Build It..They Will Come!

Tonight the Young Men, Young Women's youth group from Church came to the Pines for a fun night of games, food, campfire and just plain goofing around!  They were going to do this at the Church but they aren't allowed to have a campfire there.  Jack offered to host it here and he built a nice fire for roasting hotdogs and got the grill fired up for hamburgers.  It was a good turnout and even the youth group from the Wooster Ward came!

Much food!

Lots of talking and hanging around.  I was busy and forgot to get some pics of the games...they looked like fun too. The lady in the sweater and jeans, with her back to the camera, had a little story to tell me...I tell it in a minute.

Brother helping little sis roast a hotdog!

Who had the most fun tonight?  I'm thinking it was this little guy...Eddy the Boxer!

Nobody loves a group of people and kidlets running around the Pines more than this guy....plus, if they had some human food that accidentally hit the ground....well, it just doesn't get any better than that!  Now for the quick story of the lady in the sweater.  She and her children are new to our Church.  This was the first time she had been here at the Pines. When I came out to meet her she was teary eyed....It turns out that she grew up in our house..in fact, her parents built it.  Her parents have passed away and she hadn't been there since they sold it to the people who had it before us. She was hesitant to go inside, but I invited her in and she told me what was different, what used to be where and what rooms had been added or changed.  I enjoyed it, but I know it was hard for her.  I did smile when she said the kitchen used to be bigger...or atleast it used to look bigger when she was younger!  I think we always look back and think our apartments, or homes were bigger in our memory than in reality.  So all in all it was a great night. After everyone left Jack and I sat out by the fire for a bit enjoying the beautiful Spring evening and watching the fireflies come out for the first time this year...a little light show just for us!  I've been so busy these past weeks trying to get yard work done, working at the hospital, taking care of Grandkiddos, so I'm behind in commenting on my blog buddies posts. I'm going to get caught up before we leave to visit my Mom for her birthday this weekend.  It should be a blast and I'm looking forward time with family...not to mention "blog worthy" moments!

OH MOMMA!

This about says it all....I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I talked to my Mom and she sounded great and had a houseful of my siblings and Grandkiddos to make it noisy and fun!  Throw in phone calls from my brothers who live out of state...Wisconsin and Georgia....and little 'ol me from Ohio and she was feeling the love!  My Mom is the greatest Mom  ever and I can't wait to see her next week for her birthday.  I had some visitors too.  Yesterday afternoon Jack and I took care of Lexi and Addy  overnight so Phil and his wife Amanda could go out for his birthday.  Those girls are a bundle of energy! They were running:

Skipping:

Enjoying a painting project idea that I stole from my blog buddy Jilda,(Transformation Information)

That turned into these flower pots for Amanda for Mother's Day.

We did ours a bit different and they raided my button box to find some cool buttons to glue on the opposite side of the pots. I think they turned out cute!

We put together some necklaces too!

I was on call for surgery this weekend and was very lucky that I didn't get called out until this morning just as my son was pulling into the driveway to pick them up! Good timing! He brought some fun gifts.  I got some really nice things....a cup and saucer decorated by the girls...tea, honey and candy.  I got a lovely cookbook from my son Craig and his family and my son Jack stopped by, after a 13hr hospital shift, with pretty flowers.  My sweet hubby gave me a tripod and a monopod for my camera that I'm excited to try out.  Even though I had to work a bit today, it was a great day.  I relaxed, had an apple fritter, (yum!) and phone calls and visits from all my kiddos.  Thanks everyone!

I also picked some of my lilacs.  It's pretty chilly here this weekend.  Frost in the forecast for tonight so I decided I better get some bouquets of lilacs before the freeze gets them. I love the dark purple ones. We had been having much warmer weather and that brought out all the leaves.  A few posts ago I showed Eddy in the Creepy Woods:

Well, today I took another pic in the same place just to show the  difference.  It really turns it into the "Creepy" Woods with all the foliage out!

It was a busy, busy weekend but fun too...I can't believe another week is starting....Oh well! Goodnight!

S'More Good Nurses

This in National Nurses Week.  Know any nurses?  If you do,  please give them a hug, or a big thank you, or a trip to Maine in the fall....(hint, hint).  I know a few nurses.  I know a few really good nurses and really nice nurses and really dedicated ones too!  The hospital does some nice things for us during this week.  We get a free lunch a couple of times and free cookies and a free gift with the hospital logo on it.  I like the word "free", can you tell?  Free is good.  You know that old saying..."There's no such thing a free lunch"....well, they're wrong! Sometimes there is a free lunch! (like yesterday).  Today we came into work and a really nice person (thanks Melissa!) put up a cute sign and left all the fixin's for "S'mores".  How can you make S'mores without a campfire?  Just give the task to an  Operating Room Nurse!

You need a special burner, (one that  won't set off the fire alarm!) chocolate, graham crackers and giant marshmellows.

 Squish them all together....

And take a big bite of pure love! Thanks again Melissa...shown here eating her creation.
Now for some pics of Nurses I've come to know and love:

I'll start with Mary my boss...just in case next year we get a raise..unlike this year when we didn't because of budget cuts...but I'm not bitter....really!  Love you Mary!

When I took this pic I didn't realize the "stair step" I created....Chris is tall...6ft....and she's the greatest. She's not a nurse but she could play one on TV if needed.  She is indispensable. She's a transporter by trade but she knows everything about everything that goes on behind the scenes in surgery. Plus she can stand on the operating room table and clean blood off the ceiling thanks to her height.  Everyone needs a "Chris"..unless you don't have blood on your ceiling, then you could probably just enjoy her picture here! Next to her is "Little Kim"...She's like me....a Surgical Technologist...only she's much younger than me! Next to her is Nancy...she's little too. In fact we call her our resident dwarf.  Please don't repeat that. Love ya Nancy!

Nurse Ashley, Nurse Becky, and some weirdo at the end of this line.

Hahaha!  The look on Donna's face is priceless....we really tried to get a "good" shot..didn't work..got this instead. We were laughing so hard by the time we decided enough was enough..so nuff said! Nurse Donna, you ROCK!

During one of my cases today, Nurse Ashley grabbed my camera and snapped this "blog worthy" moment...I think I'll call it "CORDS".   During this sinus surgery we had to hook up so many gadgets, and suctions, and cautery, and camera cords, light cords...I just laughed at it all...Well actually I didn't laugh, I did "Jazz" hands instead!

Yep, just lovely.  I'll end with the sign that started our day:

Happy Nurses Week!

Me Oh May

Wait, that's "me oh my"...sorry! I'm just all a twitter (no, I don't tweet, sorry) about our beautiful, warm and sunny May!  The trees are bursting out in bloom and smell heavenly...ahhhh...

Hello little redbud!

The Creepy Woods is just getting green but in a few weeks it will be totally leafed out. It will look nothing like this:

Except for Eddy!  The May apples are growing quickly.  May apples are the green things in this pic..they will bloom and have little green apples things under the leaves. I heard they are edible, but not really sure. I guess I should look it up and find out!

The trees in the backyard are getting greener too, but I love the purple flowers in the lawn just sprinkled everywhere. I know they are really weeds, but I like them anyway!

Prom was last weekend at my Granddaughter's High School.   Driana and Summer looked very lovely.  Their Dad, Jack, looks lovely too...and very proud.  Driana is on the left, Summer on the right. Driana graduates in a few weeks...another right of May passage around here!

Last night we had a Court of Honor for our Boy Scout Troop.  It's always fun to see the boys get awards that they've worked so hard to achieve. Jack had the privilege of giving Kyle a thank you gift for serving for so long as the Scout Master.  He was recently released from that calling and we were really grateful for his service.  He's going to hang around and serve on the Troop committee because he really loves working with these great kids.

Thanks Kyle!  You can still be part of the "group" with Jack and Derek!

Boy Scouts has taken some bad raps this year and many changes are coming.  I'm not going to get into a "right" or "wrong" debate here....Scouting is a wonderful organization for young men. I'm always moved by the dedication of youth and leaders to work together to achieve goals and set standards that will serve them well all their lives. Being an Eagle Scout is an honor that you can brag about your whole life.  A few years ago we had an elderly gentleman (80yrs. old) coming into the operating room and the first thing the nurse said was, "He's an Eagle Scout!"...yep, bragging rights from teen to 100yrs...or more!  Happy month of May!

She's An AR...Teest!

Who's the "She"? Well it's my Granddaughter, Summer. She's a freshman and this is her first year of art and she had her drawings and paintings in the art show at the High School tonight.  It was also the academic awards too...she and her older sister both got academic awards tonight....a good night all around!

This is Summer....smiles all the time and lights up a room when she enters! Notice her hair color? Her sister dyed Summer's hair pink and blue to match Summer's prom dress. Prom is this weekend....But I digress! Here are her entries.  I think she did a great job and considering she just started drawing and painting this school year,  I'm impressed! I'm also a bit biased!

This is a little blurry...

This is Summer's best friend, Bailey.

Eagle or angry bird..hmmmm..I'm going with eagle.

I have no clue who this is! The school's mascot or their team name is the "Mapleton  Mounties"  Outside the school is this carving of a Canadian Mountie...I'm thinking it was probably a student who carved this...not sure, but it wasn't Summer...and we don't live in Canada , but I think it's pretty cool anyway!

For all my Canadian friends!

Now This Is What I Call Spring!

My previous post was weather whiney as usual! Today was sunny and cool, but not as bad as Saturday.  I have this picture that my daughter-in-law, Amy, took of my Granddaughter Sophie...they were at a tulip farm in Portland and I thought it just screams Spring! I had to share it!

Ooopppssss...It Did It Again

The past week has been the Spring we've been waiting for...warm temps, a bit of rain, good "cook out" weather.  I mowed the yard for the first time this year and basked in the wonderful cut grass smell and enjoyed the ride on the mower too.  Our Granddaughters, Addy and Lexi, came by on Thursday  in the afternoon and they stayed for dinner..along with their Daddy.  We had yummy grilled chicken and a crisp salad, fresh asparagus and even homemade icecream.  Lexi came into the kitchen and said:  "It looks like a party in here!".  Yes, we even celebrated by eating outdoors.  It was 82 degrees Thursday.  Enter Saturday.

That's not sugar on my front porch..it's SNOW!! Mother Nature, I officially hate you and want out of the will!

My tulips were confused by the white stuff falling on them...they have refused to pop open.

Pink blooms?? Yes, but tonight it's suppose to be 29 de...will they still be pink in the morning?

So keeping with the winter temps and the snow, I made a pot of homemade veggie soup. Some homemade bread would be nice with it.....smells good anyway!

I caught Eddy on the couch this morning being cozy with MY BLANKET!  I get it Eddy, it's cold outside, and snowing and you're just trying to get through the weekend because it's back to more normal temps on Monday.  Yep, 50de. will feel like a heat wave!

What?? Did someone say it's going to get nice out?  Just go back to sleep and give me back my blankie!