Goodbye Summer....

September is upon us! I love September! I love fall! So as we head into my favorite season ( hubby says I love every season lol) I thought I”d reflect on the summer. It was such a busy time! I loved it though! Lol

Summer found the wedding plans for our oldest son in full swing!

June was the bridal shower. She got such lovely things! She was so excited & couldn’t wait to show the groom to be! The big gift of the day was from her family..an awesome vacuum cleaner!
As the big day approached it was so exciting as out-of-towners began to arrive! I knew it would be awesome but I wasn’t fully prepared for the amazing time it would truly be!
The rehearsal was @ her grandparents. It was SO beautiful. Then the rehearsal dinner was held @ the local country club. It was SUCH a relaxing time for all!

The July wedding was amazing. It was so awesome to see all the people who came to celebrate. And so many people rallied around to help when there was any kind of glitch. When there was a problem with the dress a friend of a friend of the bride’s stepped in one week before the wedding & made the dress perfect! It turned out she was my elementary school teacher! When rain came the night before the wedding, numerous people rallied to get everything moved from her grandparents home into 2 churches..one for the ceremony & one for the reception. It was such a blessing to see so many people help. No one grumbled or complained. It was such an awesome thing to experience. When my hair plans fell thru someone rallied to help me…my son said I looked like Audrey Hepburn!! That made my whole weekend! Lol
Our oldest moved into their new home 9 days before the wedding..so it was busy @ our house with getting him moved out & moving our youngest son up to the oldest one’s old room. They frequently asked my husband how we ever got some of this stuff in the house ( the kids have lied here their whole lives! ) So getting some things out of here proved interesting! Lots of doors were off their hinges!! Lol

My new daughter-in-law was pretty much our son’s 1st girlfriend. ( he follows in his father’s footsteps! Lol) So last fall when I was sure where this was going, I prayed, “ Lord, please let these 2 get married before the youngest get’s his 1st girlfriend.” We-elll, I almost got my prayer! Lol 23 days before the wedding…lol…you know where this is going right??? Lol 23 days before the wedding he got a girlfriend. Lol She is a sweetie & we’re so glad to be getting to know her…and our son is totally gone about her. So, I’m thinking he will follow in his father’s footsteps too! Lol Hopefully though it won’t be for a few years…

WE got to pick up the newlyweds as they returned from their honeymoon. There were some people there to greet a convention coming to town, so I told them about our son & his wife arriving & they agreed to help us greet them! The look on my son’s face when a whole crowd of strangers cheered & applauded them as they came thru the “gate” was priceless! Lol We then got to have dinner with them & then see them open their wedding presents! The generosity shown to them was just amazing!

I hope to be able to post some pictures soon.

Summer also was a busy time with my nephews. We had “Camp Aunt Suzie” as often as their busy schedules would allow! I had a great time trying every week to surprise them with something new..especially in our backyard. They were thrilled one weekend to go to the backyard to find a swingset! And another time to find the old sandboxes had been cleaned out & replaced with fresh sand! They loved finding a triple slip N slide! I think the 2 biggest hits were the inflatable swimming pool with a slide and 4 rubbermaid rough n ready containers that they could each fit their bodies in! lol They called them their outside bathtubs.
Many hours were spent bike riding in the parking lot behind our home. When our youngest donated a skateboard & a scooter to Camp Aunt Suzie there were many cheers & clapping from the little ones!

Eating, of course, is a must with little ones! We did a few trips to Pizza Hut but mostly ate @ home. Their favorite thing to have is “ the food tray” lol It is a muffin tin full of a variety of food!
Other activities this summer were : washing bikes, squirt guns, sidewalk chalk, hopscotch, walks, drawing, puzzles, dvd’s, a min trampoline, video games, leegos, silly string, art time, reading, jarts,water balloons, bubbles, cathing butterflies/bugs, playing in a tent in the backyard, basketball, baseball ( with me on a team by myself against 4 kiddos! Lol) several different parks & a trip to the toy store! I also got to take the youngest 1 time to the waterpark.

Two weeks to the day after the wedding, my grandmother passed away. She was 94. It was sad. Our oldest struggled as he was very close to her. When he was 2 yrs old he told her he wanted her @ his wedding. She told him she wouldn’t still be here. I told her she might..her mother lived to be 96. Anyway, she was still on this earth, but in no shape to make the wedding. I was so thankful she didn’t pass til after the wedding. So, both of our sons had the privelege of being pallbearers for her.

She passed the day before our youngest son turned 19. Whew! Can we say “hectic” at our house?? lol

Three weeks later brought Gencon to Indianapolis. I blogged some about that already. Day 2 I didn’t do much other than make a foam sword. Day 3 our son & his wife joined us. She & I played Munchkin, Monopoly, Eucher & Redneck Life! Lol We also walked the convention hall with our hubbies. We ended up being euchre partners for a time & making it to the head table to dethrone the team that had been there for quite some time! Then we were promptly dethroned! Lol But it was fun. The sad thing that day was she got a call that her foster mother had passed away that morning. So she was very sad. I’m so thankful the foster mother was able to make the wedding 5 weeks earlier.

So, school has started & I’m on my 18th year of homeschooling. I have one little one this year. God is in control & knows the future, but to this human being it appears this will be my last year of homeschooling…

So, it’s been an awesome summer with the normal ups & downs of life…but that’s what makes it life, right? And God encourages us to choose life! Hubby thinks sometimes we have a little too much life around here! Lol j/k And now we head into fall! I know fall isn’t til Sept 21..but as far as I’m concerned it starts tomorrow! Lol And to get a head start today, the kiddos bobbed for apples! They loved it! WOO HOO! Fall here we come!

A Day of Firsts

Today was my first day at my first Gen-Con! Gen-Con is a big gaming convention held here every year...but it's way more than that! lol

We had not pre-ordered tickets, so we were on lines for 90 minutes getting our tickets. But then we got on our way. The 1st thing I did was play Uno. The gal running the game had perfected a version of Uno combining rules from all over the world. The biggest rule change for me was if someone plays a red 3 & you have a red 3, you can play it right away even if it's not your turn! lol That was fun.

Then I walked around the exhibit hall a little & had lunch. Then made my way to was the beading class for SPA's were held. SPa's are what they call spouses of gamers! lol There were a dozen of us. It was fun. There was a gal from Illinois, a gal from Ohio, a gal from St Louis & a gal from Maryland.

Another 1st for me was beading! I had never done it! It was fun. I made 2 bracelets that I will be giving as Christmas gifts.

After that 2 hour class I walked to where Dale had an hour left of a game...then we had dinner & signed up for our slots for tomorrow. They are having an 8 hour Survivor game that I wanted to join, but it was all filled up..maybe next year!

My 1st thing tomorrow is 9-11..a walking tour of our city with the SPA's...we will see if we get there in time..Dale is still down playing games & this game doesnt end til 1. We slept in today & didnt get down there til 10.

Well, just wanted to share my day of firsts!