Animals and Parties

So the latest on the animal report from our woods is that we saw the triplet fawns again.  So cute!  Then we had this mama turkey and her nine "little" ones.

The new kittens are doing just fine and have adjusted to being outside, although they still aren't quite best fur-friends with the older two cats.  I think they should be Salt and Pepper, but their official names are Marshmallow and Twix.
 

We joined our local FCC group for a picnic today.  We always enjoy getting together with other adoptive families and sharing stories.  Although the kids don't seem to particularly notice, it's nice to be among other families that look a little bit like ours.

This evening we invited Grandpa Hires down to celebrate his birthday with some cake.  Scott and the kids created a fun welcome on the driveway for him.  

We are blessed indeed with friendships around here.  They add a richness to our lives for sure!

Lunch Date!

For quite some time, Chris and I have had a long standing lunch date once a week, but for the last two months we've not been able to make it work with all of our traveling and company. 

Today we finally got back on schedule.  It's so nice having an older child that can take care of things at home.  We appreciate Michaela very much.

It feels like things are finally slowing down here a bit and that we can enjoy the last little bit of summer before school starts up again.   Since June 22 it's been nonstop with traveling and company.

We're not through with house guests though!  The day after Chris' parents left we welcomed Scott into our home.  He has taken a job in our area and is waiting for the rest of his family to arrive from Georgia after the sale of their home.  Our house is God's house and we're glad to be able to share what we've been blessed with.

Disappointments and Sadness....Perspective

Today was to be a big day.  Michaela has had braces for two years and this was finally the big day to get them off.  We greatly anticipated a trip afterwards to the candy story at the mall, corn-on-the-cob for supper and more.

It was all too short lived.  Somehow over the last month, one rogue tooth decided to deviate from the plan and go it's own course.  Our orthodontist felt terrible having to put things off for Michaela, but he wants the best and we appreciate that.  He felt so badly that he gave Michaela generous gift cards to the movie theater and to a local pizza place.  He even offered to pick her up on his Harley and bring her to her next appointment to get her braces off....hopefully next month.

Michaela handled it well at the office and we helped her drown her sorrows later in Junior Mints and Starbucks.  We're proud of her maturity and will all the more greatly rejoice with those braces really come off.

On a very sad note, we found out today that friends of ours lost their two-year old little boy.  We are heartbroken for them and cannot imagine being in those circumstances.  Despite our own disappointments of the day, things were really put into perspective.  This we do know.  God is good, all the time.  We know that He aches with us and rejoices with us.  We will trust in Him no matter our circumstances.

Our hope is in Him and we celebrated that tonight with Johanna's turning two as a Christian.

Johanna has such a spiritual maturity about her.  We are so thankful for this treasure and for our other four treasures that we have been blessed with.  In our perspective today, they were hugged a bit tighter tonight.  Each day is a gift.

Another Good-bye

This morning we took G/G Wolfe to the airport.  With both sets of grandparents living overseas we are somewhat used to these good-byes, but it's not something we'd wish upon anyone. 

After the airport we got to meet up with Kate, Elle, and Zane for lunch.  It's so fun to see Ami and Elle interact, such good pals.  Elle had brought a bracelet for Ami and Ami had brought a ring for Elle.  They even think alike!  :)

We hung out for just a short bit and then had to head home.  Our Wolfe Bed & Breakfast hasn't closed just yet, we've got another guest arriving tomorrow!

Our two most recent fur friends are doing just swell.  Here are some more sweet shots.

Yes, that's a squirrel sprawled out on the stone to cool himself as "Twix" looks on. 

We're Such Softies

We have two outdoor cats, but the kids have been begging for quite some time to get more kittens.  Johanna has been beside herself, greatly grieving the fact that she would have to wait ten more years (according to her when she's old enough to have her own place!) in order to fulfill her dream. 

Enter.....rescued kitties that a co-worker took in.  We took the kids out to see "a surprise" and were they ever surprised that Dad and Mom had agreed to let them take not only one, but two sweet kittens home. 

The kittens had been kept indoors, and due to the heat and wanting them to adjust, they have now been set up with much love and care in the kids' play room.  Hopefully they'll be outdoors soon with our other two cats. 

Johanna cried when we told her we could take home two little fluff balls.  (This grey one will go to another home.)

So far this is "Caramel" because she has a bit of caramel coloring on one ear.

So far this little guy is Snowball, although Johanna thinks he should be Mystery.

Um yeah, these kitties are being well taken care of!

Our little animal lover is experiencing heaven on earth!

More Ice Cream

This week Benjamin has been enjoying basketball camp in the afternoons.  We attended the final awards today and are proud of his Ambition award.

 
The kids have enjoyed playing games with G/G Wolfe.  A favorite is banagrams, but any game will do.

I think our kids are growing up thinking that grandparents and ice cream go hand in hand.  G/G Wolfe treated us to frozen custard tonight.  Yum!

With rain today, and temperatures that were 25 degrees cooler than earlier this week, the mild evening was a welcome break.  It was a beautiful evening to enjoy sitting outdoors with ice cream.

The Grandparent Switcheroo

This morning we sent off G/G Clark and Anika and Josiah.  Our summertime with them has been very special and it's never easy to hug good-bye. 

We headed home from the airport and pulled in the driveway right after Chris had arrived home from picking up G/G Wolfe at the train station.  There is no chance for a dull moment around here!  

Once our summer is over, we may have to detox the kids from so much activity and company!  It's a blessing to have this time with family though and we are thankful to be able to host them.

Last Day Together

Today was our last full day with Grandpa and Grandma Clark and Anika and Josiah.  It's been fun to have extra time with a couple of our cousins.  Tomorrow it's off to the airport, then back home to welcome our next guests!

As posted before, we often battle the coons that come into our garage through the cat door.  Dad always likes to join in on the thrill of the trapping.  A couple of nights ago it took four tries to finally capture our thief (of cat food, that is).  We caught this guy last night.  Don't let the sweet face deceive you! 

No worries, we treat the thieves humanely and Chris releases them a few miles away by the river.

We were also treated to a doe and her triplets in our front yard this morning!

Grandpa made neat keepsake frames for the boys that hold their Indian artifacts that they each found this summer....Elijah's spearhead from Lake Tahoe and Benjamin's arrowhead from Wolfe Creek.

It's Hot!!!!!

I don't think I ever remember temperatures this hot before.  With the humidity that we have in the Midwest, it really makes it even worse.  When you step outside from being in the A/C it feels like you've stepped into a blasting furnace.  Crazy!  We are so thankful for A/C.

These three are having so much fun together!

Anika had Ami try some sour Japanese candy.  Poor thing tried to be polite, but asked to spit it out pretty quickly!

Despite the heat, Dad headed down to the creek early to clear some area.  The boys had fun playing in the creek and exploring.  Benjamin even found his first arrowhead (we live on old Indian grounds)!

Yep, this was at 5pm.

We braved the heat to run some errands and have a nice dinner at Cracker Barrel.  Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!

A Day Around Town

We like our little city, but there really isn't much to offer in the way of tourism.  When company comes to town we seem to take them out of town to do things like the Amish country, Central Dairy ice cream, etc.  Today we had to run some errands, so we made the most of it with our out-of-country cousins.  One stop was downtown at one of the highest spots in town.  We rode up to the top of the tallest parking garage, all nine stories, to get a view.  It's kind of cool, but nothing like riding up 30 or 40 floors of the buildings in downtown Osaka. 

This is looking out towards our house, a few miles south.

We picked up mail for Grandpa and Grandma at the post office.  Oooh, aaaah.

Seriously, the girls were begging to go to the library.  I love our bookworms!  It turned out to be a great stop for the boys too, as there was a four time state yo-yo champion giving a demonstration.  Great stuff!

Yes, Anika intends to read that stack of books in the next three days before she leaves!

These two have formed a neat bond.  Benjamin and Josiah have always enjoyed playing and emailing with each other, but it's been neat to see Elijah and Josiah hanging out quite a bit.  It's as if they've been buddies forever, not just meeting for the first time a month ago.  

We had made plans to make our own pizzas and watch a movie tonight.  I went against my better judgement and turned the oven on despite the 102 temperature outside.  Just as we were about ready to put the pizzas in, the electricity went out!  It was out for about an hour and the house started to get warmer and warmer.  Also, the pizzas were rising higher and higher!  We were all relieved when it kicked back on.  We enjoyed dinner and a movie just a bit later than planned, but it was all good in the end.    

 

Another fun day with the cousins!