What you see, and what you don’t see…

Have a look at our pretty Black Eyed Susan flowers.  They are blooming like crazy.

It’s a good thing you can’t see the grubs in the grass.  Something has infested the lawn and big, ugly spots are still in the recovery stage.  We’ve treated it, but the reversal process is slow.

The beans and tomato plants are thriving!

Remember how this looked back in April.

 

What you don’t see are all the cucumbers growing at the base of the beans.  We’ve been eating cucumbers for breakfast, cucumbers for lunch, cucumbers for snacks, and cucumbers for dinner.  We’ve given some away and we still have about eight more sitting on the kitchen counter.  Our house has a permanent vinegar aroma from the ones we pickled (soaked in vinegar and salt).

 

My Mothers’ Day geranium shopping (I got a little carried away) has given a lot of color to the yard and the front of the house.

It’s a good thing they look pretty, because the inside of the house is “under construction”.  With our son Robbie moving out we have boxes of his things in one room, another room is getting a new ceiling and flooring, and a bedroom is emptied,waiting to be painted.  I’ve organized two storage bins full of music into categories so we can actually find what we have, too.  Those files are waiting for the newly painted closet to “cure” before they can be put away.  Add in a few school organizing projects and you can imagine the chaos in the house!  Oh, and did I mention the smoky kitchen ceiling from our burned dinner today?

Be thankful you can’t see all this clutter!

This gorgeous sky cooled things down today.  It was a pleasant change from the 100 degree plus weather we have been having.

 

You can’t see the rain that pelted parts of the valley.  I’m still waiting for our neighborhood to get showered.

Andrew and Irene’s new home has a yard!  Joshua and Olivia have a fun place to play.

You can’t see all the labor that has gone in to hauling rocks, moving sand, building rock walls, and planting trees!

Our oldest grand daughter, Maddie, started first grade this week.   Last week she broke her arm and had to have surgery, so we were excited and grateful that she was even able to start school.  Look how much she has grown up since kindergarten!

(kindergarten on left, first grade on the right)

What you can’t see is little Brooklyn peeking out of the blinds (in both pictures)! 

Well, I hope you are enjoying your summer.  Mine is flying by much too quickly!  If you have a crazy desire to organize chaos or eat cucumbers, come on over!

♥

JoAnn

 

Kid Spaces and a Pottery Barn Giveaway

One of my favorite decorating blogs, Emily A. Clarke is having a Pottery Barn giveaway and a kids’ space link party.  If you want to check out fun spaces decorated just for kids and maybe win $500 you should check out her blog today.  Who couldn’t use $500 from Pottery Barn?  I’m adding my playhouse to the link, too. 

Here is the link to our playhouse if you missed it.  You can also see the page by clicking on the playhouse button on my side bar.  Our  grandchildren are enjoying it so much.  They think it’s our “Best Project Ever”,  and we all love it.

Do you have a fun kid space at your home?

JoAnn

P.S. See this dog? She showed up on our front porch with a little note asking, “ Am I too late?”  (She is a well traveled dog who gets passed around between Robbie and his friends as a joke.)  Wonder where she will end up next?

 

Out of Control Blessings…

Sometimes life can be pretty dull and mundane, with daily routines that are repeated over and over again, kind of like in the  movie “Ground Hog Day”.

We do something one day and the next day we do it again, hopefully, better than we did it the day before, but quite often just the same as always.

Well,

Would you think I was crazy if I said I was craving some of that simple routine?

While I’m not complaining about the events, this summer has been an unusually busy one.  School has been out since early June and I am still not feeling in control of my summer.

 

A  few years ago I went on a road trip with some of my lady friends.  We were having such a great time chatting and laughing as we were driving along, that is until we looked at the speedometer and realized we were driving way above the speed limit (much faster than our “senior” abilities ought to allow).  The odd thing was that a lot of cars were passing us at even faster speeds and no police cars were even interested in us.  

To read this post click on this link.

To make a long story short, somehow the speedometer had gotten flipped over to metric.  It only looked like we were driving one hundred twenty miles per hour!

I know I’m not really moving faster than I normally would either, but it sure has felt like a wild ride.

While life has been quite busy, it has been full of blessings for which I am very grateful.

Here are some short updates on why I’m feeling very blessed:

#1.   We had a beautiful wedding and welcomed a lovely girl (Brittany) to our family.

#2.  Cute little Paul arrived healthy and strong.  His mama had endured two miscarriages and a year long cancer treatment/waiting period  following the second miscarriage, so he was truly a blessing! 

(His parents are doing well and they are excited and proud.)

#3.  Sweet baby Zachary arrived one week later, healthy and without any trouble for his mama.  Now, all she needs to do is figure out how to keep all four kids happy without losing her mind.  (I say this after only a few days of baby sitting and remembering all the work young mothers have to do!)

#4.  Miracles really do happen.  Our grand-niece Kenidee, who was in the terrible auto accident, is now overcoming some real obstacles.  She suffered traumatic head injuries, including brain swelling, one broken cheek bone, one shattered cheek bone, a broken jaw, a broken eye socket, a broken collar bone and ribs, and punctured lungs.  For a while, it was even uncertain if she would survive. She was covered with tubes and kept in a medically induced coma.   Look at her now!  She’s walking and talking and making improvements every day. 

She and her family also appreciate all the prayers!

(The last two photos were “borrowed” from Facebook.  I don’t know to whom to give credit.  Thanks!)

So there you have it.

Life has been busy, but in a good kind of way.

Cleaning, yard work, and summer projects will just have to wait for now.

I’ll probably be rocking babies instead!

JoAnn

P.S.  My previous few posts were done on my i-pad with a Blogger app.  Not the best way to edit, but it worked while I was away.

P.P.S.  Thanks to everyone who helped pray for our family!

 

Baby number 2

Welcome little Zachary to the world!

On the road...

 

Today

Playing with my iPad and enjoying a little sun.

O

An early surprise

Sometimes things don't happen like we expect them to.  (Life is usually that way, right?). We have been waiting for two new grand babies to make an appearance. Both were due in a few more weeks.  The second one due decided to arrive three weeks early and the first one due is taking his own sweet time.  

Little Paul was born on Saturday afternoon, so my daughter Katie and I quickly packed our bags and headed off to Portland, Oregon.  We are here with him and his parents, trying to be helpful.  (Mostly we are enjoying taking turns at snuggling him.)

The weather has been unusually hot (especially for Portland) and we are waiting rig ht now for the dreaded jaundice reports to come back on the baby.  It seems like jaundice is pretty common in our family.  Hopefully,he won't have to spend more time in the hospital!

This park is right across the street.  It is beautiful place!

Well, I'll keep you posted on what is going on.

JoAnn

P.s.  baby is doing fine.  No hospital stay!  Yeah!