Schools out party

June
Since McKayla is in year round school, her last day was friday. It was a good excuse to have a girls party sleep-over. Tucker (11 and 10/12ths) was relieved to have an evening and day to be an only child and Tyler was going to sleep at Carters- But when it came time for leaving, the boys said "We want to stay too!" So we had a grandchild's sleep-over with all but The oldest and the youngest. Uncle Kurt set up the tent for the girls and I slept out in the back yard too.

On Saturday, we went to a children's free project at Lowe's. The kids all made Pirate ships. Hammered the nails mostly by them selves.
Next we had to paint the boats. Pirate ships are many different colors. If you don't like the first paint, add some more ... and some more... and some more.

Next check to see if the boat floats.
They float better in the ditch. How-ever you have to watch to be sure the pipe monster doesn't suck your boat in to its out of reach depths.

And Thanks to Opa - the boats were rescued for many a leisurely sail in the ditch.

Fathers Day Tribute

Just a late but heartfelt salute to the dad's in our lives. Fathers, Husband and Sons (including SiL's) Who are wonderful dads and husbands and granddad's and of course, the best OPA ever. We are thankful for you.
Carlee found this cupcake treat for dad's in a magazine - so we made them for the dad's and uncles in our lives (sorry James, you're in Utah- for you the photo and a hug) The finished is a candy lawnmower on a bed of coconut grass.
The sling for Aspen is because she broke her collar bone. The sling just reminds her and us that she is healing and somewhat fragile. Even though she jumps and runs and plays hard. Poor child can't swim, ride bikes or rough house. What a life change for a 3 year old. She will let us know if she gets bumped or she is uncomfortable. Other wise - it's life as usual.

Summer Fun

Now that school is out, we've had a lot of fun with the grandkids. It's always more fun when we have cousins to help join in the activities.
The little ones rode around and around the front turn around and then stopped for a photo. They traded bikes and trikes and ride on's and went around and around. The 4 year olds just graduated from training wheels and are very proud of their new riding ability.
We found this pattern for a flirty gathered skirt and have had great fun making co-ordinating skirts for all the girls. Above is Christy, Hallie and McKayla below showing a couple of the skirts we made. It was lots of fun and they look adorable in the skirts.
And even more fun on the swing Gil and Kurt hung. The kids were having so much fun they were draging their feet on the ground when the swing unwound. They twist the swing around and around and then laugh as it twirls them round and around.
I am thankful for the love and laughter grandchildren bring to us. Isn't life wonderful?

Memorial Day - May 25th

When I was little, we would gather grandparents, aunts & cousins and spend the day cemetery hopping. We would meet more aunts, uncles and cousins in the cemeteries and along the way have a picnic and if we were really lucky go to the Alpine cometary up in the hills. Along the way we would hear lots of stories and just have a good day. Here in Boise we are blessed to be able to visit Gil's father's grave and this year we had Thelma along for the visit. It didn't take long to pick some Iris and syringa and a couple of poppies to put by his grave with an American Flag - to honor his world war II service. Maybe next year we can do the Utah trek and record mom's stories for a memorial day from years past.

Ringing the Bell

As I left the Cancer Care Center yesterday, I got lots of hugs and got to ring the bell 3 times -because this is my LAST CHEMO TREATMENT! It's not quite over yet, I still have 24 hours and 2 minutes of infusion and 3 g-shots to go. (the blue dilly bob is for the tubing to hook into for the infusion pump to send those chemicals directly into my heart to be instantaneously distributed into my system. Another good (for me) is that the Dr. dropped one of the chemicals from the regimen. It causes nurapathy in the nerves of hands and feet and mine is getting quite interesting as now the palms of my hands are tingling and etc etc etc. So I am happy to not have one more dose of that drug! Even though Penny (the nurse who took my photo) cut off the top of my head- she is short - you can see that I still have sufficient hair and a smile!

I am very grateful for the prayers and love and hugs sent my way. I have been extremely blessed. I have for the most part felt good and haven't been sick. My side effects have been manageable and I am thankful for that too! I am thankful to be almost done with chemo-therepy and I am not planning to ever do it again!

dedicated to mothers and daughters

my daughters - Carlee, Kristen, Jessica, Kim, Maria
Above: Kathy, Kim, Ellie and Margaret Below: Thelma

This is a late tribute to mothers- My mother, Gil's mom, and my wonderful daughters and daughters by marriage. I love and respect them and am so grateful for the love each gives to us. Our mothers for the years of sacrifice and patience and teaching and love. All 5 daughters for the wonderful wives and mothers they are. Thank you girls for being as precious as you are. I am grateful for you all.

Sheep Drive

We were headed to Cascade with Tyler, Christy, and Jake to see Oma Great, and got stopped at HWY 55 because the sheep have the right of way. The guy out in front is about 15 feet ahead of the sheep. He was walking making a whirring/clicking noise and the sheep were following him. I would call him the shepherd. And the sheep that could hear his voice didn't stray into the green side of the road. As you can see the sheep in the back of this group got somewhat sidetracked. The sheepherders and the dogs did a great job of keeping them going forward.

I like this shot because it shows the light on the back of the sheep and the little ones mixed with the big ones. There were about 3 herds of sheep, each led by a shepherd and with several sheepherders and a couple of well trained, fast moving dogs. In all over 1000 sheep. They were headed into the high country for summer pastures.A pretty picture for a pretty day. Up the road a ways we saw 3 ELK - we've never seen Elk that low or in this area before. 2 were bull elk, just starting to grow antlers. We also saw ducks and geese and had a great visit with Oma and Uncle Neil.