Of all the reasons I love summer my favorite is that is when all the grands come for a visit!  This week it was my oldest Christina, her hubby, and four wonderful precious sweet peas!  I had not seen them in almost a year so was very excited for them to arrive!!  The weather was perfect and I could not wait to share my favorite places with them.

We have the best ever park right nearby so spent a lot of time there.  They just loved climbing on the structures and showing off for their gramps. 

Salem really knows how to make parks that are kid friendly.  Water features are a normal part of these parks. The grands loved them!

On the way back home we always had to stop by the berry bushes.  We took buckets one day to gather enough to share with mom and dad and to make some yummy blackberry milkshakes!

They were some serious berry pickers!  Frankie filled that bucket by himself almost!  Course it never made it home that full as those berries were too sweet to not eat on the way!  

It has always been a practice between the three girls and I to share our crafting stuff and decor. It is handy as one always has something the other needs or can use. So while Christina was here we hit my sewing room with a vengeance and went through every last thing!  I now have closet space and she has stuff she needed for her creative processes.  Of course she warned me she has a carload to trade back.  My girls laugh at me, but they do appreciate that I usually have what they are looking for. The joke in our family has always been “don’t tell mom that you collect something unless you are prepare to have an enormous amount of said items.” I love yard sales and am always on the lookout for special things they would like.  Bless the son in laws as they know to leave room in the car when they come visit as “mom will have boxes of stuff to send home.”  

My grands love my collecting bug and always take home the treasures I’ve collected for them. I love toys and have a hard time passing them up at yard sales!  So I don’t and then I send them home with my grands. Yeah the parents love that too….not!  

Just look at all that junk!  It’s all gone now!  Don’t worry I’ll fill it back up soon!

Of course one day was spent taking the grands to yard sales.  Oh what treasures they found, too!  It was tiring, but they persevered and came home loaded with goodies!  

All my grandchildren inherited the creative gene. Building, sewing, knitting, writing, movie making, sculpting, drawing and painting, and so much more; they all engage in a creative outlet.  I love that!  Turns out that Toot is a knitter!  And wow can she knit!  

She found some faux fur yarn on one of our shopping trips and had this much knitted up right away.  She’s fast!  It appears she inherited her great and great great grandmother’s knitting skill! 

As crazy as it is with a houseful of kids, I just always hate seeing them leave. The house is just too quiet and so lonely. But soon enough the normal routine of business creeps back in and there is always something that needs tending to.  But how my heart aches when they pull away and I walk back into that now silent house!  

My poor little Cinny is getting so old!  She had another hematoma in her ear and needed surgery. She looks so pathetic and acted like the world had ended!  She has another surgery scheduled in a week to remove a growth.  Poor little girl!

Silly crunchy nosed baby!

That big boy we adopted has walked right into our hearts. The hubby is dead in love with him. He has adjusted so well and is no longer requiring crating while we are away.  He loves his little sister and she him. Like my Holly, he is an in your face dog and adores the grands. Bill wanted to take him home.  The hubs would have none of that, he’s nuts over that boy! Although we named him Bruno, I call him Polooka, cause he is a big silly ole Polooka!  

My knitting has remained small simple things. I am in desperate need of dishcloths and so making a half dozen of these:

I go through dish cloths and bleach the heck out of the so just using some yarn I got at a yardsale nothing fancy.  Quick, simple, but the best dish cloths ever!

I did find this on my trip to the Book Bin with Christina and can’t wait to start some projects in it.

Summer includes being invaded by ants.  What pesky little annoyances!  Searched Pinterest and found a remedy that works. Equal parts borax, sugar, and water in a jar lid or small container. Attracts them and they track it back to the nest killing them off. Seems to work OK so far.  

And now must dash off to work….oh how I pine for the days when work in not on my agenda!

Patricia