elin's eye

She's had this little lump on her eyelid for about a year and it had to finally come off.

Twelve hundred dollars.

I teased that I could do it with a nail clipper, but that's not true.

Anyway.

She's doing well.

Onward

Love, Val
 

happy birthday!

What a great birthday!!

Beautiful child

Still the same

I hope this is the best year yet.

Lucky us, having you.

Happy Birthday, with love for always,   Love Grandma and Grandpa and Everybody
 

a guinea pig story

Julia got tired of these guinea pigs in her room for a number of reasons.   The hay and pine have their own little farm odor.  They take up a lot of  room. And mice were upstairs.  We've never really had mice upstairs before, but guinea pig food and bedding are all very dear to mice, so we got them out of her bedroom.

She was also annoyed with them in general, expressed that they are ungrateful.

A few months ago they were relocated to this room instead and it has worked out fine.  The little ingrates seem to like it just fine in there. It's sunny in the afternoon, and there's a space heater and Julia tends to them faithfully.

But the damned mice dodging around have been an ongoing problem. We have traps EVERYWHERE and have caught numerous mice, but there seem to always be another racing from fridge to stove, darting in unexpected places about the time we've thought there are no more. 

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Mice don't even look at these traps.

Why?

Because the mice are FULL.

Well, the other day, early in the morning, Jay opened the bedroom door and saw a mouse JUMP OUT OF THE CAGE.

!!!!!!

No! Oh no, no, no, no, no.

So we rearranged the whole room, took down the bed, have it all situated so there is a wide radius around the table, so no mice can get up there, and we are observing and keeping our traps going.  Snap top bins were purchased to store the hay and wood chips.

Since we did this, there were three mice trapped under the kitchen sink and zero seen in this room.

<Shudder>

When we were in Mexico last week we went to the old zoo there. It's built into the side of the mountain, lush and shady.   We found the spot the guinea pigs always were before, and I sent this picture to the girls, "Where are the guinea pigs?"

Around the corner: 

We found them!

I don't think any of those are named after Harry Styles, but you never know.

So much love, MOM

sunshine

He's a bright spot on some cold and stressful weeks.

She hung out with us, fun to have.  He likes her.

He's so funny, standing on those little tiny legs.

He takes some lovely naps.

Here he's all fired up showing us his skills at rolling over.

And her, FOMO. Would love to come out here and toss herself down on the baby toys, but we're not allowing that.

 Anyway, this was a long, frustrating week at work, so obnoxious.

But not him.

Happy Baby Days,  Love, Grandma

saturday sleepover

We  had tortellini soup, and then I headed out for the evening's real estate appointment.

Here Tim's leading a game of trivial pursuit.  Their answers were interesting.

In the morning, we tried to think of something fun to do with the day.   Lots of ideas were considered.  We only had room for five in the car, so that played a part in the decision making.  Plus it was short notice.  Some things are better with a plan.

But then the cousin in the flowered coat mentioned the Be With Me Playseum in Ridgedale Mall.

We'd never heard of it, but she knew all about it, and the mall is fun anyway. They ate pretzels while we waited for the Playseum to open, and went to the toy store and shopped at Claire's.

At 1 pm we could go inside, and they had a whole community of play stations--from a fire station to a chiropractor, restaurants, a theater, bakery, art studio.  It was fantastic.

They're working the dental office here.

Bathing those dogs:

Vet clinic:

The grocery store was a hit.

They're making pizzas, working  the restaurant.

Chiropractor too--

The Up North corner, skunk may have been rabid, not sure. He was certainly a bit disruptive.

Sitting on the dock, caught some fish.

This is the theater corner:

Finally they had a turn in the fire station.

And that was the end. We had beverages at the snack counter before we headed home again, 

Now the house is quiet and air mattress is put away and all the couch beds too. Sheets washed and put away, vacuum run.

Thanks for being such good sports, Girls, and making this weekend special.

Love, Grandma and Grandpa, Julia and Tim