Last rose of summer

Enjoying the sunshine and lovely weather.  The girls decided to swim in their clothes... 

We've been busy with canning tomato sauce and freezing onions and things.  I hosted Sewing Club last Thursday... it was a good evening, as usual.  The hour of quiet between when Bob left with the girls and when the ladies arrived was positively blissful.  ha. 

So we used to have two oddly placed ceiling fans. We never used them, and our ceilings are kind of low for ceiling fans.  When Herb put the new doors on my kitchen cabinets I had him switch the direction one of them opened... and it hit the ceiling fan blades.  So that was the catalyst for finally taking them down. 
It took Bob a little bit more work than anticipated to get to this point... 

 Rustin came over to help and brought Eden.  The girls played Barbies while the men had a great time trying to get the fans down. 

 Apparently these fans are not meant for such low ceilings so when they were installed they just pushed the down rod up into the ceiling and the top of the fan (that would normally be attached at the ceiling) was attached to a 2x4 spanning a joist up in the attic.  Yeah.  Poor Rustin got to climb around in our attic unhooking fans that had the tops of butter tubs keeping insulation out.... ayiyiyi.

 She doesn't sleep well when she's teething and she has no schedule.... so this happened one afternoon; asleep on top of a book and the register. 

 I made her a cloak.  She's either Elsa, little blue riding hood, or an elvish princess.

 Up late... she wanted her Tom's on.  "Tom-tom's" according to Cecily. 

 Playing with the old camera that she somehow managed to fix. 

 Obviously the kitchen floor is the best place to curl up with our church shoes, tom-toms, and blankies.

 Silly girl loves to be outside. 

She points at the raspberries and says "Mmmmmm."  And then tries to eat anything that's remotely pink.  Almost all of the berries we've gotten have been eaten outside.

 Little miss figured out how to pump!  She's pretty proud she can swing all by herself.

 I took a bucket to pick tomatoes and they each needed one too.  Emmy is eating her tomato.  "Mmmm!"

We moved to this house 4 years ago... and I still don't know very many people on our street. So we went a little out of our comfort zone and invited everybody over for Root Beer floats tonight.  Emmy thought the ladder golf was the best thing ever. 

 Our setup... three kinds of Root Beer and lots of snacks.

 We had a pretty good turnout and we met some people we hadn't met before.  Overall I think it was a good evening!  Cecily had fun with G and S... but William makes her nervous.  Ha. 

Blessings.

No Good, Very Bad Weekend

It started out fine... actually, Thursday night was great.  We had a fun evening at potluck and the girls had fun with Grandpa and Grandma Koch.  And then I was up 4 times with the Emmy.  *sigh*  She has three teeth coming in. 

Coloring is a favorite activity around here.  Emmy tries so hard to be like Cecily. 

Can we go to the hotel now?? I want to go to the hotel now!

So anyway, Friday.  Bob's family was spending the night at Stoney Creek so we headed over there that evening.  I forgot to bring the girl's life jackets so poor Bob went all the way back home for them. We were not planning on spending the night... lots of reasons including (but not limited to) not getting to sleep the night before, nobody sleeps all that well in hotels, nobody sleeps all that well when we're all in the same room, I didn't want to pack up all our stuff for one night, yeah.  The girls still enjoyed the bunk bed and the pool. 

They had ordered pizza so we ate supper there and then went swimming.  The pool was super crowded that night.  The girls had fun- Cecily swam for a little bit and then got cold and wanted to get out.  Emmy is pretty sure she can jump in by herself and had a great time, but she didn't like all the splashing. So then she just wanted to wander around the slippery pool deck.  Woot. 

We went home to bed... and I woke up sick Saturday morning.  Huzzah.  Bob succumbed after he got the girls up.  Soooo two sick (probably related to the pizza we ate the night before) parents and things like this are allowed to go unchecked:  picking the marshmallows out of the cereal and dumping the rest on the floor.

Eating whenever I fuss so that the sick ones can rest in quiet.

Cecily got to finger-paint, which she loved and I wished I hadn't suggested...

I was keeping food down by afternoon and I was bound and determined to get something, anything done that day so I canned the tomato sauce I'd made earlier in the week.  I should not have.  It was exhausting and made my stomach ache but it's done.

And then Emmy refused to go to sleep and was still up at midnight when Cecily started throwing up.  All over her sheets.  And she'd had blueberries for supper.  Once we got her clean sheets and a bath she did it again.  So another bath and we were out of twin bed sheets... poor girl spent most of the night sleeping on a folded over flat sheet.  Then we all went to bed until 5 when she woke up, wanted a drink and threw up again.  *sigh*  It was terrible.

No first day of Sunday School for her... she was pretty disappointed.  We listened at home and I did laundry.  Disgusting laundry.  Did you know that half-digested blue berries will stain sheets?  And they don't rinse out of the washing machine so they will stain your second load too.  So then you get to pick them off of wet sheets and get them out of the washer and dryer by hand.  And it all still reeks.  Horrible.  It's a good thing I have a strong stomach.  I think after going through a bottle of oxiclean spray, a tub of oxiclean powder, and two rounds of bleach for her white blanket I got most of the stains out.   Have kids, they said.  It will be fun, they said.   

We were all feeling better by Sunday evening and so far this little stinker has escaped unscathed.  Thankfully!  She discovered the tutus.  Hehe.

Monday we chilled at home... I did peaches.  There were some rain showers that we went out to play in.  Emmy played in the downspout with her scoop and bucket and was very mad when it started to thunder and I made them come inside. 

Cecily was content to watch in her rain boots and 'kitty hello' umbrella.

 Today, oh glorious day!, my new cabinet doors returned!  Uncle Herb brought them over and hung them up!  All but the two that I measured wrong and were the wrong size.  grrr.  O well. I love it.  He put the knobs and pulls on too- there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I kept the girls out of his way all day.  Neither of them were in very good moods...

But then grandma stopped by on her way home from election judge training and we ate ice cream and they went to bed early.  Yay!
Blessings.

Swimming and Lake Wapello Weekend

We went to "Summer's pool" one afternoon last week.  Mom, Lori and kids, and Heather and kids were there too.   Cecily did the most actual swimming she's done all summer- probably because Summer is not a timid swimmer at all.  They talked to each other too instead of just staring/glaring, which was nice!  Taking a pretzel break.

 O man.  She is not shy.  "Hi Russell!"  He was not interested in sitting by her though, he kept moving away... so funny.

Friday afternoon we packed up the van and headed to the delightful (or something) state of Iowa. Some of Bob's cousins were camping at Lake Wapello and visiting Christy and Daryl.  We were hoping to get a camping cabin.... but.... they don't follow their online policy so they were all reserved when we got there. (I should write them the nastiest letter...) I don't tent camp if there's rain in the forecast so we slept at the hotel in town instead.  Such a wimp, I know. 

It was a pretty hot weekend. The girls spent most of their time on the playground. 

 Hanging out with Char... 

 Swinging...

 We got to drive through Amish country on our way to and from the park- always interesting.  Our girls slept in so we missed the hiking Saturday morning- I wasn't too sad since it was raining and hot... it cleared off and then it was hot and humid.
Emmy loves her sandals.

 And water.  This was as close to swimming as we got since the algae levels in the lake were high and nobody wanted to risk GI issues...

 The girls had a blast playing with everyone.  Cecily and Griffin played really well together, which was great!  And there was another little girl camping at the park that played with Cecily.  She told me "I made a friend!"  We did have one melt down/freak out.... so I took the girls for a drive.  Emmy fell asleep and Cecily calmed down and we explored the rest of the park and found another playground. 
"Rock" climbing.

 Lovely Lake Wapello- the lily pads were blooming!

 There were three fishing poles and lots of kids.

 They saw a snake Friday evening, so Saturday evening Cecily was a little bit nervous to be by the rocks- "Is there a snake in the rocks? A snake lives in the rocks! I don't want him to get me!"

 Bob helped her catch a fish.  It was very small.  This is her I-don't-want-to-touch-it face.

 The campground hosts brought around popsicles!  The kids were so excited!

When it got dark we took our dirty little girls back to the hotel and scrubbed and scrubbed.  The bath water was so gross.  Ha.  But they were happy! 
Sunday morning we did not have to pack up a wet campsite....  it was lovely.  *grin*  Church was full of relatives.  Uncle Roy's kids and grandkids were there and Roger's girls were all home.  I hadn't been out to Bloomfield since middle school probably, and I know I've never been to the new church.   I remember riding out with Kary one weekend; I was growing out my bangs and was super insecure about my hair. Ha. 
Emmy slept most of the way home which was soooo nice.  She was pretty whiny on the way out and did not want to be stuck in her car seat.  We picked up pizza and were home in time for supper, which is always a great way to end a good weekend!
Blessings. 

Treasures, a Concussion, and a poor sick geerl

Other than laundry and weeding (the vines!  they are insidious! oh, and crabgrass in the garden makes me twitchy) we had a pretty quiet week after vacation. 

Some silly girls playing with Bob's headphones:

So I'm sure you're all wondering what sorts of treasures I had been saving in a porous box in the basement....   they included a towel embroidered with a "J" that was my Great-Grandma Julia's.  And the cute little pair of lace gloves I wore at Aunt Lori's wedding.   

 Ooooo.... this is the first ever 'quilt' I made!  I started it in grade school and added to it several times.  It appears that I knotted parts of it too...  I can't get rid of it. *grin*

 I was very sad when this box felt damp, but it seems to have dried out as strong as it was before.  It's a tea set!  It was my mom's and I'm not sure who gave it to her. It's real china from Japan so the girls can't play with it for a while.

 Tapes!  My birthday tape (I'm sure mom misses that one), an interview of Grandma Wyss for school, and my Grandpa Schlipf reading "the Cat in the Hat."  I haven't tried to play them yet so I hope they dried out and still work.

 Matt's not the only one in the family with a farm toy collection.  Mine might even be cooler...  my tractor has 3 attachments.

 And I have a milk parlor!  The farmer's sprayer hose is lost to the ages, but the rest is in working condition.  Too bad they aren't jersey cows...

 This just makes me laugh.  Every time. 

 *cough*  If you can't read the bottom it says "boys are dumb."

 And last, but not least, my soggy scrapbook.  It's a true scrapbook, nothing fancy.  Mostly just programs from school events and newspaper articles from band and scholastic bowl and brochures from vacations.

 Last Saturday was a lovely day so the girls put on their swimsuits and we washed off the porch railing and the porch floor... that composite plastic is nice, but it doesn't hide dirt like wood.  Bob washed both our vehicles.
Emmy had a blast playing in the soapy water.

 Cecily was scrubbing the floor.  Ha.  That brush was for the railing, and she didn't last long.

 And then Cecily slipped and fell on the wet concrete and hit her head.  *sigh*  It was worse this time.  She definitely passed out.  It was pretty scary.  And cried and cried when she came to.  When she started throwing up Bob called the after hours nurse and they recommended that we take her to the ER.  Emmy got dropped of at Galen and Betty's with Rustin and Sharon to play and we went to the hospital.  She was really drowsy and not herself and they had a hard time keeping her awake to check both eyes and look in ears....  and she threw up the anti-nausea meds...no fun.  They did a CT scan which was kind of cool to watch.  Cecily was very brave, she did pretty good holding still inside the 'donut.'  I got to see the scans and you could see her adult teeth behind her baby teeth inside her skull!  So weird.  The CT was fine (thankfully!), she kept the second try of the anti-nausea meds down, and was starting to act a little more normal so they sent us home.  She perked up a lot and didn't seem to mind having to rest and play with her Barbies. 

 Head injuries are weird.  It's scarier when you can't see what's wrong and if it's getting worse or better... so I woke her up in the middle of the night and we've been watching her and making her "rest."  Ha.  She seems to be recovering fine and I think that she's had enough concussions now. 
The girls and I stayed home Sunday morning and listened online while Bob went to church.  My parents and Jake brought us ice cream that evening.
My little helpers.  Or something. 

 And then Emmy woke up Monday morning with a fever.  Woot.  She's a pretty happy sick girl unless she's hungry.  Which is most of the time.  Tylenol and outside helps.   

Blessings.