MamaDrama

Our small town had a big parade and Indepence Day celebration today and for the first time in a long time Dave and I just sat and watched the parade with the kids instead of being in it some way.  The kids love getting candy!  We can watch the fireworks sitting in our yard tonight at 10 p.m.

Our daughter Carole just called on the 1st and said she's engaged and getting married in Sept out in CA. Yeow, not much time for planning!  We'll have a reception back here in Oct on the farm probably.
Ava and Courtney will be flower girls and Mariah will be a jr bridesmaid.  Bode, Jon and Ben will be cute boys in tuxes. Joey's nephew (Godson) will be the ring bearer.  Johanna and Alan will be in the wedding, too.  Carole and her fiance' Joey will be flying here next week for a few days and then Dave and I will fly out to meet the family in about 3 weeks.  (It took that long to find a few free days!)

Dave and I are planning a motorcycle trip to Wisconsin with friends in 2 weeks.

We really enjoy riding together on our new Spyder.

When Carole's here, we can celebrate Dave's mother Shirley's, Johanna's, Aaron's and Bode's birthdays.  Should be fun! 

On the 19th two of our former foster daughters, now 14, will come to visit for a few days.  They come every summer and we LOVE it!

After we get back from CA then Bode and Courtney will be here for a few days at Grandpa and Grandma's.  The kids always have such fun together.

 

update on Weight Loss Warriors:  13 lbs off since June 1st           Yayy! 

 

Jon's t-ball is done and Mariah still has Mon and Wed night softball games through the 22nd.  Mariah has Basketball camp for a week.  In August she will be in a Music Camp and Musical Production.

 

On a funny note...    The kids loved the three Vacation Bible Schools.  Each one was so different.  I asked them what they learned and Ben and Ava talked about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.  Then Ben mentioned Jesus turning water into wine.  Later when they were playing, Ben had his pots and pans and told me he was being Jesus turning water into wine!!!  It was so cute.   One other little boy my sister-in-law babysits went to the same VBS and was talking about getting some mud to play Jesus helping the blind man see!  Those kids were really paying attention.  hahahaha

They brought coins each day and food items for a local food shelf, and one day helped pack over 5000 meals for Kids Against Hunger!

 

Now this is a picture I never thought I would see.  The other night my mother-in-law stopped over and climbed up on the back of Dave's new Spyder and went for a ride.  I think she really enjoyed it and I grabbed my camera!Every day we try to get a photo of the kids next to our field of corn.  It's really growing nicely and a little more than "knee high by the 4th of July"!  This was taken a couple of days ago.

Maybe we can get a photo of Dave and me on the Spyder soon!

 

Yes, that's a Chicago Cubs hat Ben is wearing!  Jon has a Twins hat.  Al and Holly had taken them shopping a while back.

 

Dave and I are at Mayo waiting to meet with his dr and then have chemo.

We rode over on the new Can-Am Spyder!  It's red...  imagine that.  It's about a two hour drive and was great.  I really missed that opportunity to spend close time together.

The four kids have been having an exciting week of Vacation Bible School and ball games.  Alan came over this morning and got them ready for their last day and will go with them to the picnic and program later. 

I spent yesterday trying to coordinate everyone so that I could come with Dave.  A friend of mine drove the kids to their morning VBS and then brought them back to Alan's for lunch.  Then Alan took them over to the afternoon VBS.  Holly will meet up with them at the picnic and then Dave and I should be back in time for the evening VBS progam.  Wow!  Good thing the kids love it!  Next week VBS is at our church.

 

Dave and I had to be here early for a chest x-ray and blood draw.  Then we went for a walk, enjoyed the weather and then had lunch at the Dos Amigos restaurant.  We sat outside and a very friendly squirrel kept coming up for chips.  It looked sooo cute munching on the chip holding it in his little paws.  :)

 

We stopped to visit a friend and her daughters.  That was nice.

Our daughter, Johanna and family are out of town this weekend camping up north.  I miss them.  Maybe we'll see them next time we come over here.

 

My younger brother is home from his second tour of Iraq and is here with his wife (the new doctor) and their darling 21 month old daughter.  It was great to see them and have them back.  My other younger brother just went over there in May.  It's always something, for sure.

 

 

Wish you all well...

 

update on Weight Loss Warriors ----------  Since the first of June, 10 lbs off!  Yayy!

 

I always think I will get on when I have some time to do a decent update.  I should know better by now.

 

We got all of our drains, etc. figured out and we didn't need to get a new washer yet. 

We had our house mitigated for the radon.   It wasn't simple, but not too bad.  Our house is kasota stone and cement block and concrete.  The addition is wood on the inside but still Kasota stone on the outside.  The guy who came out  (from the Yell*ow Pages) turned out to be a nephew of a classmate of mine.  He actually looked a lot like him, too.  He was very pleasant and funny and gave me a lot of confidence as he checked out our house.  In one day, he and a helper came back and jackhammered out a hole and pulled out several pails of sand in each the addition and the original part of the house.  It was through closets from the basement on up to the attic where the two pipes joined together to a fan blowing the radon gas from the ground to the attic and out a pipe in the rooftop.  Our basement bedroom went from average almost 10  (BAD) to an acceptable 2.6.   YaYY!!!!

EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE THEIR HOMES CHECKED!.  The test is simple.

Radon has been proven to cause cancer.  I had a chest x-ray done and thank goodness it came back normal.  Radon makes you more susceptible to several cancers, the #1 is Lung cancer.  It's the #1 cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, second only to Smoking (the leading cause of lung cancer).

 

Through May, recitals all went well.  Mariah sang "A Calm Surrender" from the Lion King and acted out and sang "I Won't Grow Up" from Peter Pan.  When she was at home practicing it was so cute to see Jon, Ava and Ben singing and acting, too.  They are all signed up for summer voice lessons, starting next week.  (I'm hoping for my own "Sound *of Music" family singers!!!)

 

Jon and Mariah are doing piano, too.  We are going for our second week of swimming lessons next week.  T-ball for Jon and softball for Mariah are Monday and Wednesdays in the evening.  So far Dave has been able to take them!  Once he gets back in the field I'll be on my own.  The crops are all looking good, thank God for the rain and sunshine.

Then there will be two weeks of 3 Bible Schools!  All four can go to two of them and then just the older two for the other one.

Ava had her tonsils and adenoids out in May and all went well.  In recovery when the nurse asked if she had any owies, she lifted up her gown to reveal a scrape on her knee!  :)  Mariah was the exact same age when she had hers out!

Tomorrow I am helping host and coordinate a baby shower for my niece.  It will be at a church so it eliminates some stress of trying to keep this place clean!  We have two other new babies born the same time.  So it should be very "adorable"!  We are having it as a family get together, not just a "girly shower"  haha

Yesterday I started to cough and have a sore throat.  AARGH!!!!!  I have NO time to be ill.  Luckily I am starting to feel MUCH better!

 

This week I ordered a monument to be set on my mother's grave.  It will be a bench with two plant stands. 

This has been a tough winter for me.  After losing my mom and working on her estate I have just felt stressed.  Waay too much weight hopped on me.  Grrr (my way of dealing with stress - sweets)  However, I rejoined the Rec center near us and joined a team similar to B*iggest Loser.  We have six on our team and a trainer twice a week and are trying to eat healthfully.  I know how to eat healthy foods and I actually love them, but I tended to just eat too many comfort foods, also.

I started the first week of June and already have 7 lbs off! Yippee!   Everytime I thought about slipping, my competitive edge told me to stay on track and that really helped.  I guess I need a push.

I am walking and eating lots of fruits and veggies.  Yum!  I also do some cardio on the Tuesday and Thursdays.  It feels really good.

Dave is good and has been riding his Harley now that the crops are all in and the spraying is done.  He just got back from a trip to the Black Hills by himself.  He is looking at buying a Can-Am spyder 3-wheeled motorcycle for us to ride together again!  We really miss that time for the two of us.  I think it looks so cool!  I wanted silver, but Dave loves red.  (The silver is a little less expensive..............hmmmm  we'll see what happens!)  I have renewed my motorcycle license for the past 30 years when I found out I was pregnant with Carole right before I took my test.  I've always been busy with kids and never got into riding one of my own after that.   I would feel comfortable driving this.  Woo Hoo!  Now if I can just fit back into my white leathers!!!!!  hahahahahaha  (They're only five years old, not thirty!)

 

Some pictures FINALLY of Ava's bedroom and also her birthday party.  Actually, there were more people there, too, besides Mariah and Courtney.  :)

 

 

Now it's time for a confession, after that "out of my league" comment from Carol. hahahahaha 
Actually, I did not feel as organized when Easter Day arrived. I think I had a lot of expectations - that the house would be all finished, etc.
Carole arrived on Wednesday before Easter and so we were busy spending time together and with the little ones. Johanna and Bode and Courtney came on Saturday. Carole was juicing carrots in our mega juicer (makes a mega mess!) The kids were kept busy peeling. Carole baked two fancy apple pies.
Alan and Holly picked up groceries for me on Saturday and then Alan said he would make the two turkeys and the spiral ham. (They were by far better than usual!) Holly made a wonderful cheese souffle'.
Johanna and Carole peeled potatoes, while I mashed them. Johanna made a great stuffing. I put a casserole of baked beans in the oven (out of a can).
My sister-in-law made the gravy. My other sisters-in-law brought decorated cupcakes, bars, cheesecakes, 7 layer salad and a creamy vegetable casserole. We had a veggie and dip platter, fresh fruit, chocolate milk, milk and assorted juices and soda.
I really didn't cook at all! haha I did make a birthday cake for Carole. I put a filling of real whipped cream and strawberries and frosted a storebought angel food cake. But it was served on my Grandmother's glass cake stand. :)
This really was a combined effort! 
Now you know the "rest of the *story"...

 

p.s.   Carol, you're the queen of cooking and baking!

 

Today we are having our drains cleaned professionally.  Our laundryroom floor was covered in water!  (more than once)  Dave jimmyrigged things so I could still do some loads of laundry, but it wasn't enough.

I have a new dryer but I've been managing with my old washer up 'til now.  I just have to decide now whether to go with Top loader or front loader.  I need an extra large capacity.  I don't want to get a new washer until we have the drains figured out.

We painted a closet next to the bathroom (with the new shower) and as I was ready to put the shelves back in I noticed water on the floor.  Grrrrr

There is an opening to the pipes on the tub and shower in there.  Now we just have to figure out what's leaking.  I did just have a couple of 'wild boys' taking a shower in there just prior to the leaking episode.  hmmmm          no leaking, since.

I want to start putting things away, but I can't 'til we figure it out.   ARGHHHH!

 

We had a radon test done last week which I thought would show lower levels since we repaired the crack in the floor under the carpet when we added dura ceramic tile in our basement family room next to our bedroom.

Unfortunately, it's still coming in somewhere!  Our bedroom is averaging around 10.  Too high, so a guy is coming this Friday to make a new plan to get the radon out of our home.

Radon  --  #1 cause of lung cancer in non-smokers                 odorless, colorless gas coming up out of the ground

 

It's ALWAYS something!

 

Oh, and I'm in charge of a silent auction fundraiser for our children's chorus picnic tomorrow evening.  Last Thursday I said I would help..........

It'll be fun!   :) 

I better get off here and get busy!