She's Here!.....

Grandma Elsie made her grand entrance last Tuesday. She arrived in G-ma style.... 3 hours early. We still are unsure of how that happened!

She told me to pick her up at 2 pm on Tuesday....at about 11am she called and said she was in GR!?!?!? We are pretty sure they chartered a special plane 'to move her' out of the airport!

We have spent a few days together but our most recent day was Monday. We crossed a lot off of her list. We went and visited Steve's G-ma, toured Neil & Bonnie's house, visited Fremont, Haveman Hardware, Goodwill, Arby's, Aftons Blueberry Farm, Aunt Ruth, Talked W/ Aunt Donna at church....I think that was about all we did!


She celebrated her 83rd birthday in June. Doesn't she look great! She goes like crazy too! I have a hard time keeping track of her and Trent! I think I will see her on Saturday...check back to see where we are going!.....

More Cuteness......

Need I say more??.........

Jaxi loves to give kisses....especially to Trent!

And There Off......

The 2nd annual 4-wheeling trip is underway.

Trent isn't on this trip.....just in the picture....and neither is Jaxi.

They are heading to Strongs MI in the UP. I hope I don't have to send anyone looking for them because I'm not positive where they exactly are!!

They had a last minute change of plans when one of Craig's 4 wheelers wasn't working. Steve had to go get his dad's trailer and reload all of our 4-wheelers on a bigger trailer to accommodate an added 4-wheeler. It's was only a 2 hour delay...not bad!

They have such a wonderful time together. They are meeting Craig and his 2 boys....and this time Kristi is going along for the adventure. Steve tried to get me to go....maybe next year! It didn't sound like a great time to me to ride on the back of Steve's 4-wheeler for 2-4 hours at a time. They will have a much better time without me anyway. No one to tell Troy to brush his teeth......

It's Official...ly Scarry!

He's a registered driver now! So if you see him out and about...watch out. He does pretty good...needs a little practice on braking....gently. Yup, that's him in the picture...talking on the phone....license in other hand. He couldn't seem to get off the phone so I could take a picture.Michigan now gives under-age-drivers a license that's up and down, so that they can't be altered as easily.This was an uneasy birthday for me as I started thinking about how much longer he will live here. Three more years and he will be headed off to blaze a trail for himself...make a life for himself...choose a career....get married....!

Yikes....have we taught him everything he needs to know?...Is he going to be a good citizen?....Is he going to make wise chooses?....Who will he marry?....Will he get married?....Will he have to move away from us?.....Will he be a good husband?....Will he be a good dad?

Our prayer, is that God would take what we 'tried' to do and bless our efforts. We know, far to often how we fail as parents. We consider ourselves blessed, to have had him in our life for these past 16 years.

It just seemed like when they were 5 you had sooo much time to make up for your parenting choices. College seemed soooo far off...you were just happy if you got everyone in bed before 9 and they had clean feet. Now, in a blink off an eye, we are quickly approaching those college years! Let me tell you, it just doesn't seem possibly....I still think of myself as having 8 year olds!...when did they grow up??

Julie..this post is for you....since you were wondering if Tyler still lives here??

Well...what can I say?...

Some are doing good....


As you can see, some are doing better than others. The Clematis is doing very well on it's own. It takes no help from me...and receives none. I can almost take no credit for it's success. I planted it and that's about all I can say for myself.




And some aren't....


This is the kind of plant that doesn't do so well in the Buckner yard. It's so needy! It starts out well about June when I pick it out and bring it home. I even water it and take of the dead heads. But then about July 18th I start to think it's a lost cause and give up on it. I look at it everyday on my deck and see it's dying leaves and no new buds and think I really should water it....but I don't? What is wrong with me? I should just not buy plants that aren't self sufficient!

Cuteness.....

Talk about Cute! It doesn't get better than this! Sunday Trent lost his first tooth! He was so excited...he came running up to us at church....tooth in hand! He lost it during Jr. Church.











He has two others that are close behind. He will be full of holes!

Fireworks....

We took in all Sparta had to offer.......


We were witness to the fireworks show!! We arrived with a little time to spare...like an hour...but it flew by, with good company! Dad and Linda treated us to ice cream sandwiches and fudgesicles...we walked to Family Fare to get those while we waited.

We were adorned with glow sticks.....but they are hard to see in this lighting! (I think Chris is getting his on in the picture)

In attendance was Dad & Linda, Chris & Jerri Coates w/ Nicole, Lindsey & Jared, Steve & Joanne w/ TX3 + Sabrina, ? & ?

It was a great small town show and we had a great view......until next show!

P.S....come back soon to see the cuteness that is going on at our house!!!