Sunday Afternoon with Company

With student teaching I hardly have time to eat and sleep, much less hang out with family and friends. Last weekend I was able to do both. Michael and Sarah came over to the lake to meet up with Dad and the kids, Katie came along and Samuel and Katherine were up from Texas for a whirlwind tour so they came too.

With so many of my favorite people in one place, I hardly knew what to do with myself.

Caroline enjoyed all the attention. I swear that girl learns 10 new things every time I turn around...

Yes, they always make that face when they are feeding babies...

Dad brought hot dogs and chili and grilled for us. Good food, great people, awesome time.

Deep in listening to a conversation. Or maybe just focusing on root beer.

Catch up time for Leah and Katherine. Such beautiful young ladies both inside and out.

It was a long drive up here, and after being awake driving most of the night Samuel was pretty tired. Understandably...

Grandpa time...

Seems like there is a picture of Dad and another little blond haired girl about this size, except the little girl in that picture was sleeping and is now, um, writing this blog. Time flies...

Michael saying something entertaining.

Samuel woke up to a few adoring fans. I did not catch all that Rosie was saying over there but I did hear her singing some lullabies to help Samuel rest in case he was still tired.

The time was all too short and yet still caused some people to become rather tuckered out. When we could not stay awake any longer we called it an afternoon and packed up.

Ahh, the power of a zoom, so you can take a picture of people when they don't know you are doing so. My brothers did so well, I have the best sister-in-laws ever and they make my brothers two of the luckiest men I know.

With Katie's time in Nebraska running short, she and I took advantage of the opportunity for an evening checking out midtown and a short tour of downtown. We got our exercise while I was trying to remember where one store was and rewarded ourselves with some of the best ice cream in Omaha at Ted and Wallys. I did not get any homework done but made some good memories and had a lovely day, which I would rather have on my transcript than homework any day.

The Turtle

I was going for a walk when I ran across a turtle trying to cross the road. As any of you who know me know, when I come across nature I generally have to touch it, pick it up, and bring it back for my younger siblings to see. The turtle was no exception...



I brought him back and kept him in a peach box for an hour until the kids got home.



I learned something about turtles, no matter where you hold them they can reach you with either their front or back claws. Oh, and they have sharp claws, I learned that too.


Rosie and I took him down to the crick to drop him off in what we assumed to be his natural habitat.


He was not really grateful. In fact, I had to give him a lecture about behaving before I could let him go on his way.


Turns out he was not a swimming turtle... At least he was able to float to the opposite shore where he disappeared into the bank. Realizing he was not a swimming turtle helped me feel a little better about the attitude he had when I was about to put him in the crick...

The turtle saving crew. Well, we like to think we saved him....

Caroline and the Runaway Baby Train

I got to see Caroline on Sunday. She is growing up. She very clearly indicated that she wanted to swing on the swings and that she enjoyed being pushed by Auntie Em.

She paid rapt attention during Auntie Em's 'texting class'. She will be a pro in no time.

She also enjoyed Auntie Em tossing her in the air. We had to take breaks about every 6 or 7 tosses. Me for my arms and her to catch her breath from all the giggling.

Then we went and found the Josselyn twins. The three of them decided to make a break for it. They formed the runaway baby train and headed straight for the doors.

They ignored their chuckling audience and pressed on toward their goal.

Once there, they demonstrated their new skill, standing up! Caroline, you are just growing up so fast... We love you!!

Butterflies

Butterflies...

...are God's way of reminding us that He not only invented but also defines beauty.

Exceptionally Random

This is an exceptionally random post, however I have a good excuse. For all of my readership who is not also my facebook friend, I started student teaching this week. I also started the week off behind in my homework and carrying a good sized sleep debt. Needless to say, I have not had a lot of time for taking pictures or blogging the ones I had. This should have been several smaller, far cleverer posts, however I decided to group what I had together and just give it to you all as is.

Nebraska mid-summer sky. It does not get a whole lot more beautiful than this.

When we went down to the Rebelution Conference, we were able to meet up with our dear Uncle Ben and meet his lovely wife Stephanie. Getting to see you guys again was one of the major highlights, let's not let it be so long before we see you next. Oh, and we decided we liked Sarah so much we adopted her. Miss you tons, Sarah dear!

The Bens. I think Benjamin has officially out-grown Uncle Ben...

A great sadness happened. Our beloved mulberry tree died. Actually, it was in process of dying so Dad had to cut it down. I told him it was just like tree murder but... :)

They trimmed the branches off so they could get to the firewood. There is only one thing to do with all those branches...

Make a bonfire and eat smores!!! After years of faithfully producing mulberries to stain little mouths, feet and clothes, the tree will now keep us warm this winter. Yes, I feel a little like Shel Silverstein after typing that...

And finally, a girls night out the way they were meant to be. Ice cream, giggling incessantly about everything ('squeak squeaking', Hillary) with 3 of my favorite girls in the world. Love you guys!!

Well, there you have it. An exceptionally random post. Hopefully this week I will be a little more organized and able to blog more. Thanks for reading!

Chicago

The summer is drawing swiftly to a close, but there was one thing left on the list of things to do before fall. A road trip...

Katie was going to Chicago to visit her aunt and uncle and invited me to go along. She did not have to ask twice.

We saw God's protection right away. 10 minutes into the drive, a semi right in front of us kicked up this piece of steel into our hood. It only did cosmetic damage but if we had been 10 feet closer to the semi I would not be blogging this or anything else for that matter.

Uncle Paul has a beautiful collection of cars. He took us out for a ride in his 1986 Ferrari...

And his 1965 Jag...

Aunt Cindy also has some gorgeous cars. When she handed me the keys to her Aston Martin (number 33 out of 99 ever made), I thought I would faint. I didn't, faint that is. Drive I most certainly did.

The next day we went downtown, which included a trip to Willis Tower. Willis Tower used to be both Sears Tower and the tallest building in the world, until Sears sold the name and Dubai built a taller building.

The observation decks, with glass floors, were the highlight of the tower. 110 stories up, stepping out on what feels like nothing over the city, oh yeah baby...

Yep, we were just up there! This is pretty much how I walked around downtown. Hand on the back of my head to catch my sunglasses and looking up everywhere making this same "country mouse in the city" face the whole time.

The skyscraper-lined streets were swarming with humanity. I got a thrill out of smiling at anyone I could and at the same time was overwhelmed with the thought that God loves each of the people passing me and knew their stories.

The 'wedding cake' building flanked by Willis tower. From the top of Willis Tower the wedding cake looked like a doll house...

The last day we went to Cindy's ballroom dance lesson. After watching her and her dance instructors work on a number they will be competing with in nationals we each got our own introduction to ballroom dancing lesson. If I was not addicted to dance before, well, it just got a whole lot more addicting! To top it off, Cindy took us out for ice cream afterwards. Thank you so much, Paul and Cindy, for an amazingly wonderful 3 days! It was the perfect way to wind up the best summer to date.

Happy Birthday Timothy!!!

Happy 13th birthday, Timothy!!

I am not sure when you grew up from my sweet little buddy who asked me to marry him into the handsome young man you are today.

It seems like just yesterday I was teaching you your alphabet, and now you are a bookworm....

And I used to tease you about how you would one day get bigger than me and carry me around instead of me carrying you. As you proved the other evening, that day has come!

I love the way you put your whole heart into whatever you do.

And your creativity that overflows into everything.

And your well timed hugs, especially when you see someone is having a bad day and needs a little cheering up.

But most of all, I love that you are my little brother. Just like I told you back when you asked me to marry you, it is better that I am your sister. That way I get to see you grow up and experience all those years of life with you. Happy birthday!!! I love you!!!!