Garden of Weed'n

The first bounty from our garden: lettuce and radishes. Everything is late this year. We had an unusualy cold spring. It even frosted after the normal frost date.
Zinnias, lettuce, onions, peas. In the back of the garden are peppers, cukes, corn, beans and carrots.
This is what it looked like this morning after 2 hours of weeding.
This kitty was sleeping on my Mother's Day Gerbera Daisy so I set a lantern in the container to deter her. She didn't seem to mind.

I've Been Sewing

Finally, something for baby boys! This is in my shop.
I made this purse for my sweet daughter because I had a debt to pay. She cut her younger brothers' hair for me (a job I do not like). She got this purse out of the deal.

Just a Little Summer Fun

The two older girls are gone this week on a mission trip. The rest of us felt the need to do something fun! We decided to pay my sister Linda a visit.
How can you not have fun with someone who agrees to babysit the science teacher's lizard all summer?
These fun masks were in a cute country general store. How do you like my Carmen Miranda look? Maybe strapping on a fruit bowl would be easier then styling each morning.
This is Linda. I think her mask fits her personality pretty well. Of course my 14 year old daughter was mortified that we "old women" could act this way!
We visited a real Amish store. The fans and refrigerators were run by generators. Very interesting.
An Amish cemetary.
We were laughing a little at this lady. I don't know if you can see it-but the floor of her wagon is full of Mountain Dew and Pepsi.
I found a few cute fabrics at a quilt shop. A retro girl's print and a 30's style boy's print with adorable puppies.
I also brought home a cute boy cousin to stay overnight!

Blessed Assurance

"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood!"
~Fanny Crosby

LOVE this song! It was featured in our adult Sunday School paper today.

Strawberries!

We picked strawberries this morning. They were so nice and plentiful. It only took us 40 minutes to pick 50 lbs. Many hands make light work!
They will be so good to eat this winter.
And... even more strawberries. I just sent these dresses out to a children's boutique.

An Early Father's Day

We have our two older girls leaving on a mission trip early next Sunday(Father's Day) so the blessings decided to celebrate Father's Day this Sunday! They packed a picnic lunch and we headed off to Maumee Bay State Park. Of course, everyone was hungry so we ended up eating in the van on the way there. The day was perfect! We brought home sand, sunburns and great memories! Happy Father's Day!
Trying on antlers in the nature center.
Chasing seagulls.
Someone had to get buried!
Captive prisoner.
Attack!
Having fun on the waterslide!

Playing on the beach.

Almost a Decade!

This is my favorite 9 almost 10 year old boy in the whole world! He is a joy to have around. He has been making us smile ever since he was born. God knew we needed at least one comedian in our family! This year he is old enough for 4-H and a baseball team that travels. His favorite subject this year was English. Maybe he'll be a writer? I love reading to him especially the Bible and missionary stories.

Here he is as a "hog farmer". He is doing a great job taking care of his pigs.

He is quite a musician and can play by ear. This year for the piano recital he played the theme from "Star Wars".

In his baseball uniform. The thing he enjoys most about baseball practice is visiting with the other guys. I can't believe he is almost 10! The time has flown by. What a blessing he is!

Very Happy 24th Anniversary!

Our surprise supper!
Sweet little treasures.


Birdcage from an antique store.
Our gorgeous anniversary cake made by my favorite bakers!

Our anniversary was yesterday, June 8. Wow! Those 24 years went fast! We stayed overnight in a hotel and visited Amish country. We drove the backroads, bought some honey at an Amish house and admired cute little Amish kids and their gorgeous vegetable gardens that have no weeds in them! Mondays look to be washing days -saw a lot of clothes on lines and hanging on porches and in gazebos. I thought this was a smart way to dry your clothes even if it rains.
We visited a big antique store. You know you're getting older when toys and dishes that you recognize are in an antique store! I got an awesome birdcage. Not sure why, but I think they're cool.
I also got a few cute little treasures to decorate with and nothing was over $3. We brought home the hugest cream-filled donuts for the boys. You should have seen their eyes!
To top it all off, when we got home, the blessings had made us an anniversary dinner! A pasta casserole, salad, french bread, complete with a cloth tablecloth and real glass glasses. They even made home-made ice cream and a beautiful chocolate cake for dessert! What could be sweeter than that? What a great day!

No, we're not tired...

The boys had friends stay over last night. They had a good day that included baseball practice, playing at the park, Legos, light sabers, and toads. I asked them mid-afternoon if they were tired. "No, we're not tired at all," they responded. Their friends left around 3pm. Look what I found at 3:30...

A Year Ago...

A year ago today we had the opportunity to fly out to Colorado! It was a trip of a lifetime. We visited Rocky Mountain National Park, Red Rocks, Garden of the Gods, Focus on the Family and Pike's Peak. Wow~it was gorgeous scenery and a lot of fun! I would LOVE to go back again sometime!



On top of Pike's Peak. I had no idea it would be that high up!
Focus on the Family in the "Narnia" room.
Taken on our 23rd anniversary.
Garden of the gods
Flying "W" Ranch-where we enjoyed our 23rd anniversary dinner.
Red Rocks near Denver
The road through Rocky Mountain National Park was closed because of too much snow. We went as far as we could.
A June snowball!
The boys loved feeding the chipmunks!

Close-up of an elk.