Our Birthday Buckets

For our birthdays Mel and I were given a bucket (flowerpot) apiece that was signed by everyone.  It was so creative of the kids!  Mel's had popcorn, Skittles (the Rangers vitamins - a joke he has with the grandkids) and peanuts.  My bucket had garden tools, gloves, a garden tote, Canna and Elephant Ear bulbs.  We were so proud of our buckets!!!

The Remainder of Our Celebration Week-end

Later in the evening it was "time to go to the barn" - the words the grandkids love to hear.  Logistics was the next thing to be figured out.  We had plenty of offers to drive the Gators, but not enough Gators to accommodate 5 grandkids.  A solution was figured out.

When we stopped to open the gate for the horses, Jett and McKaylea decided to change modes of transportation.  We have lazy horses.  If they are in the pasture in front of the house and it is feeding time, they want Grandpop to open the 2 gates and allow them to just cross the lane to go to the barn to eat. That avoids them having to walk around and behind the house to the barn.  See what I mean about lazy?
Here Jett and  McKaylea are running to the pick-up to ride in the back with Mitch and Amberlea

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At the barn the kittens were the center of attention. 

The grandkids had to show their parents the swings and how they used the trailer as a teeter-totter.

The next morning coffee was enjoyed on the patio.   Emma and I were the first ones enjoying the patio.  We didn't know they had gotten up.  Needless to say, Grandmom got them their coffee (something the grandkids look forward to on the farm).  Their coffee consists of a little coffee, quite a bit of creamer and then milk to finish out.

Mitch, Amberlea, Melodi and Bryan prepared a delicious breakfast of waffles and bacon.  There were no left-overs!

The grandkids discovered 3 garden spiders around the house.  I had left them hoping they would help to stop the abundance of grasshoppers we have.  Mat and Jake wanted to take one of the spiders home (what better science lesson); however, parents thought a 7 hour ride with a garden spider would not be the best idea.  Wonder why????  Jett also wanted to take one home.  Quickly it was vetoed by his parents!
Jake looked up information about the spider on the Internet to see if it is harmful - it is not.  All 3 of the garden spiders stayed on the farm and did not make a trip to the urban area. 

What a fun, surprising and memorable week-end we had!

A Wonderful 40th Anniversary SURPRISE!

Last Saturday our kids and grandkids surprised (and I mean surprised) Mel and I with a 40th Wedding Anniversary celebration.  What a special gesture they did and the time spent together means so much to us.  We know how truly blessed we are with such loving and caring daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren!  Who could ask for more in this life than that?
The doorbell rang and Mel and I got to the door about the same time to open it.  There on the porch stood all 9 of them!  They said the look on our faces showed total surprise and I know it must have.  After the shock they did exclaim,"We did bring food!"  They did - steaks, potatoes for baking, corn on the cob, hot rolls, bacon, milk and cream for breakfast Sunday morning!  They also brought the loveliest and most delicious wedding cupcakes!  Yum! Yum!

We visited for a while then the kids gave us a video of our 40 years together and an album they had put together celebrating our lives.  How precious these are to us!  Full of so many memories.  Thank you, girls, for doing this for us!!

The Video

 Admiring our Album

Time to prepare our meal.  Bryan and Mitch got the steak and corn ready then grilled steak while Melodi and Amberlea prepared the potatoes and rolls. 
What a delicious meal we enjoyed!

Devising the Plan

After our meal the grandkids wanted to sample the cupcakes (so did Amberlea, Melodi and myself).  We had plenty so they had a sample before the afternoon celebration.

Delicious!!!

Later in the afternoon the girls set up a beautiful table for our family to enjoy. 

Later Grammy came to visit and so did Julia.  They viewed the video, looked at the album and enjoyed a cupcake.

FANTASTIC FORTY!  That sums up our lives!   Mel and I have had a great life together and our kids and grandkids bless our lives in so many ways.  We are not rich materially, but we are millionaires when it comes to our family!!  That is what life is all about!! Thank you Bryan, Melodi, Jacob, Mathew, Emma, McKaylea, Mitch, Amberlea and Jett!!  We love you so very much!

Now we continue on for another 40!

FINALLY! FINALLY! FINALLY! RAIN!!!

This summer has been record breaking for heat as well as drought.  Hopefully, we never experience a summer such as this again! 

The 7 Day showing record heat and a promise of cooler temps to come with a chance of precipitation

Beautiful promising clouds - Could rain be coming our way???

Radar shows the rain is coming!

Could it be true???

Yes! We are finally receiving rain!!! 

All praise, honor,  glory and thanks to our  loving God who blessed us with a fine rain!

Birthdays

Mel and I celebrated "another year younger" birthdays.  For my birthday we enjoyed eating at Polo's Mexican Restaurant with Jerry and Judy, then we had a great time at The Ada Opry - our first time to see it.  We will go again!  The talent was amazing. 

For Mel's birthday we went to Eischen's in Okarche.  It was time for the retired couples from "Farm Bureau Days" to get together again.  This was our  first visit there for their famous fried chicken and okra eaten off  wax paper (funny, we lived a few miles from Eischen's for several years while in Yukon and never ate there). 

A few years ago Eischen's experienced a fire.  They were able to salvage part of the original bar and have mounted  on the wall in their remodeled building.

The Guys Visitiing

Our Group

The Girls Chit-Chatting