cheeseburger trees

Last night we got an email that my favorite uncle in Ohio had suffered chest pain this last week and severe pain yesterday morning. He was taken to the hospital, the Doctors had discovered earlier this week that 3 arteries are close to 100% blocked. He was in the midst of making a decision if he wanted #1 do nothing. Or... #2 Have surgery. Because of the severe pain he experienced yesterday morning and because of his health being a good candidate he is having triple bypass surgery tomorrow.

He is one fun guy! With him...I always pick up right where we left off the last time we talked. This is one guy who doesn't act his age...Uncle Leonard is 89 years old! You'd never know it if you spent any time with him, he seems he is starting his 60's. He loves to harass me and I love to give it back. He also loves to pick on my boys and they love it too. He has a nick names for both of my boys...Jack is "fritz" and William is "shorty." For some reason he leaves the girls be. Jack got his name about 4 years back. This was before I knew what a turd he was. And I would love if he reads this and gives me his feedback on my choice of word for him. :) We had spent the night at my aunt and uncles (before my aunt died) and while she was making eggs and toast we were at the table talking. Uncle Leonard spoke to Jack and said, "Hey fritz will you pass me the butter?" We thought the poor guy was losing his memory, going senile, or maybe starting Alzheimer's....and forgot Jack's name. So Donovan and I looked at each other wondering if we should correct him or not. Donovan did. He said, "well actually Uncle Leonard...our son's name is Jack." He said, "yeah, o.k." So pretty soon he called Jack, "Fritz" again. By this time we are thinking the guy is really going into memory loss here. After the 3rd time he smiled and then we knew this was his game. He had been playing us. Which is great. I can play along. That weekend is when I got to know him in a better way...and have loved trying to get the best of him. I remember my sweet Aunt Wilma on that weekend...apologizing for him and saying, "he just likes to have fun...I hope you aren't offended." Occasionally Aunt Wilma would nudge Uncle Leonard and tell him to ease up on me. I assured Aunt Wilma I could take it and love it! Just thinking of her sweet spirit makes me miss her even more. I sure don't wish her back...I'm sure she is enjoying the sweet presence of Jesus and her siblings...one of her sisters being my mom, Faye.
After being with Uncle Leonard we spent some time visiting with my cousins. There was a great sitting area for family to use just down the hall from my uncle in the hospital. I love these people. I love connecting with family, it's too far and few between. It was flattering for me that these people take time to read up on us through my blog. They had known about Suzy's fall, our building project, and everything else happening the last few months. My disadvantage is that...I can't keep up with them.

This is Karen and Sharon...twins of my Uncle Leonard and Aunt Wilma. These sweet ladies took the kids down to the gift shop, to the cafeteria for ice cream, and to the play area to burn off some energy. They also got to take turns just pushing elevator buttons to random floors. It's like a dream come true to anyone under the age of 10. How sweet to visit without interruptions.

This is what was happening before their field trip with my twin cousins.........running, hiding and horsing around, and potential for fighting to break out at any given moment.

In one attempt to settle the restless natives....I let the 5 year old loose with the camera. Here is one picture that actually turned out pretty good. A view from the 8th floor of the Toledo Hospital.

One last hurrah before heading back to the cabin of our white mini bus....

What a beautiful day for a road trip. We saw some really pretty sights there and back. So glad we were able to go and spend time with my Uncle and his family. It's far and few between that we take days like this and life is just too short not to make time for your family.

quote of the day:
For lunch we stopped at Burger King today and after inspecting his sandwich...this came from the backseat....
William: "Dad, if I plant these seeds on top of my hamburger bun, will it grow another one?"
Donovan: "You mean another cheeseburger?...William, cheeseburgers don't grown on trees. You've never seen a cheeseburger tree, right?"
William: "NO DAD! Like just the bun...does it grow in a garden? Can I put the seed in a garden and grow a hamburger bun?"

family

This past weekend we took some family pictures at the request of Donovan's mama. We had a perfect day for some outdoor shots.

Just plain delighted to be outside at Grandpas with cousins. I think in a child's mind...it can not get any better than that.

I'm pretty thrilled that my children are growing up with grandparents. Something I don't remember as a child, since my all 4 grandparents died when I was young.

The newest member of the family, Cale.


We also planted a garden...Our first in about 6 years. We had tried it in past years...but with having babies it was pretty hard to stay on top of the weeding/watering. So hopefully this will be a good project that will keep all my little peeps busy this summer.

We are trying a raised garden...Hopefully something will grow.

It was pretty cool to see all the enthusiasm of the kids. Jack seemed the most excited about putting the seeds in and covering them up.

We planted potatoes, carrots, radishes, green peppers, peas, and some flowers for cutting/decorating.

Quote of the day:

William: "Why are strangers bad?"

Me: "Because they don't have Jesus in their heart."

William: "WHAT? So that's the deal?"

getting company

I love to get company......and so do our kids.

when the door bell rings all the kids go running and race to see who is here.

Tonight Jon (Donovan's brother) came for a haircut a....and supper, along with his wifey.

And Donovan's parents stopped in on their way through town to drop off a book for me. The brand new Karen Kingsbury book "Someday". If you have ever read anything by Karen Kingsbury you know how fast of a read her books are. You simply CAN NOT put them down. This is the 13th in this series. I can't wait to get started on it!! Thanks Mom and Dad for dropping it off, YOU GUYS ROCK.

And Suzanna with Aunt Arlene cheesin' it up. Suzanna loves her aunt...and kept running over to her to be held. She does the same to her Uncle Jon.

Also for you married friends (sorry singles you'll have to sit this one out) of mine, please check out the new poster I hung up on the blog tonight. The 1 Cor. 7:5 challenge. Clink on the link on the right side of the blog. Sure to make a great converstion piece around the breakfast table in the morning. Your husband will thank me for introducing this blog challenge to you. (And thank you to Beth for introducing me) Drop me a line and tell me what you think.

And to my single friends -drop me a line too!-And if you do (only if you are single)....I have something to send to you to show you I love you too even though I don't have a poster on the blog for you.

And now I really must go...I have a book waiting for me.

cards

my cousin steve and suzanna playing this little piggy.

Maybe it's just me but when I was growing up my parents had friends and family over alot. For meals, for snacks, and playing games. And we went over to our aunt and uncles alot to play games. The adults would play cards and the kids would rip around and play in the basement. Is it just me or is everyone our age (30's) just too busy? I'm am just as guilty of not having company as the next 30ish married with kids. We need to do it more. One place I get this reminiscent of my growing up years is when we go to my aunt and uncles. It's very rare that we will go there and not break out a deck of cards. The kids play and watch movies and there is nothing more relaxing and fun for our family.

It's pretty fun to get fired up and try to beat my uncle and sets and runs. I love when he gets a good hand he starts to whistle, and sing little made up songs. What a blast. These pictures were taken last Friday night after we went out to supper for my aunt's birthday. Then came back to their place to play cards and eat popcorn. I was hesitant to go since we didn't finish dinner until 8 p.m. and thinking we have a little distance to drive and should get the kids to bed. But Donovan was feeling wild and crazy & said we should just go and have fun....it's the weekend. So we did, and the kids were fine even though we were there until past 10. So there is our wild and crazy Friday night. What fun!