A quick post before I go to bed! I'll be leaving in the morning for my sister Mary Ellen's house. We three "Pennsylvania sisters" (Doris, Mary Ellen, and I), get together for a weekend annually. It has always been at my house, but this year it will be at Mary Ellen's house. We're doing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday because I want to get back for church on Sunday. I took too many Sundays off in May, due to our trip and then COVID. I'm REALLY looking forward to being together.
A few pictures from this week. I decided to get a fern for the first time. It is shaded most of the day until late afternoon. I hope it does ok.
Destiny and Alex have a pet chameleon. On Monday they made a trip to Lancaster and asked if we could mist the aquarium at 6 pm. I figured Austin would enjoy helping with that, so when I took food to Anthony and Lori's, Austin came home with me and we three went to take care of Pixie. Austin would rather have held her than do the misting, but I told him he'll have to wait till Destiny is there to do that. The last thing I wanted was to have a frightened chameleon on the lose, haha!
Last evening we were at their place and Elizer was asking for ice cream. Destiny had made popsicles out of her flavored water and he loved it!
He also likes to say "cheese" for his pictures now, haha!
Today was our son Frank's birthday. 43! He was 15 when he came to our family in 1994. Frank is Destiny's dad, in case you aren't familiar with our family.
Today Frank shared this photo taken by a Lancaster Newspaper photographer at last week's all-star game. I LOVE it!! J'von is right in front catching a pass, and all the family is up in the top rows of the bleachers!!
That's all for this time. Gotta get a few hours of sleep!
As I mentioned in my last post, we were getting ready for our community yard sale. Dick took the day off work on Friday, and we were up at 5 am to set up. It was a beautiful day.
This was my view - not a cloud in the sky.
We did not have the crowds like we did in years past. But we got rid of a nice amount of stuff. Destiny was happy with the money we made on some of her things.
I took this picture at 9:10 pm. I just LOVE June and how long the daylight lasts in the evening. That's a crescent moon up there.
Friday was my sister Barb's wedding anniversary, so we sisters were reminiscing that evening. 1978. Lisa was her flower girl.
I played piano. Even we Mennonites liked Farrah Fawcett hair, hahaha!
Saturday morning we were out there again and we sold more things, but as usual, lots of stuff left over. Ugh!!
In the evening I went to a park with Destiny and Elizer after she got off work.
Dick met us there after he got finished mowing at Anthony's. That's him in the back of Elizer's fire truck.
Lots of fun, of course.
I snapped this picture of my purple salvia before church this morning.
My knockout rose bush is full of blooms and buds.
We haven't mulched around it yet, but we'll get that done this week.
The little hot paprika rose bush that Sam and the kids gave me last June has its first bloom and many, many buds.
Today was National Cancer Survivors Day. I took this picture of Dick. He is a 26-year survivor! He was diagnosed with Lymphoma soon after his 46th birthday and had recurrences four or five times since. But 2014 was the last. Eight years!! Hallelujah!!
I have some good things to look forward to this week, but I'll hopefully blog in a few days to let you know about that.
The rhododendrons are at their peak! I'm glad I went over to Anthony and Lori's place yesterday afternoon and got this picture when the sun was shining!
Now back to Saturday. We got some things done around here, then in the evening went over to Destiny and Alex's place after she got off work to take some pasta salad I had made.
Whenever I get there Elizer wants to go outside. So the three of us went for a long walk. When I posted these pictures on Facebook my sister Barb wondered if it was hot or cold - Dick in shorts, me in a coat. Hahahaha!! Right there is a good picture of how we respond to the weather SO differently!!
Sunday was a HOT day! There's no AC at our church, so it's good our service is over by 10 AM in the summer time. When we got home from church we decided go shopping for flowers. Sometimes I get tired of the way our perennials multiply and take over and crowd every place we ever planted them. But after paying the prices we did for annuals I told Dick we'd better be thankful for all those perennials. Good grief! Someday they will be all we can afford to have.
We came home and planted in the hot sun. Definitely not a Sabbath rest! But we knew we'd be spending Monday (Memorial Day) resting and playing. We got hanging plants for the porch, a new pot for a planter, one new rose bush to replace the pink one that died, begonias and coleus for the only shaded area behind the side porch, and marigolds across the front in front of the lilies. Now we need mulch.
When we were finished I sat on the front porch and said, "It is good."
We had gotten a few impatiens for Destiny's little flower bed by their front door, so after she was off work we went over there to plant them. Of course I had to take Elizer for a walk and we played at the playground for a long time. He has endless energy!! I think he went up those steps a hundred times!
Destiny had worked five long days and was exhausted. We decided to try something - having Elizer for a sleepover. First night without Mommy and Daddy! He did pretty well, some whimpering occasionally, but no crying. In the morning he was Great Grandpa's buddy. They played and ate breakfast together.
When I was showering I heard the John Deere mower starting up and I knew what was happening. Elizer's dream come true! I could hear the mower for a while, then I couldn't hear it anymore. I decided to go outside and check what was going on. I laughed when I looked down the street - they were going on a tour of the neighborhood, hahaha!!
After a long while they came back home. Elizer was SO mad about getting off the mower!
It was another HOT day!! It was hard to think of anything but going to the pool. So that 's what we did! When we got over to Destiny's place I took pictures of the new curtains in her kitchen - one at a window and one in front of her stacked washer and dryer. I think they look so nice. All her kitchen decor is black and white and gray.
We had the greatest time at the pool! Normally Elizer doesn't like to get his face wet, but he was getting quite brave. One time he was accidentally standing under a bucket that dumped on him, and he didn't freak out.
From there we went over to Anthony's for some of his amazingly delicious, juicy burgers. He is becoming quite an excellent meat chef! It was a small crew for our cookout. Lori had gone to Pittsburgh with the boys to pick up her sister from the airport. They went to Ikea afterward. And Alex hates sweating, so he opted to stay home. Actually, we were pretty comfortable because Anthony put up a big umbrella for shade as we ate.
Dick gave Elizer a ride in the hammock and we almost thought he was going to fall asleep. But he soon revived and was on the go again.
Of course, there is never a shortage of beauty at Stauffer Acres!
Tuesday was another big day! The all-star football game that had been rescheduled from Friday was that evening. In Manheim!! Our home town where our boys (Frank and Ray) had played football and also our grandson Bjorn. And now J'von. You can see him on the Columbia High School poster below.
Dick got off work early and we went over to pick up Destiny and Elizer. Alex would have gone too, but they now have a pet baby chameleon and it needs to be sprayed with water at 6 pm. Their neighbor/friend was not at home to do it for them. Ugh. That's one reason we don't have any pets, haha!
We thought Elizer would nap on the two-and-a-half hour drive, but alas he had taken a very short nap in Destiny's car earlier and that was enough to keep him going the whole way to Manheim. Is he not the cutest??
Our first stop was Pleasant View Communities, just a mile or so from Manheim Central, to see Grandma Arlene. I told Dick that at the price of gas we're going to make sure we see her whenever we make a trip down there. We stayed about half an hour and that was just the right amount of time. Elizer was delighted to be in a place with cupboards, etc that had no child locks on them.
We found parking near the football stadium because we were rather early. I took this video on our way in. Look at Elizer swinging his arm, hahaha!
We sat with Frank and Lauren and the girls, also J'von's mother Danielle and her younger son Marty. Frank was so proud to have his son playing football at his alma mater where he had played football.
It was really, really, really hot! Thankfully we had seats on the side with some shade. Elizer was really into the game during the first half. He was so cute sitting on Dick's lap yelling and clapping when everyone else did.
The game itself was not super exciting. At least not to me. J'von was on the red team, #7. Unfortunately the blue team was ahead the entire game and won. I spent some of the time walking Elizer around.
Of course there had to be pictures afterward! J'von's last high school football game. Top left: J'von with his mom and younger brother. Top right: Destiny and J'von. Bottom left: Destiny and Elizer with J'von and Frank. (Lauren had left with the girls before the game was over, so I didn't get any pictures of them.) Bottom right: Dick and I with J'von.
Last evening we met Destiny at the storage unit after work to sort through some things that are still there. Our community is having a yard sale this weekend and we'll try to sell some things. We gotta get it emptied out.
Did you watch the celebration of Queen Elizabeth's 70 years on the throne this morning? I did for a while. It was fun and grand.
Two days since my last post! Hopefully this one will not be so long. But I've taken so many pictures and I'm not consolidating them into collages this time, so it probably will be long anyway. Sorry!
Thursday afternoon I picked Hunter up from school for the first time since last September. He was so excited, thinking that I would be taking him to my house. But that was not the plan for that day. I was also picking up Austin. After I had both boys and took them home Hunter and I had a "play date" at their house. That was his term for it, haha!
First he wanted me to come up to his bedroom. I sat in a corner while he piled all his stuffed animals around and on top of me!
Then we went downstairs to play "school." He was the teacher "Mr. Stauffer" and I was the student. We had art class.
We went outside for a while and he showed me his swinging skills.
Of course I had to get a picture of the rhododendrons while I was that close!
We finished off our play date on the screened-in porch and had fun with nerf guns. How I love sitting on that porch!
That evening J'von graduated from Columbia High School and we were able to watch via Frank's live stream.
Columbia is right along the Susquehanna River, and the high school is on a hill. I love how you can see the river behind these students after the graduation! They tossed their caps in the air soon afterward.
Also that day was Bianca and Sammy's last day of school. Bianca got the Silly Story Teller award, haha!! I love her unique humor! Sammy got a distinguished honor roll award!! That boy is going places! He just completed fourth grade. In their district the fifth graders move to the middle school, so this was his last year at the elementary school. I saw a video on the school's Facebook page of the other students doing a "clap out" for the fourth graders. What a great idea!
Last evening there was a very important football game scheduled. Yes, football in May! Each year the Manheim Touchdown Club hosts a tri-county all-star game featuring "the best of the best one last time" - each of them seniors. J'von is one of the players! A football game at Manheim Central where Frank and Ray and Bjorn each played in high school!! Too good to miss! However, the weather was a iffy, with a thunderstorm forecasted for the evening, so it was rescheduled for this coming Tuesday. Right in the middle of the work week, yikes! But at least Destiny has off that day and will be able to go. She wouldn't have been able to go if it had been held Friday evening.
So my afternoon and evening were free after all, so guess what? Hunter came to our house!
We had fun playing Junior Scrabble. I don't think I ever played this game following the rules before. But we followed the rules.
At the end of the game we had just the right amount of letters to complete each word on the board.
Then we went outside for a while to the little playground behind our house.
I had my reading glasses on top of my head and he wanted to try them! He looks cute in glasses, hahaha!
Another picture of these flowers behind my house.
When Grandpa got home from work they played for a while. Lots of silliness!
After dinner Hunter and I did floor puzzles. First the United States puzzle that Sammy and Bianca love to do each time they are here. I didn't get a picture of it till he was cleaning it up.
Then we got out the new world puzzle I recently got on Amazon. Each of these puzzles is a Melissa and Doug product. But this one was very disappointing and I will be giving a bad review on Amazon. The pieces are not as sturdy, they do not lock together well, and they were actually a bit warped. It was almost impossible to keep the puzzle together. Each time we bumped it with our knee or elbow it would shift and come apart. Very frustrating. It looks nice, but that's about the only good thing about it. Hunter was disappointed it didn't have the names of countries, haha!! He wanted to see China and Mexico.
All these boys! Last evening Jeremy sent a picture of Brennan after having eaten ice cream.
I said, "Who does that remind you of?" And he knew I meant him. Jeremy was the messiest eater! In fact, one year when my sister-in-law Deb Stauffer needed a picture for a benefit auction poster, which included a soft ice cream machine, she wanted a picture of Jeremy eating an ice cream cone. We obliged, hahahaha!!
And that's all for today! I haven't seen Elizer these past two days except via FaceTime. So no pics of him this time!
