Summer is here--with a vengeance!

For the past several weeks (basically since school let out) we had between 4 and 8 teenage boys here all the time.  They are great boys and I love having the house full, but it has been a little hard on BigGirl to have so many boys around all the time, when all of her best friends live far away, but--in super exciting news--a new family moved into the ward with a kindred spirit girl, and she has found another dear friend fairly close, so her life is getting better all the time! 

There was a LOT of excitement about a pretty big anime/geek convention that happens at a resort about 45 minutes from home.  It was a pretty huge deal in our lives!  BigGirl, LargeBoy, and (over the course of 3 days, a series of 5 additional friends) ended up going.  They went Thurs through Sat.  Whew! They are now thoroughly hooked on cons, and are making plans for next year’s—where there will be costumes involved!!

In the BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL!  SmallDaughter got a BIKE!  The wish of her heart for years and years!  She has wanted a big girl bike, but the lack of all balance has been a big problem! On Friday, we went to Grandpa & Grandma’s, and their neighbor was having a  garage sale.  Their daughter has Cerebral Palsy, and they were selling the perfect bike for SmallDaughter--just her size, BRIGHT pink, with super training wheels (custom made) on the front--for $8 I have a feeling the rest of my summer will be spent following my "bike girl"! 

We did finally manage to get the new, improved, over-twice-as-big garden in! WOOT!  I was so late, I ended up driving to every little Mennonite greenhouse in the county (I am SO lucky I live where I do!) to get the last plants available--but I did manage to get almost everything I wanted--and at crazy clearance prices!  We got it all planted on Wed, and then had forecasts of tornados and golf ball sized hail that evening!  Fortunately, all we got was a nice soaking rain!

I just found out that  my dear friends Jana & Andrew finally named their baby girl (the name they had picked out before she was born just didn’t fit her!)  AND THE WINNER IS: Esther Brenda.  This is what Jana said on Facebook: “So we're ready to introduce our little one to the world. She is Esther Brenda.  We're delighted to have her in our family! Esther because she had the single-handed courage to face the king and save her people, and Brenda, after the lovely Brenda A, who, along with her family, has been such an inspiration to Andrew over the years and has shown him great love. I met her once over 20 years ago, and I still remember that day and look forward to greeting her again someday, but we are certain she is looking down over our little family and cheering us on.”  Yup, I cried.

This week LargeBoy is at Cub Scout Day Camp helping out Grandma, and my sister V is here with us for the week. Last week at Boy Scout Camp it POURED rain on them  on Mon--with added wind to destroy their dining fly, and rip the roof off his tent (one of the big, solid Canvas-on-a-frame, permanent installation kind!).  We picked him up early on Sat, and surprised him with a trip to Cedar Point with a group of his friends--where it ended up pouring rain (enough to make the parking lot shin deep, and coming down fast enough that as they stood at the front of the parking lot, they couldn't see ANY rides!).  When we looked at the weather channel, the entire state of Ohio was empty, except for tiny, severe storms over the islands!   We are thinking he might be a previously unknown rain deity!

We spent the rest of Saturday getting things ready for My Favorite Gentleman to leave.  He is finally in Virginia.  He went down on Sunday. He is really relieved that he is in a better motel than the last one (which his roomie called “the roach hotel”!).   

Also, in a huge chunk of irony (since my last post ended with "the cat got spayed.  She is the last of our female cats to go in, so no baby kitties for a while.  We will have to be content with the mere 8(ish)  cats that are bumming around here" BigGirl found a little (tiny little--probably only 7 or 8 weeks old) kitten under the car last week.  Very snuggly, very hungry!  She is wearing a flea collar, so we are looking for her family.   She is a gray, orange and white calico, wearing a flea collar, and very bouncy and kitteny now! The WonderDog likes her, but she keeps trying to nurse on him--and he DOES NOT like that!  We are still searching for her family, as I am sure they miss her, but I am becoming resigned to yet another addition.  She is really hilarious and entertaining, and she has such a great purr we named her Diesel!  

Also--besides trying to ride her bike in her pjs, LargeBoy’s shoes and her bike helmet, and (after she was dressed) 3 long bike rides, yesterday’s funny SmallDaughter moment was when I went to find her, and she was in BigGirl’s room, proudly putting on every pair of panties in the drawer, one over the top of the other—over her pants!  She ended up with 9 pairs layered on! and she was so proud of herself!  It was pretty hilarious!

Life goes speeding by!

On Tuesday, for Relief Society Homemaking meeting we went to Catholic Charities to see just where exactly the 100 pies we make every year in November go. They were super nice, and I love knowing that good people are looking out for our brothers and sisters. The only weirdness was when lovely Patrice (our hostess), typed in the wrong code for the alarm system as we went down to see the food pantry, so we spent about 20 minutes huddled in a hallway with a VERY loud alarm went off—making jokes about what the police blotter would report about the Mormons robbing the Catholics! In the end, 2 police cars showed up, but everything was resolved smoothly.

On Thursday, I got to drive down to the Columbus Temple with a sweet sister from my Ward. It was so nice being able to do something spiritual for myself. It was a very peaceful and relaxing session, and I am super glad I went, and we had a lovely lunch afterwards.

BigGirl and LargeBoy both had big weekend plans. BigGirl went to Ohayocon ("Ohayo" is Japanese for Hello, so it is a clever pun with "Ohio"--a convention for people who enjoy Anime, Manga and Japanese Culture--which perfectly describes BigGirl!) with her friend Danielle, and D’s brother & his wife, then went to church on Sunday with them, then I picked her up. She looked very cute in her costume—Toph Bei Fong from Avatar the Last Airbender (and, having learned a major lesson last year, packed plenty of food--a cooler full of Bento).

LargeBoy went hiking at Hocking Hills State Park with his best friend Tall Sam’s family (it is a little confusing that both of his best friends have the same name!)—it was lovely weather, which has since dropped like a rock into the single digits (from the 60’s!).

SmallDaughter & I also had a big weekend—we went to the lovely home of our Primary 2nd Counselor for a Primary Worker Brunch (she had a great time playing with the other kids and their toys!), then I took her to the carousel, where she (ironically, in my opinion, since she begs for horsies every time we drive past!) did not ride any horsies! She rode the tiger, giraffe (twice!), bunny, kitty, bear & chariot. Then I dragged her off to the library, and she spent the rest of the day, expressing her disgust at my actions and her desire to go ride the carousel some more!

In the evening I cleaned the Church, with help from LargeBoy & Tall Sam (They went back to Tall Sam’s afterwards), LargeCousin & Sister V. I had been worried that I would be alone to do it, so I was really relieved!

My Favorite Gentleman hasn’t been home since Christmas, so he doesn’t have much to report in news—he is really cold and working hard.

The funniest quotes do not come from my house, but from my dear Sister's, where my nephews work hard every day to make my life funnier!

Almost 4 Year old (singing):
“Mary had a little man,
little man,
little man,
Mary had a little man,
And it was quite a show.”

Also, the boys are excitedly planning the turning 4 birthday party. Last year he had a “baby cow” party, but this year his big brother(age 5) informed him that baby cows aren’t cool, and what he really needs is a “Bully-Cow” party! Blessedly, the only experience they have with “Bullys” is as daddy cows!