Thanks To All

Thank you to so many who offered me birthday wishes today. My sweet husband put together a pot-luck surprise birthday dinner. I had a great time visiting with so many friends and family. Max could hardly stand himself to have so many friends to play with tonight. Pictures will be forth coming.

I really am looking forward to the upcoming year. It will only get better and better!

It's Coming ...

I'm just watching the clock here on my computer ... the inevitable is coming ... just hours away ... some say it is "the big one" others say it is the beginning of being "old" and some still say life starts at .... 40!

I told Mark tonight that I was not sure if I was ready to be 4 score. Luckily I have 1 hour and 58 minutes to figure it out. Life's has not been too boring as of late and I do not want to complain. Many women this age have all kinds of interesting and fun things to keep them busy. I am no exception. My life and family are so wonderful and I am truly grateful for all the many things that I have learned and for the things that I am still learning.

I can hardly wait to see what adventures come to me this new year. Oh boy... and don't worry for those of you interested, Mark will be joining me in a few short months. So starting tomorrow Mark will have an older & wiser wife for a few short months!

Whale Of A Time ...

Today Max helped me run all kinds of errands while Mark needed to get some work done on the computer. We spent most of the day down in Stephens City where the "big park" is and has the "big slide". When we got to the park of course there were a zillion other kids there who mostly like to run and trample over the smaller kids ... urghh. Anyway, in order to get Max back in the car, I told him that we would go check out the pool they have at the park and see what it is all about. That seem to work to get him back in the car and off we went to find the local community pool. The pool is nice and big but, no chairs, no shade and for our family of three it would cost $8.50 each time (a little high I thought) and neither Mark nor I really enjoy sporting a swim suit. Now we were on our way back home and Max was needing a nap really bad at this point and all he could talk about was getting his swim suit and going back to the pool. So after nap time of course he remembered the swimming idea and so we convinced Max to go pick out a pool of his very own to have in our backyard from where you say??? Of course Walmart. So here is our new family private pool. Yes we welcome visitors who are 5 and under to swim free .... and feel no pressure to wear your swim suit!

Happy Fathers Day!

For Fathers Day this year, I decided to make the investment in a tent and a couple of sleeping bags. Mark has never been able to go on the Fathers / Son Campout with our church friends since we have not had any camping gear. In general, Mark and I are not campers but, as I was joking to Mark .... this may be our new home!! ( ha ha ha ) Anyway, the boys were excited and we decided that we'll have to work on getting more camping gear as money permits but, at least we have some basics. If nothing else, we can add this to our storage / self-reliance kits. Justin was a really good help in setting it up to surprise Mark with and Max could hardly contain himself.

After church on Sunday we had a pot-luck Fathers Day dinner with some friends. We had some great food and I made these cupcakes to make them look like a golf-course. All 18 holes were represented along with some sand-traps. The golf balls are tic-tacs and the sand is crushed up graham crackers. I made the flags from construction paper and toothpicks. They were really good and we even shared a couple with our next door neighbor who is an avid golf player! Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful fathers!

Super Soaker Pictures

Saturday afternoon the boys decided to get their suits on and play in the sprinklers. After the first splash in to Maxs' eyes he came up with the best solution .... the goggles! Then you add the super soaker squirt guns and this is what you come up with! Max ran all around squirting Justin, the rocks, the fence, the patio, etc. and had a grand time. This is really a favorite of both boys right now. (Justin 12, Max 3)

Justin's 6th Grade Graduation

6th Grade Graduation was on Thursday, June 18th! Mark was able to travel down to Falls Church and be there to see all the kids walk across the stage and receive their certificates. Justin will start at a new middle school this fall which only has 7th & 8th graders. He is very excited and did very well on his final report card! Congratulations Justin!
Later that evening we took Justin out to a local favorite restaurant Romas and then to Rita's for an ice cream. He had a great day and we were happy to have been able to celebrate with him.

For the Record

Well it has now been 7 months since Mark was laid off as a Civil Engineer in the private industry and we are still looking for a job and trying to sell our house. The job opportunity in Billings, MT did not work out (filled from within) and we are waiting to hear if the same company is interested in his resume from Bizmark, ND. The Blacksburg, VA job opportunity did not work out either. Our house is now practically free... if anyone is interested ... let me know. You can practically have the keys at this point.

I started contacting some realtors about some rental properties closer to George Mason where Mark will go to school this fall if no job .... and it turns out every house that looked good to me also looked good to many others. I guess we'll really have to be ready to move when we know for sure school is the FINAL answer. Nice rental properties are going quick.

Frustrated and disappointed .... I think I will go to bed now.