The Visiting Continues

Week three is coming to a close here in the midwest. Last week my brother, his family, and I all went to Chicago and spent the week with my parents. My mom absolutely spoiled us with special treats and yummy foods. She especially spoiled Evie and me with special foods that we normally wouldn't have made for ourselves. :) Mom, Evie, the boys, and I enjoyed the Brookfield Zoo early in the week. What a ginormous zoo! Whew!

Scott posing by one of the Big Cats... although I can't seem to find the big cat in this picture!

Petting animal skulls. Sethie found these to be quite fascinating!

Ah! There's the cat!

Hungry for lunch!

Besides a visit to IKEA and Trader Joes, the rest of the week we pretty much chilled at home. The Wesner fam is a homebody family, and that is for sure! We enjoyed a couple picnics, some bike rides, and just in general hanging out. I also had time to work on some school stuff. I was able to research field trips, figure out memory work for this next year, select science and history projects, map out my lesson planner for the next year with important dates and deadlines (and you KNOW that it is color-coded ;-), and I was even able to outline my history lessons for the year. I also was able to start the big project for this next school year: researching ancient Egypt and using what I find to write up little narratives or stories to tell during history class instead of just handing out the facts. I'm hoping that this makes history class a little more interesting for both teacher and pupil this year. :)

We stopped at the beach on our way home Saturday, and then enjoyed a wonderful Lord's day at Grace Fellowship with dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. I have certainly missed fellowshipping with these dear believers this past year!

This week has been full of seeing more friends and family. It has been a good week of seeing people, and I'm so thankful for all those that I was able to see. I'm so thankful that so many were able to make time for me in their busy lives this week. :)  It was tough on my nephews though. Wednesday morning I was getting ready to go and see some more friends and little Sethie said,
"Where are you going Aunt Nettie?"
"Well, I'm going to go see some of my friends this morning. I'll be back for supper though!"
Then Sethie gave this pathetic little sigh, "Aunt Nettie, why do you always have to go see more friends?"
"Well buddy, I haven't seen these friends for a long time and I would like to spend a little time with them."
"But Aunt Nettie, I miss you too!"
"Hmmmm, what do you think I should do?"
"I think you should stay home and play legos with me!"
"Well bud, I have to go out today, but tomorrow I can spend almost all day here with you, and then Friday I will be here all day with you. Then guess what? Next week I'll be at the sleeping house (translation: the little house we rented for vacation next week) ALL week with you!" 
At this, his eyes lit up and he just squeezed me so tight I thought I was going to pop. :) I love these boys and cannot wait to be with both them and my other nephew and nieces next week! I remember being little and being so excited when aunts and uncles would come and visit but feeling sad when they had places to go and people to see and soon their time with us was up. I want to make sure that these darling kiddos know that they are dear to me and that I miss them very much!


This week I also tried my first attempt at making my own almond milk and almond flour!

A cup and a half of almonds made two of these jars of almond milk. We all sampled the first jar, then I drank a glass of it with a cookie. Mmmm! I also toasted the almond paste that was leftover after I strained the milk and made almond flour! It looks a bit clumpy in this picture, but I ran it through the blender later and it came out perfectly... just as almond flour should look! All that almond milk and almond flour for about $3.50. I'm a fan!

This morning Sethie showed me his outfit and informed me that he was a hunter! When I asked him what he was hunting he said "Deers". He went on to give me a very detailed explanation: "First I go out really quiet and find the deers, then I take my pocket knife and kill them. (he seems to have forgotten that he was holding a gun;-) Then, I will hang them upside down."

Well, the kid seems to have the basics down anyways. ;-)

I went into the boys' room this afternoon and they were playing with their legos... any guesses what is going on here??

Lego football! This is kind of like my nephews' fantasy football I guess... or  maybe playstation football... or whatever! I think it's great! You'll even notice they have stands full of people watching the game. Scott has the team on the left with the plain white helmets. Seth's team has different colored helmets. When I pointed out that some of Seth's had white helmets like Scott's they said, "Yes, but Seth's guys have designs and colors on their helmets. Scott's don't." So you see, they thought of everything! They had even designated certain players as the quarterbacks. Apparently Seth's team is a really good team, so Scott was granted an extra player. Partway through the game one of Seth's players went to sit in the stands with the fans because "he was feeling ill. But it's okay because my team (Seth's) is a really good team and can still win." I love the imagination of a child!

And finally, this morning we were enjoying a quiet morning when I remembered that I have PhotoBooth on my new macbook! So I called the boys over and we had some good laughs over the funny pictures we were taking. Evie had to come over too because, well... laughter is contagious. Seth couldn't stop laughing and Scott begged to stop because he was laughing so much that his stomach was beginning to hurt! Fun times! So I leave you with these high quality, super serious (not), and totally not embarrassing pictures. (Please don't avoid me the rest of your life after seeing these! Being an aunt does something to you ;-)

Enjoy some sunshine and a good laugh today! :)

Sunset colors!

Hello all! I hope your summer is going well so far! I'm really enjoying my time with family and friends! I miss my mountains and the ocean, but I'm really enjoying the colorful midwest sunsets! Enjoy some pictures. :)

Gorgeous Fourth of July sunset!

A very normal picture of my not so normal sister. ;-)

And then my beautiful cousin. It seems we can't get any decent first pictures! ;-)

Everyone got a little sun-kissed that day.

Family is so important!

I grew up with these two. They were my best friends!

Toes on the beach! Woohoo! One of the best feelings in the world!

The sunset progresses...

You just can't beat these colors!

I mean, seriously!!!

Sparklers while waiting for the fireworks to start!

We like to start their love of fire early ;-)

Look at the joy on this kid's face!

Another great part of being in Indiana again is seeing all of these great midwesterners. The northwest is beautiful, but there aren't nearly as many warm-hearted folks out there. Or maybe they've been hiding somewhere in the mountains. Anyways, I've only met a few friendly folk in the northwest. I'm happy to be catching up with my friendly folk in the midwest!

These lovely Jefferson Jets came out to spend an afternoon with me. I sure have missed these ladies! 

This next week I'm heading to Chicago with my brother's family to spend the week with my parents and little brother. Still another four weeks here in the midwest!

Trip to Indiana

Monday:

Well, I'm all moved out! Not moved in yet, but my pastor and his wife offered to store my things for me for the month of th July. I'm so thankful! It didn't amount to much, and it's nice to have it tucked away until I'm ready to move into my new room in August. 

I'm getting really quite efficient at this moving deal. Phew! Five personal moves, and into three new classrooms in the past four years really have fine-tuned my box-packing abilities! 

Tuesday:
I flew out yesterday evening after spending some time with a few friends in Seattle. I enjoyed coffee with one friend, games with a few others, and then just relaxing with my pastor's family before heading to the airport.

I prayed for a clear day on my last day in Seattle and was so kind to grant that request. I really enjoyed seeing the mountains from above! 

The Rockies so beautiful!

We had a wonderful view of Mt. Rainier as we took off. 

Seattle is a tightly packed city all right! Surrounded by mountains, there isn't much place for it to go.

We could also see Mt. Baker far away to the north as we took off. Thank you, Lord, for a gorgeous day!

And then the flight over the Rockies... amazing! Isn't God amazing? 

I saw a couple of other especially tall mountains as I flew. I'm not sure what they are though. I'll have to look that up. :)

The western section of the Rockies is lush and green with trees covering the mountains.

The further east you go, the drier the mountains get.

Another volcano (I'm assuming) that I don't know the name of.

High mountains!

Approaching the eastern edge of the Rockies.

And then, BAM! The mountains are gone and it is flat terrain with ridges for the rivers.

I can remember driving west through the eastern Washington last summer and just seeing how dry, brown, arid, and treeless everything was. I kept thinking, "THIS is Washington? Oh goodness, what I have I done???" And then we made it through the Rockies and the other side was lush, green, and bountiful with trees. I am so thankful that God planted me on the west side of the Rockies! I certainly have enjoyed his beautiful creation on that side! 

I was able to experience the sunset in the air. The colors were amazing! And because of the altitude I was at, I had the privilege of enjoying the sunset for a much longer period of time than I usually get to! The colors simply stayed on the horizon for a really, really long time!  

Thursday:

I slept in a little, enjoyed a leisurely morning, and then went out and ran a couple errands with my mom. Then after Dad got off work, we all loaded up the car and headed to Indiana! I am so excited to spend time with my parents, brothers, sisters, nephews, cousins, and aunt and uncle for the Fourth of July!

I hope you all enjoy your holiday weekend!