Happy Birthday, Sara!

Hope your day is fun!

Peril

is the name of my cousin's first book.  She has been contracted to write a trilogy of Christian suspense novels.
Yesterday, she had a book signing at her church  and talked about how the book came about.  I guess when you have 3 kids, home school them and run them all over the place, there is time to sit and think about NASCAR,  religion and the secret service.
Several of my cousins were there also.

Suzie and me holding her new book.

Three of my other cousins were there.  From the left, Donna, me, Lori, Debbie and Suzie. Lori & Suzie are sisters and Donna & Debbie are sisters. 
We are planning a bigger cousins reunion after Christmas for the purpose of scanning pictures and trading some off to each other.

Happy Birthday, Harrison!

Happy Birthday Big 2 Harrison!  Hope you are having fun camping.

My can be sweet nephew, with beautiful curls sitting on his Daddy's lap -he really liked the circus.

Happy Birthday, Travis!

We are so glad you are our son-in-law and such a good husband and father!

Happy Birthday, Travis. 

A Perfect Day for a Yard Sale

When you have four kids, you have a lot a excess stuff that needs to go.  Also, when own 29 houses and people move out, they leave stuff behind, so all this stuff has to thrown away, given away or sold.  We use several ways to sell stuff.  Sometimes we swap, or use Craig's list, post on garage sale sites or the old fashioned and have a yard sale. Yard sales are much, much more than just a sale.  They are a time to work together, talk, hang out and meet people you normally wouldn't come into contact with in a normal work day.   It is also a time to play with the kids and get your husband to do errands he normally doesn't do.   The goal of the yard sale is to clear out stuff you do not need and make a little of the money back you spent on buying the stuff or in my case usually, to get rid of stuff in my garage left behind by renters. A huge plus is nice weather.  It was cool this morning at 6 am, but a sweat shirt and coffee took care of the problem.  As the day went on it grew warmer and we were able to shed our sweat shirts and enjoy the sun.

This is with about half of the "stuff" sold.

My nephew, just under 2, climbed up on a bike today and started riding it, just like that!

My sister and the kids playing. 

The Circus

I went to visit my sister.  She told me while I was driving that we were going to the circus.  Okay, so I haven't been to the circus in a very long time.  This wasn't a big three ring, but a one ring circus with animals acts, funny skits and jugglers. 

There were elephants,

camels and

tigers, oh my!

This is the Stephens/Sassmann family.  There is never a dull moment at their house, nor a quiet one!

Cherry Jelly

My friend, Nancy and her husband went to pick tart cherries earlier this summer from a friend's tree.  Nancy wanted to make cherry almond jelly with part of the cherries.  It turned out so gooooooooooood!

A sample of the jelly.

We ended up with 11 half pints.

Allison's New House

Allison & Geoff waited patiently to close on their "short sale" home.  So far, so good.  Things are coming along well, as they move in and fix things more to their liking. 

The House

Lanie's new wall color.  Jim says with the white furniture it looks crisp!

Jim changing locks with the kitchen in the background.

Thought you would like to see the MB & bath OLD paint color. It is now a light blue.

The Kuhl's Visit

Grant eating peanut butter pie!

Grant opening one of his birthday presents.  His birthday was back in July.

The Kuhl's visited today.  We swan and cooked dinner.  Then, my friend Nancy made us peanut butter pie, so we had that for dessert.  Turns out Grant loves peanut butter pie.  Mckinley opted for chocolate ice cream and Jackson had both.

Grant peeking around Sara's leg.  

Nancy's peanut butter pie! It is so gooooooooooood!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Allison

Hope your day is wonderful!!!

You have become a wonderful mother, wife and friend.  We love you!

Babysitting

I babysat Lanie today...all day.  She is very fun, but things don't always go as planned.  Our plan was go swimming, eat lunch, nap, play inside, dinner and then time to be picked up.   She ate from the time she got here until left, except when she was sleeping.  She even insisted on eating whole pizza slice at lunch.  She is also starting to tell you when she has to go potty (her diaper was still wet).  Today, was a Mickey and Elmo day - all day.

See where her small food bites are?  She got up and moved by the whole pieces of pizza, so she could eat them.  She ate 3 pieces and started a 4th.

Happy Birthday, Lanie!

Lanie turned 2 on Sunday.  Allison and Geoff gave her a party.

She had cake

and cookies

and her favorite foods

and we played "pin the nose on Elmo"

Lanie was very happy we all came to celebrate her 2nd b-day with her.

Summer Flowers

This rose bush is still hangin' on with the bugs and the heat.

As I was watering last night, I noticed there were flowers that were still hanging on in this summer heat.

My Mums bloom twice a year - they are blooming late this summer.

Rose of Sharon blooms, eaten by bugs, but least they are in the shade in the heat of the day.

                                                    

These tall philox struggle every year.

 

I transferred these brown eyed Susans to the woods edge last fall.

I cannot believe this cinnamon fern hasn't "died off" for the season.

Happy Birthday, John!

Hope you have a great day!

Happy Birthday Grant!

Grant you turn one today.  Happy Birthday!

Summer Bounty

We are starting to get food from our garden, our peach trees and even wild blackberries. Looks like our pecan trees are pretty heavy with nuts this year.  Most of this stuff I picked out of the garden tonight.

Wild blackberries.

Beets.

Green beans.

Peaches and cucumbers.  Jim will be getting the ladder out to pick the rest of the peaches soon.

Fresh Eggs!

Our neighbors have chickens.  The oldest chickens are starting to lay eggs.  Jim helped build the coop and donated some windows and I give all my fruit and vegetable scraps to the chickens.  It seems like I'm not wasting any of our food now.  When I made out first omelets, two of the eggs had double yolks.

This is Brewster, the rooster.  He watches over all the chickens.  When the coop door is open at night, he makes all the chickens go inside and he lays in the doorway to protect "his girls."

This is Betty.  She was their first chicken born.  She is the Queen, no other chicken picks on her and if one tries, Brewster and Delores (both Rhode Island Reds) will be right there is protect her.

Brewster is a busy rooster.

Here are the two double yolks.