Yesterday was the first day of Summer and I am SO happy it has arrived....two of my very fave months are in the summer season (August, part of Sept). Right now though, let's take a moment to share the FIVE blessings....FAVE things, whether big or small, that brought smiles to our week or that God surprised us with. Head over to Susanne's site to learn about how to join in.
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| Dave with his 2 girls: Courtney age 16, Claire age 11 Top of Eiffel Tower Paris, France April 2010 |
- FATHER'S DAY! Sunday, after church, we surprised Dave by taking him north to Saratoga for his fave BBQ place. What great food they had! What fun we had eating outdoors at the huge picnic tables and chatting. Afterwards, we enjoyed a very lazy Sunday of just reading and relaxing. It was very hot and humid so we just enjoyed staying inside with the central air. Dave had a totally relaxing day doing some of his fave things: reading, watching Netflix movies, and playing his computer strategy games. I'm thankful he's such a great father to our girls and I'm thankful that now they are 24 and 19, that they still wanted to take him out.
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| the Eating area |
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| the coffee, conversation, and reading area |
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| please ignore the dried grass on the floor.....i forgot to re-sweep before the pic! |
- DIY DECK PROJECT DONE! The deck is DONE! Hallelujah. What a project. Claire and I began scraping the old cedar red paint about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Then we had a couple days of rain. Then we finally started sanding. I finally chose a stain I was happy with (Brickstone) and although it was very expensive due to needing the highest quality one so the paint would get covered properly, it was well worth it! It went on so easily!! We stared staining it last Saturday morning, took a break in the heat of the day to do other chores, and finished up the main part of the deck/floor on Saturday late afternoon. Then Sunday and Monday were way too hot and humid to do anything like staining (you have to put it on when temps are under 90 and ours climbed to 96 Monday!!). Finally, the high heat and humidity broke on Tuesday morning and we started the trellis and touch-ups on the floor and steps wrapping everything up late Wednesday evening. Although it was really hard to work all day, come home, deal with dinner prep and then work this DIY job, I am happy we did it and it looks great. All I need now are a couple more flower containers and a wind chime for the trellis, and we are all set. I'm thankful Claire was willing to help me with this project.
- DANCE SHOW! Last Friday night was Claire's Annual Dance Show with the local studio where's she studied since 2004. Since she graduated from high school last June, she was asked to be a guest performer this year. She took some classes during her breaks from UNH when she was home this winter and again during the last month. She was able to perform in the class ballet Jewels and had a solo pointe role dancing as Emerald. It was just stunning. I posted it Sunday evening. This one here is a group lyrical ballet titled Exodus. She is the one who begins in the middle, center stage. 3 of the 5 girls are very new to lyrical so it wasn't perfectly synced. But Claire and her friend Alyssa, who first appears just to the front left of Claire have been doing lyrical since they were 12 and 11 so they were the "leaders" of the ballet. Claire also did a pointe solo from a number she learned with the UNH balllet company. It was lovely. I'm thankful she got to dance again this spring with her studio friends.
- SURPRISE VISIT! My very dear church friend Anita popped in on me yesterday late afternoon just as I was getting home from work. We sat on the deck for a bit, sipping iced tea and chatting. She's had a rough year with the death of her beloved mom who died about 2 months after my dad died. Our friendship spans more than 25 years and I treasure it. I love getting together with her and was so happy to see her.
- LAST DAY! Today was the last day of school! yes I have to teach summer school as most special ed preK teachers do but i have two glorious weeks off and don't have to return to the agency until July 9th. Tomorrow is our local high school's graduation and we are all invited next door tomorrow afternoon for our neighbor's youngest daughter's party. I'm so happy to finally be able to slow down a bit more and enjoy the start of summer!
That wraps up the week!
Enjoy the first weekend of SUMMER!!!!
8 comments:
I trust you are enjoying the long light of these summer days! Me, I'm waiting for it to get dark so I can go to bed, lol!
I love the picture of Dave and his girls. So sweet! Your Father's Day outing sounds great. I love me great BBQ!!
Your deck is gorgeous. Wow, love the seating area! Oh, and the green gingham carpet and green umbrella are perfect! Great job you did!
Longtime friends are a such a blessing. My longest friendship is 25 years. We don't live near each other anymore, but we pray together on the phone weekly, and even though there are miles between us, we are as close as ever.
So your girl is a ballerina. My niece, Brittany (now in her early 30's) used to be a ballerina. In fact, when she was 11, she got the part of Clara in The Nutcracker for the Boston Ballet. She was the youngest Clara ever (back in 1997). Does Claire aspire to be a professional ballerina?
Yay for vacations! Enjoy every minute of your 2 weeks off.
Oh, and, yes, the Hodgepodge is every Wednesday---for the most part. Occasionally, Joyce needs to skip a week, but that is rare. Do join us!
Blessings,
Patti
Sounds like a nice Father's Day for Dave. The deck looks lovely and inviting. I love the color. Our big project, or should I say Hubby's big project is replacing the fence boards along the driveway separating our yard from the neighbors. Big, big job for him. How nice for a friend to drop by. Long term friendships are extra special. Beautiful dance by Claire. I have a week off in July which is new for me and then a week at the end of July/beginning of August. So looking forward to it.
The deck looks wonderful! So glad you all had a nice Father's Day and Claire's dance went so well. Nice to have a longtime friend stop by for impromptu catching up. Love that last day of school feeling!
Your deck looks great and just in time for you to be able to enjoy it on your break. Catching up with friends is good - I've been doing that this evening. Enjoy the graduation party.
Your deck looks wonderful. All your hard work paid off. I'm sure you will enjoy relaxing out there a lot this summer.
It's been a long time since I've been on a school schedule, but remember well that sense of freedom on the last day.
The deck looks beautiful! Now the fun part, enjoying it for the rest of the summer.
Claire's dance is lovely, and the music is so dramatic. Nice performance.
I'm blessed with several longtime friendships, the longest is 48 years! My bff and I met in junior high when we were 12. Fortunately we live close enough that we see each other often.
Hurray for the last day of school and for those weeks off!
Long time friends are the best! (make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver, the other is gold) My sister in law is one of my oldest friends! What a blessing for us.
That deck is beautiful! Any time you and Claire want to come on over and refinish my Adirondack chairs, let me know. :)
Sounds like a perfect Father’s Day for Dave.
Your deck is beautiful.
The dance show, beautiful.
I got see see and old friend as well Saturday evening.
Our kids last day of school was May 24th, but we do go back August 2nd.
A couple of girlfriends and I spent a few days in New York City a few weeks ago to celebrate my birthday (May 25th) and 25 years of friendship, I thought about you while we were there. We also went for a Central Park pedi cab tour and he took us to a spot that was made to copy the Adirondacks and it was beautiful I can see why you love it so much. Have a blessed couple weeks off and a great summer. I love the idea of FFF I think I might do it sometime myself.
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