Pepper and More

Steph R introduced us to a new seasoning, Pepper and More, while we were on vacation.  So, I had to use the name in the post that is mostly, but not entirely about Pepper!

I really don’t have much to say.  When we were in Indy, Ellie and Grandma and Grandpa juggled him.  While we were in Sandbridge, the Combses, Tessa, and even Sandy helped handle his care, but mostly Tessa.  He is mostly annoying with visitors and vehicles outside our house.  But sometimes he is very low-key and easy to like. 

He enjoyed father’s day with us on the patio.

    

He also just looks mellow, sad, lonely, or just tired. 

The “and more” part is that the girls wanted to run another 5K a little closer to track season.  I think it was far enough out from track that they weren’t in the same shape, and it was hot, but not as hot as it had been.  They ran in the Kidron Days 5K on some country roads.  I ran/walked a 5K on the sidewalks and park paths of Kidron which were shadier.  And we all had some fun.

And last image to leave you with… my mom shared this sunset a few nights ago that is currently the wallpaper on my phone. What a stunner!

Random Summer Happenings

Welcome to summer.  It will go fast, a blink of an eye, but we will enjoy it.  Here are some pictures of the first month of fairly insignificant happenings. Pepper, 4 –H service project (actually before summer started), Jen Quinones visited and we went BOWLING!, a picnic with the neighbor girls.

We also visited a new bookstore/coffee shop in Apple Creek, Midnight Readers, for a craft activity night with Sandy.  We thought we were making one bookmark and having a special drink.  We were pleasantly surprised that we made 2 bookmarks and a keychain while we drank our drinks.  It was crafty.  It left no time to peruse the bookstore, so we will have to go back to do that another time. 

              

Glimpses of Things

Pepper has been quite photogenic lately.  He enjoys snuggling and burrowing into things with these colder temperatures.

    

He has also managed to get stuck a couple times, usually because he is trying to do something he shouldn’t be doing.  He tried to get on the table, but whined when he got his head stuck and couldn’t move.  He tried to get his big boy body underneath the couch to dig and burrow, but then he was too big. 

    

He also brings us things for attention.  The pen is just one of his many tricks – usually it is socks, followed by underwear or shoes, sometimes a baseball cap or a pen. Oh the joys!

Jen and Jeremy were going through a box of fun items we had brought here to look through from Gloria’s – who knows what you might need for spirit week.  They found some keepers!

The girls found a way to keep busy one day by dressing each other up as someone else.  Madison created an outfit for Ellie reminiscent of a character from the movie (book) Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret.  Ellie put together an outfit to mimic Sandra Bullock after her Miss Congeniality transformation.  Fun looks!

Jeremy remembered Valentine’s Day, as always; this year with roses in honor of our 20th anniversary of our first date and Valentine’s Day.

And… Madison got her braces off after 3 years of various appliances in her mouth.  She now has retainers daily until the end of school, but no more braces!

    

Halloween and other things

Ellie and her friend, Bailey, wanted to go trick-or-treating together in coordinated costumes.  They thought they could both be Minions.  So, at the last minute (of course), we stopped at Hobby Lobby to see what we could find.  We found yellow truckers hats and yellow shirts.  Heather (Bailey’s mom and the crafty one) rounded the outfit out by making googles stickers to add to the hats and cutting navy ribbon to make suspenders for them.  And I think they looked great!

Josie and Janie also joined them for the neighborhood walk which was fun for all.  They were Joy and Sadness from Inside Out.

Jeremy, Madison (who kinda wanted to dress up, but didn’t want to walk around, but also felt too old to really dress up…), my mom, and I heanded out candy at the house. 

It was a beautiful day!  Pepper dressed up and made it for a brief moment outside.  Landen stopped by and Grandma didn’t recognize him at first.  He had to come back for his kiss :)

    

Afterwards, Bailey and Ellie swung by Living Water’s Trunk-or-Treat to see the their friends who had a trunk set up. 

    

Other fun pictures…

Ellie getting ready to sing the national anthem before a volleyball game with her choir.

Madison singing at her first high school choir concert

Packing school kits for the MCC Resource Center on a Wednesday night.  We packed over 800 school kits!!  Ellie, Landen, and Miriam worked on the pencils.

Going through some things at Grandma Yoh’s house – a treasure trove a such a variety of items!

A career exploration day for Madison

Summer Vacation Planning 2024

This summer we had not planned a vacation since we were going to go with the Edigers; however, that changed (read previous post).  So, the beginning of June, I had an idea to have the girls each plan a short trip with a budgeted amount of money.  I ran the idea by Jeremy and shared the idea with them. 

We told them they could each plan a vacation that would last 4 days and 3 nights with a budget of $1000.  That money would include lodging, activities, and most food; it would not include tolls and gas. 

They were both very excited about the idea to do this.  They started really big – places far away, exotic places, and fun multi-city locations.  Then, they were restricted by the time and/or the budget.  After some discussion, we agreed that for this length of time a location about 4-5 hours away was most plausible. 

So, they started again.  We tried using ChatGPT (artificial intelligence) to suggest places and activities in a 5 hour radius.  That actually gave some good suggestions as we narrowed it down – locations for hiking, locations on a lake, locations for shopping, etc. 

Then, they would pick a location and the lodging would be way to expensive. 

This vacation project involved some frustration, some tears, and some near quitting, but they both persevered to find great locations, lodging, and activities. 

During the process, we heard things like,

“This is how you plan vacations!” 

“This takes a lot of time and work.”

“When do you do all of this?” 

“We have a lot more respect for you planning vacations!”

And while none of that was the intention of them planning, it was a positive by-product.

See following posts to the final product.

Stuff in June

June has come and gone.  While some of June has been spent doing fun, vacation-y things, we had some normal weeks as well.  It is always an interesting shift from the scheduled life of school to the open-endedness of summer days.  While I really like not working, it takes me a minute to find my new rhythm.  I find I like getting up between 7:30-8am to start my day - a huge difference from the 5:45am of school!  If I start with exercise, it doesn’t slip through the cracks as the day progresses; so, that’s usually where I start – walk, run, bike, lift, or if I plan to clean the house, I count that!  From there, the day just rolls through.  I usually have some daily or weekly things I want to accomplish – cleaning, laundry, organization, vacation planning, baking, movie watching, etc.  And I just enjoy the time I have to manage all those things. 

*Interestingly, in a conversation just last night, Madison was investigating what it takes to be a nanny and how much a nanny makes.  She was reading about the nanny of the year – the tasks she does and why she was nanny of the year.  Then, the article noted that since kids are mostly in school, she has transitioned to a family assistant role.  Then, the article described that.  And you know what?  It is exactly what I do, so I now have a new job title “family assistant.”

I received some recipes from Compassion International that highlighted foods from various countries.  So, one night I made an African themed meal with Togolese Grilled Chicken and Tanzanian Coconut Rice.  I thought both were pretty good. 

The girls and I had a day trip to Lehman’s and World Crafts.  Then, enjoyed some of Schloneger’s Homemade Ice Cream.

Madison wanted to try to make macarons.   The recipe is very elaborate and the steps seem very precise.  She did a pretty good job for her first time.  (I don’t love macarons, so I had no idea if it really tasted like it should have or not.)

And the girls (especially Ellie) begged to go swimming – it is summer after all!  So, we went one day to a friend’s pool.  The weather was not good.  It started pouring and hailing and blowing like crazy, so we had to retreat to the house which they were kind of enough to let us in!  We did go back a few days later to enjoy the pool in nicer weather!

Father’s Day is in June.  We had a impromptu gathering with my family at my parents’ house which was a lot of fun.  Then, on Sunday, the girls wanted to take Jeremy fishing at P. Graham Dunn pond.  With the last minute notice, we didn’t have good bait, but I think everyone had fun.

         

Oh my goodness! I almost forgot these funny faces…