Redemption

In my last post I was slightly complaining about "the girls" and their rearranging of some of my Spring bulbs! Only so slightly! We love them and truthfully they could probably do more damage and we would find another excuse for their chicken like behavior! But this morning when I went to welcome them to another day (however not as sunny or dry as the previous days) to my surprise I found 3 EGGS! Eggs have been pretty sparse with Winter, molting and Beyonce's illness.....so you can imagine how pleased I was to see these 3 little golden brown eggs!

Thank you girls.......keep it up!

February Girls and Sun

Another beautiful day in February and the girls intend to make the most of it! When I went out early this morning to let them out of the safety of their house they were in a big hurry to get out! Most mornings in Winter they barely get up when I open the door. Somehow I think they knew today was Saturday and it was going to be a great day!



These were beautiful crocus from last year! I have looked around these past couple of sunny days hoping to find some evidence of this years beauties! But I am afraid "the Girls" may have scratched them up over the last months! Good thing I have pictures!



For my friends who knew that Beyonce was on deaths door this past summer....well here she is now! All back to her healthy beautiful self! My saying has always been "a sick chicken is a dead chicken" But my husband and I were not going to give up on her. So with force feeding food and water, antibiotics and then a variety of any type of food we could get her to eat she is now the lovely Beyonce again!



Here are all three girls in warmer days of the summer soaking up some sun rays. I tried to tell them this morning that it was going to be dry but it was not going to be this warm! I am sure they will find a sunny spot today and do a little sun bathing!

Enjoy the sunny Saturday......I know "the Girls" will!

Short Month But Longer Days

This picture was taken from my back porch at about 6:45 am

I love Febraury! I know that sounds very strange to most people but for me one who gets up very early and has outside chores the early light is a welcomed gift. Instead of fumbling around in complete darkness you can enjoy knowing where you are walking with a little extra light! And at the end of the day instead of driving home with just the lights from cars to see you have the light of day! A beautiful sight!

This was taken from the same spot about an hour later..good morning sunshine!

What a beautiful early February morning! The only thing that would have been better is if I could have stayed home and enjoyed the whole day in my backyard!

The other reason I love this month is that both of my children were born in February! And of course there is Valentines Day!

Enjoy February, enjoy the early light and enjoy the next 5 or 6 days that the weatherman says we are going to have sun!

A New Beginning

As I sit at my computer I realize that it is January 31, 2012. I have not blogged since June of 2011. Blogging was something I enjoyed but the busyness of every day life and the easy life of Facebook steered me away!

I did not make any New Year Resolutions because like most they usually go by the wayside after a month or two! I did however make a deal with myself to try and stay on a budget which I can happily say I have managed to do so for the month of January! Just eleven months to go!

I have been inspired by someone I don't know directly but was introduced to her blog by her son who is one of the greatest kids I know. So before January 2012 is officially in the books as past I am going to renew my blog. I am not going to promise how often I will get this done but I am going to do my best and that is all we can ask ourselves is try and do our best.

So, I thought I would start out the new year with a new beginning with the Christmas Photo of my family. It is our new beginning and a beautiful one at that!

Happy January 2012 to all my family and friends.....see you in February!

Grandbaby Boys!

As I get older I find myself at times looking back at the past and it is amazing how many people have come into my life....some have gone and some have stayed. I have a friend who came to me in quite a peculiar way, I was in college, I needed my wisdom teeth out and my dentist referred me to an oral surgeon in Tacoma. The procedure was quite painless and I came through it with flying colors, that was in 1978. Then in June of 1979 I went to work at Purdy Veterinary Hospital and that is where I once again met my oral surgeon or better yet his wife. Jeanne has been my friend for 32 years. We have many things in common, children, dogs, gardens, husbands and working for those husbands, and now we have grandsons. I spent the most beautiful Saturday with my friend Jeanne celebrating her grandson's first birthday! And to make it even more special my grandson was there too! Jeanne is a friend that I know will always be mine and now we have a better thing in common, we have the cutest grandsons!
Michael....enjoying his cake!

Jack....really enjoying his cake!

Aiden.....being 10 months Michael and Jack's junior he was a little bit more concerned about the whole birthday party experience!

You know you have a true friend when you never run out of things to talk about and now we have grandbabies......I am looking forward to another 30 years with my friend.

Milestones

When I think about milestones in my life there are many that come to mind, some you don't remember like learning to walk or your first words these are things that your parents remember. But the ones that you remember the most I think are learning to tie your shoes, riding a bike, learning to swim, able to stay at home alone, driving a car and graduating from high school. You remember these because they represent independence. Independence is what we all strive for when we are young. But once you have reached that point in your life there is more to come, college graduation, first jobs, marriage, the birth of your own children and finding the love of your life. For me I have reached all of these milestones and now I am experiencing all of these again through the lives of my children. It is an amazing feeling and brings a whole new prospective.

Darcie and Anthony's Wedding.

Holding my grandson.

And most recently Jason's graduation from Gonzaga University.


I am happy and content, but always looking forward to the next milestone!

Purple Passion

I always find it amazing that the garden blooms the same colors at the same time. In the early Spring it seems I have a lot of yellow and red. The other morning I went out to take some pictures and I was amazed at the amount of purple I found.

Dwarf Iris....one of my favorite!

Columbine

Big Iris.

The garden has suffered this year with all the cold weather...things have had a tough time blooming! I think the flowers are wanting the warm weather more than I.

Sizzle's birthday!

As usual things never go as they are planned! The day was hectic the evening was even more so picture taking of the birthday party was limited! And unfortunately my camera did not want to cooperate either!

Sizzle with her party collar on! Sorry for the red-eye:(


Aiden was much in the party mood either!


Maybe next year!

May to May

May to May, a span of 12 months. It was this time last year that I had decided that I needed a puppy! I know what was I thinking! I had plenty of dogs in my house but my heart was aching for that one special girl. I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason and you have to take advantage of them if the time is right. The time was right and I found that special girl. She came in the package of a determined, wild, confident, beautiful, smart and most of all loving little red-head. She wore the all important pink color collar as a baby which from those who know me is a tell all that is the one I am going to choose. We named her Sizzle and she was a fireball from day one, she has been a challenge and a delight all in the same breath. I can't believe that she is going to be a year of age on the 19th of May. She is not a cute little puppy anymore but she has grown into a beautiful dog. She has won my heart and soul from the moment I saw her.....hence her name "Wingate's Heart and Soul"

Sizzle, 3 Months


Sizzle, 6 Months


Sizzle, 11 Months

Garden Time 2011

As I get older I can't seem to understand why time goes by so fast or at least it seems to. I remember when I was a child the school year seemed to go on forever but once it got to be summer that seemed like a long time too! Funny thing what age does to you! Once again it is Spring or at least it is suppose to be! The temperatures are still dipping into the 30's at night and we barely have gotten into the high 50's during the day. We have been blessed with a few scattered sunny warm days here and there, just enough to give a person the gardening bug! So last Sunday on one of those rare days I began to prepare the garden beds for planting. Darcie has been itching to get things planted and coming from the warmer climate of the South is having trouble waiting this cold spell out! So we started, in between baby Aiden cat napping she came out to help me. She planted some lettuce in perfect little rows as Jeff commented on, some radishes, beets, carrots and I am not sure what else. We moved all of their St. Louis herb pots out to the garden area and arranged them in a neat order. We still need a couple more garden beds and some more dirt but we are getting ready....So come on Sun and Warm Weather we are tired of waiting!

I have been composting shavings and chicken manure all Winter long so I moved some out of one bed to fill up another and till it all up.


Prepared bed and ready for planting!


Perfect little lettuce rows!

Garden area...still more work to be done!



The girls benefited from the nice day too....they got a clean house and freshly cut weeds to scratch through....


They also did a lot of sun bathing!

So as you can see we are ready.....so let the gardening season of 2011 begin!

Babies Change Everything

When Darcie decided she was going to use cloth diapers who knew what changes that would bring! I remembered the cloth diapers I used when my kids were little...white, had to use pins and plastic pants. It was a lot of work but so much better than the disposable kinds. I have to say the cloth diapers they have today...WOW! unbelievable.
They are called Fuzzi Buns! No pins, no plastic pants and cute colors!
They are easy to change, wash and dry!
Babies change everything who knew that a dog ring gate would be used as a drying rack!
And who would have known that a formal living room would change into a diaper drying room! We may have to invest in a clothes line!

Being a Grandmother

Everyone that I talked to who was already a Grandmother told me there is nothing else like it! Well, I am here to say they were 100% correct! It is the most wonderful feeling!
He is just the cutest thing ever!

Grandpa thinks so too!

Aiden Paul Cantor

Aiden Paul Cantor Born: March 14, 2011 @ 7:26 pm Weighed: 7 lbs 11 oz, 19 inches
Love Love this picture!

Baby Nursery meets College Student!

Baby Nursery before college student!













Baby Nursery after college student! Good thing baby is not here yet!











Sizzle inspecting the damage! Jason arrived home Friday afternoon and flew out for Vegas Saturday morning! He promised his sister he would pick it up before he left!








Here is how he left it......He does have to have somewhere to sleep when he comes back home on Tuesday! Poor Jason....it is tough being a college student!

Sophie La Girafe

This 7 inch rubber toy with a squeakie is the talk of the baby world! If when asked does your child have a Sophie and you reply "NO"....well let me tell you they look at you like you should be sent away to Siberia! I have seen this very plain looking rubber toys for months now and being a giraffe it was hard for me to pass up....but paying $22.50 for a 7 inch rubber toy just did not seem rational to this grandma. But then when I actually was told the story about Sophie the whole idea seemed quite rational! Here is Sophie's story.

"She was born on May 25th 1961.....Saint Sophie's Day! In France, Monsieur Rampeau, who had assimilated the roatational moulding of rubber for toy making, he came up with the idea of designing a giraffe. First on the market, its size and shape would be ideal for a baby's small hands to hold. Sophie looks exactly the same then as she does today. She was an immediated success. Mothers saw that she was must for teething babies. By simple word of mouth her fame spread. (Hence when the women at Nordstoms told me the story, I walked out of the store with one!) From then on in Europe, generation after generation children loved the squeak of Sophie. Vulli a company base in Rumilly in the Haute-Savoie region of France has continued to keep the jealously-guarded secret how this wonder toy is made. Sophie is still produced today, a process that involves more than 14 manual operations. She is made from 100% natural rubber derived from the sap of the Hevea tree."

So now my grandson has a "Sohpie" so if anyone asks I can stand proudly and say "YES" I paid $22.50 for a 7 inch rubber toy!

Amelia

Amelia was born on May 11, 1996, she died 2 months short of her 13th birthday on March 5, 2009. I fail to be able to put into words how much I loved her, how much she loved me and how much I miss her today. I wish she could have lived forever.

Amelia loved the beach!



One of Amelia's many birthdays!

This birthday actually fell on Mother's Day! She was sure Uncle Joe was going to give her some of his dinner!

Amelia and Sydney! The only dog Sydney has ever liked!

Amelia always setting a good example!

She never missed a good party! Grandma's 75th birthday party!

Amelia's twelfth birthday!

Amelia was always in the center of every day, every event and every party! She always knew how to nap on the couch!

I miss her, sleep softly.