Fort Nana's

Happy Monday Friends, It's the end of June and I'm wondering where the month went? I hope you had a great weekend; we did! On Saturday afternoon 7 of our 8 granddaughters came over for dinner, movies and a sleepover. Cousins who are the very best of friends, loved spending time together-especially at Nana's and Papa's. Here is the first fort hubby has built for the grands, here in our new home. It is bigger than at our last house and may need to expand more, before the next time we have all girls over. Maybe we should just put our tent downstairs-lol, at least it would hold all the girls. As it turned out only four girls slept in the fort; the two oldest slept outside and my peanut shared the guest bed with me. She has been having a hard time adjusting to a move at the end of July. Add tired onto that and she became pretty upset.

Here the girls are watching the movie Tinkerbell.  I love how they all brought their American Girl dolls.

Even Hunter was happy to be surrounded by his girls.  WE had so much fun, ate big meals(they are all going through growth spirts)and even went on a walk.  We went by a nearby pond and were amazed at the size of the tadpoles!  We also went through the neighborhood picking out our favorite flowers and seeing if Nana could name them. I'm pleased I passed that test.
Today has already been full~we took Hunter to the groomer, went by two business where we needed to drop off paperwork for the new house(for our daughter's family), went grocery shopping, to Walmart, to our insurance company and back to pick Hunter up.
 Our dear friends, who used to be our next door neighbors in Ca., are coming for a visit tomorrow.  We are so excited and I know the days will pass so quickly, between playing cards and different activities we are planning. Barb and I may even get in a couple of visits to quilt stores.  I'll be around but probably not daily; so I hope you have a fantastic week and celebrate our freedom here in the U.S. 
Joy to you!
Noreen

Half the day is passed and I'm just now getting to sit down and post.  This morning was so busy: first I ran to a couple of garage sales with my oldest girl, then hit an estate sale, which looked promising but was a bust and then hubby and I had our eyes checked.  He has good news-no big changes, but I had a big change in my left eye and actually found our my current prescription makes my eyesight much more blurry.  The thunder and rain has started, I'm a bit concerned because the repair man is outside fixing our a/c.  Tonight our neighbors are having some friends over and invited us to join them.  Just snacks, which will be nice; the gentleman is German and I'm afraid I might not be able to eat much(due to gluten)and don't want to hurt any feelings.  Most people understand when a person has dietary restrictions due to health issues, but for some older people(he is 85), it is hard to understand.
Tomorrow, I think we will work on putting in a new doggy door and then 8 granddaughters will spend the night.  Fun, Fun, Fun!!!! 
I hope you are having nice, summer weather in your neck of the woods.
Hugs,
Noreen

A New Buddy

It's Thankful Thursday, so I have another blessing to give thanks for. As you know, when we moved into our dream home, we have said it is our last home. I was so surprised when I met the couple across the street and found out they have a 4 yr old male Bichon name Odie. Hunter met him shortly after we moved in and since then we have gotten together to go on a couple of short walks and had two play times. Odie is so cute and they both have similar personalities. He has a much tighter curl or hair compared to Hunter's, but their faces are very similar looking.

This morning after our walk together, Odie and his mom came over so the dogs could run around in our back yard. Odie has never had any beef bones and he smelled Hunter's-Hunter was willing to share and Odie loved it. I even sent them home with one(Hunter has many around the house). I think Pat will be checking the frozen food isle of our grocery store and getting some for him. I remarked that it is so good for their teeth and helps prevent tarter; you have to be careful you don't get ones that will splinter or break off. When hubby and I were kids, we never had our dogs have their teeth cleaned, because they always had bones and never had tarter. I've got to get ready for my girlfriends; we should have a fun lunch catching up. Just wish I could get together for lunch with many of you. Hope you have a fabulous Thursday! Blessings,
Noreen & Hunter

Greetings to you.  It's Wednesday and I'd love to say I've been out walking or riding, but actually hubby and I ran some errands.  All the shower heads in our home are so high, even for hubby, that we decided to replace the guest shower head with one that was more easily accessed~meaning it is on a slide bar and can be hand held.
Last night as we sat out on our deck, I realized just how old and dirty the indoor/outdoor carpet was.  We talked about borrowing our girls carpet shampooer, but seriously I'm not sure if it would handle the cleaning.  We know it has been hosed down but it was pretty yucky...so what's a girl to do but check out our big box hardware store.  I found one that will work, nothing fancy, but nice and clean.  We removed the old run and cleaned the deck; actually hubby got down on all fours and scrubbed it.  Once it dries, we will put the new rug down and move the patio furniture back into place.  At least it will be nice and clean and I won't think twice about walking barefoot on it.
Tomorrow my two blogging friends, from down the road, are coming up for lunch.  I had planned on serving them salads here, but our a/c is broken and won't be fixed til Friday.  If the weather was 75 or closer to 80 it would be fine, but we are looking at 90 degrees plus. There won't be a cool place to sit-so I've opted that we will go out to lunch, where there is air.  We normally go out, but I had wanted to make it easier....oh well.
I'm pleased to  announce that we have found a home for our daughter and are under contract.  Tomorrow we have a home inspection and baring any major issues we will move to close at the end of July.  Our girl and family won't be able to move into until the 1st or 2nd of August, that will be here soon enough.  Thank you all who lifted up this need for us.  It was getting a bit stressful when all the houses we were putting bids on would sell out from under us.  I am so thankful for the house we found! I think it will work perfectly for them and once they settle in, they will be happy.
That's about all for now; hope you are having a great week so far.
Hopefully, whatever issues blogger was having yesterday is fixed. 
Happy Day to you!
Noreen

Some Guy Time

Happy Tuesday to you.  I wanted to share what our guys did while the girls had their Tea Party.  In the past,  we girls have such fun-but somehow my brother was always left out.  Well not totally, because we've always had family time.  This trip however, while we girls were having tea and lunch my brother took all the guys out to lunch and then they hit Toys-*-Us.  Now, our grandsons are really into Lego's(even at 13 and 11); they have thousands and even have a blog dedicated to all that they make.  My brother opened his heart and his wallet to them and said they could pick out a couple of things.  He gave them a dollar amount(a very generous dollar amount)that they could each spend. Talk about kids in a toy store-oh my.  I wish hubby had sent me his pics so I could post them here-maybe I'll post them another day.  Not only did the big boys get toys, but our "little man"-age 21 mos. got a trike, a lawnmover and a small lego set.  To say that all three were thrilled is an understatement, because my brother was as thrilled as they were to give to them.  Our grands are the closest to grandchildren he'll ever have; they have done their best to nurture the relationships so that our grands have extended family they are close to.  Truly, it made it such a special time and memories were made for the future.  Life is short and I love how engaged my brother and sister of my heart are with our family.  When our girls were young, Sue would take them out shopping every couple of months.  They would spend the night with my Rich and Sue and truly felt pampered.  My brother wasn't involved in the shopping, so missed out on boy time.  He got his fill this time and I'm so very thankful. I am thankful for such generous people we have as family-he is the best brother a gal could have and Sue is so much more than a sister-she is a best friend too.  I was disappointed they only stayed two days, but we are hoping that they might find a little condo somewhere in our vicinity that would enable them to visit more often.  We'll see.
I hope your week is starting off well.  Ours is! We had friends for dinner and cards last night, it was lots of fun to catch up.  The rest of the week is packed and next week our dear friends from Ca. arrive for five days.  I simply can't wait!!!!
Blessings,
Noreen

Our Tea Party

Happy Monday Friends! I hope you had a wonderful summer weekend. We had such a great time with my brother and sister-of-my-heart. It was two days crammed full of activities and Saturday morning came too quickly. I understand that they had some other places to see while here, but seriously it was just too short of a visit. On Friday, our daughters hosted their quarterly tea party and it was such fun!!! Here are some of the photos from our time together.  The girls decided to have our tea and lunch outside, so this is what we saw when we got there.  Isn't it just wonderful!

I never had these types of gatherings when I was young; I think the only fancy party I went to was my sister's bridal shower.  I am thankful our granddaughters are learning, early in life, the art of hospitality.  I used to be overwhelmed with more than six people at a luncheon that I was hosting; now having 14 of us together is the norm. 

The adult table.  Plates were a mix of china-some of our girl's and some of our families, such as my sisters(she is deceased)and even my mom's china.

I love our girls creativity.

Tea sandwiches-most were gluten free. It looks like they are in the sun but they were moved after the photos.

Tea pots with flower arrangements.

My sister's Silver Tea Service; we didn't use it for hot tea, it was too warm a day. I love how she was honored.

All the girls pretending to be drinking tea. Most of the teacups were from my mother-in-law; when her estate was divided our granddaughters were given the teacups.

After lunch, all the tea cups had dessert put in them. 

We had such a delightful time and the girls even got new American Girl doll dresses and outfits from Ca.  My sil and brother are so very generous with our adult kids and our grands(us as well).  The love they share is incredible!

I've got to get a move on and take Hunter for a walk.  We are having friends over tonight for dinner and cards.  We are playing a new game called Euchre, we haven't played it before so hope we can figure it out.  I hope you have a fantastic day!

Joy to you~

Noreen

Thankful Thursday

Once again, I need to pause and give thanks for the many, many blessings in my life.  I am thankful that we are able to look for a new home for our youngest daughter and her family; I am thankful that our Ca. house finally sold.  We were so blessed to live in our home for 18 yrs and also to have great tenants the last six and a half years.  I am thankful for my hubby's hard work and early investments in real estate that provided such a great home, actually homes, there for us.  I am thankful for hubby's sister who ended up buying our home there and that she plans to keep the same family renting it. I am beyond thankful for our current home; I pray it will be our last home.
I am thankful that my brother and sister of my heart are arriving today for  a quick visit.  They will only be with us for two days, which is just too short, but I am thankful that they are coming. I'm thankful that we have a home large enough to give them their space, so maybe next time they'll stay longer.  I am so thankful that they have been pretty healthy; some hiccups along the way, but in general they are very active and well.  I am thankful for family time; tonight the whole gang will go to Red Robin for dinner-all 19 of us.  Tomorrow the girls have a tea and they guys will have lunch here.  Tomorrow night Rich, Sue, hubby and I will go to our favorite restaurant. 
I am thankful for the dinner invite from new neighbors; they are such a nice couple and I'm anxious to try the Korean food she is preparing for Sunday. 
I am thankful that I know my Savior, my Provider, my Shepherd and do not need to fear what lies ahead.
I hope you have a long list of things you can be thankful for today. 
Pause and enjoy life!!!
Blessings, Noreen