Jeff and I are experiencing a trial run of being empty nesters this week. Abby is down in Indianapolis helping Meg & William with their kids. Bryn is on a mission trip with St James in Kansas City, Kansas. And Paige is also on a mission trip with Good Shepherd in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Of course Abby is easily accessible this week and she is having a great time hanging out with Bryce, Logan, Mia and Cooper — and helping Meg with her new salon. Bryn's called in twice so far — but after we're asleep! — about 11:00pm. She promised she'd try earlier tonight. It's been scorching hot in Kansas City, but she always sounds like she's so happy (check up on her this week by clicking on link at right). Paige has been harder to communicate with and with this being her first year, we're just not sure what to expect. I did text her a bit last night. She's been grouped with college-age kids, not from our church, and they've demolished and rebuilt a porch so far. We'll be reunited with Bryn and Paige on Saturday and we'll meet Abby south of Chicago on Sunday to pick her up.

So let me pick up where I left off from my last post.

On the 4th of July we headed down to Summerfest where Abby, Bryn and Paige were lucky enough to see Carrie Underwood in the Amphitheatre! I brought along rain ponchos which seemed to ward off the threatening rain. While the girls were at their concert, Jeff and I found a nearby tent where a local band band was playing and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The 5th of July marked Abby and Mark's one-year anniversary. Abby was quite excited for their big date where Mark treated her to a swanky Italian restaurant then gelato.


We celebrated Bryn's high school graduation with a party at our home on July 10th. We had a great turn out! Bryn did a fabulous job setting up her "shrine" in the dining room, pulling out all her awards and assembling the picture boards. Lucy was the hit of the party shooting everybody at close range with the tiger bubble-blower! Thunderstorms pushed the party inside twice. After 7:00pm when wave of kids started coming, we needed to move the party outside again.

Last week I finished up programming the website for Meg's new salon (salonsalonsuites.com). One little detail I can't figure out, but spent hours trying! Frustrating!

Paige is missing her final Little League tournament games this week and her coach couldn't be more disappointed. Jeff and I may go watch the final game this coming Saturday morning without her.

After we got all our kids off last Saturday morning, Jeff and I headed up to Appleton for nephew Mitchell's grad party. We brought Theo along because we decided to drive up north to spend the night and next day and treat Theo to some lake swimming. Since it was only the three of us, we took the little car and Theo got comfy in the hatchback. It did end up raining Sunday morning, but we were able to get in a cloudy boat ride after lunch.

So my work has been crazy busy ever since Kevin left at the end of April. Norman Design has since hired a new employee, Aaron, and he started June 1st and seems like a very likeable and capable co-worker. Because we're so swamped, we haven't all been able to reach out to him much. So my extra hours continue...

Abby started working at Hallmark 9 to 5 Mondays thru Thursdays June 14th. And Bryn got a gig driving kids around to their activities as their parents work full-time. Abby and Bryn have been super at working out who-gets-the-car and when. Paige's softball season continues as Little League season is now in full swing.

Bryn and Paige participated on different teams in our local American Cancer Society's Relay for Life on the 18th. It started at 6pm and ended the next morning at 9am. Your team had to have one member walking the track at all times. The weather wasn't too cooperative with storms threatening and moving the event into the high school twice before midnight. They did get to be outside after that. Many teams had tents to nap in, some had campers and grills.

The weekend of the 25th, we helped Kristin and Carlo move to their newly-built house in Sussex. We were all able to help on Friday with Craig, Clark, my Mom & Dad and Carlo's brother, Sal. On Saturday, I was the only one available and so I went. Clark did a fabulous job cleaning up the old house before Kristin and Carlo said good-bye to it and Clark flattened most of the moving boxes for recycling when we were through. Craig thought Abby did a tremendous job organizing and stacking the boxes as we loaded them up into the moving truck. Kristin and Carlo had all the boxes well-labeled so we knew just where to drop them in the new house.

Bryn got her room assignment at Carroll. She will be in a triple with a girl from Menomonee Falls, Montana, and a girl from Illinois, Hailey, on the 4th floor of Swarthout Hall. Bryn has looked for Hailey on Facebook, but apparently there are 2 with the same last name; so Bryn's waiting for Hailey to contact her first.

Yesterday was Menomonee Falls 4th of July parade and fireworks. What a beautiful night for it! We were able to stake out a spot and the kids sat with me, Jeff and Dave and Carrie Seeds. Abby took care of her group by reserving a spot and bringing snacks and refreshments. We all came home right after the fireworks because tonight we're going to Summerfest! Abby, Bryn and Paige are going to see Carrie Underwood there tonight. Jeff and I are going to go and just hang out.