Life just keeps on happening!

How can it be that so many weeks have passed since I last posted?? You get busy for a couple of weeks... then you 'put off' taking the time to write...then you get even more 'busy'...then you're 'out of the habit'! sigh! So much for 'good intentions'!
We are all well...except for our usual aches and pains. Ron did have arthroscopic surgery the middle of October to 'clean up' his right knee. Doctor said there was very little arthritis in the joint, but that he did have a tear and some rough places in the miniscus in his knee joint. He has made agood recovery.
Cory had her left knee replaced on the 13th of October [same doctor], and she is also doing very well. About a a week and a half after her surgery though, she landed in the hospital with severe pain in her belly. After some tests, it was determined that her gall bladder was the culprit and so she had that out. She is recovering nicely with that, too. She also hopes she does not have to have any further surgery for a LONG time! Ron and I spent some time helping out with Maggy during this time, too. We kept her overnite a few times and took her/ picked her up for school several days, too. She is really loving kindergarten.
Karen had her yearly tests and checkup with her family doctor and oncologist, too. She is thrilled to report that she is still cancer free! We celebrated her 2 year 'cancer free' anniversary with her at a local Mexican restaurant on November 7th. Her oncologist sent her to a genetic specialist in St.Louis for a test to see if she carried the 'cancer gene'. That test result came back in the week before Thanksgiving: she is NEGATIVE! And again we say, "Praise the Lord!"
We are thankful for all of God's blessings during this past year...I have named just a few of them... and now we are looking forward to the celebration of Christmas!

Timber!!!!!!

These pictures loaded backwards to what I wanted them to load! So, start at the bottom and work UP to this one, please!
This last picture shows that they are almost through cutting up the tree. Afterwards they raked up a lot of the debris--wood chips and tiny broken branches, etc. While some were doing that, the owner brought out his stump grinder and set to work. The 2 stumps were ground into a pile of chips and sawdust. They went down several inches and ground up a lot of the roots, etc., too. It was really something to watch all of the process. We thought we would miss the tree, but really, we didn't miss it all that much. And we felt 'safer' because it was gone!
Now, they are getting down to the bigger parts of the tree. Some of the biggest pieces [and heaviest!] went onto a pickup one of the crew had there, but MOST of the wood went into the trailer.
Here is one of the crew loading up some of the 'brush'. When it looked to me that the trailer was getting pretty full, whoever was 'loading' would take a small chain saw down through the brush and cut it up some more. Then they would pile some more on ...and do the same thing again!
A lot of the leafy, smaller branches have already been cut up and loaded onto the trailer.hmmm! looks like we have the same picture--twice! GRRRRRRRRRR!

We had a big tree in our back yard last fall that needed to come down. It had several broken limbs and part of the trunk had been damaged. We had already asked this company to come and trim back some branches of our maple trees that were growing over the house. We liked how they worked [to please us!] and so we asked them to come back and take this tree down, too. To get to the tree we wanted down, they also had to take down a smaller tree that was right beside it. Here are both trees down and the crew is starting to cut them up into shorter logs for removal.

Bostin: FLAG FOOTBALL

We went to a couple of Bostin's games last year. Here he is after the game with his well-deserved drink! He did a pretty good job of HIKING the ball to the quarterback. He even ran the ball into the end zone once---but someone had captured his 'flag!

The next picture is of Emily in their garage at home. showing us how she could RIDE her bike.Bostin and Kirk after the game. It was a crisp, windy day. Thankfully the sun was shining!

Emily and her sunglasses. She was giving Stacy a hard time...trying to run out on the field. I think she finally got the idea that she would be in the way and MIGHT get run over!
I wonder if Bostin will play again this year? Emily goes to "Tumbling" class on Saturday mornings, now. Guess we will see how it all works out!

Their 25th anniversary!

I think this is a GREAT picture of Kevin and Cory!
Ron seems to be amused...probably at something Kevin was telling!
I think Ron took this picture of me that night.
Ron and I took Kevin and Cory to Independence last December to celebrate their 25th anniversary. Had a wonderful meal in an Italian style restaurant! Sorry, I can no longer remember the name---That happens when you wait too long to post these things. We thought about doing some 'shopping', but Cory was on crutches because she had injured her knee so we decided against it. We did drive through a couple of neighborhoods looking at the Christmas lights on our way back home. We had a really great time with lots of visiting and laughing!
[ I'm not sure why the picture of me loaded twice...but I could not seem to edit it out]

Can you belive it?

Just got my new Reader's Digest. An article in there is titled: How to SOUND Smarter. Covers a lot of the things [and more!] that I talked about in the last post.
There is a LOT of info in the article. Probably means I will have to read it several times for all of the information to even begin to soak into my brain!
I remember how my Mom was always LEARNING, up until shortly before she died at 97. She was a good example of how you can keep improving and growing as a person. One thing she never did learn: The difference between crotch and crouch when she was talking about pants. She ALWAYS said it CROUCH! Never could figure that one out. Love her and miss her, though.

Tricky words and spelling!

I probably notice these things more than a lot of people do...! But I've been noticing that there are a lot of tricky words that people have trouble with, and sometimes we stumble over the spelling of words, too.
Here are some examples: loose or lose? That belt is too loose, you'll lose your pants!
to, too, or two? I'm going to the store for two loaves of bread, do you want to come too?
bring or take? Will you bring me that list off of the fridge? I need to take it to the store with me.
There, their, or they're? They left their book over there on the table. Wonder when they're coming back?

There are several others, but you get the idea. Sometimes we have known which word to use in the past, but after seeing/hearing the wrong words used we get confused and can't decide which one is right!
I have a dear sister who always adds an extra' m' to coming. Another word that I see confusion over a lot is : congratulations. I think someone spelled it--conGRADulations for a card and somehow people began to believe that is how you should spell it.

Do you notice things like this too? Do you want to "help people out" when you do? Or, are you able to resist that temptation to constantly correct them?
BTW: I had to correct my spelling several times as I was typing this up!...My fingers hit too many keys sometimes, or the wrong key. Does that ever happen to you?

No pictures yet...

but need to post anyway!
Have you ever had friends that you were so 'close' to that even when you have not seen each other for a while...you just take up with each other like you saw them just yesterday???

That is how our friendship is with Glen and Linda W. We got to go see them in Indiana this past weekend. Had a great time laughing and talking together! Got to thinking though, that it had been close to eight years since we had been there. They were here to see us a few years ago, but we have not been there in...forever!
I sincerely hope we never have to wait that long again! Got to see Joe and Jean P. too. Fun to all go to dinner together and then to a southern gospel concert,too. We all went to church together on Sunday, and Ron and I saw several friends there that we had not seen in a long time either. This is the church we went to and worked for during the time Kirk and Karen were both born. A lot of faces were 'missing'...either moved away or passed away...but we were so pleased to see and worship with quite a few.
All in all it was a GREAT weekend!!!!