HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY BEN!!!

 My middle nephew Ben turned 10 this week.  It has taken us about a week to celebrate, which normally happens when Deb has to fit in a party between 3 kids sports schedules.  They whole family gathered to celebrate with him.  Luckily the weather was clear so the boys were able to go hang outside and play some ball.  Thank goodness they were able to because they never get to play ball.  HA!

 At the kids party, everyone gets presents. Oh look, Cate got a Cinderella toy.  No Way.

 It's always a good time when the family gets together.  

 Aunt Frannie and Uncle Mike doing whatever Cate says

 Deb said this a do it yourself party., you can hold your own cake.  Apparently, nobody gets babied on their birthday anymore.

This poor shed is in the neighbor across the alleys' back yard.  Poor thing has so many dings from baseballs.  I bet the little old lady that lives there thinks she is under attack every time these crazy boys go outside.  It's a shame they don't live by a park and be go there anytime to play.  Oh wait, there is one right across the street.

All Hail Mother Nature

Poor Jon.  Poor Poor Jon.  If something is going to happen to any of us it is going to happen to Jon.  This time, the hail storm that worked its way through Granite City Saturday, decided to leave it's calling card on Jon's car.   He was at work so he had no chance to get it to a safe place.  Luckily, my car was in the car port, Ann's was at Cody's and Ken's was with us up a the camper.

 Jon will now be driving my car until we can get his fixed.  We had Ann and Cody up for lunch Saturday so they weren't in town for the storm.  Thank God!  I have no idea how Ann would have fared had she been in town.  It was bad enough watching radar from the camper.  She made me call my mom half a dozen times just to make sure they were down in the basement when the sirens went off.

Everyone else in the family survived with no damage to anything.  Dad said this was one of the worsts hail storms he had ever seen.  Wish I could have been home to see it.  But then again, Ken's truck probably would have been damaged and that would have been bad for everyone. So here's to Jon and another insurance claim!

Tale of the Hostas

 Oh my hostas.  How I have worried about you.  Last year you didn't do so well and I was afraid I had lost you.  Then that evil animal came and dug most of you up.  I though you were lost to me forever.  But you survived and this time I will protect you and not let bad things happen to you again.

 Last year my mom and dad brought over quite a few hostas from their gardens.  I had them planted around my trees and they looked very nice.  But for some reason during the summer they died off.  The shriveled up and went away.  I really thought I had killed them all,  When we got back to the camper this spring I noticed that most of them were dug up by some animal over the winter.  I just knew I was going to have to buy all new plants.

But alas, some survived.  My one tree has had quite a few come up.  I am so excited.  The other tree, not so much but there are a few trying to push their way to the top.

 Come on little buddy, you can do it.

 After the rains last weekend, everything turned a vibrant green.  Love it!

 As I was fishing, a term I will use very loosely, this creature swam by me.  Not sure the kind of snake that it is, but he wasn't too happy that I took his picture.

 One of the geese guarding her eggs.  She made sure nobody got close to her babies.

 Gross.  I hate frogs.

 Ken thinking he is all cool because he caught a fish.  Well listen here buster.  I caught the first one  But since you didn't help me with it it flopped off the bank into the lake before I got a picture.   But in my heart I know I caught the biggest fish.

New birds to my feeder.  I was so excited to see them there!

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

This year our Easter was a little different.  Normally our family goes to church then spends the rest of the day running from one parents house to the other.  This year Ken had to work, we weren't going to Ken's families house, and we weren't going to my moms till 5:00pm.  What to do???  At first I thought Ann would be going to Cody's after church so it would just be me and Jon so I planned on taking him to lunch and the zoo.  I was then told by Ann that if I even think of going to the zoo without her she would never let me take Trevor there.  Sooooo I was going to have to come up with some other idea.  Then Cody's family said they weren't eating until 6:00pm so Ann and Cody joined us at the zoo.

Jon and I went to church Sunday morning with Cody and his family.  They belong to Central Christian and that is where Ann has been going the last year. After the service we went out to lunch then headed to the zoo.  The weather was perfect and we had a great time.

 This is normally how we all feel after spending a few hours with Cody  : )

Trevor's first trip to the zoo.  Think he will remember it?

 Did you know hippos kill more people every year than sharks?

 Believe it or not, Ann was yelling at Jon 

 So glad my kids love each other!!

 In case you were asking, yes these two make me tired

 Give the poor thing a leaf already

 Look, Ken showed up!  He actually got to eat dinner with the family.  As you can see, he was thrilled.

 Miss Cate trying the sabotage the Hillbilly Golf Game. 

 Jon saved the day and got the balls back.  Yay Jon!!!

Another crazy holiday!!!  Hope yours was as nice as ours!

Camping with Jon and Josh

Last weekend I took Jon and Josh to the camper with me.  Ken wasn't too happy that I was relaxing and he was working.  But that's life and he just needs to deal.  The weather was wonderful and the boys had a good time.  Of course there was a lot of fishing and fire building.  Seems that whenever these two are together there is a fire somewhere.  Luckily it is always in a fire pit.  At least as far as I know.

 I may have sabotaged their fishing experience by allowing the dogs to swim in the water right by where they were casting.  But my dog loves to swim so they can just move to the other side.  Actually, Jon caught six fish Saturday.  Josh caught zero.  That kid is the worst fisherman I have ever met.  I text his dad and told him I wasn't bringing Josh home until he caught a fish.  Which means he would probably be seeing him in July.  Moral of the story:  Don't rely on Josh for dinner.  You will starve!

 Bo is not so much into the swimming thing.  But he does love to get muddy and roll around in the grass.  Lucky me!

 My little fire starter.  Notice the awesome pots in the back??!!! I went to the grocery store and came back to Jon being all outback man.

 Call me crazy but this boy needs to put on a few pounds.  Good thing he is so cute!

 Just want to bring your attention to the flowers that are now around my pot sculpture.  It is ever evolving.  Ken is so thrilled.

Josh finally caught some fish.  4 to be exact.  I think Jon caught 12 or something.  Jon is on my team if I am ever in a survival competition.

The world is right again

HELLO from the camper.  Finally!!!  Longest. Winter. Ever.  And the worst part of the winter?  It is nice and every beautiful day all that came into my mind was the fact that I should be enjoying it at Cool Creek.  But now we are there again and our life is back to normal.  Ann is mad at us because we are never home (like she is) and Jon still has no clue if we are home or not.  Ahhhhhhh good times.  After another argument with Ann about the fact we are there so much I explained to her that she is welcome anytime.  Her response was that we are never there on a weekend that is good for her.  I just looked at her and told her we are ALWAYS there so that is a terrible argument.  WIN!

 The first morning we were there was a little foggy but the temperature was wonderful.  Sitting on the porch, watching my birds, brings me many stress free moments.

 Of course, opening weekend brings alot of work.  The tires on the golf cart were flat so Ken had to fix them.    I helped by shouting advise to him from my seat on the porch.  That is why they are fixed now  : D   Then we had to rake leaves,  clean off the roof, put all our garden stuff out, and fix some fishing poles.  But those are good jobs so I won't complain.

 Of course, the day isn't good if Ken doesn't do a little fishing.  I fish too, just from my seat in the sun, with the pole on the ground next to me.  I catch some "rays"  Ken catches the fish.

 Dinner!  Just kidding.  That would mean Ken would have to clean the fish he catches.  And that is way too much work for him to do while at the camper.

 Of course, while we are relaxing on the porch watching the rain Ken decides he is going to fix one of our birdhouses.  So during the lightening storm he takes the metal ladder out and reattaches the little house.  Sometimes I just sit back in awe.

My latest pinterest creation.  Tippy pots.  I love these so much I made two.  How cute are these.  Seriously. I'm in awe of my talent.  No really, I am.