2.13.15 Harry joins the family

For some time now, we have been following several sites for dog breeders.  We finally took the plunge and followed through by selecting a pup from Little Paws of Iowa Kennel. 

Little Paws of Iowa

Derby was his official kennel name. (In the video, he is the pup with the green scarf. )  

All the pups in his litter were named with letter D.

His mother is a golden retriever named Gingi, , and his father is a miniature poodle named Beau.

We visited for the first time in January, when we took Emily back to school.  He was around 5 pounds at that time. 

Joe wanted to name the puppy Harrison, and we call him Harry.  

When we picked him up yesterday, we were astounded at his growth!  His paws are huge.  

He does not bark a lot, and has a nice disposition.  

He is quite long, when he stretches out.  The breeders asked that we would keep them updated on his size as he grows. He is the largest pup they have had so far.  Even for a "mini" goldendoodle, they believe he will could grow to 40 pounds.  He loves that "jabba the Hutt" blanket toy.  It has crinkly things inside, and he slept with it last night.

Joe set up a "dog grooming station".  He was very impressed by the petco groomers!  Harry is very tolerant of having his fir combed.  You can see why he will eventually need his fir trimmed around his eyes!  It is good that he likes to be handled. 

2.13.15 Joe's 10th Birthday

Happy 10th birthday to Joe!

We had a nice birthday celebration for Joey's 10th birthday.  He took ice cream cups to school to share with classmates, and said everyone liked those. For supper, we went to Corona Village. Zach, Grandma El, and Grandma Estell joined us for supper and cake, which was nice. The servers serenaded Joe...very fun.

He kept the sombrero on for the rest of the time there. 

Joe had many gifts and cards...a watch

A book and brain quest book from Matt and Mauri

 He enjoyed the cards and gifts everyone sent. 

Here is a close up of his "hockey" player cake....

He forgot to make a wish, so Zach was good enough to re-light the #10 candles! 

Joe is a blessing, every day.  We are grateful he is part of our family. 

11.9.14 November

Family events:

Veteran's Day, November 11th

Grandma Estell's birthday, November 12th

Matt's birthday, the 15th 

Eleanor and Jerry's anniversary, November 19th

Turkey Trot, November 27th

11.8.14 Autumn

Week after week,  Dan has been mowing up leaves and making trips to the compost area.  Some weeks he filled the compost bin, the pickup , and the trailer 3 times. Today he cleaned the gutters and did Eleanor's yard and ours, front and back, one last time.

He had some help, briefly, from Joey.

Most of our leaves are actually in the driveway and the back yard. They get into the area around the grill, under the deck stairs, etc.  They need to be shoveled out!

Here are my minor attempts at autumn decor. Love the colors of these fake berries. 

The Snoopy scarecrow flag is another favorite. I keep it up through Thanksgiving.  I noticed that the loops that attach it to the pole have both ripped, probably due to the high winds.  

All things "Peanuts Gang" make me happy. 

We are supposed to have snow Monday, so everyone seems to be making an effort to get their leaves up before the snow flies.  Joey is at Charlie and Lizzy's today, helping them shovel the last of their leaves into a pickup.  Often, leaves from the houses across the street to the north, blow across to our yard.  This year, an amazing attempt was made to get their leaves bagged.  They had about 30 of those brown, recylcable leaf bags at the curb for compost pick up Friday! We have never seen their yard this leaf empty, in the years they've lived across the street! 

Cheers to fallen leaves, raked and bagged, before the snow flies!  People in the neighborhood are already out doing holiday decorating! 

Zach enlisted the help of Corbin, Caleb, and Caleigh to help put plastic on over the main floor windows at the farm house.  Dan went out this morning to help Dan get plastic over the windows on the 2nd floor.  Every little bit helps. 

Joey and I ate at the altar society's baked potato and dessert luncheon after church today. A good time was had by all! 

10.16.14 October Visit

In October, Matthew Thomas visited.  He likes the stylists at Great Clips, because they "work so fast!"

The weather was very chilly during Matthew's visit, so we didn't play outdoors much.  We did enjoy a movie night, watching "Mr. Peabody and Sherman."

11.2.14 Monopoly

Joe has been playing Monopoly Jr. for a while now.  Last night, I purchased the REAL game.  We started a game this morning, and had to take a break for church.  In the end, Joey landed on Marvin's Gardens, which I had a motel on.  The $1150 caused him to mortgage all his property.  The next time around the board, he hit it again, and it was game over.  We played for about 3 hours.

Joey likes to play games of all kinds...guess who, battleship, apples to apples, and now...Monopoly.

10.31.14 Halloween

This year, we found a ninja turtle hoodie, thinking it would be a good choice for halloween costume.

 In the end, Joe decided to be a hunter for halloween.  Note pheasant detail! 

Joe, Lizzy, Charlie, and Julian enjoyed the haunted house on  5th Ave.  A good time was had by all.

10.25.14 Miles' Celebration

 The last weekend of October, Emily, Joe, Dan, and I traveled to Miles' first birthday celebration.   Here he is, opening Katie and Jordan's gift.

 It's a little red car!  He took to using it right away. 

Here is the construction crew, for Miles' big day!  We love him so.  

9.29.14 New Pets

During Corn Palace week, Joey won a goldfish.  He named it Skipper, and we bought a black goldfish as a companion.  Sadly, they did not make the first aquarium water change.  These are the new fish, which have successfully endured 2 water changes now.  The orange and white fish is Chip.  The orange fantail goldfish above chip is Houdini.  The camoflaged, fancy catfish is Omar.  Omar is hiding in front of the rock structure, near the bottom.  Look closely and you will see him! 

Finn is particularly interested in the fish.  We had to cover a hole in the cover, to prevent him from sticking his paw into the water, and trying to capture fish! 

11.30.13 Miles' Baptism

For a rare occasion, Thanksgiving 2013 our entire family was home!  I asked Joanna to take a family photo from the church balcony, and although i haven't seen the photos yet, I hope we get a good one for a photo card.  Miles and another little boy were baptised that day.  No matter what your culture or religion, "welcoming" ceremonies are really important.  It is a statement that you welcome this child into your family, your faith community, and you invite God to be part of his/her life.

Father Larry, Matt, Mauri, Miles Jamison

Godparents, Aunt Katie and Uncle PJ

Photo bombing by cousin Matthew Thomas! 

Grandpa Dan, Grandma Stacie, and to the right, Grandma Sherri and Grandpa Phil.

Great Grandmothers, Eleanor, left, and Estell on the right.

Miles was a very good baby during the baptism.  He didn't cry at all, and neither did the other baby.  Father Larry said the secret is putting in really hot water before the mass begins, so after mass, the water is still warm, not icy cold. Father Larry poured entire pitchers of the baptismal water over their heads, 

"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." 

Also, he slathered chrism oil all over their little heads.  7 days and several baths later, you could still smell the spicy chrism oil on Miles. 

Welcome Miles, welcome!

12.14.13 Elf on the Shelf

Last year, several of Joe's classmates' families were enjoying the "Elf on the Shelf" holiday tradition, which is fairly new.  Little did I realize that elves come in a variety of ethnic styles, and are very hard to get.  So, Joe got his Christmas day, too late for the elf activity for last year.  This year, when we got out the Christmas decorations, we got out the elf.  Joe was dismayed that I touched him.  If children touch the elf, they "remove his magic".  I said that I had to untie the twisties to get him out of the box.  Each family names their elf, and last year, Joe named his "Funny."  The day the elf went on the mantle, I left for Omaha to help care for Miles.  As I spoke to Joe during the week, he was dismayed that Funny was not moving day to day. Dan was not in the know about the elf magic.  When I returned, I showed Dan the pinterest board on Elf on the Shelf.  Since then, Funny has been moving regularly.  I haven't noted all of his locations, but here are some:

Emily's stocking...

The Lego lizard Aunt Cheryl passed on to Joe...

The woodwork...

and this morning, the ceiling fan.  

Funny probably has more to report about Stacie and Dan's holiday shortcomings than Joe's!

Last Sunday's Argus Leader had a great couple of pages on the Elf in the Shelf tradition.  Included were diametrically opposed parent views.  One father said their family enjoys the fun, and a mother had the viewpoint of "the overachieving parents whose entire focus is elf activites" and that her family "just doesn't have time for the elf."  Both are o.k.  Funny has not been up to any extreme antics here.  We are enjoying his moves and Joe is looking for him each morning.  

11.22.2013 Metals and Paint

3 years ago when I was in Savannah, I bought a ball and chain necklace with a Venetian glass bead.  It was black and copper looking, swirled glass.  I wear the necklace often.  The cool thing about this necklace, is that the part with the pendant unhooks, and you can swap out pendants!  When I learned I was going back to Georgia for work, I told my coworker I have one request...a quick stop at Metals and Paint, because I want to buy a pearl pendant.

Metals and Paint is run by a husband and wife team, and they have hired one other employee now.  They make all their jewelry and sell paintings from one artist. I wondered if they would still be open, and in the same location, after all this time.  And they are!  They do not have a website, because they would not be able to keep up with internet orders.  You can however, go to their facebook page, look at photos, and call them to order. They do amazing work.

Metals and Paint

10.2013 TED talks

Some people made fun of me because of my love of the Blackberry.  It was a sturdy phone, with a full keyboard, and I love that Blackberry compresses their data, so I didn't have to pay much for having a "smart" phone.

This screen shot of a blackberry curve is as close as I can get.  How i miss the freckle button, and the user friendly, ease of function! When Katie and I went to upgrade, I told the sales person that I text, and I take photos, so the Samsung Galaxy S4 had a 14 pixel camera....

There are things I do like about the Galaxy.  It functions more like a tablet, with a full viewing screen, so it's much easier for me to see than the small blackberry screen, and I use the phone in different ways.  I love the Google App Store!  Easy to add apps and shortcut buttons, for pinterest, twitter, etc. However, my favorite and most used app, by far, is the short cut to TED talks. www.ted.com

The link will take you here, to a plethora of topic choices in every range imaginable! They truly are "riveting talks by remarkable people"!  I love the 15 minute inspirational talks.  As I wait for a dental appointment, I can listen to a TED talk! As I wait in the airport...TED talk.  Can't sleep at night?  TED Talk! I encourage you to save the link as a favorite on your desktop, or your mobile device or tablet, so you to can be entertained, informed, or inspired.  Best.Site.Ever!
So basically, the Samsung Galaxy 4 has changed my life.  However...I am tempted by the 41 pixel camera of Zach and Em's Windows phones!

9.2013 Bear Scouts

Another year of scouting activities has begun.  This is a photo of Joe and another scout selling Boy Scout Popcorn.

In addition to going door to door to our neighbors, Joe sold at the indoor farmer's market in the mall, pictured here, and outdoors at Walmart on opening day of hunting season.  People were very generous and happy to support the scouts. Many hunters told us they were former scouts, or their sons were.  Thank goodness this is the sole fundraiser!
We have already been taking field trips...to Miedema Sanitation, to the public Landfill, and to the Daily Republic. One of our scout's grandfather made the pieces for the boys to construct bird houses for one of our winter building activities! Scouting has so many beneficial activities.  Cole, Kobi, Conner, and Joe are nice young men to work with.

11.16.2013 Joe's first crossword

This morning I asked Joe if he wanted to do the crossword puzzle on the Kids' Page.  He loved it!  Grandpa Bill is surely smiling down on Joe today!  Joe and I did all the activities in the Saturday paper.  Joey liked it so much that he went to the recycling bag and started digging for last Saturday's Kids' Page as well. A new discovery!  We have always been "newspaper" readers.  I am pleased to see Joey heading down that path as well.

10.2013 Welcome Miles!

We waited throughout the day for news, knowing that Matt and Mauri were at the hospital.  Matt called to say, "He's here!" and we could hear the emotion in his voice. The miracle of Miles Jameson had arrived, and we could hear him crying in the background.  We went to meet him for the first time when he was 6 days old.

Here is snoozing Miles, all swaddled up, with his happy parents, Matt and Mauri.  Look at his pretty hair!

Miles with Aunt Katie! It was Katie's first visit to Matt and Mauri's home, as well.  She could never take time off when she was going to school. 

Miles with "extreme baby hog" Uncle Joe!

See what I mean?  Baby hog!

Still hogging...

Seriously Joe...let the rest of us have a chance!

Finally, Grandpa Dan and Grandma Stacie get a turn.

One of my favorite things about Miles, was the way he would look for Mom and Dad when he heard their voices.  He also would still when I sang to him, as though thinking, "Who are you?"  

Here's an "eyes open" picture. I see some of Matt, but truly, I think Miles resembles his Grandpa Phil a lot. 

I love his "Sweet Pea" first Halloween costume, with his little newborn face. 

Many more precious photos to come, I am certain. 

We love him already.  Thank you Matt and Mauri, for all you have done to get him here safely.