Martin's Bday

Today Martin is nine years old. His middle name is Philip which was my dad's idea. Martin Luther, Philip Melancthon (spelling?). There are also a great grandpa of mine named Martin. Nine years ago Martin was born on Pentacost. He came sunny side up (ouch) and it took three kids later for me to get over the fear of child birth. Screaming is another form of pushing is the line I came up with after that experience. Anyway, he has a souvenir from his coming into the world. He formed a hematoma on the back of his head as his head never turned like it is supposed to when he was born. The bump later calcified and if you feel his head it is still there. It has grown with his head and is not quite so obvious but I always said that I should foot the bill if he goes bald and needs cosmetic surgery. Listening to the doctor is a good idea you gals.

Martin's grandparents were in a tornado the day he was born as well. THey lived in the hills of Pennsylvania where you least expect a tornado. It is also recommended that if a tornado alarm goes off that you should seek shelter. God loves my in-laws also (of course) and after they were trapped on the third floor in their apartment they stood in the corner by the door and a piece of sheet metal flew in the window. A floor lamp blocked it from hitting them. It was miraculous to me that couches and such things were destroyed but their china cabinet and the shelves that held family pictures etc were unscathed. Anyway, they waited till evening to call us and let us know and the bonus was that Martin had his grandparents living with us and helping out for a few weeks. THey were homeless for several months and bumped between kids till they could move back in. So.......Martin was nicknamed 'tornado baby'. Anna later took note that his initials are MPH - miles per hour. This is somewhat appropriate.

Martin is a sweet heart. He is my cuddly boy and his big smile and brown eyes have already attracted many a girl to hang on him. Hmmm........he even had a set of twins dragging him around at a very young age. He has his grandma Martinson wrapped around his finger and she is convinced that he is the poorest of things. There are benefits to this thinking you know.

He takes his first communion this evening so today is a big day for him. See Pastor's blog for more info on this one. He is very excited about this and I am amazed that my nine year old son has a better grasp on the preciousness of the sacrament than most people I know. I think he will have a great bday. He is my cute boy.

Another fond wedding memory

I remember my grandma commenting that she had the same hymn at her wedding -"Holy God We Praise Your Name". That just sticks out in my memory for some reason. That hymn in the chapel is awesome. One of my favorite organists played our wedding as one of his last things he did in Valpo.

Our 20th Anniversary

Well, we made it. So far so good. So here's the thing. Wedding anniversaries make you think back on what got you together to begin with. Here are a few thoughts. I had been friends with lots of guys and not too many dates. In fact hardly any at all. Now I say, thanks be to God for that! I recall walking on campus one day, sort of disgruntled that I must be chop liver as my girl friends had boy friends and I just had friends who were boys. Some of these friends were quite odd and if they had expressed interest I think I would have run like the wind. I even remember one odd friend from the camp I worked at writing me a letter saying God had told him he was to marry me. I vividly remember this too and thinking, yikes, God hasn't said a word to me! So, while walking on campus I decided that I was writing off guys and gee God there must be something else in store for my life. Perhaps I was going to solve world hunger or become a famous horn player or something. The next week I met Charley. Clearly I wasn't up for the jobs of world hunger or symphony member. We both knew it was twitterpation for us. Of course we didn't mention to each other but in retrospect that was the way it was.

I remember dawdling to the last minute to catch a glimpse of that cute guy zipping by on his bicycle on the way to Gellerson Hall. I would even stand outside Niles which was pretty far away from where he was biking to see him zip by to another class. Isn't that cute?

We went out to eat ONCE before he and his buddy Eric biked home to PA and NY for the summer. It was to Around the Clock in Valpo. My memories of that were: Not believing he called, he wore a jean jacket, he did something odd that you would have to have us over for a drink to tell you (just something farmerish), he drank A LOT of water, and I didn't want the evening to end. The next day I went to the fraternity to say good-bye as they biked off on their journey.

We wrote letters back and forth all summer and once he called me at the camp I worked at. We should get those letters out and read them. They are sitting in the filing cabinet across from me.

My mom liked him and the first day she had him over for dinner, she whipped out her wedding pictures and told him her daughter was going to wear her wedding dress when she got married. Ahem......that was embaressing but she must have known what she was talking about. She must have been pretty smart too. She always told me pre-Charley, that I should marry a Lutheran, Engineer, fraternity boy. THe first two were the more important and I balked at her suggestions but.....that is what happened. See, these parents DO know something afterall. I think the only joke my dad ever pulled off well, was when Charley took him in the basement to ask him if he could marry his daughter and dad said no. HA! I was impressed he said it with a straight face. He quickly told him he couldn't think of a better choice.

I was attracted to Charley because of his charming looks, brains, sincerity, obvious adoration of ME (smirk, smirk) and he had THE best head on his shoulders of any boy I had ever met. He was innocent, sincere, hard working, respected, polite, and cute and loved by many of my friends as well. (this hasn't changed) Mary and Phil were tickled that we were seeing each other. Phil also biked home with Charley to NJ one summer and Mary was my good friend. Rob Franck was his roommate freshman year and a good friend of mine (not one of the dorky ones Rob).

So, not much has changed with Charley except I am the only one who called him Charley. He was Chuck to everyone else at school. Chuck......yuck. Charley - much better.


Happy 20th anniversary Charley!

A Fiery Pentacost

My family was out of town over the weekend and I stayed home with Stefanopolis. I'm glad I did as he was the ultimate eczema case over the weekend. Anyway.....friends of the Stuckwisch's needed a place to stay Saturday and Sunday night. Nick was very excited to stay and be the farm hand and help with the chores so he and his buddy Ian beat it outside Sunday morning. I was talking to Lauri inside when the boys came back inside, sat down on the couch and announced that the chicken coup was on fire. They had big smiles on their faces and we moms were a little perplexed. So I passed the baby and headed out the door in my pjs and robe. The boys were casually walking in front of me so I asked them if they minded if I scooted by them (so I could run). So with bathrobe flying behind me I ran to the coup and the coup was indeed burning. It wasn't big flames but at some point there must have been some. The hood that held the heat lights had broken from the ceiling. I suspect the birds were getting too heavy to be jumping on it and it fell onto the wood chips below. At that point there must have been a fire and after lifting the hood off the ground we discovered a hole about 4 x 4 ft clear to the ground. This building is a movable building so there is no cement bottom. The edges of the hole were still smoldring.



Just then (read like an action comic book) who should appear but Tim, Lauri's dh, in his pj's and church shoes. He was also sporting some lovely bandages from an injury earlier in the week on his legs. His sons came to help too and we pulled the hood off and out with the help of some wire snippers I ran and got (superwoman robe flying again). The chickens and turkeys, by-the-way, were all standing around the edges staring at the hole. It was much like a scene from Chicken Run. I don't think any died or got roasted. At this point I went back up to house leaving Tim and sons to put out the fire and cover the hole.



My dh called later and asked how it was going and I said "oh, ok....." "What's the matter?" asks dh. "Not much, the chicken coup caught on fire" Dear husband replies "WHAT????!!!!!" and we were promptly cut off. I am sort of glad he wasn't here as between Tim, his sons, Nick and I we were cool as cucumbers as if it was totally normal to be putting out fires in our pjs before their Godchild's first communion. Charley isn't good at crisis and actually I think crisis is my forte. It is the little stuff like children picking their noses for the 100th time when asked not to that make me come unglued. Scenes from Chicken Run are really quite entertaining as long as the fire doesn't spread to the Wood Sanctuary otherwise known as the Wood Kiln. THat would be bad. Dh and kids will be home very soon so it will be interesting to see his reaction to the hole.



At any rate we all got to church early to boot and the service was incredibly awesome and Stefan cooperated and slept through most of it. Ah......that was so nice. I am thankful for God's providence in protecting us while we were sleeping, for young boys leaving hoses on and flooding the underneath side of the coup which I am sure helped lessen the fire, and for friends of friends just happening to stay the night while I was home alone. See, God does care about the little things y'all! He is SOOOO good to me.

My daughter's bday

Anna is sixteen today and I didn't get to spend the day with her. Snif. She was sniffing too this morning as she and the family prepared to go on a camping trip in northern Michigan. Her great friend (they are all the best) Maggers got sick and couldn't go with. I felt so bad for them both. If you ever saw mom's with puppy dog eyes then that would describe Sandy and I as we expressed our saddness for them both. Major bummer.

I am staying home with little Stefanopolis as he is the eczema baby. I can't imagine juggling his skin issues up there in a tent, not to mention the cold. So I went out to breakfast with a dear friend and her little guy, had an appt for Stefan to get his picture taken (we have to go back), worked around the house and yard and then........went to dear, cute friends for dinner......then went to a neighbors for a glass of wine and a donation to Anna's sewing craze. Phew. It has been a busy day.

If Anna were home I would probably have made a trip to the fabric store with her and taken her to lunch. In light of her disappointment perhaps I will when she gets home. We did have a party for her on Sunday but it always seems her actual bday gets messed up somehow.

I have also been thinking about when she was a baby as I look at little Stefan and know that my 5 ft 7 daughter used to be a tini-tiny baby. She was the sweetest of babies. She slept well, had big curious brown eyes and she was absolutely beautiful. When she graduated to the walker (yes, we used one of those dangerous things), if she heard the water running in the tub she would come a running in her walker to see if it was bath time. She never liked to be carried facing in but always wanted to be facing out to see the world. She was and is the apple of her father's eye whether she realizes it or not.

At age four I remember her cutting out everything from her coloring books and repasting them on paper. The most remarkable cutting feat was when she got a Disney toy with a little tag on it that had a picture of Tinker Bell on it. She cut that tiny little picture out perfectly! I should have known what was coming.

Yes, she cried, whined and was scared of talking to anybody but she was pretty content at home, loved her grandparents and of course her little brother Ick Ick or Baby Nice ("Be nice to the baby Anna."). I can't get that back but I am sure I will be wanting to call her on the phone everyday just like my mom does to me. So.......I miss my daughter and I miss my family but clearly I am keeping busy and my social calendar is full.

The baby is asleep

What does this mean??????? You should fear and love God so that we do not scream at our siblings, call loudly over and over again for our mother, play loud music, stomp up the stairs, try to discipline our siblings, pet the baby and tell your mother how cute he is, or argue with your mother when asked to be quiet.

Where is this written?

On my blog and the hearts of all mothers of many children with a baby in the house.

side tracked again....

Packing is a test of endurance

I HATE packing. Charley is taking the kids camping and in a way I am wondering if I am preparing them for the the 'trip from.......' The weather prediction is looking bleaker. They are calling for cold evenings and chances of rain. Then there is the gas price to consider. We are spending how much money to go freeze in Northern Michigan????? Their consolation I guess is that they always eat like kings when they are camping. We make food that we never make at home. I think I do that because there has to be SOMETHING to look forward to if the conditions go south.

The kids seem pretty focused at the moment so I better not get too sidetracked in writing about not getting sidetracked. Eyes rolling.

Poppies

I have always loved poppies and FINALLY I have some blooming in my yard. Anna is trying her hand at capturing them on camera so I thought I would share a few of the wonders of God's creation. The reason I love poppies is they were everywhere in Italy when we went there seven years ago. We bought a few paintings which included poppies to have around the house and give away to remind us of beautiful Italy. Too bad poppies have seeds that cause some problems.....oh well, they are still incredible. We are hoping they will spread. There are some people not far from here that have a garden that always has something blooming throughout it and I can't figure out how they accomplish that. They have poppies of course.

The one on the left is of the poppy after the shell fell off. (Yes, they're backwards.)

I know what I want to say but can't say it

There are many times that I try to explain myself and I just can't seem to get my brain out of my head and make myself clear. There are times I say things just because it is sort of fun to talk about. There are times I do that and totally lose the person I am talking to. I am not sure this is common for everyone but it can cause me to get depressed. Then I so want to stop the conversation and say "Look, don't take it so seriously" like the old song 'Pack up your troubles and smile, smile, smile.' I think I just talk outloud or think outloud and then later wish I hadn't said anything. For anyone reading this it is not pointed at any particular conversation really but just an observation about myself. I do know that I am NOT good at expressing myself in theological/faith terms but that may be a paranoia of 'saying it wrong'. If someone else explains something theological or I read it I think "that is amazing! How do you do that" and then I remember that it is usually someone who is trained and called to do that so why does it surprise me. So for what it is worth, I am lamenting my inability to explain this thinking that goes on in my head - maybe even here it doesn't make sense. This is not really a 'poor me' but an observation.

My sewing maniac is growing up......

In the oven downstairs is the cake for her 'surprise' birthday party. I don't think she knows what is going on. She is maddly sewing her latest dress in her room. It is from her 'latest' pattern aquisition. The whir of the machine drew me upstairs to see how it was going. Right now I hear the snip, snip of scissors.

While she is sewing I have been listening to the latest cd music collection while throwing together food. THose songs can inspire other blog posts about the hubby and I from YEARS ago. We have that anniversary coming up so bigger anniversarys make you nostolgic I guess.

I think in this picture she is promptly and properly putting away the pattern pieces. She is incredible. Earlier today she weeded our 'gate gardens'. Doesn't that sound glamorous? They look fantastic! She wouldn't believe it but I do get teary eyed knowing the clock is ticking. Sigh. I am looking forward to spending some fun time together despite having to work some on 'summer school'. We are going to try to make that fun as well. The dress she is wearing she whipped together in one day between other house hold stuff - I think it is a 1955 era dress. Oh to be so skinny, I mean slender.....again.

I was just reminded of what else is maddly going on right now. My sweetie and eldest son are attempting to remake the picnic table in the dark. THere just was a big bang and a 'are you alright?!' coming from the back yard. I think we all need to go to bed but knowing Charley the picnic table will get done in the next few hours.......Erik is on the way to bed.

Hard at work

Here are two of the younger boys hard at work laying mulch in the garden paths. I think one was working harder than the other but there is nothing wrong with a willingness to try. I am grateful my kids are not afraid of hard work. It makes taking care of the ten acres a lot easier and keeps them out of trouble.

All of the gardens are looking pretty good and the budget has been pretty low this year. I am stealing Narstursium volunteers from one bed and throwing them in a new place this year. I love volunteers.....usually. Trumpet vine volunteers are bad, bad, bad. I can tell the battle is on with those already this year.

That is all for today!

My husband likes to build with blocks

Charley gets teased a lot about wood but here is my latest insight. It came to me while I was mowing the lawn and looking at piles of wood. I will elaborate on other grown-ups another time but I think most of us are still kids. Of the grown ups I know, I know a lot of kids. So I spent time thinking about how each of my friends have obsessions that are sort of kid like. Charley's is building with blocks. His blocks have changed size since he was a boy. If my picture works, this is a picture of the house Charley built for his blocks. I guess it is sort of like a big steralite container but it is a BIG CONTAINER. The piles of wood are like my little boys piles of blocks etc that get scattered around the house. Charley's piles are just scattered around the yard. Just like a kid but his toys are a lot bigger! They require their own homes. WHile I mow the lawn it is like vacuuming the living room. I have to move my little boys blocks to make sure I don't clog up the vacuum cleaner but in the yard I find stray pieces here and there that cause really loud noises and sometimes I have to turn off the mower - just like the vacuum that sucks up an army guy. Interesting. So.......I also thought about how most of my friends who act kiddish are male. Isn't that cute. I won't elaborate at the moment but if I stop and think about it, it is true.

Oh, also my biggest boy (Charley) also likes to make big impressive buildings with his wood. Like a little boy with Lincoln Logs, he dreams about the next structure he can make. I see my little boys dreaming up little buildings to build with their blocks and then the biggest boy does the same. Does that mean when he spaces off he is dreaming up another building block design?

The picture did come through and it is filled with blocks before it was even done. It now has all the exterior walls and like a little boy, he shows all his friends his latest creation. He really is the cutest person I know. Our 20th anniversary is coming up so perhaps we should go to a lumber yard and take a picnic. I bet he hasn't thought of that idea! Or........we could go to a forest and have a picnic and he could dream of all the building blocks he could make out of the trees. He loves trees though so he would wait till they fall down.

Ok, so I suppose the women I know are like little girls and our dolls just bigger and don't sit quietly on a blanket waiting to be fed. Such deep thoughts.

Antiprocrastination day

Today is antiprocrastination day in our house. I know it should usually be Wednesday but we procrastinated till today to celebrate antiprocrastination day. Say that three times fast. We hope to get our 4-H papers filled out, buy cake supplies for a job of Anna's, clean out the camping trailer, renew liscense plates, pay some bills, fill out some medical forms, mow the lawn (some parts for the first time) and clean the house. Hmmmm......that doesn't seem possible so we will do what we can and procrastinate to another day. Later today I hope to post a sweet quote from Martin. I will have to write in his scrap book too! Hope you are all having a productive day. OH.....I forgot about hoeing the garden.....I will have to get right on that.

Swarm of today

It was hard to capture the image but you can see the bees above the hive. Normally they shoot in and out of the front and you wouldn't see so many above and on top. They shot into the top white super after Erik set it aside. I thought it was cool and interesting. They made two splits and then got this freebe hive, queen included to boot. The other two Erik is raising queens from young brood and bees/honey he placed in with. I think he used a queen cell from one of his other hives in this so technically the one may not need to raise a queen. Yay!

I figured it out!

This is a swarm from last year that flitted off into a near by tree. We thought we had bagged this one but failed and as usual didn't have the right equipment or the time to mess with retrieving it. This was in late July so "A swarm in July, is not worth a fly". There you have it.

A swarm in May....

I love beekeeping! If I wasn't wrestling a baby I would be more involved. We had a fun morning and to my great relief actually caught a swarm that was happening before our eyes. We have lost swarms before so this was truly a relief. Erik was making a split from another hive when I mentioned that a hive was looking angrier than normal so.......the bees got busier and were showing the tell tale signs of an imanant swarm. Erik took the honey super off of it and a few minutes later they settled into it. He didn't take the super off for any other reason than to try to get into the hive and tell them to stop (ha ha). He really said that "don't swarm, stop it!" I called the beekeeping president and he said "cool, put a brood chamber on top and shut her up. You can retrieve the honey super in a few days." So there you have it, we have another hive with little effort. A swarm in May is worth a load of hay. THis year it may be worth a lot more!

The last few swarms we experienced in previous years were lost to tall trees and hollow trees. Bummer.

I love the critical thinking involved in beekeeping. How do we psych these creatures out and get a honey crop! Last year's crop was so/so. It was a year of clean up which needs to continue this year as well. Hopefully we can find enough time this summer to do this. I wish I knew how to post pictures as the bee pictures are pretty cool.

A breath of fresh air!

Yesterday was the best day I have had in a LONG time. I didn 't really think about the effect of attending to the cute little blub, blub till he had a good day. He ate food like a little birdie, smiled frequently, played happily and took several long wonderful naps! Wow. Charley was also able to really hold him and interact with him for really the first time since he was born. He was thrilled! There is nothing quite like the little birdie mouth opening when you have been fighting to get a little baby to eat so he can gain weight. Hopefully this keeps up and he does gain weight. That would be huge relief.

A small portion of my house got cleaned too! Another miracle. My kiddos can clean and do clean but they don't see the dust bunnies hopping around under chairs etc. Perhaps today the couch can be yanked out and the floor cleaned. Who knew that I would ever be ecstatic to be able to wash a floor.

A year after cute husband's 20th anniversary at Bosch, we finally made it out to eat with his boss and wife. Thank you Robert! We went to the Morris Inn which I think is relatively not known but I would say is one of the best restaurants in the area. The food was great and we had a nice time discussing Charley's obsessions. So there again I had two hours with the hubby and the baby was reported to be cheerful and happy while I was gone (even though his eight year old brother had a few bad moments.....).

My cute husband also fixed my other baby, the lawn mower. It purrs like a......lion? definately not a kitten but it does run smoothly and.......I can turn it on without jumping it.....and the blades actually can be turned on and off without monkeying around with it. Do all people get such joy out of a tool that works? The lawn should be looking pretty spiffy again and the winter blues will melt away. Or are the blues my personal hyper need to exercise? .....one of those.

We shall see what today holds but thanks be to God for one good, perky day yesterday.

Proud of my kids

From the top

Anna played her second service this evening and played the hymn this time (only one hymn can you immagine?). She said it was pretty hot up there and wondered where the pastors hid their water. Things went well and I think she is gaining confidence. She is not ready for 7 or 8 hymns....yet.

Erik is working hard on his math, reading etc and also catechesis seems to be going a little better - yay! Then another surprise happened last night. He came home from scouts and he had been elected Senior Patrol Leader - wow! I hope he can handle that but in a way it is a good thing as he realizes he must read up on what to do to be successful. He had the dad strut going on when he came up the driveway after the meeting. "Wow Erik, SPL!" he replies "yeh, thanks" very non-chalant, aloof. He proceeded to go work on something as if having his dream come true happened every day. He's growing up.....snif, snif....

Matthew.....uh, he is working hard at school as usual but I don't think he has anything new to report. Oh, he did give a pretty thorough report of the his art project so that was good.

Martin acolyted tonight and as far as I can tell did pretty well. I am not sure if he lit them in the right order or anything but he did get them lit, the church is still standing, and nothing else caught on fire - phew. He has been wanting to do this for a long time so I am proud of him and happy for him. He is also paying very close attention to his reading and daily catechesis so again I am amazed at this blosoming boy. (Ever read "Leo, the late bloomer?" that is Martin but he made it too).

Cecilia is reading!!!! What a relief. She is eating up a chapter book already so yes, I am proud of her (and her wonderful teacher, God bless her, LaRena). I think we will soon have another book addict on our hands.

Benjamin.....uh....ok I got it.....he is trying very hard to say the Lord's prayer and the Creed with us so yes, I am proud of him too.

Stefan.....slept till 7:30am this morning....ate a few bites too - yippee. I think he said Ma Ma tonight but it may just be the sound for the day.

That's all for this week in the Horner kid news

Miracles do happen!

Dear friends came to tell us this evening that they are expecting!!!! They will remain nameless for now but no one they know reads this as far as I know or can tell. So anyway, they have one other little miracle who is five and they had basically given up hope from what I could tell. We had all stopped talking about the possibility and the docs were pretty grim about the whole thing. So.....out of the blue she was suspecting that something was going on and it was!!!!! Christ be praised!!!! I am so excited! This goes to show that the only person who can surprise me is Jesus. No one else (ok one person did surprise me once but not family) has ever surprised me - not like this. Picture people jumping up and down in the front lawn hugging and crying. We are so very happy for them words can not express. So.....if you are guessing who this is but don't really run into people they know keep it under your hat for now. THis is not a very public blog that I know of so I think I am safe to journal this out here.

Oh, here is the kicker. Their son said to them before they knew, something to the effect of referring to 'the new baby'. Some little guy has been praying for a sibling I think.


Joyful, joyful we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of Love!
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, Praising Thee, their sun above
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, Drive the gloom of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day

Christ be praised!

Benjamin

Benjamin says the oddest things. It is cute of course. When we went to the grocery the other day he was so excited about everything he saw. I hardly ever take him with so you would think we were in an amusement park. He was singing with gusto and announcing everything that might be great to buy and then he said......"don't forget the beer". I don't think anyone heard him. What a hoot. A budding Lutheran.

Then a few minutes ago he was arguing with someone and he said......"I'm going to tell Pastor Stuckwisch on you!!!!" Interesting.......seriously I have never heard anyone even imply that they would tell Pastor anything like that!!! So where does he get this stuff anyway?

Benjamin is also a little sneak. He can be found raiding the refridgerator with great skill. One time he had poured himself a bowl of granola and had opened a container of cottage cheese (he thought it was yogart) and was preparing a little feast. We must not feed him enough.

He feels when I leave to go somewhere it is movie time. I think he was hoping I would go somewhere yesterday as he asked if he could watch a movie while I was gone. I wasn't going anywhere.

That's all the cuteness for the day.

Deep conversation

Cindy and I went walking again. Today's topic was as usual deep and humorous at the same time. The other day she called me to see if she was having a normal reaction to a weird encounter. She had come out of the doctors office with her girls and was waiting for the parking lot shuttle when.....a man in a car started waving and smiling at her girls. So they put on their little smiles and waved. THen......the man kept waving and seemed to be getting annoyed that they weren't waving anymore. His wife got out of the car and asked Cindy if she would please just wave at him. SO......Cindy asked me if she was off her rocker or was that odd. I assured her that was a little unusual and that the wife really jumped out of the car so her dear husband would be satisfied by them waving thus leaving her alone.

So.....why does this sort of event make us think about how others are different. Who knows. Shouldn't we be able to just LET IT GO!!!!!!! Of course not. I did try not to giggle too much when she asked me about this incident. Of course that is a little weird and the mind can then wander to what that woman goes through driving around with her husband. "Ugh, he is waving at kids again. Honey, just let them cross the street, they already smiled and waved". Perhaps he had alzeimers on a more serious note so kept waving.

So.....again if someone says something odd to us why do we ruminate about it forever. "Gee Karin, the baby has a little rash, that is too bad." I really don't have to waste time thinking about those sort of comments. THere just wasn't anything else to say. Cindy was just asking at what point do we just stop worrying about such silly things and I guess the answer is probably.....never. I do think as we get older it is getting easier to just sort of laugh and think "that was cute".

Stefan aerobics

Stefan is eye popping up. It is no wonder he has difficulty gaining weight. His banana inhaling has given him gas with the major wiggles. I suppose he weighs more now since he can't seem to do his business.. Just what you all want to read. I'm glad my family doesn't snore as I think I might be jealous. I know this little guy is growing as he IS outgrowing his clothes. He is just not gaining weight well. Is it possible little Horners are wound a little tight and/or have high matabolisms???? No Campbell soup babies here.

Friends

I have had a GREAT time with friends lately. Conversations have been meaningful - very - and it has been good to spend time with all my buds lately. THat is ever so refreshing. Cindy and I are walking in the morning I think and then I think......LaRena and kids may come over to sulk and I will do my best to cheer them up. We can eat fresh eggs and bacon and just sulk. I will certainly miss having Zach around. One less tall boy toting candles, crucifixes and bibles around. Sigh. I will certainly miss seeing him tote Fredo around too. (Not meaning to make anyone cry - this is my blog - smile).

Another friend's son is 18 as well and in the process of figuring things out for the future. I am thinking he will be hanging around in the area at least for another year. He will probably be working somewhere so he and Erik won't be as free to go on a bike ride on a whim. Sigh.

I hope everyone will hold my hand when my turn comes.

THe Stefan update is he seemed to suck down his bananas with gusto today. Charley observed he wasn't using his high chair but said he didn't care if I hung him from the ceiling to get him to eat something if it worked. I think that meant......we spent money on that lovely, wondrous high chair and you are feeding him in your lap dear. What's up with that but I am glad it works.

Nothing more earthshattering happened this week that I can think of. Matthews bee split died with that cold snap so he will have to start over. Martin went to the firehouse and loved every minute of that. I mowed a lot of lawn and it is growing fast........grass, grass, and more grass. The mower is misbehaving and does not like to do what it is told to do. That translates to another honeydo. I guess that is easier for him than having to mow the massive amount of grass around here.

Time to hit the hay.

Anna played her first service!

I have kept pretty quiet with dd about her playing for church as I didn't want to make her nervous. I personally feel she did great! For her first time I would say it was remarkable in my totally biased opinion. An older gentleman of the congregation asked who was playing the organ. He doesn't know us that well and didn't realize she was our daughter. Charley was proudly informing him she was HIS daughter. Pretty cute.

Stefan looks much better lately and I am actually having to remember to bathe him. I do not have the constant feeling that he looks like a lizard and MUST be bathed as many times as I can get to it. He seems a little happier. I think he was really 'talking' to me during his last bath. He said a little sound repeatedly that sounded like 'hi'. How cute. THis would be the earliest I can remember something like that happening. Matthew distinctly said MaMa at 9mo which was sweet.

We are making angel food cake and having fresh strawberries to celebrate Anna's first service. I hear the mixing bowl going downstairs.

60 plus pounds of potatoes

I just got back from getting another 50 pounds of seed potatoes. Hopefully that will be enough to fill the plot! Last year we missed out on buying Kennebecs, my favorite variety so I am excited to have pleanty this year. I love a home grown potato. (Boy I can see why Dan Quayle couldn't remember how to spell potato. I stare at that word and am still not sure).

Yesterday was my good friend Cindy's bday. We took a great walk in the country and saw all sorts of spring flowers. I am sure she found it odd when we walked down the road next to our house and saw part of one of our ducks laying there. YYYUUUUKKKKKK!!!!!!! Those Horners are so weird. It turns out my dh tossed it there after finding it in the field. Toss farther Charley!!!!!! YYYUUUUKKKKK! Anyway, it was a nice walk despite weird things happening.

Rick and LaRena came over after that - party animals. It was May day so a nice fire in the back yard and good friends did seem appropriate. I am sort of amused by fears of ticks.....although that is not a totally unfounded fear. The bats (butterflies) flitting around were interesting too. Hopefully there are a lot more opportunities in the warmer months to either hide from ticks in the city or broaden certain people's horizons in the country. Smirk.

Today is way too busy so I better shut up and go retrieve my art students. Time flies fast when you are buying potatoes.