'TIS GOOD TO BE BACK.

I'm baaaack. The trip to Ohio to see family was fun. We took several walks in my old neighborhood, passing by my elementary school, old friends' homes, families I used to babysit for, the field where Carl and I used to walk our first "baby" (our Chocolate Lab who is no longer living), my old neighborhood pool and the first house we owned together.

The kids swam in the kiddie pool, rode bikes, played with their cousin Colin, had fun sleeping together in the spare bedroom and of course got lots of spoiling from Nana and Papa.


And they loved the fireworks display put on by the little country town of Rochester.

We sat out in the middle of a field surrounded by corn, for a completely unobstructed view and a reasonable crowd. It's a well kept secret as fireworks displays go back home. Uncle Scot and Aunt Lori joined us again this year, for which we were all grateful.


We decorated with a horse theme for Olivia's eighth birthday. She kept asking, "Will all my aunts and uncles be there?" This was obviously very important to her and I'm thankful that, yes, they all came through for her. She wrote me a thank you for the horse theme, so I'm assuming it was to her liking, lol. Seriously though, what girl doesn't adore horses at eight years old?!


The drive home from Ohio was both long and interesting. Long because we left Ohio at 4:15pm and arrived home at midnight. Interesting because we passed through several dinky towns on the way, one of which took pride in its "Cornhole Under the Lights" tournament that was in progress as we passed by. That was a definite first for me. That same town sported a resident who felt compelled to paint his personal car exactly like Tony Stewart's Home Depot nascar. No doubt, he was a contender at "Cornhole Under the Lights."


I did manage to completely unpack everything we had taken to Ohio when we got back (I usually leave it in the middle of my bedroom floor for, oh say, three weeks before getting the itch to tackle it.)

And I'm now busy, along with Carl, putting in a perennial garden and stone walking path. We started at 8am today. As of 11pm tonight, we were watering it in and planning on adding more setting sand around the stones and wood shavings in the beds tomorrow. Grass seed would have been so much easier. I'm no gardener, my friends. I can't tell you the names of most of the plants we purchased. I just know they're sun loving perennials and that was good enough for me. I'll post a few pics once we finish this
beast joy of a project.

And finally, I have some very tragic news to share with you,as the family covets your genuine commitment to pray for them. An 11 year old girl, Kaitlyn, whose family used to be part of our large homeschool group, accidentally drowned in the bath tub yesterday. She had flu-like symptoms, her father was home at rest at the time, and her mother is due for a c-section delivery this week. These are the only details I know of at present. There are other siblings in the home and Kaitlyn and her 13 year old sister, Tara, were inseperable. The family is in deep grief and the mother has asked for "prayers, prayers, prayers."
Please join me in honoring her only request at this time.

Toni