I Love You the Most

Grandma Sherry Wheeler passed on in January.  I will miss her so very much.  

She did love me the most after all, 

even if she did tell everyone that!

Grandma was a caring, happy person.  She had a huge heart and could make you laugh till you cried.  One of the first times I met her she showed me her "sphinx." Old lady arm skin can create sphinx like creatures.  I look forward to my elite years of the sphinx now!  Every year she sent me a birthday card with a special message and a pink flamingo feather.  Even though I was only a granddaughter-in-law she never made me feel any less special.  She did that for all of her kids, grands and great-grands, I can't even begin to imagine how many cards that was.    

2005

Fishing in one of Grandma's infamous fish ponds.  

Grandma we will never forget your-

flocks of pink flamingos 

your kitties (I will proudly wear your cat sweater)

the creepy baby

nerts

GORGEOUS sunsets

your nefarious wedding car scheming

your patriotism

your candy bowl (circa-ten years old, at least, more flavor)

your red velvet wall-paper

pink toilet

fish ponds

and 

hummingbird feeders.

We love you the most.

Coloring Eggs

I love coloring eggs.  We got a little crazy and had about 12 different colors.  Complete with glitter.  The key to success...giant, black trash bags...lot's of them, plastic cups and everyone gets their own carton of eggs.  

Look closely.  Jack made me a "mom" egg.

Elise was whispering spells to her eggs.

Jara's egg's were eggstra amazing!

And Renn was banished. 

He tortured Elsa in retaliation.

What happens when you make a "camo" egg.  

In my day we called it the poop nugget egg.  Ewww.

The Assorted Collection

Here are a few "day in the life" moments.

Costco shopping trips with the little ones.  We almost brought home this nice Mercedes mini-van.  Why not?  Cup-holders and automatic sliding doors.  Domestic priorities.  

Every mom's dream.  

We've been walking. Wagoning.  Strolling.  Triking.  All forms.  

The dog needs to go for a walk as well.  She has a lot of energy.  Sometimes we hitch her to the wagon.  I'm considering contacting an Iditarod team and making a deal.  

Jara's been practicing her skills.  Notice she is outside.

Elise has been practicing her skills as well.  

Sharing a book at breakfast.  Sometimes they play nice. 

 "Jack will you be my buddy today?"

Jack's first big kill with his BB gun.  Along with his trusting hunting cat, Friday, (camera shy) they brought down a trophy sized gopher.  Look to the left, it's there in all its dead, little rodent glory.  Shiver.  When the cat got sick of torturing it and left it to suffer, I told Jack to get his BB gun and put the poor thing out of it's misery.   When I told him to stand by it for a picture, this is what he did.  Apparently there is an innate man gene for "animal harvesting" pictures.

You are seeing correctly.  

He likes waffles!  

And his new high chair.  

We finally burned the other one.  Three kids.  Nine years worth of food.  If you buy one thing per kid make it a high chair.  Really.  This little contraption was only $25 and it does the job perfectly.  Or buy a pressure washer and be prepared for a monthly hose down.

Eggzactly

Egg hunts=success.  Best parts: 

Watching Renn shake the eggs for treats 

Elise lovingly carrying the hard-boiled eggs around in a basket and taking care of her lovely babies.  Found one left in the couch, just in time.

Jack and his love for chocolate bunnies, I had to cover his eyes in wal-mart per his request "because I just can't handle it mom."

Jara crafting her bird house from the Easter Bunny to a beautiful, bird retreat.

Spring

We have found the beach.  Close to the house.  Kid approved.  No water for drowning.

The Renn trap

16 hour power outage.  I missed the light.

Happy ducks.

We have had beautiful, glorious spring days that make me want to sing and dance.  I love this time of the year: planting, joy in the sun, walks, even weeding.  The only thing that I dislike is wind.  And we have had some vicious winds.  Gusts that knocked out the power and have rendered car doors incapable of opening.  I'll take a few windy days to enjoy the low 70's-mid 80's though.  We could spend all day outside when it's nice.

One Year

Renn is a one-year-old!

He loves his new trike, as do I.  

Bending over isn't as easy as it was with the first child and in my mid-twenties.

He opened one present by himself.  He now has a new addiction, baby cheetos.  

Downed a can in one afternoon.  You know those little puffy snack things from Gerber.  

His own birthday cake.  

He wasn't too interested until he saw the candle, then the light shone in his eyes and he tried to extinguish the candle with his hands. eek.  

No pyrotechnics that lead to the ER on your birthday baby.

Cake smash.

One taste and he was all in.  

The frosting was whip cream, I think that was the clincher.

The joy of birthday cake!

It's all fun and games, until you take away the cake.  

Renn tricks:

Crawling. Crawling so fast there is no interest in walking.

Bum scoot crawling, for those times when you have something in your hand and don't want to crawl on all fours.

Clapping for himself.  I love when he is proud of his accomplishments.

Shaking his head no when he knows he isn't supposed to be pulling every wipe out of the container.

Dancing.  Any music.  Even church hymns.  

Making fishy noises when he wants food.

Jumping out of my arms for food.

Squirreling open containers of all kinds, including but not limited to sippy cups, puff snacks, and dishwasher detergent.

Saying mama and baba.

Making puppy noises.

Telling everyone good night, waving wildly.

Cuddling his blankie.  And lovingly curling up in a ball pretending he actually likes to sleep.

Renn Loves:

Cheerios

My vegetable soup

The dog and cat.  Particularly the hateful cat.

Outside

Water

Mud.  Lots of mud.

Pulling everything out of cupboards/bins/boxes, etc.

Communicating his wants!

His puppy book.

Holding the calculator or TV remote up to his ear and talking on the phone.

Trucks.  There are trucks all over my house.  Ninja turtle trucks, pink barbie trucks, monster trucks, hot wheels, cement trucks.  We could start a kiddie dealership.

Destroying whatever Elise is doing.

His slide.  He can climb up and go down on his own.  A climber...