Patriarch

Sometime's photos can speak louder than words which is why I'm not going to say much about these photos. This is my 92 year old grandpa Gus playing cards at my 2 yr old nephew's birthday party.

Budding Artist

If I can keep him from eating the color crayons, Jacob LOVES to color!
Here is a little photo montage of one of his latest artistic endeavors. The one of him crying was after I yanked the color crayon out of his mouth (notice all of the blue crayon on his teeth? ick!) You can click on the collage to see a larger version.

Old Pillows, New Pillows

New Pillows (Bottom) Quite a few months ago I took my first trip to Crafty Planet in NE Minneapolis with Sarah and got the BEST fabric with the intention of making some cute pillow covers. Then it took me a few weeks to get over to Ikea to get some pillows to make covers for! Next step, sew pillow cases. Easier said than done since I had no sewing machine at the time. FINALLY I got around to spending some time with Karen who was a huge help. In her pregnancy monkey brain state of mind she attempted to help me figure out my "pattern". Through some happy accidents, I ended up with the borders on the pillows. We like to call it Karen-dupity (serendipity + pregnancy stupidity) I then took another week or so to hand sew them into the cases. And here they are!

Shortly after, I was given a sewing machine from my mother-in-law Cathy (THANKS!)
I have a feeling there will be more projects i the future once photo shoots slow down and work gets done. Hmmmm...could be a long time.

Old Pillow (Top) The old pillow was made by Jim's grandmother and also handed down to me in Cathy's attempt to clean out her basement in preparation for remodeling. I just LOVE it!

Two Little Birds

Here are my two little baby birds!  They are so cute. They just hang out huddled together.  There were 4 eggs and now only 2 baby birds.  Not sure what happened to the others. Mom and Dad Bird (house finches) hang out on the power line and wait for us to leave so they can visit their little ones. They are probably getting sick of waiting for us to get outta there since we have been spending lots and lots of time on the deck.  Jim built gates for the two stairways and Jacob has a big bin of outdoor toys and his swimming pool to play with on the deck.  It's so nice!  The fence is coming up next week and then we'll need grass.  We will find some sort of an excuse to have a party once it is all finished!!

Just Hatched!

Welcome to our new baby bird, Dottie! She hatched from the one spotted egg and seems to be doing well. Mama and Daddy bird are taking great care of her. We're still waiting to meet babies 2, 3 & 4!

Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to my Grandpa who is 92 now and to my Big Sis! I am so fortunate to have a big family which includes both of my sets of Grandparents (Jacob's GREAT Grandparents!!) We celebrated by going to Grandma and Grandpa W's church and then to Perkins. It was also a celebration of Grandma and Grandpa W's 66th Wedding Anniversary. WOW! Jacob and Gabe had lots of fun in the nursery at the church - I supervised! It was much easier than trying to wrestle with and chase Jacob around the church.

Deck Progress and Nesting

Here is a look at progress on the deck. It's looking great thanks to lots of help from my cousin Mike (his business is called A Step Beyond) He does an amazing job and also remodeled our bathroom quite a few years back. We also have a new family starting on our deck, a bird family. Jim got me a hanging flower for Mother's Day and I think Mama-to-be Bird thought it was for her. She has 4 eggs. One does not match the other 3. Weird! Papa bird who has red feathers on his head (some sort of little finch or something) also makes frequent visits. I just HAD to get some photos of the cute little nest and mis-matching eggs. Happy Nesting, Mama Bird! We're waiting to meet the new little babies :)