Progressive Dinner

As our entertainment for Friday evening, we held a progressive dinner. Our first stop was at Nathan & Jeanine's home for punch and hors d’ oeuvres! Here some of us got to meet Uncle Bill for the first time!


Aunt Emily, Corrine and Winston spent some time getting to know each other on the front porch!


Our second stop along the way was at Jeremy and Sara's home for the main course!


Grandma, Aunt Clorinda, Aunt Lori and Daniel in the food line!


(Corrine and Caroline)
While these cousins had lots of relatives to meet during the week, they already know each other quite well!


The third, and final, stop for the evening was back to our place for dessert...


(Cousin Erica)
...ice cream sundaes!


Good to the last bite!

Food and Fun

Well, the big bash is behind us, now. Everyone has returned home or is at least en route. It is now time to sort through the 700+ pictures we took and smile and remember, and thank God for the wonderful and delightful people whom we get to call "Family." Of course, not everyone was able to make it and we missed the handful of absent cousins. But those of us who were able to gather from the distant corners of the country had a great time and can't wait until "next time" whenever that may be!

Seeing as this was the Italian side of the family that was getting together, you could sum up the week in just a few words: Food, Fun, and Music! The big birthday bash for Grandma's 80th birthday was held on Saturday, before that, we had fun rehearsing, visiting, and eating!

Uncle Dick (from Maine) spent time working with Josiah on his cello music/technique.


(Cousin Daniel, Jonathan, Aunt Emily)
Rehearsing for the Big Bash...


(Aunt Emily, Joanna, cousin Daniel, Aunt Clorinda)
...and more rehearsing...


...Grandma relaxing with a book, while everyone else is getting ready for her party!


Being rather warm and humid throughout the weekend, the pool got a little bit of use, too!


Looking through old photo albums.


(Cousin Daniel, Uncle Michael, Uncle Dick, Josiah, Joshua)
Evening fun!! Yes, it was "Four on the Couch" and the guys won all three games.

Family

...and counting!

The hour for our guests to arrive is quickly drawing closer! And we're preparing to greet them with temperatures in the 90's, humidity around 90% and a couple more days of storms! We're praying that our AC unit and dehumidifier can handle the extra hours they are running these days, and that the air will dry up some for the weekend as most of our house doesn't have AC...

The last couple of nights have drenched us and brought with the downpour fairly severe storms. Not far from Nathan & Jeanine's new home a tornado was spotted and the tornado sirens in their town were set off for about 5 minutes during the night. Incidentally, their home is right next door to the siren - but Corrine and Winston slept right through the ruckus!

Joshua received a unique customer service call for Resounding Voice last night. Somebody had purchased CD's at a recent conference only to arrive home and discover they were the wrong size! Could she exchange them for a different size?

Mom is out with Joanna and Josiah for violin and cello lessons, and final grocery shopping for the coming week, and tomorrow we pick up Grandma from O'Hare and the celebrating begins!

Getting Ready

If this blog is suffering from lack of posts or news items of interest, it is because our attention is focused elsewhere. Next week we are expecting relatives from all corners of the country to show up and spend a week with us! The occasion? Grandma's 80th birthday celebration! We'll be having aunts, uncles, and cousins in from as far as Florida, Maine and California!

Of course, having company means finishing up all those around-the-house projects that have been on hold for who knows how long! So, paintbrushes have been out, closets cleaned, yard work done, deck building work done, windows washed, mosquito repellents experimented with, curtains washed, little details finished (like taking care of that missing outlet cover in the basement)...

Oh, and then there are all the good smells that have filled our kitchen and are now tucked away in the freezer waiting to be unveiled - breads, sauces, meats and more!

Joseph has spent a few afternoons this week helping out on a neighbor's farm - up in the loft throwing around bales of hay. Nice hot, itchy work!

Jonathan has been putting in his every spare moment this week working for Jeremy and Nathan in the continued absence of their needed additional crew member. The job is still available, by the way.

Thanks to Mr. Carlson we've also gotten lots of delicious organic strawberries. Sara came over and made strawberry preserves one evening this week, and we've filled up our freezers with strawberries, and strawberry sauce - and we've enjoyed consuming them before they made it to the freezer or pantry shelf.

Ah, yes, and it is zucchini season! Yum!!!

Saturday

Saturday was busy and very varied for our family. But I just had to start out with a picture from earlier in the week... Have I mentioned that Winston loves playing in the pool?? :-)

As long as we're on the topic, here are a few other pictures from the week:




We had a window crack during some of the sub-zero weather we had last winter, and finally got around to replacing it! :-)

But to get back to Saturday's events, it started bright and early as Joanna and I headed out the door for a bridal shower for long-time friend Rebecca Knottnerus. Many other ladies from church were there as well, so we had lots of fun!

It was our first time to meet the groom, and we look forward to witnessing their wedding in just a few weeks!

Since Rebecca is a "hat" person, while she opened gifts, they made hats from all the bows, and then had "pictures with the bride" at the end! Blessings on you Rebecca and Paul as you prepare for your life together!

Hurrying home from the shower, we were soon en route to meet up with the rest of the family at the Strand's home to celebrate two birthdays - one (rather belated) for Grant Strand and one for Anna VonHolten. Grant's party had been long anticipated by himself and most of the guys in our church. They spent the afternoon and evening painting each other - uh, yes, using paint ball guns. They even skipped out on dessert to get back to the guns! :)

The ladies spent the day indoors celebrating Anna's 21st birthday by just having fun together, enjoying yummy chocolate cheesecake, signing 'souvenier' t-shirts, and watching a movie together. Thanks, Strands, for hosting us all!

The guys had both camera's outside with them most of the day, so we don't have any of the girl pictures, but a bunch of paintball pics! :-)

Help Wanted

Wanted: A Good Man (or two)

Yes, we're serious. This is actually a wanted ad, and this is a great
employment opportunity. Read on:

North Country Interiors, LLC, has plenty of work and needs a bigger crew. Right now everyone is putting in lots of extra hours and their families are protesting - as are the men themselves! So, if you are looking for some steady work and are willing to work with your hands in commercial, residential and historic settings in northern Illinois, this may be the job for you!

Position Description:
- Crew member working on hardwood, tile, and resilient flooring installation
- All skill levels acceptable, necessary training will be provided
- Primary markets served are Rockford and Chicago with occasional projects in Milwaukee, WI.
- Full-time during the summer months, will consider part-time during fall/winter for college students
- Pay starts at $12/hour, but is commensurate with experience.
- Opportunities for advancement based on merit and experience. Our goal is to provide our crew members with income sufficient to sustain a family.

Employee Requirements:
- Experience operating basic power tools
- Ability to conduct basic construction math
- Capable of lifting 75 lbs
- at least 18 years of age
- Self-motivation and good work ethic

Some more info:
- While a longer-term commitment is desired, NCI is open to discussing short-term opportunities
- Must be prepared to bring to the job site a full supply of common sense each day
- Crew members get to have an Erber as their boss and have their pay checks signed by an attorney

For more info give Nathan a call: 815-914-6397 or nathan@northcountryinteriors.biz

Alive, but...

Yes, we're alive, and yes, we're at home. However we've been hit by some sort of flu bug that somebody brought home from somewhere. So we've been laying low this week! The biggest news items come from the day before the bug struck.

Last Saturday morning Nathan & Jeanine moved into their new home! It's only a short little drive for us and we're so glad to have them settling in close by... especially with less than two months before baby #3 arrives.

Last Saturday afternoon saw us helping our neighbors with an anniversary party for their parents. The catering we did for that event included making nearly 10 dozen deviled eggs. If anyone needs some tips on cooking/peeling/filling that many eggs, just drop me a line. :D

Last Saturday evening after the anniversary party we headed over to the park to meet with a few other families from church for a softball game. We had everyone on the field (except a couple of moms), and it was a lot of fun - aside from one casualty. Josh stepped in to pitch in relief for his sister... and his first pitch came right back at him, and he caught it. BUT, he caught it directly in front of his nose - as in he hardly got his glove up in time... so we had an injury delay and he had to leave the game. He hasn't been feeling too good, looking pretty or breathing well since, although the report from the road is that he's doing much better now. Yes, by Monday morning, he and the RV crew managed to load up and hit the road west all the same. They are finishing up at the Arizona convention today and despite the black nose/eye/face and a bought with the fever/flu thing they've survived thus far and hope to be home safe and sound early next week.

Aside from all that excitement, we've just been enjoying each other's company (and that certainly includes the grandkids!), doing house work, building a deck out back, and trying to get everyone healthy again!

Cousins

4 Little Cousins... getting bigger!!


4 sets of toeses...


...and 4 little noses!


William and Caroline

Winston and Corrine

Slumber Party!!

Saturday night we had a slumber party at our house!! Nathan, Jeanine, Jeremy and Sara had a wedding to attend, and so WE got the grandkids! The boys were soon bedded down for the night quietly - one in the boys room, one in Grandpa and Grandma's room. But, in the girls room... all was NOT quiet! One little girl had been put down in the crib, Auntie Joanna was in the trundle bed, and the other little girl was with Auntie Jess in the big bed. It didn't last long!

The little girl in the crib got a little jealous of the little girl in the big bed, so soon both little girls were in the big bed with Auntie Jess. It started out okay - for a minute or two... but then, after peeking to see if Auntie Jess was watching, the giggling, the tickling, the playing, the kicking and poking started!! Our little girls are not so little anymore and they would have loved to have played the night away - but after allowing some play time, their old auntie started hushing them and telling them to lay still.

Finally, all was quiet, but all was not still. From the far side of the bed, Caroline had apparently fallen asleep, but Corrine was still restless and roaming. Snuggling up to Auntie Jess - with her arm around her neck and face pressed against face - and then turning sideways, pulling the covers up to her neck, and then kicking them off, and then groaning and moaning... finally Auntie Jess asked her if she wanted to go back into the crib, and she replied with her standard answer, "Sure." So Auntie Jess moved her into the crib where the little girl quickly fell peacefully asleep, and with a sigh of relief the old auntie climbed back into the big bed ready to sleep...

But no sooner had her head touched the pillow then she heard a small voice ask, "Now shall *I* sleep by you?" Caroline had been quiet - but wasn't asleep. So once again, a small arm wrapped around Auntie Jessica's neck...

Some time later Grandma came in to check on the girls and found niece and auntie sharing about 6 inches of bed space - but sound asleep, at last.

Catch up time!

Well, it has been a week and a half since there has been any action here! So what have we been up to? Well, less than 40 hours after arriving home from Jamestown, most of us were packed up again and on the road for Ohio and the CHEO convention. We worked for Resounding Voice and Vision Forum that weekend and got home in the wee hours of Sunday morning ready for a week of sleep and catch-up from the preceding couple of weeks of busyness. But, no. That was not to be!

Sunday was time for church and - a birthday celebration! It was Sara's birthday and we finally got in a celebration of William's first birthday. He was all excitement!

Over the weekend while most of us were gone, N, J, C&W moved into our home temporarily. And so this week has been spent catching up on work for both RV and NCI, along with packing up N&J's old apartment and moving everything one more time!

Of course, we managed to schedule the move on one of the hotest days so far this year! But thankfully, the deluge of rain that hit Chicago that day didn't extend across the WI border. We are all VERY happy with this move as Nathan and Jeanine will now be only about 15 minutes from us!

At present, however, N&J are still living with us as their new home isn't quite habitable yet. So in between, before and after all the other work already mentioned above, we've been texturing, wallpapering, painting, tiling, and etc, at their new home, and cleaning and grabbing the last items at the old house. They do have a couple of rooms unpacked (baby's room, pantry, etc), but most everything else is just waiting until more painting/fixing is done. So we get to keep them here a few more days! Oh, and we've had a few visits from the other C&W and their mama as well - which makes for more noise, and more fun!!

Many, many thanks to the dear friends in our church who have lent such needed helping hands this way this week. The help, the food, the shared laughter and encouragement from you all has been greatly enjoyed and, as always, means so much to us!! We are truly blessed by you all!

Oh yes, and we've taken just a few moments this week to relax as well! Winston LOVES swimming - Corrine does NOT.

Oops, we missed it!

On June 8th, this year, we rejoiced over a very special event: William turned 1! Happy belated Birthday, big guy!

Jamestown Journey

So, where have we been this last week and a half since our last post??? Celebrating 400 years of American history in Jamestown, Virginia! If you want to take a peek, check out this blog that we created for our week away. More later!

Busy Bees are Happy Bees

I'm afraid that there's really not much to update the world on this week regarding life in the Erber household. We've been doing a lot of cooking and freezing lately and our refrigerators and freezers are about to burst! Our chickens were butchered this week and have also been laid to rest in the freezer...

Other busyness has included the typical: haircuts, laundry, packing for next week's trip, taking care of nieces/nephews/grandchildren (yay!), lawn work (between thunderstorms), music practice (always), piano lessons, church meetings, correspondence, order filling, office work, school work, working for North Country Interiors on various projects, oh yes, and somebody has a birthday coming up!

We have a lot of in and out and here and there coming up, so I don't know that we'll be really good about updating this blog over the next couple of weeks. But we'll try to check in every so often!

Conventions, again

I've been meaning to update this blog for several days now, but for one reason or another haven't been able to get to it. Last weekend, Jonathan and I attended the ICHE convention to run a book table for our friends down at Vision Forum. It was odd to attend that conference as vendors, but it was good to touch base again with some families that we haven't seen in a couple of years. We enjoyed many conversations with the attendees - many of whom are 'old friends' that we've made at the convention over the years - and sold a bunch of books, and CD's... and pop guns, and water balloon launchers, and other fun stuff!

This weekend, Josh is off and away again! This time the Resounding Voice crew is out in New York for their homeschool convention. Back at home, Jonathan's out working on a flooring job with Jeremy, we're taking care of William while Sara runs errands, and planning and preparing for the next trips...