Summer is almost over, Praise the Lord!

This is long...you might want to allow a bit of time. But since I haven't had time in August to get to my computer, you get a month's worth in an afternoon. And an afternoon, I might add, that I still have not put my clothes on yet, and we could have been in Seattle to see the opening game for the Cowboys, but it didn't work, so here I am.

It is not that I don't like summer, I do, because all the kids come home, but the older I get the more the heat bothers me, not that I am that old, you understand, but it is the principal of the thing.

We took Turner to "Craterville" up at the lake for a birthday celebration. We rode a couple of rides and fed a goat. J T really got into that. Grandpa,Amy and Amanda rode the go carts with the boys and JT and I watched.


We did let JT ride the horse. I don't think we put a quarter in, and as you can see, it was a bit traumatic for him anyway. But Parker and Turner helped rock him and helped him hang on!




This summer has been no different for us. It has been hot, but thankfully only for a few weeks has it been in the 100's. Too bad it happened when Gwen and Sam brought their parents to see us in Aug. for the family reunion.


Isn't Gwen beautiful? She rolls around alot, but we wouldn't know because it was so hard to put her down.

All the kids together at one time, going slow enough that I could take a picture...a rare thing to happen, but it did.
Sam and JT enjoyed exploring the house together and climbing on beds.

Sam and JT decided that Uncle Allen had been in bed entirely too long, so they went upstairs and got on his bed and started jumping. It didn't take Allen long to get up. :)



They really played well together. And our blocks have gone to another generation.


It was 110 outside the day of the reunion. The reunion was at the lake and we got stuck in the shelter by the dam where there isn't much of a breeze, so we were pretty much out of there as soon as lunch was over. I felt bad for Molly and Andy, because the reunion was not well attended this year and Andy didn't get to see as many of our cousins as I hoped he would. Oh well. Change the date, change the place and change is just too hard for some people.
I have to say, though that the heat didn't seem to bother JT too much. He sifted through the dirt at the reunion. I loved watching him look at the sand, at his fingers and the joy that he had in just feeling the sand run through his fingers. He did it over and over and over and over again.






Because of the heat, we stayed in the house pretty much the whole time everyone was home for the reunion. We borrowed some controllers from some friends and played a lot of wii. We even had a bowling tournament. It is a bit difficult sharing with 11, 8 and 6 year old boys who can't get outside, but we managed. Anyway I think they just enjoyed playing with Sam and Gwen. Nathan is especially good with babies and loved being with Gwen. Really, I would say he couldn't keep his hands or eyes off of her. That is JT just behind Nathan.



This is all of our grandchildren together. I thought that our living room was kind of big but five boys sure do tighten up the space. A good thing, really.

The four bigger boys shared our "kids" table for dinner Sat. night. Nathan surprised me by sitting with the littler ones. They all loved playing with Sam.
On Sunday evening, I had an activity at church that Molly and Amanda came and helped me with. When we got home, we just happened to have a few water balloons left, so we surprised Andy.

If you look real close you can see a few balloons in mid air about to hit the door. I am not sure we ever got Andy, but he and Allen ran down the block and back throwing at each other. Sam wasn't sure what to think of it all. Grandpa had a balloon for him to throw but he just wouldn't do it. We all laughed and laughed. What a precious memory.


Amy and Jimmy went home on Sunday night and then Amy came to Edmond on Monday to spend the afternoon with all of us before we put Andy, Molly, Sam, Gwen and Allen on the plane Monday evening to go back to Portland.
We all had lunch at a place near Central State U in Edmond called the Flat Tire. Here Ralph and I are with our precious grandchildren. We are so blessed.


After lunch we went back to Amanda's house and hung out (it was 106 in OKC that day, high for them!!) The boys had to check out Taylor, Nathan's Dragon..... Sam held her the last time they were in OK. in the fall. She continues to grow. This is really serious stuff for the boys!



It was too short of a weekend but a wonderful time of relaxed family time.
Allen has gotten back from Portland and gone on to Stillwater to finish his last (hopefully) year of school He will begin job interview process in a few weeks. There is a big job fair- different days for different majors. Engineering has two days because there are so many companies that recruit from the Engineering Dept. at OSU. Hopefully he will be able to get a really good job right out of the gate.

Our neice Lori and her husband Keith had their first baby two weeks ago. Ralph and I are now official "Great Aunt and Great Uncle" It doesn't feel too weird. They will be coming through on Sunday afternoon on their way home from a wedding. We are anxious to meet Landon.

Orchestra has started back at church and I am loving playing my French horn. My range is improving a bit and I am able to play a bit higher notes that before. What a Joy it gives me to play for Jesus. I hope He smiles at me in spite of the bad notes.