Back to School!

Hope this post finds you well and happy and enjoying the end of summer! Has it flown by or what!?!? Fall is almost here, and I said I'd come back in the fall, so here I am!

It’s been busy around here for sure. We drove to the northwest corner of Iowa in July for a wedding reception for one of Kevin’s cousins, which was a long long trip with Mr. Sam but went remarkably well. We came home to find that my mom had had a stroke on the 7th, which was shocking news to come home to. She’s doing remarkably well. She is staying by herself now and is expected to make a very good recovery. She's already made great strides!

Soon after that, we had our Sewer and Water lines replaced – the sewer was messed up because it was so old and the tree next door kept growing roots into it. So our yard was dug up and Sam and I enjoyed watching the BIG DIGGERS out in the yard. There was a Backhoe Loader and a Front Loader and Dump Truck – all tractors and trucks that Sam has in his Trucks and Tractors book that he loves. It was better than SESAME STREET!

We had a garden project out at my mom's, which was mostly not the best success, due to lack of water then too much water and the 150 miles between us - but we did get some fresh produce out of it, and got our hands dirty!


Sam is doing very well. He’s 18 months old now and keeps us very busy! He’s amazing and fun for us! He is learning new things every day!! He's now a walkin' FOO! Hello walking toddler world!

Also we finally got our car back. I don’t mean to bore you with the whole story if you've already heard it from us but in brief for those who don't know, the mechanic we had hired to fix our car (independent guy) held it hostage for 7 months! We finally sued him to get it back and even with a repo guy and a cop with a court order on his front doorstep he would not answer the door. Our car was locked up in his garage with several other cars blocking the doorway. Turned out he was a convicted felon, so the cop said something about warrants really loudly because the guy’s windows were open. Suspecting that the man did not want his house searched, they played it that way and sure enough he showed up at our house with our car the next morning. Standing on our porch, lying his head off about having missed the police the day before and all other manner of things. We’re happy to have it back, and to have ended that chapter in our lives.

Meanwhile, I learned to walk with Sam in the stroller almost everywhere I needed to go. We live right by the grocery store, coffee shop, bakery, farmer’s market, bank, parks, etc. We got by on one car just fine so in fact not having the car for so long turned out to be a blessing in a way.

Mr. Hobbes is getting officially OLD. He had some sort of sickness a few months ago that affected his appetite and he stopped eating – his liver was affected somehow – maybe a mild infection, but medication took care of it. While we were at the vet’s office, she pointed out how cloudy his lenses are. I had noticed it but I thought it was just because he wasn’t feeling well. She says it is due to age. She also said he’s like an old man who has given up on hygiene. He poops basically wherever he wants to and doesn’t groom himself very well anymore. Thankfully he mostly poops in the basement. (that’s better than peeing I guess) Mocha is her usual self, they both seem to like Sam more now that he’s not harassing them and chasing them all over. He got bored of it for whatever reason. Now it seems they both live for food and the nightly petting sessions when Kevin and I finally get into bed.

Kevin and I are both taking a class at Marywood, which is going to be great. Kevin had his first class already and mine starts on Friday.

So that’s our lives in a nutshell. We’re busy, but doing well and happy.

Drop a line if you have time, I'd love to hear how y’all are doin’!