smoke detector

This is the bed, and this is the dog:

Well, night before last the smoke detector battery was chirping and there she was on our bed between us, trembling. She threw herself down with a big sigh, head on her paws.   And that's where she was determined to remain ALL NIGHT, even after the smoke detector was removed from the situation and the battery was out.

It was a long night.  (There were three in the bed and the little one said?  She said she was staying right there in the center.)

Batteries have been replaced.

And the amaryllis is looking fantastic!   Some plants thrive here, many do not, but this one sure is!

Love, Val

been a while

It was a quiet week.  James stopped by for supper one evening.  Aaron was here for a little while.  I saw my parents, and we spent Saturday afternoon with Jay's parents.

Sunday the guys were working at Kirsten's house, so I went to keep Heidi company.  Maria came too, and then Kari and Andrew showed up.  We ate and Kari and Andrew played Barbies with the kids.

It was nice and we got outside for the first time.  The new neighbors came over to introduce themselves, seem very nice.

It was the nicest kind of afternoon, lots of laughing.  We folded some laundry--it was pretty perfect.

Later that evening we attempted to switch out Julia's mattress.  She'd been sleeping on an air bed that was about twenty five years old and constantly leaking air, having to be pumped back up again.  This has been going on for a while, so we brought up this mattress.

Well.

It's a queen mattress on an old full sized bed.  Not gonna happen.  And this mattress is heavy as hell.  It took a struggle for Jay and Tim in the stairway. This house has petite 40s proportions, and oh my goodness.

She slept on the bed in Tim's old room instead last night.

Today I went upstairs to do some measuring so I could go buy her a different mattress, and this little girl was cute. 

And so are these guys.

Later that beast of a mattress was dragged out and is in the trailer for city-wide clean up day disposal.

And now the bed is all back together with a new mattress and life is good.

Happy Monday!

Love, Val

Oh, and when I got home from buying the mattress realized I had on two different shoes.  Okay, that's weird.

first lake weekend

Beautiful and icy.

But we are going about thawing out the cabins.

    Here we are, spaghetti supper on the new plates:

So much sea of mud

 And the kids watched goofy videos galore and that's what people do at the lake on weekends when options are limited.

Love, ya'll, every single one of y'all, even the neighbor kid, who is also delightful.

Bye.  Love, Grandma and Grandpa

birthday party

She was taking off for a birthday party in Minneapolis for a friend, and we found a sunny window for a photo of the cute dress, and the girl.

What sunshine is there in Minneapolis in March?  

Get out of here.

The evening downtown presented many challenges, but whatever.

Life!

So much love, MOM
 

chicken salad

 Chicken salad:

4 chicken breasts, pre-cooked (grilled is good or rotisserie is also)

2 - 7 oz boxes of small circle noodles cooked per directions on the box

1 1/2 cups chopped celery

 2 cups each fresh broccoli chopped small and fresh carrots also bite sized

1 fresh onion, chopped

1/2 cup real bacon bits

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup cashews

Dressing:

3 cups mayonnaise

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup vinegar

3 tsp salt and 3 tsp pepper

Stir it all up and  you have a large container of salad, enough to feed at least twelve people.  Take some to the neighbors.

Vegetarian version?  Hold the chicken and bacon to the side until the end and scoop out a portion without meat.   Then add the meat and stir it up again.

Enjoy.  

Love, Val

st patrick's day

Leprechauns showed up. This old tradition, I don't know. The note was mean. It was good.

Last night we had a cousin fest.  Heidi was coming with the kids for supper, so I texted Dan to see if they wanted to join us. 

Oh the screaming!  And the chicken nuggets and fries eaten, and all the ice creams devoured--it was amazing.  And yeah, they were super happy to see each other.  Pictures blurry, apparently I should slow down a second.

She LOVED the piano, which added to the racket.   Plus Dan's puppy running through--she was living it up too.

Puddles are huge and deep, it's a sea of mud.  We'll take it.

Sunset beautiful tonight driving home.  McDonald's never looked so good.

And that's the end of the night. Blue ink that won't go away and centering the type even though I've tried to change it four times.

Calling it good.

So much love, 

Val

a new driver!

He passed the test!

It's the beginning of a new chapter!

Congratulations!!

Love, Grandma and Grandpa

 

quiet week

This was the first day over fifty degrees!  It felt great.

The amaryllis is coming back to life again.

 These girls were here Saturday evening with their dad.  The big sister was having a birthday party with her friends and wanted them out for a while.   It was fun.

Love, Val

this happened!

First place!!  Nice job, buddy! 

Love, Grandma and Grandpa
 

happy birthday james

We got your big, giant chocolate cake.

Ham and cheesy potatoes were requested for supper.

Gifts, boring gifts-- a shirt, bath soap, and a device to jump start the car, which comes in handy now and then, but not often, hopefully pretty much never.

This guy can blow out candles faster than anyone.  Plus I didn't have 25 candles, so we made do with a two on one side of the cake and five on the other.  He can blow out seven candles in one second.

Ta-da!

Went looking in the file for old pictures, and found a few.

Aaron posted this today, had not seen this picture before, looks like high school.

 Awww, and this sweet kiss:

I love you, my dear. 

Thank you for all the happiness you've brought us.  

Happy birthday!   Love, Mom and Dad and Everybody