just plain thankful....

I love love love these girls. Janette is one of 14 kids, she's the one giving me rabbit ears. Anna is one of 7 kids. They are such good girls, and have blessed my family so much!

And, one with no rabbit ears. These girls are beautiful, inside and out.

My sister made this cake, plus the lovely chocolate lollipops, for her own daughter's wedding. She has seven daughters, Claire was the fifth to be married....




My sister's grandson, William. He has two little siblings, brother and sister twins. He is just an adorable little guy...

This is Linnea, one of the twins. She is absolutely beautiful. Sebastian didn't want to walk down the aisle:)

Grace and her little brother Davian, two more of my sister's grandchildren. I share them, since Miss Anya is so far away. I said I would be glad to have them over this summer if their Mama needs a day off, but only if I can call myself, "Other Grammy.":)

And, here is our picnic yesterday. It was supposed to be a gathering with Samuel, but since Sam is still in Georgia, we still had a picnic and talked to him on speaker phone. 12 of the kids were there, along with Paul's mom. It was a gorgeous day for a picnic!

We also celebrated Mali's graduation from Nursing School! Yay Mali!!!!

Suri and Joseph....

Saturday was amazing! I got up early-ish and went to buy the Italian bread for the wedding dinner. Emily was in charge of the food, and didn't manage to get it on Friday night, but Saturday morning meant fresher bread anyway. I really enjoyed the car ride all by my lonesome in the sunshine. It was totally impressive how glad the bakery guy at the grocery store was to slice all that fresh bread. Sometimes people just surprise me. The wedding was lovely, and the feast afterward was too. Emily made lasagna, it turned out delicious. Lasagna and Caesar salad. Em and I want to start a catering business. We know how to shop, and can prepare basic dishes. :)

Anyway, it was a fantastic day. Claire and her new husband are moving to New Zealand for a while, to help and serve in the church there, then probably back to Australia. It is sad but at the same time glad for her. My girls are going to miss her SO much. My poor sister, she has been so close to her girls, she is really struggling to take it right. Australia is SO far away, and with my sister's poor health, it is not feasible for her to travel that far. It's good we live in these days of Skype, facebook, ect.

Yesterday was our family gathering here. The kids wanted to celebrate Paul and my 30th anniversary, which came and went back in March. They got us a nice card, a bottle of local wine...then Emily asked her siblings, "If you were in Target and wanted to find something both Mom and Dad liked, what would you get?" I said a puppy, but Gramma said they don't sell those in Target. Em came up with a grill basket, so we can grill veggies. Very nice! The good part was when they went around and said things they were thankful to us for....Joseph's was my favorite, he is thankful we are so patient and are letting him pursue his art education. Camille's was good too, she is thankful Mommy is squishy, and that Daddy is nice. Squishy. hmm. Glad someone likes it.

So Camille thinks Satan has yellow and white checkered pants. I don't know why that's so funny, but we couldn't stop laughing about it yesterday.

Today is a Vacation Day here at our house. The middle school kids have nothing left to do at school, they finished exams last week. This week is...nothing. Field trip to the beach? No thanks. Charlotte Claire and Camille are here today too. They will go tomorrow for their last whole day, then Wednesday for the last day, a half day. I am picking them up on Wednesday to take them to get their free Happy Meals (yes, I found the coupons, and they didn't expire yet). And to do some other fun things.

Next weekend all the youth kids are going on a camping trip to Pennsylvania. Paul is leaving for France on Saturday for two weeks. I will be working some baseball games, figuring out babysitting arrangements for the three younger ones.

But...it's summer!!!! I don't know how it got here, sometimes I feel like I am in a fog, going and going and going, and how did it get to be late in June already?

I took my walk this morning, and marvelled at how absolutely beautiful today is. Sunny and warm, cool in the shade, just perfect. I don't want to spend my days thinking about what I have to do next. I don't want to complain them away. I want to live in the moments, savor the conversations with the kids, make good use of my days.