CLEANING UP OUR ACT

The month of June was busy for us. We have been talking about redoing our master closet for years, had talked about redoing it in the winter, when we didn't have anything else to do, but it never happened until last month. The disorganization kept getting worse and worse, there wasn't much we could do until we took everything out and started from scratch. In the back of the closet we had sort of a bookcase structure on which we stacked our shorts, jeans,my capri's, and on the bottom shelf there we stacked collapsible luggage and bags. I am embarrassed to show what the closet looked like before.


We began by John starting to build a dresser unit that was going to replace the bookcase. I removed all the stuff form the closet and he dismantled the existing shelves and brackets. He also removed the hated popcorn ceiling,
and I repainted the entire closet for the first time in 28 years.




This is the new closet, with the dresser unit that goes floor to ceiling.

You can't see it, but on either side of the dresser are adjustable shelves,
sort of cubbies that we can store items too. In addition, you cannot really see it from the before picture, but the lighting in the closet was atrocious. John also installed a new light fixture and we no longer have to take clothes out of the closet to see the colors.







This is John's side And my side.










In reorganizing our closet, we went through and sorted out clothing and shoes we can no longer wear, and had 6 bags for donation to the American Veterans charity.

But we did not stop here. We hired a 6 cubic yard dumpster to take away the old closet pieces, and some old chairs, tree branches from the backyard. We emptied it once, and started on the garage. The garage is John's work shop, we have never parked in it. But over the years, in redoing portions of the house, he has taken the wood, and objects and placed them in the garage, we have at times gotten rid of items, but for the most part
the last few years, he has had about 1/4 of a 2 car garage to work in. Well after the second dumpster load,
and his reorganization of a closet area, and his wood, he now probably has 2/3 of the garage to work in. We are amazed every time we walk out there. So we got rid of 12 cubic yards of "stuff" and feel pretty good about it.

MRS. STENKLYFT'S DOLPHIN QUILT


Before Christmas 2006 I was talking to Kyleigh about making her a crazy quilt fish vest. She asked if I had any dolphin fabric, and we looked and I did. She said that her teacher, Mrs. Stenkylft really needed a quilt for the classroom, as their class was called The Dolphins. I asked her if she wanted me to do the quilt or the vest first, and she wanted the quilt made first. Kyleigh and I delivered it on May 14, 2006, and Mrs. Stenklyft was thrilled, almost to tears. She is going to hang it above the marine fish tank the class has. I really didn't want to cut all the dolphin fabric up into so they were not recognizable, so it is just very simple pieces of fabric sewn together, and then I made the letters.








Kyleigh designed the label for me and I printed it onto fabric.

BAPTISM DAY


Sunday, April 29, 2007 was baptism day for both boys, and they did so good through the baptism and the service. Jaeger was 4 years, 4 months, and Keaton was 6 months old. I was going to get a picture of them in their outfits, but they arrived just right before the service was starting. Then I thought I would get one at the BBQ luncheon later, but that was not possible either. Kristen promised to get pictures later in their outfits at the church.
















This was a picture of the boys taken probably about 6 weeks to 2 months prior to the baptism.

GRAMMA' S FUN DAY

Monday, April 2, 2007, I went over to Kristen's house to watch the 3 grandchildren while Kristen did some Easter shopping. Before I got there, Kyleigh had a made a list of what we could do.

Jaeger's apparently told her "I do not no"



Kyleigh's list as you can see was detailed, the spelling was her sounding things out, part of the things I cannot read myself, and even she when pressed forgot what she wrote, but included:
1. Hlethey snack.
2. Play Dowy (doh)
3. ?
4. Pichr time (drawing)
5. Art
6. Go out siede
7. Cat.
8. Mall
9. Ticktacktow
10. Play grond
11. Rid biks
12. Flower time

Due to both her brothers napping when I got there, she elected to play with the Play Doh, which Jaeger wanted to do too when he got up, and they did that until Kristen got home.

Little Keaton I think woke up too soon, was not feeling well, and it took all my attempts to
keep him happy until Kristen got home. In changing his diaper now, it is like trying to change

a monkey he is so quick in rolling over.

Last week John finished the toy cabinet he had built for our house to store the toys and games in.

BOOK MEME
Thanks to Ms. Jan who brought this one to my attention, and who got it from several others. Like her, I am a book slut, reading a book every 2-3 days, sometimes in 1 evening if I am stressed out. I get ready for the weekend estimating if I will have enough books to get me through.

Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
* If you are reading this, tag, you’re it!

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6.The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)*
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

JAEGER THE PIRATE

Our 4-year-old grandson Jaeger has long been fascinated with his Papa's sailboats, and all things pirates, has a Lego pirate ship and island at our house, and at his. As soon as he gets to ours house the pirate ship and treasure island come out. His Papa is in the midst of building a new sailboat so we can go sailing again. Papa John decided to write a poem about Jaeger the pirate, which he finished as below. Kristen read Jaeger the poem, and the last line was Jaeger's response. The bit about being a contractor was Jaeger hammering on walls, and taking the door handle to his room off with his screwdriver. Folsom is the name of the lake 7 miles from our house.

Jaeger the Pirate

I have always dreamt of being a pirate but that is just me
I have had this dream my whole life, I am only four you see.
I want to be a pirate, wild and free, and sail the deep blue sea.

I tried being a train conductor and a race car driver
I have worked with my tools, hammer and screwdriver
I found I got in trouble with my mom while being a contractor.

I know soon my Papa will hook up his boat and come for me
and he I will will sail on the great Folsom Sea.
At last I will be a pirate so wild and free, and sail the deep blue sea.

Of course, dinosaurs are as big as can be
maybe archeology would be a better job for me
But what if a dinosaur wanted to eat me.

by John P. Hurd, 2/2007

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY





















Kyleigh lost her front tooth the morning this was taken.

DO I EVER HAVE PICTURES...

For about 3 months now, I have had pictures of the kids to share, but my scanner software was not cooperating. It kept saying to reinstall it, which I did, and still it would not work. The printer and fax on the same HP all in one worked, but not the scanner. Last weekend I finally had a chance to straighten it out and I got my pictures scanned. This first one is Keaton, I think he is about a month old.



In these two I think he is 2 months old.















Shortly after Keaton was born, Kristen took this picture of all the kids together. She old Kyleigh and Jaeger to close their eyes, they are not really asleep.









These are the kids school pictures for this year.
Kyleigh is in 1st grade and Jaeger is in preschool
















This was their Christmas picture

HAPPY 29TH BIRTHDAY KRISTEN! (2 days late...)

I had just sat down to write this on Sunday, January 21, 2007, Kristen's birthday,
when her husband Jeff called me and asked if I would watch the kids while he took Kristen out for some ice cream. So I happily went over to see the grandkids after not seeing them for a week.

Normally, we would have celebrated Kristen's birthday this past weekend with a birthday dinner, but Kristen, Jeff, Kyleigh, Jaeger and Keaton traveled to Universal Studios in Hollywood last Thursday for a Kyleigh's gymnastics competition, and just got back home Sunday night about an hour before Jeff called. So they had spent 8 or so hours on the road, coming back from southern California.

What I remember about my pregnancy with Kristen, was that I was so happy to be pregnant. I had always wanted a child, and particularly a daughter. I had had a very upsetting experience the previous year of having a miscarriage and I was very nervous this second time around. My pregnancy with Kristen seemed to go OK at first, I was given a due date of February 14, 1978. During the first part of my pregnancy, we sold our condominium in Del Mar, and were in the process of having a house built in La Costa, and were living with John's parents, and watched their house while they visited back east. I kept gaining a lot of weight during my pregnancy and was really bloated up, but my doctor said not to worry about it, I could worry about it after I delivered. I kept being told by the doctor I would probably have a boy. We moved into our new house and I painted the baby's room blue, and it had a sailboat mobile. I happily decorated our new house, and planned my flower beds. And I kept bloating up. The middle of January, John and our friend Mark went skiing. John came home with a bad cold, and I got it, a deep bronchitis. The next week, on Thursday, when I went to the doctor, the nurse came in and told the doctor my urine was 3+ protein, and they checked my blood pressure and it was high. The doctor told me to go home and not go to work the following day, just stay at bed rest. I went home, and that night could not sleep. The covers on my legs were painful. John rigged a TV tray under them so they would not rest on my legs. My pulse was pounding in my head. I finally went and laid on the sofa, but was in excruciating pain. So John told me to call my doctor, who happened to be in the delivery room and told me to come to the hospital, the delivery area. We got to the hospital about midnight, and they took my blood pressure and it was 200/100. They gave me 3 shots of morphine, and said they would do an ultrasound the next day, and determine if the baby was OK to deliver. The nurse in the delivery room at that time told me I was having a girl.

Kristen Alys Hurd was born via C-section on Saturday, January 21, 1978, 5 pounds, 7 ounces. Her doctor kept commenting on how she had a perfect head. That night, I cried all night, because I missed John, he had been gone the previous week skiing, and came home sick, and didn't want to stick around the hospital because he was sick. The pathologist that I worked for, came and and looked at me and said I looked awful. Sunday morning, I asked the my doctor, and the pediatrician if I could go home, which they allowed me to do. So John came and got us. We went home and took a nap, and woke up about 6 hours later, and Kristen had not made a peep, I thought she was dead, but she was just sleeping. Apparently the phenobarbital I was taking to bring my blood pressure down, although they assured me would not affect breast milk did, and it zonked her out. The whole time I was taking the Lamaze classes prior to Kristen's birth, I kept thinking to myself, none of this mattered, I was not going to need it anyway.

I was so proud to have this tiny little being in my life. Kristen and I attended her baby shower, given by our friend Susan, a week after her birth together. The attendees were so thrilled to get to meet her.

When Kristen was born, John was the Lab Manager at Mission Bay Hospital in San Diego.

Barry Manilow had a song out about the time Kristen was born, "Can't Smile Without You" and I sang that to her whenever it came on.


This picture was taken when we were visiting my parents house, who only lived about 1/2 hour from us at the time in Vista, California.

The little yellow outfits in both of these pictures, John had brought to the hospital right after she was born.

Probably shortly after this picture was taken, John accepted a sales position for lab equipment, and we moved to Sacramento in April. We lived in an apartment in Sacramento, while looking for a house. We meanwhile had our house in the San Diego area for sale, after having lived in it for 6 months.


I am blessed with having 2 very special daughters, who also happen to be my best friends.

October 12 on December 1, 2006

Thanks to Nancy, NP and Ms. Jan, for continuing this meme. I actually haven't followed the rules to the letter.

The Rules:

1) Go to Wikipedia

2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.

3) List three events that happened on your birthday

4) List two important birthdays and one death

5) One holiday or observance (if any)

. . . .

Okay, here goes

Events

• 1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia
• 1938 - Filming starts on The Wizard of Oz
• 1970 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas

Births

• 1537-King Edward VI of England (d.1553)
• 1558-Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (d.1618)
  
• 1935-Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor

Deaths

• 1576 - Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1527)
• 1870 - Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (b. 1807)
• 1997 - John Denver, American singer (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

October 12th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:

• Columbus Day (traditionally) - United States.

AUNT MARY COMES TO VISIT

On October 7th and 8th, 2006, when Keaton was 5 days old, Mary, Gramma Karrin's younger sister came to visit. We all had fun visiting, and Aunt Mary brought some dress up clothes for Kyleigh, a hat for Jaeger and nice presents for Karrin, whose birthday was the following week.













I had asked Jaeger about what he is going to be for Halloween (a cowboy)
and he took this pose, as how a cowboy stands, with no prompting from me.








Kyleigh dressed up in a bunch of items Aunt Mary brought, and developed an ingenious way of taking care of the slip straps being too long, but cinching them up with small hair rubber bands.

At one point this night, little Keaton had his meal, and then while sitting on my lap, proceeded to spew it all over Gramma, and himself. Kristen had not brought any extra clothes, so was going to go home, while Gramma held the baby wrapped in a blanket. My sister Mary, having never seen Kristen's house wanted to go with her.

After they left, knowing that Kristen had just had the baby earlier in the week, and had only been home 3 days, asked Kyleigh what their house looked like. Kyleigh said her room wasn't too bad, a little messy. I asked what Jaeger's room looked like and she stated it looked like a pig sty. Jaeger, who had been busy playing with the Lego pirate set on the floor, and whom I didn't think was listening to our conversation, all of a sudden started oinking. It was so funny, it still makes me smile to think about it.

BABY, OH BABY PART II, THE BIG DAY

On October 2nd, approximately 1:55 a.m., Kristen called me and told me it was time, her water had broke and that she thought she was in labor, and had been for about an hour. She had called Katie, to see if she would come stay with Kyleigh and Jaeger, and had not woken Jeff yet. I told her to call me when they were headed to the hospital. She called about 40 minutes later, and we all headed to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, arriving at 3 a.m. to the birthing center.

They finally got her into a room, and gowned, and got the monitors set up, and finally ended up checking how far along she was about 3:40, and she was 6 cm dilated. About 10 minutes later the doctor arrived, and said she was 8. He broke the remaining water, and everything went pretty fast after that. Right at the point we could see the little head, Kristen said she was tired of pushing, and she hurt. After some coaxing, and not much more time, little Keaton Charles Walter Boatwright made his presence known in this world at 4:26 a.m. He did not like the nasty drops they put in his eyes, he did not like them carting him around and weighing him naked, but he calmed down pretty quick, and has been a sweetheart ever since.

He is adored by his big brother and sister, and Jaeger told me today, when Keaton and Jaeger came to visit, that Keaton when he is upset, likes to hear singing. And Jaeger burst into the A,B,C song, and he did quiet right down. even though he was starving to death!





He weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces, 21 inches long.

TWO THINGS I'VE LEARNED/ACCOMPLISHED

The past two weeks have been learning experiences for me. First, John recently got a flat screen for his computer. I really wanted one, but cannot afford it right now. Second, my desk had my work computer on it, with a flat screen plus my own person PC, with a huge computer monitor, that took up a third of the rolltop desk. John mentioned I could get a switch to use the same monitor between both computers. I got one, and I love it. I found this also enables me to share the keyboard and mouse and speakers. I love having 12 of my desk free to be able to work on!

This past weekend we had Katie and her boyfriend John here, we invited them to dinner. I got under the sink for some reason, and discovered there was a puddle of water under there again, with slugs having a little party. I have no idea where the slugs came from, in the middle of the house. This was the sink we had just had fixed several months ago, and were hoping it wasn't the new mucho $$$ pipes that were leaking. We had dinner, and after the kids had left, I took everything out AGAIN, and I determined that it was the disposal, that was about 3 years old, that had water leaking out the side. I told John, since he has such a hard time with his tall frame getting under that sink, I would do what needed to be done. The next day we went and purchased a new super dooper disposal. It seems amazing that our first one lasted 24 years and the second 3 years. Anyway, I took all the hardware off under the sink. and we got the old one down. John put the old cord on the new disposal (they don't come with cords), and after I had installed the new hardware we were trying to put it up together. You just hook it on the bracket and turn this metal piece and it is installed. Well, finally I told him I would try myself, and go away. I got it installed. Previous to this, he told me he didn't need the instructions. So we did the first load
of the dishwasher which had been out of commision for 3 days because everything was unhooked.

John called me out to the kitchen and told me that something was wrong, the water for the dishwasher was coming out the overflow section on top of the sink. I told him that I hooked everything up just like it came off. He then said there must be a plug to punch out for the dishwasher hookup (this was in the instructions he didn't need to read). We punched it out, and low and behold that was the problem. I had little leakage up at the top, so he asked me what way I turned the metal piece, and I told him right. He didn't think that was correct, and did it the other way. (I looked at the directions and it said turn to the right, so I fixed it again).

Anyway, I learned I can have 1 monitor for two computers. I learned how to install a disposal.

BUSY FRIDAY

Last Friday, September 15th, I had been invited to the retirement party of one of my physicians that I have transcribed for the past 20 years. He is retiring from neurology after 40 years of practice. It was sort of a bittersweet experience, I am happy for him and his retirement, but sad for myself for the loss of income. It was good to see his old office manager, and my old friends from their previous office. Him and his partners had recently merged with the Sutter Neuroscience Group in Sacramento, and while their old personnel mostly works there too, it is such a huge office, I rarely see them. The party was at the Sterling Hotel in Sacramento, and it was a nice party.

On Wednesday, Kristen had called and asked what I was doing on Friday night. I explained that John and I were attending the retirement party, but it was over at 6:30. She asked if I wanted to go to an Elton John concert at 8. After talking with John, and determining he did not want to attend, I happily agreed. It seems a friend of ours had purchased tickets, and found they were up in the higher seats, and then purchased closer seats on the floor of Arco Arena. So Kristen, Robin, her friend, and I attended the Elton John concert.

So John rushed me home from the retirement party, and I went over and joined Kristen and Robin for the ride back to Sacramento. The concert was excellent. Elton played almost 3 straight hours, some of the songs were longer versions of the usual, and we loved it. It was quite an exciting experience, and such a surprise. Kristen ended up purchasing the tickets and told me mine was for my birthday in October.

BABY, OH BABY

Saturday, September 9th, Kristen's friend Kymberly gave Kristen a baby shower brunch. The food was great, and the games fun, including the guess what kind of baby food is in the jar. I think you have to be a recent mother to figure these out. I only got 4 right out of about 12. They have new combinations and flavors than we had when my girls were little.




I actually did get Keaton's quilt done before the shower:

While at the shower, I saw a friend of Kristen's I have not seen since they were in high school, Becky, and she is pregnant with a boy, and due about 3 weeks after Kristen. I told her I would make her a baby quilt too, similar to Kristen's. Becky's shower was September 17th, a week and a day after Kristen's, which we attended, and I did have the top done, and brought it home to quilt.





This picture to the right is of Kristen, Kyleigh's godmother Curly, Jeff's grandmother Carm, and Katie.














And this is Becky, and another pregnant friend, Nancy.



Yesterday, when we attended Becky's shower, I was able to get a picture of the two together. Becky didn't want to take the quilt top out of the tissue paper, afraid it would get ruined. I told her it was OK, she was treating it like it was something precious.

But I feel pretty good about myself. I made 2 quilt tops in 3 weeks, and have one quilted.

HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY KATIE!

Today, August 24th, 2006, is my baby's BD. As you can see by the picture, she has aways liked to "get right into" her chocolate cake.She used to get her hands all messy eating, and then wipe them off in her hair, so I almost had to bathe her afterwards



I remember the day she was born, I was having a planned second C-section. John's mom and dad were visiting to help out with 18 month old Kristen. I was supposed to have an amniocentesis on Monday, and then they were going to do the C-section. But there was no way they could get fluid because Katie was in front. So my doctor sent me home to go into labor. I had never been in labor before, as Kristen had been delivered via emergency C-section. So I went home, and waited, and waited. The thing was, my in-laws were leaving the next Monday because they had appointments the next week.

And I waited, and waited, and people were calling to find out what the baby was, because they knew I was supposed to have the surgery on Monday. I was getting some wierd twinges, so on Thursday, John took me to the doctor, and he said I was not dilated, to go back home and wait. I burst into tears, and the doctor looked at John and said maybe they should do the surgery on Friday.

So I had my surgery on Friday, came home on Sunday, and John's parents left on Monday, and I had two babies, just had surgery, and no one to really help, as John worked nights. But we made it, and here it is 27 years later. Katie was a very happy baby, as long she was fed, and has always been, and still is a good sleeper.

Katie this year has managed to buy her own car, and has a job working for some personal injury lawyer as a secretary. She is very artistic, and for all major holidays, birthdays, she generally paints us a special card. In addition she has painted me a number of small flowers that she frames. I am very proud of what she has accomplished. Love you Kates!

This is me and my girls on 4th of July at Kristen's house. Katie is on the end with her hand on her hip, Kristen is the pregnant one, and I am on the other end.

This weekend we will be having our family dinner for both Katie and Kyleigh. I love our family get togethers.

PLACES I HAVE BEEN:

Thanks DesertSky for this link:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

GREAT WEEKEND

All in all it was a pretty great weekend. I had a chance to finish Kyleigh's BD dress, and she was thrilled. I even made a little matching purse with the same fairy embroidered on it that is on the dress. The zipper has a minor problem that needs fixed, but the dress fits good.






A couple of weeks ago, Kristen asked John to make Jaeger a toybox. This is the idea that John came up with, a boat toybox. He even told Jaeger maybe he could sit in it to watch TV. Jaeger was on cloud 9 with the whole boat idea. Jaeger had specified how he wanted a blue stripe on the side too, and blue curtains (sails) but Papa told him a toybox does not need sails.



Jaeger and I had a special day today, him enjoying is new boat toybox, and we also put together a new lighthouse that goes with his pirate ship and treasure island set.

Then John seeing how I was tired after the Kristen came and got Jaeger, offered to buy me dinner at our favorite Mexican place.

Kyleigh's 6th Birthday, August 17, 2006

Today is Kyleigh's 6th birthday, and tonight we are going to enjoy ice cream at local ice cream parlor. She said the thing she wanted most in the world was an American Girl doll, so I found one "Just Like Me", along with some outfits. Next week, when we have our own family dinner for the August birthdays (with Aunt Katie aka Sissy), I plan to give her the orange dress I made, with the fairy embroidered on the front, and hopefully this weekend, will have time to make the new doll an orange dress too, maybe a little matching purse.






Last week we attended the awards ceremony at the California State Fair. These were Kyleigh's
cat and toucan which is a watercolor and sort of hard to see, that won 1st place.







These are the three that placed second, her sea turtle, giraffe and kangaroo. We are very proud that she did so well, for her first time. The kids were ready to go on the rides that night, but unfortunately the fair didn't start until the next day.