Mollie's Day....16 Years Old Now!!!!!!!

Tess surprised Mollie by decorating their room for Mollie's birthday.





Mollie requested, and received, a Mashed Potato Feast for her birthday this year. We made all sorts of white and sweet potatoes along with accompaniments. It was lots of fun to prepare.



Gifts followed.....













We like to attend a Schaumburg Flyers Baseball game every year at this time. A late season night game is always fun, relaxing and fairly quiet with most schools back in session...yet another perk of being homeschoolers...we don't operate on a "school year" calendar, so we take advantage of these lovely less crowded opportunities!











After the game....the Flyers lost but we all had fun....we had cake...a HUGE cake, which we had for several days to come. Great day, great birthday...next birthday in line....Max on September 27th....till then....

Fire King Dishes

Posted to share with Junk in My Trunk.

The Rains Came and the Electricity Left.....

Thursday, late afternoon - torrential rains, strong winds, tornado sirens blaring everywhere.

Thursday, early evening - rains flood our yard, pours into basement from every corner.

Thursday, night - moping up water, creating dams to keep water at bay, thank goodness for shop vac working overtime. Melissa loses power, brings her groceries to our fridge.

Friday, 5:30am - Bill sounds alarm, power is out, sump pump overflowing. Bucket brigade bailing begins.

Friday, 6am - Christopher tries to buy generator...no luck. Brings back Burger King coffee and sandwiches. Wears a Burger King crown, which makes us all laugh.

Friday 8:30am - Melissa saves the day. Called hardware stores on her way to work and found a generator in another town. $426.00, costly, but we take it.

Friday, morning - Max and Christoper drive to pick up generator. Those remaining bail, bail, bail.

Friday, early afternoon - Generator arrives, sump is running, move food to downstairs fridge, now also working. Sound of our, and neighbors, generators running is deafening.

Friday - Find that generator requires refilling with gasoline every 90 minutes, off to gas station. House temp is nearing 80 degrees. Mosquitoes swarming outside.

Friday, all night - Generator shuts off every 90 minutes waiting to be fed. We are tired but must get up to feed the machine.

Saturday - Bill and Christopher search for larger generator that will run longer. Find one at Home Depot for $1,200. Left store without it.

Saturday, 5:30PM - Walk into kitchen to start dinner, and suddenly, lights turn on. Melissa's power returns soon after. It's over. Life is back to normal. Cleanup ahead, but so what? Some neighbors not so lucky, power still off.

Sunday, morning - Woke up to silence. Generators off. Power on. Neighborhood quiet.

This turned out to be a little inconvenience. We were tired. We were lucky.

I think of the tsunami and Katrina survivors. I can't imagine how this felt, and still feels, to them.

We were lucky. Nothing to complain about here.

Stunning....NASA's Photo of the Day.....

Photography by Tess - Color

Too Much Fast Food......Way Too Much.....

Mollie's nightly excursions to play rehearsal last week meant that mealtimes were a wee bit off kilter. Or so I thought.....

.....until uploading these photos from Tess's camera. That wee bit was actually an enormous amount (for us anyway) of fast food. No wonder poor Tess is sick this week!

The girl desperately needs some of Mom's home cooking.

She did take some great photos though.....
















Thanks for the photos Tess, but it's a food week I'd rather not remember. My kingdom for a green salad!!!!!

Photography by Tess - Black and White.

Into the Woods....An Interesting Experience.......

The rehearsals are history. The performances are but a lingering memory. After a few weeks of planning our evenings around Mollie's participation in this play, it seems as though it all went by so incredibly fast.

There was lots of lifting the harp in and out of the van...65 pounds can seem awfully heavy in the heat of the summer.....but Mollie and Bill are a great team.






The harp must be tuned each and every time it is moved. Again, Mollie and Bill work together, they have been tuning together since Mollie first began to play. It's a nice tradition between these two.



Lots of last minute pre-show moments........






Just before curtain time.....


After the show.....the orchestra, such talented people....


Two beautiful musicians.....


Well done Mollie and Robin!!!!!!!!!