A Charming Find

Alida recently put some of my grandmother's books on a shelf in her room, and she likes to read through them. 

She found pressed leaf from I can't imagine how long ago or with what memories attached to make its way here, but it was like a special gif that Saturday morning.

 

A Good Week

Good Food, and adorable.

A visit from family!

And done.  

Patric on shot two this week.

 

And my stint as cafeteria worker after 13 months is over on Wednesday when all of the children go back to school!

 

Not All Bad

 

Having this room, where we all fit to watch church or a movie has been a dream. 

We never would have found the time to paint and re-do the space if everyone was going a mile a minute in other directions. 

Being outside with these people gardening, is therapeutic.

Seeing smiles from time-to-time makes me positively giddy.

Dinner Guests

Pictionary for sure. 

It was so nice to have a gathering. 

This is a hut. 

Alida had to finish drawing it after it was guessed because our team was on fire and guessed it by the roof. 

Love everyone here. 

Flashback Friday: August 2012

Those are still my favorite ever pajamas the girls had. 

Neither she nor I prefer that haircut.

Before sending the girls off to their first year of school and the boys off to first grade, we stopped to see family in Minnesota.  I think this may be the last time we were all together. 

Everyone is so much bigger now! 

And then they were off, to a school building with people and germs and colds and attendance and friends and enemies and school lunch and recess.  I'd pay money for all those things today.

Dinner Guests

And so one December Tuesday evening we had surprise guests for dinner!

And we had a nice evening together with poker and Christmas gifts.  Because mailing the gifts seemed like a waste when you could just deliver them in person!

And it was over quickly but such a nice break in the week!

Our First House Guest

We went all out to make Cousin Erika feel at home when she stayed with us between college apartments last month.  We are very welcoming. 

I do believe we managed to take the sign down prior to her arrival. 

And we made sure to do her hair as well.  

We are full service around here if you are lucky enough to stay with us. 

Clean bathroom, hair styled, and a few games made for a perfect week. 

Having a wonderful young woman around for a week while we were trying to figure out this new place likely did more good toward making us feel at home here than she'll ever know.

Thankful

Let Fall Begin

Since it seemed it would never go below 80 degrees in Chicago during September, the girls and I headed north to Minnesota for a quick weekend with my parents.  Where the weather did not disappoint, and we had a brief snow storm the morning after we arrived.  With a fire, football, and chili on hand, the girls settled in.

 

And my dad was a sport to take me fishing. 

Thankfully, we got that task of fishing, catching, photographing, and releasing within about 25 minutes because it was cold out there.

 

Much more comfortable.

And warm.

And relaxing.

 

Particularly since the boys had been tasked with getting me a new car back at home over the weekend. 

Nine years, 175K miles, and sedentary layers of who-know-what--it was time.

Mostly This

We watched and sat

We ran

 

We played

 

We paused

 

We did some night hunting

We read and relaxed.

Their first large venue music concert.

 

With amazing seats and a bang of confetti.

 

While a little uncertain at first, we couldn't stop the smiles by the end.

 

That big smile is impossible to fake from Nicholas.

 

 

And Imagine Dragons put on a great show, which just happened to be in town while we were at the beach.  It was meant to be.  

Double Dip

Here I am telling Elaine to smile because the man is taking pictures of us. 

She was not convinced that would be a good idea.

I'm really not sure I was either.

 

By the time they bring you back, being dunked in the water seems like a really fun idea.

Although, I'm still not sure whether that is joy or terror on my face.

 

Then the boys were off.

 

It really is breathtakingly high up there.

 

And the boys were double dipped, mostly because they wound up turning themselves all about the first time they hit the water...

 

Then We Hit The Beach

We motored home for the weekend to work...

Then loaded up Sunday evening and took off for the beach.

 

Where we found our beloved, older condo intact, and

as deserted as ever.

And We Hit Some Targets

Pretty well, by the way.

 

We also planned a canoe trip.

 

Watched the sunrise on the water.

 

Visited a Viking Church, and

A Viking Boat.

 

Maybe discovered our true selves...

 

And Evergreen Park

Where we took the place over for three hours.  And all Stubers can at least drive the rookie cars now.

The girls are just shy of the real race.