Saturday, July 16, 2016

Thankful Time!

1. First and foremost, the poison ivy and mysterious rash are both GONE!! All that's left is for the skin to heal from the major trauma it endured.

2. As the end of summer break nears (Sadly, the high school kids head back to school on Aug. 3.), I'm trying to take a few hours of one-on-one time with each kid. This week, Cuckoo went to volunteer with me at St. Elizabeth's (The boy loves to work. He tags along with me all day, helping me pull weeds, trim trees, clean bathrooms, do laundry. And he's old enough to actually be helpful!), then we went out to lunch.

3. I also had some time with Giant. He had an orthodontist appointment, so afterwards we went shopping for school pants and a few new shirts, then out to lunch at the place of his choice.

4. I love summer break for all sorts of reasons, but one of my favorites is the morning time with Cuckoo. He is always the first one up (by far!), and he'll always come downstairs and cuddle on my lap for a while. That just doesn't happen during the school year. We talk, we laugh, we sit quietly. This week, he made the comment, "I want to grow to 48 inches and then stop growing." Can you guess why?

At 48 inches, he will be big enough to ride most of the big roller coasters at King's Island and all the coasters at Disney, but he'll still be small enough for people to carry.

5. Funny things happen all the time around here, but this week a non-family member got to be part of the craziness. Buttercup's best friend has been spending a lot of time with us this summer. She went to Ohio for 4th of July, but she also spends plenty of days with us thanks to the driving laws in Indiana. She has her license, but she isn't yet old enough to have passengers in the car with her. She can drive to our house, but she can't take Buttercup anywhere. So, she stays. One day this week, she left her window down while it was parked in our driveway, not knowing that our cat loves to sit on, under, or in our vehicles. When it was time to leave, as she was putting the keys in the ignition, the cat jumped from the backseat and landed right next to her on the front seat and scared the poor girl half to death. She screamed and screamed as Buttercup laughed and laughed and came inside to tell us so we could laugh and laugh. Eventually, when her heart got back to it's normal speed, she was laughing, too. :)

6. My dad's sister is closer in age to me than to my dad. She has two boys, and the younger of the two is only 10 days younger than Phoenix. They live in Michigan, so we only see them a couple times of year at family gatherings in Ohio. My cousin is a very good baseball player, and his team this year has been playing in tournaments in different cities every single weekend this summer. They didn't get to go to the 4th of July party this year, and we were very sad about it. BUT, this week his team is playing on the north side of Indy, so we went up to watch him play on Thursday. (He's a pitcher, so he doesn't play every game.) It was so nice to see him play and catch up with my aunt in the stands. To make it better, it was a great game, with my cousin's team coming from behind in the last inning to tie the game, sending it into extra innings, where they pulled ahead and won!

7. Friday fun day this week included hiking at a new-to-us state park on the west side of the state. Normal walks through the woods are no longer enough for my kids, so we are always on the hunt for the "rugged" or "very rugged" trails, preferably with hiking through water. Shades State Park had one, and it was a fun 1.25 mile jaunt.


Unfortunately, the trail didn't take us that long to hike, and they don't have another rugged trail. Fortunately, this state park is only 12 miles from our favorite state park, Turkey Run, so we jumped in the van and headed there for another hike on their very rugged trail.

8. Funniest quote from the day came after the hiking. We had brought extra shoes and dry clothes and changed into them when we got back to the van. We stopped for dinner on the way home, and when we got to the van Cuckoo said of the van, "it smells like cinnamon on the outside, and toots on the inside!" One major negative of a big van is the lack of trunk space/ability to keep stinky hiking clothes separate from the rest of the van.

9. Long story short, 'cause this is already a long post and I need to get this wrapped up, had an appointment to get furnace regular, routine service, the furnace heard me reschedule the appointment and stopped working within hours, called the company back and was able to get back on the schedule for original time. Furnace is fixed and the fix was free as the furnace was still under warranty.

10. I get to laugh throughout every day. Thanks to my kids, Bryan, and friends, I do a whole lot of laughing.

I'm off to watch my boys play soccer. Expect lots of photos, seeing as how this may be the only time all three of my teen boys will play on the same team together.

Tell me the good stuff, Readers! What has made you laugh this week?

Have a lovely day!




Ten Things of Thankful


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19 comments:

  1. I'm glad the poison ivy is gone. No more itching. I've thought about you several times this week hoping you were better.

    I love your family. You are such a delight. Your kids rock.

    Have a fabulous and thankful day and weekend. ☺

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    1. All the positive vibes worked. :)

      Thank you. You're sweet to say such things.

      I'm working on it!

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  2. wait! (no, I did not read the post...other than #1) near the end of Summer?!?! ayiieee! (oh, wait, that's right, in the heartland, School starts 'first Thursday 'a August, cept if'n the cows are still in the pasture'
    ok, now it makes sense, I can go back to ready the post

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    1. No one is more sad about the end of summer break than me. OK, that's not true. All of the kids who have to go back are sadder. I can still go outside and enjoy the warm weather all day long if I so choose. :)

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  3. 1 - Glad to hear the poison ivy and the rash are both gone, I hope the skin heals quickly now
    2 - I can't believe your school summer break will be over soon - how many weeks is it? Ours is six weeks, starts at the end of next week and doesn't finish until September 5th.
    4 - I love Cuckoo's idea of stopping growing at 48 inches, but I don't think he's still like to be so small when he's an adult :)
    5 - The cat story is funny - I hope Buttercup's friend soon got over her fright :)
    7 - Great photo of the kids under the waterfall, it sounds like the Friday fun day was a good day :)
    8 - I like Cuckoo's description of the van - and I can just imagine the smell from all those stinky hiking clothes :(
    9 - Glad you got the furnace fixed and it was free - I usually find that things wait until the warranty has just expired before they decide to go wrong.
    10 - It's good to laugh, whatever or whoever provides the reason :)

    One thing which made me laugh this week happened only yesterday. I was round at my friends and her little dog had dropped his squeaky pig on the settee just before I sat down, of course it gave out one long squeak when I sat on it. Then as I leaned to my left to fish it out from underneath me my friend chose the same moment to get up from her side of the settee and accidentally elbowed me in the side of my head! Fortunately it didn't hurt and the pair of us had the giggles for several minutes afterwards :)

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    1. 1. Thanks! It's practically gone. No one would ever guess I had poison ivy just a couple of weeks ago!
      2. I can't believe it either. They actually got 9 and a half weeks off, so we shouldn't be complaining...but we are. :)
      4. That's what I said!
      5. She did, but she'll never leave her window down again!
      7. It was. During this very busy (workwise for the teens) summer, I'm glad we can at least have one day a week to do fun things.
      8. Ha! It was pretty foul, but I'm sure you've smelled worse in your line of work. :)
      9. That has happened to us many times. So frustrating. I was shocked that the warranty actually worked for us this time.
      10. It certainly is!

      Hahahaha!!! That toy had to have been a surprise when you heard it! As did the knock to the head. I'm sure the two of you will laugh about it again the next time you get together.

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  4. Thank GOODNESS for the warranty! And so glad you're mostly better from the poison ivy, and that you got to see family.

    I gotta ask...why, oh WHY, does your van smell like cinnamon on the outside?!

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    1. Ha! I wondered the same thing. I can only guess that it was because we were outside several restaurants. I don't think it happens in England, but here in the states, some places actually pump the smell of their food outside to entice people to come buy it. I frequently smell fried chicken when I come out of the grocery store.

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    2. DO they?! I know I can smell a McDonalds or a chippy when I walk past it, but I assumed they were just creating kind of fugs of their own smell...I never knew restaurants actually PUMP the food smell out!

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  5. 2. Nice you can do that--one on one with each kid. I still remember the one-on-one moments I had with my mother and father--special.

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    1. With 6 kids, it's something Bryan and I have made a priority. Don't want anyone to get lost in the day to day shuffle.

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  6. What?! School is around the corner? Tell me it's not true! LOL
    Sounds like you and the kids are having a terrific summer :) I love that you guys love going to parks and hiking and adventuring. That's what it's all about isn't it? :D
    I feel bad for Buttercup's friend! What a fright!! She must have jumped right out of the seat. I bet she'll be checking under the seat for awhile before getting in to drive *wink*
    Have fun Christine!!

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    1. Sadly, it is very true. Two weeks from today.
      At least on Fridays we're having a great summer. :) The big kids have had a lot of work and practice this summer. BUT we're grateful for the Fridays and the many places to hike and get some fresh air.
      Her fright was made worse because she likes to watch crime shows. She's already scared of a bad guy getting into her car, so the cat really got her good. Even so, we couldn't stop laughing. :) She certainly won't leave her windows down anymore!

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  7. The kids here start on the 8th, and I thought that was early. August 3rd?!

    You have got to put Zion National Park on your to-do list! Your family would LOVE to hike the Narrows!

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    1. Yup. It's crazy, isn't it? But we have it better than public school kids. They go back July 26 or so.

      It is on the list! Now to find the time to get there...

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  8. glad to hear you're feeling better...

    i love the laughing days, i love it more when it's simply us - those are real fun times...right?

    sounds like you all are having a great summer with hikes, friends and families and quiet mornings with your son

    i cannot believe school will start for you in about two weeks.

    i am planning a staycation on the second week of August and omg looking forward to it completely

    the hiking trails sound like fun and i know we would love to do them too.

    i am probably in denial about school we are not far behind you although officially we start after labor day -

    James will have to get ready with high school soccer in mid- august.

    enjoy your days and have fun!!!! (as if i need to tell you)

    :)

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    1. Thank you.

      They are the best.

      It's been a good summer. Too fast, but good.

      I know! I was just seeing photos of kids on the east coast getting out of school for the summer!

      What will you be doing on your staycation?? Any parks you can hike?

      After Labor Day is awesome. Of course, we were out of school May 26, so it's not like we aren't getting a long, full break.

      Is he excited? I can't believe they don't start until mid-August. My boys were practicing one week after school was out. Tryouts are Aug. 1 and 2.

      Thank you! :)

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