memorial day weekend

This morning I headed out to the cemeteries with my mom, grandma and Allison. A four generation adventure. We saw the graves of my grandpa, great-grandparents and great, great-grandparents, along with a few other relatives.

When you tour the Flint Hills, visiting old country cemeteries, you work up an appetite. So grandma treated us to lunch at Jim & Lila’s cafe. It was ummmmm, an experience!

This cafe is out in the middle of nowhere. Piedmont is basically a ghost town. But the cafe was actually packed!

Check out the jukebox!

Not seeing too many familiar songs…

 

The great thing about Jim & Lila’s: you can pick up your groceries after you eat dinner! Or lounge in the recliner!?

They even have refrigerated items!

But no fountain drinks. Or menus. They just tell you what they have for the day.

There’s Lila…busy at work.

If you need to use the facilities, you’ll feel like a queen as you step up on the platform.

Ummmmm….no. I don’t think I’d like to dig out the paper. Thanks for asking though.

The misspellings of “toliet” and “too” add to the message, don’t ya think?

And if you wish to wash up after taking care of business, there’s a sink at the end of the hall. With a bar of soap. Yuck!!

So that was our eating adventure for the day. The food was good. And the atmosphere was good (for a laugh)! Next time you’re travelling through the Flint Hills in South Central Kansas, stop by Jim & Lila’s in Piedmont.

how does your garden grow?

This year we decided to give gardening another try. We’ve had small gardens throughout the years, without a huge amount of success. And once our dog, Buzz (a yellow lab) came into our lives, the garden became a trampled mess. Not to mention the fact that no one really wanted to walk through the poop filled yard to get to the garden to take care of it. But since Buzz is no longer with us (he went bye bye with Daddy, according to Delaney) we thought this would be a good opportunity to garden.

We started with a piece of yard that looked like this:

We don’t really use this strip of yard. It’s on the north side of the house, but gets a lot of sun throughout the day. Jeremy rented a tiller and got the ground ready for planting.

Now it looks like this:

We have tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini, strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon and several herbs. I’m anxious to be able to eat from our garden!!

back door greeter

When Delaney and I stepped out back this week, we were greeted by this little guy. He couldn’t really fly so I’m wondering if he fell from his nest. Or maybe momma bird thought it was time for him to make it on his own.

He still had little downy feathers around his face, so he couldn’t be too old. Maybe a teenage bird. I can certainly see why momma would throw a teenage bird out of the nest. Don’t we all wish we could do that? At least sometimes?

When we went out later, he was gone. Maybe he got up the courage/strength to take flight. That’s what I’m hoping happened to him.

celebrating

We celebrated Allison’s birthday this week. We spent the day shopping and eating. A perfect girls’ day! Then in the evening, her grandparents came over to help us celebrate.

Have you played Just Dance? Let me tell you, it’s the best workout! I’m just hoping the neighbors can’t see into our house as we’re shakin’ our groove thing!

Her cookie was Star Wars. Not because she’s a huge fan. But because her mom thought she could find a cookie while they were out shopping. No such luck. So a friend stopped by Sam’s after work and picked one up (thanks, Frank!!) He called with 4 choices and she chose Star Wars.

By the way, Sam’s has the. best. cookies! It’s two layers of cookies with frosting in the middle. I was glad when that thing was gone, because I couldn’t stay away from it as long as it was in the kitchen! So yummy!

Allison picked out these shoes on our shopping spree. They’re Toms. I’d never heard of them until recently. I’m so glad my teens keep me up-to-date with all the latest trends. Toms gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every shoe you purchase. Trendy and charitable!

happy 15th birthday

Today is Allison’s 15th birthday. How is that even possible? I found a few pictures of her beautiful smile over the past years.

May 21, 1996

Easter, 1997

2 years old. Don’t worry, we only let her play with child-proof medications. And anyway, she turned out fine!

Three years old.

Three years old. I feel sorry for the poor goat!

Four years old.

Six years old, just before her birthday.

Eight years old. With her best friend, Jordan.

Ninth Birthday.

 

Twelve years old.

Eighth grade cheerleader.

And now she is officially finished with her freshman year in high school. She’s taking driver’s ed. She’s on the high school dance team for the second year. My beautiful baby girl is almost grown.

short hospital stay…still no answers

I think the title pretty much says it all. Nate is home from the hospital. The doctors have decided it’s either viral or aspiration. We haven’t heard any test results except that Nate does have a hiatal hernia. This could be causing some reflux, which could be causing some aspiration. But no firm results regarding the reflux yet. I’m really hoping it’s viral and will just go away on its own.

At this point, he is not needing as much oxygen, but still on one liter. He’s happy. We’re happy. And for now, life is back to normal. Well, our normal.

my portrait

Delaney drew this picture of me. Can’t you see the resemblance?

Actually, I was quite impressed. She is a perfectionist and always wants us to draw pictures of whatever she names off. When we try to get her to draw a picture, she says, “I can’t do it.” Well, out of the blue, she drew this picture without prompting and then told me it was me. I even have arms and legs, eyes, a mouth and hair (that goes all the way around my body).

It’s fun to see these developmental stages!

sick of being sick!

If Nate could talk, I’m certain he would tell me he is sick of being sick! I’m very sick of him being sick. It’s been a long 2 months with chronic pneumonia.

After his last hospitalization in March, he never really got off oxygen completely. Then he had a relapse and was back on antibiotics. Then he seemed to be getting better. Then he started getting worse again. And now he is back in the hospital.

The doctor has ordered some tests for reflux over the next couple of days. She wants to rule out aspiration as the cause of pneumonia. So now the waiting begins. And as you may know, I’m not so good at waiting.

easter memories

I know I’m a week behind, but better late than never, right?

I like to dye eggs for Easter because it’s a tradition that I grew up with. It would be so much easier for me to fill plastic eggs, but it just doesn’t feel like Easter without the smell of vinegar.

Delaney was excited for days about dying our eggs for Easter. I don’t think she really knew what it involved, but she knew it sounded like fun!

I made her strip down. I didn’t want to take any chances on spills. In retrospect, I think she would’ve been fine. It was a no mess project, this time.

We talked about the colors. She would tell me which color to put the egg in. And she’d help me lower it into the cup. Then she’d stir it around, checking the color.

We did the basic kit. Color tablets, vinegar and water. I wasn’t ready for the fancy kits just yet.

On Easter morning, Nate was sick. He had a relapse of pneumonia and now it’s in both lungs. He’s able to be at home but on oxygen day and night and back on the antibiotic. I’m so sick of sickness!!! But back to Easter morning, Jeremy stayed home with Nate while I took Delaney to church. And the Easter Bunny came to our house while we were gone. That was so convenient, because we didn’t have to rush around finding eggs, eating candy and getting dressed before church.

The Easter Bunny left very little candy, but she got a fun game. Trust me, she had her share of candy that day. Just not from the Easter Bunny.

Finding eggs was so much fun. Then she would hide them. And find them herself. Great entertainment!

Elefun turned out to be a fun game. The Elephant blows butterflies out of his trunk and you try to catch them with a net. It’s going to take a little practice, but she’ll get it.

Something to really smile about…Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg. Mom’s favorite!