Day 149 - Saturday, May 30

The Muyabas stayed overnight with us last night so that Kathryn and Seth would be with us all day while Vinj was at work.



Notice Seth's hand on the back of Kath's head - he is doing the cuddling.

Day 148 ~ Friday, May 29

Jim and I spent the day at Vinj and Kath's - looking after Seth and doing some housework for Kath while they went to the hospital for a "BioPhysical" on the baby. This test took them away from the house for about 3 hours. The only results they were given is that there is no emergency on behalf of the baby and that she is very small (only 3 lbs 10 oz).


Here is a photo of part of their back yard - taken from the deck.




Seth figured out how to get onto his rocking horse all by himself...

he was very pleased with himself and started to rock as hard as he could....

Day 147 ~ Thursday, May 28

A busy, busy day.

First, take the truck to the glass shop in Camrose.

Then, come back home to drop Jim off.

I went in to Wetaskiwin to give Kathryn a hand - including take her to the doctor.

On my way in to town, I stopped by this pond to watch a Goose family drama.....

Mom and Dad gather their children for a little trip across the pond.

At first, they did not notice that there was a 'dawdler'

But Daddy Goose quickly noticed someone was missing. He fell back and started loudly calling to his wayward offspring.

The little guy hurried to his father's call and soon the whole family was together again.

I dropped Kath at the clinic for her doctor appointment, then helped with some cleaning before Kathryn dyed and cut my hair.

Jim was busy while I was gone....

He made our first Square Foot Garden frame!

He also finished watering the potatoes - a huge job, since he first made a 'bowl' for each plant to hold water, giving each potential plant a good soak.

I was not at home long before we left for Camrose again to pick up the truck.

Back home to drop the truck off.

To Wetaskiwin to see Vinj come off the field from his first league soccer game, see Elizabeth come off the field from her game, and arrange to meet everyone at Rob and Lana's to give Emma a 'mini birthday party'.

We gave Emma her birthday gift.....the kid's version of 'Cranium'.

We did not play the game, exactly, but Emma and Sophia acted out some of the charade cards and the rest of us guessed what they were doing - while we ate the Dilly Bars and Buster Bars Vinj and Kath provided.

You have to wear these goofy glasses in order to read what you are to 'act out'...... then, if you wear bifocals, it is still hard to read because the print is so tiny.

We had a fun, laughter filled evening.

But we ended by taking Kathryn to the hospital for a stress test on Talia......Kath had been a little worried since her doctor's appointment and had not noticed any movement for quite some time.

The stress test showed that Talia's heartbeat was strong and regular - she also started moving around as soon as they put the monitor straps on Kath. So, Vinj and Kath were able to rest more peacefully that evening.

Me too.

Day 146.....Wednesday, May 27

We took my truck into town this morning - I was getting my nails done, Jim was to pick up a panel for Andrew's new dog pen. We brought the flatbed trailer with us to carry the dog pen with us. While driving down the gravel road, rock ricocheted off the trailer and hit the back window of the truck, breaking it. We did not notice the damage until after Jim dropped me at Mel's shop.

Not a nice way for Jim to start the day.





This photo is taken later in the day, AFTER Jim pulled all the shattered glass off, took the opportunity to fix the back doors (which wouldn't open) and covered the large opening with a couple garbage bags.


Besides picking up the panel and getting my nails done, we had another mission ........ to take Vinjelu out for lunch to celebrate his birthday.

Jim spent the afternoon working on the truck - since there was no longer a window, he could now get to the door handle that you normally cannot get to without opening the window. This enabled him to undo what he did to the back doors last fall - in an attempt to make the doors tighter and keep the dust out, he tightened them so much they could not be opened! He was able today to undo that 'fix'.

We went to watch Emma play soccer tonight and Mike and Victoria and Kaden stopped by the field for a short time - they had a meeting in Wetaskiwin that night.

Day 145.....Tuesday, May 26

This evening, after watering the garden and planting some more veggies, we went to watch Elizabeth play soccer.....





As always, spending time at the sport field with our family was a fun time......the fact that the weather was warm and sunny was the 'icing on the cake'.

Vinj and Kath and their 'small group' spent the evening baking for families who are going through difficult times. We stopped in after the soccer games to pick Kath up for a run to WalMart.

You can see by Seth's face that he had been tasting some of the baking.....

Day 144....Monday, May 25

A full day, beginning with meeting with my girls at Victoria's mom's house for a Bible Study. The Miquelon's back yard is FULL of fun things for kids to do!

We had a good time, looking at the Word and discussing how to apply it to our lives.

Back at home, Jim began to water the potatoes since the ground is extremely dry.

Andrew came out for a visit, as well.

Thor loves to play 'fetch' with his ball - which is left at our house for when he visits. He is so funny - he just brings it to Andrew, drops it at his feet, and then stares at the ball until Andrew picks it up and throws it. The ball is that tiny white thing in front of Andrew's foot.

Andrew's other dog found 4 baby skunks.....Andrew took this photo for me - it is not great because he did not want to get too close - for obvious reasons.

We did not want to have a family of skunks living in our field, so Andrew volunteered to take care of the problem. He suited up in his chemical suit before going out to their den.

Day 143....Sunday, May 24

Daniel's birthday....we missed him, but we did get to phone him and talk to him. In the meantime, we celebrated his birthday without his presence.....

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Day 142....Saturday, May 23

Jim's mom and dad stayed with us after the graduation ceremonies.

We started the day with Mom's favorite tradition.....sitting on the front step in the sunshine with a cup of coffee....

Later in the day, the Ritchie's came over for a couple hours before they had other grad activities to attend to. It was so nice to sit in the back yard in the sunshine. What was REALLY nice about that was that it was warm and sunny for a change.

After the Ritchies left, Jim and I went to town for some groceries. We came home with a cute little colored boy as well as groceries.

Great Grandma and Seth decided to play ball in the middle of the kitchen floor while Jim and I were trying to get supper. LOL

This little boy provided some enjoyable entertainment for two sets of grandparents all evening.

He kept wanting to give Annie and Taffy some lovin....Annie was quite agreeable to this.....

When the grandparents had pie and ice cream, Seth enjoyed an ice cream cone......

To end the evening, pretty pink and blue sky.....

Day 141 - Friday, May 22

Tonight, our nephew Steven Kenneth Ritchie recieved his high school diploma at the Graduation celebration of the New Norway school class of 2009.


Steven's mom and dad....



Introduction and presentation of Steven.....

Steven's dinner partner was Lindsey Cowan.....my cousin Gail's daughter.....(isn't she pretty?)

Mom, Dad, Grad.....

Steven never worries about 'standing out in a crowd'! In fact, he looks for ways to do just that!

Day 140....Thursday, May 21

It was Kathryn's birthday today - 24 years old.

I went to town to visit her and to look after Seth while Kath went to get her hair cut/colored.

Here is the result.....



Jim showed up after his class (he got 100% on the test) and we gave Kath a gift. Seth and Grampa had a good time - when Grampa left, Seth cried.

Kathryn was touched that SheriLyn had made a special trip to Edmonton to get Kathryn a maternity tee shirt that she liked very much but would not buy for herself because of the high sticker price.

Vinjelu came home with an armful of roses - 12 red and 12 white for his 24 year old wife.