Happy Mother’s Day to me!

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I’m a lucky girl.  My family makes me happy every time I’m with them.  The kids all came on Mother’s Day – all four of them since Mark and I call them all “our kids” now – with great deference to their own “real” parents.  We made homemade pizza (a family favorite) for lunch.  The guys played baseball while Danielle and I played on iPhones and watched the men and laughed at them.  Corey taught Justin how to play baseball and Justin picked it up right away – he’s very good at sports.

baseball

Keith changed oil in the Jeep and van.  This is Corey helping – under a tarp because it started to rain.

oil-change

Mark made me a cake – awwwww.

mothers-day-cake

Corey and Danielle gave me this beautiful plant.  It is a gloxinia.  We don’t have plants because we have cats who like to eat plants.  Corey volunteered to keep the flower at his house – nice boy 🙂  It’s safely where Carrie and Chloe can’t get to it but they’ve tried their darndest.

mothers-day-1

Keith and Justin got us a big flat panel monitor for the computer for multiple holidays.  We had a small one but this is really cool.  Nice!!!  We think of them every time we’re on the computer.

We then all went to Corey and Danielle’s house and took the leftovers with us and had dinner there.  It was so nice and Stripes and Louie were entertaining as usual.

stripes-and-louie

It was a beautiful day.

Corey, the foot model (Pair #32)

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corey-camoDoesn’t Corey make a lovely foot model?  These are Corey’s newest socks, although these are from March 6, so I’m wayyyyyy behind on posting.  The socks Corey got for Christmas were not a perfect fit so I made him these to his specifications (mental note – Sock Wizard doesn’t work for everybody).

**Regia Stretch Nordic Oslo 124**

Corey and Danielle

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corey-and-danielleCorey and Danielle have set a date to get married – September 25, 2010 October 17, 2009.  We love Danielle like our own so we are ecstatic to have her “officially” in our family.  Corey proposed and gave her the engagement ring on November 7, 2008.  We look forward to their future together.  Corey……you did good!!!  Danielle……we’d like to humbly say we think you did too!!!  We love you both.

A beautiful fence materializes in two days

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fence1This is Corey and Danielle when we were leaving Menards with a whole bunch of fence.  This was the second load.  Corey and Danielle had already picked up the concrete, posts, screws, etc.  On the back of the truck, you can see we answered the age-old question “Where’s Waldo?”.  Who knew he was hiding on the back of a Menards truck.

fence2This is Mark and Corey working on the front corner.

fence3This is the first beautiful section finished.  The whole fence is finished now.  It took two days of working in wind and rain and cold.  Don’t let the beautiful sunshine in the picture fool you.  It was cold and Danielle and I both have fierce windburns on our faces.  All that is left to finish is the gates, which is the easy part.  We all agreed the worst part was setting the posts.  We also had our first sleepover at Corey and Danielle’s.  Since they only live forty minutes away, we have never spent the night there.  It was a fun and very productive weekend.

Sushi anyone?

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sushi2Keith, Justin, Mark and myself went to this Japanese restaurant last weekend.  The tables were each in “pits” where you sit on cushions on the floor and your legs and the table are in the pit.  As is tradition, you also take your shoes off before you go to your table.  We had a blast, especially watching Justin with his wasabi.  His face would turn beet red with every bite.  When Keith suggested avoiding the wasabi, Justin said no, he liked the feeling when it got to his stomach.  Keith, Mark and I got the tempura chicken (typical Americans).  Justin ordered this beautiful plate of sushi.

sushi1Myself, I like sushi but not the kind with raw fish.  I’m not a seafood fan so I’ve actually never even tried the ones with raw fish.  I did it this night because Justin asked and I usually try whatever the food is that I haven’t tried yet unless it still has eyes in it or repulses me, i.e. squid and roe.  For the record, the brighter orange item on this plate is roe.  Wiki defines roe as “the fully ripe internal ovaries or egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins”.  Wiki describes eggs as “usually chicken eggs, but also those of other birds and turtles, as well as those of fish”.  It even seems the Wiki definition is trying to scare me, even though an egg should just be an egg.

I ate a piece of the green sushi, which was cucumber.  Mark also tried that one and didn’t like it.  His palate is not adventurous.  He likes a good burger or some lasagna.  I also tried the raw fish one.  It’s not for me – it’s hard enough for me to eat cooked seafood let alone raw.  Keith had already tried the raw previously and is o.k. with it if you can get past the texture.  All in all though, we had a great time.

Keith and Grandpa

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keith-letterThat is a copy of a letter written to Grandpa from Keith and Justin (click to enlarge).  Keith and Justin bought Grandpa a new screwdriver set and a pair of pliers.  The reference to the holes being punched is because Grandpa had a leather punch and he used to punch holes in Keith and Corey’s new belts to make them just the right size for Keith and Corey ever since they were old enough to wear belts.  If they grew and needed more holes, they’d go see Grandpa.  Maybe we should get Grandpa a new leather punch too.

Below is a picture of Keith’s first bicycle.  It was an antique Schwinn.  Keith didn’t have room to save it when he moved so Grandpa took it.  Grandpa was going to just use the tires to build a cart or a wagon or something but then it was so nice, he was going to put it in the landscaping in his front yard with a sign that said “Keith’s bike”.  Somehow, it managed to stay beautifully upright through the fire, right where Grandpa had stored it.  I think it’s symbolic of life going on.

keith-bike

The last picture is Dad’s toolbox.  Dad has been a mechanic forever.  He used to work on buses, tractors, cars, trucks, mowers – everything!  It was a fun childhood.  We used to get to get in whatever he was working on and “press the brakes” or “start the car” – just fun times if you were a kid.  There was a pop machine in his shop with the old glass bottles – we would get to count the change or fill the machine.  If I were really lucky, Dad would ask me to make a new sign and I’d get to use the big markers in his drawer and get creative.  The history in that shed is HUGE.  It’s sad to look at it all but there’s always that upside – nobody was hurt.

dad-toolbox