What is it?

Anyone want to venture a guess?

Natey, Natey Quite Contrary, How does your garden grow?

Up, Silly!

Nate has developed quite a knack for gardening.  He is the primary weeder.  He does a great job.  Almost everyday after school he spends about half an hour weeding.  He is able to recognize all the plants in the garden and manages to pull only weeds.

This year we are trying the "three sisters" style of gardening.  I studied up on the Native America planting methods. We planted corn, and when it was 4 inches tall I planted beans, then a week later I planted squash.  The idea is that the beans will climb the corn and the squash will shade the roots and help keep the soil moist.  Corn, Beans and Squash also nutritionally compliment each other. (We didn not use rotting fish as fertilizer)

Blessings and Bandelos

We have two ladies who are "official family members" for Family Home Evening each week.  I am so thankful to have family here, when I am so far from my own family.  Since being voted in, Dorathy has made each of us a Bandelo and each week we glue a small token on to help us remember the lesson that was taught.  Here we are in our bandelo glory.  

Eagle Project

Since the Eagle Scout Award goes to boys and not their mothers, I wasn't sure we would have one in our family.  A few months ago Christian realized that he was only one merit badge away from Eagle, and he had good advice/support from a scout leader.  So the day finally came.  

Christian organized a service project with the forest service and they re-deserted an unwanted campground. 

Here is the campground before the project.

Truman using the pick-axe.

Rebekah planting cactus.

Sydney looking cute.

The non-campground in the end.

95%

I once knew a boy who set a goal to be productive 95% of the time (I might be off on my memory of the exact percent).  I was amazed to watch him meet that goal.  I think Truman may be trying to achieve that goal.  He is always busy, (especially if you count teasing as being busy).  This week he decided to re string our badminton racquets. He did an admirable job, they are better than when we bought them.

Christian Cooks Pizza

We got this coupon in the mail and Christian decided he cold probably make it better (a common problem around here).

I made the dough for him and he put the pizza together.

It was really good. ( I still love ham and pineapple pizza more.)

Good Friday was Great!

What a great day we had.  The kids and I went roller skating this morning, we had so much fun.  I am so flattered that my big boys are 1. not too cool to go skating with us and 2. not too cool so skate with their mother.  As I skated with each of my kids, I remembered all the times my own parents skated with me.  I had so much fun reliving those simple days.

When the nostalgia was finished, I came home and had a meeting to continue planning for church girl's camp.  My "assistant" and made some more great plans and laughed about how decorating is not our strongest point.  Luckily, there are girls to delegate that task to, who really enjoy that!  We are feeling a little concerned that we aren't more stressed out.  I hope it is because we are so organized, not a sign of poor planning!

Kenneth, Christian and Truman left for a campout, with out incident. The other kids had a great time in the hose in the yard (and some water balloons).  

We had left over hamburgers for dinner and then walked to Walgreens to get some lavender bath salts.

At 7pm we went to a glow-in-the-dark easter egg hunt.  The kids had a great time.

I read two chapters of a Little House book to Nate and the girls set up a foot spa in the living room.  I was treated to a lovely 4 station foot treatment (which luckily did not involve painting my toenails nasty colors).

The girls went to bed in lovely moods and thanked me for letting them pamper me.

I only have a little sewing left to do and then I will climb into bed with a good book and my soft, scented feet.  

What a day!

Spooky Haunted Camera

The Ghost of Rebekah.
It is always interesting to see what is on the camera.

Gregarious

gre·gar·i·ous

  [gri-gair-ee-uhs]

adjective

1.

fond of the company of others; sociable.

2.

living in flocks or herds, as animals.

3.

Nathaniel Welling.

4.

pertaining to a flock or crowd.

Today is Nate's 9th birthday.  I am so glad that he is in our family.  He loves people, all people, especially people who have time to listen to him talk.  At school, all the staff members know him well and comment to me about the kind things he has to say to them.  I love to watch him on sundays as he "makes his rounds" before church.  He tells all the older ladies how their outfits make them look "just like super models", and has hugs for all.  

He is good at math and is seeing the results of his efforts to be a better reader.  He tries to be kind to every one (even his "smelly" sister).  He has recently found  a niche for helping me around the house, he has taken over maintaining the garden.  He has weeded and watered and harvested all winter for me.  It was a pretty little garden.  This week he has been pulling up the last of the garden and we are preparing to till it.  Seeds are ordered and Nate is looking forward to planting lima beans.  I have never grown lima beans before.

Fastness

The elementary school held a track meet (in February).  All 4 of our elementary kids participated. Abby won several of her races, and got a ribbon for the running long jump.  They all got ribbons and had a lot of fun!  It was well organized,  I heard nothing but positive comments from the parents in the stands with us.  All the kids were happy.

The funniest part was the first race was the kindergarten 50 meter race.  The kids ran through the ribbon at the finish line and just kept running.  The announcer told them to turn around and come back.  So they all turned around a raced back to the starting line, where they finally did stop.  Then they had to walk back to the finish line to receive their ribbons! Too funny...

Also funny, while the kids were getting organized for the last race of the day, the announcer said that it was time for the parents race.  Kenneth said he would run.  Sydney asked me if she could run as a parent.  I told her she could.  There was a family behind us and their kids (19, 20 year olds) wanted to be parents too, so I graciously told them that they could.  The 4 of them went down to the starting line and were hanging around.  No one looked like they were in charge of the race, so I let the announcer know that there were some "parents" ready to run.  He laughed and told me that no one in 7 years had wanted to run in a parents race.  "It's a joke".  They threw a relay together and there were 5 teams of parents and teachers.  It was a great race!  Kenneth, Syd and the 2 kids that I told could be parents made a team together and won the race.  It turns out that the 2 kids are serious runners, they were really fast.

Snug in Harness

Snug graduated from Guide Dogs for the Blind on January 21st.  We are so excited that all our hard work training her paid off.  We were so happy to make contact with her partner Jan.  Jan very kindly sent us an email "from Snug" and a Photo of the two of them together (see below)!

Dear Megan,

I thought I'd drop you a line to let you know how I'm doing.

I went to training when you dropped me off at Guide Dogs. . It was a lot of fun and hard work. Then, after Christmas, there was a little break. Suddenly, I wasn't in a kennel any more but in a room with someone I didn't know. She seemed okay enough and I like new people anyhow. She told me I was her tenth dog. I heard about all of them. Apparently, I am in the top level of what she calls her wonder dogs. .


She is 62 and did social work and therapy for decades. Now, she plays mandolin and we go a lot of places. We go to the gym and I lay around during a yoga class today. She thought I would try to lie on the mats that seem like dog beds to me. She didn't take in to account how much more comfortable any  dog bed is.


We live in San Anselmo, not far from Guide Dogs. It is a walking kind of town with all kinds of restaurants and stores. She has been taking me everywhere to show me off. Her eighth dog, Addie, was supposedly really wonderful. She now lives in Northern California with Jan's sister and her family. The ninth dog was only out a month because it turned out the bad work she did was caused by really bad knees. She lives with her raiser in Reno. Jan says that dog just prepared her for me and gave her some distance from her Lovely Addie.


I did something good. When we come back from the gym, it is a little complicated. There is a street we have to cross mid block. Jan was not sure exactly where to cross. She made a mistake and got lost. We both tried to figure it out. Then, I found a landmark I thought she would recognize because she took me there once. She got so excited because I showed her the door  handle of the vet clinic where we  go. I was praised up one side and down the other. She said this kind of initiative and team work generally happens later, not one week after coming out of the shoot, so to speak.


My household consists of Jan and her boy friend, Tal who she met during her first guide dog class way back in 1969. They wrote for a couple of years and drifted but always thought about each other. Jan was married to her husband, Charlie  from 1976 until his death late in 2007.
I like it here and hope you get the chance to talk to my new people.


Say hi to everyone for me. I hope you are raising another puppy. You are good raisers, Jan wants you to know. I haven't done anything bad, not even trash stealing. She does keep a watch on me though.


Best,
Yours in Harness,
Snug

The Casts are off but the Memory Lives On!

Rebekah's cast was removed (by a professional) on Monday.  The pictures are so cute, and even cuter now that the casts are gone! (Thank you Lydia!)

Prepare for the broken arm Wrestling Tournament!

1 project off the to do list

November 3, 2011

Feb 23, 2012

I am glad to move on to another project!

Here is Hazel being the first person to sit in the finished chair. 

  (Now I have to go put away all the tools)

Fashion Slippers

You just never know what kids can do with a little newspaper and a lot of tape!

Past performance links

Truman on tuba in 6th grade and Syd on sax in 5th grade Who is that baby with a 1/2 size tuba?  Syd is in front of him and to the right a few people.

Christian the same year 2009.  Wow, how they change.  Christian is on the left at the back.