Playing In The Rain

We went from 100 degree weather with humidity you could cut with a knife to rain, lots and lots of rain the past two days. And yesterday we had tornado warnings. At one point Drew and I went to the basement just to be safe. After the warning was past it cooled down and rained, again. (Not that I’m complaining – I’m so very thankful for the rain!) And Drew decided to play in the rain. I love to watch kids play with abandon and until he caught me watching, that is exactly what he did. He was out there enjoying himself with not a care in the world. I wish I could just let go like that and play in the rain!

Handy Man

 

We’ve been wanting to get a tiller for awhile now. Right now I have a raised bed for tomatoes and peppers but I’ve really been wanting to start a garden. We didn’t want to pay someone to come work up a spot and tillers sure are expensive so the garden has been put on the back burner. Then over the weekend I saw on Facebook that our neighbor had a tiller she was wanting to give away for free. The kicker was it didn’t work. But – I’m married to a handyman! We ran right over and said we’d take it. She refused to accept anything for it, said she just wanted it gone, so we brought it home.  Joe worked on it a little before we had to head out to visit Uncle Jerry and Aunt Konnie but he’s positive he’ll be able to get it running. After tinkering around he’s figured out what’s wrong. So we are now the proud owners of a used but new to us tiller and hopefully next spring I can plant onions and green beans and sweet corn and who knows what else.  I guess it’s true – good things do come to those who wait!

Now I Remember

Drew found this puzzle the other day when we stopped at Orscheln Farm & Home to get chicken feed. He just knew he had to have it. Grandpa has a train puzzle hanging up in his train room and Drew wanted to have one for his bedroom. It was only $2.00 so we bought it and brought it home. I used to do puzzles a lot, I loved doing them but that was back before kids! And now I remember why I stopped doing puzzles after the kids started coming – once I started this darn thing I couldn’t stop! We started it on Saturday and finished it today. Drew wanted to help and he gave it a good try but it was just too hard for him. Now I need to get some puzzle glue and figure out how we’re going to frame it and Drew will be the happy owner of a train puzzle picture – just like Grandpa has! And I won’t be buying another puzzle anytime soon. That’s one thing I can’t just slowly work on and enjoy the process. There’s something in me that says once you start a puzzle – you have to finish it or else!

 

Weekend Wanderings

Since we celebrated Father’s Day last weekend with the whole family we didn’t really have any plans for this weekend. The one thing we did know was we were staying inside as much as possible – the forecast was calling for very hot and humid days and boy was it right. You would break a sweat just by standing outside in the shade! We’re supposed to get one more day of it today before it finally breaks.  So we stayed inside as much as possible and did very little. We went out for supper with Dad and Mom Saturday night which was an adventure. We ended up eating at a restaurant called Four Corners that Mom had read about in the Our Iowa magazine and it was delicious! It was out in the middle of nowhere, about an hour from home  with cornfields all around. The parking lot was full and there was a wait but it was so worth it. The best buffet we’ve had in a long, long time! Dad and Mom enjoy finding new restaurants in out of the way places and we hadnn’t done this with them in a long time. When we got home we sat outside at their house and Drew caught fireflies. Once the sun set the heat broke and it was a beautiful evening.

Beautiful picture my cousin Todd drew. It depicts the train depot in Richland, Iowa from days gone by. Todd is a history buff and a very talented artist. Richland is the town where his mom and my dad were born and raised.

On Sunday we went with Dad and Mom to visit my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Konnie. It was Uncle Jerry’s birthday so Mom took brownies to celebrate. My cousin Todd was home so we had a nice small family get together. They have a beautiful farm with the most breathtaking views. They live outside a little town called Rubio but now have a Richland address since there’s no longer a Post Office in Rubio. There’s nothing left in Rubio besides a small refurbished train depot which is now a community center and a handful of houses. I think Jerry and Konnie’s farm is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been (Not that I’ve traveled or spent much time out of Iowa!) We had a nice visit with them and then we drove into Richland. Dad wanted to check on the acreage he and Konnie have together. It was originally their home place with their house and their grandpa’s house but there’s no houses left – it’s just a corn field. We drove past the Friends Church where Dad and Mom got married and their old high school which is no longer used. We meandered into the cemetary and drove around there. And Dad took us on down the road past the cemetary that led to two very very old cemetaries that I never knew where there. When we got back to Sigourney we drove through another cemetary. One I hadn’t been to since grade school when we would walk there and see all the old gravestones for fifth grade history class. A friend of my mom’s had passed away about a year ago and Mom wanted to show me the gravesite. I didn’t realize this cemetary was still being used. It’s a small cemetary with lots of very old stones. Drew wanted to get out and explore so we decided we would run to town one day when it wasn’t so hot and walk around and look at all the old old stones together. It’s a very peaceful and pretty place and I look foward to exploring it one of these days!

I would love to have this view out my front window! It’s beautiful in all seasons!

Drew found the kittens of course!

Rainy Thursday

We got rain yesterday- 1 1/2″ to be exact. And we needed it. Things were really starting to get dry in our area again. Others in the area got up to 3″. We are very thankful for every drop of it! It was dark most of the day and there was lots of thunder and lightening. It was raining when I got up at 5:00 this morning and it was still raining at noon. We hadn’t had a rainy day like that in months. It was a perfect day for burning candles.

It was also the perfect day for making a pie, Freezer Peanut Butter Pie. I’m not a peanut butter fan but Joe and Drew love it so I thought this would be perfect for the hot weather that’s supposed to be moving in for the weekend.

It was also a perfect day for running outside between the raindrops and gathering Hollyhock blooms so Drew and I could make dolls out of them.  Mom never grew Hollyhocks but I have always loved them and have planted a few over the years and yet I had never made dolls out of them. So I got on Pinterest to find out how and Drew and I had fun making them. I think they look a little like sweet southern belles! I think everyone should slow down and make a Hollyhock doll once a while. It’s amazing how much joy you can get out of something so simple. I’m not sure what Drew had more fun with though, making the dolls or playing in the rain while I picked the blooms!

Working On Being an Organized Happy Camper

 

I am not an organized person. Not one iota. And the older I get, the more it bothers me to be disorganized. And yet it seems the harder I try the less organized I am. But after our first camping trip this year I knew I had to do something with the camper. Now our first trip wasn’t planned. Joe surprised me and brought the camper home from storage and we decided to take it out that weekend. No planning whatsoever. I dusted it, vacuumed it, washed the linens and off we went. And even though we had a great time, including me, I knew I would have enjoyed it more if I was more organized. Plus – Joe took our neighbor’s at the campground on a tour of the camper. They wanted to see ours since we both had Rockwood trailers. We toured there’s and they toured ours. Which was fine until Joe opened up the closet doors. I was mortified! We had packed all our clothes and stuff in totes and I had stuffed everything into the closet when I found out they were going to come see it. The closet was already a disaster and so shoving more into it was not good! (I took before pictures of the closet on my phone and can’t seem to get them off my phone and onto my computer. But trust me, it was bad!) These are the after pictures:

 


Anyway, before last weekend’s trip I went through and cleaned out and organized all the cupboards and closets. (All except the cupboard holding all the toys, coloring books, et cetera. That will have to wait until a day I don’t have Drew with me!) I pitched and pitched and pitched, found a spot for everything I kept, and made sure before we left that instead of having all our clothes and things in totes that were laying around on the floor, everything was put into draws and closets. And low and behold – I enjoyed the trip so much more. It’s all common sense I know. But being organized is so darn hard for me. But I gotta say, when Joe wanted the griddle to fix breakfast and I knew exactly where it was and there wasn’t a bunch of stuff sitting on top of it that had to be moved to get to  it, it was heaven! And having all our clothes put away and not in totes, again, heaven!

Now, no matter how you try, spending the weekend in a camper with four adults, Joe, me, Aaron and Eric, one seven year old along with a four year old running in and out and Abby using the kitchen for Bayah’s bottles as their hot water wasn’t working, it’s impossible to have a place for everything and things were constantly in disarray but I worked at keeping things as picked up as possible. And anything that had a place was put back in it when not in use. But really – who wants to spend the whole time picking up and putting away? Not me. I’m there to be outside and having fun! But, just having a place for everything and knowing where to find things and getting rid of all the extras that had gradually crept in over the years – camping is going to be so much more relaxed this year for me.



And then to take things a step further I did this this week. I lost my list of everything that needed to be put into the camper before the first trip every year a couple of years ago. It was on my phone and somehow it got deleted. And I wanted to start keeping track of our trips again. I used to be an avid scrapbooker and I kept books of all of our trips. But I haven’t scrapbooked in years and for some reason I’ve been wanting to keep track of our trips again. I found these forms online at allthosedetails.com and modified them to fit my needs, printed them off, ordered a small 3-ring binder and page protectors and voila – the perfect book for camper organization! I have my checklist of things needed to stock before the first trip and things to keep stocked, an area for campground reviews, and an area for recipes as there are recipes that we almost always use when camping and now I won’t have to take the recipes out of my kitchen binder and keep in the camper during the summer months. Or like last year, forget to bring back in the house at the end of camping season and so they are lost to me during the winter while the camper is in storage. I still have to make copies of those recipes and get them in the binder but I’m now well on my way to being an Organized Happy Camper! And I’ve ordered another binder so I can be a little more organized at home. A place for grocery lists, grocery store price comparisons, pantry organization lists, Christmas present ideas and items bought throughout the year, flowers I’ve planted one year, how they did and what I want to change for next year, those lists just go on and on!

Another Little Thing

I took a walk around the yard last night and came across this sweet little nest underneath our two big oaks trees. Along with many other things it looks like the birds used pieces of a horse’s mane and tail to make their little home. I’m guessing the neighbor’s horses kindly shared with the birds! It amazes me how they are able to make something so stable out of little bits of nothing. They are so resourceful. I sure hope the bird who made this little nest was done with it before it fell out of the tree. I think it’ll have a new home on my shelf next to the old doorknob that holds a few pretty bird feathers. At least  for now.

Little Things

 

This little guys was hanging out in my Hollyhocks. It always amazes me what we can see if we just take the time to slow down and look. He seemed to be enjoying his perch and never moved a muscle. Just watched me take his picture and check out the Hollyhocks that had bloomed while we were away camping. It’s the little things that make me happy!


 

Celebrating Father’s Day Early

We celebrated Father’s Day a week early this year. We spent the weekend camping at Belva Deer. It was a lot of fun and so great to have all the kids with us. There was rain, heat, bugs, games, food, walks and lots of fun times and memories made!

Diamond supervising while Grandpa builds a fire – no matter how hot it is we have to have S’mores!

Bocce ball players!

Nap time!

These two little boys put a lot of miles on those little legs!

Our campsite!

Bayah and Great Grandpa!

Water fights with the neighbor kids!

Good food – it always tastes better outside!

Walks through the woods!

Walks around the pond!

Piggyback rides!

And cheesy smiles!

Kids In The Kitchen

 

Drew ran across this old Better Homes and Gardens kid’s cookbook I used years ago with Abby and Aaron. Back then I had both kids fix supper one night a week so they could learn to cook. Aaron loved it – he was pretty good in the kitchen.  Lasagna was his specialty! Abby on the other hand – she would make macaroni and cheese or frozen pizza. She had more important things to do than learn to cook although I think she does a pretty good job now. It’s amazing how getting married and having kids changes what is important in your life – gotta feed the family! Eric never wanted to even try but now that he’s worked at Casey’s in the kitchen I think he can find his way around the kitchen too.

Anyway – Drew found the cookbook, sat down and went through it and asked if he could make pancakes. This was not on my list of things to get done for the day but I have been wanting to work with him in the kitchen this summer so I figured I might as well get started. The best time to introduce something new to this kid is when he shows interest, otherwise it may or may not happen. So, pancakes it was. With a lot of help, a few giggles, and a few stern explanations as to why we don’t goof around when using a hot griddle – Drew stated he made the best homemade pancakes ever!