Happy Birthday Grandma Rosie!

Happy Birthday Grandma Rosie! Today is your day, and with the house to yourself I hope you get to do exactly what you want. Your birthday falls during wheat harvest. But, you no longer work at the grain elevator so you don't have to eat your cake at work. Yay! 

My whole childhood when I woke up on your birthday you were already at work. I remember coming to your office to wish you a Happy Birthday before I biked around town or left for the pool. Then you would be home after dark, just to get up and do it again. We all just crossed our fingers your long hours would be over by 4th of July. 

I'm so glad that now you get to sleep in, you don't miss a grand-kid's ballgame and you get to garden, stitch or read whenever you want! I hope you are as happy with your new living arrangement as I am. For all the harvest hours I missed with you, we are sure making up for it now! 

Love you Mom! 

Still plays in the dirt!

When Alex decorated our Mother's day cake he
made the Alpaca for me and the Rose for grandma!

Play Ball

I have resigned myself to the fact that we are in a new normal. The precautions I am taking are not going away anytime soon. We don't go into any store without wearing a mask, even if we are the only ones. We don't go out for unnecessary reasons, and we still don't eat inside of restaurants. The only time we did was when we ate with cousins in Jetmore and we had almost the entire place to ourselves. 

We are not perfect and I have friends that are much better at staying at home than I am. But we are making progress! 

Daryl did sign up for baseball this summer and he has had two games so far. I do not consider this season a "back to normal" because I am much different at the games than last year. We (Mom and I) bring our camp chairs and stake out our spot on one of the base lines away from the other parents. We bring our own snacks and drinks and the players don't even shake hands after the games. It is not zero risk but I am doing what I can to reduce risk while Daryl does something that is good for him. It's a delicate balance. 

Now for the fun stuff. Daryl has been hitting like a champ! It is a kid pitch league and he will go after pitches that would probably be called balls, but he wants to hit! He has struck out doing this and he walks back to the dugout with more grace than he did last year. He has also been thrown out at first and he is starting to shrug that off too as a part of the game. He is maturing and I LOVE IT! 

On Tuesday he pitched for the first time! He pitched two innings and he walked some batters and he struck out some batters. He did sooo good for his first attempt. It is a short season, only six games. But we will take it! 

Alex hopes to find a soccer team to join in the fall. Stay tuned! 

My star pitcher!

On one of our walks around the park.

He is very lucky that dad volunteered to coach!
Mom only knows to keep your eye on the ball! 

Camp Spirit Lives On !

Kansas 4-H Agents found out a couple of months ago that there would be no 4-H camp at Rock Springs this June. I just had to stop and mourn a little bit. For me, camp is my favorite 4-H activity of the year. I adore the agents I plan camp with and I love taking my older youth down early for counselor training and hearing all their stories as we head home after a LONG four days with campers.

My week at camp is my recharge. Having a chance to watch youth disconnect from technology and play in the pool, learn about nature and sing camp songs can get me through the hardest parts of my job. So as much as this was another 2020 blow to our kids it was a blow to 4-H professionals as well. 

I don't think I was even out of my shock yet when an agent in our group sent a message out to all of us, "we should have virtual camp, we can do it!" I immediately was for it, I didn't want to take something away from my campers without offering an alternative. 

Our group knew this was not the camp we know and love. So, another agent in our group said we should name it "Camp Connection". That is exactly what it was, a Connection to a week that we love and we were not just going to say we will wait till next year. 

So with the bravery of Extension staff, teenage counselors and youth who said they would give it a try we had virtual camp this week! I know it was not for everyone, but really camp at Rock Springs is also not for everyone. I'm going to say for the majority of youth that were laughing, singing, crafting, learning and DANCING it was successful! 

Last night was out last session (we had three nights of camp activities for three hours a night) and the heartfelt thank yous and the youth who said they wanted one more night lifted my spirit. Those are the same things we hear when we are leaving 4-H camp and putting kids on buses. So while it was different the effort of the pivoting of our Camp Group was so appreciated. 

Lastly, I just loved seeing the kids. When my job is getting frustrating I just have to go spend time at a 4-H event and I feel better. I haven't seen my kids in a LONG time, and watching them participate in Camp Connection was much needed! This summer is going to continue to be challenging but I want to send a big Thank You to my camp group. We all worked really hard and what we accomplished was the exact thing I needed, camp spirit was alive at Camp Connection! 

This group is amazing and can accomplish 
amazing things together! 
I don't think they know how much I 
appreciate them as colleagues and friends!

We even dissected owl pellets! I think
mine ate a shrew? 

Don't let anyone tell you a tea light can't
be a campfire! 

The back of our camp shirt. Really says it all.

The Quilts Are Done!

I was very happy to learn this week that Mom and I's quilts were done being quilted. Yesterday, we made a "quick" roadtrip to Jetmore to pick them up! The boys came too because if we are in a car all day, that means eating out. LOL 

I was even happier to find out my sister, nephews and niece were going to meet us for lunch. It was so great to see them all and visit about how their summer is going. We were half way home when I realized the ONLY picture I took was of my Tostada at Judy's restraunt. It was very worthy of a picture but I wish I would have gotten one of all the cousins. Ugh

Daryl also found a fishing spot withing biking distance of the house this week. So he was there two days this week. He only caught a frog (that was gross). Daryl said it was ok because he likes fishing not catching fish. That was a little deep for me! 

It was a great weekend and I'm ready for another week, we are doing virtual 4-H  camp this week, so wish me luck! 

My 4-H T-Shirt Quilt! 

Still love my corners!

My Fairy Godmother Quilt

My mom's scrappy quilt. 
She has WAY more patience than me! 

It was the only picture I took Saturday, so I 
might as well post it!
 

Alex came with Daryl to check out the
spot. He didn't really want to fish. 

He is a determined angler. 
He asked if I wanted to fry frog legs.
I said no. 

Another yard project done!

It is HOT in Topeka!! Do yourself a favor and put that last sentance in the search bar of Youtube. ;-) Because of the weather Mom and I got out in the yard both Saturday and Sunday before 8am. That way we could be done at 10am. Mom had been weeding this bed for a couple of weeks but this week we finished planting some stuff and mulching. It looks great! 

We only have one bed left, might get done this summer, might not. But the yard looks so much this summer. The boys were all smiles when they got to my house this afternoon. Yesterday they went fishing and they had a good haul. You can tell by their faces they had a blast!

The after picture!

The before picture

We planted some canna bulbs, peony roots, 
mexican sunflowers and a lilac bush! 

The Cannas are already coming up!

Both beds are now done! 

Look at that haul!

Daryl says this is the biggest fish he has every caught!