Rain delays

We were going to go to fireworks last night. I thought I might have some cool pictures to post but...on the way there we started to see lightning. We thought we might miss it but by the time we were there and parking it started to rain. And then it really took off. It downpoured! Well that pretty much settled the firework idea. And of course we get home and we hardly had a drop of rain! The city decided to move them to tonight but it is colder and rainy again tonight so we're missing them this year. We did go to Cheri's church tonight for a pig roast. That was delicious! They also had a moon jump, games and crafts for the kids to do. I think everybody had a good time. I'm hoping for nice weather tomorrow. We are having an outdoor service to kick off the new year. After that, there are tables that you can sign up at to join Bible studies, praise bands, teach, etc... We are also having brunch so we really need it to be nice out! After seeing such a change in weather, it really seems to be moving in the direction of fall.

Birthday Greetings

Thanks to all of you who recognized my birthday yesterday. Yes, I know, I'm getting older. The plans were to go to Brann's using TRIP coupons. I went to pick them up in the morning at school and no one was there. Either I was too late or they didn't have it because of Labor Day. So no coupons = no $ for supper. So I dug up some other certificates I had for BK and Arby's. What a great birthday meal that was - but hey - I didn't have to do dishes or make anything. After supper, we had presents. I got a mug, flowers, candle holder and perfume. Then there was a wonderful cake from Costco. Lots of chocolate. Actually, I couldn't even eat all of mine so we all know that it was pretty rich. Shaelyn was having problems on the computer before supper so I went down to check it out. Who knows what happened but my monitor died! Right now, I'm borrowing one from a friend but now I have to go shopping for another one. This one is small but I'm grateful to at least have something to use for now.

Labor Day

Today we went to the "Labor Day" picnic. My girls love this. We get together with all of my Dad's 7 brothers and sisters and most of the cousins. I guess you could somewhat call it a family reunion of sorts. I don't know why some families despise family reunions because we really enjoy it. ( it probably depends on the family!) We always go to the park and have a potluck dinner and what a variety of food there is. After that, we hang around and get acquainted with everyone again while the kids go play on the toys or wander, looking at the water. Usually, we have watermelon but today, Dad was in charge and he brought popsicles for everyone. We used to have a good game of baseball, but I guess everyone thinks they're getting too old for that anymore. It was beautiful weather, in spite of the forecast they were predicting. I don't think we got any rain at all today. We finally finished putting the pool away for good today - after it got totally dried off. That's a good feeling. Now that summer is officially over, I'm ready for the cooler days of fall and business of the school season.

My golf game

Tonight, Dave and I are heading to the golf course. Once a year, we go golfing with another couple from church. We always say that we're gonna make it out earlier in the year but somehow summer flies by and we end up trying to get it in after school starts. This is my 3rd time trying this. I always thought it looked fairly easy until I tried it. You've really got to hit the ball correctly to make it go the distance. Thank goodness, Carol and I get to use the women's handicap and start much closer. Even though I don't do too well at it, it's kind of fun. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather and hoping for a fairly decent score.

I've been busy

Well, I 've received a complaint that there has been nothing on my blog lately. Sorry! Hopefully by this picture you can see that I've been extremely busy. Anyone who sees Shaelyn's room knows that it does not typically look like this. First of all, we moved the bed and furniture around. After that, I decided to do some major cleaning. I cleaned out all the drawers ( and organized) under her bed. Then I tackled her closet. What a mess. I organized all her games and puzzles. Her bookcase was next and last her dresser. All of her summer clothes were sorted to make room for all the new ones
from Halle. This took me until after supper but I did feel accomplished. Hopefully, it can stay looking this way for a while. I have been making her pick it up every day so we're trying to establish a pattern here.
The other picture shows what I did before her room. Our lawn was so long because our mower had been broken. I decided to tackle that first in the morning. So that took me about 2 1/2 hours earlier. So sorry, I don't have anything much more of interest to share but that's my life! 

Second hand clothes

Wow! Look at all these clothes that were loaned to me. Some awfully nice person must have passed them on - (I bet another day in Paradise might have a clue). You know, when I was young, I thought hand - me -down clothes were awful. When Shaelyn got these last week - she was thrilled. Every day she wants to look through the box and pick out something from Halle. The great thing is that there are summer and winter clothes in there and with this weather lately, you never know what kind of clothes you're going to have to wear. I just wanted to say "thanks" to a great family member for them. 

The first day of School!

Look at the excitement on the girls' faces! You can tell that they are very excited to start school. Ha Ha. Yes - the cats are in the pictures too. I always take their pictures at the beginning and end of every school year and they always had their cats in them. So now it has become tradition. Chelsea made it through the first day. She was nervous because now that she is in high school, it's a new building and of course - she's the youngest. She did say that the hallways were very crowded and she just made it in time to her classes. They both have people that they know in all of their classes to that was good. I guess it's good to get back to the scheduled life style again although we will all miss our late night routines of watching "Lord of the Rings" and reading until all hours of the night and then sleeping late in the mornings! 

Sunday gatherings

Our neighbors gave us a call the other day. They wanted to plan a get together for today. So this afternoon, 6 of our neighborhood families got together for lunch. It was really nice. They had burgers and hot dogs us all and we each took a dish to pass. The girls weren't too excited about this as it's their last day before school (What this has to do with it is anybody's guess), but I think they had a good time too. I think it's a great idea to get to know your neighbors and spend time with them. Anyway, we enjoyed it and we're trying to plan something for Christmas. Maybe some of you could plan something for your neighborhood too.

The final days of Summer

Well, as you can see, this signifies the end of summer for us. The pool is coming down. We decided that it wasn't really worth it to keep it up anymore because school is starting next week and we really won't have time to swim anymore. We really haven't swum in it for over a week because of the fair. As we were taking it down though - I thought - this is ridiculous. It was so sticky and humid today - we should be swimming. But I don't want to wait until it's too late and then it's cold and rainy.


We went out for pizza and then to Temptations by the lake for ice cream tonight. Here's what the poor pool is looking like now. We'll finish the rest of the clean up on Monday. Oh- the sadness of it all! 

Great nights

Well, last night I had my tournament softball game. We had our first game against a team we had played 2 times before. Both games, we had the lead until the 7th inning. We would blow it and lose. Well, last night, we had the lead but being tournament games, only had to play 6 innings. And we won! 10 minutes later, we had to play the next team. They were all about 1/2 our age and had been on the high school ball team. It didn't look too good for us. We managed to get a run but next inning, so did they. Finally in the bottom of the 6th, we got 3 more runs. (Being the last tournament game, we had to play 7 innings) So they come up to bat once more, and of course start getting hits. They got 2 runs which made it 4-3. We finally got the last out and ended up being tournament champions. Pretty cool since we haven't won for I don't know how long! So it ended up being a pretty good night in spite of the thoughts we had going into it. And tonight should hopefully be fun too - it's the off road derby at the fair. We're just hoping it doesn't rain.

The Fair

"It's one of the best times of the year," according to Shaelyn. She waits for the fair all year long. Today was $1 rides except that the kids all had earned 5 free rides by reading minutes from reading club at the library. Shaelyn chose her favorite - the merry-go-round, the circus cars, the flying elephants and - are you ready - big stuff - the alligator roller coaster. For her last pick, she and Halle chose the horses again. Tomorrow we get to go to the grand stand with our other free coupons and see the off road derby. The girls love that. We would have loved to come back tonight and do the rides when
they're all lit up but I have a ball game. It's my last of the year - tournament games. This is all telling me that summer is about over :(
I guess I have to get ready for things to get a little bit more scheduled again - but really - I don't have much of a choice. The fall has great things happening too - Shaelyn gets to go to preschool, different holidays, etc.. Aaah, life goes on. 

Adoption Picnic

Last week, we went to Lansing for an adoption picnic. Everyone who has adopted from our agency is invited. It's always fun to see other people from your group that you may not have seen for awhile. Here's Shaelyn and Rachel enjoying lunch. It was great - BBQ, hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon and chocolate muffins.






There were lots of snack too, including cotton candy (or fuzzies in a bag as Shaelyn calls it), sno cones and popcorn. They had a variety of games to play, even though Shaelyn was in a foul mood and wouldn't play them. We had perfect weather. What a fun Saturday!
 

Chicken Barbeque

It's time, once again, for the annual chicken barbeque. For those of you who don't go (and you know who you are) it's the best chicken around. Every August, Grandpa takes us out for supper at this chicken barbeque. We enjoy chicken, cooked out on the open grill, rolls, potato salad, cole slaw, chips and ice cream. We've been doing this since I was young. It's a great tradition. Something new they added last year was the corn maze. You have to work your way through, stopping twice to get prizes in the maze. This year, we got candy, pens and popcorn. It was great weather for it too.
 

Missy

I just couldn't resist showing this picture of Missy. While we were packing for Shipshewana in Shaelyn's room, I went to her dresser. All of a sudden I say some movement and there was Missy. She had found a nice soft spot to sleep in. She just gave us this look like "yes, it's perfect for me" I thought she looked awfully cute.

Shipshewana

Sorry I haven't put anything up lately. I've been having blog issues and some of my postings didn't go through. And then Tuesday and Wednesday, we were gone to Shipshewana. I know that those of you who see Cheri's blog will see the same sort of pictures but what can I do - we were together. We had a great time eating at the Essenhaus. The food is always delicious and the family loved it.





Here's some of the horses and buggies the Amish use. Shaelyn loved watching for the horses. That gave here something to do so that she didn't have any fits while we were driving. Actually, she didn't do too bad driving this time (although on the way there, she slept for the first 1 1/2 hours) but we were grateful for small miracles!

Oh Happy Day

Today was a much better day than two weeks ago. We installed our new pastor of congregational life. It's so great, getting a new pastor when you have been without one.
Granted, we've only been without for a year but it can seem like a long time. Now we are beginning the search for our senior pastor. I mentioned to Dave on the way home that I think Costco is really loving our church. You see, church ordered cake from there for Pastor Dale's open house, after his last sermon and then again today. And if you haven't tried cake from there, you are missing out. It's delicious!

Corn on the Cob

Arianna and Halle came over this morning to play. Arianna wanted to stay longer, so she was
here for supper. Grandpa happened to come over and bring us some corn on the cob to go along with our salad. It's a good thing that both girls love it - as you can see from the smile on their faces. Thanks, Grandpa! 

The day all mothers dread!

The day has come that all mothers fear. I was downstairs on the treadmill, with Shaelyn by me. I had about 2 minutes to go when she went upstairs. I
finish up and go upstairs. She immediately comes out of her room and shuts the door. Then she tells me that I can't go in there. I then know something is wrong. I find a scissors next to her stuffed cat. There is something fuzzy next to it. I asked her if she cut her animals fur and then tell her it is very naughty to cut their fur because it won't grow back. Then I look in her wastebasket and find all of this. I asked her where this came from. "Probably my whale," she says. I tell her "no way" when suddenly a light bulb goes off in my head. "Did you cut your hair?" Just a little, she answers. I couldn't tell right away because her hair hadn't been combed yet and was still fuzzy.
When I combed it I could tell there was some missing from the bangs and side section. When Katelyn came up, I showed her the handful. "What did she do?", was the unhappy question.

I wasn't sure what if I was going to cut it or not yet, so I went to the hair shop and we discussed what to do. I decided this might be the time to get it cut because of the circumstances.So here's what it looked like when we were done. I think it looks pretty cute but we'll see what Dad says.

 

Vacation at the Cottage

Katelyn decided to go fishing with Grandpa and Nick. Apparently, they decided to have a competition between the two of them. From what I was told, Katelyn caught 1 more than Nick. (Nick says he had to throw 1 back because it was too small) She even tried to take her fish off the hook, unsuccessfully, but worth a try. She even caught a bass. They had fun but had to come back when it started to rain.











Shaelyn and Halle wanted to go fishing with Grandpa too but he thought they might be a little too young yet. They decided to try their luck with the boat in the driveway. Grandpa told them that he would take them for a ride in the boat later. This was something they wouldn't forget. The next day, they were walking around with life jackets on as a reminder to Grandpa, just in case he forgot.







Here they are with Chelsea in the boat, preparing to go. They loved the ride, especially when Grandpa went fast. He would try to hit the waves so the boat would bounce more. In spite of the heat, there were some fun times. I love going up there because I get to scrapbook more than normal. Duane usually comes up on Thursday and the kids love it. It's fun to watch them spend time with their uncle. (Even though I need to keep an eye on him at all times. He has a tendency to try to wake them up too early!) 

vacation - part 1

I hope this picture explains what vacation was like. It was so hot up there, I believe the heat index was like 110. This was pretty much what we could do up there the first day. (Besides eat ice cream or swim) I'll post more the next few days on it but today, I've still got some unpacking to do besides more wash!