Well, we received more hand-me down cloths this past week, mostly for Jo but there were a few shirts that we could pass along to Cole too. Jo feels very special at times opening sacks of cloths all that she can wear. At times it’s like she gets to empty out her drawers and start with a whole new wardrobe. This dress & tights set were just received and she just loooooves them. She came right up to me and asked if I would take her picture with her pretty dress on. Who could say no?
We have been enjoying the birds in our front yard. A couple feeders, birdbath, and a few bird houses line the front flowerbed. We had a large flock land on the bath to frolic in the water and darn near emptid it. It was neat to watch so many at once trying to bathe. We have some sort of bird activity all day long so it’s nice to some times just sit and watch. Though there are some days I feel we just provide a sporting event for one of our neighbor cats. I have tried three different cat repellents to keep her away and once I even managed to spray her fir, she just come back and laid right in the middle of all the stink and or blood stuff. I think she is under there sniffing it and getting high myself. The challenge has been set…can I win is the question?!
Once in a while we get a photo of sibling love. We have caught them slow dancing in the backyard which was darn cute too but we didn’t get the camera in time. They sure seem to laugh, love, share and take care of each other more the older they have gotten. We sure love that about them too. Their understanding of each other has grown and we get to hear actual conversations between them now, which is fun and interesting most of the time.
The boys go from riding scooters around the driveway and over a wood jump to playing some sort of ball in the yard and then falling down in the garage to watch some t.v. and wrestling with whomever else is on the floor. It’s like we have grown from two kids to ten some days when we have to remind them of the garage rules. Like, yes, you can grab an ice-cream out of the freezer but please make sure the door gets shut and eat outside of the garage. And then again we say…PLEASE SHUT THE FREEZER DOOR! Ha Ha! All the boys keep coming back so it must be all good. We know Cole sleeps well at night with all the activity and his scooter riding skills are growing every day riding with the older boys.
Jo gets in play time with the boys too but she still prefers the dirt, bugs and snakes. We actually have two girls on the street now all about the same age so Jo is getting some girl time and that’s good. Here Jo and one of the neighbor kids got to pull up all the carrots she planted. Oh, they had a good time digging them up but then Jo started to find bugs and slugs in the dirt and her real fun began. Jo and her friend, Alexis, ended up picking up every brick and laying them in the grass that lined this flower/garden bed looking for bugs. Just made our stomach flip seeing all the bricks out of place and then laughed thinking things sure could be worse. Still need to dig them back in but other things were on the list to do first.
Took about an hour or more to get into the door and walk the tour but the kids loved watching all the bread and how it moved throughout the building. The smell was very strong and made us all hungry but Franz took care of that for us too at the end. We sat down to a hotdog meal with chips / sodas and a cookie to top it all off. Franz sure treated us well and hey…we even got cool hats!
While camping we got a phone call from my Mother that my Grandfather passed away. This would be my Mother’s Father…Gpa Lovely, or Bud, to those who knew him. I have had a few trips along with my brother to Granpa's home since then, helping out where we could and just being with family and Mom. Grandpa’s ashes were laid to rest with my Grandmother on Mt. Hood over Labor Day. This is where my family has always camped and hunted and I know my Grandfather is happy now, back with his wife who he missed dearly and becoming part of the mountain that he so loves.
We have been busy the past few weeks and, though a little tired, we are having a great time. First, a trip south to visit the some Belmont family and a trip to the wild. Jill and the kids rode a camel and an elephant for the first time at Wildlife Safari. The smiles on their faces were great, including the big kid Jill! Next, a mid-week trip to met up with Connie and some of her family to water-ski at a lake that was all to ourselves, with warm water to boot. What a good day that was! Third, we headed north for a weekend of Jill’s 20-year high school. Whewh…and if that was not enough we drove out to Mt. Saint Helens for a day trip on our way home from the reunion.
Did I wrap all that up in one paragraph for you?
We are home for now but I have a looooong list of my to-dos and for the past two days have been crossing them off one or two at a time. Adding some things to my list that were not on it just so I could cross the job off that I didn’t plan on doing but did any way. You all know what I mean. Included on my list was to update our blog and now that our computer is feeling much better I get to cross this off my list too.
School is heading in fast along with FOOTBALL season so projects need to wrap up and life will soon be back to our same old grind. All good…all so good.
