She is one!-May 29, 2015

After a difficult birth and a slow start at development, Zoey's first birthday was a real treat for all of us. She has come a very long way. We loved every moment of our little celebration. Hannah, on the other hand, was not pleased at all. But then that goes with the territory of sibling rivalry. Please indulge me while I share pictures of Zo-Zo as I call her.

She loved her balloon. We got a red one for Hannah, too.

 

It takes intense concentration to eat a smash cake. Her cake was white

and ours was chocolate. Ours was wonderful and we might assume

hers was good, too.

 

 Yummy and fun! 

 

She's actually happy here. I wish this was a video because she

was extremely loud. The messier she got the nosier she was.

And the more we laughed.

 

We had such a good time and clearly, Zoey did, too.



James and Gloria, this one's for you. Hannah loves the table and chairs so much. She would be lost without them. We are most appreciative.

She insisted I take this picture because this is

her "sculpture". That is exactly what she called it.

 I had to make a copy and put it on her bedroom wall.

 

This next week is going to be really busy keeping both girls for nearly every day. That's not a complaint. Just a fact of little spare time ahead for us. Plus on Sunday night we are going to attempt to go to the Neil Diamond concert at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Hopefully I will have something good to tell you about the concert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A favorite picture-May 28, 2015

Sometimes a picture just says what you want it to and you don't know how it happened.

I just love this!

Granddaddy and his "favorite girls".

 

We are still going through the pictures of Zoey's first birthday. I should have used my Sony camera instead of my iPhone because some of the pictures are blurry. I'll post them soon.

Saturday and exhausted-May 23, 2015

To say we are exhausted would be an understatement. Both girls were dropped off early yesterday afternoon. Zoey was picked up last night and Hannah spent the night. We really didn't want Zoey to leave but we have no place for a baby to sleep. It bothered Hannah for her Daddy to leave her and take Zoey but she got over it in about 5 minutes. It was fun from then on until midnight.

She slept very well. We did not. I think we are too nervous about her falling out of bed or waking up and being frightened. Neither has happened so far, thankfully.

Graduation started across the street this morning at 8:00 but people started arriving around 7:15. We were thinking the noise would wake Hannah up but it did not. When she woke up we went out on the deck and watched the festivities. They released a balloon for each student as that student's name was called. Yes, I know it is bad for the environment but it was neat to watch. Hannah watched many of them until they were out of sight.

We played very hard last night and then decided we'd give them baths. We think Zoey may have never been put in the sink to play because it took both of us to sit her down, but once in the water she had a great time.

There isn't much that's cuter than a baby enjoying a bath in the

kitchen sink. Too bad old women have to have their hands in the picture!

Ah, love those clean babies!

 

Later, Zoey and Granddaddy enjoyed a snack. Hannah does not like

this beanbag chair, so it appears it now belongs to Zoey.

Perfect to hold her in place while she snacks.

 

All of the pictures of Zoey turned out fine, but not a single one of Hannah is worth a plug nickel. She is into making ugly faces and we can't figure out why. One day soon I will get a good one of her. I should have taken a video of that funny little girl while I was reading a book to her last night before she went to sleep. She was so funny I had a hard time reading with a straight face.

 

We are so tired we are almost numb but we would not have wanted to miss a single minute of the time spent with these sweet girls. We treasure every minute.

 

 

I hope you have a very peaceful and enjoyable Memorial Day no matter how you choose to celebrate.

 

 

 

Mt St Helens-May 21, 2015

Thirty five years ago this week Mt Saint Helens in Washington state erupted. We have not forgotten but it was pushed aside because our brains are old and full.

We were still living on the farm. Derrick was a toddler. My parents had come to visit us. Their car was parked in our driveway. Daddy was so meticulous about his car. It was always clean. We were busy so we did not hear on the news that the volcano had erupted. We woke up the next morning and their car was completely covered with this thick, nasty gray ash. It resembled concrete just out of the bag. We were stunned. We knew there was no dirt on the farm that color. We had not had a dust storm during the night. Daddy quickly washed the gunk off of the car.

It was only later that day that we heard about Mt St Helens. It was startling to think that the ash had traveled that far that quickly. We are not that close to the volcano, but yet the ash quickly covered us. It only made us realize how bad it must have been for the people who were nearby. Now we see the pictures and realize the ash on the car was only a tiny thing. But still it was an interesting happening for us in Colorado.

Update on weather: still raining, rivers above flood stage. We may see the sun in another week. Lovely.

A moment-May 19, 2015

While it is raining cats and dogs, work continues. This is our first day in quite a while to take care of things here at the condo. We do not want to track mud into the coach after we have worked so hard to clean it. I'm behind on everything here so I will get caught up today.

But, I wanted to share one picture with you.

Zoey came to visit while we were cleaning. She is just happy to

be with us, so we sat her on the bed and talked to her as we

worked. She was quite happy with that.

 

We are hoping this rain does not change to snow as they predicted last night. We do not need that this late in May. What a weird weather month this one has been.

Work, lots of work-May 14, 2015

WARNING: De-Winterizing a coach together may be hazardous to one's health. Use caution. It may cause murder and mayhem.

Need I say more? We had no idea how much work it is to de-winterize a coach. It's worse than when we winterized it in the first place.

We will be at this task for at least another week. So, bear with me and I will post this blog again. I have some pictures of the "grands" I can show you when thing settle down.

Mother's Day-May 10, 2015

This is what greeted us when we woke up this morning, on this wonderful Mother's Day.

Yep, snow. The original prediction was 8-10 inches. How very

happy we were that was incorrect. There was so much rain mixed

with it I could not even guess how much snow fell. Our high today

was a balmy 46 degrees. Not balmy at all. Wind out of the north at 25-30 mph.

The low tonight should be 26 degrees. I doubt they will miss that one.

They calendar says May but the weather has not caught up with the calendar.

 

 

It has rained for a week. Add that to the spring run off and you get lots of water. If you have followed this blog for any length of time you know what that means: flooding.

This is at least the 3rd time I have posted flooding on the Cache la Poudre River.

It should reach flood stage tonight.

 

This horse pasture is a river right now.

Without knowing where the river normally is makes it hard to know how much water this is.

Trust me, it's a lot of water.

 

Derrick, the girls and the two of us went to a Mother's Day brunch in downtown Greeley. Hannah and Zoey were so good. The brunch was excellent. We had a wonderful time.

 

Hannah holding the flowers given to me by the restaurant.

The owner thanked us for spending my Mother's day with them.

We are trying to figure out who told Hannah not to smile when a picture

is taken. We hope she outgrows this stage.

 

I have to share one more picture. We kept both girls yesterday. Zoey could not resist a nap in Jerry's special chair. Hannah used to sleep in his chair, too.

 

Doesn't she look sweet and innocent? She actually is a sweet baby.

 

And while Zoey slept, Hannah had a tea party.

We are working on how to set a table. So she lined up all the plates and utensils so each

mew-mew could be served. Not sure why Jerry's phone takes yellow pictures.

Obviously, we are not iPhone experts.

 

All in all this was an excellent day in spite of the snow and flooding. It was a real treat to have Derrick and girls share the day with me. I hope all mothers had as good a day as I did. I am blessed and I am oh so grateful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hungry Bird-May 7, 2015

Yesterday was a very rainy day. When we got up we were greeted by a very happy and hungry robin sitting on our deck railing. He had just picked up a swimming worm in all the running and standing water created by a night of rain.

He sat there and held that worm for a very long time before

he proceeded to enjoy his fresh breakfast. I always feel sorry

for birds who appear to be soaking wet. I know they are not,

but they look so uncomfortable when it is raining hard.

 

When the rain let up a bit we drove to Derrick's and tried to do some more work on the coach. We are to the point of turning all of the water back on. Then we heard the weather forecast for Mother's Day and changed our minds. As it is predicted right now we are to have snow on Sunday morning and a low of 29 degrees. So, we will wait until next week to turn the water back on in the coach.

 

Hannah came running out of the house and yelled, "Grammy, play hide seek with me". So we did just that. I grew up calling it hide and go seek, but she does not do that. She is getting much better at hiding so we have to do the same. We absolutely love to hear her giggle when she finds one of us. It's joy to the soul.

 

We are going to a Mother's Day brunch on Sunday morning. We generally avoid crowds for special days like that, but if Derrick wants to go, we will do just that.

 

 

 

 

 

Dreary but special day-May 4, 2015

It is such a dismal gray day. We had a few little sprinkles but mostly just very dark clouds. It is supposed to be that way for at least another week. Wow, are we ever excited. And if you believe that................................

It is Jerry's birthday. He is not wanting to celebrate as he is struggling with this birthday. I say just keep on going and not pay attention to numbers. We went to Sam's for a few small things and walked out with a new television. We were using the one out of the coach basement so it was not large. And this one is only a 40 inch set. We will not put a hole in the walls here so those huge things are out of the question. This is a nice little television and we are happy to put the other one back in the basement of the coach. Thankfully it is not a smart tv. It's just plain like us! Happy Birthday, Jerry.

Saturday we went to Derrick's very early and had to wait on the girls to wake up, get them dressed and then bring them over here for breakfast. Before we left there, Hannah said she had to paint her "house" in the family room. It's just the cardboard box that their dishwasher came in last year. But she has decorated it and it has a cute door and windows. It is a simple play house for her inside the house.

It bothered me that she knew exactly how to hold a paint brush.

I hope she forgets before she gets too much older!

 

I stuck my neck out this weekend and unpacked my summer clothes. It is weird to have light and white clothes in the closet when it is so dark and gray outside. I hope this means winter will soon leave us alone. If not, I will be wearing summer clothes with a coat.

 

I think I will close for now and go watch our new television!