Flood photos

After church on Sunday night, we drove around a bit to see some of the flood waters. In every picture here, NONE of this water is supposed to be here. These were taken both north and east of Carlisle. We had roads closed on all sides of us! The second pic with Bren in it shows the road signs and how deep in water they are. We were surprised to see someone boating in the floodwaters! The last picture (with Bradley in it) is a picture of the fields where Gary and Bradley go hunting. I would think it would be dangerous to boat in there not knowing where fences might be and such. Fortunately, we haven't had any rain this week so far and we can see the water receding quite a bit thankfully. It is amazing to see it in person. Cameras don't even capture the magnitude.

In other happenings, the garage sale is done (thankfully!) and was somewhat successful. We did make over $500, which was awesome, but still had ALOT of stuff left. I was talking to a friend in Altoona on Monday morning and she said they were having city wides this weekend, and she wanted to have a sale,but she didn't have enough stuff on her own so..... (you know where this is headed, right?), back to the garage I go! I had used a color key for my pricing, so each item just had a color tag instead of a price tag. So on Monday and Tuesday, I remarked what was left with prices, and we hauled what was left to their house! She is starting tomorrow and I will go up and help on Friday since I don't have any students on Friday. Hopefully the stuff will GO AWAY! I will give it away if there are things still left. I'm tired of dealing with it.

Season baseball is over. Bren's team came out somewhere in the middle of their division, while Bradley's team tied for 1st place! It was an exciting last week of ball. Now we just have tournaments left.

Bren is spending the night at a friend's house. This is only the 2nd time he's done that (same friend), and I get a little nervous. I hope he doesn't wake up in the night with pain. I feel more and more comfortable about his milk allergy because I've watched how responsible he is with his eating. He errs(sp?) on the side of caution thankfully, so I don't worry so much about that. I'll just be glad when he's home tomorrow!

Tutoring is in full force. I've got 5 or 6 new students, and I'm loving them! For awhile, I was getting a lot of older kids, which is fine-I love them too, but I forget how excitable the little ones can be. I have lots of guys learning multiplication, so we're knee-deep in rhymes, the 9's finger trick, wrap-ups, timed test, and multiplication match! I love what I do. I love the variety of my day, and I love helping these kids feel better about themselves.

Well, I've rambled enough. I have yet to scrapbook this summer. I keep thinking it's going to slow down, but so far, not so much. Next week is Bible School Sunday eve. through Wed. and I'm helping with that so my evenings will be busy. This weekend Bradley has a tournament in Fort Dodge and the team is getting hotel rooms so we'll be there all weekend. And Gary is taking on the large task of residing the house! I'll have to post pics of the progress.

Well I've rambled enough for now. Toodles!

Water water everywhere

We're sitting in the middle of the flood of '08- strangely similar to the flood of '93 (however this time they have assured us Des Moines Water Works should be OK so we shouldn't lose water like they did then). We were actually living in Cedar Falls during the floods last time, so we did not experience it like many of our friends here did. The bridge on Hway 65-our main road to church, Walmart, and almost anywhere we go outside of Carlisle- has been closed, so now we're having to go way around and out of our way. With gas prices the way they are, that is not a good thing! Fortunately, I don't have to travel much in the summer since my work comes to me. Gary has just been stopping and picking up groceries or whatever I need on his way home from work so I don't have to get out. The water isn't done rising yet. We had more rain all last night and inches more are forecast for the next day or so. Thankfully it's still supposed to be dry on Saturday for the garage sale. I have been out in my garage every spare minute pricing, organizing, moving things, cleaning, etc. I am ready for it to be done!!! I have lots of pictures and layouts I want to post, but I need to get through Saturday first. Then hopefully I'll have some things to share! Toodles for now.

working on the to-do list

Why is it that when you have so much to do the week flies by especially fast? I can't believe it's Thursday already! I have been sitting at this computer way too long and should be in working on tutoring prep, however I thought I'd post quick first. Gary is golfing this eve. with the church guys, so it's just the boys and I for supper. On a supper note, I have cooked 3- count them THREE nights in a row and we have eaten every one of those meals together! It has been wonderful. I think the streak might be stopping tonight, however...

I did go clean that downstairs closet like a good girl after I posted last time. I just have to put some labels on my baskets and then it will be done.

I have called in all of the ads for my garage sale next weekend, so hopefully I will have lots of traffic (and good weather) so I can get rid of lots of stuff!!! I worked out there on Tuesday for a little while, and will just have to tackle a little each day. The boys have been helping - they are paid employees- I thought it would be nice for them to earn some money for our vacation. So Bradley has put up the Christmas tree, and they're sorting bulletin board letters and fun stuff like that.

Our pool opened yesterday. Brennan was chomping at the bit to get there. However it was a fairly cool day, and the pool water was chilly, so when his lips turned blue, we decided to call it a day. Today the sun was shining and it was much warmer, so we headed back again; this time Bradley and Brandon came along (as well as every other kid in Carlisle!). It was crowded, but the sun and warmth felt so good! I am definitely a summer gal.

Along with going down the big slide today at the pool for the first time, Brennan has accomplished task #2 of the summer- on the first official day of summer!- tying his shoe! Technically he tied his swimming trunks, but hey, if he can do that, the shoes will be a piece of cake! He is very enamored with his tying skills, and every time I looked at him today at the pool, he was tying and retying. Thankfully the trunks weren't loose enough to fall off!

My dad and Dororthy are coming tomorrow and staying through Sunday, so we're excited for their visit! They are going to catch the boys' ballgames. We have had lots of company this past month or so and are loving it!

Well guess I've babbled long enough. I did actually scrapbook last night, so I'll have to share those layouts soon. Toodles for now!

Whose bike is this anyway?

I'm not sure how we come up with these ways to entertain ourselves....

Here is Grandma on the little bike...

















and Grandpa...



















and Bradley...























and this nut who looks a bit like Pee Wee Herman if you ask me!




The only one I don't have pictured on the bike is the one who the bike belongs to (except for myself, but I get to use the excuse that I'm taking pictures!).


In other EXCITING news, school is officially out! The boys got out at 11 today, and we celebrated by going to Fiss'. Their piano teacher had given them certificates for free Fisses (Brennan got two cookies instead). So we started off the summer with a nice, healthy lunch!
I am slowly working on my to-do list. Yesterday I was out shopping all day. I needed to return something, go to the Learning Post and get some things for summer tutoring, run errands, and got to enjoy lunch out with my husband! Today I have mostly been organizing, going through paperwork, boys' school papers, etc. I finally found the kitchen counters, but I know it never stays neat and organized for long! I have made some phone calls I needed to, put my garage sale ad on 107.1 website and Craig's List, and tomorrow I will take one down to our town paper. Next on my list is cleaning out the downstairs hall closet- something I've been putting off for weeks. I did make supper last night and we all sat down TOGETHER. It was wonderful! That's one of the negative aspects of my job- I am almost always tutoring over the supper hour 4 days per week.
I have also been attempting to wear contacts, and it has been a very frustrating process to say the least. I am getting the hang of putting them in, but it still takes awhile. The right one hurt so bad the other day every time I put it in (I put it in 3 different times) and today I found out it was inside out! No wonder! So I got that one in OK today, but the left one was bothering me! It just didn't seem like I could read things as well close up and almost was a bit blurry. It got to bothering me, so they were only in for about an hour. I'm not sure if something is not quite right, or if I just may not be able to wear contacts. I have an astigmatism, and my right eye has quite a prescription. Anyway, I go back to the eye doctor Friday, so we'll see what happens.

Alright, no more procrastinating- "I'm off to clean the closet, the wonderful closet downstairs!!"

so proud of my boys...

This is Brennan receiving his award at AWANAs for finishing his book.
Here is Bradley with his Timothy award. This is given when a clubber has completed all of the Cubby, Sparky, and T&T books for the AWANA program. That is an equivalent of saying 100's of verses over the years. We are very proud of him for sticking with it, and doing all of that basically on his own for the last couple of years. He took responsibility for getting done what needed to be done. I hope and pray that what he has learned from God's Word will remain hidden in his heart.

The boys had a piano recital today. Grandma and Grandpa Hydorn got to come up and see it, so that was a special treat. The boys played a duet together...


Here is Bradley playing his piece. I had a picture of Brennan playing his, but I think I accidentally deleted it when I was trying to move pictures around in my post. Ugh! I can't say I'm any more savvy on this site than when I started! Anyway, both of the boys did a wonderful job! This is Bradley's 6th year playing (he's on his 3rd teacher during those years) and Brennan just started this year. The lady who gives them lessons now is the Jr. High and High School choir teacher, and she does an excellent job with the kids. Both of the boys made great progress, and Bradley was definitely pushed harder than he has been (which is OK!!).


Although these activities are great, it's kind of nice to bring them to a close for a little while. I love the laid back feel of summer- sleeping in ( I REALLY like that aspect!), going to the pool, staying up late, some days having nothing to have to get to or do, and being outside. And when the summer is over, we're always ready to get back into the schedule again!
Well I'll stop for now. I'm hoping to post more this week because I HAVE THE WHOLE WEEK OFF!!!!!!! That doesn't happen very often- an entire week with no students, so I have a long list of things I plan to accomplish- closets to clean, house to organize, suppers that I actually make and our family will eat them together (a concept that's been a little foreign to us lately), summer tutoring to plan for, and a garage sale in two weeks to get ready for, pictures to print, scrapbooking to (hopefully) do, and many other odds and ends. Throw in a couple of ballgames and company next weekend, and I know this week will fly by too fast!! The kids will be out of school on Tuesday at 11, so Wed. (I hope) will be pool day- of course, we have to have a little fun too!