Kyle's B-day

Inspecting the Spiders

Does it rattle?

Yeah! Boomerangs!
Wayne made the top one

I'm a bit behind on this as Kyle's B-day was October 29! He's a dozen years old now! This is also the last year for making treats to take in to school for him. That was kinda hard to think about--since I have been sending them in for one kid or another for about 15 years! I wasn't too creative this year. It was spider cupcakes. The spiders were oreo's dipped in chocolate and licorice legs. Good enough though for the amount of time it takes the kids to eat them!
There is a fun story behind the boomerangs. Kyle's request this year was a boomerang. Not an item that most stores carry. Finally we got online and ordered two--and a book on how to make them. Of course they weren't arriving in time for his birthday so Wayne got busy in the garage and made one. We gave that one to him the morning of his birthday--and the other two showed up that afternoon, so I wrapped them quick and gave them to him that evening. The boys took the homemade one out--and it actually flew! Okay, I'd better give Wayne the credit for making a pretty good boomerang. It is a little heavier then the others, but flies pretty well. The field across the road has come in pretty handy!

What's Up?

It's finally time to sit down and get caught up here. Since starting the school year I haven't taken the time to update.
This year has actually started off quite well. Last year it took me most of the year to figure out how to keep up with the "busyness" of the year! This year it is still crazy busy, but I've kind of got it figured out now. I just try to remember that by Thursday night, I can finally come up for air! Here is a little bit of what our day to day consists of:

Monday afternoon Carlin's Robotics team meets. I usually pick him up anywhere from 3:45 - 5:00. We have supper--I'm learning that soup or a crockpot meal works well on this day! Shortly after 6:00 we head to the Middle School where both boys are in the youth orchestra. (Except there are older people, too!) Carlin (on violin) is in his third year of Symphony Orchestra and Kyle (on cello) is in his first year of Philharmonia. Kyle's teacher is a former Barrage student--an amazing teacher!

Tuesday night--tonight Carlin is staying at school for a welder's club. He hasn't been around too much of that before, so will be interesting to hear what he thinks of it. Kyle has piano lessons at 5:30. He keeps asking when he can quit, but I tell him not for a couple more years. His teacher really challenges him--and he usually doesn't take too long to have his songs figured out! Except for this week--maybe if he actually sat a practiced he would have better luck!

I am still working at Kyle's school this year. I am lunch assistant with three fourth grade classes. Tomorrow will be my first time to sub for special needs this year. I usually do quite a bit of subbing during the school year. In November I will sub for most of the month.

Deidre is a Senior this year! I still can't adjust my thinking to that one! Not sure what's ahead--but we've got this far! This last Saturday she had Senior pictures taken. I can't wait to see them!

Wayne has been really busy at work this past summer and fall. He has kept busy enough that he can't get his vacation time used up this year! Sunday was a 20 hour day for him and yesterday was 14 1/2. Hopefully now it will settle down a bit. I'm just glad he has a job to keep busy with!

All for now. Just got a call from Carlin--needs a ride home! I think they keep busy with all the running for them so when they turn 16 we really are ready for them to do their own driving!

Last Shots of Summer

This summer Wayne installed a watering system for all my flower pots and flower beds. Between that and the perfect summer weather, the flowers were really pretty this year. The Morning Glories are Wayne's! I always tease him about his flowers! He planted them around the dinner bell and they turned out gorgeous! During the day they were bright blue and at night as they were closing up, they turned purple. I've never had coleus grow as big as I had this year. The milk buckets, coffee pot and milkers were compliments of the treasure trove (dump) at Wayne's folks this summer. There is no order to these pictures--which is just me!

Happy 19th Anniversary!

Happy 19th Anniversary to my Bestest Friend!
Thank you for all you have put up with through the years! It is fun to look back over the years and see what all we have survived! Love you more each year!

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake. – Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
(this was one of the daily quotes on my blog. Just wanted to save it)

New School Year

Kyle - Sixth Grade
(standing funny because he wiped out in gym already!)

Carlin - Sophomore!

Deidre - Senior!!!

Please bear with me while I try to figure out how to change the looks of my blog! So far I've some of the changes made--but now I've lost all my writing!! HELP! All of you that are pros at this are welcome to leave input! I'm quite computer illiterate when it comes to this!

They're Back!

This is part of what we picked on Monday. I need to pick more tomorrow. Can't wait to get salsa made!
This feels more like it! When it was just Wayne and I home, I did laundry once a week or so. Convention is over and now it's time for laundry!

Aaaahhhh!!! It feels so good! My kids are finally back home and so far I'm loving every minute (well, most!) of it! It was piles of laundry yesterday and loads of tomatoes to greet me in the garden, but it feels so good just to have life somewhat normal again--whatever that may be. I'm not sure how many loads of laundry I ended up with, but there is always plenty after Convention!

I picked five dishpans of tomatoes and started cooking them down for salsa. I'm not sure when we will get to that, but hopefully in the next few weeks. Tomorrow we will pick that much again at least. They are just loaded out there!

It's a Clunker, alright!

It feels great to get this out of the yard! This truck has served us well over the years, but it was definitely time for it to move on! The last we used it was last summer when we tore the shed down. This year it grew a weed patch in the back. When Wayne was adding air to the tires he discovered the hornets had moved in underneath. Ouch!

After the fun of actually getting all the paperwork done, I forgot to get a picture of the van. The van went to its new home in MN.
This post really was in a hurry! It was appearing before I was ready for it to! I'll add some pictures of our clunker--just don't have time to at the moment. This was pretty good!

July

(above)View on the way to Jerry & Brina's
(below) Front view--love the deck!

View from J&B's house

Fun to see you all! Thanks!

We really didn't want to leave yet!

Finally the last of the posts from our MN vacation. When we left Wayne's folks, we stopped by to see another of the triplets. It was a beautiful drive to Jerry and Sabrina's. We even got to view parts of the country--that didn't lead to their place, but it was fun to see the country.
Their new house was something else to see! It sits way up on a hill--with a beautiful view across the valley. The pictures don't begin to show the height! It wasn't nearly long enough, but was good to spend a couple hours getting acquainted! Hope we can get together again sometime!

Catching Up With Relatives

We got to spend a special day catching up with Marilyn a little. I was glad to get to know her a little more! We had a good evening catching up with Wayne's Aunt and Uncle, Dean and Lois, when we were in MN. Steve and Maureen were there with most of their family. David and Rebecca were there with their two. We have seen S & M at Mtg. in MN before, but have never really got to sit and visit with them. The same goes for D & R--I knew Rebecca from way back, but haven't seen them in several years. Between all our boys, four of them are all pretty close in age. When it was time to head back to the farm, they all said we couldn't leave yet--they were just getting started!!!!
Since these pictures were taken Mike and Kristina have announced their engagement! Congrats to the both of you!

Good 'Ole Sparkler Fun

Whenever I think of 4th Of July and fireworks I always think of sparklers! It's something I enjoy, but just haven't had in years. We got a (handful) while we were visiting and lit them at Grandma and Grandpa's!

Fun Days Getting Acquainted...and Reacquainted

We had the best time at John and Jenny's while we were in MN. John and Wayne go way back and I had been acquainted with the rest of the family through the blogworld and FB. It was fun to actually get to meet them in real life! Our kids all had a good time, too! Kyle and Rebecca had fun on the scooters and playing "two square". Carlin's fun was locking Deidre in the playhouse! (Typical!) And of course, the fun of Snakes and Sparklers at the end of the evening! They got to put up with us for several hours and we really enjoyed our time there! Thanks much and come see us if you ever get the chance!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game...

Time to catch up here! I have loads of pictures from our trip to MN, but I'll try not to bore everyone with too many! I'm finally having (taking) time to get some on here this morning. We saw so many people while we were there, so I'll break it up a little here.
The first day in MN we got to catch up with the friends in the area at a picnic. In the afternoon there was a game of softball. Each team lined up according to age--youngest to oldest. Wayne could hardly believe it when he was second to last!!!! I think it's finally catching up! (and no, I was not last--I took pictures! HA!)