Summertime Fun

 June started out with me having a cold. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad, but it kept me in most of the week. Dennis managed to avoid it, so that was good!

Dennis went to see his vascular surgeon after having an ultrasound done on his carotid artery. The doctor wanted to do another CT scan on it, which was done last week. He goes back to the doctor on the 16^th to see if he’ll want to do a “clean out” or not. Right now, he seems to be leaning towards doing the procedure. Other than that, everything else is looking good.

We drove to Vian for Morgan and Zach’s wedding on the 15^th. It was a beautiful wedding, and we so enjoyed visiting with everyone. We stayed the night and attended services at Vian the next morning before heading home. It was a quick trip, and we were exhausted when we returned home, but we were very thankful that we were able to attend!

The following Wednesday, we celebrated Sheila’s birthday with a taco supper here. She also requested angel food cake. That’s what I usually do for Dennis’ birthday, since it is his favorite. After supper, she and Matt left Nam here for a couple of nights. That allowed us to have some time together, and they could go out to celebrate by having dinner and watching “Hamilton” at Bass Hall. Of course, we enjoyed our special time with Nam. I took him to the movies Thursday morning. Our local theatre always has special free showings for kids in the summer. We watched "Despicable Me" and shared a box of popcorn. It was fun! Then we returned him to his mom Friday morning, so he could visit with Stephen and Mandy’s kids. Sheila and Matt watched them while their parents went to the matinee showing of “Hamilton”. I love it when the grandkids can spend time together, even if I’m not there to see them. Cousins are such special friends!

Amber and the kids have been over a couple of times, plus the whole family spent one Sunday with us. I also babysat last week, so Amber could go for a checkup. Little Kacey is changing every time we see her! She is sitting up much better, reaching for and playing with things, and trying so hard to scoot around! She usually ends up going backwards unless she has something behind her to push off of with her feet. She has cut 2 teeth and is eating more “real” food. She is such a social little girl…quick with a smile for everyone. She absolutely adores her big brother and babbles and giggles at him all the time. It is so fun watching both of them! Last week when they were here, we made our usual trip to Atwood’s. It was Kacey’s first visit there. She loved looking at the baby chicks! She wanted to get down and play with them! We noticed some pool noodles while shopping, so we bought a couple to bring home for Archer to play with. He had a blast! Of course, we had many “sword” fights. He discovered, to his delight, that if he stood on his little stool that he could touch the ceiling with the noodle. He was SO proud of himself! Kacey just enjoyed squeezing and trying to chew on them. 😊

I made a little dress set for Kacey last month. The pattern went from size 6 mo to 12 mo, so Amber chose the larger size. It may be a little while before it fits her. I can’t wait to see her in it! I’ve also been doing a little knitting (dishrags) and crocheting (face scrubbies). Last week I sewed a pumpkin hot pad for this fall. I plan to do a pumpkin table runner next. I also have a couple of pillows that I plan to make soon.

Thiess brought some of the bounty from their garden to church last week. I ended up with several peppers, so I decided to try my hand at pepper jelly. It turned out so good! I’m not a big jelly eater, but when I do eat it, I usually want some kind of pepper jelly. I’ve got enough put in the freezer to last me a good long time!

It finally turned summer here last week! Temperatures have been up around 100 degrees every day. It has been too unpleasant to get much use from my chair in the front yard. I did enjoy it while Nam was here! Before it turned hot, I’d also go out in the cool of the evenings and enjoy watching the day wind down.

Dennis built me a broom closet in the garage last month. He’s still working on the doors, but it is already functional. I love it! I always kept my brooms/mops between the freezer and wall. It was a pain getting them out to use. Now I just open the door to the garage and there they are within easy reach. I love having custom made storage!

We had our 5^th Sunday guest speaker and potluck yesterday. Jett was our speaker, and his mom also came. It was great to see her again! Diane also came over for the day. We enjoyed a wonderful lesson and fellowship, as well as a delicious lunch at Thiess and Gina’s. We were short a few of our locals, due to sickness. We were so sorry that they couldn’t enjoy the day’s activities.

This week we have a couple of days of 4^th of July activities planned. Our local fireworks display is going to be Wednesday night, instead of on the 4^th. Ricky’s family will be coming for supper and staying to watch them with us. Then Thursday, Sheila and I have plans for our annual birthday outing. We’re going to lunch, then to a movie. That evening, the whole family will be coming over for a hamburger cookout and homemade ice cream. Looking forward to all of that!

I hope you all have a wonderful 4^th of July week! Be thankful, not only for the freedoms we have in this nation, but also the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.

1Pe 2:15-16 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. (NKJV)