Look what I found... 2 parson chairs on neighborhood Facebook...

A neighbor on Facebook was selling these and some curtains. I'm putting the curtains in my dining room/office!!! Had to replace old chairs because seats were unraveling!

Grilled ribs and chicken...

Ribs, chicken, baked potatoes and corn on the cobb!

Mom and Dad's visited this weekend...

Gramma Time!

Housewarming gift for Tyler and Emily

 (I passed on Emily's photo to my sister, she painted it, the Bushes paid for it... a group effort/act of love)

Mommy time!!!

Gardening!

Climbing a Dogwood tree!!!

Dawn's painting!!!

Ellie's softball game!

Emma's chorus performance!

What a great visit... Dad was able to see one of my tennis matches Friday morning! It lasted 4 hours and was super intense!!! (We won, whew!) Afterwards we went out to lunch! Mom went to Emma's tennis clinic Friday afternoon (the one I help coach). And dad went with me to Ellie's softball practice that evening! On Saturday, mom and I went shopping and then out to lunch. Later, we all went to see emma's honor's chorus performance. Sunday, we went to Tyler and Emily's house. We took "the tour" and gave them their housewarming gift!

Barn painting...

Okay, how can I not brag on my big sis? Emily took an amazing picture of a beautiful barn up the street with the clouds and sky setting the perfect backdrop. I asked my sister to paint it for them for a housewarming gift. We argued about me wanting to pay her and her not wanting to accept. I said, at least let me pay you for the material because I want it big! We compromised. Then, that same day, "out of the blue", our neighbors, the Bushes, asked me to pick out a housewarming gift for Tyler and Emily from them and they would like to give me $100.00. I told my sister, Dawn, that someone wanted to purchase the painting to give to Tyler and Emily. It was a win/win/win!!!

Emma had to make a musical instrument a few weeks after Ellie made hers... (wish we had of kept Ellie's, lol)

These projects are always a group effort! It takes a village... I bought and gathered all the parts. Hayley helped Emma spray paint it. And Keith, our engineer, helped Emma put it all together!!!

Emma got bumped up twice in tennis!!!

The last few weeks, I have been helping coach kids tennis! Yesterday, Stacey asked me if I would like to help Katie coach the kids class on Mondays and Fridays in exchange for private lessons! That's a great deal! I'm so excited! Private lessons with Stacey aren't cheap. Plus, I'm there anyway to watch Emma! It's amazing to watch how quickly a child learns, as opposed to an overthinking adult! They just relax and have fun and absorb everything they're taught. It just occurred to me that the brain is the softest between ages 1 and 5. That's why kids can learn so much at an early age, then learning ability slows with age. Emma was almost 3 years old when we brought her home. She spoke fluent Chinese at first, then after a month of being in America, she spoke English with almost no Asian accent at all. One of my Asian friends couldn't believe she had been in America for such a short time. My friend was older when she came to America and still had a thick accent.

Anyway, Emma started tennis 6 weeks ago. The coaches moved only 2 kids up to the next level for the next 6 weeks. Emma had her 1st lesson with the new group and the coach recommended they actually move her up 1 more level! The coach told her that she would be beating mom in no time! (Doink, Yikes, Bug Eyes!!!)

Oh, and btw, this gal lost 3 back teeth this week. The poor tooth fairy is going to go broke!!!

Digs fell asleep while we were going through clothes in Emma's closet. He snuggled up with the stuffed animals!