So, we have an old hand-me-down table that was rescued from a dumpster and refinished by a friend before being donated to us during our final college years. It is sturdy, but unattractive, and has been used (and abused) for multiple craft projects and bears the scars to prove it. We have an antique, but much in need of refurbishing Duncan Fife table handed down from my parents– the last two long-distance moves have not been kind– which we like for display only these days. We have four chairs purchased at a garage sale by my parents… when they were newlyweds. Despite the fact that they have been well cared for (until they got left outside in a flood for a week), refurbished, re-glued, and re-glued again, and again, then again… smashed to the floor by toddlers and re-glued again and again… lets just say they have lived a full life.

Just imagine our delight when a good friend who had just moved over an hour and a half away called to say that she had a table and chairs that just would not fit in their new home, and that they couldn’t store reasonably well for the years they would need to do so until her husband’s residency is over, and were wondering if we would like to have it. Imagine our further delight when she had them delivered to our door via her mother who was making a return trip to our area anyway! Imagine our amazement when we found this completely solid wood, she thought perhaps Amish-made, pedestal table with six high-backed chairs to go with it! It has definitely been well loved, which makes me not panic when my kids spill or whatever, but since it is solid wood, we can sand it and re-finish it when it gets to a point that we can’t stand it anymore. The thing Conan fell in love with is the smooth design and mechanics of it. Pretty sweet. It has 2 leaves you can insert to make it oval rather than round, and uses that gear kind of action to get it going. I love that there’s plenty of room to actually have food AND plates on the table, which was beyond our former table’s capacity, and that it’s so Farmhouse. The base totally reminds me of a butter churn or something. We’re just so happy with it!

I should mention that this same friend also gave us a bunk bed set, which we love. It’s been painted white, also all solid wood, reinforced with 2×4’s to withstand bed-jumping events, and includes a bulletin board and desk on one side, a tower of drawers on another side, and a tower of bookshelves on another side. It’s an L or T shaped arrangement, which we really like as well. We are just so blessed to have good friends! It’s just unfortunate that most of them don’t live anywhere near our neighborhood.

The birds outside, not me. I love that over the course of three days we were able to watch this family of swallows construct their masterpiece on our wind chimes from the kitchen table. We now get to see first hand how they take care of their babies. Especially when a neighbor or poor Niketta the cat decides to use the front door. The next time you come for a visit you can expect some noisy birds divebombing your head, just so you’re aware. We look forward to hearing and seeing baby birds sometime this summer!

Day 1- Notice the clump of mud and dry grass in his beak?

This was so cool to watch. I loved to see them select their materials and fuss it all together. 

(Taken from inside so as not to discourage our new neighbors)

Day 3 – Masterpiece complete.

I am amazed that they were able to work out the balancing and all those other issues.

The noise of the chimes doesn’t seem to bother them a bit. 

(I hazarded the photo shoot outdoors as pictures through the screen just didn’t do justice.)

That’s all.

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Whew. I believe the traveling bug has finally been found, and exterminated. We’ve finally got our feet back under us. I think. We had the family-visiting-marathon just recently, and it was WONDERFUL. And exhausting. Summary: Right after (like, 2 days after) my sister left her 2 week visit, we headed out for our own excursion. First we stopped off in Ohio, where Conan’s oldest brother Eric and his family were visiting The Mom. We crashed the party for a few days over Memorial Day Weekend, then made the 11 hour drive to Virginia with Conan’s sister (Bente) and her oldest son (Dexter) so that we could visit his younger brother Matthan and his family, and those of us interested could go to the LDS Homeschool Conference for three days, then drive back to Ohio, and the next day make our trek home. *sigh* It’s really nice to be home.

(Readers Beware: This is a lengthy play-by-play style entry with lots of photos, hence the eternally long wait to hear from me on anything!)

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I LOVE being a twin. I just HATE that mine’s so far away. I know, not her fault, I’m the one who turned coat and became a Midwesterner. Fortunately, we do find time to visit each other at least once a year, hopefully twice. This year she flew out to our place with her two little munchkins! So SO fun. Some pictures of our crazy kids, though most of the funnest stuff we didn’t catch on film… attempting to make kites of homemade tevlon and shishkabob skewers, Caesarland (Little Caesar’s version of Chuck E. Cheese–but so way better than that noisy crazy place!), and a couple of girl’s nights out! Thanks to Conan for those, and thanks Liz and Bret for making the sacrifices that made this wonderful vacation possible for us. We love you so very very much.

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