Baby Brother Graduates!

I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that my little baby brother has graduated from High School and is headed off to college! I remember when my Mom and Dad sat us older three (me - 16, Jerry - 15, and Sarah - 12) down in our living room and told us that they had something special to tell us about Mom, and it was going to change our family forever in a wonderful way!  Of course, being the little snoop that I was, I already had a pretty good inkling of what this amazing news was.  I was a talented eavesdropper and had just "happened" to overhear Mom whispering to Dad in the kitchen a month or so before this, that she was LATE! :)

Thus, baby John appeared on the scene altering our lives forever.  My mom had him in a birthing room at our doctor's office, and was home on our living room couch with him seven hours after giving birth. I'll never forget walking into the house and seeing that little bundle, eyes wide open checking out his big sister. My sweet mother, after giving birth to him at the age of 38, was a little wiped out, and ended up having some complications later in the week. She recovered just fine, but this gave me a lot of opportunity to experience taking care of a newborn in those first few weeks of John's life. (Dad, Jerry, Sarah, grandmoms, and many others helped~it wasn't all me, by any means!) Baby John was definitely a special little guy to all of us. We've always looked at him as a precious gift from God to our family!  Us older three are all married now, my sister and I with two children each, and John is now officially an "adult" heading out into the big, wide world! :) My parents are FINALLY empty-nesters, or will be, come September when John heads off to Northland. 

John has definitely changed our family in a special way, and is an amazing guy! Mom and Dad have always said, they don't know where he came from being that he's SO different from the rest of us. :)  We love our "little" John and know God has great plans for his life. And I am continuing to pray that his heart stays tender toward God and His leading. LOVE YOU, JOHN!!!!!

It's Zoo Time!

We wanted to have a special family day to celebrate Garrett's kindergarten completion! So, we decided to spend Memorial Day visiting a local zoo and picnicking by the creek there. The boys were beyond excited for this special day! We visited this zoo two years ago, but they were doing some renovations and not all of the animals were there. Plus, Carson was only two and had no memory of it.

It turned out to be 90+ degrees on Memorial Day this year, and Carson was getting over a fever of some kind. But there was no way we were canceling, so we packed a lot of ice water and off we went! Here are just a few of the pictures I took!  Sorry, "few" is probably the wrong word ~ I have a difficult time choosing!  :)

African Penguins - a brand new exhibit!

The Wolf Den Replica - Garrett's favorite thing last time we visited this zoo!

On to the otters!

This snow owl was one of Carson's favorite things in the zoo!

Then it was inside the lorakeet cage - boy, did they think this was cool!

Now these are the faces of some satisfied customers! :)

Taking a much needed ice water break while we waited for the penguin feeding presentation!

This was a very friendly peacock!

On to petting the goats!

Carson was beginning to wear out, so he hitched a ride the rest of the way! :)

Don't think the kangaroos were big fans of the heat, or else they're nocturnal - I don't know!

Prairie Dogs are the funniest creatures ~ 

Carson and Daddy are having a chuckle because we just left the Bobcat exhibit and 

when Carson saw the Prairie Dogs, he accidentally called them Prairie Cats! :)

After getting a special toy in the gift shop it was time to have some lunch and hit the creek!

It was a wonderful day full of memories and we're looking forward to making lots more memories throughout this coming summer!

Summer Has Begun!!

I really can't believe it, but our first child is now a reading, writing Kindergarten graduate!  Wasn't I just feeling overwhelmed as I reviewed our curriculum seeing all that we would need to learn this last year?  Of course, there was a time or two (or ten) that we felt frustrated, but we stuck with it and got over those bumps in the road with great feelings of accomplishment! :)  I must say, that helping my son learn to read has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life!  He is now a little reading machine!

Another big blessing that I didn't see coming was that my four year old has learned so much just by listening to his big brother learn to read! He will definitely be learning to read himself over this next year.

We are soooo ready for a summer break, but I'm honestly excited to dive into first grade with my 6 yr. old and Kindergarten with my 4 yr. old in the fall. It's just so amazing to see their little minds wrap around new things!


So we finished up kindergarten successfully, I believe, and now. . .

 IT'S TIME FOR SUMMER FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

A New Porch

So, our front porch was beginning to be a safety concern. Since we park at the back of our property and use the rear entrance 100 percent of the time, the fact that the front porch had more rotten wood than not didn't pose an immediate concern for us. Replacing the porch went on the very long list of things that needed replacing in our 100+ year old twin.  But  when the floorboards began breaking off in front of the steps, we decided that for the safety of say, our UPS delivery man, and the very occasional guest that comes to the front door, we should probably move this project to the top of the list!  :)

Thankfully Home Depot had a great sale on the wood we needed, and my hubby tore into the project on a recent Saturday as the following pictures will show. He was a little leary of opening up the floor and possibly finding much greater structural issues that needed addressing, but it turned out that just the porch flooring and some of the supporting beams needed replacing.

It turned out quite well! He just about finished the project in one day! There's just a corner that needs finishing and a huge pile of rotten wood on our front bank.  So as soon as the mess is cleaned up and that corner is finished I will post a picture. Of course, the whole thing will need painting or staining or something, but no one is going to be putting their foot through the floorboards on the way to our front door anymore! :)

They Know Me Well! :)

Happy Mother's Day from my guys!

A new coffee mug and chocolate - doesn't get much better!

There were two candy bars,

but I ate one before I thought to take a picture! :)

4 and 6 . . . where does the time go?!?!

 I love watching them play with their Daddy!

I am a wife and mother truly blessed of God!