I paid respects to our granddaughter’s gravesite yesterday, just to let her know we still think about her and love her and miss her AND we look very forward to meeting her in heaven one day.
Anniversary
June 20th, 2009More costumes
June 20th, 2009
Here are a couple more of John’s recent costumes, albeit very make shift. Above is Darth Vader with his light saber and below is Master Chief from the Halo game, which is one of John’s favorite games to play on Xbox. He has great fun dressing up in his own style! He has a variety of weapons, ready to take on any and all of his character’s arch enemies. He is one fun little boy with a very vivid imagination!
We have our square foot garden again this year, but are just growing a few things - cucumbers, zucchini, a variety of beans and lettuce. John has decided he likes salads and beans are his favorite veggie, so we are growing things that will be very useful for us! We have some herbs and peppers growing in another spot. It’s one of John’s daily jobs to check his garden’s progress!
Projects Update
May 31st, 2009
Today I have mostly been building picnic tables. Well, one, anyway. Just waiting for the stain to dry, then we’ll drag it out to the back yard as a 50 yard shooting bench picnic table.
Seems one of the current rage things out here is these coconut bark lined wire hanging baskets that you put wherever you fancy. I’m going to hang them outside our front door as soon as David sprays and destroys the tiny wasp nest that these pesky insects decided to build.
John loves to dress in costume according to the current film of his choice. This weekend it was the Disney classic cartoon Robin Hood. He couldn’t figure out how to make himself a bow and arrow, so he had to dress like Prince John. He got his crown from preschool and his sword and ran around fighting whomever would agree to be his opponent! We had an amusing day watching him play his little role!
Boba Fett
May 14th, 2009
John has a new ‘get-up’ that he is very enamored with - David’s old welding helmet. John says he is Boba Fett from Star Wars and he wanders around, inside and outside, with this helmet on and his gun, looking for nasty aliens to annihilate. He watches television with it on, he would love to wear it to bed and if we would let him, he’d wear it while he was taking a bath. It is very funny to watch him flip the dark filter up and down, depending on how well he wants to see.
What an imagination this boy has!
Little shooter
May 3rd, 2009
This is the shooting bench that David made himself this weekend. We moved it out into the backyard this afternoon. It sits 100 yards opposite the target box at the other end of our yard. We dug the holes and put the bench in place ready for cementing. David will pick some up this week sometime and finish the job. It’s currently covered in plastic because David can’t stain/waterproof the wood until the temperature is a steady 50 degrees for a couple days and he doesn’t want the wood to get wet. Good move, David, as it rained this afternoon.
Next project is a family picnic table! What fun we will have with that this summer.
After the rain and a nap (as John had gotten us up at 6am this morning), David and John sat out on the porch and did some shooting. I was fortunate enough to snap a picture that shows the flash from the gun muzzle as the bullet leaves. Even though John is right-handed, he is left-eyed, evidenced by the fact that his left eye is open and his right eye is closed. David says that he’ll make a better pistol shooter than rifleman because of it. John loves this special time with David and he’s becoming a good little shooter.
ok. So we don’t have much grass. But we do have quite a few varieties of wildflowers that spring up all over our yard. Yesterday when we went to Home Depot I bought myself a deep purple clematis, one of my favorites, that I am looking forward to planting in the front yard near the house. Happy happy spring!
April in Idaho
May 3rd, 2009
Spring really has finally come to Northern Idaho. I realize this picture shows just a few traces of snow, but now (May 3rd), it is all gone. This time LAST year when we were here for Eden’s birth, there was still PLENTY of snow left all over. I am very glad that it is has all melted.
We have actually had some warmer weather in the 60’s so we’re spending more time outside. It is so beautiful here. I love all the trees and most of all the peace and quiet.
We really don’t have much of a lawn to speak of, but that is fine with us. Nothing to water and tend to, and that also means nothing to mow.
April has proved to be a month of projects for us. On the first warmish day, we headed down to Home Depot and got enough wallboard to finish covering the insulation in the garage and we are so happy to have that done!! Makes the garage look so neat and tidy! John’s job, while David and I were working IN the garage, was to wash the car OUTSIDE the garage. He loved it and did a pretty good job. Yes, he did get soaking wet and needed a complete change of clothes but he had a great time. AND he got an extra star on his chart for his efforts.
Eden turned a year old this month. Michelle has two girlfriends who also have baby girls and all three of these little ladies were born within a week of each other, so they had a combination birthday party. Emily was not very happy about her birthday hat or her birthday cake. Eden and Daphne didn’t mind their hats or their cakes! They did enjoy all their gifts!! They were quite amused by all the adults taking pictures and cooing over them.
Another project we all worked on was a backstop for target shooting. The box is recycled out of wooden pallets that David has picked up from work and the soil came from the work on the pole barn. Didn’t take very long to accomplish this task, a bit of digging and moving the box into place, a few screws to hold it all together. Now David and John can hang targets on the front and shoot from 50 and 100 yards! (The yellow caution tape is a reminder to Maggie and Wookie as to where their boundary is in our yard. Maggie is very good about obeying and Wookie is getting better by the day.)
Not QUITE yet
April 2nd, 2009
I spoke too soon. Spring has not yet arrived in northern Idaho. This morning when I awoke, I found approximately 2 - 4 new inches of new snow on the ground. Thank goodness we still have our snow tires on our vehicles. In Washington state, studded snow tires had to be taken off vehicles by March 31st or drivers might end up with a $110 fine. In Idaho we can keep our snow tires on at least through April. Hopefully by then we’ll be safe in taking them off.
We’ve been joking that spring comes in May and June, summer is July and August, fall is September and October and winter is the other six months. HA!
I am glad that snow is white and sparkly and beautiful. Makes it less painful to see so much of it so often. It really is lovely. But I am finished calling my backyard a white winter wonderland. I’m ready for green grass and all the little yellow wildflowers that appear all over our yard.
I’ll be sure to take a picture at the first sighting. Come on, Spring, we’re ready and waiting!
Feed me!
April 2nd, 2009
Michelle visited us this past weekend with Eden and lunch time rolled around. Eden has become very proficient at sitting by herself steadily so when it was time for her to eat, we plopped her on the floor and sat in front of her with her food. She now has three little teeth on the bottom. Very adorable. What makes this photo so funny is that lately, she’s taken to squinting her eyes when she sees the spoon coming toward her. I don’t know if she wants to be surprised by the taste or what. Her eyes are shut tight for just a nanosecond and then they pop right back open. I had to take a dozen or so shots to get this one and it’s a bit blurry at that. But I love the expression on her face. She’s growing up so quickly!
Donuts
April 2nd, 2009
Just a fun picture of John, enjoying his favorite kind of donut - chocolate covered. Used to be in Michigan, most Sundays, either AT church or afterward at Quality Dairy, John would get a donut. But not so here. Not that we’ve been avoiding pastries. We just haven’t taken the time when we’ve gone shopping to go to the bakery.
Last weekend we were running errands and happened to stop at Miller’s Grocery in Spirit Lake. John caught sight of this donut and he HAD to have it! He was such a patient boy, being told we had to wait until we got home to eat. He ate every single bit of it, loved every bite. He’s a smart cookie. He won’t forget that outing any time too soon. I suspect he’ll be requesting a trip to Miller’s next weekend….and probably just for a chocolate covered donut!
Confined
April 2nd, 2009
We’ve had enough mild weather that some of our snow has actually melted. At least enough for us to find the wire that we have connected up for the dogs’ invisible fence. It’s been disconnected for quite a while now, ever since the wire was accidentally broken in two when the snow was plowed from our driveway. Maggie got too used to roaming around our neighborhood, not really causing too much trouble. At first, Wookie was too afraid to follow after her, but lately, he’s been game and they’ve both been caught visiting neighbors.
So now they both have their collars on and are getting used to being confined to our property. AND we are happy to report that Wookie is no longer afraid of the dog flap! Whew. David and I spent quite a bit of time pushing him out the flap, grabbing a hold of him and pushing him back in. Back and forth.
We are looking forward to our first spring in Idaho!
