A Nice Story

I have a little girl in my classroom whose dad will be deployed to Iraq this week.  This is his second tour in 5 years.  This little girl has 2 younger sisters and her mom was pregnant with baby #4.  Dad has been gone since July and was home for 4 days over the weekend until today before he left for Iraq.  Her mom went into labor yesterday without being induced or anything and had the baby while dad was home!   He had to leave today and returns to Mn next July.  They had an 8 lb  baby girl.  Their second daughter was born while dad was in Iraq the first time.  I'm glad that he was able to be there for this birth.  They're a super nice family.

Pretty photo's

Fall Flowers/Birch

Before all the rain this weekend, I cut some fall flowers and decided to put them in a birch sleeve that I found in the woods behind Royce and Lynn's house.   Originally, I thought it would be a nice candle wrap but like this idea better since it won't catch on fire!  So, after I did this little project, guess what I see in Pottery Barn....birch sleeves selling for $12 & $18!  I plan to use them all winter and think they will look pretty with Christmas decor.   In case you are wondering there is a vase hidden inside the birch sleeve.
I have to keep the arrangement in the bathroom as I'm afraid the cats will knock it over. Here's a close-up, all the flowers are real except for one big fake white mum. The rest of the flowers consist of autumn joy sedum (which is now turning a lovely red) hosta flowers and leaves, hydrangea, wild purple and yellow flowers and one leftover orange mum from a farmers market bouquet that Dan brought home a couple of weeks ago. 

I plant to make another fall bouquet totally out of dried and silks so that I can have it out on the table and put it in another birch wrap.  I love the birch and need to ask Royce to keep an eye out for more of them.  I'm sure he has nothing better to do. :) Baby #2 is due any day!!

Last Jet Ski ride in 2008?

Well, there's a very good chance it was the last, but we made it a good one.  I had Courtney in the back going "Can you do some circles?" Then there's Kelsey in the front saying,"When we go in, can we go back out again? Can you go faster? Can we stay out for a really long ride?"  So we stayed out for a really long time and didn't go back until Kelsey said she was getting cold.  You can see she is the only one who didn't have long sleeves on.  We didn't get wet so that helped.  I told Eric that those girls are a bad influence on the jet ski!!  Jen snapped this photo and I was happy to see it on her blog so I could steal it for mine.  Thanks Jen.

Courtney's Birthday

Courtney, Kelsey and the butterfly cake.  Jen made this cake I believe.

We celebrated Courtney's 8th birthday at the cabin on Saturday.  You can see by the following photo's who was present.  It was a cool day but very calm so we were able to have some fun on the lake even if we had to bundle up.  Dan filled up the boat with riders and Kelsey, Courtney and I went out for a nice long jet ski ride.  We ended the evening with a lovely bonfire.  It sure felt like fall.

Monkey see, monkey do!

Sarah is sporting her new earrings that she got last week at the Bargain Bazaar.  They might look heavy but they're super light.  Darlene, Sarah, Jen and the girls visited the BB this Sat too and found a few goodies.  Courtney found a beach cover up, fuzzy leopard slippers that she is sharing with Kelsey and Sarah found a cute skirt and some very fun red plaid pants.  The BB will be moving in a few weeks.  The new store is looking great!!  Wish I had more time to help now.
Warren and Dan try to evade the bees. Don't they look cute?!  Does it seem that we spend the entire summer avoiding insects?  Biting flies, mosquitos, and now the pesky bees.  They cleared out later in the afternoon when the wind picked up a big.

Courtney's is 8!

Funny girls!

Courtney's Bday 2

A cool calm day for reading and visiting.

Fun with volleyball and badminton

Keeping cozy

The Grillmiester 

A friendly political discussion...

Feed me!

I took this picture from Sarah's blog.  Her pictures are so beautiful.  Venture over there if you haven't checked her out in awhile.  Love the photo of her parents in the sunset and the sailboat.  That sailboat may end up as a header on my blog one of these days.

Mr. Toad

He's about the size of my thumb.  He's as cute as can be and because of him I learned how to use the close-up feature on my camera.  He hangs out on the edge of our kitchen window just above the flower box.  I think he eats the insects that come to the window attracted by the light at night.  He appears to be well fed.  I took this photo last Monday and checked just a few minutes ago tonight (Thursday) and he's in the same spot.  I think he's smiling in the top picture.  I wonder where he'll hibernate this winter.  I'm growing fond of him.

Big Kitty Reigns

She continues to find the highest of places to perch.

Labor Day Weekend

Warren, Ann & Sarah were at the cabin Saturday and today.  We had a nice time visiting and relaxing with them.  The 4 of us (and that does not include Dan) enjoyed playing Racko and Dutch Blitz outside on the deck Sat afternoon. Dan enjoyed a good nap instead.  Ann and Sarah visited my classroom and the Bargain Bazaar earlier in the afternoon.  Sarah found a few goodies but her best deals came from the free table/shelves in the teacher's workroom.  She picked out some vintage scarves that somebody left and I took the free Racko game.  It was new to me but Warren says they used to play it "for hours!"  I think I'll leave it in the cabin for future fun.  

Yes, I am teaching the Smiths how to play Dutch Blitz.  Shari and Ellen got the Larson family started a few years ago and not it's time for the Smith family to join the fun.  Sarah and I took the jet ski out this afternoon even though most of the lake was VERY choppy.  We rode some of the waves out there and got very wet.   Our little corner of the lake on the cabin side has been in the quiet calm side most of the weekend so that has been nice.  It is really roaring up here now, the weather channel said gusts up to 40 mph and it sounds like it.  It's like our own little Gustav out there.  

Tomorrow morning I have to go into school and put in another 3-4 hours.  I have some more organizing and planning to do.  Hope not to be there past noon. 

 Happy Labor Day, don't work too hard.

It won't be long!

Isn't this a cute photo of both of them?  Royce took it with my camera.

I asked Lynn to pose.  This picture was taken on August 8th.  She is due mid September!

That was so cute I had to post another one!

You can tell how excited and proud she is of herself.  She's such a sweetie.  Sophie makes a cameo appearance at the end too.

Wow...look at her GO!!

Here's a cute little video of Gracie walking in early August.  She's probably a pro by now!

Nancy's flowers

View from the deck.  Taken August 24.

Terraced backyard

You can see that it's filled out quite a bit since early July.  The stepping stones aren't as noticeable as they once were.  It's looking good Nancy!!  Double click on the images to get a really close look.