May 2017 – Page 2 – Asbery's Echoes

So Incredibly Thankful

Last night was Class Night. I held it together through the whole ceremony! Such a great group of young adults. Smart, talented, fun. There were lots of awards given out, laughs, a few tears. They will all go far in their pursuits from this point on I’m sure. I’m thankful for Eric’s teachers, his friends, the community for helping to shape him into the wonderful young man he has become. Graduation Saturday night and then life as he knows it will have changed forever. And he can’t wait!

I am also thankful to God for being with my oldest son Aaron and keeping him safe while were at Class Night. We had a pretty good storm hit our area right before Class Night and were thankful it was over before everyone had to head into the school. Halfway through the program Joe got a phone call from Aaron, which is a rare occurrence at best. He said everything was fine and asked his dad to call him when the program was over. The storm that was not so bad here had traveled onto his community. He was working at the convenience store when a tornado hit. It blew out all the windows and did some other damage. No one was hurt. He watched a customer go to leave right when the tornado hit and it ripped at the door and the customer had to hold onto the door to keep from being sucked out of the store. I can’t begin to imagine how scared everyone was. We are all so very thankful no one was hurt. I hope we never receive a phone call like that again.

The only two out of a class of 40 who are going to the University of Iowa. Glad they are friends – they’ll have each other to rely on!

University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and Iowa National Guard/Iowa State. They’ll miss each other! Three great kids standing there!

Brothers

This just melts my heart. Watching Eric teach Drew how to play ball. Drew starts t-ball this week and he’s a little apprehensive so Eric took him out and worked with him this evening. He’s using Eric’s first glove and now he thinks he’ll do okay! (Gotta love the cowboy boots while wearing shorts and playing catch!)

Mother’s Day Fun

Mother’s Day saw all of us wore out and not wanting to do anything much! Joe took Drew and I out for breakfast. Eric and Aaron had to work all day. The rest of us decided to meet at Belva Deer early evening for a picnic. Leftovers from the graduation party worked out great – no work required! Joe, Drew and I went early to go for a bike ride before everyone else came out. Later Dad, Mom, Jeremy, Abby and Braxton came and we had a nice visit. The boys played at the playground, we went for a walk/bike ride and called it a day. It was a nice quiet get together. Perfect for Mother’s Day! We are so blessed to have Belva Deer so close!

Looks like a serious conversation going on here!

Playing a little UNO while waiting for Braxton to come!

Pit stop at the bath house for Grandpa and the littles!

Hopefully next time we visit Belva Deer we’ll have the camper with us!

Celebrating Graduation

Getting a picture of all four of the kids together – my favorite part of the whole day. Its really hard to get them all together at the same time anymore.

Friday and Saturday went by like a blur! Friday was spent setting up for the celebration, Saturday was cooking, party and tearing down. Poor Joe, all week in California then home Friday afternoon with no chance to relax and unwind. Just on the go doing whatever was asked of him. Abby and Aaron helped Friday evening and then back on Saturday with Jeremy too. I couldn’t have done it without them and Dad and Mom who were indespensable. It was so nice to have family to help.

Mom did all the cooking while I worked on set up and decorating. I could not have done it without her!

We had a great turn out. It was fun to see family and friends and friends we hadn’t seen for quite some time. It’s sad how everyone’s lives get so busy that it takes a special occasion to see cherished friends that we should make the time to get together with on a regular basis. There was lots of catching up and lot of laughs. So many of Eric’s classmates stopped by. There was something like 10 or 11 parties in all on Saturday and they all tried to hit all the parties. Eric was able to hit them all and still stay at his throughout the whole party. It’s nice to see the kids all be close like that. I felt bad not making it to any of the other parties but they in turn couldn’t come to ours. There are more next week though that we’ll be sure to get to. Hard to believe these kids are graduating – they just shouldn’t be this old!

Family – Joe and I with our kids, my parents and Joes dad. Grandpa Meiners is 92 years old and made the three hour ride to celebrate with Eric!

I didn’t get any pictures during the celebration. I was too busy I guess. I think we’re all glad this day is over. It was lots of work and lots of fun but now we can enjoy Class Night and Graduation knowing this is behind us!

A Thousand Wishes

A quick post today. To take a quick breath and gather my thoughts I walked around the yard this morning. It’s a beautiful sunny cool day. The birds are chirping. There’s a breeze. Such a change from yesterday’s heavy rains. As I was walking around I noticed all the dandelions that have gone to seed. This spring we have lots and lots of dandelions. They don’t bother me. I love the cheerful yellow blooms. Joe on the other hand really doesn’t like them. In fact he bought some stuff for the yard to try and get rid of them but hasn’t put it on yet. I do have to say we have an overabundance of them right now and when they go to seed they aren’t very attractive but I keep telling him they are good for the bees and really, what do they hurt? Then I remembered what Drew said over the weekend. He said, “Mom we are so lucky. Look at all the wishes we get to make. We get to make a thousand wishes!” Why do kids see the bright side of things so often and we as adults just don’t?

I’m off to pick up all the toys in the living room, tidy up, vacuum and start loading up the graduation party stuff. Tomorrow we decorate and Saturday is the big day. Yeah! Oh, yeah, can’t forget the last soccer game of the season this evening. It will be a nice evening to spend outside!

It’s Only Wednesday

For some reason this evening it feels like it’s been a long week and it’s only Wednesday. That’s usually how I feel when Joe is gone. The first day or two are fine and then I’m just ready for him to be home. Friday can’t come soon enough!

It rained today. A lot. Drew’s class trip was today and they were supposed to visit the county park today and I volunteered to go along but that was canceled. They still got to see how pizzas were made at the Pizza Ranch and enjoy pizza for lunch, visit the Public Library, go bowling and then ice cream at the local ice cream shop. All done in between the rain drops! I helped at the bowing alley and they had lots of fun and were so well behaved!

In between running Drew to school, running into the bowling alley, then running back into town to pick Drew up from school, I managed to get the kitchen and bathroom painted. It helped that I didn’t go to Belva Deer this morning and t-ball practice was canceled this evening. Next I want to paint my kitchen cupboards. That will be a major project. And I don’t plan on starting that until after school is out. Just too much to do to jump into that right now.

So tonight, since it’s chilly and rainy outside and Drew and I are both tired, it’s a good night to snuggle up under a blanket with Drew and stitch. And what am I stitching? Chickens of course! If I have chickens outside I might as well have them inside too!

Another Busy Week Ahead

My chives are getting ready to bloom. I planted them last year but I don’t know what to do with them. I need to read up on their care. The blooms are pretty anyway!

It seems like yesterday went by in a blur. I am so ready for school to get out and for things to slow down. I don’t do busy well. Looking back I am amazed that I survived having the older three kids at home and involved in everything that they were involved in. I don’t know how some of those parents do it who have children involved in everything they can possibly be involved in. I find that it takes away from home and family time. Sitting on the sidelines is great and the kids learn so much being involved but there just needs to be home time too. Family time. Slow time. Joe left yesterday midmorning for California. He’ll be home sometime Friday afternoon. I have to remember to remind him to stop at Hy-Vee and pick up Eric’s graduation cake. It’s an extra in case we run out of cake balls. Drew had soccer practice after school. I’m thinking they have had plenty of practices for them being kindergartners but I guess that means the coaches were really involved so I can’t complain. He has his last soccer game this Thursday but starts t-ball practice on Wednesday. I’m already thinking maybe that’s too much but I guess one day of overlap isn’t too bad. He’s not sure he even wants to play t-ball. We’ll let him try it and see how it goes. Eric loved baseball, Aaron not so much. They’re all different. Our only rule is if you start it you finish it. But if you don’t like it, you don’t have to go out for it again the next year.

If all goes well, this will be pretty by summer. The wave petunias will cascade over the pots and look so pretty! Ignore the pallet in the background. I had Joe bring it out so I could hose it off. I’ll be using it in my decorating for graduation.

Today is the only day that we don’t have anything going on. I’m going to try to get the housework caught up and the laundry done because I won’t have much time until after the weekend now. Tomorrow is Drew’s class trip and I’ve volunteered to go along. Out to Belva Deer for a picnic lunch, then bowling at the local bowling alley and ice cream at Walker’s. Should be a fun day. Then t-ball practice. Drew will be exhausted. Thursday is soccer. Friday will see us at the church decorating for Eric’s graduation party. I’m hoping to get everything set up Friday afternoon and evening so Saturday we can focus on cooking. I’m looking forward to the party. We have friends we haven’t seen in ages coming and family members all getting together. It will be fun. With Eric’s party and all that entails, we haven’t made any plans for Mother’s Day. We’ll just wing it I guess. I think we’ll all be ready for a nice quiet day. Maybe a picnic later in the day out at Belva Deer. That would be the perfect Mother’s Day for me!

Doesn’t every chicken coop need a start and a horse shoe for decoration?

Esther and Beaky. They are past the cute little chick stage and not quite into the grown up beautiful chicken stage. At this point they are kind of homely but we love them!

Weekend Randomness

Lily of Valley that I transplanted from mom’s house a couple of years ago in a little vintage vase that was Grandma Ward’s. Lots of memories wrapped up in a little bouquet of flowers.

Drew’s picks from the nursery. A red geranium, a white begonia and a blue petunia. Red, white and blue – all ready for summer!

Another busy weekend in the books. Friday I got my hair cut then picked Drew up from school. From there we ran out to the new greenhouse. We have some Amish families that have moved into our community and one of the famlies opened up a greenhouse this spring. Very nice family and lots of pretty flowers. It’s so nice to have a greenhouse so close to home! After that Drew had soccer practice then we ran out to Dad and Mom’s where Joe already was to help them with a project. Supper at their house and some relaxing outside. It was a beautiful evening.

Drew found the baby kittens again. Not a very good place for them again. You would think Miss Mindy was a first time mama with the spots she is picking out for her babies. This was underneath my Bleeding Heart plant. But now that they’ve been found, shes moved them again. At least shes giving Drew something to do – hes on the hunts for kittens!

Saturday saw Drew’s soccer game then the boys and I ran to Ottumwa to get Eric some clothes to wear for Baccalaureate, Class Night and Graduation. We ate at the new Chinese restaurant and boy was it good. Then back home. Checked out Joe’s lean to to see how much him and Dad got done on it while we were gone. Later we went for a drive and got ice cream at the local ice cream shop. A summertime weekend pastime of ours. Ice cream and a quick trip out to our county park, Lake Belva Deer for a drive around the lake.

Joe and Drew working on the lean to. They are getting ready to close it in on two sides. The front will be open. A place to store firewood and trailers. Can you see Drew in the orange shirt? He is a lot of help!

Today Drew and I got all of our pretty flowers planted along with our tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Can’t wait for those to start producing – yum! Then we had the Baccalaureate Service this evening at the high school. A very nice service and cake and lemonade afterwards. I’m glad they have Baccalaureate again. They had stopped having it for a few years but they’ve held it the last few years. It was very nice and a lot of the kids attended. Then Eric went out to supper with his classmates and it was back home for us. We had a movie night with Drew. We popped popcorn and he chose to watch The Life of Pets.

Flowers and plants waiting to be planted.

I planted marigolds this year. I hadn’t planted marigold in years and I don’t know why. Ive always loved them. Looking forward to seeing how they do here. I need to put mulch down but don’t want to spend the money this year. It just blows away but it always looks so pretty when you first put it down.

Spring Concert

The last concert of the season and Eric’s last band concert. Sad time for mom’s and dad’s but I don’t think the kids were too sad last night. I love to see them having fun together!

The music this time was unbelievable. The first song sung by the choir started out the night and it was unbelievable. Both songs were chosen by Abby. She was able to tour Europe and these two songs were songs she learned while there and she asked that they sing them at the concert. They were beautiful. The solos and duet were wonderfully done and the band was at its finest. Mrs. Meier never chooses easy songs for these kids and they always pull through. I still have “I caught a little baby bumblebee” running through my head from Travelin’ Music. Amazing Grace was absolutely beautiful and Disney at the Movies was so fun. You can never go wrong with classic Disney songs!

Senior Bandos – a good looking group! They are so dedicated, Wednesday was Senior Skip Day and they all came back for band practice because they have State Large Group contest on Friday night. How great is that!

It was Senior Night and the seniors all were looking good and enjoying the night. I’m going to miss these kids – and I’m going to miss the sound of Eric playing the baritone. Of all the things my kids have been involved in throughout the years, music/band is one of my favorites.

Painting the Day Away

I looked out the window around 8:00 last night and saw this beautiful sky. I braved the cold and wind to run out and snap a picture and it was gone by the time I got back in the house. It’s the simple things that bring joy.

We had another cold, wet, windy day today. A perfect day to stay inside and paint. I managed to get the living room all painted. It took all day and went a lot slower than the dining room. Of course having a six year old in the house today didn’t help! Now I need to get the living room put back together. I ran out of time for that. I’d like to keep on painting but I think I’d better spend tomorrow making sure I have everything ready for graduation and make my grocery list. Then maybe Wednesday I can get back to it.

This is a before picture of the living room. I’m keeping the border. I know wallpaper is out of style but I like this border and I’m not ready to take it down yet. I obviously don’t decorate according to what is in style anyway – nothing in this picture was bought in a big box store or a mall! The pictures were stitched by me and most everything else came from a thrift store, flea market, antique store or online.

And the after picture. I’m really liking it. It’s actually much darker than the picture shows. It makes the room feel cozy and warm. The rest of the walls are a shade called Heartland. A medium shade of tan maybe? Not sure how to describe it but not much different than before. Which made it a little difficult to paint – it was hard sometimes to see where I’d been and where I was going. It’s the same shade as the dining room to tie things together. Funny how a fresh coat of paint makes everything look and feel better – even if it’s there’s not much change in color.