What's Up?

I really haven't been in blogland much lately...

First there was the end of June when my hubby and I celebrated our 35th anniversary painting this...

The railings on our deck were in desperate need of paint.  This pic was taken over a year ago and they looked much worse than this.   
 
We decided that we wanted to tackle this job while the weather was not too hot- in the 70's- and the humidity was low those days that he had taken off work.   Have you ever done something kinda crazy like that on your anniversary?:)   What I love about that is after 35 years, we feel that comfortable with each other and know how each other thinks that we could have fun painting together and reminiscing on a very special day.

We just have the stair railings left- so far high humidity and rain have kept us from finishing that up.
More photos to come!

 Guess what?  We still haven't gone out to eat for our anniversary yet.  Now that hubby is back to work, he is being offered overtime, so we'll wait for a better time.

Then on Saturday we got an impromptu visit  from my sister Missy and her littlest one, Shiloh! (Missy's Isaac and Hannah were on vacation with their dad.)  They drove up from Illinois on Saturday and were here for the 4th.  Tim and Brooke were also here along with Jonathan ( who is living at home this summer- and we are loving that!:)  and Amanda.  We grilled hamburgers, turkey burgers brats and hotdogs and had a great time together!:)

This is not a current pic, but I'm having some trouble downloading pics right now.

On Tuesday, Missy, Shiloh and I drove over to Milwaukee to visit Daniel, Jess, Sam and Eli.
Jess' 15 year old sister, Rachel was spending some time with them, so we got to visit with her too! This was Missy's first time meeting little Eli.   ( Again, downloading problems- so no photos)   We ate dinner with them and enjoyed how Sam and Shiloh became best friends, laughing and playing  together from the minute we walked in!:)   And Eli was his sweet smiling self:)  He leaned over to Grammy at dinner, pulling on my sleeve and melting my heart with his wanting to snuggle...sigh...

Missy and Shiloh left for home on Wednesday evening.  So glad they were able to come and spend that time with us!

Look what arrived at my door the next day!

Only, it didn't arrive looking like this--it is in a rather small box- which makes me think that there's MORE than just "SOME assembly required"!:)

So with the newly painted deck railings, newly planted flower pots and  my new bird feeder/flower station to put together and fill- I am looking forward to seeing the results and sharing them with you soon!


Meanwhile, I am having fun imagining what fun Daniel and Jess and the boys

are having on their vacation to Ben and Lisa's in Pittsburgh and seeing this precious girl who is apparently RUNNING now!   Go Sophie!

And then---Nathan and Kristen, who are on vacation at Kristen's family's home in Ohio, are going on over to Pittsburgh and join the fun for a few days!  I am so excited that they could all coordinate their vacation times for a visit to Ben and Lisa's!   What a blessing to know that not only do our sons like spending time together, but our wonderful DILs truly feel like sisters, too, and love to be together!
I know that if Tim and Brooke weren't in the middle of packing for their move to Grand Rapids next week, they would probably be in Pittsburgh this week, too!:)

So that's what I been up to lately--and I look forward to stopping by for a visit and catching up with what you've been up to!

Photos also by Brooke C, Lisa C, Missy K., & FourCorners.com