I could learn to love a phone...

I do not like to talk on the phone. I never got into that teenage habit of endless talking on the phone about nothing. Until I was 14 we did not have a private phone, we had a pay phone in the office that was attached to our house. When my parents retired and moved from there we had a phone, but it was long distance to most places. As an adult I have spent so much work time on the phone that when I get home talking on the phone is the last thing I want to do. I do not own a cell phone. The cell phone I have belongs to my employer and I only use it when necessary. David thinks I need a phone when I am driving by myself and he is probably right about that.

But, I think I could learn to love a phone, because David gets videos and pictures of Kaiden and I don't. Videos like the one above where Kaiden shows off his amazing talents - putting his fists in his mouth, blowing bubbles, sticking out his tongue and yawning (that is Tito in the background cheering him on). I am really rethinking my dislike of phones.

Weekend Visitors

Friday night was Bunco - we had a great time, but my pictures didn't turn out - they were all very dark.

Porkchop came to visit. She brought Carrie and Dave, but I only got pictures of Porkchop.

Kaiden came after church for breakfast. (He brought his parents of course, but this was the best picture taken. It has been a very nice weekend.

My new favorite photo

Earth Day

Dear Kaiden,

Today is Earth Day. The first Earth Day was in 1970 when Gram was a senior in high school. I know we had some kind of program but do not remember much about it, except it must have made an impression on me. Since then I have tried to be a good steward of the Earth, to preserve it for future generations. That is why you will see Tito and me doing these things:

• Using cloth napkins
  
• Using rags instead of paper towels


• Not using paper plates, cups or plastic tableware
  
• Taking our cups to Starbucks
  
• Carrying cloth bags to the store


• Saving wrapping paper and bags to use again and again
  
• Saving the water ran to heat up the shower to water plants and flush toilets


• Turning the shower water off except to get wet and rinse off


• Using xerioscape plants in our yard


• Trying to find a way to mend and repair what we have instead of buying new


• Trying to find a way to reuse items again (Tito is very good at this)


• Recycling

We do these things in part to save money, but also because we love the Earth and we love you.

Love, Gram and Tito

Dr. Visit

Kaiden had a check up today. He now weighs 14 lbs 10 oz and is 25 inches long. He also had shots so he is a little fussy.

Playing

This is how my back yard looked on Sunday after the rain and snow stopped and I had got to play in the dirt. I cleared out old plant material and the debris blown in over the winter. This is the time of the year that is so hard, I want to plant but know that it is too early so I can just plan. And that is the part David fears, all the plans I can think of that means work for him!

We did plant seeds indoors on Saturday and I have started thinking of the new plants I want to get for the yard and the ones that need to be moved.

Next, I need to clean up the vegetable garden, but the long term forecast is calling for beautiful weather all week (when I'm at work) but cold and possible rain/snow for the weekend! Oh, well!

Best Laid Plans

This is the view out my front door Friday night. The street was covered with a couple of inches of slush, the temperature was falling and the forecast was 3-6 inches.

This was the view out my back door. The flakes were large and beautiful. Friday night was supposed to be Bunco night. We decided to postpone until next week so no one would have to drive on icy streets.

So since I had the menu planned and the food stocked, David and I had happy hour and watched it snow.

Overnight the snow turned to rain, it rained all day Saturday and melted the snow that was on the ground. I had almost 4 inches of water in my rain gauge this morning. We needed the moisture so bad - it just wasn't the weekend I had planned.

Heard you like dragonflies!

I received this card from my secret prayer sister for my birthday in February along with a dragonfly necklace I started looking around my house

in the hall bathroom

my napkin basket filled with dragonfly napkins

above my sewing machine

on my dresser holding some of my dragonfly jewelry

a candle from the mantle, towels in the kitchen(a welcome spring gift from my SPS and on my front door.

And these pictures only scratch the surface....Yeah, I guess I like dragonflies!

OCD

In this case it stands for obsessive complulsive dog. Rocco always turns around in a circle before going in or out of a door and has a ritual for eating. First he brings you his ball
Then he plays fetch for awhile

Then he puts the ball beside his dish

Takes a piece of dog food out of the kitchen onto the rug - looks at it awhile

He then eats it

and goes back for more

More Easter Pictures

It's not the best picture, but it is Kaiden's first Easter basket (or bucket). .

You can see his tie in this picture.

SecretPrayer Sister

This was at church for me Easter morning along with some chocolate. They were from my Secret Prayer Sister. It is fun to receive little gifts throughout the year, but the best part is knowing someone is praying for me everyday.

Easter

We have had a blessed Easter! We did our eggs and dinner yesterday and had a wonderful time with our kids. Our church service this morning was beautiful. Kaiden was so good. He seems to enjoy the music. You can't see it too well in this picture, but he has a tie on with his suit!

Holy Week

Easter is my favorite holiday - it has always been my favorite holiday. I love everything about it. I love that it is in spring when the weather is getting warmer (although here in Colorado, we have had many snowy Easters), the plants are coming up, flowers are beginning to appear in stores, grass is getting green and soon I can spend all my spare time playing in the dirt. I love coloring eggs and egg hunts (so do my kids and they are 27 and 29). I love planning and shopping for Easter baskets. It is much more relaxing than Christmas, there are not endless parties and one more gift to buy and cards to send out and cookies to bake and boxes of decorations to bring out and on and on. Don't get me wrong, I do like Christmas and can go overboard, but Easter is much more relaxed.

I also enjoy Lent. I was not familiar with Lent while I was growing up, Baptists sort of skim over this season. It was not until I married a Lutheran and started going to a Lutheran church that I was introduced to Lent and all its wonders. Our church has Lenten meals and services on Wednesday and I love these services - we use the Holden Evening Service and the music is beautiful. I also get to see my church family in the middle of the week and it reminds me of growing up Baptist -we went to church on Wednesday nights for prayer meetings and Pioneer Girls.

I also love giving up (or adding something) for Lent. It took me awhile to get into this, it didn't seem important to me until I started listening to the Lenten message. Lent is a journey to faith, a journey to the promises that come with Easter morning and giving up or adding something is dedicating yourself to that journey. We are instructed to pray and fast and give during Lent. When you think about these things everyday and make the decision everyday to not snack between meals or not buy anything new or not go out to eat or to walk 2 miles a day it gives you pause to consider what Christ gave up and gave to us. I pray everyday, but this year we were challenged to pray for someone we have trouble with, a thorn in our sides. It is not as easy to ask God to bless and prosper someone who is giving you grief - a humbling experience for me.

Palm Sunday service was beautiful (even if the weather was cold and we couldn't parade around the church with our palms - the children paraded inside - next year Kaiden can join in). The music was glorious - both the children and adult choirs and bell choirs performed. We will also have Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services. On Saturday we have a prayer vigil. It is such a wonderful experience to go into the quiet church and pray.

I love all the commercial things about Easter and the promise Easter brings to us, but it is Lent that has taught me the most about my Gods love for me. I am sorry it is only for 6 weeks.

Palm Sunday

It is a tradition for our Women's Group to hold a bake sale on Palm Sunday. This is a fund raiser for us to attend Women of Faith. Our Outreach Ministry also prepares Easter Food baskets the same day (the 2 groups overlap with several of the same members). Several years ago we decided to wear bunny ears to draw more attention. As you can see, we have a great time.

Happy Birthday, Gary

Yum, Janice's cheesecake

Today is Gary's Birthday. We got together last night to celebrate and as usual had a great time. (That's his beautiful wife, Vivien)

Two Months!

And my has he changed.