I'm enjoying today because everyone in the family is home. This is really nice for a Saturday. How many Saturdays does the average family have, when they can just be home getting things done?

Alan's current project is replacing all of the boards in the deck. He will replace all of the boards on the horizontal surfaces, including steps, railings, and the main area. It's a big job and lots of hard work. Bryan is helping him, and that is great. I've come to really appreciate how much Bryan can help with the work around here. Everything from mowing to carrying heavy stuff comes under his umbrella. I love it that he can help me carry heavy things from time to time. I usually tell him, "Thank you strong son," with my Mr. Miyagi accent. If you've ever seen the Karate Kid, you'll know the accent. Now that I've recovered from the shock of having my son suddenly grow from boy to half man, I'm learning to enjoy his strength. :)

How does our garden grow? Good news! Jadyn's flowers are coming up. I was very surprised when we went out yesterday and her plants had come up. I was surprised and relieved. Honestly, I wasn't sure how long the packet of flower seeds had been around and I was slightly worried that they might be so old that they wouldn't grow. They came up in only 5 days. She is growing zinnias!

Well folks, Stealth Girl has been at it again. She has had an incident with the cats' food and water every single day for about 5 days now. It's insane! We have no idea what has gotten into her and why she is suddenly obsessed with their food and water. It doesn't seem to matter that she gets into trouble when she makes these messes. She's obsessed!

Today for instance, she woke us up at about 7:20 A.M. Apparently she had been up long before this. She told us that she didn't want us to open the basement door. She finally said it was because she "made a mess down there". I went down to the basement and took a look. I came up the stairs and told Alan, "You better come have a look, it's not pretty."

She had gotten into the large container of cat food. She poured both of their food bowls to overflowing. Then she poured large amounts of food here, there and everywhere in the basement. What a mess. We didn't freak out or get super mad, we just told her she'd be cleaning it all up by herself. It took her a good hour to hour and a half to get that done. She didn't think it was too fun. Maybe somehow the clean-up will have an impact on her.

We have 2 graduation parties to attend this weekend, so that will fun. Tomorrow is Bryan's first parade of the season. We'll look forward to seeing their new show.


Have a great weekend everyone!

Stealth Girl's idea of fun. Just add water!

Even Jadyn has helped with the deck. She picks up old nails and puts them in a bucket.

Kaitlyn checks out the new power tool!

Strong son
This is a photo of Jadyn by a water feature at a nursery, last weekend.
This is Jadyn with some dandelions she picked for me. My friend, Suzanne gave me this vase years ago. It's for the special flowers that your child picks for you. I wonder if Suzanne will recognize this little vase? When she gave me this vase, Bryan was a lot younger. Who knew I'd have another little girl to someday to pick flowers for me? :)

Here's a photo of Jadyn that I took for a "virtual reunion" of our China travel group. The small photo she's holding is from about 2 months after we came home from China.She's changed so much in 2 years!