Trifecta Complete

We spent the majority of the long weekend in Gibson City doing the graduation thing. All three of my brother's kids had a graduation to celebrate... Jeremy from 8th grade, Taylor from high school and Ashley from college. Friday night we went to Jeremy's ceremony and then to Jayne and Phil's house for a little party for Jeremy and Ashley. It was a fiesta theme so Eric & I enjoyed the margarita's. Saturday we ventured to C-U to have lunch with Nikki at Murphy's... great burgers, fresh cut fries AND they had Schlafly on tap. We then went to visit Jeanne & Ted in St. Joseph. We headed back to GC and went to Taylor's party on Saturday night. She had a party with two of her best friends so it was at the local banquet center and the highlight was a chocolate fountain! Sunday after lazing around a bit we went to Taylor's graduation ceremony... kudos to the GCMS high school administration... it took about 40 minutes... short and sweet which was a blessing since the gym was a bit of a sauna on a 90 degree day. Afterwards I got to visit with two family friends who I haven't seen in forever who were back their for their nephew's graduation... and my good buddy, Lisa, from high school who was there for her nephew... ahh what good aunts we are.

I can't believe "the baby" will be in high school next fall. I remember when Jeremy used to farm the living room and dining room with his toy tractors. And what's up with Ashley being an official grown up? I still remember the cute little girl looking out the window at the farm saying repeatedly... "Cows! See 'em? Moo!!". She will be off to grad school this fall if her interview went her way, or will be working for a year or two to get some job experience before she applies again. And Miss Taylor will be a college girl in the fall... seems like yesterday she was three and cutting off a big chunk of her blond hair. She will actually be moving closer to us, attending Augustana College and participating in track. Whoop, Whoop... that is a short 45 minute drive for us to Rock Island. She has assured us that we are welcome come visit and take her to dinner anytime. Hopefully we will get to take in a few track meets too.

We headed home after the ceremony on Sunday. That gave us Sunday evening and all day Monday to just chill and relax. Monday was the best day... we didn't have to do anything... and we didn't! I seriously don't think we have both had a day like that since we moved into the house. We slept late and just rested up. It did a world of good... I was actually awake and ready to work this morning... and had a productive day as a result.

Well that's it for now... congrats to three-fifths of the Fab Five.

Catching Up

So this is a bit of a catch up blog. Eric & I have been enjoying the spring weather, but the spring weather doesn't like us so much as we have both been battling allergies. After a big rain late last week it seems to be getting better.

Last Tuesday Jeanne drove up and brought with her the pots of perennials that she used to line the aisle at our wedding. I helped her transplant them to a couple of the beds around our house. Hopefully we can keep them alive, especially since they are from our wedding. They mean a little bit more than some plant I picked up at Farm & Fleet. It is a great idea and we look forward to looking at them over the years in our yard and remembering our wedding day. It was lots of fun to hang with Jeanne who stayed over night. Eric cooked chicken for us out on the grill.

Saturday Eric & I braved the wind and cool temperatures Saturday morning to catch Katie and Alec's last soccer games. It was a lot of fun, and they were glad to have some extra fans. We are looking forward to catching a few of their little league games that start up soon. That afternoon we loaded up the car with all sorts of "stuff" to donate to the Eastern Star garage sale. Eric worked the lights for church for the weekend so I dropped him off for the Saturday evening service then did a little shopping. Afterwards we celebrated my birthday a little bit early and went out for a nice dinner at "Miss Mamies". The food was delicious and we shared a bottle of wine, and enjoyed a great "date".

Sunday we enjoyed a wonderful cantata at church performed by the choir. In Sunday School they had a birthday cake for me. After lunch and a little nap Sunday afternoon Eric's family came over that evening with birthday cake and ice cream. Two birthday cakes... it was a good birthday. I opened some lovely gifts including a digital picture frame from Eric. Excellent timing because on Friday our wedding photographer let us know our wedding pictures were ready to view online. We are somewhat overwhelmed as there are 623 images! We love them and are so pleased with the results, and Jamie was great to work with too. If you are interested in looking at them you can go to http://jamienewell.smugmug.com/ Click on "your photos" and then click our our wedding. The password is my former (maiden) last name... all in lower case letters. If you don't know my maiden name... well then you probably don't need need or want to look at our wedding pictures.

Well that is it for now... thank you to everyone for the many happy birthday cards, notes and wishes. I had a great day.

Happy Mother's Day

Hello everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed/is still enjoying a fabulous Mother's Day. Eric & I celebrated Mother's Day with the Noyd's on Friday evening out at his Mom & Dad's camper which is actually closer to our house than their house in Cambridge. Travis has to work both Saturday and Sunday so we celebrated on Friday. We had burgers, brats and hot dogs on the grill but had to move the party inside when a thunder storm came. Steff made a great dessert that she said she pretty much made up. Bake a pan of chocolate brownies... top with cool whip, drizzle on caramel and chocolate sauce then sprinkle on several crushed Heath bars.... Mmmm yummy.

Saturday I ventured out to check out the local nursery and garden center scene. I had great luck right here in Geneseo at Farm & Fleet and Maple City... and didn't even make it to the one just up the road on Wolf Road. I planted a few annuals in some of the pots I have, and started working on a flower bed in our yard that needed lots of help. I met our neighbor, Jody, and discovered that the flower bed I was working on used to be a pine tree, which had Hostas planted around it. The pine tree is now gone, but the Hostas remain and they just are not really thriving in the full sun. Eventually I will transplant them to a shadier spot, but in the meantime I got started on some weeding... I didn't get far. After church today I made much more progress and got half of the bed weeded, planted a few perennials I had picked up and mulched the weeded and planted area. Oh, one of the plants was a lily that Mike & Linda gave me for Mother's Day. It is beautiful (hopefully I can keep it alive) and it was really sweet that I got a present too since I am not a mother. Anyway, it was good to get outside and make some progress on the abundance of yard work that needs to be done. I did discover the challenges of yard work on a hill, but on the plus side I am saving money on that StairMaster.

After calling my Mom to wish her a Happy Mother's Day I am now sitting on the couch with Eric watching the Mother's Day "Deadliest Catch" Marathon on the Discovery Channel. I have totally gotten sucked into that show in the last few weeks. I am not sure which boat is my favorite... currently I am liking the Time Bandit, but it pretty much changes with each episode.

So Eric and I want to give a special Mother's Day shout out to the Mom's of our "Wedding Babies" who are celebrating the first Mother's Day as moms. There is Kortny who became a mom to Olivia aka Livi the week before our wedding instead of the day after. Then there is Karen, Anne and Allison who were our very pregnant wedding guests and became moms to Tate, Grace and Scott, respectively over the past month. We are so thankful that God has blessed you all with healthy and happy babies and pray that you are all enjoying being Moms.

To all the other Moms out there celebrating Mother's Day numbers two through however many, we hope your day was great as well.

Public Enemy #1

For the most part Eric and I enjoy the "wildlife" here at Janeric Hills. He have a male and female Cardinal that we love to watch out the kitchen window, a couple of blue jays have been seen (and they weren't being mean to all the other birds), and I am even liking the squirrels because here they have more than enough acorns to keep them satisfied so they don't dig up my bulbs. There is one critter though that is no longer welcome. You may have guessed from the picture posted to the left... we have a woodpecker issue!

While playing cards with Eric's parent out on the screened in porch we noticed a rather large hole in our wood siding... big enough for a bird to fly in and out of and hang out in the interior of our garage wall. We instantly figured out what was making a rattling/pounding racket a few months back. A woodpecker had made a small fist-sized hole. Mike & Travis came over later in the week with the extension ladder (I heart having in-laws) to make a temporary fix, and we noticed another sizable hole, as well as several other smaller holes around the corner of the garage as well. We have a temporary fix in place, with tin can lids nailed over the holes to keep critters from living in our garage walls, but we will have to eventually come up with a more permanent solution which on down the line will involve putting up vinyl siding... peck on that "Woody"!. Grrr!!! Silly woodpeckers... it isn't like we don't have your choice of trees to peck on.