12-30-2014 Year in Review

I follow a blog The Enchanted Home and  today's post over there inspired this post.

My favorite memory of 2014 is not just one but a collection of many moments in which I can see how far Luke has come socially. He has friends over every weekend. He just went on his first sleepover. He is enjoying his life and welcomes others into it. A true pleasure to see and makes my heart smile.

My wish for the world for 2015 is an end to wars and suffering caused by man-made violence. It's not a  likely to come true, but it is what I wish for.

My personal resolution for 2015 is to be a bit more artistic. Maybe, I can learn a bit about painting or pastels. I'd like to create art on canvas to hang inside our home.

Looking back, 2014 was a good year. We had our health. We had each other. We had enough money that if an appliance broke, we could easily replace it with a new appliance (refrigerator in September, dishwasher in November, toaster oven in December). Charlie bought a grill in September. Our business traded in a 10 year old truck for a new one just today. Being able to make these purchases is my idea of living in luxury.

The perfect way to ring in the New Year is fast asleep with those I love safe and sound in their beds. Icing on the cake would be to sleep through the fireworks and gun shots making noise outside around us.

12-30-2013 Luke's First Sleepover

Luke slept over at his friend Tyler Fornina's house last night. It's the first time Luke has slept over at someone's house who wasn't Grandma and Grandpa. We haven't heard from him yet, so he's on our minds. I certainly hope and pray it went well!

12-26-2014 We had the Merriest of Christmases

Christmas 2014 was a good one. Maybe one one of the best yet! Lily woke up around 5:00 a.m. and came to our room suggesting we go downstairs to open gifts. Uh, no….we are not getting up at 5:00 a.m. to open gifts. So she snuggled up in bed with Charlie and myself and dozed off and on until 7:00a.m. Then we all got ourselves ready and headed downstairs. Luke actually didn't come down immediately, the first time we ever did not go down all together. Since he did not have any presents to open other than a little gift box holding a $100 bill, I didn't see the point in forcing the issue. What was the sense in making him sit there and watch Lily open her gifts. He timed it perfectly and came down just as Lily was opening her last gift. She got: a pair of fashion boots, an under armor sweatshirt, leggings, a batman tee shirt, a batman sweatshirt, and Uggs sheepskin lined shoes. I know the shoes were a surprise and I have a feeling she snooped and knew about the batman items and leggings. She picked the boots and under armor sweatshirt herself.

Ben Z. who works with Charlie quite a bit as a subcontractor got him 2 fleece lined sweatshirts which Charlie opened Christmas morning. Both are very nice and should keep him warm this winter. Weather was not a concern yesterday. It was very mild with temperatures in the 50's I think. It felt like a spring day!

Mom and Dad arrived around 10:30-ish. Gram Ada fell getting out of her shower and they had to get her up and squared away before coming to us. They brought the chocolate cake with peanut butter icing that we always have for Baby Jesus' birthday.

Next we played a rousing game of Christmas trivia with a deck of trivia cards I'd bought at the Dollar Tree. That was a lot of fun! We were quite competitive and blurted out answers, much to Lily's annoyance as she was the one asking the questions for the most part.

After that we played Reindeer Rummy with cards Mom had brought. That was fun as well. Lily won several hands right off the bat with the cards she was dealt. That often happens as she is really very lucky in gaming.

We eventually made our way in to the living room where Mom handed out cards from Gram, Gayle, and Jill with money for the kids. This was per their request. They were very pleased with their final totals and are planning/plotting what to purchase.

For lunch we had Screpsie's hoagies, chips, fruits and veggies, cheese cubes, mulled cider with apricot brandy, chocolate covered pretzels, cream cheese with hot pepper jelly, and homemade cranberry relish. We all were stuffed by the end of that feast!

After lunch Dad, Charlie, and Luke loaded buckets with wood for the furnace. Grandma, Lily, and Luke did a gingerbread house and tree, I took photos and flittered around the house tidying up a bit. The afternoon ended with games of Battleship and Connect Four.

P&J left around 3:30. Mom fretted that they'd be getting home just in time to help load Gram Ada into the car to go to Paula's for Christmas.

We left around 4:30 to go to Kathy's house. George, Denisse, and Brendon were in from Utah. We haven't seen them for a few years. Because they flew in the night before, they slept in and didn't feel up to coming to our place. We were perfectly fine with that. I must say, this worked out perfectly for all. Perhaps we'll do Christmas this way every year. Wehrys in the morning and Crowells in the evening. We visited and played a round of Farkle before leaving around 8:15.

Of course, by the time we got home we were all quite tired. The kids went to bed with no fuss at all. I think we all were in agreement that it was one of the best Christmases ever!

12-22-2014 How Do You Solve a Problem Like….

I started singing "How do you solve a problem like….."

Lily chimed in "ebola?"

Only Lily.

12-18-2014 A Most Wonderful Day Spent Thrifting

Charlie stayed home all day today working on estimates and invoices. He was able to take kids to and from school. That meant I was free to go shopping all by myself. It wasn't Christmas shopping. That's been done. This was just shopping for the fun of it.

The first place I went was to Sal Val in Lebanon. Since our local store closed the end of November, Lebanon is the next closest one for us. Within 5 minutes of entering the store, my cart was full and I had to go thru the checkout. I bought 4 fabulous folding lawn chairs that will be perfect down at the dock. I also bought 2 accent lamps and shades which I've been keeping my eyes open for. After a trip to the car to unload my loot I went back inside and hunkered down to some serious clothing shopping. I made out fabulous and bought all kinds of turtlenecks, cardigans, comfy pants, sweaters, etc. I bought so many clothes my cart was full again and I had to make another trip to the car. I went in 1 final time and found a fabulous shoe tree organizer. It's quite heavy and sturdy and was a wonderful find.

My next stop was Goodwill in Robesonia. I made out fabulous there as well. I bought a pair of black, fur-lined North Face boots (THE thing/label to have this year) for $8.97. They probably retail for about $150. I also bought 2 wall hangings for bathroom to jazz it up a bit. I got a slate grey/black turtleneck there and 2 or 3 winter scarves as well.

The third stop was to A Wrinkle in Time country craft store. I bought a few pair of earrings at $1 per pair, a necklace, a copper bracelet, garland made of nuts painted red (sounds weird to describe but has a nice rustic look to it), a few old wooden box ends. The best purchase there was a replica of a wooden dough bowl trencher. I've wanted one for a long time, but couldn't bring myself to pay the going rate of $125 or up. This one looks great and was only $38. A much better deal.

I took along a little cheese tray for myself and a few bottles of water and juice. It was such an enjoyable time. I am so happy I had the chance to spend the day this way today!

12-17-2014 Concert Last Night, Colonial Williamsburg Re-Enactment Today

Lily had her 5th grade concert last evening. It was quite enjoyable. I sat with my friend Patti since Charlie and Luke had basketball practice.

This afternoon Lily's 5th grade class presented Colonial Williamsburg after school. Children stood in front of shops they had created and did a little spiel about their shop. Other children offered refreshments. A group did square dancing. Others played Christmas songs. It was quite enjoyable. Mom and Dad came down around lunch time. They treated Luke and I to Chinese for lunch and joined us for Lily's presentation. It was a nice family afternoon.

12-11-2014 Snow Globe Kind of Day

We woke up to snow this morning. It was just a heavy dusting on the grass and trees. It continued snowing all day, often heavy, but never sticking to roads or slate. In my eyes, that made it the perfect snow. It was so pretty to watch. I put on Christmas songs and distributed decorations throughout the house.

Mom was supposed to go with her sisters, Linda and Gayle, to Long Wood Gardens today. She canceled going due to the weather and Aunt Linda yelled at her and hung up on her. I feel bad for Mom. Even though she knows she made the right decision, she doesn't feel good about the way Linda reacted. Gayle also decided not to go and her and Mom are in agreement not to pre-arrange any more long distance events during winter months.

Charlie and the kids are at basketball practice. I'm enjoying the peace and quiet of the house while snuggled up under my electric blanket upstairs in my bed.

12-1-2014 Thanksgiving Break Summary

I worked Thanksgiving. It wasn't too bad. We had a crowd of guests for lunch and they were not satisfied with the meal. I can't say I blame them as the chef substituted brussel sprouts for carrots. That was our biggest problem of the day, so I'm considering it a win.

Charlie and the kids went to ThanksGibney as is the tradition. They came home grumpy and starving as is the tradition.

Friday we stayed home and decorated around the house, but did not do the tree because Charlie decided to get a real tree this year. To get the full experience with horse drawn wagon rides and hot cocoa, you need to go to a tree farm on a weekend. I was fine with that.

Saturday he and the kids did the tree farm experience while I was at work. Unfortunately, I got stuck at work and texted them to go ahead and decorate without me. I must admit, the tree is the best looking tree we've ever had!

Sunday Charlie and Luke went to Lowe's and bought and installed a new dishwasher. Ours had broke 2 months ago, but I was reluctant to buy a new one so soon after buying a new refrigerator.

Today Mom came down while Dad was buck hunting. We visited, went for Chinese, and did some shopping. We had a very nice time together.

The kids go back to school from their long break tomorrow. The forecast is for freezing rain, so hopefully they get there before it starts and it ends before I need to go pick up Luke from math class.

11-26-2014 A Little Pre-Thanksgiving Snow

Lily had early dismissal today at 1100 when it started snowing big, fat flakes. I think we were forecasted to get between 3 to 6 or 4 to 8 inches of snow. It looks like we only have about 2 or 3 inches now (8pm) and I think it's winding down. That's fine with me since I work tomorrow, Thanksgiving. I'm okay with working the holiday because I'll be off Christmas.

Charlie stayed home from work today and did paperwork. Once both kids were home they basically did screens and relaxed during the afternoon. We baked gingersnap cookies after supper even though the snow blower was not fired up. In general, the policy is that I must bake cookies whenever Charlie uses the snowblower.

Black Friday we plan on decorating for Christmas as is our tradition. Then I work the weekend. Monday we may visit with Mom and Dad, that's still up in the air at this point.

11-19-2014 Reflections after loss of former co-worker

There was a terrible, senseless accident this morning in our area. A tractor trailer driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into stopped vehicles. One of this killed was a nurse I had worked with in CCU. Her name was Jane and she leaves behind a husband and 2 found sons. all who knew her are devastated at this tragedy. It has me thinking about how many folks I work with and really enjoy and appreciate, but they probably don't know it. I'm going to make it my goal to show more appreciation each time I am with them. That will be the legacy of Jane.

11-13-2014 Snow Flurries

It's flurrying here a wee bit. Luke said I must make note of this event so we can compare it to past years. Duly noted.

11-03-2014 My 43rd Birthday

Charlie and the kids brought home pizza and stromboli from Bruno's last night for my birthday meal. They surprised me with a bag of gifts including a red reindeer mug I'd admired, a beautiful blue and green mug, an electric blanket throw to use downstairs (cream with dark blue snowflakes), and lids/straws for ball jars (to protect drink from fruit flies…we've had a problem with them lately). I was pleasantly surprised.

This morning Luke and Lily each sang and danced "Happy Birthday" for me. That was a highlight of my day. I also got birthday emails from my pen pal in England, mom, Jill, and Gail (a former nursing student).

I've spent the day puttering around. I watched Madam Secretary this morning before getting Luke. After picking up Lily I went to the library to pick up final book in Divergent series by Veronica Roth. That's the perfect birthday treat and I'm planning on reading the book start to finish this evening snuggled under my electric blanket birthday gift.

I am so very thankful to be at this point in my life. I am so grateful for another year with my family, spent in good health, living comfortably, with a job that challenges me every single weekend. It's a good time in my life. I am thankful, grateful, appreciative, humbled by my blessings.

10-23-2014 From Fall Ball to Basketball

Fall ball is done and basketball has begun. The kids are both doing basketball and had their first clinic last Friday. They have another clinic tomorrow night and then I think it's two weeks each with three clinics. I'm hoping they both enjoy it, although as always, my main concern is that no one get hurt. Charlie has offered to coach wherever they need him and hasn't found out yet if he'll be with Luke or Lily.

I've gone in to work 3 weekdays in the past week. I'm doing a leadership training program that involves some webinars I need to attend at work with a group of other folks in management. Today I was at work for my annual education day. I had attended that back in August, but they pulled me to work on the floor that day.

It's been quite blustery and rainy the past few days. We've had our employees in the barn painting our house shutters. We've decided on Chester County white after being up in the air all summer about what color we were going to go with. Now we just need to decide on the door color. I think we may go with a green/black.

Next week is Halloween and then my birthday. I can not believe we are almost to November. It seems like the kids were just at the shore and then getting ready for back to school. Next we'll be talking about Christmas!

10-6-2014 Kids-free Weekend Bliss

Mom and Dad had the kids this past weekend and I took off both Saturday and Sunday from work for the first time since I started working every weekend back in June 2013. It was wonderful!

Charlie came with me and we met Mom and Dad 1/2 way between our houses Friday afternoon around  4:00ish. We then came home and relished in the peace and quiet for a while. Eventually we head upstairs to showers and relaxing in bed.

Saturday we slept until 7:30 am. I still can't believe I actually slept in that late! We got up eventually and did the 4 Centuries Historic Homes Tour as we do every year. It was in the Oley Valley this year and was quite enjoyable. We took along drinks and snacks and nibbled our way through the day. Charlie's upper respiratory issues persist, so he drank hot tea with honey and juice as well as coffee and water.

We ordered Bruno's stromboli for supper and stopped in a cute little shop a mile or so from Bruno's to kill a little time before picking up our take-out and heading home. Just being able to eat a quiet dinner without bickering or interruptions was quite lovely.

Sunday we slept in again then went to a local flea market and antique shops. Charlie bought some TIME magazine year in review books for $1 a piece and enjoyed looking through them in the afternoon.

The kids did a fall festival with P&J on Saturday afternoon after spending the morning decorating pumpkins from P&J's garden. They went to Tobias's Animal Farm on Sunday. They all agree they had a great time together.

It was absolutely wonderful to have a weekend just the two of us. I look forward to the next…hopefully it won't be a year from now!

9-29-2014 The Carpenter has a Cold

Charlie has been sick since he came home from work on Friday. He took the kids to their fall ball game Saturday morning, then came home afterwards and slept the entire day. Sunday he worked 10-ish until around 5pm, then came home and went to bed. Last night he was awake coughing and carrying on around midnight and sounded awful. It seems too early in the season for him to get the typical respiratory problems he usually develops later in the winter. I'm hoping he went to the doctor today as I instructed him to. Waiting for him to come home from work to see how his day went.

10-5-2013

We went to the historic homes tour today. Enjoyable as always. Kathy watched the kids. Mom & Dad were supposed to, but Mom is having a hypertensive crisis. Her BP was as high as 240/120. I'm taking her for a renal doppler on Tuesday.

Luke is doing well in 5th grade cyber school. He says he wants to go back to school after Christmas. I've talked to Dr. Shoudt about it and we'll get a plan together to ease him back in.

Lily is doing well in 4th grade. She likes Mrs. Miller and is looking forward to signing up for basketball this week. She also just signed up to play the flute.

I'm enjoying working every weekend on the rehab. unit. It's working out perfectly.

9-25-2014 Work Stress = Looking forward to Adults Only Weekend

Work has been quite stressful for me of late. The kind of stress that carries over from the weekend and drags me down all week. I have been discussing it at length with Charlie and have decided to drop down my hours from every weekend to per diem. I will need to tell them tomorrow.

I want to put it behind me and move forward before the first weekend in October. That's when the kids go to Mom and Dad's and we do our annual historic homes tour. I am very much looking forward to it, this year more than ever!

9-18-2014 Fall Ball, School, and New Routines

I think we are all settling in to our back-to-school routines pretty nicely. The kids have a few more weeks of fall ball (practice Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 - 7:30, games Saturdays and/or Sundays).

I wake them each weekday morning at 6:15 so they have enough time to dress, gather together last minute school items, eat breakfast, and have a little screen time before going off to school. I or Charlie drop them off at school anywhere between 7:10 and 7:30. I pick Luke up at 9:10 and we often run a few errands before coming home to eat (of course) then do cyber school.

We have started going to bed at 7:30 pm since I'm waking them each morning at 6:15 am and they are still asleep when I knock on their doors. I have a feeling as it gets dark earlier, I may even bump the time up to 7pm. We'll see….

9-11-2014 Remembering 13 Years Later

I talked to both kids about the significance of today leading up to and including this morning. After I picked Luke up from math class, I asked if they did anything in school to remember 9/11. He said they had moments of silence and he was very disappointed that some kids talked right through those moments. I was so proud of him for recognizing this as wrong.

We got our new refrigerator yesterday. GE with French doors and freezer on the bottom. It's much more spacious than the last one.

9-4-2014 Luke gets a new bike

Luke has got a new bike. It's a mountain bike he bought today at Walmart. He did lots of online research into exactly what he wanted with special focus on brakes and gear shifting. He did not pay for the bike with his money. Instead he and Charlie have worked out a deal (scheme) where Luke will load buckets of wood for the outdoor furnace from now until Christmas. In other words, he's paying off the bike debt with manual labor.

Lily went back to school today. She missed yesterday with pink eye. Hopefully she feels alright and has a good day. They have baseball practice tonight and the first game is on Saturday.

9-4-2014 First Illness Casualty of Back to School

Lily missed school yesterday. She has pink eye. I was planning on taking her to convenient care after school on Tuesday if she still had a sore throat and bit of earache which had started Friday afternoon. When she got off the bus, her eyes were blood red. So, she's on the antibiotic drops for conjunctivitis.

Charlie and I went to the local flea market yesterday morning around 0630 to pick up 6 pairs of shutters I'd found the week before. They are currently painted green and Charlie is going to hang a pair or two to see how we like that color. They are the perfect size for our windows and were quite a find!

Luke is struggling to adjust to cyber school. He was in tears yesterday. This happens every year and I feel quite bad for him. We did finish the day about an hour earlier than the day before, so that was a definite plus. Then we both sat on the sofa together and watched Iron Man on DVD. I think he needed to veg out a little bit, as did I.

Adventures in grilling continue. We had steaks, hamburgers, and hot dogs last night. Even Charlie admitted he is getting quite sick of eating so much meat. The kids and I agree. More veggies, less meat!

9-1-2014 Labor Day Party and Reflections on Summer

Mom and Dad are coming for lunch. We will be cooking on Charlie's new Weber gas grill. We've never had a grill in the past. I've been afraid of them. But this past spring Charlie became quite adamant that he wanted one after driving home from developments where lots of folks were using grills and entire neighborhoods smelled fabulous with steaks on the barbie. So, we made a deal that if our business checking account stayed at a certain amount for over a month with no commercial credit, he'd get a grill. It did, so he did. Turns out, we love it. The food is absolutely fantastic. Both kids are even in agreement the burgers and steaks are right up there with our favorite restaurant's Austin's.

Mom and Dad will be bringing things from their garden like basil, zucchini, tomatoes, squash, spinach, etc. They're also bringing things they picked up at the butcher shop last week and vacuum sealed and froze for us. Not sure what exactly we'll do after lunch. Maybe we'll play cards or a board game if it's hot and muggy or raining outside.

All summer our weather has been outstanding with temp's in the low to mid 80s and low humidity. The past few days have been more typical summer weather than we've had all summer. It's been mid to high 8os with high humidity. Strange that it comes so late in the summer. Wonder what kind of fall we'll have?

Luke and Lily go back to school tomorrow. It will be another 4 day week, like last week, which I think is good to help ease them back into the routine. Luke will start K12 cyber school tomorrow as well. At least that's the plan. We have all the materials, but the site isn't updated with his classes yet. I really wish it was so I could look everything over ahead of time. They'll also have baseball practice Tuesday and Thursday. Busy, busy, busy…something I do not enjoy. Lily has not embraced baseball yet, and is not enjoying practice thus far. We're hoping that changes as she gets more experience with it. Surprisingly, Luke seems to really be enjoying it.

8-27-2014 So Far, So Good

The kids seem to be adjusting well to being back at school. They've been waking up on their own. We are insisting bedtime remain at 8pm. They are insisting they are the only ones in the entire school who go to bed so early. I told them they should be proud to be the only ones well rested.

Luke has come right home yesterday and today and completed his math homework. I'm very proud of him.  I think it will work out well that he started math at public school a week before starting the rest of his classes via cyber school. Less stress that way. Lily came home today and watched a show on the computer before getting her homework done. Always the one to delay the unpleasant as long as possible.

I went to farmers' market and the flea market after the bus picked them up this morning. I saw a man selling shutters that I thought would work for our house. turns out he has 6 or 7 pairs and they will be a perfect fit. He's going to bring them next week and Charlie will pick them up before he starts his workday. I also bought a birds eye maple dresser with mirror. It caught my eye and is quite pretty. The price was right at $60. I consulted Charlie via cell phone after texting him pictures and said said to buy both the shutters and dresser. We haven't brought dresser into the house yet. It's still in the back of the minivan. I'm debating wether I want to start with it in the classroom or our bedroom.

Today was hot. Mid 80s with high humidity. Not fun. Charlie still hasn't gotten the grill he ordered, but he admitted it would be too hot to cook outside even if he did have it. I actually turned the air conditioning on today. I don't think we had it on more than 5 to 10 days all summer.

We don't have big plans for Labor Day Weekend. I know Lily wants to have play dates with her friends on Friday. I think Luke wants to do tune-up work on his RC car.  Charlie is pretty sure he'll need to work Friday. I work Saturday and Sunday. Mom and Dad are going to visit us Monday. I think by then it's going to be around 80 with lower humidity. Perhaps we can go fishing down at the dock for part of the visit.   

8-25-2014 First Day of School, First Day of School

First day of 5th grade for Lily and 6th grade for Luke. Both kids back under the same roof, this time at the middle school. Luke is taking math every morning from 0750-0910. I'll pick him up and bring him home and then we'll do the rest of his classes via cyber school.

Both kids rode the bus to school. Haven't done that in quite a while. We were stopped in the parking lot  at the bus stop. The owner of the orchard said it is private property and we can't be there. I've forwarded his concern to the district and they can figure out what to do.

Luke and I went to a quick orientation at the I.U. for the new cyber school we've switched to this year. Then I took him to the job site to work with Charlie since he owes him money for repairs to the RC car and is paying back the money via labor.

Lily and I are hanging out here at home waiting for them to arrive with pizza and stromboli from Bruno's…our favorite! Great way to celebrate the 1st day of school.

8-13-14 Getting Ready for Vacation then Back to School

Well, the summer has surely flown right on by. The kids and Charlie are leaving for the beach Friday morning and coming back Tuesday afternoon. They'll be going to OCMD as they have in the past. Last year we did day trips instead of the beach and I loved it. Turns out, I was the only one who loved it. The kids insisted they wanted to do the beach this year and so beach it is. I will not be going along. I hate the beach.

Lily had locker training at the middle school this morning. I think she was a little nervous. After a bunch of practices, she got the lock down pat.

Luke (and I) will be switching online schools from Lincoln Interactive to K12. I'm excited, but also a bit nervous to have to learn a whole new system. Luke will take math every day at his public school and have that count as his math grade.

This evening will be the last of the summer reading programs at the library. The kids have gone once a week and really enjoyed it.

The day they come back from the beach starts fall-ball baseball practice. That will be Tuesdays and Thursdays with games Friday evening or Saturday. Charlie will be an assistant coach.

This summer the weather has been outstanding. Very few hot, humid days. Lots of days on the 80s with low humidity. I'd like to order the same for next year please.

7-10-2014 Fall Ball (in July)

Both kids have signed up for fall ball which is a mini version of little league. Every Wednesday in July they are having an open clinic. Last night was the first one. Both kids did great.

7-3-2014 Where the Heck did the Month of June Go?

I absolutely can not believe tomorrow is the 4th of July. I was just thinking about the kids getting out of school for the summer a second ago. A minute before that we were in the midst of a brutal winter and dreaming of summer days. Now here we are in the middle of summer!

We are having a wonderful summer. One or both kids are hosting play dates nearly every day. We are going shopping and to the library and to Blue Marsh Lake and many other places. Both kids have gone to P&J's for a multi-night sleepover. Separately.

Monday we found out who Lily will have for a homeroom teacher in 5th grade. Already! Usually, we don't know the teacher assignment until about 2 weeks before school starts. Of course, now that she's going to middle school, there won't be just one teacher, so I don't think it matters as much as it did in years past.

I need to devote more time to trying to find a cyber school for Luke. I'd like to change to a school that has a teacher conduct class each day, rather than doing it myself. I have been asking around, but not had any luck yet.

7-3-2014 Giada Recipe for bruschetta

To die for!





Recipe Box

6-9-2014 Lily is Ten!

So Lily has turned 10. Her friends Emma, Jade, and Lila celebrated with her. The festivities started with a skating party at Fantasy skate from 1-4 pm. Charlie handled this since I was at work. Then everyone came back to our place to hang out and run around outside. I brought pizza, Stromboli, and wings from Bruno's on my way home from work. After eating they played some more outside and lit sparklers. Later they did s'mores and played flashlight tag. Eventually they got in the tent set up on the riverside porch. A thunderstorm came around 10-ish and we moved everyone into the living room to sleep on the air mattresses from the tent. This morning they played outside then played board games until it was time to send them packing. Lily said she took a survey and everyone rated the sleepover a 10 out of 10. She is currently napping.

6-7-2014 School's Out for Summer

Yesterday was the last day of school. It was the last day for us to have a child in elementary school. Today is the last day the same child will be in the single digits of age. She turns 10 tomorrow.

After school yesterday we all went to Knoebles' Amusement Park to celebrate. We had a wonderful time. Perfect weather. Not too crowded. Lovely.

Luke is having a sleepover at P&J's until Tuesday. Lily will have a skating party followed by pizza and wings followed by a sleepover. All that fun will begin tomorrow at 1pm. Charlie will handle the skating party while I'm at work. I'll deliver pizza and wings I pick  up on my way home.

5-26-2014 Memorial Day

     All four of us were together today with Mom and Dad to celebrate Memorial Day. It was lovely weather, partly cloudy and around 80 degrees. We had hamburgers, lots of little side dishes, fruit and ice cream for dessert.

     The kids have something like 8 days of school left. Hard to believe. Lily has mixed feelings as she'll miss her friends. Luke usually has some anxiety because summer isn't as structured as during the school year. I'll need to put together a basic daily routine for us to follow. He started going to public school for language arts the end of March and has been doing that daily since. It's going okay, but I don't think he's ready to go back to full days next year.

     Charlie is quite busy with customer projects. He is feeling overwhelmed, but does realize it's a blessing to have too much work. He's doing his best to balance everyone. Last Thursday we had a freak hailstorm that caused a lot of damage to vehicles and property. Luckily the work trucks only have dings, but windshields remain intact. Many hundreds of vehicles in our county were totaled from the storm damage. Our house and property were fine, just some shredding of plants. We were very blessed.

     I've been at work for just over a year now at the rehab. center. I am still working every weekend, 2 eight hour shifts. I function as supervisor and have been doing that since January. Of late, it's been quite stressful and approx. 7 nurses have left in the past month or so. That's quite a lot considering we probably on have 20-some on staff to begging with!

   

1-21-14 Valentine Cream Wafers recipe from Betty Crocker

Valentine Cream Wafers recipe from Betty Crocker





This is the recipe for cookies my Mom made for us every Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day when we were kids.