These are the days!

These are the days!!!!  We are living the days with three kids still under our roof!  Our oldest is married, moved out and gave us our first grand baby six weeks ago!  Baby Gunnar has our hearts and love!!!!  I'm packing the big boy lunch each day before he heads off to work.  I'm washing little boy and big boy and bigger boy dad ball pants all in one big load!  The jerseys say New Covenant and Flames X 2.  There's dirt brought into the garage from three pairs of spikes being worn.  This is the life!!!!

Matthew asked Mike to help their ball team when he can.  Most times it's the same night that Austin has a game and Mike pitches for the Flames so he didn't know how often the ball games would interfere.  Last night, Austin had a game at 7:15 and then Matthew had a 8:30 game.  Mike helped with both games and loved every minute of it!  He made amazing catches in left field as Matthew played short stop!  Austin, Ashlyn and I watched on the bleachers!

Flames lost last night but played a well game.

Then we went to the next ballpark to watch Mike and Matthew play on the same team!

So fun!  Watching the big boys play sports side by side is awesome!!!!  Not every dad does this!  Mike is mid forties and in good health and has energy for a ballgame anyway!  What a blessing!

And May is giving us beautiful blooms along with lots of rain!  

Peony's are one of my favorites and Jody has a very pretty bush that these all came from!!!!  I made a display for the bridal shower and it's stunning on the dining room table!

May also gives us beautiful berries!  These are not from my garden, nope.  My berry patch has never done great and my head would swell so much if these were growing in my dirt so we just buy strawberries from the local markets and roadside stands!  So yummy!

And what a memory!  Lapp's Structures sold a swing set to Adrian Amos!  Adrian is a pro football player and after Mike saw the order come through, they reached out to Adrian and asked if some little boys could come meet him when the swing set gets delivered!  Day made when he said YES!  Austin was excited and got a signature from him!  Mike took the cousins along to and Adrian Stoltzfus told Adrian Amos that he middle name is Amos.  So cool!  Mike is so good at doing things like this with the cousins and boys!!!

School is winding down!  We only have a few more days left and then it's summer vacation!!!!  And wedding time!  And days at the pool!  Ice cream stops and Oola Bowl eats!  We can't wait!

 

Bridal Shower!

We prayed for a sunny day and for the winds to calm down.  Well, the sun did shine and the wind did blow but it all was a beautiful bridal shower for Daisy and the important thing was that she would have a good time!  Her mom and sisters brought the foods and decorations!  We just provided the space!

Daisy is a beautiful woman and we can't wait for the their big, special day!  Being surrounded by her friends and receiving some gifts was a blessing!

 

Heather brought lots of food and the display was so pretty!  Fruits and vegetables and dips and crackers and cheese ... it all looked and tasted great!

I made some cookies and lemonade to serve on the side!

My cousin Ashley makes these cookies and I was sure to add these as well to the food options!  She does such a good job at the design and the taste!  My kids LOVE these cookies!  Everyone raved about them at the baby shower for Hadassah and again at this event for Daisy!  Thank you Ashley!!!!!

Me and the girls!!!!!!

Grandmas were there!

Daisy's sisters had some games we played and then we ended the party with a prayer over the couple!!!!  This was special and the day was so beautiful!

Wedding day is coming fast!  There's still some work to be done at the house!  We love these kids and can't wait for the big day!!!!  

Ball tournament.

 Austin could not wait for this tournament!  He's been hitting a 100 balls each day to get prepared!  It started early Friday evening.  I picked the kids up a little earlier at school to give them some time to get home, grab the ball gear and head to the ballpark!  

We were happy to see the blue skies after a rainy week!  The boys were ready and they won their first and only game on Friday!

Matt and Mike are the head coaches for the Flames but the other dads help with base running and other its a team effort from everyone to make these wins!  I love watching Mike with the boys!  They listen, he teaches!  They love him and he loves them!  I love to watch these boys play ball together!

Austin was really hopping that all those balls he hit at home will help him cross that home plate a few times!!!!  And it sure did help!

Mike is the pitcher!  This is how it is for the younger devision.  Each game he pitches the balls to our boys on the Flames!  The same goes for the team we play against.  They have their coach pitch to them.  Good job Babe!!!!

We had drinks available for the boys and it was such a lovely day on Saturday!!!!  The sun was warm and we now started our summer tans!

Each game begins with the boys lining up on the field and having a prayer!

On Saturday, there was a cook out for the team of burgers and wings and hot dogs!  Mom's helped bring the fixings and sides!  This was a fun time with the Flames and they made it to the semifinals.  The Orioles knocked us out before the final game and the boys were bummed but they had a fun tournament!

Ballparks are just the best of warm days!  We have spent many, many hours at these parks and I just love to watch the kids thrive, learn what team work looks like and have a blast together!

Go Flames!!!!!

Preparing ....

We are preparing for a ball tournament, a wedding day and a bridal shower!

A ball tournament is coming up and Austin asked Mike to wake him up at 6:15 two mornings in a row so he can hit 100 balls before school.  The first morning, he stayed up and was ready early.  The second morning, he flopped on the coach for a few minutes before heading off to school!  I love how he wants to win his games and tries hard to be the best he can be!!!!!

And on cleaning day, I stopped and paused as I washed Matthew's bedsheets and cleaned his room.  It will only be a few more weeks and he will be packing up his things, marrying his best friend and moving into the house that he bought with his hard earned money.  Little boys grow up too fast!!!!!

I am so proud of him!  Matthew works hard!  They completed premarital counseling even though there were times he didn't feel like doing it!  He grabs his baseball glove or the basketball as soon as he comes home and wants to throw or shot with Austin!  I know Austin will miss this after the wedding.  The days are being counted down for the wedding day and all these little moments are treasured!

We cleaned up the back porch and Mike set up the canopy in preparation for a bridal shower for Daisy!  Adding a roof over our porch nine years later was such a good idea and a blessing to have this outdoor living space!  We love it out here!

We  moved the rug a different way and added this new planter and I think it looks so nice!

I love the white and green look!

May is here!

 Wow, I sat down a few times to post this May blog and time has a way of getting past me!  So here I go!  

May is here!!!!  I love May!  We flipped the calendar page over to my favorite month!  I planted a yellow tomato and another red tomato in the garden!  The plants got a good watering and the wind has been crazy!  I'm ready for the wind to calm down!  I pulled out the tulip bulbs and I hope to plant more seeds in that raised bed soon!  May is the month of finishing up school and go on field trips and have track and field day and spring programs and Mother's Day and a birthday and .... it's gonna be fun!  The weather warms up this month and the flowers are planted.  The garden gives us fresh lettuce and radishes and the summer pools open!  Memorial Day closes out the month.  I'm excited and love this month!

Flowering trees surround the park.  We are still doing our morning walks but I have a feeling between the wet weather and May activities it's gonna be a few and far between walks the next few weeks.

The kids love baby Gunnar!!!!  If they see that Hadassah's vehicle is here when they get off the bus, the race is on to see who can get to Gunnar first!  It's just too cute!  

Another visit with Mommy D.  She has a birthday coming up and I can't wait to celebrate with her!

We attended our school Spring Banquet and heard an incredible story by Dale Livingood reminding us that miracles still do happen and are happening all around us!  Look for them!  Acknowledging that God answers prayers and heals today!!!!

And baby snuggle!

Ashlyn got to attend a National Day of Prayer event again at Encounter Church instead of going to school. The day was filled with prayer, praise, games and food!  I love that our nation still holds this valuable day and even though we are told in the Bible to pray without ceasing, this day is a great reminder to get on our knees and pray for our nation.  Our leaders.  Our churches and schools!

The garden is coming alive!!!!  Radishes are ready and the dahlias that I stuck in the ground are coming through!

 

Still tiny plants but they are growing!

We are remembering Annika and Carson at church and watching the children gather around them and praying for them and handing out these flowers as a reminder to keep praying for the Rollman family is our duty!!!!!

It was so sweet to sit with the girls that are in Annikas Sunday School Class.

Raspberry bushes and lots of green going on here!

The kids have been doing non stop razor rides after school down the farm lane!!!!  Ashlyn gives rides when cousins come over!

I had my 44th birthday the other day and it was a day spent with the basketball team and families touring through our State Capitol building.  This was special to be recognized by Senator Martin as he gave a nice speech recognizing the Warriors winning the State Championship game!!!!!  This is a beautiful building from walls down to the floors!  What an honor to be here!  I ate a cupcake after seeing I share a birthday with Florence Nightingale and the team sang happy birthday to me on the way back to school.  Turning 44 young is not so bad!

And then we celebrated Mother's Day!!!!  Grabbing a photo at church is always fun!!!  I love my mom and she taught me so much growing up and showing me how to be a good mom!  My mother in law has also taught me much about gardening and canning applesauce and having these two women in my life has added so much to my personal life!  Now I'm a mom and a grandma!  Watching our children grow up to become parents is cool and exciting!  Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!

Baby Gunnar's first time at church went well!  Of course, we all wanted to hold him!  And Ashlyn hopped along with Hadassah and Gunnar as they went shopping for a few gifts and here's he's giving out a big yawn!

Finding photos like this on my phone just make me smile!

Ashlyn's pretty art work at school!

Spring Program .... Upper school sounded so good as they played the bells and lifted up their voices!

The days are being counted down to wedding day!!!!!  We can't wait to celebrate with Matthew and Daisy!

And May means fresh berries and road side stand goodness!!!!!

Muffins with Mom is an event that elementary does for Moms!  The things the kids write about us moms is silly!

More razor rides happening!

And we celebrated the completion of Spring programs with Latte Luv drinks!!!!

Ausitn's turn to shine!!!!

Lily of the Valley flowers beside this grassed cracks me up!

And here we go ... Hadassah comes over to our house often and I love it!  We sit and hold baby and chat and my work gets put on the back burner.  It's OK!  But this time she had a few stops she wanted to make and so baby stayed here with me!  His first drop off and I'm babysitting!  Love it!

Host or Guest????  We were invited to friends from church for a dinner meal at the Witmers!  The night was full of fun and laughter and long talks about small groups and bucket lists!

And look at this!!!!  We made our first sushi rolls here at home!!!!  

Papers from school that I love so much!!!!!

Another photo I found on my phone!  These two have been each others friends as we spend evenings at home!!!!  May is full of events but our evenings have been spent right here at home as we work in the garden and go for razor rides.

Track and field was a drizzly day of events.  The kids were assigned in color teams and they competed in relay races in the morning.  We had to use the umbrella a few times but it wasn't too bad.  

Go blue team!!!!!

Normally, after lunch we move to the grass and watch the kids do races, softball throws ... all the track side of events but because of the wet grass and all the rain we had the past few days, it was decided to form a tug a war and a dodge ball game in the gym instead.  Austin didn't mind.  This was just as fun!

And this has been a year of surprises and weird events at school.  The kids got up and got ready for a day of normal school.  The bus picked them up and they were off after a prayer!  Soon Lena texted and said that the kids have no school today.  I called her immediately because my kids just got on the bus!?!  While I was on the phone with her, Austin walks back into the house.  What is happening?  Here, the elementary school has no electricity and it was just decided to have no school for the younger kids.  The bus driver turned around and dropped Austin back off at home.  He now has a day at home with me.

Because of no school, we took this time to go and get him fitted for his wedding suit that he's going to wear for Matthew's wedding.  I teared up when Matthew asked his brother to be his best man!!!!!  What?  A nine year old being a best man?  How sweet!!!!!  Of course Austin said yes but after thinking it all through, Matthew asked his next best friend to be his second best man because it's hard for a nine year old to plan a bachelors party and give a speech on the wedding day!  The wedding is just a month away and it's time to get things like this in place!!!!

Like I said, it's time to get things in place!!!!  We gifted Matthew and Daisy new appliances for their house when they get married and we met them at the the appliance store to pick out all the things!  We laughed and joked that they are just getting this mini fridge!  We love loving on our kids!!!!  These new appliances will look great in their home!

And we've had so much rain this month and I'm being grateful because when those hot June tempts come, the grass will need every drop of rain it gets!  However, I'm also so ready for a day of full sun!!!!  We've been mowing the lawn while it's still wet because it's growing and thick and so green and still needs cut!  The flowers that the kids gave to me for Mother's Day brightens up the kitchen!

May is here!

We've been busy!

 School is finishing up!

Wedding plans are in place!

Baby Gunnar is growing like a weed!

Our hearts are full!!!!!