Pioneer Day

Today we went to Granny Louw's to swim and have a picnic. Teresa and Pews also came. Teresa, Holly, Rachelle, Taran, Timo, Zane, and Gwen posing under the shade tree. We all had a wonderful picnic and a nice swim.

Here's Andersen in the "big" pool. He is totally fearless. As soon as we get outside he makes a bee line straight for the ladder and starts climbing in. We all have to be on our toes with him.

It looks like he a pro swimmer. He doesn't want any help. I get a little worried he may slip and go under, but so far he's been real steady.

Holly just played in the little slide. She wasn't too fond of the "cold" water in the little fish pool.

Teresa and I finally got her to smile.

Check out my Slide Show!

House on Honeydew

We moved into our new home on August 23, 2007. This is what it looked like then. Yardwork, here we come!!!

We have grass and "The Great Wall of China", too. The kids think this is a perfect balance beam. So far, there have been no deductions for falling off the apparatus.

Charl really wanted this tree: a Forest Pansy (redbud). We also planted a peach tree.

My first garden. We planted tomatoes, squash, watermelon, broccoli, canteloupe. Unfortunately, it looks like only the tomatoes are going to work out. It's been a learning experience and maybe we'll do better next year.
Yes, Charl is creating another paver patio. This is still a work in progress, hoped to be completed soon. This sleek patio will double as a basketball court.

Fourth of July

Holly at the park.

Andersen eating a Creamie after a dip in the hot tub.

Too bad the pirate ship pool had a hole in it.

Wow! This was the grand finale. Thanks Pews for entertaining us with fireworks.

The kids must be tired after this very fun day. We took about 10 pictures and not one smile.

Father's Day

Charl with Andersen & Holly


I made Charl a yummy chocolate cheesecake.

Katie's Birthday

Katie’s Birthday. She turned 36 on May 29. I had a wonderful week of celebrations. On Sunday, we ate at Charl's parents as we normally do. We had my favorite...STEAK. Carol made me a fabulous German Chocolate Cake (3 layers and it was heart shaped). They sang and I blew out the candles. The next day (Memorial Day), the festivities continued as we BBQ'd at Granny's and had hamburgers and hot dogs and too much food to even mention. Then Keith and I opened up gifts (his birthday is the 27th). I got more food storage stuff (containers and sugar and milk) and a cast iron skillet. I have been wanting on of those to cook up some yummy steaks. Thanks! My mom sent me a card with cash and notecards. Thanks mom for all you do. On my actual birthday, Charl and I took the kids to a Mexican restaurant close by. It was OK, but we ate really fast because Andersen does NOT like Mexican food. He won't eat any of it...we'll he did eat the fried ice cream. We came home and I opened my presents: a tennis racket and 2 videos (The Chipmunks and Enchanted), and a carrying case for the portable DVD player. Then my friend Kristin flew in from Cali and stayed the night with us before driving up to Idaho for her grandpa's funeral. Becca (college roommate) came over too, so we had a fun girl's evening. Oh yeah, thanks Kristin for bring the fixin's for ice cream sundaes.

Andersen's Birthday

Andersen’s Birthday: He turned 2 on May 12...good thing because that is one of the two numbers he knows how to say. He loves tractors and so my mission was to create a tractor cake. I decided to take the easy way out and buy little tractors and farm animals and create a farm scene, but I couldn't find little farm animals at Wal-Mart. So I just settled on plopping the tractors on the cake and calling it good. The morning of his party, Rachelle called me to ask what she could bring. She walked into Target and the first thing she saw was a package of farm animals and a little red barn. She saved the day and the cake turned out really cute. Hooray for Target and Rachelle!! Andersen had a great time with all his cousins and he loved all his gifts: bubble blowing lawn mower, tractor, shoes, garbage truck, farm animal puzzle, webkins ape, soccer goal and ball, Robin Hood video. THANKS EVERYONE!!