G$ Post

Here is what I love about the picture below. First . . . I was in Africa when it was taken. I didn't even ask her to, but my sister-in-law somehow knew I would want a pic of G$ on his first day of work. She "happened" to stop by her family's shop and caught him working on a car. You can tell by the little grin on his face that he knows he's getting his picture taken. I'm not so sure that little grin would have shown up for anyone but Aunt K :) Pretty special! He loves working there and they love having him. We get so much positive feedback from K's parents about the kind of quality guy G$ is and how they are so grateful to have him on their team. G$ feels like he is learning a ton and has so much more to learn. K's brother is a great boss and knows more than G$ can even fathom. Pretty cool opportunity for him!

Also, he's got really nice shop uniforms that he wears now--with his name sewn on a patch, but I am not up early enough in the morning to get a picture of him before he leaves for work. And when he gets home, he's pretty grubby from being in the shop all day. I asked him if he wanted his senior pictures taken in his uniform and he said, "no," but that might be the only way I get a good one ;)

And, taadaaa! I finished the shirt! I went to the store, found matching buttons on a clearance wall (he almost got a Velcro closure Rwanda fabric shirt :) Brennen had a friend over when G$ tried it on for the first time. Not knowing I'd made it, the friend told Graysen he looked so sharp he could cut diamonds :) Aww! That's pretty sweet. Graysen even wore his shirt to church the next morning. The collar is a little wonky, but otherwise, not too bad for my first try--I am still astonished I made a clothes!

Brennen's Graduation Party

We returned from Rwanda one week prior to Brennen's graduation party. Caelan and Noah took excellent care of the house and Graysen with Chase and Gabby's assistance :) They had the pork and rice they'd made on spring break cooking in the crockpot when we arrived home on Father's Day--a little celebration. We were so tired and sick, I don't think I took any pictures. But it was really nice! My NGF brought lasagna and all the things the next night, which was so nice, too. We slept for three nights of 12 to 14 hours. I don't recall accomplishing much else, other than maybe laundry?

Thankfully, Caelan took on the party planning for Brennen's graduation. Along with prepping for Africa, much of my time in the weeks prior to our departure were spent ordering and gathering supplies for Brennen's party. Wow, those were really full days! No wonder the blog is months behind :) It seemed like Caelan found new ideas to add to the to-do list each time she stopped by, but as long as she stopped by with the supplies to make them--or got Gabby involved in the making--I had no problem with them decking the halls!

One afternoon we watched Bluey, another afternoon--the balloon arch prep day--they watched the Cars movie (the one where the characters all turn into international spies--such an unexpected plot line, ha!) Also, wow was that a lot of balloons! It is hard to see from the pictures, but those contractor bags are a short person high and two large people around . . . and there were a dozen of them? Our guest could not reach her guest bed in her guest room, nor could our puppy reach her kennel in her corner. We had to do some rearranging before bedtime for sure!

How this house holds all the things it does, I'll never understand! I suppose because it is just in temporary spurts, things find nooks and crannies--and entire rooms--and then filter on to other purposes as needed. It all looks good when it's used as intended though!

The venue gal really liked us, so she was like, "Come on in whenever you want and start setting up as early as you are available. I'll just leave the doors unlocked, and we'll check on you after church." This worked out great for us. We went to early service, then the boys and I started taking loads of things out to the venue while Buck and his mom worked on lunch and loading all the other cars (as they arrived with newlyweds from various churches) with more things to bring to the venue, too.

Pretty soon all the temperature sensitive items were taken care of: cakes and veggies in the fridge, endless bags of pre-blown up balloons dumped out on the venue floor. The girls worked on building balloon arches and mantles and twists for outdoors, like pros (seriously!) while Grandma J and my NGF worked on kitchen prep. We had Noah's groomsmen helping with table decor, just like at the wedding. Actually, everyone was helping everywhere, and Buck was out getting ice--lots of ice. The venue's drink tank thingy is gigantic! I brought all the misc. juice boxes and ICE flavors and mini pops that we don't seem to gravitate towards at home, and they were very popular. I should have brought more juice boxes, actually, because there were some bummed kids that they didn't get any. Such random things come to mind as I write before midnight!

My NGF's youngest daughters helped so much getting all the food out and then with the memorabilia tables. They've been our party set-up people for all the parties. I'm going to need to start providing some payback in the future years, I think!

The wedding candy dishes made yet another appearance! We also set up a special table for Noah and Caelan as they prepared to set out for their college years in a state that currently feels far, far away. We wanted them to have a send off party, too, and Brennen was willing to share. Their table doesn't look very full in the photo, but we hope their hearts felt full of love. It's an exciting next step in their marriage and their lives!

The Brennen Quiz was fun! Making up the questions sparked some entertaining conversations during the party planning :) The "LEGO" on the table are actually the not-LEGO that Brennen and I spent weeks last summer sorting before Caelan's wedding. We figured if anyone wanted to take home what they built--no problem! :) The vases are from Gabby's wedding. The twinkle lights have been at both weddings and this is their third grad party :) The balloon centerpieces, Caelan designed. The table covers are actually shower curtains because I wanted fabric and fabric is expensive, but shower curtains are not :) Let's see, other decor items--I VERY CAREFULLY drove a couple of Brennen's giant LEGO builds to display at the party; they got some impressed comments. The sparkle lights arch is from Chase and Gabby's wedding, and I think Noah untangled it both times (Grandma J and I tried!). Caelan added the ribbon fringe for Brennen's party. It looked great!

Below, Dale set up the yard games we borrowed from our other wedding helper friends--he was determined to play them, even though it was hot outside. It was nice to have the interior and exterior entertainment options. We weren't sure what the weather would be like when we won this prize in a fundraising auction back in November, but it turned out to be a great place to celebrate Brennen's big day.

It was a big space to fill with decor and partygoers, but I think we had a great turnout! My college roomie surprised me by walking through the door and getting some tears rolling for me. I tell you what, hosting this many big events this close together--I feel like I get to see so many friends and so much family, but I don't have time to sit and talk with anyone for very long. So let this be my announcement for whoever is reading and also attending--thanks for being there! I appreciate you :)

Super cool that a big ole crowd of flag football guys showed up to close out the party! I have a whole series of pictures like this. Fun group of young men. They actually picked Brennen up and carried him away--to where I'm not sure, but he did arrive home for the dinner party afterwards at the same time as everyone else, so maybe just to his car :)

Originally, I thought maybe we could just go out for a sendoff dinner with Noah's family after the graduation party. But Caelan pointed out that we'd have family in town from several states, so why not just have dinner at our house? Lol :) Easy, peasy! Actually, it worked out great. Buck fired up the wedding smoker before church and made delicious pulled pork sandwiches. We added traditional summer sides like potato salad and watermelon, Caelan made Jello Jigglers, we added a refreshing batch of Gabby's wedding punch for refreshments, Noah's mom brought chips and guac, and we enjoyed graduation cake for dessert. It was a little warm out still, but nice in the shade, so our deck worked fine for additional seating.

Uncle Buck and Baby H had a magnificent time playing with some of the Africa things I brought back. I'm not sure who enjoyed the game of slight-of-hand and gravity testing more :) He had a good baby day! First holding our former music teacher's little guy at the party and then all the niece giggles from H. It was a good day all around, good to see family and friends, good to celebrate Brennen's accomplishment, good to send the newlyweds on to their next adventure, good to put our teamwork/party planning skills to good use once again, and good to sit on the couch in our pajamas with candy and blankets to close out the night :) Countdown to next party: 152 days. Gah!!!! 😅

Farm Visit

Newlyweds are always busy! Ours are no exception--look at the beautiful gardens Chase and Gabby grew! We took a little tour of the farm, spent some time cat-ching up with Spax (couldn't resist ;), and Noah got his first chance to zip around in the go-kart that used to live in my sister's shed. Wheeeeeee!!!!

It's hard to see the boys zooming around the corner--I feel like we've expanded some of Noah's adventure horizons. I also think a mega-zipline is in the future plan for the farm, so more to come!

Heehee--love this pic of the future master gardeners :) Look at all the green goodies they gave us!! Wow!!

I'm not 100% sure, but I think I saw Graysen eating a green bean and cheese sandwich for lunch the other day. I guess it could have been lettuce. Or it could be that the green beans are just that good! (It could also be that I really need to go to the grocery store and get some sandwich meat). No matter what the answer, I'm glad we got to go on the tour!

June Highlights

What is summer without a little baseball? We were happy to catch a few Little League games with Mr. M at the plate. If I remember correctly, this particular game took place after the visit to the farm with an impromptu stop at a local Mexican restaurant we'd not tried before in between. 

Three--no, four, actually five--cheers for our favorite first grader! M was glad G$ made it to one of his games at last; the rest of us were fine, too. Lol :)

Hmm (this post is going to be in no particular order) and then feeling sporty ourselves . . . our social director, Caelan, arranged for Noah's sister to meet us for a golf outing. It turned out to be a dark and stormy night! I should really read those books again, well, I should read any books again. When was the last time I read a book? March, according to my notes. Unless you count the story Bible I read on the way to Africa, which should count. So technically I did a Bible in a Year reading plan in about a week. Wow, look at me overachieving! Lol :)

Annnnnnnyway, golfing was a lot of fun--even with lightning dancing in the background, uh fore-ground (a-heh-heh-heh :). The snacks were good, spending time with all the kids + E is always entertaining. Grandma J seemed to enjoy herself, too! She's since gotten that bothersome knee operated on, so she'll be swinging for the fences next time! (bringing the baseball post and the golf post together--that's what I do here . . . heehee ;) ALL THE JOKES!

The drive home was an experience. We seemed to be in the midst of a Midwest monsoon. We had wind and rain sloshing us all over the interstate. Buck did a great job driving us through the white knuckle experience. Tree limbs were cracking, light poles were snapping--it was crazy out there!! Grandma J is not used to those types of storms (we've had two biggies since, one the night before moving the kids, and another last night that took out our power for six hours). She said she was glad Buck was driving, but she doesn't know how he kept so calm. There are still split trees along the roads from that one. Wheeee!!

We rummaged around in the guestroom/classroom/storage-for-all-thingsroom and found the wedding candles. They've come in handy several times now, actually. Power outages just seem to happen a lot around here. Gives the house such a romantic glow :)

Speaking of giving--Gabby and Chase gave Buck this fetching chicken button down shirt, quite the fashion statement! It fits him nicely and it looks very festive hanging in our closet amongst his other collared shirts. He looked much more cheerful than poor Daisy felt. She must have gotten into something the day before--I'm guessing she interacted (licked, nibbled?) one of the many frogs/toads? that have invaded our yard this season. She was sooooo sick, all night :(

I guess that's one descriptor I didn't give the downstairs space--puppy sickroom. Grandma J said she was crawling into the kennel cleaning up vomit all night long. Good grief. Bonus MIL points there for sure! She got stuck with the worst vacation roommate ever. Daisy was quarantined to the kitchen for the rest of the day, dry heaving, or horking up water when she felt energetic enough to drink some. Olive looked concerned, but I didn't want her to be part of the mix. I tried banana, pumpkin, peanut butter, treats . . . Daisy wanted none of it. Until Caelan arrived late in the afternoon. 

She hand fed Daisy some pumpkin from her fingers and like a Dog Fairy Princess Veterinarian, got Daisy not only eating and drinking, but keeping it down. Like an hour later you never would have know Daisy spent 20 hours in misery. And us too 😂 Why didn't we have Caelan come over earlier? Clearly her job didn't need her as much as we did! :)

We had a huge backstock of eggs, so despite her rather unpleasant night, Grandma J made us all a giant stack of blina. There was not much left, even with her triple pan efforts! This was not the only time she made blina for us, either. Sometimes I feel like she's a better houseguest than I am hostess. In fact, I know she is. The list of volunteers to spend a sleepless night in a basement with no electricity, cleaning up after a puking puppy, to get up and make breakfast for a herd of hungry humans, and then do the dishes afterward while a miserable dog continues to wretch on the other side of the counter--well, that is not a long list of volunteers. At least the power came back on :)

I'm not going to remember what was what during that week, but I know that I was making phone calls from home, having meetings with my boss lady, Buck was getting more work done at the oral surgeon on his missing tooth (dental implants are expensive!), and we were spending time at the newlyweds' apartment getting things packed up for their move. I also know at least one of these days involved Grandma J deep-cleaning the apartment kitchen--like taking the racks out of the oven and scrubbing them (which resulted in a full deposit return for the newlyweds, hooray!). Her efforts were rewarded with dinner and cookies, so it wasn't all work during her vacation. Actually, Buck took his first ever (more or less :) lunch break from work and joined us for dinner one of those nights. So much relaxing! Lol!

The minivan did an impressive amount of hauling--look out U-Haul, the minivan is out for your job. It's like a truck . . . with seats. Oooh! One night, that week (I know, because I'm looking at the picture) we decided to order pizza and watch Wonka. Scrub! Scrub! Wait. Or was that the night we watched Mr. Malcom's List? Oof. I'm not sure. If I've already written about one, than this was for sure the other, lol. But, at like 8 PM G$ came running down the stairs with Brennen, Chase and Gabby and said he was driving two hours away to buy a car. Wha??? Well, he did, it worked out great, and he loves the car!

Okay, here we go, more pics of a full van . . . that means we're moving and cleaning the apartment again! I bet this is the day we loaded up my brother's trailer. With the help of all the newlyweds and the boys, this process went so quickly it was astonishing! It's a little sad to say farewell to the first space Noah and Caelan called home, it was a sweet space and they made so many good memories--hosting parties, growing plants, raising puppies, making meals, reading books, playing video games, dressing in style, hauling their laundry to my house and Noah's mom's . . . :) I'm glad God led them there.

Watching television at our house was pretty challenging around their box wall for the next week or two, ha! We figured out how to squeeze together on the couch and which items to shift to a lower level to still change the channel and see most of the screen. Closing the shade required standing on the edge of the couch and leaning an arm out to the wall between the guitars while using the other to grab the pull string, but we made it work! I didn't mind. A little bit of extra has been normal for the past year or so. Hopefully our houseguest didn't mind losing access to half of her accommodations for the second time during her visit. I'm telling you--the Holiday Inn, we are not 😂

This is the song they played in Africa when they surprised us with a celebration on our last evening at the villas. I love hearing our kids sing praise music and play instruments together. Pretty cool!

Cherry pie and Valentine hearts in June? Why yes, of course! While Grandma J made yet another round of blina, we snacked on the leftover party candy Caelan found stashed in her cupboard for a game we didn't get around to playing at their February soiree :) The unicorn was a temporary mascot--I'm not sure where he disappeared to, but I guess unicorns are like that.

Also in their own space-time continuum, here are throw back accomplishments of June--Buck added national park medallions from our Utah trip to his souvenir walking stick and Brennen built a giant LEGO tower (that is now part of the living room decor on the mantel above our fireplace) which he displayed at his graduation party. Whew! Such a busy month!