I hope she makes it....

About a week ago we discovered a squirrel residing in our basement. I know we have heard squirrels in the attic space upstairs. But how one got in our basement I haven't a clue. We surmise that she was born in the attic and perhaps fell into the wall and ended up in the cellar. In any case we have been trying to live trap it for a couple of days. Every morning I open the door to see it hanging on the curtains looking out the window of the back door. As soon as anyone approached, though, it was off and running. We didn't want to open any windows or doors to let it out for fear that we may be letting more in!

The little thing thought it was living in a spa. All the cat food and water it could consume and lots of running and climbing room. I finally got smart.....we weren't going to lure it with peanut butter when it still had cat food to eat. The food and water were empty this morning. This was our day..... When we returned from our outing this afternoon we had a squirrel in a cage. YAY!

We drove it over to forest park area. I hope she likes her new digs. Though rain and wet ground seemed to be a little bit of a rude awakening. Last we saw her she was rustling in the tall vegetation to the right of this building.

Now I need to catch her a friend....
Perhaps the large male that has been wreaking havoc on my bird feeder :>O

Post Script: Special Spa Surprise! Mother's Day Continued

Mother's Day Marvels still happening one day later....

This project was spear-headed by Alyssa and Courtney. Contributed to by Hayden and Cameron and financed mostly by Harlan. The "kids" gave me a total spa experience with candles, chocolates, flowers, and my choice of relaxing music or a new DVD "Music and Lyrics" to watch. Those along with plenty of potions, lotions, creams and fizzies and I feel like a pampered Prima Donna.

Spa Spectacular will have to be on my weekly schedule.

Mother's Day Moments

A group of us got together for some food and fellowship for Mother's Day. The food was prepared and served by non-moms. It was YUMMY! Fresh fruit, 4 different kinds of pancakes, french toast, scrambled eggs with ham, sweets of many kinds, and of course Tots and Pannukakku! Thank you everyone for the marvelous spread



Here are the moms that were in attendance. Kassandra (mom of Steven and Bre), Me (you should know all of my kids) Alyssa (mom to be of "Batman"), Joy (mom of Rashell, Isaiah, and Garrison) & Debbie (mom of Nathaniel). We were treated like queens.

Then there were the princesses....What is it about girls & coloring? Genevieve seems to be having a grand time learning the princess traditions.




Another cool thing was that I saw or heard from all of my kids. I received a text message from a busy mommy-to-be that was celebrating her hubbies birthday. I also got calls from San Antonio, Texas; Walla Walla, Washington; and Pusan, South Korea. I am a blessed mom.


The only drawback to the day was that our little guy Wyatt woke up not feeling well. He and Grandpa stayed home and played together. Thank you Harlan for being such a good Grandpa. Isn't it going to be fun to have more of these little critters around :-)

ER, OB. & RR

Today started out to be one of those normal days. Alyssa and I had to return something to the mall. The school kids were schooling. Har came home for lunch.

Then we got a call from Joylynn. Genevieve had fallen and hit her head losing consciousness. She wanted me to meet her at St Vincent's ER. Lyssa and I took off and met her there. I got to spend some time with Wyatt while the girls stayed with Genevieve.

The stress of everything put Joylynn into premature labor. So while Alyssa and I stayed with Genevieve and Wyatt in ER. Joylynn was sent up to OB.

I (being the only non-pregnant adult in our little group) got to go in when Genevieve had a CT scan. There was no bleeding in her head. Just on the outside. They got her cleaned up and superglued together and we went up to see "Mommy" in her room.

Wyatt and I took off from the hospital around 2 hours after I first got there. I needed to get back home to pick up the rest of the kids to go to Cameron's Royal Ranger Gold Cup Derby race. It is always such fun to be there with all the families cheering on there Royal Ranger or Pioneer Girl.

Here is a picture of Cam and his buddy Grant with their cars. Grant got a trophy for his design. Cameron got a ribbon and won three of his races.

It has been a long day. I'm glad I had my camera with me.

Mother's Day Month

Now that it is May. Thoughts go to Mother's Day.....in addition to a million other things. But I thought I'd put a couple pictures up of the Mom that made Me a Gramma.

Here she is with the whole family. She and Jess have their hands full now. Just wait until late this summer when they present us with a 3rd grandchild. Just after Lalita and Bob bless us with a grandson. Then Lyssa and Logan will be giving us another grandchild in October. Christmas should be fun this year!!!! All the unmarried Aunties and Uncles need to be on board for baby duty.


Here are a couple more candid shots of the Kiddos. Typical shots of both of them. He is pretending to be someone searching for something with Grampa's bike mirror.
She is "cheesing" for the camera.

So much busyness... so much fun!

A touch of paradise...sorta

For the briefest of times, in the late spring, I get the feeling that we are living in a more tropical climate. I always like to imagine that my blooming rhododendrons are lovely exotic flowers with a beautiful fragrance. The fact that they never drop their leaves in the fall and react somewhat dramatically to frigid weather gives me the illusion that they would thrive in a warmer place. I'm sure there are "rhodies" everywhere in the world from mountains to the tropics. Here they come in an enormous variety of colors.


Portland may be known for it's roses but in my opinion the rhododendrons are right up there in beauty.

Less than 8 months til Christmas....oh and Happy Birthday Gary!

We celebrated the birthday of a very special friend last night. Gary Duckworth turned 47! Here are a few pics of him(in pastor mode) with various members of our family.







There were a lot of other people there whose lives have been blessed by Gary and his wife Joy and their family.





My friend, Jan, got to be there. It was great to see her up and around after surgery.

Her whole family was there. Jon didn't let the party stop him from doing some school work.

Cam got to have a "David" fix. It is hard to decide who Cam's favorite big guy is....Gary or David.
Joylynn, Wyatt and Genevieve were able to attend as well. The Duckworths have a very fun house for little kids. A long, long, hall for running down. Wish it was drier outside because the yard is huge and great for running around it as well.

I think everyone had a good time. Looking forward to more barbecues, bonfires and birthday celebrations this summer.

Friends, Fellowship,Fire, Family, Fun, Food, Flouncies & Farmer Breeches

It has been a quite the weekend. I don't think we could have packed much more into it. It was wonderful though...We got together with old friends and family. Here is a photo sampling of who we spent time with.

It's beginning to look like Spring

Today Courtney did some planting for me. My window box outside of the bathroom window now has pretty geraniums growing there.

This past weekend Max had his "Mom & Dad" bring him to Gramma's house. Isn't he just so cute. His parents are pretty cute themselves.

I also picked up a new little swimsuit for Genenvieve. Isn't her "baby phat" with leopard print adorable! You wouldn't believe this but I took 13 pictures before this one to get just one without her turning around or trying to do something other than pose for the camera. I wonder if the real paparazzi have this much trouble ;o)

Skills Day 2007

The Pioneer Clubs of Oregon and SW Washington put on a Skills Day every year. It is a day camp of sorts, just one day but each of the "campers" get to choose classes based on their interests. There are many varied classes from food, to sports, to beauty and image, to acting, to scrapbooking. There is something for everyone. I have been blessed to be involved in it for several years now. Each year just blows me away. It is so well organized and carried out. New Song has a perfect facility to host it too.Cameron is my skills day kid. He had to wait for years while his brother and sisters went to skills day every year.

His first class this morning was Wood Working.

His second was outdoor cooking which they finished up with making homemade caramel corn. It was YUMMY!

Next it was lunch time. Afternoon sessions started with Cameron making blueberry muffins. Then he finished the day off in candy making class.

Actually the day wasn't over until he introduced a fellow camper from Weston, Oregon to one of our resouce room's many distractions ( I mean attractions). It is always nice to have sparing partner.

Thanks to all that made today so memorable.

Wyatt, Can you be 3 already?!!

Newborn with Great Aunt Kelly April 2004

1 yr old April 2005

April 2006 with his Sissy Genevieve

April 2007,

Happy Birthday, big boy! We sure love you. It is nice to have you nearby so we can have fun. Thanks for still liking to snuggle with Gramma. You are a such a sweet boy and a good big brother, too.

Hope your birthday is the best yet.

YOU ARE 3 NOW. Hurray!!!!