalea that Dick planted at the end of last summer. We are so excited that it survived the winter and is blooming!
Last Wednesday I picked up Hunter from his after-school program and took him and the food I had prepped for them to their house. Hunter really wanted to come to my house. I didn't have evening plans, and Dick was mowing at their place, so Hunter and I headed to my house. But along the way we decided to stop at "airport" park. He had a great time. He LOVES the monkey bars.
He wanted me to take a picture of him under this beautiful tree.
We did go to my house for a little while before I took him back home.
Here's a picture I took of their mowing guy, haha!
On Thursday when I was working on choir prep I got a video call from Destiny. She had gotten her hair cut and wanted to show me. She had Elizer with her, so of course I chatted with him too.
We decided that Elizer would come here for the weekend. I was missing him, and she has school on Saturdays, and this particular Saturday both her mom and Ozzy needed to work. So it would work out great for him to be with us.
We had a good choir practice that evening, and afterward I folded our laundry I had done that day.
On Friday I made baked chicken tenders, oven fries, and a salad. Mid afternoon I took some of it over to Anthony and Lori, then I drove down toward Harrisburg to the Hardees where Destiny and I had agreed to meet. I knew I was way too early, but I didn't mind having time to relax. I even took a nap in the car. Dick was finishing mowing that evening because of the forecasted rain all weekend. Grrrr.
When Destiny, Elizer, and Ozzy arrived we went into Hardees and ate together. Then we loaded Elizer and his stuff into my van and went our separate ways. It got dark as I drove, and there were several construction zones with flashing lights I needed to drive through. I really did not enjoy that hour-and-a-half drive home at all. Elizer was fine, but I realize that my eyes no longer perform well with night time driving except on familiar roads. I was really glad to arrive at home.
We were eager to show Elizer the "new" blocks we had gotten to add to his stash. The weekend prior we had found a big bag of them at the antique mall, and Bianca and I had washed them in the sink and put them in big bowls to dry.
Elizer was so excited to see all those blocks! He and Dick started building a "mansion."
After they had used every block he knocked it down. That was fun too!
As we expected, Saturday was cool and rainy. We hung out here at home in the morning. Elizer and Dick were outside for a while when the rain stopped for a bit.
Then around noon we drove over to pick up Hunter, and we took the boys to Get Air.
They loved taking turns having one of them lie down while the other jumped and bounced them up and down.
These foam bags were fun too.
Even Grandpa got in on the fun!
The foam pit is always a lot of fun too. Look at these boys! I was sure we had the most handsome boys in the whole place, haha!
When Elizer jumps in and disappears it always scares me a little bit, but it doesn't scare him at all.
When we left Get Air we went to nearby Burger King for a very late lunch.
Hunter came to our house afterward. They had fun playing together, but they were also getting on each others' nerves sometimes.
So when Lori arrived around 7 pm to pick up Hunter, it was about time, haha!
We went to church on Sunday morning. A beautiful service as well as communion. We have communion each first Sunday of the month. Four of the older kids helped Pastor Jim to serve the elements. I loved watching them.
It was another cool, rainy day. So we went to Discovery Space in the afternoon. Dick actually took a nap in the car while I took Elizer inside, then later he joined us. We knew he would be doing the driving later.
The weather station is always a favorite. I couldn't believe it - just as I was taking a picture of Elizer on the weather map, he pulled his shirt up. (Can you see him?) I decided that weatherman is going to be fired!
We came home then to pack up Elizer's stuff and drove to the Cracker Barrel near Harrisburg to meet Destiny. Having him here for the weekend was so fun, and I really missed him on Monday.
Dick always eats a few strawberries and blueberries with his omelet for breakfast. Imagine our surprise when he pulled this humongous strawberry out of the box on Monday morning!!
I again picked Hunter up from school when I was taking their food over. This time we went to a park that was close to their place. He had so much fun with the two boys that were there. Turns out Hunter is quite a comedian when he's with his peers, haha! I had fun listening to them. The weather was PERFECT!!!
Tuesday morning I had a hair appointment, then a medical appointment, and in the afternoon a meeting at church. In the evening Dick and I worked outside cleaning out our flower beds. Now we need to get some mulch.
There's no color but green right now. The daffodils, tulips, and hyacinth are finished. There are soon going to be purple iris blooming over by the porch. And THEN there will be my beloved roses and lilies!! Can't wait!!!
This morning (Wednesday) I went to Walmart to get the groceries I would need for cooking today. As I passed the Sam's Club gas station I noticed the price was still $3.46 as it has been for the past week or two. I was thinking, "Should I fill up before it goes higher?"
Forty-five minutes later when I was finished at Walmart I noticed that the price had come down to $3.35 while I was shopping, hahaha! You know what I did next - I filled up!!
Once again I picked Hunter up after school. This time we went to Orchard Park, which is on the way to their house. I thought it was funny how he matched the play equipment.
There were only younger kids there, so he didn't have as much fun as on Monday. The only reason I didn't go to that one today was because of the wind. That park is out in the open on top of a hill, and I wasn't in the mood for being in all that wind.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I drove up their driveway! The first rhododendron is blooming!!!
