5 days

Lynn and Jesse are coming home in 5 days. They will be leaving on Tuesday and should arrive in Stetsonville Thursday evening to sleep and then we are on our way to move them into their new home in Appleton Wisconsin. Jesse's mom flew out to Oregon to visit with her friend and Dave left Friday AM with the trailer. He will be traveling that long 3 days by himself and pick up Mary at her friends house in the gorge. They should arrive by Lynn and Jesse on Sunday night. Monday they will pack up and all start their journey home.... even if that means ending a long day of packing up the trailer at the Best Western right down the road!

It will be so nice having them closer to home, 3 hours vs 3 days!! Not having to worry about flights home for Christmas will be great. They will be in Appleton for 1 year and only God knows the plans for after that.... I certainly thought the last 4 years would take forever from the day we dropped them off in a state all the way across the US. I never knew it would be so hard to watch your child grow up and become independent and ready to take on the world. Well Lynn has done that and we are so proud of her. Never in a million years did we think while holding our first born as young teenagers that we could raise a child to become such a wonderful caring person who would experience so many changes in her life and do it with such class and professionalism. We Love you Lynn and can't wait to see you..... and you too Jesse!

Drive Safely

Speaking of wonderful experiences... here is another young lady that has made a very special place in our hearts. She may have been a surprise 4 years ago but I think she was sent to us as a distraction... it worked! Funny how God knows what we can handle. And here she is all smiles for a picture to show her favorite Tia and Jesse a quick peek before they see here in person.

Does she not look like her mother.... I have to bring myself back to the present many times because it's like having Shannon at 4... ready for school, smarter than she needs to be and curious. The other day I asked her if she was going to Kelly's in the morning (She hadn't been to Kelly's for 4 days) and she said "yes.... my friends are going to be so delighted to see me" What 4 year old says delighted!!

Okay so here's a couple flower pictures for those who can't wait to see how the garden is changing. It's been hot and dry (our kind of weather).

While taking pictures the other night I gave Shannon and John a lesson (rule of thirds) neither one of them really cared what I was talking about but here is a picture Shan took of the sunsetting. I think she did very well, not the rule of thirds but a cool picture. I'll try again some other day.

Empty Nest

No not us.... are you kidding!!! No empty nest in this house yet. The empty nest is the robin's nest by the garden shed. On Sunday Auntie DiAnn came over to have me help her drink a bottle of wine (no problem). Well we sat by the garden shed drinking our wine while Mrs. Robin was trying to feed her babies, she was very nervous about coming in while we were there but our wine wasn't gone yet so we weren't leaving. Adam kept peeking at the nest with the 3 babies in, their mouths were always open and they looked like they were getting big enough to fly. I kept telling Adam to stop bothering them... DiAnn told him that the Momma Bird was going to chase him down and peck your eyes out of your head..... Yuck!

Here is Adam checking out the nest.

Can we say "I told you so"... The next picture is Adam locked in the garden shed for he says over 10 minutes because the Momma and Daddy Robin were attacking him. It's Monday morning and he walks to the garden shed to get something and the birds start attacking him. He remembers DiAnn's comment and locks himself in the shed until the birds get tired of bombing him and are a safe distance away for him to make a mad dash for the house. Yep Adam picked the fight with the wrong family... he happened to be in the middle of the parents teaching the babies how to fly away and they were protecting them from this pesty kid.

Here is Adam view as he protects his eyes from getting pecked out of his head!!

Now here's a picture of one of Adam's flowers. I used to buy a flower with a fun name for Adam to watch grow (I'm not sure why he was interested in the flowers and the girls weren't). This is a dayliliy called "So Behave" kinda fitting for Adam and the story above.

Not many pictures of people on here so here is a funky picture of Elly, she never takes a nice picture because she hates having her picture taken.

Adam and Elly as she is trying to talk Adam into letting her ride the bike he is on since it's too small for him. These two are like brother and sister.... bicker, bicker, bicker all night long.

Garden time is getting really colorful. The lilies are starting to bloom, they are huge and there are so many buds on them. Here are a few pictures to show you just how pretty they are.

The blue flax is everywhere, it blooms really bright in the morning but it doesn't like the afternoon sunshine so it closes right up.

Here is Mrs. Robin. She has a nest in the honeysuckle right by the garden shed. She must have kept pushing back the branches to keep the little space hollowed out.

Tour Day

The tour day. It's a beautiful morning, we wake up and can walk right outside with tank tops and shorts. The wind is bearly blowing and the sun is bright, no clouds. We have some things to do this morning but we are mostly just waiting for 12:00. Here's John and I at the garden shed.

I lost track of time and didn't get my camera out much during the tour. I don't officially know how many people were here but I'd guess about 150. There were lots of good comments about the place. Many people were surprised I was the age I am, they were expecting a little ole' lady!!

The lady we bought the house from is Leona Brink, she was selling it for her mother. Leona and her sister came to the tour with their daughters. Their name was Metz. One of the daughters of the two ladies comes up the driveway and says... "my pine tree did well here". She planted the tree when she was in 1st grade with her grandfather. They were very talkative about what was here that they remember. The porch was their favorite place to be (unfortunately it's no longer there). Before they left I had to take them inside for a tour and they were so grateful for that. The two sisters talked about falling down the hardwood steps and chasing each other around the house. It was fun hearing their stories and listening to the granddaughters talk about their memories of their grandparent's house.

Here is the deck side of the house. It's all decorated with garage sale or free items... The table is from the neighbors grandfather's action for .50 cents (yes cents). The chairs are from John's mom and dad (free). The dresser is from a garage sale for $3.00. And yes Lynn those are your dishes on there.

I should have a before picture of this table. It was shot, no one wanted it at the sale but of course Paul knew I would love to give it TLC.

This dresser was just brown and missing the drawers, John was pretty upset that I bought a dresser with no drawers. Someday he will just accept what I bring home and not ask questions. Yeah right!!

Close up just for you Lynn

I had a great time with the tour but happy it's over. Thank you to Jeannie, Starla, Gayle and Shannon for all their help getting ready for this. Now it's time to enjoy the summer.

Oh yeah, the door prize name I drew out of the bucket for my house was Leona Brink!! Spooky huh?