Piano Tuning

We got our piano tuned and the key pads replaced.  I warned them that they'd probably find lots of guitar picks (I know I've bought at least 30 in the past) while they were in there.  They found 22 plus money and bingo chips.  The piano sounds nice, and will for two weeks if we're lucky, it's a lemon piano, but two of the notes mute when we play them so they'll have to come back and fix those for me.

Morning Visitor

 We had a visitor at our house this morning.  I finally got one half-way decent picture with our cheap little camera, and he was done being photographed.  You can see the blur of his wings outspread in the second picture.  When he took off, the dog took off after him.  At least the dog got some exercise this morning.  :)  If the dog could jump higher than eight feet, the birds around here would have to worry.

September Days

September brought lots of soccer and running around the country as we went to Karlstad and Thief River Falls for games.

The first and second weeks in August we had the pleasure of bringing a couple girls home from practices and to and from games with us as their parents were on a trip and the grandmother doesn't do driving at night.

Mike, Tracy, and some of the kids attended our "Kids Outdoors" day at our sporting goods store, and Aaron won some sort of gun.  I don't remember what type but maybe one of them will post in the comments in case anyone is interested.

We hosted our Jackpine Retreat in the middle of the month and fed everyone a taco dinner Sunday before they left.  Aaron and I did the mowing to get the grounds ready, and our friend from the cities came up and cut and hauled trees that had fallen so people could get in and camp.

I've been teaching piano lessons to three girls along with Emily and Melissa so started those in September.

Our friends are adopting a little one from China so had a rummage sale.  There was SO MUCH STUFF there for sale.  It was overwhelming for me to see it all so though I did help a tiny bit, I had to leave because of that.  It was just too much for me to take in.  I also brought some plates of cookies for the bake sale part of it; I hope they sold!

August Days

Tracy went to orchestra camp the second full week in August.

We went to Hayes Lake State Park with some friends for a picnic.  We were supposed to go swimming, but my kids would not touch the water as there was algae.  (We are so spoiled by the chlorinated pools!)

I went to Grand Forks with a friend.  We have continued to do that once a month, which makes for a fun outing for me.

Tracy worked at the outdoor pool a lot.

Tracy and Emily were involved in the National Bible Bee again, and Tracy did well.  A LOT of the kids did really well this year!

We went to the park for a birthday party for four of our little friends where the younger kids had their first opportunity to play "organized" games other than at AWANA.

We went to a friend's house and picked some beans to can.

We went to the corn maze.  I hope this is the correct link!  We bought a family pass this year and have been out there several times.

Catching up???

I don't think I will ever get my calm, peaceful life back. Things have slowed down considerably now that swimming and soccer are done, and I for one, like it. The kids do not...they like going places, and it adds variety to our days.

I have pictures of Aaron's and David's birthdays I need to figure out and make posts, and then there are several things I'm hoping to blog about.

We'll see...no promises...

Did I really ask?

Did I really ask about what would be next? He has been into bookshelves, eggs (yes, cracking and playing with several,) and now got into the gentian violet. I don't know if I can take this anymore. I'll have to decide if I should post a purple picture or not...

We had a soccer practice tonight and will have a game on Thursday. The kids (I had six extras for a couple miles) were hyper so I sent them all to run with the seniors as they were finishing up their practice later than we finish.

Tomorrow Tracy has a dentist appointment so we have to leave at 7:00 am. Some of us don't even know what things look like at that hour so it should be an interesting trip. I suppose I should figure out some lunch for Mike to feed the kids. Emily thinks she wants to go to McDonald's so will probably go with us for the trip.

I think that's it for now. Some of our friends had a baby who is now 12 days old so I am working on some meal ideas for them.

Time Flies

Things have been busy, but I didn't realize it's been over a month since I last posted. One of these days I'll have to give a run-down of what has been happening, but at the moment we are getting ready to head to town. :)

This and That

Things have been going well.

It has been so hot that I have just been sitting around, not doing a lot other than drinking.

We try to hit the pool several times each week.

The air conditioners have been a blessing.

Mike decided he wanted some special attention so we spent several hours in the emergency room with kidney stones. (I guess that is one way to get some time alone in the car with your wife.) :)

This week is a calm week, so far, on our calendar. I'm sure it will fill quickly though; it usually does. I had thrown around the thought of going to visit the grandparents during this week (a couple weeks ago,) but I think I will stay at home in front of my air conditioners.

Iron Man

I went "all-out" this year and bought wrist bands for Jason, Emily, Melissa, and Laura to go on the jumping rides at the 4th of July celebration. They had a blast except at the end when they lost two hours because of the coming rain.

David and Laura and I were down there as they were inflating the rides. I was sitting by the one called Iron Man. As it inflated I told David, "Look, it's going up up up." He looked up and said, "Up." Then he kept looking at it saying "up" as his face got more and more horrified. He started backing up saying, "Up up bigger Mommy bigger." I was having hysterics at his expense!!!!! I so wish I would have had a video camera on me to catch the expression on his face as he backed away getting more and more scared saying "bigger Mommy bigger."

Poor little guy...I hope he doesn't have nightmares of huge men coming to get him! :)

Refreshing

Wednesday while Aaron was at his guitar lesson, Jason and I walked down the the river. I lay down on the bridge and just let the gentle breeze blow over me. It wasn't too hot in the day yet...

Breakfast for Supper

Our grocery store has eight week's worth of advertising coupons running right now. I took advantage of them and one day last week we had some breakfast for supper. If I remember correctly, the eggs and the pancake mix were $.59 each and the potatoes and sausages were $.79 each. The strawberries were a yummy addition!!!!!

The Joke is on Me

I went to look for some pictures on the camera to enlarge for my wall and found these:
















I don't think I will be using any of them! :)

Visitors

Mike's parents are up visiting for his birthday. They stopped by and left some stuff and visited. We had blueberry cheesecake with lots of candles. Poor David...when Mike blew out the candles, he started to cry. He wanted to blow them out so I had to re-light one for him when he got his piece, which made him happy.


After all of that, we headed to town. We met Mike's parents and they took us out to eat. We went to the pool for a while after that. Later on this morning, we will have church, a lunch, and then they will head home while I take Tracy and Emily to a picnic in Roseau for their Bible Bee group. I am hoping to squeeze a nap in before youth group tonight! :)

This and That

Emily and Melissa had a fun and busy week of vacation Bible school. They even took Laura one day. She had fun during the VBS, but on the way home and for the rest of the evening she was more full of cries and clings than "normal" so I didn't take her again. Maybe next year...

We bought a shed and Mike, Aaron, Tracy, and Jason are having "fun" putting that up. I got a bike, and once we got the seat raised as far as it will go, I finally have enough leg room to ride. I'll have to do some practicing now.

We didn't get it done yesterday or Thursday, but we have been having biology, physics, geography, and Spanish videos playing at various times throughout the day for the past month.

Tracy and Emily got their Bible Bee boxes, and Tracy has been working hard on that.

We went to Bemidji for church last Sunday where some missionaries were speaking and got the box of stuff we had for them to them. Their kids are 1 1/2 years older than when I originally tried to get it to them so I had to do some swapping of things.

Some of the kids have been practicing swimming skills, but we haven't gotten to the t-ball skills yet--too many mosquitoes!!!

Mike's parents will be here today to help celebrate his birthday, which he had yesterday. He spent his day out in the mosquitoes putting up the shed.

Miscellaneous Happenings

We have a mowing job for the summer. It is a big yard and takes over three hours with the two riders and a push mower going. There is a tire swing in the yard the girls enjoy swinging on, and the lady let the girls pick her tulips this spring, much to their delight. I also am able to use her garden plots. I only tilled one though and hope to plant it soon.

We have been doing some "summer" school--Spanish, physics, biology, and world geography. We had the first test in Spanish, and I had to tell Aaron he was "sick" because he scored better than I did even though I do all the work. I never was good (and still am not) at learning. I like to tease that I got by with school because of my good looks. We are also going to be doing some "formal" music lessons for the summer with some of the kids.

Thursday evening we had our first evening of track so some of the kids ran the 400-meter, the 200-meter, and the 100-meter. We then went to the pool afterwards.

Played-With Toys

The girls enjoy their ponies and care bears so I frequently end up with pictures like this on the camera.

Lawn Mowers

AAArrrrggggg!!!!!

I Am Alive

:)

Busy Days Once Again

Last night Tracy peeled 10# of potatoes for me plus three yams. I worked on making some meals for a couple families and will hopefully deliver them today. I also have our meal almost ready to go but forgot to buy the dry onion soup mix. I will have to check out the Allrecipes site as I am sure there is a homemade one.

We had Awana awards last night, we went to the park, we watched a couple cows and calves be moved, I did some shopping, I took Laura, David, and the dog for a ride, and we bagged up lots of clothes we were given and will not use to "pass along."

More Busy Days

I have not gotten much accomplished around here (or even there!) so just wanted to write a line and let people know I still am alive. :)