David Turns 5

It's been three months since David turned 5, but since this is the only pictorial record of our family at this time, I must add the photos in before the year is over!!

David woke up to this birthday table:

Since Grandma's birthday is only four days before David's, we usually celebrate together.

A bunch of happy children, with David sporting his new tie.

Presents to open after lunch:

And of course chocolate cake:

The remains of the day:

It is hard to believe we have only one child in the "under 5" category now. It seems it wasn't long ago that the first four were all under 5!

How I Got the Garage Fridge

We realized this year that the time has come where we need a refrigerator in our garage. Our in-kitchen fridge just isn't cutting it when we have company, or want to go to Costco. I knew it might be a bit of a chore getting one, but I had no idea it would be something like this.........

Because of sickness, we stayed home from family camp this week and I thought it would be the time to get a fridge.

Checking Craig's List yesterday I found one that would work, called the guy, and made arrangements to go and see it at 7:30. He said he needed it gone that day, if possible, maybe the next morning. So, I set off to find a way to get it to our house.

Up north in the afternoon, I called a friend to see if I could borrow her truck. She was very happy to loan it and proceeded to teach me how to drive this vintage piece of equipment. Pump the gas thrice, turn it over, "feel" where the automatic gears are, and don't go above 40 mph, and roll the windows down because there is no a/c.

I hopped in and had my first truck driving experience getting the truck all the way home, stopping to get cash on the way.

Next I called my neighbor who said she had a dolly I could use. Her husband answered and told me, "Oh sure, you can use it, as long as you don't need to move a fridge." Oooppppsss......I then proceeded to call the Lowes and Uhaul's in our area. No one was open, or had a dolly to rent. Then, we called a friend who lives far away to see if we could borrow theirs. They "just happened" to be driving by our house in the next 30 minutes and could drop it off! Whew!!!

Then I called to see if another neighbor could watch the children while we picked the fridge up. No problem!

Opened the lid to the crockpot and noticed that it must have been unplugged sometime around lunch. Oh well. Eggs for dinner was fine.

A quick call to confirm that we were on our way was made to the fridge owner and that's when the plan fell apart. "Well, I sold it 10 minutes ago." "What?????" "I'm sorry, I let my girlfriend take care of it." You can't imagine how frustrating! AFter all that work!!!!

Anyway, I went upstairs and scoured Craig's List and eventually found another fridge, about 25 miles south. Michael kindly left on the journey, which normally takes us about 30-35 minutes. Three hours later the dear man was back with my fridge! And that is how we finally got a fridge for the garage.

And now to take the truck back.......

A Glorious Fourth

We had a lot of fun on July 4th this year!! We began the day by taking Grandpa to the local parade and meeting our friends from 4tunate there, just like last year!

Laura loved the parade and no one minded the rain too much.

Waving flags is so much fun when you are just one.

Here's a picture of us all when the rain cleared up:

After the parade, and lunch at McDonald's, we went home to get ready for our backyard party. We invited a bunch of friends and neighbors and we all sat in the backyard for the evening. It was so much fun! Here's Laura having a good time in the pool.

And here are Calvin and Owen enjoying their dinner:

John is figuring out what to do next:

Facepainting for the kids:

Sparklers were enjoyed when it "started" to get dark:

I tried red, white and blue strawberries:

And festive, chocolate-dipped pretzels:

My mom picked flowers for all the tables:

There were veggies and salsa (including blueberry salsa) to start:

And hotdog rockets for the kids!

Everyone brought a dish so we had plenty of delicious food!

We even had a very sweet, brand-new baby in attendance!!!!

I sewed bunting to make the patio look festive.

We were grateful for pleasant weather!

It was a great day with lots of good memories!!!!

Running Through The Week

Life has been so busy that I haven't blogged much. I thought I would jot down a few things quickly, before time gets away from me:

- I've been hit by a summer cough/fever. Fortunately, I think the worst is over, but it is never fun to be sick. I'm hoping no one else catches it!

- the kids are in VBS every morning this week, leaving me 3 free hours! Wow! Can't believe how nice that is! I've been trying to get my school planning done for this coming year.

- three of our silkworms are now in their cocoons and the fourth one didn't get his spun in time....Since it takes 250 cocoons to make one ounce of silk, we won't be getting much....it is nice that I don't have to feed them twice daily now. It's been a big chore since they hatched in May.

- our tadpole has grown back legs and we are waiting for the front, trying to decide if we should take him with us next week when we go out of town for church camp?

- my squash and cucumber plants are producing lots of flowers and no fruit. I guess we don't have enough bees so I'm going to try and attract some.

- I am watching "Land Girls" by the BBC while sewing flowers at night. I just finished an order for 1 dozen and am filling another order for 2 dozen before sewing some for the shop closeby.

- Laura is all about climbing on and off her little riding toy

- Rachel finished her 4-H dress and looks so pretty in it! Much time has been spent trying to get the 4-H projects ready for judging this week. Four drives to the 4-H grounds this week (20+ minutes away).

- Looking forward to church camp next week as long as the others don't get sick

- Cleaned the children's bookshelves and found several missing library books!

- Reading "The Winter Garden", "The Praying Life", "A Little History of the World", "Howard's End", "Counterfeit Gods", and "A New England Girlhood."

- drinking homemade ginger and lemon tea and thinking of the Vietnamese girl who lived with us when I was a child and used to make stewed lemons and honey when we were sick. I wonder how to make that now?

- about to calligraphy name places for a wedding.......

- must get organized for David's and my mom's birthdays

- must stop and get ready for the day!

Cow Day

We made it to dress like a cow day at Chickfila last week!! We haven't gone in a few years but I thought it would be a fun thing to do with our two friends who spent the night. It's hard to say no to $36 worth of free dinner and a free mini carnival too! The kids had a blast and it was fun to take them out for fast food since it is such a rare occurrence around here (and I didn't have to cook dinner!!).

Taking Time for Beauty

Recently, after spending a good chunk of time cleaning the house, including scrubbing out my shower and giving the rest of the bathroom a good going-over, I thought how much I would love to go cut some flowers and put them by my bed and in the bathroom. Next thought was: I don't have time to do that. But then I thought: I need to have time to do that. And I went and did it.

Do you know, putting those flowers by my bed cheered me up all weekend. Everytime I thought of the clean bathroom and saw the pretty flowers I felt happy. It's worth taking time out for beauty!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful day! Our plans include a parade, a cookout with friends, and maybe even fireworks!