Linda's Sunflower

I can't believe it's already the end of June! Seems like the kids were just getting out of school for the summer, and now it's only 7 weeks until Brandon heads off to K-State and just less than that before the twins head back to school. Time sure has a way of slipping away from us! Nothing major to report. Corby and the kids made it home from Oklahoma around 2:30 Sunday afternoon. They had a good visit with Charles; who is now thinking about moving back to Kansas! He's got friends from his trucking days who live in El Dorado and Leon, and there isn't much keeping him in Oklahoma. We hope he does decide to move up here. I think it would be good for him. The twins had their 3-hour night driving session last night. Corby and I made good use of the time while they were driving - we went to the Palace and saw WILD HOGS with John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William Macy. It was SOOOOO funny! The kids had seen it when it first came out, and they really enjoyed...

Quiet Saturday in the Joplin house! That's because Corby and the kids went to Oklahoma to visit Grandpa Charles. They were supposed to go over Memorial Day weekend, but Charles wasn't feeling well. Since Corby's birthday was yesterday, and Charles' birthday is tomorrow, they decided to go down there and celebrate! It was also a good opportunity for Brandon to see his Grandpa for a bit before he heads off to K-State. Needless to say, I am enjoying the peace and quiet. I had to work late last night, and then Kaleb's alarm clock woke me up at 7:30 this morning. Normally I can go right back to sleep, but for some reason I couldn't this morning. So I got up, read the paper, cleaned up the kitchen, did the grocery shopping at Leeker's and got a few things done around the house. Then I went and took mom to the grocery store. Let's just say today is not one of her most lucid days. She's having issues again about her clothing, but I won't go into the whol...

Brandon's big news - he bought a car! We picked it up this morning. It is a 95 Toyota Corolla. It's got a lot of miles on it, but is in good mechanical condition. He won't be driving much as a freshman anyway, so we thought this was a good car for him. It gets great gas mileage! AND - he is now officially enrolled at K-State! We went up yesterday for freshman orientation and enrollment. It was a LONG day! We had to be there by 8:15, so we left home around 5:45 am. There was very dense fog all the way there, so that slowed us down a bit. His classes include: Chemistry 1, Calculus 2, Public Speaking, Architectural Engineering Orientation and History of Buildings -- 14 class hours. We were able to see a typical dorm room, though we don't know yet which building he's been assigned to. He'll find that out in July. He is also applying for a CSI (Campus Internship) program. If selected, he would work with the Women in Engineering program on a research project for 8-10 ...

yep - we got our new fridge - FINALLY! We went 8 days without a refrigerator. Ever lived out of a cooler? Not much fun! We didn't really want to get a side-by-side one again, but we did want an ice maker. We could not find a regular fridge with a filter on it's ice maker except for the side-by-side's. With Park City's nasty water, we knew we had to have a filter. We could have opted for a whole house filtering system, but couldn't really afford one. This fridge wasn't much more expensive than the standard ones. Corby wanted black, to match the dishwasher and the black glass on the stove. I have to admit it looks pretty cool in the red kitchen! Watch out Wichita/Park City - Kaleb and Kaitlin are on the loose! Yes, they are on the roads driving! I took them out to the Greyhound Park parking lot last night (very few people there) and Kaitlin practiced parking, while Kaleb practiced turning corners. Kaitlin got VERY exciting news yesterday. Her favorite group, Rasca...

Just got back from a trip to KC! Kaitlin and I took Brandon and his friend, Owen, up yesterday so they could go to the ROCKFEST concert at Liberty Memorial Park. Oh my gosh - WHAT A CROWD OF PEOPLE! They sold 40,000 tickets! It was an all-day concert, starting at noon and going until about midnight. The traffic getting TO the park was terrible, but once we actually got to the park the traffic eased. I guess that's because most everyone else was looking for parking - we were just looking for a place to drop the boys off. We were very close to Crown Center, so we stopped there and shopped for a while. Kaitlin had never been there, and it had been years since I had been. We went to the Crayola Factory - and yes - my 16-year-old daughter who loves to color - bought a box of 120 colors and a huge Sponge Bob coloring book. We stayed at the Radisson downtown, so we checked in after we left Crown Center. After getting our things settled at the hotel, we took off again. Went to Oak Park Mal...

Kaleb and Kaitlin started driver's ed on Monday. They haven't actually started driving yet. That starts tomorrow. Kaitlin has some experience, as she had a learner's permit for the last year. Kaleb, our dear, sweet, SMART Kaleb, didn't pass the test. He was never interested in going back to re-take it, so consequently he doesn't have ANY experience. This oughta be fun! Anyway, our schedule is pretty busy right now due to the class. Since summer driver's ed was only offered at two Wichita high schools this summer, we chose East since it's closest to my work. They are in the 9-11am class, so I've been taking them and Brandon has been picking them up. Every third start (starting tomorrow) they will go from 8-12, with an hour of simulation driving before class and an hour of actual driving after class. The next 6 weeks are going to be a blur! Kaitlin and I are headed to KC this weekend with Brandon and his friend, Owen. The boys have tickets to Rockfest, an ...

We survived another garage sale! I used to be a once- or twice-a-year garage "seller"; but the last 5 years I have slowed down a bit. After debating the last few weeks, I finally decided to go ahead with the spring sale. Park City does a city-wide sale in the spring and fall. We didn't have a lot of big items to sell, but I had a lot of books, some scrapbooking & stamping items, clothes and a bit of miscellaneous. Did pretty good too - sold quite a few books, and we didn't have much to sack/box up for Goodwill. The kids all worked last night, so Corby and I went to mom's and did her grocery shopping. I visited with her while Corby went to Long John Silver's and got her a piece of fish and 2 hushpuppies. That seems to be her favorite food right now! We had some running to do after we left mom's, then we stopped and grabbed dinner at Hog Wild BBQ. Kaitlin closed last night. That normally means she's done around 11, but she didn't get done until a...