July 30

Happy Birthday Amy!
We hear that you are 16...so we are sending you a car of your choice.
Pick any one of the cars in the top photo...
but watch out for the guy with the red and blue lights on the roof!
Hope you have a wonderful day.

July 29

Anyone want a ride?
There's room for everyone.

And you see that pole by Reuben's head?
My bird feeder pole...no feeders hanging there anymore.
Reluctantly I took them down...and Templeton the rat is too..we think.
Rich has been putting more rat poison out just in case.
And every morning the entire bar is gone!  Not a crumb left even.
So Rich tied it to the bottom of the bush and now they can't run off with it!
Where are the missing poison bars now?
In a rat nest somewhere??
That's fine with me.
Eet Smakelijk, Templeton and family!

July 28

This morning Rich said to me
'Let's go back 11 years okay?'
I asked why.
He said 'So I can say NO!"
I'm hoping he was kidding.

July 28 must be a very popular day to get married.
And so we share our anniversary date with...
Esther and Ryan - 5 years
Ome Dick and Tante Ada - 34 years? (am I right?)

Have a wonderful everyone!
The sun is shining!

July 27

Am I the only crazy woman that lets her kids play
with sawdust in the house?
If they would have asked permission before bringing it in,
my answer would have been NO!
But when I saw this, (don't tell them) I thought it looked like lots of fun.
And so they have sawdust in the house.

July 26

And the weather forecast for today...
Gray skies!

July 25

The kids were so excited to try out their new kite.
But they found out that flying a kite is not as easy as it looks.
Dustin has as much patience as me when it comes to things like this.
If it doesn't work right away...it's not going to work.

July 24

You think Blake will have dark hair like his Papa??
I'm hoping so!

July 23

All she needs is a white horse!

(photo editing by Gramma - mariahsdesigns.blogspot.com)

July 22

Rich went fishing for a few days this week.
He was happy to come home with this salmon...
the fishing wasn't great.
The kids (and I) were so glad to have him home again.
Dustin spent all day Wednesday checking his watch
and doing the calculations...
fishing til 12noon...to the ferry...on the ferry...
HOME!

And a Happy Birthday greeting to Christina.
Hope you have a wonderful day!

July 21

The kids have found a new place to play.  In the hedge behind the shop.
They feed the goats and make it a game to see who can attract the most.
They play in here for hours, only appearing for more supplies.

July 20

Josie wanted to take a picture of me with Blake.
So here it the result.
Blake is sure NOT impressed with the whole thing!

July 19

Do I need to say anything with this picture?

July 18

It's been raining so much here...
but Reuben is prepared!
He insisted that I take a picture of his boots!

July 17

Check out this Astilbe plant!

I can't believe how many flower stems it has.

Can't wait to see what it will look like in a week or two!

July 16

Yesterday I looked out the window to see this.
Nothing out of the ordinary, you say?
Well, let me say that the sight of Dustin willingly and happily reading
is wonderful.  He hasn't put that book (Flat Stanley) down since I gave it to him.
He is starting to realize that reading is fun and that he CAN read!
He has been spending 4 hours a week at Sylvan Learning Center and
we are seeing results!  Yippee!!

And on the rat front...after 2 days, the bar of poison has been completely consumed and I haven't been able to spy Templeton since we put the poison out!
Hopefully it's working.

July 15

Happy Birthday Grampa!
We hope you have a wonderful day
and may God bless you richly this year.

July 14

Interesting to find this in my garden...
Carefully placed back together after obviously being broken by someone who does not want to confess to this.

And about the Rat Race..
bought some poison yesterday, but before it was placed...
someone left the van door open for a couple hours last night...
which had me totally envisioning myself driving down the freeway today
with 4 kids in the car,
when Templeton makes his appearance, making me lose control...
So I put some tempting meat on the floor in the van,
so if he WAS hiding in the car, he'd have a snack and I'd see it was gone
telling me that he IS in fact along for the ride.
But when I checked this morning,
the ham lay untouched...
Then I went to check on the poison...
there were nibbles gone...
then Templeton peeked out his head from the bushes
looked at me...and ran off.
I have to say I was kinda glad to see his beady eyes looking at me this morning,
now I'm sure he's not in the van.  Phew...I can drive in peace
(if that is possible with 4 kids in tow!)

I'll keep you posted!

And a Happy Birthday to...
Emma....
and Taylor
Hope your day is great!

July 13

Watering the 'garden'

And on the rat front...he's still alive...and he's been busy.
But hubby is determined, so once he's decided how he is going to battle this,
I'm sure it won't take long before Templeton is dead!

July 12

Hmmm...this is making me suspicious.
Last week there was a hole here in the flowerbed.  I gave our dog trouble for digging in the flowerbed again.  She slinked away with her tail between her legs.  Same thing happened on Sunday, but this time Rich took a closer look and decided that the dog could not have dug that hole.  Yesterday I happened to walk past here to see a pile of gravel stashed under the plants.  This gravel must have been removed from under the pavement.  This is starting to get really suspicious.
Did I tell you that this is all happening right under the bird feeders where the excess seed lands?
So anyways, Rich started stepping in the garden along the curb and his foot sunk down 6 inches all the way along...when all of a sudden...there went Templeton (the rat) scurrying to get away!!!
SO SO YUCKY!!!
So the bird feeders are going...and I'm off to buy some rat poison...or a trap...or something.
I'll keep you posted!

July 11

Determined to catch 'the big one'.

July 10

Oh my little monkey!
Isn't he so cute?

July 9

Reuben always get a sparkle in his eyes when he knows Gramma is coming over.  In his mind he's thinking "IPhone...Jack and the Beanstalk"
It baffles me how a 3 year old knows EXACTLY what to do with all these new-fangled gadgets!

July 8

Breezy's been staying by us for the past few days.
She came bearing craft supplies.  Yesterday's 'craft' was face painting.
To say the kids had fun is an understatement!

July 7

Tubing the rapids!

And a Happy Birthday to Auntie Arenda.
We hope you have a wonderful day!

July 6

Mama feeding her baby.

And talking about babies...
Blake weighs 14lb 9oz!

July 5

It's time for the guessing game again!
Blake is 2 months old.
How much does he weigh??