The weekend was the most wonderful relaxing time I have had in quite a while. Melissa and I went to our friends on Friday night and stayed until Sunday evening, early evening for me. This is where we spent most of our time, by the pool or in the pool. The weather was perfect and so was the water. There is a nice little covered area where the lounge chairs, little tables, and whatever else you need is. Also, there is ALWAYS a breeze, no matter what.




Then we had Melissa's 9th liver transplant birthday party with presents and all. She is looking so good and doing just fine, sometimes better than me I think.

Of course, there was a great dinner to be had. Along with the squash, corn and steak from the grill, there were other sides to put with it. One side was twice baked potatoes - the best thing ever. It was absolutely YUMMY! I just finished my leftover steak last night for supper. Had been eating on it for a couple of meals.

Then you cannot have a birthday without cake! Melissa's favorite, yellow cake with buttercream icing. It was quite sweet, but good.

After I got home from the relaxing weekend, I had to feed the neighbor's animals while they are out of town. That consisted of feeding 1 dog, 2 cats, 5 goldfish, and 2 horses. Of course, I found that the dog escaped, but was captured and put in one of the Mravlja dog pens. I walked him back to his own pen and piled up concrete blocks in front of his escape hole. Last night he was still there. Today should be the last day of feeding them as they are due home tomorrow.

Also when I got home from my weekend away, my kids were all there. That was nice since they unloaded the car for me. I got my towels and bathing suits washed and hung up. I was beginning to hang them up when Carrie and family were ready to go home. Cobii HAD to help hang up clothes - she would not leave until she "helped". The length of time it took Carrie and Jason to load up their things, we were done with the laundry hanging. Cobii said "Bye Oma, I love you and thanks for letting me help". She is just too awesome. Until the next post, Bless Everyone.

Cobii's birthday with the Rimmer Family

July 18, Carrie and Jason put on a nice big party of Cobii. She was in the yard with her bubble machine when I got there. She just LOVES bubbles.


When the cousins, etc. arrived, they all wanted to swim. Cobii can do a little doggie paddle, so she will be swimming soon. She really wants to, and she is one that if she wants to do something, she will keep trying until she has accomplished the task.

Carrie made the most beautiful cake. The front of the skirt was trying to fall off. Barbie is sitting rather than standing. Carrie quickly added some extra icing to the spot before serving. She did a great job.

Cool shades are always nice to get in favor bags at birthday parties. They go real well with the bikini!

Next, so you may have a laugh for the day. Melissa was playing with Oliver, and he does not care who does what to him as long as he is getting attention. Melissa let go of him, and he just turned and wanted her to pet him some more. He purred through the whole process I think. It is good to have such a good cat with Cobii around.

As for this weekend coming up. It is ladies weekend at Kay's again. We have such a fun and relaxing time. It is also, Melissa's 9th liver transplant birthday. With all the ups and downs, she is doing absolutely perfect. We will partake in swimming, board games, FOOD, and probably some movies.

Today Carrie is going to speak to a lady at a quilt shop for a required internship for her marketing class. Hopefully that will work for her. I cannot see why not, there is no salary involved unless the business really wants to pay something. Sorry, just got busy, am posting with no proofing!

Until next week - Love to all

Cobii's Birthday

Jacobii has reached the age of 3. Yesterday we had a birthday party at Oma's house. There were 14 adults and 8 children present. The weather was just perfect, nice breeze, sunny, and a good day for the kids to get wet in the pool. Some of the adults, that seldom see each other, had a nice time catching up on everything. We had macaroni and tomato, garlic bread, and of course cake. It was pleasant enough to eat outside, no mosquitoes or bees. The kids all played very hard and most cried when it was time for everyone to go their separate ways. We heard "You can just leave me here", "Can she come with us", or plain "I do not want to go home now". There was not the first argument or fuss between the kids at all. They are all such good kids. It was so nice to see them all having a good time.

The four kinds in the front and the one in the car seat are Diona's, Jackson(blond in front), Logan(dark shirt), Montana(girl with baby Jamison), Baby Joseph(in car seat). Back Roy, Cobii, baby Joseph, Jewel(green shirt), and Jewel's brother Eri(on his daddy's shoulder). Those two belong to Angie.

And of course, now it is cake time.

The round blue thing is the musical carousel that was on the top of Carrie's baby shower cake. Since Cobii cannot have all the colors, she got that and her candles looked like crayons.

Two last pictures are the latest and cutest editions to the VanValkenburg "extended" family.

Eri - 4 months old Pronounced Airy

Twins Joseph on left, Jamison on right. 4 weeks old.

That was my weekend! The usual house duties can wait as it is the day of rest!

Critters

Besides my cat Oliver, I have othere "pets" in my yard. There are LOTS of daddy long leg spiders everywhere! Cobii always asks "may I touch it?" At least she asks before she touches any kind of bug. The colored bug has not been identified yet. My boss and I spent 2 hours trying to find it on the interenet, and the closest we came was some kind of stink bug. Last but not least is Oliver. He looks like he is "The Boss", but he is quite whimpy for a male cat.

Work is going just fine. I do really like my job, trying to keep everyone in line, ha ha. Basically though, that is what I do along with my secretarial skills. My job is very interesting to see what really goes on before the public sees a construction crew on site.

Sorry, I did the preview thing, and do not like how the pictures are situated, but spent way too much time trying to figure out how to change that! Next time, I insert pictures, I will center them rather than left side them. Thought the text would be alongside them.

July 7, 2009

Here I am again learning this program. Let's try a picture from the fireworks. Yeah, I got it! Another time I will try a little video. Today all 3 of my kids are back in school for their next quarter at Augusta Tech. College. They have been out for nearly 3 weeks now. Makes me feel I want to go back myself, but my brain cannot hold anymore information at this time. Hopefully, we will get some rain as things are wilting badly here. The plants I can keep watered, but it is hard to water an acre of trees. Until the next time, Bless everyone.

July 7, 2009

Since I have had some people ask me to have a facebook page or blog, I will attempt to put one together. Keep your eyes open for some recent pictures to come. I will just have to look for some of the best. The fourth of July weekend was a good one, Fireworks at Fort Gordon that were awesome, and mostly watching TV. I was on a real vacation! Did almost nothing! It sure felt good and seemed like I was on a vacation. Now I have the things I should have been doing on the weekend left for me for evenings this week.