CAUTION: Lots of Pictures

For those people that feed moose...

And we got a kick out of this sign:

Near as we can tell, it means: "Watch out for businessmen saying 'yes'"

It seemed like P and Wayne really bonded over the 4-day Memorial Day weekend. 

 I got to plant flowers, with the hope that there will be no more hard frosts. Wayne set out some towels for Penelope to sit on and watch while the flowers were being planted. (So she doesn't come across any gopher guts.) Ruby the cat decided to come play. Ruby would burrow under the blankets until Penelope came and grabbed her. Then she would move a lithe further under the blankets...etc. It was actually very cute.

Reaching for the tail:

In the picture below, Ruby is actually under the blue towel.

 The most exciting thing to happen around here was our friends Rorke and Leatha came to visit us! And their daughter Reann, who is almost 4. I tried to get a picture of them together .... it was a failure:

(Love Reann's expression!)

Neither of the girls know how to stay still for very long:) 

 Love this pic of Leatha & P....just before this P was giving Leatha mega snuggles.

'Up at six; Naps at nine'

That song about Mr. Mom keeps running through my head, as Penelope has been getting up around five every morning. But the good news, we are sleeping all night! I thought that this milestone would have happened months ago, but, alas, I must not be the supermom I envisioned.

Anyway, we are working on sleeping later in the mornings, but until then, our mornings have been very long. One morning last week, I decided I would just get and be productive. Penelope was playing fairly well on the kitchen floor, and I did some cooking. I made a batch of cookies, some scones, and put dinner in the crockpot. We had breakfast, and I was just washing some pans when I looked at the clock. 6:54 are you kidding me! It felt like half the day was gone, but it had only just started.

Another day, I was looking forward to going to town at noon. It took forever for those little clock arms to find there way up. Sometimes we will go to town in the morning, only to find out we got there WAY too early for any of the shops to be open.

Once I was checking the time on my phone, and realized my phone had stopped working. My phone has been doing that lately, it will turn on, but not be connecting. To fix it, I just turn my phone off, take the battery out, put it back in, and turn it on. So I did this, but it didn't get fixed. Later I realized that the phone was working fine, I was just in denial about the time.

(As a side note, my phone once stopped working when I was about 9 months pregnant. Wayne had been calling and texting all day. I didn't respond, and he was going to call the neighbors, but didn't have their phone number. He then resigned himself to the fact that he would come home and find me dead in a pool of blood. Finally, late in the afternoon, I realized the phone needed reset. Wayne was quite relieved when I called to tell him I was fine!)

We have realized the sun comes up earlier and earlier every day, and that may be part of the reason Penelope is getting up so early. On the eastern edge of the time zone, it is usually pretty light at 5 am. We also keep tabs on the neighbors, who leaves at what time, who is going to be late for the school bus, and whose dog is barking. Yep, I am that person in the neighborhood.

So we get excited when nine rolls around, and it's time for the morning nap. I contemplate what to do for the remaining 10 hours until P's bedtime, check to make sure the phone is working, and eat a few too many cookies.

Hodge Podge of Pics

 Penelope crawling...

Sunday Wayne decided to be helpful and feed Penelope. 

Getting pretty messy...

Then it was "Look mom! She's feeding herself!"

Which quickly turned into "Help, she's just a big mess....I can't help, I've got a white shirt on!"

 We checked out the solar eclipse...

 When I was a kid, if you wore "Lucky Brand" stuff, you had pretty much made it in the world. Penelope has already made it in the world.

 Penelope & her favorite toy.

 Saturday Hike....Penelope slept most of the way.

 So comfy...

 These next ones are bad phone pics, sorry. But we went to our little play class and they set up a tunnel! When I taught gymnastics we had a tunnel like this, and it was sooo hard to get the little ones to go through it. They never wanted to. Penelope just followed her little friend in and crawled through the tunnel! I was so impressed. But I am impressed with small things. This pic was taken as the bigger girl pushed Penelope over inside the tunnel....oops.

 Smiling as she made it to the end!

 Her and her little friend. Penelope is impressed with her because she walks and has hair!

Secret of Life

Wayne mentioned something the other day that he had read about happiness. I thought it was very interesting and am sharing. These are the three 'keys' that have been found to happiness.

1. Doing things for others.
2. Meditating at least 30 seconds a day on what you are thankful for.
3. Doing something that you are good at and challenges you.

So, three things that everyone is capable of doing, regardless of circumstance. And just 30 seconds a day is all it takes for number 2!

Castles

Wayne's latest obsession is castles.

Wayne: "If we ever hit it big, do you realize we will live a very eccentric lifestyle?"
Me: **dying laughing**
Wayne: "I'm serious! We will live in a castle in Ireland. I wonder what you have to do to get a title, like 'Count and Lady Douglas.'"

Indian Food & Culture

The other night we had dinner with one of Wayne's work colleagues, hosted by his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Bhakta. Mr. & Mrs. Bhakta are Indian, and have lived here for many years, owning and running a motel. They live in part of the hotel, a modest kitchen and living room, and their bedroom is a partition of the motel lobby. They are hard working, cheerful people with strong accents. Mrs. Bhakta made us a delicious chicken curry, and we learned a bit about the Indian culture.

The meal, like I mentioned, was chicken curry. Whole chicken drumsticks, smothered in a delicious curry gravy. Mrs. Bhakta was even kind enough to make me an 'unspicy' version, although I had a bite of Wayne's and it wasn't outrageously spicy. There was rice and coleslaw, along with a cheesecake for dessert. I'm assuming the coleslaw and cheesecake are not Indian, and it shows that they are a bit 'Americanized.' After dinner Mr. Bhakta offered us some anise seed and some 'mukwas' an Indian after dinner spice mix.  Sort of like an after dinner mint. I tried some, you take a small pinch of the mixture, which looks like a tiny trail mix, and nibble on it. It was quite good. Interestingly, Mr. and Mrs. Bhakta never ate, they only served us.

Mr. Bhakta told us that 'ka-ka' was the word for uncle, and so for the rest of the night Wayne's colleague was 'ka-ka Saj.' We also learned that Indians calculate age to be one year more than Americans. So all of you that are 29, time to give in: You are 30.

Our hosts loved Penelope. There was nothing Penelope could do wrong. If she ate their cell phone - no big deal. Tear up papers? That's fine. Mr. Bhakta was on the floor playing with Penelope most of the evening. He really liked her, and she gave him lots of smiles.

Spring Update

Watch your step

The cats have been bringing home lots of dead things lately. I am one of those people who jump five feet in the air when they see a mouse, so I am glad to see the cats catch them. This past week has been a bit of a rodent extermination around here. We have had a large vole and several other large rodents. I have noticed the mice around hear are rather large, however, the last few have been exceptionally large with a fluffy tail. I wanted to know what kind of mouse had a fluffy tail. Yesterday Ruby the cat came to the yard and set down her latest kill. I went over to look at what was not a mouse, but a baby squirrel! After a few days and several more of them, I realized they weren't squirrels, but baby groundhogs. She must have a knack for catching them, because she has her taste set on baby groundhogs. We are glad to see them go - they dig up the yard and have even broken our sprinkler system.

We now must watch where we are walking in the yard, and be careful when letting the cats in the house. Upon coming home late from our last trip, we stepped up to the dark house and unlocked the door. As I stepped in, I felt a lovely squish under my foot. "UUgghhhh!" I said, "I think the cats left a mouse on the step for us." "Yep," Wayne said. "I stepped on it too."

Penelope

Penelope is enjoying spring. She seems to like going outside and watching mom and dad do yard work. I had been putting her on a blanket on the grass, but now I am petrified she will find a dead rodent to play with. She loves animals - including the neighbor's dog, who often gets loose and comes over to visit. Once we had just gotten home, and I was getting Penelope unbuckled. The golden retriever came from nowhere, was into the car and practically on top of the carseat within seconds. She continues to be enthralled with the cats, and I am amazed she hasn't gotten scratched yet. She is rather violent with them, pulling and squeezing if she gets ahold of them. The cats must sense what I would do with them if they were naughty!

Running

My career as a professional runner has been on hiatus, but was revived again when Wayne drug me out for a run last week. The weather has been perfect lately, and it feels good to get out in the evenings with the stroller. And, I am actually 'running.' I used to define 'running' as putting on cute work-out clothes, attempting to run half of a block, and walking for the remainder of the way. I remember being 'in shape' and 'running' a 5K, of which I ran about 2K and walked about 3K. However, somewhere between getting pregnant and taking care of a seven-month-old, I found something inside that either wasn't there before, or I didn't know I had. Maybe it was morning-sickness. Maybe it was childbirth. Maybe it is the fact that for 20 minutes I don't have to hold, feed or change a baby. Whatever it is, last night I ran a mile and a half without stopping. This may not seem like much, but it is a lifetime achievement for me, and I am not exactly 'in shape.'

Lilacs

We have lovely lilac bushes in front of our house. They normally look magnificent every spring, almost ready to bloom, when we get a hard frost, and the buds all droop and die. This year we have not had much for cold cold weather, so we have gorgeous lilacs!

Lawn Mowing

Wayne is still enjoying his old-fashioned mower. However, our backyard was only mowed once let year, so is overgrown again with weeds and sagebrush-a job too big for the manual mower. Our waiting to buy a mower paid off, last weekend Wayne found an excellent mower in the classifieds for 80 bucks. Just watch out for dead carcasses!

 Above: Penelope uses her feet instead of her knees to crawl or pull up sometimes.
Below: Pestering the cats.

 Lilacs!

Peek a Boo

The Elixir of Life

As I was cleaning the house yesterday, the smell of Clorox brought me back to the many visits from Grandma & Grandpa Cloyd. We kids knew the visit was soon when where were made to help do an extensive cleaning on the house. Then Grandma arrived, and it was out with huge pails of Clorox water and rags to scrub every nook and cranny of the house because it was 'SO dirty!' We probably never told her we had spent the last week cleaning, anticipating her arrival. Clorox was used for everything - an elixir of sorts. Cleaning, disinfecting, foot soaks, laundry, etc. Needless to say, by the time Grandma & Grandpa's visit was through, the house (and maybe yard) smelled like bleach.

My Grandma Cassens, however, must have leaned toward the more natural side of life. Anything could be fixed by one thing: Honey. Honey was so versatile, that you could not only clean and disinfect with it, but it also healed practically everything: A cold or the hiccups for instance. I can remember her wrapping up a boo-boo of mine with a bandaid and a drop of honey. Honey was eaten with everything and kept by the caseload in the basement.

Now Baby-Girl is teething, and I'm wondering what I should do to sooth those tiny gums. I think I'll pass on the Clorox, but maybe a dab of honey would cheer her a little. Who knows, maybe it will cause all her teeth to painlessly come in, cure any future colds, and potty train her too!

South Dakota Grandparents

Here are the few pictures I have from when we visited Grandma & Grandpa Cassens in March. I was waiting to post this until I got more pictures from mom.... so this is also a hint to her to remember to send me the pictures she has on her camera!!! I think there are some good ones on her camera.

Penelope was just starting to eat cereal:

We went for a walk with Grandma, the weather was nice.

Mom with her dogs.


Grandpa helping 'Big-toe' drink from a cup using her feet:

Breaking News!

Penelope has her first tooth!!!

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo. Today Penelope and I went to town and did a little shopping with Jenny. Here is Jenny letting Penelope ride her rock turtle. 

 Then we checked out the Cinco de Mayo celebration at the park. This is a bad picture, but there was lots of Mexican dancing, tacos and Chihuahuas.

The cat that chases Penelope

Since learning to crawl, Penelope has been chasing our black cat, Ruby, around the house. Ruby will let her get pretty close, then run off. The orange cat, Orangie, seems to like Penelope. A lot. He nuzzles her whenever he gets the chance, even knocking her over once in a while. Penelope loves it. Here is a video of them playing:

Pictures from Colorado Trip

Here are a few pictures from our trip. 

At a rest area along the way:

 Penelope and I went to Seven Falls, a waterfall attraction at the end of a narrow canyon. After visiting, I felt like it was more of an attraction than a waterfall, but anyway, it was OK. The sign in the elevator made me a wee bit nervous, and wonder how many diapers I had in my bag.

 Here are the pretty tumbling falls:

 There are nice stairs that go up alongside the falls. Probably the biggest reason I wasn't so impressed with this place is that the lady in one of the gift shops started going on this tirade to me about the elevation. I tried to listen calmly as she told me I needed to drink water, and my baby needed to drink water, and that I would get out of breath walking up the stairs, and the baby can't tell me how thirsty she is, and did I mention, I need to drink water?! I asked her what the elevation was. Around 7,000 feet. I calmly said, "well, we live at 5800 and routinely hike up to 9000." Her response? "You need to drink lots of water!" Did you notice I said 'one' of the gift shops? This place took about a half hour to see, and there were three gift shops!

 We went to the Garden of the Gods. I had heard about this place for a long time, and I was very impressed with it. A huge, free park, that was kept very nicely. Hiking trails, rock climbing, etc. And there was only one gift shop. We drug Wayne with for this outing.

 Interestingly, Wayne can't push this little stroller because he can't reach the handles and his feet run into it.