Happy Birthday Colby!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Spring

This fun surprise was waiting when we got home Wednesday. So pretty!
Saturday morning I headed to the Farmer's Market for hostas and ferns for the new flower bed. David spread the weed and feed on the grass - look out dandelions! Your days are numbered! I found some really pretty hostas and ferns. It looks a little bare right now, but impatiens will be added and the hostas and ferns will grow. One of the ferns may grow to 60 inches tall! That would really be something. Saturday afternoon we celebrated Colby and Sam's fifth and third birthdays. I took lots of pictures, but I took them with Dawn's camera so I have none to post. Maybe Dawn would send me a couple? Please? :) She made the cutest dinosaur cakes with a teddy bear cake pan. Pretty amazing!

Today the spring weather was replaced with cool drizzle, so I stayed inside and watched a movie - Secondhand Lions. Great movie! David got his new company truck cleaned up and stocked up with all he needs to be able to work from the truck.

Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Scott!

Yes I Am a Pirate! 200 Years Too Late..

No pirate birthday party would be complete without a pirate ship birthday cake, so my mom came Thursday night to help me decorate this one. Thank you Mom!
We played Hook the Pretzels by lantern light. Funny...the kids played perfectly fair. The adults? Big cheaters! Hmmm...

The party was for all the pirates, but the closest birthday boy gets the cake. A couple of teenagers from a nearby campsite had borrowed ketchup earlier in the evening and came to return it during the games and cake. One of them asked Christina and Kelly how old the birthday boy was. They were certainly surprised at the answer!

Take Me to the River

We had a great day on the river. It was Christina's first kayak trip. In retrospect, it was probably a little more excitement than should be thrown at a first-timer, but she was a trooper and LOVED kayaking. I knew the bug would get her!

It was Rob's dog, Foster's, first float. He was unsure at first, bolted from the kayak and paddled for shore actually, but he settled in and was a very good floating dog.
Friday had been windy, cloudy, and cold, but we awoke Saturday to blue skies and warm sunshine. Hello Spring!
The water moved along very quickly in most spots, so we didn't have to work too hard at paddling.
There were a total of nine tip overs, so we stopped often to count heads, regroup, and dry.
Everyone was a good sport about being dumped into the cold water - no matter how many times it happened!

There are lots more pictures that I would love to post, but instead, check the rest of the pictures out at Flickr. Look for the post a couple on down that has the link.

A Pirate Looks at 40

We went camping this past weekend on the Buffalo River near Jasper, Arkansas. The weather turned out great, the scenery was amazing, and a good time was had by all. While we don't need a reason to go camping, this trip had a purpose and a theme. Several of our friends turn 40 this year. Kevin was first - last Thursday. Since Jimmy Buffett sings a song called "A Pirate Looks at 40," a pirate-themed extravaganza seemed the perfect kick-off to the year of 40th birthdays. Here are a couple of the birthday folk modeling the pirate hats that Krista brought for them. Somehow I missed getting a picture of Stobbe in his hat, and Krista would kill me if I posted the picture I have of her in her pirate hat.

David's friend Mike loaned us the great kayak/canoe trailer which made transporting all the boats much easier. We had a new tent for this trip - that's it on the left. Very pumpkin-like! Its big claim to fame is that it is tall enough for David to stand up in.

Buffalo Camping Trip Pictures on Flicker

Click HERE to see pictures from our camping weekend. You can click on Details to see larger thumbnails. Click on a picture to see it in its full size. You can right click and select Save Picture As to save it to your computer.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Happy Birthday Christina!

Pictures for Yesterday's Post

Rockin' around the maple tree...Soon this will have good dirt and flowers planted.
This will get more dirt also, a few more rocks, and hostas and impatiens.
New mulch
The turnout for the Farmer's Market was, ah, smallish.

Global Warming? What Global Warming?

The weather made this a weekend not for the faint of heart. For weeks, Christina and I have been looking forward to the first day of the Greater Springfield Farmer's Market. Undaunted by the forecast, we arrived in the Battlefield Mall parking lot at 9:30 Saturday morning. Just as we each neared the mall, Dippin' Dots began to fall from the sky. There was nothing to do but laugh. We got out of our cars, pulled our hoods tight and went to investigate the 6 or so booths set up. We were consoled by a trip to a couple of Ozark antique stores and lunch at Spring Creek Antiques and Tea Room. Soon, the horrible weather was forgotten.

While I was out playing and shopping, David was unloading and spreading mulch in our backyard. You may remember that last year we embarked on a mulching project of epic proportions, bringing 9 cubic yards of mulch to our yard. This year, we just needed to patch some bare places and reinvigorate the rest. 4 cubic yards did the trick this time. He also brought home 2200 pounds (really - I'm not making that up!) of rocks. I got home from lunch in time to help unload rocks to be placed in a circle around Amos the Amur Maple. Despite the cold and some sort of icy precipitation falling from the sky, David did a great job. Today we decided to enjoy the weather (ha!) by creating another short rock flower bed near the fence. After lunch and a little napping, we went to Christina's to meet her very cute new nephew. He was fun to hold - so warm!

Sorry there are no pictures of this weekend's projects. I could go take pictures now, but it's cold out there and very warm under my blanket. Maybe later this week I'll get a couple! :)

Oklahoma O.K.!

The winds swept us down the plain to Guthrie, Oklahoma on Friday afternoon. David's dad was from Guthrie and one of his aunts lives there now. His Dallas family was in town, so we headed down for a fun family dinner. His uncle Bubs is quite a story teller, and we always get to hear a new-old family tale when we see him.

Guthrie was settled in a land rush in 1889 and was the first capitol of Oklahoma. It has a beautiful downtown with lots of old brick buildings. We enjoyed walking around downtown Saturday morning. David's dad used to have a cafe downtown in an old bank building. It was next to a movie theater - Melba Theater. The cafe was called Glenn's Melba Cafe. I'm not sure of the time period, but I think it would have been the late 1940's or early 50's. Today the building is the Pollard Inn and the theater no longer shows movies, but is a popular place in Guthrie for live performance. Glenn's Melba Cafe was in the corner building in the picture below.

Henny Goes to the Vet

Boy was I mad yesterday! I had a great day, napping in the sun until the girl got home. Suddenly I was captured and forced into the blue prison. It took both the boy and the girl to get my in the prison. I'm amazingly strong and acrobatic. The girl carried the prison to the car and strapped me in to the back seat. I was singled out for this horrific punishment - they gray cat and the stinky dog got to stay home. The car began moving and I meowed and howled, begging to see out the windows. Finally, I grew quiet and tried to think of a plan for escape. Before I could act on my plan, the car stopped again. "Are you ready Henny?" the girl asked. Ready? What for? Suddenly, I recognized the awful place she had brought me. The vet. Ugh! We sat in the waiting room for a bit before being led into the torture chamber. The girl pried me from my cage and put me on a scale. 10 pounds! See? I told you that I hadn't gained an ounce!
I willingly returned to the blue prison after being weighed to wait for my tormentor - the vet. Would you believe that she had the nerve to trim my claws!? It was awful. Then she proceeded to inject me with some sort of "vaccination" as she says. At last I was able to return to the blue prison. The girl paid them for my torture. I used to think she was on my side, but I guess not. I was strapped into the car again and we headed home. All the way home I refused eye contact with the girl. I slept in the boy's office last night to punish her. I think perhaps that she has suffered enough. Maybe I will sleep next to her tonight. Maybe.