Signs of Summer

I love summer - enjoying the outdoors and watching things bloom and grow. Here are a couple examples of some flowers we're enjoying this year.

Recent Ventures with the Grandkids

Joel is Five!

Joel celebrated his fifth birthday last week on June 25. It seems like so much has changed since Joel, our very first grandchild, was born. Jim and I had fun recalling that day . . . Jorie and Mark were living in their townhouse in Grayslake, IL and we had been in Chicago for a couple of days (on business for Jim). I had enjoyed a wonderful lunch with Jorie that day at Egg Harbor Cafe, and she seemed just great. We looked at the nursery, and I took a prego picture of her before we left. I had promised to come back to help out when we received news of their baby's birth. Well, within a couple of hours as we were traveling back to Cedar Rapids, Mark called to say that Jorie was in labor and they were on their way to the hospital! And soon Joel Anders was born - right on the day he was due! That was a very exciting day for us. I think I spent one night at home, then re-packed my suitcase and headed back to meet little Joel.

Joel at 6 months. Joel at 5 years

Special gift from Grandpa

Father's Day

Claire was the first of the kids to arrive on Father's Day, so I snapped a quick picture of her with her Grampy. By the time the other kids arrived, I had become busy with food preparations and never got around to taking any more pictures! It was fun to have Jorie and Mark's family and Annie and Justin and Claire here , though, and to celebrate all of the dads!

Joel and Silas . . .

Joel and Silas just love my little "garden." It is always the first thing they look at, EVERY single time they come over to our house. They make a beeline for the garden and then promptly report to me of the latest developments.

It HAS been fun to see the rapid growth of the plants. Later in the summer I'll have to take another picture of the boys to see how much bigger the plants grow.

I have to add a cute quote from Joel the other day. I guess he was thinking about how Gpa and I recently had celebrated our 60th birthdays. Anyway, out of the blue, he said, "Grandma, I know you're old. I know you really ARE old, but you don't LOOK old!" He certainly knows how to make a grandma feel good! He is so sweet - some girl is gonna be very lucky to meet up with him a few years from now!

Claire . . .

Claire was introduced to popsicles for the first time last weekend while she and Annie were visiting. So far she hasn't refused any of the foods she's been offered. Though she may have been puzzled by how COLD this was, she seemed to take to it right away!

She ended up eating about 1/2 of the popsicle, and then was ready for her REAL lunch. Nothing like giving her dessert first!

Baby Preparations . . . even for Grandma!

I've been busy helping Jorie and Mark prepare for the arrival of Baby Dill #3, whom we all expect to arrive sometime this week! I was able to help with some cleaning, sorting and laundering several bins of baby clothes, and then organizing them into drawers in the baby's nursery. It's been fun helping Jorie prepare - seems like a long time since she's had a tiny baby in her home; and it will be their first baby to be born in Iowa! It was fun to sew ribbons on some cloth diapers for Jorie to use for burp cloths (picture to come later). And now today I enjoyed ironing on some letters to create these shirts for Joel and Silas. Their bags are packed, boys have had haircuts, and Gma and Gpa are getting extra rest to prepare for caring for Joel and Silas while Jorie is in the hospital. Okay, Little One, we are all ready to welcome you!

Of course, the shirts look much better being modeled by these cute brothers!

A Day to Remember . . .

This has been a phenomonal weekend for Jim and me. So great because we had nothing to do with the planning or execution of events. We went into the weekend just like any other with jobs around the house to do; hopefully some relaxing after that, etc. We thought we would wash all of our windows on Saturday if the weather was nice (it wasn't); had planned to attend an outdoor jazz concert in Iowa City with JustAnn (which was canceled due to the not-so-nice weather); and then made last-minute plans when the concert-thing fell through to enjoy pizza out at a new place with our friends Kristin and Delane. All of these things had just fallen into place, or so we thought . . .

We had a great time with Kristin and Delane eating our Bohemian pizza (ham, pineapple, and sauerkraut!) outside at a little place in Czech Village, enjoying our drinks, laughing and chatting with others nearby, enjoying the cool evening air. We headed home for a hot tub soak . . . or so we thought.

As we walked into the house, both of us mentioned that we smelled coffee (I'm always setting the pot to turn on automatically for the next morning), and I wondered if I had set up the coffee pot for the wrong time?? Then I thought I saw some things on the table that I hadn't left there, and then we heard "SURPRISE!!" and friends appeared from out of nowhere! Both of us blanked - what were we celebrating?! I had already had a little family surprise birthday party on May 22 when I turned 60; and Jim will be 60 on July 13 . . . but this was June 6 . . . part of the plan! Our kids - Jorie and Annie and their husbands had thrown together a joint 60th birthday party for us in the month BETWEEN our birthdays to throw us off. The really fun part was looking around to see who was there - Jim and Sue from St. Charles, IL; Glenn and Judy from Wheaton, IL; my sister Ruth and brother-in-law, John from Elgin, IL; and many other wonderful friends that we have made here in Cedar Rapids through work and church. Friends were present that we didn't even realize Jorie and Annie knew about! They did a great job inviting all of those we would have wanted to be there.

It was such a surreal feeling - we had been gone only about 2 hours, and there were flower bouquets, picture collages of Jim and me taken during the past 6o years; lots of food, punch, wine, and a beautiful cake. Cards, gifts, hugs, smiles . . . it was such fun to take it all in! We even had a video clip from Jason and Anni sent from Tanzania wishing us a Happy Birthday!

Champagne was poured all around and the Jorie, Mark, Annie, and Justin each gave a toast honoring us - telling something that each of them loved and appreciated about us as their parents. It was a very beautiful and humbling experience; especially when I know my daughters well enough to realize speaking in front of a crowd does not come easy.

60 years . . . for some that is an entire lifetime. For others it is a dreaded number. Though some aspects of aging are things I would choose to avoid if given the choice, there is nothing more fulfilling than having been blest with children. Children who love us, enjoy us, respect us, and choose to be with us. Children who have matured into responsible adults who contribute so much in their careers and day to day relationships. Children who have given and continue to bless us with grandchildren whom we have the opportunity to nurture and love along with them. Children who love the Lord, know Him personally, and will be with us even in eternity. Our lives at 60 are fuller than they've ever been, and I am so happy that we were given this party, because celebrating this time in our lives is something we should do every day. We are so grateful for our precious family and friends. We will not forget this day - those who took the time to be here for us, to laugh with us, to celebrate with us, and to create even these new memories with us. This is a day we will remember . . . . at least as long as we are ABLE to remember . . .

Claire in a Chair

Claire trying out Grammy's kid-sized chair for the first time.

Pet or Pest?

These furry little creatures can be an annoyance, but one morning last week when I looked outside and saw this, I just had to take a picture. It really did look so cute nibbling a nut on the edge of my flower barrel. Seeing it reminded me of the time my siblings and I caught a little chipmunk, and my parents let us keep it for a short time in a hamster cage. The poor little thing was probably scared to death.

Anty Rocksy

We have a unique lawn ornament in our garden - found it at a farmer's market in Cedar Rapids last fall. Joel and Silas think it's cool, and they helped us think of a great name for it. It has been named after their beloved Auntie Roxi - we just had to change the spelling a little bit to make the name fit.