Eddie’s Birthday Party

Guess who's turning 3?  Our little Eddie is such a great kid!  I enjoy him so much.  He tells me all kinds of things and asked to go shopping at Walmart with me.  

The Sua family was in town for the weekend so we had a big birthday bash!  Lots of good food and even better people to share it with.  

Clare brought the cotton candy machine and he enjoyed his very much!

Cierra created a Cars themed party.  She is so talented and creative.  I wish I had just a hint of her kind of creativity.  Mine talents lie in other areas and that's the way it is meant to be.

Our little man is 3!  Love him to pieces!

 

Hotel California

Pat purchased tickets for us to go see an Eagles tribute band in Appleton.  

They are called Hotel California.  

I like the Eagles music so why not?  These musicians were really good.  I enjoyed it very much although I do not care for so many guitar solos that are ripping my ears off.  The guitarist was amazing but repeated solos was not my gig.  We had a good time but I don't need to see them again.  

 

Cowboy Henry

On May 30th, Sammi and Clare were both chaperoning field trips so they asked me to watch their younger children.  Eli was only here for about four hours and then we dropped him off at school.  

 I was outside wearing my hat while doing some work.  Once I took it off, Henry asked to wear it.  He wanted it cinched up so I did it for him.  I told him that cowboys have their hats done up like that. 

He told me he was a cowboy!  I'd like to see a real cowboy wear that kind of hat.  :-)

Memorial Day Band

Cami wasn't in band since it doesn't fit in her schedule.  Mrs. Koz made the band an optional thing this year for Memorial day.  Bad choice.  She had six students show up to play.  

Cami was asked to play the snare drum so she asked her mom to play and it grew from there.  Clare and I both played the flute, Sammi was on bells, Tom on crash cymbals and Erin on the bass drum.  Without our family, she would have been up a creek.  

Mrs. Koz taught Brock to play Taps and they played it together.  

On the down side, there was one saxophone who played so loud and badly that it really ruined what we were trying to do.  Still, it was fun to play and support the school and community!

 

Bedroom Refresh

After arriving home from our mission, I did a lot of painting in our home.  I didn't do our bedroom though as it didn't need it.  

While we were in Grand Cayman, Pat said he'd like our bedroom to be the color of the ocean so I've been thinking about that for quite some time.  

If I'm painting our room, then I'm painting over the woodwork.  It isn't quality wood so I don't have an issue doing it.  I just knew it was going to be a lot of work.  Once Andrew was done with his semester, I figured I had a couple of weeks to get it done.  I painted all of the wood except for the actual windows.  I need them to come out in order to do a good job on them.  

I love the crisp clean look of the white wood.  I also love the color called "Sea Cruise".  Our bed and dresser are wood so now they also need a refresh.  Those pictures will come after I get started with that project.

I LOVE IT!

 

4K Recognition

I was invited to Eli's 4K recognition program.  They sang some silly songs for us.  

They played a variety of instruments as well.  

The best, by far, was the song they sang where they had to do some silly actions.  

Eli was the best!  Especially when it was knees together and back side up.  

He sure got us giggling.  Off to Kindergarten next fall!

 

Rummage Sale Wolves

Tom and I went to Shawano and needed to drop something off by Andrew.  We then went rummaging with the gang. 

I found a table cloth for a quarter.  The last place we went to was Pam Moede's.  She hugged us and gave each of the children wolf ears.  

We needed to send her a photo so here's what we got.  They are supposed to be howling. Tom's ears were given to Butch as he requested them.  I love these little ones!

Bonny’s Headstone

Last summer I took Bonny to an appointment.  While we were out I though to stop at the monument place and have her decide on a headstone as long as it could be paid for by her WisPact trust.  She picked out the type of stone and the size and the font.  Then we went through books of things of how to embelish it.  She chose music.  

I told her we needed to make sure that everyone knew that she was the mother of Bradley and Shane.  That was a no-brainer for her.  

Since she is being interred next to my parents I told her she could do something on the back of the stone as well.  She did!

It was delivered mid-May and it looks very nice.  

Track Stars

I was able to attend one of the middle school track meets where I wasn't working so I could finally watch the Gourley boys compete in their field events.  

Adam has been working on the discus.  He's not horrible but I could tell it was his first year throwing.  

He's having fun and he's improving so that's a plus.  

Brock has decided to high jump.  He doesn't have coaches that know how to teach it so he just does what he sees the other kids do.  

He made opening height so I was so proud of him.  He didn't place but he's willing to learn.  Perhaps next year I will help him do just that.  Or maybe this event isn't for him.  Who knows?  It took me and my high jumper children a little while to learn just how to do it too.

I was glad to be able to attend their meet!

 

Apple Trees

The apple trees haven't been pruned in a couple of years.  This year Pat cut down the Cortland because it was mostly dead and the Yellow Transparent because we didn't really like them.  The deer ate most of the apples off of those trees anyway.  

The Sweet Sixteen got a good haircut.

I discovered that a robin built her nest on top of the ladder that was left outside all winter.  There were three eggs in it.  After we hauled away the remnants of the Cortland, we found two baby birds on the ground.  I picked them up and put them in the nest.  The mom took care of them for a few days but ultimately, they were kicked out of the nest.  I don't think they were robins.

The babies hatched and just last Saturday I saw that they were out of the nest and the mom was doing her best to help the fledglings to fly.  All is well.  We all need to be kicked out eventually and learn to fly on our own.  

 

Adventures with Eddie

With Cierra teaching while Andrew is going to school, I have the opportunity to watch Eddie again this school year.  He's grown up so much since last year.  I love that he talks to me and asks me to go to Walmart.

Sometimes we play with the Legos.  Most recently we've turned the Lego table into a garage for the Cars.  We also built planes and flew them around the room stopping on the table to fuel them up and take off again.  He can wear a Nana out!

Donuts with sprinkles are a hit!  Especially ones with chocolate frosting.  This one he ate all around the edges first.  What a silly guy!

When Erin comes along on a Tuesday, we go out shopping.  This day he scored two new cars at Walmart.

One day it was a bubble gun.  I had a time trying to figure it out, only to go to the Dollar Tree to get some batteries.  It works pretty good!

Spring means it is time for Qualheim's to have baby chicks and ducks in store.  On this day we watched the lady unload them into their bins before taking the time to pet them and love on them.

Sometimes, Papa will stop by and bring a donut.  On this day, he built a garage for all the cars made out of deer horns.  What a silly Papa!  I do love being with him and being able to keep him out of daycare or even out of a babysitting setting.  I love that I'm available to do this service for Andrew and Cierra.  It gives me a chance to bond with little Eddie.
 

Rummaging

It has become tradition that all who are able, go to the Marion city wide rummage sale.  We had quite a group with everyone who came.  I don't think I found anything for myself.  The deal of the day for me was buying a piece of Hot Wheels track for 25 cents.  I meant to keep it at our house but took it for Eddie to play with and just left it there.  

The following week, I watched the Fillmore twins, Eddie and Eli while Clare and Sammi went out in the rain.  They came back with lots of deals.

Included in those deals were costumes.  Eddie is modeling one with Lydia in the background trying one on.  Henry got Spiderman and was in heaven!