The Weekly Review XIIII

I should warn you, this is a ridiculously long post. Better go get something to sustain you while you read it :)
Sunday!
Travis left early and drove trains, the rest of us went to church and learned about God. When we left for church we left poor Henry in his kennel because I wasn't planning on coming back home after church. After church I got to feeling bad for Henry and we ran home and let him run for a little bit and the girls changed their clothes. Then we headed south for Rochester to hang out with the Blanshans for Linda's Birthday party. We had a really good time visiting with everyone and staying way longer than we were intended to stay. It was really nice to get to see all of them and a few other people that aren't on our regular visiting rounds. Beatrice and Catelynn had a lot of fun playing imaginary games in the office while Gregory and Joel played every board game there. Margaret and Harrison rode bikes with Benjamin and held Shep. We got home about 9pm, just a little after Travis got home from work.

Monday!
Travis replaced some of the towel dispensers at the church building and then went and picked up Hans and Garrett to spend the night at our house. While Travis was out running he stopped and got his Anniversary present, new speakers for the downstairs computer. They are awesome, just ask anyone but me. We are enjoying a couple fresh tomatoes each day now, they are quite yummy!

Tuesday!
Tammy came and got the boys mid morning. Margaret and Harrison each had their music lessons. I jarred up my dried herbs.

Wednesday!
Travis mowed all of our neighborhood it seemed like this morning before he went to work. He did around the pond, the empty house and the houses that don't have a lawnmower and he weed eated all along the alley. I prepared my lesson for class this evening and got groceries. Harrison went home with the Verhoeven's from church so he could go to Wild Mountain with them in the morning.

Thursday!
I had a dentist appointment to get my teeth cleaned. Beatrice went along to keep me company. When we got home it was already about time for Travis to go to work again. So I made lunch and he got ready to leave. The trains are really moving right now it seems. I went on a baking spree and made  bread (since we were out), Mary L.'s zucchini bread (since I had one more zucchini to use up) and Chocolate Chip cookies. They were all so yummy! I hadn't had zucchini bread in quite awhile, every one but Harrison thought it was good. Harrison said he could still taste the zucchini! Harrison got home exhausted from a busy day riding lots of rides. They have an alpine slide there that I think would be fun to try.

Friday!
Today was Nati and Heidi's birthday. The kids made Nati a couple of presents and took him a plate full of cookies. He is a big fan of chocolate chip cookies so I thought that would be a good gift for him. Margaret made a rainbow jello for the church picnic tomorrow. It turned out quite beautiful. I did some sewing. I remodeled a dress for me, a skirt for Margaret and a little mending. We took a picnic to Battle Creek park and hiked awhile around there and had our supper there. It was a pretty evening to be outside. It was really hot out but there was a nice breeze and in the trees where we had plenty of shade it was pleasant. The mosquitoes came out pretty heavy at the end of our walk. We went off the paved trail and followed mountain bike trails that are pretty exciting. I would be walking most of them even if I had my bike along. Way to up and down, around and around.

Saturday!
We went to help a couple move from their house to an apartment. The husband, Roger, is in the hospital and when he comes home he won't be able to maneuver stairs so they had to move. Their house had been decorated very cutely. It would have been hard to move. They are a part of the deaf ministry at church, so although I recognize them, I didn't know them. The kids had wondered what they would do but there were plenty of things their size to haul out and we were a valuable asset to the moving team. It was a fun morning of hard work. Travis got home from work about noon and then Hans and Garrett got to our house about 12:30 and we got home about 1pm. Then I made tacos real quick for lunch. After we had lunch I took a quick nap while the house fell down from wild kids. Once I got up I got together the rest of the food for the church picnic. The picnic was fun, at first it seemed there weren't to many coming but by the time it was over there were quite a few and we had a good time. I just visited,

Travis and Harrison, Hans and Garrett, Margaret and  Deborah all played volley ball with others.

Gregory pretty much just stayed in the jumping house the whole evening.

Beatrice kind of flitted from here to there.

BONUS!

Sunday!
We loaded up in the van and went to church. After church we headed over to Robert Street for Hannos' baptism. We had a little time so we ran in to Walmart. Travis wanted to get me a watch and he needed socks. When we got to the Ethiopian Orthodox church building Solomon was outside telling people goodbye. He told Travis we were to late and we could come over to their house to visit later. So we said that is what we would do and were going to go back to the van when one of Saba's sisters came and said we ought to come inside. We felt kind of awkward so we said we could see Saba and Hannos later and we got back in the van. Then another guy came out of the church building after we were in the van and talked Travis into coming into the church building. So we all got out and followed this person, I think their preacher, into the basement of the church where they were cleaning up from the meal after the baptism. Saba had invited us to come for the dinner and not actually for the baptism. She was quite excited that so many people had come and she said "it is like a party, people can come whenever!" A couple more Ethiopian families came after us so I felt better about it. They fed us their enjura, another type of bread that is traditional to them that is very similar to our white bread and then several types of topping for the enjura. It was yummy to us. Hans and Garrett not so much. We have a wider pallet for flavors we like to taste. We also got to try Saba's homemade beer. It was very interesting. Travis doesn't think it actually had any alcohol in it. Mine was called honey water and had a bite like vinegar but was quite sweet, Travis' wasn't sweet (He said it was too sweet) and was a color like ice tea. After we finished eating and it seemed a good time we said thank you and headed home. In the early evening after Travis left for work we all plus Osmond went on a bike ride to a park and hung out there for awhile. When we returned from the ride I made supper of potato wedges, hot dogs and veggies. The kids had a water fight to cool themselves off and wash off all the sand. Although that didn't happen, getting the sand off, my bed had a lot of sand on it where they had been sitting playing the wii. Tammy came and got the boys about 9:30 pm.

Monday!

To continue with our alcohol bent week we did errands today and one was to go to Morelli's to get me some vodka. I have been wanting to get some for several days because I got my order of vanilla in last week and I needed to get the beans soaking so I can have real vanilla again. I have been pricing them all summer and wanting to buy but just not sure if the cost was worth it. Olive Nation had a sale available and I bought. We had fun getting the beans sliced up the middle and pouring the vodka over them. Now they are quietly soaking in the cabinet for the next several months. I can't wait! I also got a bunch of laundry done and all the beds changed. We watched a sweet movie called Dad that Travis checked out from the library. I made my own version of shortbread for supper's desert. It is so yummy. I might need to share the recipe with you all some time. I am sure it will be better when I have my own vanilla to use in it.

Tuesday!

This day marks the day Travis and I have been married for 14 years. It seems impossible that it can be this many years. But I am happy we have had them! He truly is a wonderful guy to spend my life with.

And now I bid the Weekly review good bye. We have had a good summer and now our time is over. I will be writing on an irregular basis again.
~Anna
PS Our Swallow tail just finished metamorphosing and wriggled out of his chrysalis!
PSS On September 1st he flew away and we got to see it!!

The Weekly Review XIII

Sunday~
This morning Travis was too tired to go to church since he got in at 4 something from work. He wanted me to wake him up and I tried but it just didn't happen this time. Tea came home with us from church because Beatrice wanted her to come for a tea party. She had made her an invitation on Friday. So it really had to happen :) Travis and I mowed the field after lunch. We missed the riding lawnmower, but we used less gas and got good exercise. I wanted to take a bike ride, but it was really windy and there is only so much time, we needed to have a tea party and Travis wanted to weed eat the back fence along the alley. It was bothering him. Once Travis got cleaned up we went to Urban Ministry. It is fun to go any ways but this week was also a going away party for the Wesemans. They are off to Arkansas for a couple of years for further study.

Monday~
For breakfast Margaret wanted to do something different than normal so I suggested she paint with milk on the toast before it was toasted and this is what was on our toast today.
We painted our front entryway. It is now a richer cream color and no spots that I can't wash clean. We like it. It is the same color as the piano bench so I also repainted its top. Bea had used permanent markers on it without enough layers of paper and I had a bunch of pink and blue and other colored spots on it now. But not anymore. It is clean too. The painting went nice and easy since it is a small area.

Tuesday~
We got the entryway put back together. We also got a load of wood. We have a lot of wood cut, split and stacked for the next winter or two.  Margaret and Harrison had music lessons. We made a quick trip to the library between lessons. It seems to be our favorite hobby this year is running there and back.

Wednesday~
Margaret and I moved the furniture out of the living room this morning and then I was going to start shampooing the carpet, but I was rather feeble in my attempts and spilt a bunch of shampoo in one spot as I was trying to get things going so Travis stepped in since he was now up and took over that job. I just had to run get more shampoo. I was pretty tricky, I think. He ended up doing our bedroom, the upstairs landing and the stairway. All of which were in desperate need of it. The only reason it wasn't done at the beginning of summer was I got exhausted just thinking about it each time and talked myself into thinking we had more pressing matters. It is nice now. It made a stressful few days for a bunch of neighbor kids though as I wouldn't let them in. While our floor was damp I didn't feel like any unneeded traffic on it. I do like having clean floors.

Thursday~
We had a pretty quiet day. Travis left for work about 5 so I got up and packed his  lunch and then went to bed again. In the morning just my kids played catch in the field for awhile and I joined them. In the early evening we went to Kids Connection and did the lesson and activities for them. It is a part of the Urban Ministry that we hadn't been apart of before. The story was Acts 2: 38-47 when Peter tells them what they must do, Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We acted it out a little as I read it, Harrison was Peter so he said his words. We did OK but there the kids definitely had stage fright, and were pretty nervous. So it was a good thing to build our character. We did have a good time interacting with every one. When we got back we put our living room back together and had supper.

Friday~
I had the kids pick me basil, mint and echinacia leaves to wash and now we are drying them for the winter.
The stairs are still damp in a few places so I didn't let anyone into our house again today. Mean me. The kids played outside a lot. Croquet was the favorite. Travis had simulator training today so he knew he had to work from 9- 3 or 4 a few days in advance. It turned out he was fast so he got home about 2pm. Then we went shopping. I had some needs and others had some wants and we got about everything on our list after a few hours. One thing was a Wii game for Margaret's birthday that Harrison wanted to get and wasn't at our normal shopping place of Target. So as we were driving we noticed several game stores that we tried and Sam's but Best Buy was who pulled through for us. A bit more than Walmart when Harrison had been there this spring, but not as out of the way so we paid the extra and skipped the drive. We got our last delivery of school books this evening. It is so exciting to look at them.

Saturday~
We had puffed pancakes for breakfast with apple/zucchini/orange topping. It was very yummy. After Travis read for awhile to everyone and I cleaned up breakfast we went and got another load of wood. I should be loosing weight, all the trips up the boulder steps I have made this month with a load of wood in my arms. I am not though. When we got back I hurried and showered and got things made for Waylon's first birthday party. We got to try new foods because they are Hmong. Pa Nhia made chicken curry soup and her sister brought a green mango salad. They are both spicy. You ate them with rice noodles and the soup also with chopped cabbage, cilantro, limes and bean sprouts. It really is yummy. I really enjoyed seeing their garden. Her parents really have green thumbs it seems to me. They garden in a big way north of here a little for the farmers market but at their house they had all sorts of their type of herbs and vegetables. They have real ginger growing among other things. It was neat to get to meet some of Pa Nhia's family.
Well I had better get ready for church in the morning. Good night.
~Anna

The Weekly Review IX

Sunday~
I fried and seasoned up some hamburger real quick to make enchiladas before we left for church. Patrick preached about how Jesus is Enough. After a good lunch we went out to the Pappas' to cut wood. We mostly carried it up a steep hill to the truck. Travis and Harrison did cut a little also and Travis did a lot of splitting. It was a very hot and humid day so we were all drenched with sweat and exhausted by the time we had a full load. Once we got it all unloaded we went swimming. There were life guards there today which made for a harder time to have a good time. No floaties, stay on this side, only dive off this side and so on. Still we patiently waited for them to go home and then they played happily for about two hours. Travis, Ben, Margaret and Harrison played out by the floating dock almost the whole time a game of hide and seek, or something. Beatrice, Gregory and Deborah played with the kickboard and all for a very long time and I, I read. By the time they all finally got out of the water they were starved and didn't think what I was planning for supper would fill them up so we went to Little Ceasars and got four pizzas and some buffalo wings. With a few leftovers thrown in and some garlic sauce they were all satisfied. We did send home one pizza with Deborah and Nahum since it was time to go home before we got started eating.

Monday~
Travis was home in the morning so we hauled away random metal junk, compost, and brought a load of wood home. All the nieghborhood  kids hung out here this afternoon. Kristina and Margaret made awesome sugar cookies. Kristina had to go home before they started baking them and Margaret felt like quitting then too but I wasn't in the baking mood so I told her sorry it is your project to finish and she did marvelously.

Tuesday~
This morning when he got up Ben gave Gregory a gold star post-it note and said he was a deputy and Harrison was the sherriff. Then we all were deputised with gold stars and it made me think of the story You are Special. So I read it to everyone before we ate breakfast. It is a special story telling us that what is important is what Jesus thinks of us and not what everyone else thinks about us. We took Ben to a bus stop to begin his journey back home. Then the kids and I went to a library that isn't our normal one to watch the Minnesota Percussion Trio perform their program Clicks, Clacks and Clunks. They used things we could find in our homes. Five gallon buckets and they even showed us where to get the different tones on them. They used tin cans, wood, spoons. our hands and paper. One guy used newspaper, one a paper bag and the other note paper and they did a song with just that. We go to church with Eric one of the members, which is how I found out about it. After instrument lessons and going to our library to get a book Margaret needed, I worked on mowing our yard and the field. I used the riding lawnmower for the field. It is rather fun to use it. The only problem is when it ran out of gas I couldn't start it. It refused to go for me. I tried a lot of times, I would go do something and then come back to it but it wouldn't go. So disappointing.

Wednesday~
We were going to go see Song in the morning but she called first thing and said she had some Dr. appointments that she had forgotten about so we didn't get to do that. She is very stressed right now about breastfeeding, disciplining and Wei's job so we have been talking on the phone quite a bit but I thought it might be good if we just got together for awhile. Hopefully we can make it work. She hesitates to let us come over because she is already tired and doesn't feel like her house is up to par for having company and so on. She feels like she is too tired to drive to our place since it is a good ways away. Since we didn't go anywhere in the morning we played a nice long game of Bohnanza or Beans. It was very fun. We also got all of our laundry folded for a little while. I din't drink any caffinated coffee today. Travis woke up just before lunch and ran out to see what was wrong with the lawnmower and quickly finished the mowing. There was nothing wrong with the mower, I expected that to be the case. Then we all went to horseshoes and grocery shopping. Travis got his allergy shot too while we were out and about. After church Harrison went home with the Verhoeven's and Jessica came home with us. After we were all nicely tucked into our beds Jessica decided she really missed her mom and needed to go home, so Travis ran her home.

Thursday~
I thought about coffee a lot today! I have decided to try to give it up entirely for awhile and see if I feel better. I rarely wake up refreshed anymore and my muscles ache a lot of the time and I can't figure out another reason for it all so I am going to try this. I have thought about it for a long while but after talking to different people they always said in moderation coffee is actually good for you. It may be but I need to try something. Margaret, Gregory and I planted several clumps of lilies in the rain gardens across the street. Natasha wanted them taken out of in front of her house because she ordered way to much river rocks to go around her house for landscaping and needed a place to put it. The rocks look nice there and I was the only one to weed in that area so it is nice to know I won't be doing that again for awhile. So anyways there were some spots that needed filled so we stuck them here and there. Travis spent the morning mowing the church yard. I made a stir fry for lunch and then we went to the Erriccsson's pool. It is a really nice perk at their association. The pool is a salt water one. So very fashionable these days. I do think I like them better. Beatrice went home with Jessica then when we got done there and we were down to three people in the van! We three went to the Red Cross to see if I could give blood, but no I was 2 points to low. 12.3 rather than 12.5 or above. I feel so silly each time I can't, I think I will quit for a few years. I don't know how to get off of their calling list though. They call all the time saying they need my blood, silly vampires. About five I started gathering up my wandering children and we are now five again. Travis will probably be home tomorrow evening, he thinks.

Friday~
Gregory and Beatrice played Doctor for awhile and I found a bunch of  pictures such as these on my camera. We worked at cleaning our house and making beds. We have company coming again! Luke, Keren and Matt tonight and then Bob and Sarah will join us on Saturday. We are hoping to get Mathew and Emily to come over for supper as well. Naturally we went to the library, two more of Margaret's books were in. We also went shopping. The bed I have for Luke is quite hard, Gregory's, and I thought he would sleep better if I got a mattress topper pad. We also got birthday gifts because Beatrice and Gregory have three birthday parties to attend next week. Travis beat us home and once we got home he wanted to go see the new baby of the Davidson's, Cody Joel. Kade and Levi were there too and they were very happy to see Travis. Cody is a sweet little thing, of course. I forgot my camera. After supper we watched Sherlock Holmes. It was a pretty funny movie and helped us stay awake until our company arrived.

Saturday~
Bob and Sarah got here in time for a late breakfast and then we headed over to the Science Museum for a day of learning. Mathew, Emily and Becky met us there. Some of the group went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and some of us skipped paying for that and just browsed the rest of the displays. It has been a few years since we had been there and they had a new display of building things, how domes are built, a table full of equal sized blocks that Beatrice really enjoyed, extra long magnetics, a truss building set and so on.

After we watched the Omni Theater show of Arabia we had a light lunch (our family), of boiled eggs and so on and some of the others bought food at the museum cafe. Once we were properly tired we headed home. We made supper and then played a game of spades with 7 people. It was fun. Actually Travis, Bob and Luke song good old quartet songs while we cleaned up supper. It was pretty music.

Have a wonderful week,
~Anna

The Weekly Review IX

Sunday~

The storms in the night knocked a tree down at the beginning of the street so we had to take the alley to leave for church. Tea came over to play with Bea after church. After a dinner of grilled roast sandwiches and salads we cut up that tree. It was really quite a small, young tree to fall in the wind, compared to some of the trees near to it.

Monday~

I sewed and lots of neighbor kids came in and out and the kids played ball in the field. Margaret and I made her Raspberry pie. These berries had a Lot of little black beetles in them that were a trick to get out. After soaking them for about 5 minutes they started crawling out of the berries. You didn't even see them until you had soaked them awhile. Nati got one in his piece of pie so then he couldn't finish it, so did I but I am used to bugs in my food I guess so it didn't bother me. I got my next Booksneeze book and am anxiously waiting to start it. I am trying to read two that I checked out from the library and am not enjoying as much as I did when I first started them. One is Age of Opportunity, a great book about parenting teens and the other is Crime and Punishment, who decides what makes a great classic anyway.

Tuesday~

Margaret and Harrison had music lessons. I baked bread and chocolate mint chip cookies, a really good batch, if I do say so myself, and everyone else thought so to because they didn't appreciate me limiting their quantities. We went and picked grape leaves for me to put in our supper and the kids played football and soccer with the other kids around here. Harrison again bruised his foot and it got a little swollen like last time but I didn't worry about it because he has shoes and hands to put them onto his feet. Harrison about cried when he came to the supper table and found that he had picked grape leaves and I didn't use them in dolmas but in Stuff. He does like him some dolmas, that is for sure.

Wednesday~

We went to the Chutes and Ladders park with Christy and Co. The kids played for awhile and then we went down the trail a little way and had a picnic lunch. It was a very hot day but the park has a sprayer tube that they all had fun running through and getting quite wet in, dripping wet in. We were late getting to horseshoes because I need a watch. Everyone that wears a watch in our family pays no attention to when we are to be places. Malia came with us for the rest of the afternoon. The girls did beads and made several more geckos. I had a hard time thinking of an exciting way to teach about Jonathan and his armor bearer climbing up the cliff and slaying a bunch of Philistines on their own (with God's help, of course). A great story, but I didn't have any teaching aids for it. So I took Harrison's toy soldier's and set them up with some tents and acted the story out using them. They are modern warfare men so Gregory kept telling me which ones were using the bazooka and so on. I don't know if they remembered the story later on but everyone thought it was fun to play with different toys during playtime.

Thursday~

We were planning on going swimming at our friend Diane's house with some other friends from church. It was raining in the am so Diane thought we had better cancel and try for a better day. I finally finished Beatrice's fairy outfit. When she was maneuvering out the door the wings got knocked and already have issues. I had thought they were pretty sturdily made, too. We finished reading The House of Sixty Fathers. It was such a sweet story based on a true story, which makes it much better to me. Hans and Garret came over to play for the day since we couldn't go swimming. Tammy came and visited for awhile in the evening. Travis impressed her with his awesome tapioca pudding making skills.

Friday~

The most exciting thing we did, in my opinion, was make krumkake for breakfast. They were very yummy. After I had them going Margaret pretty much took over the cooking of them, Harrison did a few also. Since it was something new and different it was very exciting to them to get involved. We want to have an ice cream party and serve it in our own home made bowls now. Travis was pretty sad when he called home and heard we were making them and he wasn't there, we saved him some though and he had a serving while waiting for lunch. I hadn't thought about making krumkake for years so when I was reading Emily's blog on Thursday evening I had to get my iron out and use it. I also vacuumed a little and made Ben's bed. We ran to the library. We went out to supper with the Faust family from Ohio and China.

Saturday~

Margaret, Beatrice and I got three overflowing baskets full of laundry folded first thing in the morning. Good job girls! We ran to get gas for the lawnmowers and Travis a pair of jeans for work at Fleet. He was hoping they would be on sale. His are really wearing out. Ben came to spend the next week or so with us. He brought us bamboo chopsticks and we tried them out on a stir fry for lunch. Bea particularly enjoys using them so it is nice to have some for the appropriate meals, and now we have some even for our guests to use. 

Tom, a friend from church, came over to hang out with Ben and all of us. We had supper of pizza, brownies and cucumbers, fresh from my garden!! We watched Knight's of the South Bronx after supper.  Then we sent up a hot air balloon that Ben had brought from China. Several held lighters and a candle and Tom and I held the edges of it. We held it until the heat sent it up, Up, UP! We watched the light until it was no more in the sky.

Goodnight,
~Anna

The Weekly Review VIII

Sunday~

A lovely day. I missed the sermon because I was singing and learning about Naaman with the preschool/kindergartners. Harrison helped me with Bible Hour, often Margaret does but he asked if he could this time. After church we went to lunch at Chili's with the Fredericks, it was yummy. It was the hot spot for people from church to come. Two other tables were full of fellow church of Christer's. Then we went to Sam's because I had used up the last of my yeast for supper on Saturday night. Travis was a little perturbed when he came out of the bathroom and my cart was full and he thought all we were coming for was yeast. I got 11 pounds of apples. I hadn't bought any for a long while because they have been expensive and they weren't very good looking, these were fairly reasonable and very good looking. They have been delicious. The kids love apples so they have been a wonderful treat. This evening we went to the Salvation Army up the road a bit to hear the Alzen Family. Nahum and Deborah went with us. Travis had to work so he was disappointed he couldn't go. I like the Salvation army's music! They have a full brass band for their singing. It was pretty neat. It sounded like on Sunday mornings they have more players and it looked like they use a couple pianos as well. Their attendance was typical for Sunday evening attendance, average age 65 and fairly sparse. Next week they are having a Christian Illusionist, that sounds interesting. Harrison thinks we ought to check it out.

Monday~

Henry had a check up. His weight and all is really good but we need to feed him less table food and more dog food as he has too much plaque build up on his teeth, Travis needs to brush them more is another solution, I think. I needed to mail a few things so Gregory and Beatrice chose to ride their bikes with me there. So did Deborah, Nahum, Kristina, and Holten. After we were through at the post office we played at a nearby park for a little while. Holten and Nahum weren't so sure that was a good idea since Harrison wasn't along but the other four thought we ought too and 4 against 2 wins.

Tuesday~

Margaret lost two teeth, by force today. They were going to impede the growth of the next teeth so the orthodontists recommended that we remove them now. The removal went smoothly. They had really long roots still so it took a little pulling, I guess. She and Harrison also had their instrument lessons. I did some sewing and lots of laundry because we are forcasted to have lots of rain the rest of this week.

Wednesday~

Speaking of rain we got gallons of it today. Huge quantities. Harrison and Margaret each had check ups at their Dr. It had been a few years since they had been in to see her so we decided that it was time for a physical for them. Harrison, Dr. Gobel assured me is going to be a very big guy when he gets through with this growing business. They are both good and healthy. Since Dr. Gobel is near where they throw horseshoes I had originally planned to have a picnic but the weather wasn't so promising it had been raining off and on all morning so we went to a new Aldi near there. Then I called to see about the plan for horseshoes and it was cancelled. So we headed home and stopped at Rainbow on the way to get the good deals for the week and pick up Travis' epi pen from the pharmacy. After we got home it started to really rain. Hard. It poured. The kids went out and played in it for awhile. They were soaked through and through. The street was under water. It really was fun being out in it. I started to call them in once because it got super windy for just a little while but it was almost over with the wind by the time I got them to hear me. Then we went to church. Beatrice and Gregory helped me choose the snack for my class while we were at Rainbow. Snack crackers and cheese whiz. They were different shapes so the kids laid them out to look like a man and then we put cheese on to look like lots of hair because we studied Samson tonight.

Thursday~

Beatrice had a shop selling her arts today and Gregory went hunting. I also made a delicious blueberry upside down cake. So very yummy. Friday~

My helpers came down in uniform. Camping T shirts and navy blue shorts. We baked Banana bread, banana cake and regular whole wheat bread. We also went shopping for we had some birthdays and a wedding shower to prepare for. It was a slow trip because I was in the mood to look at clearance racks and others were in the mood too. I am trying to decide what to do about shopping and Deborah. She feels totally rejected if I don't allow her to come so she hasn't missed many outings since summer began, but when I get something for my kids (like shoes, watches) she feels left out in my not buying for her. Naturally I always buy for her if we are eating. So, I have been deliberating on the proper protocol on that. I have been sewing a fairy costume for Beatrice out of some silk shirts that I saved because of the pretty colors. It is a tedious process. Harrison kicked Nahum in the shin instead of the soccer ball by accident this evening and he wasn't wearing any shoes. He now has a swollen spot the size of a golf ball just down from his ankle. He isn't walking very well, in fact he isn't. He is hopping. We have iced it and hope that during his sleep it will heal.

Saturday~

The swelling has gone down some but walking is very uncomfortable. We were all planning to go to Como Zoo to meet some of the Blanshans for the morning but Harrison and Travis stayed home. We had a nice visit at the zoo although it was very hot and crowded. We got to watch Sparky. A lot of the animals thought it was to hot to move so they were all pretty quiet. The puma was active and so was the Siberian Tiger. My camera was giving me weird signals so I didn't take any pictures there. I didn't want to erase the memory by accident since I had a few pictures on it I didn't want to loose. When I showed it to Travis at home later it was perfectly normal and worked just fine this evening.

Then we went over to Ellsworth, WI to a friends for some friends wedding shower. Harrison and Margaret picked raspberries for them and for us to bring home. Margaret wants me to make a pie with them. That does sound good. I had been planning to make plain old kefir with them but she thought that would be a waste. We almost didn't get any berries because it started to rain but they braved the weather and got a nice amount. It really didn't rain very much until we got home. Around 8pm it started to rain and then we had all sorts of storminess. Travis' train was stopped because of the tornado watch and they had to wait until it passed. We camped out in the basement and read and sewed. The kids chose to sleep down there as well, to be on the safe side. ~Anna

The Weekly Review VII

Sunday~

Just before we headed out the door to church the sky started pouring. It was a warm Heavy rain that left you almost soaked on just the little walk to the van. By the time we got to the church building it was virtually all over. While we were in class it did rain hard there also, I guess. I was busy teaching 12 preschool/kindergartners. They were really attentive and a lot of fun. We talked about Elisha helping the widow whose husband left her with a lot of debt and the miracle of the oil jar never running out until there were no more jars to fill. When we came home I made a quick lunch of spaghetti while Travis gave the chairs another quick varnish. I also baked a white cake to turn into a jello cake for supper. I baked it in my blue pan for proper effect. For supper we went over to the Verhoeven's, we took some of our new steaks to try them out. We also had hamburgers, bbq chicken or hotdogs and anything else you might want for a proper 4th of July meal. Several other friends were over also. Their front yard is perfect for watching the fireworks. They are shot in the school yard which is across the street from them. Daryl also had several of his own that he shot off after all the other ones were done. While we were waiting for the big ones to go off I had brought some Roman candles along from last year the kids wanted to do so Daryl took them across the street to an open area on the school property to shoot off. After they had done a few a police guy pulled up and told them to move from there, I was a little nervous since I was the provider of them that they were going to get Daryl in trouble but the guy just said to do it on your own property. We got home about 11pm and the fireworks were still going crazy around here. They had some pretty big ones. We were so tired we didn't stay out for all of them though. Gregory and Beatrice didn't try to watch them at all they just went to bed.

Monday~

I tried to hang my laundry out today and while I was in the basement doing a tiny bit of mending it decided to pour on it. So I brought it in since there were still a few spots of dryness on it and then everything cleared up and there were no clouds in the sky so I hung it all back out and watched the sky very carefully. When the sky got very heavy and a few drops started coming down I brought it in and used the dryer. We also went shoe shopping for Harrison, He couldn't get his tennis shoes on him the other day. His feet had quickly stretched. Deborah was along and the kids were pretty crazy most of the time. Racing from one destination to another as we went through the stores. We also went to IKEA. I thought I would leave the younger three in the daycare but it was full and they weren't accepting anyone for 1/2 an hour or so. So they had to shop with us. We stopped at Cub on the way home to get lettuce for supper and Travis chose some Redbox for our evenings entertainment. He ended up bringing home 2 DVDs. We watched The Spy Next Door. It was really good. I made chimmichangas they were really good too.

Tuesday~

Harrison had his first trumpet lesson for the month. We went on a bike ride to Swede Hallow. Deborah and Nahum went with us. Our purpose for the bike ride was to pick blackberries. It was pretty successful. We got enough for those who wanted it on their ice cream after supper and two batches of jam. As we were leaving Travis spotted a bush with Huge berries and that added a couple more cups in quick work. It was really nice. We had our maiden voyage on our new dining room chairs. After supper we watched Blind Sided. OH My Goodness that is a very good movie!! It is one I would really like to watch again.

Wednesday~

Margaret had her first violin lesson for the month, while she did that I held the little baby. She is six weeks old now. When we got home I sliced up some round steak to marinade for fajitas for supper. Margaret and Harrison had horseshoes this afternoon. It looked like it might storm so I didn't want to leave them there and do my grocery shopping in case they needed to leave because of the weather. So I worked on my lesson for tonight's class and visited with the other moms. We had to get groceries on our way home which is also when the storm broke loose. I got seven pints of black raspberry jam made. I used the low sugar pectin and it is so yummy!

Thursday~

I did a little weeding, a little laundry. We cleaned the house. Travis had his annual check up with his allergist. He sent home a prescription for an epi pen, which he should have had every time he had a shot in case of an adverse reaction. I will need to get that. Travis has been having a lot of heart burn and not sleeping well because of it so the Dr. recommended that he try Zantac to relieve that. Hopefully it works. We measured the kids today because Travis assured me that Harrison was almost as tall as me and taller than his Granny so we needed to just be sure of the status of these great achievements. Harrison is 65", Margaret is 60", Beatrice is 49", and Gregory is 47". They are growing like weeds! Friday~

I worked on some sewing that I had been putting off for some time (since last October). Beatrice had really wanted to make Granny a dress last fall but she doesn't wear dresses so we decided a night gown would be a better choice. Bea chose the material and we got the pattern but I just kept putting off the making so we finally got it cut out and started sewing. It is a cute pattern and more detailed than I thought when we chose it. I hope it fits well. Saturday~

I did more sewing. I got a skirt sewn for me and I finished the nightie. Margaret and Beatrice both did little projects themselves. Margaret has been helping me right along, gathering ruffles and threading elastic, of which there was yards used. We went to the library for the second time this week, a book Travis had requested came in and Harrison was out of books again. We went to taco bell for lunch. I had some coupons and I was hungry and not feeling like cooking. I gave each of the kids one coupon and 1-3 dollars depending on their size and hunger and they were supposed to figure out what they could get for that amount of money. I don't think the people behind us were so happy to be behind us once we all got through as we were quite slow. We had the Verhoeven's over for supper. I made pizza and brownies and she brought a lettuce salad. It was a pleasant evening of visiting and many kids conquering great battles outside.

Have a great week

~Anna

The Weekly Review VI

Sunday~

Was a bit of a muggy day in the morning and hot, but we were in the church building and in the afternoon it was quite nice out. At church I really enjoyed the singing. We sing out and to a lively speed and I have really grown to appreciate it. Last week (at camp) it seemed to me we sang the songs rather on the slow side, and it just wasn't as uplifting that way.

Gregory was really wanting a bike ride so we took a shortish one to a park before Travis headed to work. After Travis left for work we went to the forest to hunt for black raspberries. We found some. Enough for each of us to have a small bowl full with cream and I put two cups into the freezer. Our problem is a few others have found our "secret" patch. We showed a few of our neighbors a few years ago when we found the patch but they weren't so entranced by it as we were. I don't really like sharing. Words and names of things are interesting to me and my kids calling our woods a forest is fun. Growing up it was "the woods" at our place, at Grandma's in Iowa she referred to it as "the timber", and at Grandpa's place in Nebraska it was called "the grove". So the next place we move will have to be called the bush or jungle, I guess. I also got to watch a ballet on my front porch accompanied by a fine violinist.

Monday~

I worked at attacking the growing laundry mountain in the basement. It was a good drying day outside so that was wonderful. Travis finished getting a riding lawnmower that has been taking up to much garage space for the past year, overhauled and running again. Yeah! Now that it is running we can pass it along to where it can be used and we can park in that section of the garage again. I know he will hate to see it leave. With no effort he mowed the whole field in very little time. It looks good to, not much scalping. I mowed our front yard with it. A big challenge, I would prefer to push it because I had to do all sorts of fancy reversing because there is no space for a rider here. I made dolmas for supper, so yummy. They were Margaret's favorite batch and Travis' less favorite because I used almonds in them for the pine nuts. This is a good time of year for grape leaves so I need to pick more for the freezer.

Tuesday~

We went to Como Zoo in the morning. It has been a long time since we went there in the summer. The crowds were awful. We got to watch the Sparky show and go into the butterfly tent. The Butterflies were very beautiful! It was so pretty outside to be in it was nice.

The kids were a little restless like they were unsure how to fill their free time today. Particularly Harrison as he has finished all the books he wanted to read again. When he reads he devours them and they are gone in a flash and he needs more so then he takes a little bit to find the next sort he wants to read. I think we are all a little tired still from camp, too. I am entirely caught up from camp laundry now!

Wednesday~

Gregory and I drove down HWY 52 to Greg's Meats and picked up our 830 pounds of freshly processed beef. Then we went to Rainbow and got groceries. Once we got back the fun began, of hauling all of that down to the basement. The kids pitched in with great vigor and we were done in no time. I just had to fit it into the freezer. We still had about 15 lbs of hamburger left from last year, 1 T-bone and 1 round steak package that I pulled out and am thawing in the fridge. There is absolutely no space in the freezer for anything else right now! As soon as we had hauled everything in we headed over to W. St. Paul, we ate lunch in the van of reheated dolmas. Harrison and Margaret did their horseshoe throwing there. I worked on my class material for tonight and Gregory and Beatrice played on the playground, watched the game and tried to take naps in the van. Before church we managed to get the house mostly cleaned up, vacuumed, mopped and bathrooms scrubbed. It looks nice for the moment.

Margaret has been desiring to try lemon meringue pie so we combined efforts and made one today. We tried it after church this evening and the kids were very pleased with the results. So we made another one on Thursday!

Thursday~

We had better success hunting blackberries today. We got enough for two batches of jam. While I was canning them one jar exploded on me for some reason. It really just went Pop, I suppose, it was a mess any which way. I am kind of glad none of the kids were helping me because they might of gotten shot, I just got a purple shirt and three sides of the kitchen got hit, actually five. So I got to mop again. I baked a Huge turkey today. I had pulled it out of the freezer on Monday to make room for the beef and it was finally thawed. I didn't expect the beef to be ready until next week, actually, oh well it is all in. While we were berry picking Harrison upset a mama cardinal quite a bit picking at the clump of bushes she had her nest in. There were two little featherless chicks in there. Hopefully we didn't bother her too much. We did all need to look in, but then we moved on.

Friday~

Travis and the kids put together the rest of our dining chairs and hauled them out to the garage so we can varnish them. We got the first coat on. Our friends Amy and Diane came over for lunch. Amy has been up visiting for the past week from Arizona and we hadn't gotten to see her yet so they came by before she flew back home and spent a couple hours. It was so nice to see them. They got turkey soup, surprise, surprise, since I had just cooked down the bones all night long. For supper we went to some friends in Hudson, WI for a cook out with random other people from church. Some missionaries from Belgium are here visiting right now and this way we got to meet them and visit a little more than just at church. Travis' tracks go right by their house also and there are some osprey who have a nest just a little way down the track so some of us took a walk down there. They live on one of the water ways off of the Mississippi and we crossed on the train track bridge. It was kind of fun and scary looking down at all of the water through the ties. The mama osprey wasn't sure if we should be in her territory. It was a lovely evening for a walk, around 80 degrees with a nice breeze.

Saturday~

Travis got up early to go help some guys take a huge cross off of the wall at the church building. It was made from old RR ties and a lady has been having some allergy issues at church so they thought that might be the problem. They are going to make another one from something else. When he got back I got up and he went back to bed. I got a Big pot of sloppy joes cooking for lunch, using up that hamburger. We got all of our yard and gardens watered really well. It is so dry out there again on our ground. We also got the chairs varnished again, we did them twice today. We went to the Ericsson's for lunch. Most of our Life Group from last year got to come. We had a nice time visiting and then we did a little kid switching. Jessica came home with us and Harrison went home with the Verhoeven's. He will be there until we go over there for supper tomorrow. We will see him at church, but he doesn't sit with us so we won't see him very much. The girls have mostly played barbies and Gregory has felt a little lost. Nati has come over for awhile so that was nice although they kept throwing everything (legos) around and that was bit bothersome. We went to check on the baby cardinals and the nest is completely empty. There is know way they were ready to fly, I can't see evidence of them on the ground so I wonder what happened to them. The mama was feeding them yesterday. Can mama birds move their flightless crew when they feel they are in an unsafe place? Do you know?

~Anna