St Paul Farmers Market

Friday, as Kim, Alair and I were driving home from shopping in Mankato, I got the idea to go to the St. Paul farmers market on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. I called Kris Felber and we decided to go the next day instead. Kris and I had talked about meeting there earlier in the summer. We got there about 9am and were just in awe. The first thing we saw was a stand with the most beautiful flowers. Alair picked out a dark purple arrangement and it only cost six dollars. There were so many vegetables and they were quite inexpensive. Needless to say, we bought a lot. Next, we went to Grand Avenue and ate at Axel's Firepit. The food was very good and they had a nice gluten free menu for Kris. After that,shopping! There's a nice yarn store down the street and I got some wool felting things there. We also went to Penzys spices and bought some interesting smelling things. There are other stores we want to go to the next time we go up there, hopefully this Saturday with the kids. On the way home I was trying to come up with something to make for dinner on Sunday and DUH,vegetable soup. It was very good.I also made a raspberry pie. Yum!

The Great Minnesota Get-Together

We went up to the State Fair yesterday. Aubrey and the girls and Emily, Andy and Carly. It was a lot of fun and very tiring. We had decided to leave when Emily said she had enough. Being 8 months pregnant, she isn't able to walk a long time. She did last about 4 hours though. We saw almost everything we wanted to. The girls all loved the animals the best. soft bunnies and big horses most. We all ate way too much. They all stayed at our home for supper and baths. It was a very good day and we all had a great time.

August 22

We had a very busy weekend. Alair had her birthday party with friends and nieces on Friday. They swam and ate pizza and wore hula skirts and leis and played in her room. She had a blast.
Saturday we went to mankato and bought food for Sunday. We went for burgers at the legion for supper and then to Louise and Al's for dessert. The Vikings didn't start until 9:00 pm, so I was up pretty late. Everyone else went to bed.
Sunday, we had tacos for lunch and byo sundaes. Alair got some more presents and most stayed through supper. We watched Carly for the evening and Alair and Carly fought alot as they were both very tired. Finally put on Little House on the Prairie and they both watched it.
Today I am baking oatmeal raisin cookies for Christine to ship to her brother. He is on a ship somewhere and had surgery to remove an infection from his rear. I guess he's in a lot of pain. Hope cookies help.

6 years

Six years ago today, a little girl was born with alcohol and cocaine in her system to a mother addicted to drugs and who used just about everything there was all the time. The little girl did not go through withdrawal. She was put on a 72 hour hold at the hospital as she was born on a Friday. Monday morning, I got a phone call from the county asking if we wanted a baby. We were foster parents. I said sure. She came with a few diapers, a couple bottles of formula and a sleeper. I thought she would go back to birth parents after they were released from treatment. That was not to be. We decided when she was four months old, that if the opportunity arose we would adopt her. It did and when she was 21 months old she legally became ours. We were able to have her baptized the week before that. We have never regretted the decision. Last year she started kindergarten and successfully graduated in May. At this point there are no symptoms of FAS or anything else. Her mother did not want to continue the pregnancy, but it was too late by the time she talked to her doctor about it. Thank God it was!!! This world and our family would not get to have this wonderful little girl be a part of it.

Just Got to Thinking.....

When we had little ones, we would got to my parents for Sunday Dinner most Sundays after church. My brother, his wife and their children would be there and sometimes our sister and her kids. Dad always loved these days. Mom did most of the cooking until her car accident in 1987. We would stay the afternoon and usually find something for supper also. Dad always played with the grandkids and they loved climbing on him. He would carry around a fussy baby for what seemed hours. After the accident we would bring meals down there at times, but found it esier to have the family here at our home. Which we tried to do often. Holidays were here and my siblings and families would come some other times, but not so often. Flash forward to now.... Most of the kids come here for Sunday Dinner,after church, most Sundays. Kim's sister and her husband come often. The kids stay most of the day and then find supper out of the leftovers in the fridge. I get to rock little ones to sleep in the afternoon for their naps and usually fall asleep with them. I just love these days and hope I am blessed with many years of Sundays.

Is this heat ever going to end? The humidity ia high and it's hard to do anything outside. We can't use the pool right now because we don't have sand for the filter. We ordered it three weeks ago and it still hasn't shown up. If it's not here this week ,Kim is going to get it somewhere else. Yeah, oh duh, but we try to buy locally when we can and support our little community.
I can't believe it's the first of August already. I don't know where the summer went. CVLHS starts in three weeks. Alair will start the day after Labor Day. We will be having two birthday parties for her this year. One with school friends and one with family. She wants a Hawaiian themed party with grass skirts. Should be fun.