Pool players

I think the boys had (are having) one fun weekend - yesterday evening Brian & I had a couples shower for some friends, so the boys were going to stay at my parent's with Aunt Net who was in for the weekend. Well, they called me that they wanted to go to the drive in movies with Beau & Courtney, and then spend the night at Aunt Diane's, so since they had already gone to church and didn't have to get up early, it was fine with us. When we went to get them this morning, they were already in the pool, and were't ready to leave, so we let them there for a while longer until lunch was ready at Granny & PawPaw's.
After lunch, we went to MoMo & PoPo's house for more fun, but PoPo had to leave and work for a couple of hours at the "green store", so we went there for a little while too and the boys got to play a game pool. When it was time to leave they asked if they could spend the night at MoMo & PoPo's tonight, so we thought since Kade was willing, why not, and they still had their bag packed from the night before (good thing I always pack extra).

Summer & Salsa

During the summer months the windowsill in my kitchen is usually full of tomatoes. I pick them when they start to turn in color and put them in the windowsill to completely turn red - that way we get them before the bugs do. After they ripen and turn completely red, I make salsa.
Summer is usually the only time I make it even though we all love it - I'm silly that way, I only like to use our home grown tomatoes, instead of ones bought from the store.

Too Blessed to be Stressed

There’s the old saying “ever have one of those days”, well, that would have fit me perfectly Monday, but I choose to live by another saying, too blessed to be stressed, and find ways I was blessed from each.

I woke up thinking that I should have taken the day off, I mean we were gone for 3 days. . . . . the pile of laundry, the unpacking, the photos to upload, the sleep, so many reasons to stay home. . . but I didn’t take off, so off to work it was. . blessing number one, having a job to go to.
Brian was going to check on my vehicle, so he said to take his truck, ok, so I go to leave and I think, as soon as I take this truck he’s going to need some tool and it’s going to be in there, so I went back in and got the keys to the little car. I hate driving this car, I mean going from driving a Tahoe to a little Saturn, no thank you, anyway off to work I go. (blessing: having the option of which vehicle to take) I get to work and get out of the little car and I take a step and couldn’t walk right. I look down and see that the strap on my sandal had broken so my foot would go one way, and the shoe would go the other. To top it off I knew the ladies in the drive thru could see me, so I struggled for a little while, then I just took it off and walked in without a shoe on. I stapled the strap on and it held good enough to get me down the stairs to check my mail and to go and talk to the ladies - they thought I had gotten hurt over the weekend, but I told them I was fine, and it was just my shoe that was broken, not my leg – we all got a good laugh. (blessing: no injury)
A little later, I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast, so I had my piece of fruit and went to cut it, well when I did the knife slipped and nicked my finger. (blessing: not a big cut)
Brian had called that he and the boys would come to town and bring me some shoes and we could all go to lunch – yeah, I get to see them, I get a different pair of shoes, and I get to go out to lunch!!! They pick me up (my shoe broke again as I was walking out the door) and we go to the restaurant, while there I needed to go to the ladies room, so I went. . . and the toilet paper was stuck up in the dispenser so I could not get any out, luckily the napkins to dry your hands were right there, so all was well. . . .yet another blessing
I made it through the rest of the afternoon without a hitch, and headed home and then stayed on the couch the rest of the evening. . . with my blessings around me.
Oh, and there’s nothing wrong with the Tahoe, my wonderful hubby accidentally left the parking break on and we drove from his parents to our house with it on, this caused a smell and heat from the back tire area, so we thought something was going out on it. He was upset about it (about being so dumb (his words) and leaving the break on), but I was excited that there wasn’t something seriously wrong with it. . . . blessing.
I guess I could also throw in that last Wednesday evening the screen on my cell phone when out, and I called to use the insurance and get a different one, but found out that I could get a new one for less because our contract is up and we can renew, so I decided to wait because I'm going to Victoria this week, and we could get new ones. . . .well good thing because this weekend my wonderful hubby realized after being in the lake for about 30 minutes that his phone was still in his pocket. . . blessings I decide to wait.
So yes, I’m too Blessed to be Stressed –

Don’t let the little things get to you and find your blessings anyway you can.

Beau's Birthday

While at the lake we celebrated Beau's 19th birthday.
He almost didn't get a cake, but luckily we weren't too far from the house when we remembered it.
Happy Birthday Beau - we remember the day you were born like it was yesterday.

Family Vacation

This year marked the 9th year that my family has gone to the lake for our family vacation. And as always a good time was had by all.

Pool Fun

Everyone keeps telling us we need a pool in our backyard, however that is NOT on my list of wants for many different reasons. So for now this is what our boys get. . . . ;)
I don't have to clean it, shock it, test the water, or any of the fun stuff that comes with having a pool, and the best part is that I got this one on clearance last summer for seven bucks.
No worries, they always manage to have fun

First Summer Project - Complete

I thought the summer project was going to be the patio area that I really wanted, however my wonderful hubby had another idea - so that's why this is titled First project, hopefully the patio is the second.

After some grindingand welding diggingsome wateringto do more diggingpouring concretecrawling way up high and tying nettingwe have our very own batting cage

Wiggles & Whiskers

The boys brought home a baby kitty from my sister's house and decided to name him Mr. Whiskers. They wanted to have our two pets as the double W's - Wiggles & Whiskers.
These aren't quite our pets, so they don't have a W name - these are some of the exotic deer that in the pasture next to us, and they come up to the fence and wait for the boys to feed them.

Happy Flag Day

God Bless America!

Camp Guardian Angel

This past weekend was the annual KJZT Jr. Camp Guardian Angel at Forest Glen Christian Camp just outside of Huntsville. In the past Diane & I have taken the campers there, but now that hers have both graduated, she convinced my loving hubby to go, and am I so glad he did. We had our two boys (ages 10 & 5), our two nieces (ages 13 & 11), and three other boys (ages 10, 9, 8) from our society. And my wonderful hubby was the hero of the boy’s cabin – the deacon who also stayed in their cabin was calling him Mr. Mom and bragged on how great he was with the 5 boys.
The four of us “pros” showed the “rookies” the ropes, and they showed us a few things too - in the past we had the older ones with us, and they just wanted to do a few of the activities, and relax, well this year with five (yes, counting Brian) “rookies” we went non-stop. There were so many different activities to enjoy – canoeing, archery, shooting BB guns & paint ball guns (at targets), playing gaga ball, horseback riding, the blob, swimming, basketball, ping pong, volleyball, shaving cream fight, high ropes, low ropes, roasting marshmallows at the campfire, crafts, spiritual activities like a patriotic rosary, and Holy Mass. Oh, and I almost forgot, we also have a traditional Czech night with a polka dance. I’ve seen where usually the girls try to pair up with another girl so they don’t have to dance with or go in the grand march with a “yucky” boy, well this year, our society and one other one close to us that we’re all friends with had the perfect ratio of boys to girls, so I made them pair up like that – of course Nicolette went with Kade, but that’s okay. Some of them weren’t too sure about this whole dance thing, but I think they all had a great time. They did the grand march, The 7 Step Polka, The Garden Waltz, The Chicken Dance, The Bunny Hop, The Cotton Eyed Joe, and a few others that I can’t remember. It was so much fun watching them – I wanted to join, but I was busy taking pictures.

It was a fun filled (exhausting) weekend, and everyone is ready to go back next year.