a bath in a bowl

 p.j. wanted to give her little sister a bath.

Heidi was willing, but dang, so tired.  And she knew I'd love to do it.

So we did.

 She was shampooed and is just so perfect and sweet.

 Julia took the pictures.   p.j. had a dining room chair pushed up beside me to help.

And then it was back to boob, always seems to help.

I love you little girls, p.j. and Cake-Cake.    love, Grandma

lillian

 Lillian, the gecko, was not eating earlier this week, and after a few days we noticed her tail was looking skinnier, and it was time to find out what was wrong sooner rather than later.

So our vet recommended his own reptile vet.  Except they are in Lake Elmo which is on the other side of the cities, and it was rush hour.

We did it.

 The vet thinks she has a sore tongue, so we have drops for that, and also she's to take a bath twice a day for hydration and soothing, and we have to feed her gecko food supplement.

First we're supposed to offer her meal worms, which she loves.  But if she doesn't eat them, then we have to give her the supplement.

We;ve been doing it and her tail has not popped off.  She seems actually quite fine.

Fingers crossed.

love, MOM

cake-y is born

 Yes, she was, born this morning.

We didn't know at the time p.j. went to preschool that her sister was already born.

She was excited because the class was walking to the library.

The library!

Good grief.

We picked her up from school and drove downtown to where her sister was waiting to meet her.

 Sweet Cake-cake is born, and she is lovely.

( The sponge rollers produced some impressive curls.)

Heidi was asking her kid about her overly curly hair today.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.

We are so happy you're here.

Your big sister is asleep upstairs at my house, sticking out of a bunk bed in fluffy fleece pajamas.

love forever, Grandma.

tuesday in may

 The caterpillar hatched.  He was noticed late at night, so he was placed outside in the morning.

 We weren't sure if he was okay or not.

We hope so.

The flower pots were planted, most of them anyway.

Today I dragged the man to the garden store again and we brought home two kinds of tomato plants and a couple peppers.

The rabbits tend to eat everything, wonder how the peppers will do.

 My parents gave us their fountain, and we have a good spot for it.

 These are the sprinkler girls who ate lunch on the patio today.

What a great day.

 And now?

We are on baby watch.

Her little sister is about to be born.

First the sister was called Cake-cake. She still goes by that.  Then later, she decided the baby's name should be Flower Petals.

That's cute too.

 So we've got an aunt and a niece doing hairstules in the night.

Good night.

love always, Val

senior prom

Tonight was their senior prom. They attend different high schools, so they kind of had to make a choice.  This was her school's prom.

Last week we went to reserve the tuxedo.  That was funny and sweet.  James doesn't remember the tux reservation procedure from the past.  Heidi was married in 2009, so true, it's been a while.

But we got through it and his lovely date instructed him on color choices.  He was agreeable.

 You two are nothing but cute.

One of her friends has a relative who is a professional photographer, so everyone met at the Guthrie Theater and along the river by the mill.

It was beautiful, an 80 degree late afternoon along the Mississippi, but getting there was a little iffy.  I made it home in time from my real estate appointment and we were ready to go. I was going to follow them, her mother driving.

But then James popped out of the car and ran back asking if I knew how to get to the Guthrie?

Yeah, I know where it is.  Generally speaking, but details?   I grabbed my GPS and we all rode together.  We found it, all good.

And her mother and baby sister and I found our way back home again too, also good.

 A picture with the tiny sister too:

 They took a special bus to the restaurant for dinner.

Jay and I have been to this restaurant. It's a fondue place, very fancy.

But on the way home, on the special occasion we were there, we had to stop at McDonald's because Jay was starving.

"I paid $100 and had to cook my own food one bite at a time over a candle?"

Quiet down, now.

 Here's the bus.   Her mother and I agreed the driver looked not reassuring, kind of beady-eyed and a bit bloodshot.

I had a text from James a few minutes ago.   Everything is okay.

Onward.  It's five minutes until Sunday.

love always, MOM

a few pictures

 This week has flown by, lots of working.

Above is a picture of James and Kari's band concert.  It's the last one for James.

He's moving on--college in the fall.

Dang, that went fast.

This is Dan and Alicia's little girl who rolled over already.

This is going very fast too.

 This?  This, I'm sure, does not feel fast to HER.

We're on the baby count down.   It's bound to happen one of these days.

 Here's a dog who loves summer:

And here are some girls very happy to meet a big poodle puppy named Hansi, who is so dear and funny.  That's his transportation trailer for bike rides.  He was happy to share it with p.j.

And now it's the end of Wednesday, and what a fine Wednesday it was.

A great house is going on the market on Friday, and it's supposed to also be 80 degrees out.

Things are looking good.    love, Val

saturday in april

 Dan texted me this morning, offering to come over and help with our computer problems.  (That's a picture of him and Grandpa and the little guy in the plumbing office.)

I'm not saying no to that offer no matter what.

We had issues.

They are now resolved.  Already tonight, this was transformational.  A task that would have taken me probably 90 minutes before--not exaggerating--took two clicks tonight.

Praise God.

Daniel?  I love you.  (But I know you already knew that.)

Today I was not a stupid idiot. I found my camera and took at least a couple pictures of this incredibly brief moment.

This is our sweet little girl sleeping on her Aunt Kirsten.

 Grandpa gets too hot in the house and he has energy too, so these guys were happy out in the yard.

These are pictures he took with his phone, and they're great.

 Oh, Mr. Luminous, you little character.

How we love you.

We're in the last week of April, and what a fine month it' has been.

love forever, Val