And the clock keeps ticking.

Where did the month (AND YEAR) go?  It's already June!

Ahhh!  June.  I'm telling myself just take a deep breath & relax.  Enjoy the days!

 

I love school being out the middle of May. (Our last day was the 18th) I was so happy to see the end of the daily rush & two trips to town every day!  I also like to have a bit of free time between when school is out, and our annual 4 day trip out west the first part of June.

Kaela's last day of school with her teacher.  I missed getting a picture of Kara :(

Meshayla had a recital (guitar) and the little girls had a piano recital the end of May and then everyone has a break from lessons this summer because of being gone.  Meshayla left to go spend several weeks at her sister's in Sidney, doing some babysitting and odd jobs to earn some money for her trip to Finland.

 The girls with their piano teacher.  Thanks Jane!!

It finally stopped raining enough to get our garden in, and my flower gardens worked in and more flowers planted.   Our chickens are all in their outside movable pens now--a bit crudely put together, but at least it works!

We got to have little Z boy here for a long weekend while the rest of his family went off without him.  It was quite fun, and he got along just great.  Fun to work on that bonding with Grammie thing! :)

We've returned from 4 wonderful days of Spiritual feasting and along with that I was happy to meet a few individuals that I've heard some of my blogging friends mention!  Special to see lots of my facebook friends & others that I have known for years.
And I flunk. Majorly.  I did not take a single picture.  I'm really annoyed with myself because I let it slide.

It's pretty quiet here for the time being--Kara and Morgen both went with one of their older sisters for a visit, & Kara is visiting some new friends.  We're looking forward to a trip up to see Jana sometime later and bring her back home.  Meshayla and her cousin Nathan left today for their trip to visit Laura in Finland.  They'll be gone until the 9th of Aug.  I'm looking forward to hearing of their adventures!  It wasn't as nerve-wracking to send the girl off this time as it was two years ago--and obviously not for her either.  The kids totally forgot to call us when they boarded their flight in Newark NJ.  And they'd already turned their phone off!  I'm pretty sure that Laura will remember to call me when they arrive there tho.    It sure brings back memories of my trip last fall! This time I'm able to relate to just where she's at.

 Yes, the girl looks a bit blurry eyed.  She stayed up on the phone too late the night before, and we had to get up early to catch their 7:45 a.m. flight along with being at the airport ahead of time for.  The mom's flunked--the alarm clock failed & we left an hour later than we planned on.  Thankfully there was no problem with traffic/roads or waiting at the airport!  Yay for "small" airports!

 They wouldn't let us mom's go down to the gate with the kids.  I suppose they figured if they were old enough to be flying overseas by themselves that they didn't need to be accompanied to the gate/plane either.

Now Kaela is going to be an "only child" for a few weeks.  I'm not sure how that's going to go with her or me either one!  I'm thinking I may have to call in the grandkids!!  On the other hand, just think how much I should be able to accomplish!

A couple more pictures before I quit.  A couple times a year the old steam engine goes thru NE.  I saw it one morning this spring when I was running some errands.  There were people stopped at the crossings waiting for it, so as soon as I got home we jumped in the van to go see it. (we live about 1/2 mi. from the tracks)  Wouldn't you know after sitting on the tracks for some time, it was ready to move, and we missed it at our crossing.  We took off zig-zagging cross country, trying to make it to another crossing to be able to sit & watch it.  We made it about 25 mi. away and the kids enjoyed standing out on the country road watching and waving to the conductor and passengers as it went by.
Silly--yes, but one of those fun spontaneous things we should all do sometimes!
I love to hear the trains.  Many of the houses we've lived in have been close to the tracks & my ear is always listening for the whistle.

I'm looking forward to a summer of many different things. Gardening, preserving.  I hope some scrapbooking & sewing.  Additionally I became a Norwex consultant and am looking forward to some fun presentations.
If you haven't heard of Norwex, you can check it out on my website:  www.maxinejelinek.norwex.biz
I'm loving their products for my own use, both at my house and cleaning for other people.  I'm also loving being able to share it with others!

I hope you all are having a great summer!  I plan on enjoying every minute of mine, busy or relaxing-whatever the day brings.