My New Favorite Photo

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Nathan and Stacy. Three years ago today. And we will be more than happy to take care of Kaiden if you want to go out to celebrate.

Images From Our Walk

My sister, Millie, went to school with the man who did these sculptures.

Rocco and a much larger dog
These may look real, but they are sculptures

Great dragonfly - real

Nathan happened to look up and see this huge wasp nest high in a tree

Even the restroom signs are sculpture

Sculpture Park

The town I was born in and where my sister still lives has a sculpture park. We had her birthday celebration there yesterday and I wanted to share some of my favorites.

I love the looks on the children's faces. It is a little hard to see in this picture, but I just imagine their screams of joy going down the hill on their toboggan.

This dragonfly is in the water and you know how much I love dragonflies!

I love this gardener contemplating what she will plant in her clay pots.

This gardener is resting in her rocker with her hat and pruners and flowers in her lap.

A close up of her lap.

This is my favorite. I love the look of the breeze moving her skirt, her bare feet, her clothes basket with a surprise.....

wildflowers she has picked.

I have many more pictures of the park and will share some more later this week.

Birthday Picnic

We had a picnic for my sister's birthday today. Here she is with her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter. They had just had their annual 4 generation picture taken.

My sisters and me. Millie was sitting in Tito's chair because her back ached. Tito was laying on a blanket under a tree.

The picnic was at a sculpture park in the town my sister lives in. We walked around after we ate. (I will have pictures of the sculptures later)

Kaiden was crawling around the blankets grabbing everything he could get his hands on. He found Samantha's water bottle. Samantha isn't sure what she thinks about this.

In the end, she forgave him and gave him a good-bye kiss. It probably didn't hurt that she had her water bottle back.

Let Me Tell You About My Best Friend...

This is Janice and she is my best friend. We are as different as night and day and we are the same as two peas in a pod.

She is short and I am tall. She grew up on a farm in Kansas; I grew up all over Colorado. She is the oldest girl in her family; I am the baby of my family. She has lived numerous places around the country; I have always lived within 75 miles of where I was born. She has brown hair; I have blond. She is outgoing and can strike up a conversation with anyone; I am shy until I get to know people. She lets unimportant stuff roll of her back, I obsess about everything.

We both love to play in the dirt. We both sew (she is better than I am). We both bake (she makes perfectly round cookies). We both do crafts. We both became Lutherans through marriage. We both love to play games. We usually order the same things from a menu - with the same changes (please substitute fruit for tomatoes; grilled chicken, dressing on the side).

We say we were raised by the same mother. There are people who say we share a brain. Our names are usually said as it it was one "HelenandJanice". We never run out of things to talk about. We once drove 9 hours to Kansas talking the whole time and then stayed up until 1 am talking some more. We kept others at a retreat up because they could hear us laughing through the walls. We were called out at a Pampered Chef party because we were talking and laughing ("You need to pay attention to this- its important!").

She goes along with my crazy ideas, never complaining, never rolling her eyes, never saying "this is another fine mess you have gotten us into". She knows when I am down, she knows what to do and say to make things better. Or at least get my mind off it. She is a warm, caring, sweet, funny person who I am so lucky to call my friend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANICE!

Oh, by the way, did I mention she is older then me (by most calendars)? Six months and six days.

Can I??

Can I have a motorcycle? Just like Tito?

Happy Birthday, Ruby

Tday is my sister, Ruby's, birthday....

Happy Birthday, Ruby!

He's Mobile

Nathan and Stacy went to a wedding yesterday. (Don't they look nice?) Tito, Uncle Roger and I got to watch Kaiden. He was such a good boy. He ate his carrots, drank his bottle, did very little fussing and explored. He isn't crawling, but he is doing the military stomach crawl, rolling over and over and getting up on his hands and feet and sort of hopping forward.

It's time to start child-proofing!

Morning Glories

I love Morning Glories. They are one of my favorite flowers. They remind me of the refrain in the hymn "morning by morning new mercies I see". The bloom only lasts a day, but new ones appear the next day. The flowers on my arch are not doing well this year because of the shade from my neighbor's tree. I have already decided to move this arch to another part of the yard next year and plant something shade loving in this corner.

This deep purple is probably my favorite color of Morning Glories.

The first year we were at this house, a volunteer Morning Glory popped up in my planter and I left it because we had very few plants that year. It climbs up bamboo stake until it reaches the light, then it wraps around and around the light. I have to train the tendrils as they keep trying to grow inside the garage.

I planted seeds for blue flowers this year, but have yet to see a blue bloom. The pink are pretty also, but I had wanted blue to go with the orange and yellow nasturtiums in the planter.

He loves his MaMa

Nathan and Kaiden are at home in the mornings for about an hour between when Stacy goes to work and when Nathan has to go to work. Nathan discovered when he would say MaMa to Kaiden he would smile and "talk". But when he would say Daddy, he would stop smiling and stop talking. We thought it was so funny - even if it deflated Daddy's ego a little. (sorry about the quality of the video, I should have had more lights on).

Uncle Roger

Uncle Roger is here from California for a few days. We have had a great weekend. Tito and
Roger went to the flea market and the motorcycle store on Saturday and I was able to set up my new scanner and scan some old photos. I have many more to go, but I was so glad to get the project started. All the kids were here Saturday night for dinner and Roger got to meet Kaiden. Tito and David left for a motorcycle ride today and will be gone 3 or 4 days. Which will be nice because this week is going to be very busy for me - budget deadline on Friday! I won't have to worry about getting home early or bringing work home and they will have a great time.

The Great Sunflower Project

This is the second year I have participated in the Great Sunflower Project. San Francisco University is conducting the project to study bees. There is great concern about the decline in the bee population. I was amazed at how much we depend on bees for our food. Their cross pollentation enables plants to bear fruit. The web site for the project says bees are responsible for every third bite of food we eat!

The project is simple, you receive a packet of sunflower seeds, plant them and when they bloom you spend 15 minutes a few times during the summer and note the number of bees that come to the flowers. I did that this morning and the bees were very busy.

If you are interested, the website is www.greatsunflower.org.

Happy Birthday, Carrie

You must've been a beautiful baby,
'cause, Baby look at you now!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful Carrie. You have always been your Dad's Bear. I may not have given birth to you and would never try to be your "Mom", but I am proud you are my daughter. Love from both of us!

Six Months

It doesn't seem possible that he is six months old already, but he is!

Kaiden's First

This weekend was Kaiden's first overnight trip. He and his Mommy and Daddy came to the mountains with us. It was beautiful and we had a great time.

This weekend was Kaiden's first time in a swimming pool. He had a good time. I didn't get a picture of it, but he was kicking his feet - it was so adorable.

This weekend was Kaiden's first taste of veggies. He had sweet potatoes and loved them.