Work boys, work!

Thankfully Friday and Saturday were sunny. We've had alot of rain and everything is lovely green, but we were hoping for sun and warm with all our weekend company


I got a load of wood chips to use for landscaping...now if it would just quit raining long enough to get my yard work done!


My brick-laying son built us a new fire pit for bonfires!


And some stood (or sat) around and watched him..


NICE job Ryan!! Thanks!


We roasted all our hotdogs & enjoyed the fire.


Play kids, play!

Well, some of them weren't kids, and some of us didn't play, but it was fun to watch anyway. Hopefully they had fun.


These were kids, and they were playing. The little ones loved the outdoor space, and I hardly saw them inside!

More to come.........

Did I mention....

How much I love being able to see sunsets out here in the country?

Obviously my kids do too, because they will be out playing, come running to the house telling me to "come quick Mom"!

Tonight was one of those nights & Kaela came running to get me. I handed her the camera to take to Kara & off she went.

Great job with the photos Kara!

Where to start?

We had a wonderful weekend.

A really full weekend.

I have so many pictures I'd like to share of our weekend that I really don't quite know where to start, so I guess I'll share this one first.

I've said before that one of the best things about blogging (and facebook) is connecting with people and making friends that you might never have the chance to meet otherwise.

One of the best things is making "virtual friends" that you MIGHT get the chance to meet someday because of it!

Last week one of my blogging friends contacted me to let me know that her parents and daughter were going to be in our town for high school graduation of their nephew, and they would like to connect with me for Sunday a.m. arrangements.

I was delighted! I hadn't had a chance to meet any of my blogging friends (ones that I don't personally know already) so although I didn't get to meet A. herself, the next best thing was some of her family!



Here's me with my two youngest, Kaela & Kara & A's mom with her grandaughter Kyla. She is right in-between in age of my girls.

How very fun to meet you, and have you with us Sunday a.m. Thank you Alison!

Rather incredibly this coming weekend I'm going to have the chance to finally meet another one of my blogging friends. Patty & Andy are coming to visit for the weekend and I'm just ecstatic about it!

Stay tuned!

Birthday, Graduation and family time

These girls are just 3 months apart in age, and have been friends from the beginning. When they were little we have quite a few pictures of them together. As they got older we've tried to get pictures of them together every year on their birthday at least. This picture was taken when Relyssa turned 16. Lorene was Relyssa's maid of honor at her wedding, and now tomorrow we'll add another photo memory of the two of them together. Now that they're out of school--"All grown up"-- ( :P) and Relyssa married, photo's of the two of these friends together are going to be much more infrequent.
Happy Graduation girls!


It's a busy weekend for us. Relyssa and Lorene's graduation reception on Sunday afternoon.
Derek's birthday yesterday.



All our kids/grandkids but Jana and Laura are "here" this weekend, staying in various places, but we're planning on lots of together time later today and tomorrow.

Last night I had a birthday supper for Derek. Ryan & Alishia joined us, and then Dalayna & Wade came by on their way into Kearney where they were meeting up with Wade's parents. Later Mark & Relyssa stopped in on their way thru just in time for cake.



♪♫♪♪♫♪ "Happy happy birthday--from all of us to you--♪♪♫♫♪♫♪ We wish it was our birthday, so we could party too"!♪♪♫♫♪♫♪

Oh yeah, that's right--We DO get to party too--alot!


"Can I just have a NICE picture"? HA, right!

And what do you mean I "only" have 8 candles on his cake? Can't you read short-hand?
Two stands for twenty!

26 years...in the blink of an eye.

About as fast as he could blow those candles out.





After they were gone then Jeanne & Floyd came out for a while. Nothing makes a place feel more like home, than to have all your kids arrive!

Bonfires seem to be a regular around here--definitely an attraction. This mom/grammie has to remember to keep a full supply of marshmallows on hand as the kids seem to think that they go together!

This afternoon & evening promises to be crazy, loud and fun. We're looking forward to sharing our time & food with our kids & their in-laws, as Jim & Mark's mom and Wade's parents & grandma are joining us too. My mom & MIL, & Leon's two sisters & our friend Martin.


Woops, that reminds me, we've got homemade ice cream to get in the makings for tonight too!

Anyone else want to join us?

More Music

Kara and Kaela have been taking piano lessons just a little under a year now. This spring was their first time at public performances.
Their teacher, Jane entered them in a talent show in March and the girls worked hard learning their pieces & memorizing them. Both girls played two songs and although they didn't place, they did a wonderful job on their playing


Kaela~ along with her first public performance, she had to go first.


~Kara


I believe the judges were music students from the collage here.


The crew who tallied the scores & wrote out the certificates


Yesterday the girls had their first recital. When Jane told me who she was having the c0-recital with, I thought it was pretty ironical that it was with a teacher (Karen D.) that my sisters and I had taken lessons from when we were teens. Also a couple of my older girls had lessons with her too!
Yeah, I goofed, I missed a great photo op!


~Kaela


~Kara


~My nephew Nathan


As I was zooming in on the kids playing, I noticed the reflection of their hands.
I thought it was pretty cool. A while back someone else did this for one of the photos on our photo challenge blog.



And this last picture? Well no piano or violin music here, But I think maybe this qualifies for melody for the soul.


Our oldest son, and the flowers he brought me for mothers day.

Part 2 of the house tour

The dining room--

Some of the wood had to be repaired on the cupboard there & we haven't got it re-painted yet.




On thru the french doors into the living room. Yes, I painted these rooms the same color as I did my rooms in the other house last year. I loved the color, and wasn't ready to be done with it! (and I just realized that it's about exactly the color of my blog background!!)



The view thru the windows to the "front" porch is inviting. The windows are old. The glass is wavy. The tops of the windows are diamond panes, and really cool. Yes, my sister says they are very "cool" in the winter too!! :D


Back from the living room thru the dining room...


That's all for today--now would you like to join me for lunch with homemade strawberry pie? Yes, the whipping cream is "real" too!!



I love my dishes. I received a set of four of the cups and bowls for Mothers day to match the plates I'd gotten last year. Longaberger is one of my favorite things in life!

Keeping things real

Before we go any further on this house tour I'd like to assure you all that things are really quite "normal" at this house. If you read THIS (my dear nieces) blog, then you will understand my desire to clarify a few things. (grin!) She was too young to remember several of our moves that resulted in much the same state as hers, and I am still not too old to remember the complete chaos that I lived with and in for way too long. Moving is a chore. At least with a family. Our moves before children were relatively fast and simple. In fact our first move after we were married; from Wyo back to NE was accomplished in one trip in the back of a pickup. That was 33 years ago this summer. I don't WANT to remember how many trailer, van, pickup & car loads (and TIME) this move took us, and it was only 17 miles.

So--without any more adieu I present just a tiny glimpse of REAL life--


The porch BEFORE. Unfortunately this was only one of the many times it was piled in, then put "away" before the next batch came in.


My downstairs bath/laundry room, and yes, it still looks this way. It was a little worse yesterday before I pulled a few things out for another organization project.


In the mean time, life must go on. Meals must appear, kids seem to think they still have to eat. I have cleaning jobs. I have school runs. I have chores to assign kids. Kids have piano lessons and strings concerts.

Kara's spring orchestra concert--This is the 5th graders (all K. public schools)





Sorry, no video's. I've misplaced my camera card, and the one I'm using is a 32 M. I get about 5 pictures at a time :P


Anyway, the days rush past. One melts into another, and it seems like it's taking a long time to get everything together but I stop and realize it's "only" the 5th of May, and we've really only had everything moved for 2 weeks.

I am encouraged when I hear "Wow mom, it looks like things are really coming together". Thank you son, I appreciate that!




And here's a picture I found on my camera when I was downloading this morning. A reminder to stop and enjoy the "simple things" The beauty in the middle of our hectic chaos.
Thank you for whoever grabbed my camera & captured the moment.