GRANDKIDS - Besides taking Sophie and Holden one day a week to "play" with me, we've had them overnight several times. I took some pictures of them playing in the dirt in the backyard while the workers were prepping the flower bed. (Click here to see them.)
Another thing we've done with the kids is go to their preschool to see the little parade the school had in the parking lot. Each class had a theme. Sophie was so excited about us coming to the parade! Her face lit up when she saw us there! She was wearing the hat she made for the event and shaking the shaker that she made. Holden's class had a cowboy theme. The kids had on cowboy hats, brown paper bag vests, and bandanas and they were riding stick horses (also made out of brown paper bags). They were darling! Holden was the exception. He chose to put on a Snow White dress! Boy, was he proud! You can see pictures of the parade by clicking here.
Sophie had her fifth birthday in July. We celebrated at our house with a special pancake dinner, just like last year. Sophie came over early and helped me set the table up pretty. After dinner we had cake and opened presents. You can see Sophie opening her gifts by clicking here. Sophie also had a "princess party" on the weekend after her birthday. It was so cute! I was the photographer for the party. You can see "Princess Sophie", "King Holden", and Sophie's princess friends by clicking here.
YARDWORK/LANDSCAPING - I worked with a designer/landscaper since Feb. on my backyard. I started by spraying (and respraying again and again) the entire backyard with Round Up. After that, we put in a flower bed and sod. All of that was done in May. I still don't have anything planted in the flower bed because it got really, really hot after that. Recently, Jackie, Dwayne, and the kids helped me work on putting down some rock in the area under the trees by our deck. I also planted some small bushes. I still have more work to do in that area: line it with larger rocks to delineate the trail/sitting area from the plantings, plant some other things, and do some mulching. My bench and water fountain are under the trees so it's my own little peaceful getaway. I have posted some pictures from when the workers and I were doing the flower bed prep work and laying the sod. If you'd like to see them, click here.
TRIPS TO ST. LOUIS AND GEORGIA - In early July, George and I made a quick trip to St. Louis to visit family. Christina's mother-in-law had passed away so they had to fly to St. Louis for the funeral. I watched the kids on the day of the visitation, funeral, and burial. I got to spend extra time with Ryan because he spent the night with us at my sister Sharon's house. We had such a great time together with the whole family!! I took pictures at our family gathering on the 4th of July. You can see them by clicking here.
I also made a quick trip to Georgia to visit my son and his family. We took Katherine Grace to a little children's museum. She and I got along wonderfully after not seeing one another for two years. We got to spend time with my nephew Ryan and his wife, Catherine (aka Cat), and my brother Denis and sister-in-law Karen. I posted some of the pictures here. The purse in the pictures is one that I created and crocheted especially for Katherine. She helped in designing it.
OTHER STUFF - George is still taking ice skating lessons and doing karate one night a week. He also volunteers at the circulation desk at the library one afternoon a week, just like I do. George spent hours watching the Olympics and I would join him in the evenings. I've also been putting in volunteer hours by doing some data entry for the library and processing new books as they come in. One night each week I attend a yoga class which I absolutely LOVE! Today I am starting a little part time job at Super Suppers. (I'll have to tell you more about that next time.) I've also been spending a lot of time crocheting. I've made purses for Sophie, Anna (niece's daughter), Lexi (sister's granddaughter), Hailey, and an adult purse. In addition to that, I've made shopping/catch-all bags for myself, Jackie, a friend, and for gifts. Each purse and bag is entirely unique. I'll take some pictures and post them another time.
That's all for now, folks! Hope you are all doing well. I'll try to do better about blogging from now on!!
