Getting stuck twice in the morning

First at home.



Then in my arm.



Ouch.

In the news: Me!

This photo appeared in our local county paper last week, including my name for the photo credit!



They've printed one other picture of mine (just including "Courtesy of Library Staff). Of course, this time, I emailed the photo in myself and put my name on it, haha.

I sent in several pictures from our Library Craft Day last week, but the paper chose to print other photos--a burning house, a local dairy's customer appreciation day event, and the Annual Antique Tractor Day. This place is getting too exciting, I'm telling you.

Reason #6 I love my husband

All these germy little kids at work have made me sick once again. I worked yesterday and told Robert to fix whatever for dinner. I was feeling really lousy, and this is what I came home to. It was awesome!



I'm still not feeling good today, and I worked again. COUGH. COUGH. HACK. BLECH.

My wonderful husband came into town to pick up something for dinner and decided on breakfast. That's always a hit at my house.

This is what he fixed tonight.



I SO LOVE this guy. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Last week's news

(I'm soooo behind.)

After a week's rain delay, Trevor's team took the championship in his 9-12 year old division!

They won, 4-2, especially sweeet this year. Last season, they were undefeated but lost the championship game in an overtime shoot out.

Some went all out with their enthusiasm!

That was only the beginning of the evening, as the MVPs from the 13+ year old teams played against the coaches. No surprise that the MVPs won, but it was pretty hilarious to watch the coaches give it their best effort. These are not men who want to lose, haha.

Our team structure within the league is unique. There are eight teams total, and each team is then broken out by ages, 6-8, 9-12, and 13+, for a total of 24 "sub"-teams. Each team practices at the same time, but each "sub"-team has its own coach and playing field. This means that families only need to show up at the one practice each week. Our team is the Rams; Trev plays on the 9-12 team, Holly on the 13+ team. Robert coached the 13+ team this season. Three hundred homeschool kids played this spring.

The teams gathered together to distribute team plaques and to recognize players for their various strengths. Robert hadn't planned on saying anything. However, Trevor's coach is quite eloquent (and very wordy and sweet!), so Robert followed suit and acknowledged each member of his team individually for their abilities. Between the two of them, we were by FAR the last team to finish. Everyone else was waiting for us, so that the group ceremonies could continue. But this closeness, this bonding, is what makes our team so special (although everyone else probably thinks the same about their own team!)

The league gathered one last time to recognize each 9-12 and 13+ team's MVPs and most Christ-like Player. By then, it was almost completely dark out, so my photo ops ended.

Facing a one+ hour drive home, and tummies that were not full, we celebrated by stopping at McDonald's for dinner. I thought that was somewhat ironic, after a night of athletics, to load up on garbage, lol.

Trevor proudly displays his 1st place medal around his neck.

It was a wonderful season. Everyone recognizes that end of season feeling: relief that it's over, yet looking forward to starting up again in the fall!

And a few more pictures to wrap up the visit

After driving 2100+ miles to get here, and after driving an hour-plus to get anywhere around here, my dad and Sherry were not too eager to leave the house. LOL. But they were eager to see Holly show some of her jumping skills on Sunday. She's come quite a long way since the last time they saw Holly ride.


Rob, Holly and Trevor had one more final activity with their Bible Club kids on Monday, and we met up in our little town later in the afternoon. We've lived here for two years, and while we've done a few things downtown, we've never actually just wandered up and down the street to check out the shops. Okay, it's a nice little town, the biggest in our county, but there isn't much to it!


Sherry and Trev spent some time working on a puzzle. (This was fun, we need to do more things like this at home.)


It seems like the camera is never out enough when we have family in town. I usually realize this at the last minute, so there's a flurry of picture taking right before people leave. The kids are absent from any of these pictures (at least this time), because they were still in their pajamas. I made Robert take about 40 shots, so I could possibly find one I liked.

Why am I standing so weirdly, thrusting my body forward?
I look more in proportion in person, I'm quite sure.
I hope.
Maybe I should find that blur option...lol

It was a great visit, and we hope to do it again soon. Of course, a Phoenix vacation in the middle of winter would be wonderful, but yuck for that long drive. But as I'm sitting here thinking about it, I'm realizing that Holly could have her permit in a year. With three of us driving, I bet we could do the drive in two and a half days...

Dad and Sherry, THANK YOU for coming out and spending time with us! We had a great visit!!! We l♥ve you!!!!!!

D-Day 65th Anniversary

"In this column I want to tell you what the opening of the second front entailed, so that you can know and appreciate and forever be humbly grateful to those both dead and alive who did it for you."
— Ernie Pyle, June 12, 1944

* * * *

On June 6, 1944, in the single largest land, sea and air assault ever, more than 150,000 troops landed at the beaches of Normandy. In the words of General Dwight D Eisenhower, these heroic men "brought about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world."

It was a privilege to attend the 65th Anniversary commemorative service at the National D-Day Memorial in nearby Bedford. Rob and Trevor had calendared this a year ago, and my dad and Sherry's visit coincided with the date.


In an estimated crowd of 4,000, we listened to the somber hour-long commencement, which included readings of various speeches from the time, and of letters written by soldiers who were part of the Operation. Also honored at the ceremony were several dozen D-Day veterans who were in attendance. The youngest of these men will be 82 years old this year.

Following the program, we spent time wandering the grounds, looking at various displays.


We found a friend of Trevor's, whose Sea Cadet unit was among the many groups of volunteers.


The day was hot, hot, hot, but definitely an improvement over the rain earlier in the week. We found a shady spot to eat. (This photo doesn't look too shady, but seemed cool at the time.)


We spotted several groups of people who had obviously traveled quite far, including families from Texas and the upper Midwest.


We saw a lot of great t-shirts.

Trevor pretty much taught himself to read,
but we're thankful he reads English.

Robert bought his own copy of The Bedford Boys to be signed by author Alex Kershaw. I can't recommend this book enough. Find it at your library and learn more about the incredible sacrifices made by our soldiers on D-Day.


We are unable to express gratitude to those who died while fighting on a battlefield, but we can never forget the precious gift they gave to preserve our freedom and defend our Constitution.


"...you can know and appreciate and forever be humbly grateful to those both dead and alive who did it for you."

Weekly menu

Chicken Jerusalem, rice, vegetables
tacos
bbq beef sandwiches, creamed cukes, ??
Dad's choice (Wal-Mart pizza?)
quiche
chicken sausage, ??
Father's Day ??

Cake of the week if someone will make it (for Father's Day? lol):
Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake (blog recipe)

On the back burner:
breakfast with Chef Greg's hash browns (if I find the recipe)
Easy Peanut Butter Fudge, thanks again to Heather
chicken fajitas
meatballs
tuna sandwiches
tortellini salad, hummus, pita bread

After the rain . . .

(Backing up a week.)

Needless to say, the rain put a damper on things. Our soccer championships were postponed, so we hit the mall just to get out of the house.



Robert shopped at the jewelry store. He's planning ahead for my birthday, I'm quite sure. (But I won't hold my breath!)



We hung out at the bookstore.



Since we have plenty of books at home, Trevor planned ahead and brought his DS. Seriously.



We went out for Chinese buffet. (Mine, of course, is the plate with all the fried food.)


When we got home, Rob, Trevor and I went down to see the creek. It was definitely fuller than I've ever seen it.


The water was fast and muddy.


The rocks we usually cross on were covered, and Trevor judged the depth on his own.


It wasn't quite deep enough for any ark we considered building, and in the meantime, the creek is back to normal this week. Thankfully, it's been mostly dry skies and sunshine again.

They're here! And it's raining!

My dad and Sherry are here! Thanks to his GPS, we knew when they were close--of course, they had to call to get real directions. (I love my own GPS and hate it too)


We haven't seen them in two years, since just before we moved.



Sherry and Trevor went for a walk in the woods and waited out a surprise rainstorm under the trees. The next day, in between rains, we walked on the road.


It began pouring just in time for dinner. My husband is SO wonderful. He not only cooks outside for us in the rain, but he puts up with my camera too. (Barely.)


It's rained for about 40 days. I'm pretty sure about that. I know for sure why everything is so green. It rained 3.25" between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. last night.

12 hours of rain

Soccer championships got rained out tonight too.

I'm thinking a small ark might be a nice family project. And it'd work in that swimming pool now in my back yard.

End of chess

As we "once again" celebrate the annual end of chess party, it amazes me that we've been here for almost two years.

Star Wars chess

The same family generously opened up their home again. (You'd think they'd have learned by now.)


We ate, of course. I'm shocked to see I didn't take any pictures of food. Imagine it was a big potluck, and here's the imaginary photo.













It was a spectacular night. I felt like we'd stepped back in time, and I liked it there. A lot. The kids played chess . . . of course.


There was music (piano, drums, tambourine) and singing in one room.


Some played Skip-Bo. I'm going to buy this game and convince my family to play with me. I'll probably have to beg, or threaten, them, but that's okay. Right?

The men enjoyed peace and quiet on the front porch.


The little kids played Legos.


Sigh. It was truly wonderful. I hated to leave, to return to the 21st century. On the plus side, the "end of chess" really isn't, as chess club will continue to meet over the summer for the first time. Yay!

Don't read if you hate spiders. Or love them.

That's a trick title, don't you think? It makes you want to peek, no matter what.

Trevor found this wolf spider under a brick in our front planter. We were on our way out the door to church and didn't have much time to look. Since I hate spiders, I came running out of my house to look. Then I ran back inside to get my camera.


As we were oohing and aahing and grossing out, along came a big, fat millipede. In a split second, the spider grabbed the millipede, bit into it, killed it, and sucked all of its guts out. Or something like that.


Then we noticed the babies Wolfie carried on her back. The big white thing behind her is her egg sack, which she attaches to herself. She has to hold her whole body in a different position to keep the sack from scraping the ground. I was lucky enough to see grand pictures of all of this on the internet while confirming what kind of spider she was.


I'm really glad I saw this through the camera, instead of up close. Like now. I'm including this photo because it shows what she did to the worm.


I shot a total of about 18 photos in less than 2.5 minutes. As I contemplated Wolfie's fate, I considered how big she was, how many babies she had, and how close she was to my front door. I made that decision in less than 2.5 seconds.

You can never have too many . . .

. . . ice cream choices . . .



. . . $3 t-shirts from Old Navy . . .



. . . strawberries from your garden, freshly picked by a terrific 10 year old . . .

Aren't these gorgeous?

Life is GOOD!