Great weekend!

Memorial Day Weekend, 2013

Usually I have some sort of story in my head when I begin a blog post, but today I have none.  Yet, I am going to press on and at least post a quick weekend wrap up.....  After all, it was Ella's first trip to Grandma's house!

It was a wonderful weekend with the kids- I think we had a great few days overall.  The weather was decent- not too warm, not too cold and no rain!  SHOCKER.  Too bad that no rain trend is not going to continue during this week.  We all enjoyed our visit with little Ella and we had a few guests who came over to meet the little one, so it was an active few days.  Grandma Debi and Grandpa Fred held Ella a LOT, which was wonderful for everyone involved.  Grandma Debi had her enough that she was treated to several of Ella's first smiles!  Never was able to catch those still fleeting moments on "film", but that is just a matter of time.

We got a few little chores done around the house, got part of the garden planted, the clock got fixed and  a couple other things tidied up.  I was fortunate to get 2 delightful Mother's Day gifts- one was a really cool photo mug of Ella and the other the long awaited garden gate- Greg did some blacksmithing and created a beautiful garden gate that he installed on the garden fence this weekend.  So cool!

Installed Garden Gate with Ruger photo-bomb

Mother's Day cup!  :)

We managed to get in a fire in the fire ring on Sunday night (complete with S'mores), a little trap shooting one afternoon and while Jon, Sarah and Ella visited some friends for a few hours, the rest of us went for a hiking/fishing excursion to Patterson Lake near here.  So, it was a nice, mostly relaxing, long weekend of family time.  AND one of the best things is the family pic we got- thanks to Bob the Barber, who was willing to run the camera for me.

Not sure where the tennis ball is, but that is what she is looking at!

Sarah Jane fishing

The MA with our dear lil Manny

And so Greg just went on in....  

Patterson Lake

Mr. Mannington chilling out

Carrots brought them all running in!

It was really very sad when they all left- but fortunately it will only be a few weeks before I see them all again.  But, I was really tired!  I did some weeding as long as there was no mosquitos buzzing in my ear, so that felt great.  If it is not raining, weeding will be on the agenda for the evening tonight as well.

Manny was determined not to be left behind

See you soon, baby girl!

So, I hope you had a lovely Holiday weekend, as these are the best days of the summer!  And summer is so short and we have to pickup all the joy that we can!

This 'n That

FIRST of all-  Hang on to your hats everyone--- that's right, ELLA IS COMING TO SEE GRANDMA AND GRANDPA - and Uncle Mike!  I wanted to get that said immediately, as it is such GREAT news!!  YES!!!  Of course, what this really means is that I need to do some additional cleaning upstairs.  I had gone through and cleaned up the one room, when I thought it was just Greg and Sarah, but now we need the other room as well. I am in the middle of trying to get rid of certain people's old junk *coughgreg*, so there is chaos up there.  That will be my after school task!  I have to insert here that I am thrilled that Greg and Sarah and Toby and Ruger are coming, too!!  YAY!!  I love having the dogs here. And, of course, someone can get my outdoor speakers hooked up again!  :)  and I need someone to look at Grandpa's clock and figure out why the pendulum stopped working....  I bought brats from the Fifield grocery- just sayin!!

Ok, now that we have all that taken care of-
my hands are killing me today.  I weeded much of the weekend and I feel like my right hand is swelled up, and in fact it sort of looks like it is!  I got a lot done, and I feel like I should have done a lot more, but I needed to clean in the house (see above) and I had to wash clothes and for some reason the MA thinks he needs to eat on the weekend! Such an imposition!  Lol.  We were both unstoppable - he is working on the new garage doors, getting in the garden and hogged the "new" Cub Cadet and mowed the lawn for the first time.  I got a zillion tomato plants transplanted into bigger pots, rearranged the garden shed a bit (I used it for the first time!!!) (hey, I also get wifi out there.  THAT is awesome!), weeded, walked, groomed the horse- partially (that boy needs a stylist), laundry, dishes, etc. etc.

We put onions, spinach, chard, peas and beets in the garden so far.  I have a gazillion tomatoes in the garden shed, and we probably could put in the first planting of beans. It seems like it is going to stay warm, so we may not have frost.

Speaking of garden- I have been a vegetarian now for a year!  I am very pleased with this fact.  I was never a big meat eater and it was the next logical step.  To make that commitment to not eat meat was not hard.  The only drawback is the convenience factor, it is easy to rip open a package of tuna or heat up a hot dog in 20 seconds..... but I feel like the health benefits for me far outweigh the inconvenience. I am used to it now- I have things that I can quickly make/eat if I am starving.  And let me tell you they are a whole lot healthier than the things I used to have!! I can see this as a lifetime lifestyle- along with my no soda rule.  And no Doritos.  Lol.

This is the last week of school for the seniors.  I love my kiddos, but we are all ready for summer vaca. The seniors have been phoning it in for the past couple weeks and the rest of them are getting restless.  And the teachers are daydreaming about sleeping in, going to the gym, spending the majority of the day outside and traveling around the state and midwest...... oh wait, that might be me.

Usually I would be outside going for a walk at this time of the day- as I have found it is a great way to start the day. And get some extra calorie burn in.  But the rains and the fact that I have a mountain of laundry are keeping me home for this morning..... oh and I guess i am updating my blog!  :D  Lord have mercy, my hands hurt from typing too.

I have pix to post, but I just don't have the ambition this morning.  I need to start on that mountain of clothes folding and think about my shower, and run out to the garden shed and water my baby tomatoes!  3 weeks of school left for the majority of our kids, so I have to make sure I am ready to go.  The end is in sight, and we have a few things left to learn in art class!

And did I say that Jon and Sarah and Manny and ELLA and Greg and Sarah and Toby and Ruger and of course ELLA are coming to visit!!??!!

This weekend will be a joy!

Today is your birthday......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKEY!!!!!


Have a wonderful day- there **might** be a surprise for you at the house!  :)


I did not have time to put up a new birthday post this morning, but HERE is a link to last year's account.  Add in a year and a new title of UNCLE MIKE to little Ella!  YAY!


I hope his day is full of joys!!!  And I certainly hope he drops by for dinner one of these next few days! MUAH!

Daffodils- 2013 at last.....

Well that took a long time!

Finally, I have some opened daffodils!  The daffs- mini ones, named Tete a Tete- were the first but the white and gold ones are right there with them.  I encouraged the last 2 petals to open on the white one.  :D

bare feeties in the sort of green grass

It was even nice enough out to be in bare feeties, very comfortably!!  YAY!  The only thing is that we do need rain to encourage the green and make the brown decompose, as there is a big fire up north a ways and we could smell the smoke last night.  That is always somewhat unsettling.

So here is my dose of pretty for the day, I hope you enjoy it as well!

Narcissus "Tete-a-Tete"

Daffodil watch 2013 and a perfect night for gardening

So here is the first Daffodil, but she was just barely opened!  I will catch a better pic of her later today!! I am SO happy to see this little darling!  The clouds in the background were a harbinger of great clouds to come!!

Lola in all her glory- well as much as there is right now

I found perfect weather last night for hacking down a bunch of brown grass.  Not too hot (HAHAHA as if) and not too cold or windy- perfect! So I took my lil self and my felcos out to the long flower bed and took out 4 wheel barrow loads of brown out to make way for the green!  It was very satisfying.

I have quite a mess in there, and I will be paying for not keeping up with the weeding last summer.  I did a lot of exercise and canoeing and something had to give....  but it was a fabulous summer, and now this year, gardening will be more in the plan!

I am so so grateful that I was outside, as there was some spectacular clouds going on!!  The first two here are unedited from my phone~

Sunset

These and the first ones are from my other camera- I am delighted with the results!  It was a gorgeous, quiet night, except for those spring peepers!!  And no one minds hearing those!

I am so glad that spring is here.

It is certainly a joy!

Daffodil watch 2013

It is almost here!! If we get ANY HEAT today I will have one!!! Woooo hoooo!!!!!

THAT will be a real joy on Mother's Day!

Mother's Day 2013 UPDATED

Wow what a difference a year makes!

The obvious difference is the weather, which just barely deserves mention.  I just looked back on my Mother's Day post from last year, and it was SO much different!  Green grass, leaves, flowers......  I just can't.

BUT of course a big old difference is the fact that I am now a new kind of mother- a Grandmother- like we don't all know that!  I just read a little post on facebook recently that said Grandma's are mothers with frosting-and sprinkles!  (I added the sprinkles part in my head right after that)  I spent a part of last night making some nice soft flannel burp towels for the little one, and those will go in the mail tomorrow.  FUN STUFF!  Just wait!  There'll be more!

Anyway, this adds a whole new twist to Mother's Day and how awesome is that!  I have found a few pix of my mom, it just seems right to put them up here.  The problem is that there are not a lot of them. I have a whole box of old pix upstairs that I hope to find (major reno of the upstairs stuff going on) and I plan to update this post when I find them!

I got a lovely little bouquet of flowers from Greg and SarahJane which was awesome, and I assume Mike will find his way over here at some point.  Jon and Sarah are a little busy, so they are excused!  :) I do plan to celebrate my day by hitting the gym later this morning and just generally lazing around a bit.  I have to get a walk in though, I avoided the cold yesterday, but it can't be skipped today!

I am sure my mother would not be thrilled with these pix!  HAHA- but it is just how I think of her.  I think she's beautiful

So, whatever your day is like, make sure you take some time for Mom.  If you are remembering her, visiting her, calling her......  indulge in a moment to embrace her in your own way.  Your mom helped form the person that you are- not all of it, some of it is your own fault- LOL- but you know what I mean. There are so many facets to being a parent, and whether you are one yet or not, there is something you can do to make the day special!  For yourself and for her.  If nothing else, in your own thoughts.

Until next time- be a joyous giver!  And someone bring me some warm weather again, huh???

Stay tuned for more photos!

Mom and dad on right with Grandma Oberley, and my aunt and uncle Audrey and Ralph- in Florida

Mom and Dad on their wedding day

Mom and dad with ME!  :)