Friday Night Pizza

I have started feeding my grandkids dinner on Friday nights this summer. It is a nice way to have all the kids play together and the adults can all visit. Most of the grandkids come and I think they have fun playing together. It is nice that my younger kids and grandkids can all get along and play well. Last Friday we cooked hotdogs on the grill and this evening we had pizza. We always have ice cream after dinner. It has been a lot of fun so far and I think I will do it for most of the summer. 

My granddaughter, Madelyn, eating on the porch. 

Four of my grandkids with ice cream. In the second picture Bella had to get in -- she is the aunt and my baby.

Reagan wanted me to get this picture of her acting silly. She is my first grandchild and will be starting school this year.

Piper loves to play with her nieces and nephews -- especially when they  are outside and ice cream is involved.

Most of the kids on the porch are my kids -- not grandkids, except for Madelyn. They enjoy the evening, too.

1,262 Hours

Last weekend Bethany's vest machine died on us. It was our third machine. She had clocked 1,262 hours on it since she had gotten it 15 months earlier. She seems to really go through machines. So, we made an emergency call on Saturday and luckily got them before 12:00 so a new machine could be sent out that day and she got it on Monday. I will say they are fast to deliver. When I think of how many hours she has sat on that vest it is hard to believe. She actually didn't have as many hours on this one as she usually does as it died pretty fast. She has sat doing her vest therapy for thousands and thousands of hours over the years and she usually does it good naturedly, and I try to provide special things for her to do as she sits -- games, art supplies, paper dolls, etc. It can be tedious for her, but it is so important for her lung health. 

Our daughter, Megan, is visiting from Louisiana with her two year old and her 10 week old twins. This picture is of Bethany holding the girl - Penny. Funny, their outfits almost exactly matched and we did not plan this -- they both arrived at church wearing these. 

Joey found an abandoned baby fawn in his yard yesterday and it is adorable. They are now working hard on getting him taken care of. 

What We Are Reading

We finished the book Mandy and our Penderwicks book had not arrived so we started Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. Strangely enough, I had never read it before so it was new to all of us. Everybody loved it and asked for me to read more and more so we finished it in three days. It was about a 10 year old girl named Opal who has just moved to a new town. Her father is a preacher and very busy and her mother has left the family. She is lonely and the first friend she makes is a stray dog that she names Winn-Dixie. This is a sweet story of a girl that struggles with the fact her mother left but finds a true companion in a stray dog. Opal learns some valuable lessons about life and love and friendship that help her heal from her loses. It was written simply and very easy to read and it was a real hit with all the kids. 

Now we are reading "B"Is for Betsy by Carolyn Haywood for the millionth time, but Piper and Tess have not heard all of the Betsy books so we are reading lots of books again and again. Tess is really liking it a lot. She is enjoying books more and more. I never get tired of reading the Carolyn Haywood books. 

Baking and Enthusiasm For Life

Since it was so hot today and Andrew had been wanting to make bread, I thought we would go ahead and bake a little. Andrew's bread was going to take quite awhile so he started on that first. He did that by himself but the kids watched - well, Piper and Tess did. Only Andrew, Bethany, Piper and Tess did the baking -- the others played with the karaoke machine upstairs. I thought Bella would join us, but she wanted to sing and dance instead. Anyway, Andrew did his bread first so it could start rising while the girls made their stuff. 

After he got his dough done and put it in the bottom oven to rise, the girls got out the stuff to make brownies -- I will admit we used a box mix for this, but they still had fun. Before they actually started the brownies Tess was clapping flour all over the place. She would put some in her hands and then clap and the flour would fly. I'm not sure why I let her do this or why it didn't even bother me. Somehow I have mellowed out a lot over the years and it was hard to get mad or even tell her no when I saw what enthusiasm she had. I will say this -- Piper and Tess have enthusiasm for life. I have never seen anything like it. They can have more fun and get so excited over the simplest things. Sometimes I just watch amazed -- like today. They definitely add some spice to our lives. 

After playing in the flour for a few minutes, and I did have to guide her away from the clapping and flying mess, Tess got out the brownie mix. 

Again, these girls are so enthusiastic -- look at Piper's face.

Once they got the brownies mixed and in the pan and in the oven it was time to make a cherry pie. 

Once everything was done, everyone got to have a brownie and then after dinner they got cherry pie. I didn't get a picture of Andrew's bread as it was so late when it was done, but it turned out really nice. It was a good day. 

Two Years Ago

Two years ago this month -- Piper and Tess had only been here a few months. We were all still getting used to each other. They have adjusted to a new life so well and are doing amazing. We are so blessed. 

They look so young to me in these pictures. 

A Nice Day

I have been trying to get most of our doctor appointments over so we can enjoy summer without constantly going to the doctor. Things are slowing down now and there are not that many left. Today we just had our attachment therapist appointment and then our day was pretty much free. It was so wonderful. We had lunch and then read Mandy -- the kids kept asking for one more chapter and one more chapter. Then I took a break from reading and everyone had ice cream on the porch. 

When they finished we went back in and read more of Mandy. I read several chapters and then I had a few things to do so I stopped for a little while and Bethany went outside to make flower chains. Tess and Piper saw and ran out to try their hand at making them, too. These girls spent well over an hour making necklaces and bracelets and even a few rings. They had so much fun. 

They made something for almost everyone and it brought back memories of when I was a kid and did the same thing. Some things never get old. 

After they had made all they wanted, they came back in and we finished the book, Mandy. Tess seemed to really enjoy this book more than most I have read lately. It really is a nice book and every time I read it to my kids I enjoy it all over again. 

When we finished the book they all did some drawings about the book -- most of them drew the cottage in the woods. That was one of their favorite parts -- Mandy fixing up the cottage and making a garden. 

It was a lovely day and I felt we had such a nice afternoon. Things did take a little turn for the worst when Bethany went to start her vest this evening and it would not work. We tried everything we could think of but to no avail. The front of the machine said -- Call For Service. That meant an hour of hand PT tonight. I have called the company and hope to hear back from them tomorrow. We need this machine.