Memorial Day Weekend, 2023!

 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!!

I love these two quotes!  I am realizing more and more that our freedom really isn't free and it didn't come for free and we need to not take this for granted!!!!!  Thank you to all those who helped and still help keep this wonderful, beautiful country FREE!!!!!

We spent another weekend with the same six families under another roof at a river house!  It was lovely!  The weather was great!  

These girls just have a blast together!

Every year Martha Rose plans some games.  This year, the kids did this first and then us adults took a spin at it.  Literally!!!!  We had to spin 15 times around with our heads on a plastic bat.  Then as soon as we were done spinning, we had to run back to our team!  How do you run when you are dizzy???  You don't.  I feel down immediately!  It took me a few seconds before I could even get up and run with Natashias help back to my team!  Mike also spinner for 15 times and when he went to run back to his team, he ran straight towards a tree and nearly missed it!  This was a crazy game.

Martha always has the coolest gifts for the kids!

The food is amazing always!!!!  

The kids love this!!!!

The guys did play a few games of Acquire once again.  Look at their view!!!!  Right beside the river!

The river house this year only had four bedrooms.  Jr's took their camper and everyone else had their names put in a hat and we were pulled out!  I was actually into this because the kids loved sleeping in the camper and it was quiet! 🤩

The house had steps going right down to the river!  What a gorgeous view!!!!

Feeling all the yummy feels for Memorial Day!!!!

Here's the view from the back deck!  Just gorgeous!

Love these boys!!!!

Austin took his fishing gear along but when Javon caught this big catfish, Austin helped real it in.  

There's a cute little town nearby that Suz said they always have an open Saturday morning street market!  I couldn't wait to go see it!  We drove to the town and got to a big parade walking through the streets!  It was great!  Lot's of small market stands lined the streets!

And when the line is out the door, you must see what's inside.  We grabbed a pastry and coffee to!  

Memorial Day is about remembering all those who died or served or are serving our country!  Freedom isn't free and I forget that sometimes!  Freedom comes with a cost!  Thank you to all who have made our country a wonderful place to live!!!

Happy Birthday, Mommy D.!

 Mommy D. had a birthday!!!  She is now 87 years old!  That's old and she is my grandma!!!  I love her so much and decided to take some balloons to her to celebrate!  She's been a women in my life that taught me how to make a good shortcake, good pumpkin pies and to work hard at keeping a tidy house.  She was always super clean!

I love her so much!  Happy Birthday Mommy D.!!!!!

Growing old is not easy.  Mommy is a widow now for the past years.  She lives right next to my parents.  She has a hard time remembering now and she bruises easy.  Those marks on her skin are from simple bumps that just turn black and blue so quickly.  She can still care for herself but her children have certain days to make sure she gets a good breakfast and supper each day.  She feel and broke her shoulder a year ago and still has some pain in that shoulder.  She loves puzzles but doesn't do those 1000 piece any more.  She loves Florida in the winter months.  Purple is her favorite color.  

I bought her balloons but by the very next day, they were already on the floor.  So much for that helium.

All my grandparents were special to me.  She's the oldest relative I have still alive!  Happy birthday!

Track and Field Day.

Track and Field Day is a fun day at school.  It seems to odd to only have one at elementary now and only one child to follow from one event to the next but Austin did a good job with all his events!  The morning was started out with a relays on teams.  Austin was on the black team.  Then in the afternoon, we moved to the track events!  It was sunny, on the cool side and a fun day!

There is always that moment for me on a day like this.  The kids are divided into color teams.  Each child gets points for how they finished their event.  At the end of the day, who ever has the most points, wins!  I tear up every year when I witness dads or moms running side by side with their child that signed up for the mile run.  Or when everyone is cheering loudly for their teammate!  This year, Austin was in a race and right after take off, some of the boys tripped, feel and one boy was left way behind.  He finished the race in tears.  His dad came to talk and help him tie his shoes tighter and he was given a second chance to run the race.  This time, he ran harder with all his classmates cheering like crazy for him!  I seriously got tears!  What would it be like if we would cheer for our Christian friends with such enthusiasm after a simple mistake and fall?  I always think of how it's going to be when I cross the finish line in life and cross over into heaven!  I believe angels cheer for us and what a glorious celebration when another believer enters heaven!  Track and Field Day always reminds me to keep cheering for others!  Keep working hard at each task in life!

Way to go Austin!

Basketball Banquet.

We celebrated the basketball team at their banquet and we just couldn't be more proud of how these young men played the sport with good attitudes on and off of the court!  Matthew was one of the captions and we loved, totally loved going to every game and cheering our hearts out for the Warriors! They won every single game of their season up until the very end!!!  They had an incredible year!!!!!  What an honor to part of this school record breaking year!

Mike couldn't wait to present this gift to Coach Schatzmann!  We put together some favorite photos and gave it to him at the banquet!

Love these kids!!!!!

Coaches have so much to do with all the success of the team!  Thank you!!!!!!

Matthew had a great year!  With a sore knee at the beginning, an MRI taken, report showed three different issues, prayers were asking God to heal his knee, wore a knee brace, didn't wear a knee brace ... ALL BECAUSE GOD HEALED MATTHEW'S KNEE!!!!  Matthew went from icing his knee after games to wearing no brace and being pain free!  It was awesome to see Matthew give God the glory for healing his knee!  He was a key player on the team and did a great job leading out!  Good job Matt!!!!!

This completes the high school level of competition for Matthew.  A part of me is so, so sad about it because we loved watching him play golf, basketball and compete!  But, it's time to move on to graduation, a job and earning some money.  There's much in store for this young man and it will be fun to see God unfold it all!

Good job WARRIORS!!!  I will always be your fan!!!!!

May happenings.

 You know how the saying goes, "Boys and their toys."  Well, Matthew sold his fourwheeler for a dirt bike.  I'm not a big fan but he seems to be loving ripping up the back yard and getting some air on those tires.  He did invest in a helmet and only burned his leg twice from the hot muffler!

The garden is giving us delicious radishes and lettuce!

Poor Ginger girl is in the play house because Arie just don't let her alone.  Lunch looks something like this these days!  Fresh radishes, carrots, homegrown lettuce sandwich!

Homegrown lettuce is one of my all time garden favorites!!!!  I sit down and just munch on it!  

Austin is loving his ballgame nights!  The Flames are doing a great job and having a good season so far!

We are in the final stretch with school activities and the other day I went to Matthews Spring program and the next day I attended Ashlyn and then Austins.  All three with different program times but I made it to each one!  So good!

Art done by Matthew and Ashlyn!

Middle school program ....

Elementary Program ....

Arie ... we have a German Shepherd Puppy at our house.  Jer and Das bought her when she was only a few weeks old and she lives here until they buy their own home.  They would love to purchase some land and a home this summer!  Arie is a fun dog and Hadassah comes here every single day to hang out with her!  Jer comes each morning to feed her.  They are dedicated to training this puppy well!  We love her here but Ginger is still becoming friends.  Arie is a pup with lots of energy.  She just wants to play with Ginger but Ginger is twelve years old and wants nothing to do with this pup that already much bigger than she is!

We've had a chilly start to May so when the first warmer day arrived, the kids were all about it!  Hunter and Adrian got off of school here the other day and the kids set up the sprinkler and slipped on the trampoline with a bottle of soap.  We are ready for warm, summer days!

We celebrated my birthday!  Everyone is living a busy life and we decided to walk through our little town and grab some Oola Bowls for dinner!  I hope we do this a few times this summer because I love our town, the Oola bowls were delicious and The Corner Coffee Shop was buzzing with customers and outdoor singing!  Such a good vibe in town!

The garden is my happy place!  Mike did a lot of work this spring with resetting the railroad ties around the beds and making them deeper.  I love it!  The lettuce is ready to harvest!  The cauliflower and broccoli have heads!  We have a few strawberries!  The fruit trees are looking really good!  So many peaches on them!!!!  

We did have a cold two nights that I covered the tender plants.  This part of gardening isn't fun because I was nervous my plants would get too cold.  We were OK.

May seems to always be packed full!  My calendar has something on it almost every single day.  We are all ready to slow down a little and have some lazy summer days.  The count down on the school days has begun!