My first doll to send to the orphanage in Nicaragua. More to come.

These are pictures from my childhood of my uncle and me. We are only 2 years apart so we grew up pretty close. His wife hasn't seen many pictures of him as a child so I took copies of these ones to show her. Gotta love the 70's, some stylin' times.

Unispired day

I made it my mission to sew today. Sew I did, however I was not pleased with the results. Oh it's a fine quilt top, nothing major wrong with it, but it just looks all munkle dunkle and not in a good way...kind of like the crayon bucket threw up on my fabric.

I had better plans for it, like 8" solid blocks between the barf blocks, but wouldn't you know I didn't have enough of the solid color I chose AND I couldn't find anything else to go with the barf blocks in my stash.

Whatever.

Rebekah is currently in tears because she can't won't make lower case u's. Really? She can do the whole alphabet, upper and lowercase up to u, u doesn't really seem that difficult. So I get torn between wondering if she really has a block or if she's just messing with me because she doesn't want to do it. I'm guessing it's option B, in which case it really ticks me off and I have to decide how to handle it without killing the whole love of learning thing.

And I realize in the whole big scheme of things these are not huge issues in anyone's book and I am very very grateful for my life. Lets hope I don't burn dinner at least.

Today was absolutely perfect. The temp was in the low 70's, the sun was shining, and the breeze was gentle. We had a little happy hour on the balcony with iced tea and hot artichoke dip. Niiice.

For supper we had baked organic free range chicken legs (bought for half price, score!), pasta with herbs and salad with spring mix harvested from the balcony! There is a certain kind of satisfaction in growing your own food, especially in the middle of the city.

This look pretty much sums up how Rebekah feels about vacation being over. She's so annoyed with us in general and is making sure we know all about it.

I've spent the last two days sorting mail, restocking the empty fridge and pantry, catching up on laundry and trying to find homes for all of the stuff we brought back from Minnesota.

Tomorrow I am hoping to do some sewing and get back into the swing of things. Right now? I'm just tired.

WORMS!

Yes, I am among the very small percentage of the population that gets really excited about vermi-composting. I've been waiting for MONTHS to get this worm bin and worms.

This morning I was able to meet Sharon from Worm Mama , and pick up my new composting buddies. They've already been busy eating scraps from making fresh salsa today.

After the initial "eeewwwww" factor, both kids were interested in seeing the worms in action.

These little guys are going to gobble up my food scraps and junk mail and give me fertilizer for my balcony garden AND fresh bait for the fishing people in my life. How perfect is that? Mom, I am sparing you the close up picture of the pile of worms....love you :)

Orphan dolls

One of the blogs I regularly read, This Vintage Chica , has a post up about about taking dolls to an orphanage in Nicaragua.

Let me just link you over to Craft Hope where she explains it all and where you can sign up to make a doll (or two or five) to send. I've been toying (no pun intended) with what to do for a charity project for awhile, I'm glad I found one that strikes a chord with me.

I'm blogging from a hotel in Ritzville this morning, we only have about 4 hours of driving ahead of us and we'll be home. Wheeeeeee :)

OKay, half way there....7:11 AM and we are heading out. :) Yeah these are some exciting posts huh?

We were shooting for Bozeman, but only made it a little west of Billings....oh well. I'm shot. Looking forward to a yummy hotel breakfast and another full day of driving. Okay, the driving not so much. I'm thankful for our safe arrival tonight though :)

Tomorrow we are heading back home....weather be with us please!

Our Wild Thing

I have no idea why this series of pictures was taken, but it makes for a humorous blog post. I guess we were bulking up our muscles on the farm!

More cousins! Today Misty and the girls came up to visit for the day. How much fun did those three little girls have? Lots of giggles, let me tell you!

And, oh happy day. Ashley and Grandpa saddled up the horses and each girl got a ride. Could a day get any better than that? Why yes it can, because after supper all three girls got in the the big tub (jacuzzi) and had a bath together.

Sorry, I missed the photo op on that one :)

Kids in the country

Tonight was another great visit with family. Rebekah had a blast playing with her cousins, Jacob and Joshua.

Grandpa gave the kids rides on the garden tractor and in the trailer behind it, each child got a turn at the wheel....each child had a smile a mile wide. Grandpa rocks.

It was nice to be able to sit outside and you can see in the background the lake is opening up. Hey spring, welcome to Minnesota!

Wisconsin

Yesterday Ashley and I drove over to Wisconsin to visit friends. While going thru Superior we were reminded of the days during my pregnancy with Rebekah when we'd visit Culvers every evening for....

and yesterdays flavor was....mmmmmm

So Ashley bought us cones and we continued on our way. Our destination was Casablanca Traders, near Ashland, which my good friend Leilani and her husband Brian own. We had a wonderful lunch and Ashley had her old favorite, mochachinnocafelatte. I had tea (go me!).

After we'd been there an hour or so my friend Jean came and we were able to catch up with her for an hour or so before we had to head back. Jean used to come over to my house every Wednesday night after work and we'd eat chocolate and drink coffee or wine and shoot the breeze. I miss those nights! It was great to catch up, hopefully it won't be another year and a half until I see these fine ladies again.

So tired...will post pictures of my fabulous day in Wisconsin tomorrow.

Grandpa is starting her out young with the golf clubs!

Happy Easter 2009

We had a lovely day with family, lots of food, easter egg hunt, and best of all....we got to meet baby Lily. Everyone held her, it was Rebekah's first time holding a baby and she was SHAKING with anticipation. Okay, we were all pretty excited :) Look at how cute she is!

Josi, we're eagerly anticipating our next round of baby holding! Hehe.

THis is the post where my mother feeds a llama in an unusual manner. Love it.

I think it's safe to say Rebekah has had more animal contact in the last few days than she has had in her whole life up to this point....from the very tiny to the very large.

No fear....farm girl.

Nothing says time on the farm like...

Coffee with Great Grandpa

New baby kittens

Tractor rides with Grandpa, every day is an adventure.

Tea at Marjorie's

Today we went to a tea party at Marjorie's, who is a friend of my Mom's. It was really a lovely experience as you can see by the pictures.

My co-pilot and I on the 1600 mile trip out to Minnesota. Let me give you a tip for long drives... sunflower seeds in the shell. We BOTH ate these on the trip out and the bag is still half full, that's alot of miles for $1.99

Rebekah asked Daddy to make her a snow castle, I think he did a pretty good job!

It's been so long since Ashley had to be bundled up, Grandpa had to assist.