They Did It, They Did It, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!!

Happy Day!! They are now officially Mr. & Mrs!!! The ceremony was fantastic. Very laid back and relaxed. The bride was gorgeous and the groom handsome (so they're that way all the time but this was special with eyes only for each other and their countenances all aglow). I know they are perfect for each other and they'll have an amazing, wonderful life together.

The potluck afterwards was great. I just can't believe that it's come and gone already. All the waiting and planning... Big sigh of relief and wistfulness.

We tried taping the ceremony but the camcorder ended up getting paused (I try not to let these things bother me cause these technological glitches are my life's story!!). We're hoping to pool our camera resources to get lots of good pictures.

Tomorrow we start our long journey home. I can't wait to be entirely surrounded by my children whom I've missed so much!! There's no place like home. There's no place like home. Click, click, click.

Yes, I AM alive!!

Ok, Ok. The complaints have started to trickle in that I've been slacking off long enough and that I need to get back to blogging. Sigh! What's a mommy/grammy to do when there's too much to do and not enough time to do it all in?? At least no one can accuse me of spending too much time on the computer blogging, huh? Anyway, I do have several announcements to make...

First of all... Hooray!! I'm going to be a new Grammy again!! Around the first of July Son #1 and his beautiful wife told us that there is a new little bun in the oven due around the last of February (on Son #1's birthday to be exact!!). Please keep my daughter-in-law and the baby in your prayers as she has a bicornuate utereus--meaning that it's heart shaped. The doctors have to stitch her cervix closed (a cerclage) so that she doesn't go into preterm labor. This pregnancy will be more of a challenge since she has a 20 month old toddler who loves to get into as much trouble as he can find. :-)

The garden has been keeping me busy. I cannot even begin to keep up with all of the weeds this year what with visits from family and friends, helping DH with repair work, remodeling projects in the house and all that jazz.

I've managed to process about 75 quarts of green beans this year. I planted some bush beans several weeks ago that have bloomed profusely and which I expect to get a big harvest from very soon.

Pictured here are my pole beans. The green ones with the purple speckles are Cascade Giant Stringless. The solid green ones are Ideal Market Beans. And the gorgeous purple beans are Purple Podded Pole Beans. They are really tasty. In fact my kids eat them right off the vine!! Aren't they beautiful?

Not so pretty anymore but delicious food for the winter when hot, humid days of picking, snapping and canning are just a distant memory. I love that summer goodness when those chilly days come calling.

The last of July saw Daughter #1 another year older. It's hard to believe that 22 years ago I gave birth to my first daughter. My goodness, how time flies!!

Son #5 had his 9th birthday the first week of August with lots of family present. Most importantly to him, Son #2 flew in from Hawaii the very day of his party for a little visit (the first visit since he left 9 months ago) What a happy boy!! He still misses his big brother a lot.

Gotta love those trick candles!!


I can't believe that he's come and gone already!! What a crazy, hectic visit. There was so much that we had hoped to do but there just wasn't time for. But he'll coming back around Christmas time with his Fiancee so that he can introduce her to his crazy family. Poor girl!! She doesn't know what she's getting herself into!! :-)

So that was announcement #2 if you weren't paying attention!! Son #2 proposed to the woman that the Lord has filled his heart with love for and she said an esctatic "YES". They are tentatively planning a May wedding in Hawaii which means that we need to get to saving up our money for us all to fly over there!! That's quite a wad!!

So yeah, there's been a lot going on for us. But I'm thinking that things are going to slow down a bit now.

I plan to start school with the kids August 24th. I've been busy getting our little schoolroom ready, getting everything organized and putting in a few small orders here and there for supplies and stuff we need this year. I'll try to post a picture of our little schoolroom when I'm all done getting everything just the way that I want it.

Until next time!! And yes, I will try to post more often!!

Fun Visits and a Birthday

Hey there all!! I've got a few minutes and thought I would post a bit of an update.


Been lots going on around these parts. We had the cousins (my Dear Sister's 6 kids) over for a whopping 10 days of nonstop fun and noise. No matter how we tried, we could not keep up with the dishes, laundry or food this time. The oldest kids stayed up many nights (ALL night) playing computer strategy games (networking) together. One of the best advantages of homeschooling. You can throw out the schedule when good things come up. Anyway, everyone had a great time.


Son #2 went in for more filming on the Lost set. He's hoping to keep a low profile so they can use him a lot. It'll be like, "Hey look, there's my shoulder"!! Or something like that. No matter. He's enjoying himself a lot with it and fulfilling a dream to boot. :-) Between the days that he's working on the Lost set, his GED classes, and working at the convenience store, he stays pretty busy. I nag him to keep his blog updated but he keeps handing me this "I'm so busy" line.


I do believe that the groundhog might've fibbed a bit this year. We are definitely having an early spring!! I'm not complaining, mind you. I love being able to get out early and do out of doors stuff. Between storms I've managed to get my peas planted and my strawberries cleaned out a bit. Still no luck in getting the potatoes in since it was too wet to muck around in the mud to get them planted. I'm still hoping though.


We did get some snow a couple of days ago. Nothing appears to be affected by the cold so I'm still hoping to see a harvest from the plum and peach trees that have already bloomed. Our orchard is looking so promising.


One of my shelves of seedlings got knocked over a few days ago. All of my painstakingly labeled plants are now jumbled up. They were flowers, tomatoes and peppers. Some of them were destroyed, but fortunately most of them were fine. I just don't know which varieties of the tomatoes and peppers are which. Ah, a mystery garden this year!!! I had planted a bunch of mixed heirloom tomatoes anyway so I guess it's not so bad. I'll figure it all out when they ripen.

With the warmer weather my Dear Husband has been taking the kids out to 4 wheel and play in the neighbors creek. Well, not one to do anything small, he got the Jeep stuck and had to give someone with a big tractor a call. Amazingly, he's still playing with last year's "mania" (the Jeep).

Our youngest had his 5th birthday (how did he get so old????). He was really excited about all of his presents and his Spongebob cake. One of the nice things about being in a large family is that you tend to get lots of presents!! :-)

Adorible Grandson liked the cake too!!

So that's what's been going on around our place!! Still haven't fixed my computer yet. Sigh. Stay tuned for more updates and pictures as we head into the weekend with more birthdays!!

An Update

Just thought I would pop in and give ya'll an update...
My computer has a nasty virus on it so I'm using DH's to do anything online. I'm working at getting all of my important information off of my computer and onto Son #1's so that I can wipe the hard drive and put everything back on again. Our wonderful computer expert friend guesses that I must have went to a site that downloaded the virus. When he researched it he discovered the virus allows hackers to hack into your system and download all of your sensitive information. He didn't think that anybody really could have hacked into my computer since I use a router and two firewall programs running at all times. I was prepared!! But I was left with a virus that won't allow me to use the Internet or repair it. Sigh. It's so hard for me to find the time to spend on doing all the tedious transferring. Needless to say, It's very slow going. :-(
Now for the good stuff...
If you've been following my occasional updates about Son #2 or have been to his blog you might know that he's been hoping for a part on ABC's series Lost. Well, they finally contacted him and yesterday was his first day of filming. He's supposed to go back all of next week for more filming. He is a carpenter. He said that it's a lot like a real jobsite--camaraderie between the workers and people getting yelled at and cussed out. Anyway, he felt at ease and had a great time and even got to see some of the "stars". :-) There will be no living with him now!! Giggle!
So that's it for now. My time online is pretty limited but I hope to be able to write more about what's going on around our place soon!! Blessings to you all!!

I wanted to give an update on Son #2 since I've had some inquiries to how he's been doing...

Living in Hawaii isn't always life in "paradise". There is still those little matters of "earning your keep" and trying to "fit in". Same stuff, different location. :-)

He has a job now. Yippee!! He's working in a little convenience store whose sales are mostly liquor and cigarettes. A strange job for someone who doesn't smoke or drink. :-) It's only temporary--until the store owner comes home from visiting his sick mother in Korea. He enjoys it but worries a bit about getting robbed since the store has been robbed a few times and just last week the store nearby was robbed by a guy with a shotgun. I do pray for his safety more often. :-)

He's also taking his GED classes. He scored low in math in the preliminary test and needs some brush up. I had wanted him to try for his GED here but he was always too busy and never needed to get it done. In Hawaii they really emphasize education and it's hard to get a job even at McDonalds without a formal diploma.

On his days off he volunteers at the preschool where my DH's sister works and, when there is a spare moment to do so, he and his uncle are out in the boat fishing.

I can sense him putting down roots. I'm happy for him and sad for us. A few of the children still cry because they miss him. I suppose there are down sides to having a close family, huh?

Oh, don't miss the video that I put near the bottom of my sidebar that Sons #2 & #3 made with their cousins on our farm. I love it--but I'm biased. :-)

And They're Off...

Before daylight this morning I dropped my two adventurers off at the airport. I cried like a baby. But hey, these are my men!!! It was raining and as I pulled away I couldn't decide which was harder to see through, the rain or my tears.

We overpacked DH's suitcase by 12 lbs. and they wanted to charge him an extra $50. They somehow managed to stuff the extra into Son #2's case though they said that it was bulging pretty badly. I sure hope the zipper holds!!

It's funny how the children and I joked around saying that we were going to P~A~R~T~Y after they left--but I SO do not feel like partying!! Boo Hoo!!

The guys have my camera and while I'm expecting to post some great pictures that they take, I feel such a loss at not being able to take my own. Maybe I can find something cheap on eBay or something!! We'll see anyway.

Son #2 and DH at the Airport