August 14, 2010

Claudia talking to her "baby"	Rushed around to get the whole clan ready for church on time Sunday.  Bro. Gary preached on "On the Way to Glory".  We had sarmales & caesar salad for dinner.  We all took naps.  I made up a batch of fresh peach salsa and a batch of bread in our breadmaker for supper.  We had in interesting service in the evening.  Danny Hege had the first topic on "Menno Simons" and then Marvin Dueck discussed what he saw as "Strengths & Weaknesses of our Mennonite Culture".  The service was interesting but got a little long for the children.
Processing butternut squash.	I made waffles for breakfast on Monday while Ina Sue started the laundry.  Carolina Sue is a big help and hangs many of the clothes up on her little line.  She also got them in after they were dry and helped to fold them.  Ina Sue made up a big batch of fresh peach cobbler for me to take along to our finance committee meeting at Hephzibah tonight.  In the afternoon the children went swimming for a while with Carolyn Heatwole.  After I left for Hephzibah, Ina Sue got the children bathed and finished folding the clothes.  I got home around 11:00.  We got word today that we have a new niece.  Laura Beth Martin was born to Ina Sue's sister Jeanne and her husband Keith at around 11:20 tonight.  That makes her birth date 8-9-10,11:20.  It seems they could have sped things up by 8 minutes....
Milton & Karen.	I made us a "Shoney's" breakfast of scrambled eggs, grits, bacon, toast & orange juice for breakfast on Tuesday.  After I headed off to work Ina Sue and Carolina worked to put up a big batch of butternut squash for the freezer.  She made us jalapeno poppers and squash casserole for supper.  I came home a little early from work and picked up a Ditch-Witch from Bro. Wendell.  He rented one today to dig some of his yard irrigation ditches but was finished by the afternoon.  I had told him I would like to help with the rent if I could use it to dig a few more ditches here.  I worked for about 2 hours to dig irrigation ditches across the back part of our yard and through our blueberry patch.  Ina Sue got stung by a wasp while she was watering our ferns.  Her hand is really swelling up!
Some wonderful Rook games over the weekend.	I got up and left around 6:30 on Wednesday.  Went to the school and worked some more on the phone lines.  Came back home and took our minivan to work with me so that I could get the battery & a/c worked on.  Ina Sue and the children cleaned up the garden and finished the ironing.  I came home at 4:00 and helped get the children packed up.  We dropped them off with Patricks and took a "date" night to Aiken with just ourselves.  This is the first evening that we have left Claudia...  She seemed to do fine.  We went to Chilis for supper then did some shopping.  Ina Sue's hand has swollen up even bigger and is really hurting her.  Home by 10:00
Savannah enjoyed cooking with Grandma's little stove.	I had a really busy day at work on Thursday.  It was really hot.  Ina Sue pulled more weeds then had the children "help" her scrub off the front porch rockers.  When I got home she had "Deluxe" grilled cheese sandwiches waiting for supper.  Tomato, avacado, bacon and two different cheeses added a new dimension to the old standard.  After supper I mowed yard while Ina Sue bathed the girls.  After the children were in bed we made up a batch of potato salad for the weekend.
Feeding the children takes more time these days...	I rushed off to work on Friday and tried to get everything caught up so that I could leave early.  I got home around 3:30 and helped get the children ready and the packing done.  We left for Hartwell, GA around 7:00.  When we got there Karen had pancakes and gravy with sausages waiting for us.  We had a wonderful evening visiting with the whole Strite family.  We are thankful that Sheldon & Laura are still on furlough from NYP so they could join us for the weekend.  We stayed upstairs in Fellowship Hall in a wonderful double room suite.  That makes it so nice with our children at the age they are....  The only problem was that Savannah fell out of bed several times.
Macie checks out her little cousin.	Nevin & KayK were in charge of our breakfast Saturday morning.  They served biscuits & gravy and scrambled eggs.  We all stayed at the center all day.  It is a wonderful place for the family to get together.  The children have a big time in the gym and the parents have all kinds of places to play games and visit.  Mom served us a delicious sub buffet for lunch, then we had grilled tenderloin, vegetables and potato salad for supper.  After supper we sang together as a family for while.  Unfortunately we started having some trouble with the sewer in the evening and ended up having to go up to the girls dorms to take showers.  Oh well....