Upper 90’s Here Today

Still 94 Degrees OutWhat a day it was too…

My first thing today was a doctor appointment – my year gynecological appointment. They seem to want to do more tests as you get older and being over 40 is not so much fun, especially at these appointments. Oh well, its like I tell my kids, “its better to see the doctor and know that you are cancer-free.” And from what the doctor said this morning, everything looks good. I will still need to have a mammogram done soon though. I was at the doctor’s office from 10:30 AM until 12:45 PM, listening to my stomach growl by the time I got done.

So, I went home and had a quick lunch and got ready for my next appointment, this time with a client, to discuss his resume needs. The kids were so great through all this. It will be nice when school starts and they are gone though, making it so much easier not to worry about them while I am meeting with a client.

Then back to the pharmacy for all refills and changes in medications for allergies, etc. And on to the Post Office, to mail out some bill payments, and to take the kids to the library for a little while.

This day just seemed to go by so fast today but I didn’t feel like I accomplished much, probably because I was stuck waiting so much of the morning, doing nothing but waiting.

Dealing with the heat and 3 kids isn’t so much fun either but we are fortunate to have A/C in the car and our house. We are supposed to have warm temps like that for awhile now from what I have heard.

“When One Door Closes, Another One Opens”

Sydney’s last T-Ball game was last Monday. Charlie’s last Baseball game was Saturday morning. He played two games in the city tournament (Friday night and Saturday morning). Eric finished drivers education classes with the school on Thursday too. He needs to retest for his permit now.

July will be a busy and hopefully fun month for all of us. Chuck has put in for some vacation time so we hope to do some family fun things. Maybe visiting Ashley at her new rental house and wishing her a happy 20th birthday in July as well as going to the North Dakota State Fair too. We like to watch the State Fair Parade and take in some of the fun events , if we can get time or can afford to take the kids. We used to live right on the parade route so that is sort of a tradition for our family.

Tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa are coming to visit us from North Dakota. They won’t be here long but it will be great to see them. Then on Friday, we get to celebrate Independence Day with a parade and fireworks and lots of good food. I know that July always seems to fly by too fast and before you know it, we are getting ready for school again. Summer is always too short.

Garage Sale

We had a garage/yard sale this weekend. It seems like a lot of work but it feels good when it pays off too. We did really well for the first 3 hours on Friday. Saturday was steady but not as profitable as those first 3 hours but all in all, it was worth doing I guess.

It is such a good feeling to clean out closets and get rid of things you no longer need or use.

Charlie and Sydney set up a Lemonade stand too and even though it rained a good part of the time on Friday evening, they made quite a bit on their lemonade too.

So, all in all, it turned out to be a fairly successful sale, even though the sale began on Friday the 13th. ;) The best part is that the closets are cleaned and anything we didn’t sell is being donated locally.

Nila’s Un-Birthday

We celebrated Nila’s Birthday a little early since she has plans to be gone over her birthday. We had pizza at our house before Charlie’s baseball game. Then after the game we all went to her house and had carrot cake. Sydney turned 5 the end of April and she tells everyone Nila is turning 5 now in June and that she can borrow her #5 candle too, if she wants.

Trains, Trains and More Trains

Fathers and sons (and even daughters sometimes) love trains, no matter how old they are. I took a few pictures of Chuck and Steve putting together track for a train that Steve and Nila’s boys played with when they were younger. Charlie lives and breathes trains. He has loved them since he was barely walking. Even Sydney has learned a lot about trains with Charlie talking about them every day and Chuck working for Electro-Motive Diesel. Our life revolves around trains, locomotives, consists, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), CSX, pushers, the round house and lots of other train-related things. There are moments where Eric, Nila and I roll our eyes when they all start talking trains. Charlie even goes around making train sounds. He has a couple of trains sets already but he doesn’t have any of any great value yet as he plays hard with them yet but when he can take better care of them, he will have to have a nice train set, of course. We had a tradition in Minot to go see the Holiday Train every December and to see Santa on the caboose and wave as it left town. Chuck has spent hours with the kids looking online at pictures of different kinds of trains and listening to the sounds of them. Charlie has recorded a couple of television shows on our DVR too, “I Love Toy Trains” and “Train Locomotives”. He has watched them over and over too. It is truly amazing how much Charlie knows about trains at the age of 7. Anyway, here are the pictures of the fun they all had the other night at Steve and Nila’s house.

Silly Kids

The kids were silly, making faces and just having fun today so I just have to share these pictures…

Eric finally got a haircut!

Eric finally got a haircut after much protest and rebellion. I am grateful for Nila’s patience and willingness to do this for him. Here are some before and after pictures…

Monday, Monday

Today started out as a rainy Monday. I started the day with a client meeting which went well. It was a web design client which is what I like doing best. I was even complimented on my appearance as well as my work. It’s nice to feel appreciation for what you do.

Eric had his first driving session this morning. His instructor told him his hair needed attention as well as his pants (ripped at the bottom) and shoe laces (not tied) too. Chuck and I have tried to tell him but I guess he had to hear it from the teacher instead. Isn’t that always the way. Teenagers are so much fun sometimes… sigh.

This afternoon was just the usual work, laundry, kids activities, etc. The rain didn’t really let up until late afternoon. The sun really never did shine today. The rain was nice but the sun would have been nice to see too.

When I was out grocery shopping with Chuck this afternoon, our neighbor, Gert, who is 87, came up behind us and poked me in the ribs. It was really great to see her. Her husband Jim has been ill this spring and they have been so busy that we haven’t seen much of them. We really enjoy their company so it was nice to see her.

Charlie and Sydney were posing for the camera again today so here are a couple pictures from today.