Making a Garden

Chris, or Mr. Wonderful, as I like to call him, sports his Sacramento Kings outfit in these pictures. If he is anything like his Daddy, he will get lots of hours of pleasure from basketball in between catching bugs, lizards, snakes or any other manner of living thing.

This week our project was to build each of the girls a little garden to tend for the summer.
Below you see Chloe making her way down the path with some flowers that will be planted in the garden boxes.

Claire was a bit distracted by the "beautiful" dandelion that she saw on the way to the backyard.

Below Chloe checks out the plants that are waiting for planting. A bit later, to give Claire a little job, I asked her to count to see how many different things we had to plant. She was right on the number and I was pretty shocked. I asked her to show me what and how she had counted and sure enough, she pointed to each one, counted, and announced that we had eight different things. I think understanding that concept is pretty good for her age, 3 years and 3 months. Chloe was focused on things that "matched" whether it was two dirty hands (which were a match) or one clean hand and one dirty hand that didn't match, for example. She and Papa had a long conversation about matching things. I think I know what they are working on at pre-school!




Daddy, Papa, and Chloe hard at work preparing the boxes.

Claire, with her package of green beans below.

We put lots of leaves and mulch in the bottom of the boxes prior to adding the packaged soil. At one point I used the word "dirt" and Chloe corrected me and said, "Grandma, we call it soil."

Soil and leaves were transported both by hand and by little shovel.

Claire also worked very hard to find and dig worms to add to the garden soil. Here she proudly shows us one of her "racing worms".

Time to plant, with Papa's help.

The completed gardens. I hope that Claire and Chloe are able to harvest some veggies in the next few months.

We had a great day working with the twins and look forward to more projects in the future.

Have you planted your garden yet? The girls also experienced a two mile nature walk with their Daddy this past week near Table Mountain we are told. When they returned Claire slept from 4 PM until 6:30 the next morning. They are getting lots of fresh air and sunshine these days which is absolutely terrific! It makes up for the endless winter we seemed to have this year. Happy Spring!

Celebration of Life!

This week we celebrated the life of a wonderful man, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Death is certainly not a part of life that we look forward to, but it is inevitable that it will come. Papa Norm's youngest sister, Jenny, choose a wonderful theme for the celebration which was carried throughout the event. It comes from a wall hanging that several of our family members have in their homes and goes as follows:

Our family is a circle of strength and love

With every birth and every union the circle grows.

Every joy shared adds more love.

Every crisis faced together makes the circle stronger.

The memorial service was a beautiful tribute to Grandpa Ove, with music by his grandson Brandon, and comments from family members. The message given by Ove's current pastor couldn't have been more perfect and appropriate. Most all of the family members contributed in some way to the service or to the buffet reception afterwards. Many of his favorite foods were served and family traditions such as the Christmas rice pudding were part of the celebration. Family came from Idaho, Illinois, Oregon, and Southern California to be together.

Below one of Papa's cousins, Melody, spends some time with Christopher. She had him laughing so hard.

Christopher and his Daddy.

The casket was made by Papa Norm's youngest brother Larry. What an incredibly beautiful work of art.

Nephew, Jesse, sang "Amazing Grace" acappella at the graveside.

Mike and Claire sharing a quiet moment.


Claire and Chloe with their flowers that all of the great-grandchildren placed on the casket.

Cousin Alexa helps the girls head the right direction.



Our final good-bye.

I'm not sure how much the three year old girls understood of what was going on, but I am sure of one thing. They couldn't help but take in the love, strength, and warmth of a family that were all sharing this grief together. The time spent with cousins and aunts and uncles was priceless. I am so thankful for Easter and our risen Savior and the hope it gives for eternal life. I trust that you had a blessed Easter with those you love.

We Will Miss You Grandpa!

This has been a very sad week for our family. Our dear father, father-in-law, grandpa and great-grandpa passed away. His pain and discomfort are gone now and although we will miss him terribly, he is at peace, as are we, knowing that he is with his Heavenly Father. With his family gathered around the last couple of days of his life, he talked and reminisced and was able to say lots of important things to his children and grandchildren. He has left a wonderful legacy and was always a man who worked and lived with great integrity. Below are some of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren who had gathered to help celebrate his 90th birthday a couple of years ago. Claire and Chloe are in the front with their cousins.

Grandpa Ove hadn't met Christopher yet, but was looking forward to visiting him in the near future. That was not to be.

This picture is from last week. Christopher, being held by his Mommy, is grinning big time at Papa. He really seems fascinated by Papa and we have decided it might be Papa's voice.

Claire and Chloe enjoying nature as they ate their lunch. The flowers and rocks and just about anything else outside makes these girls smile.

Papa and I had made a trip to the North Coast and brought home some rocks from near the ocean. You would have thought we had brought these girls a million dollars. They loved touching and describing the rocks that will now be added to their "collection".

Today, was our play date for this week with Chloe and Claire. Claire was a bit under the weather, but managed to have a great time talking to us about a lot of things. We didn't go outside but enjoyed our time inside reading and playing. One of the highlights of the day was at lunch. Chloe had wanted a turkey sandwich like Papa was having. Claire didn't want that but I made her a tiny little finger sandwich anyway, hoping she would give it a try. When it was time to pray for lunch the following prayer was offered by Claire.

"Dear Jesus, Thank you for this day. I don't really like this turkey sandwich and I'm going to give it to Papa just as soon as I am done talking to you. Amen."

She could not have been more sincere, but Papa and I could hardly contain ourselves. Out of the mouths of babes....

Chloe kept us laughing too. She wanted Papa to tell her lots of stories and he did tell her several today, mostly about when he was a little boy. She adds to the stories as they go along, and if she repeats them to anyone they will hopefully realize that she has an incredible imagination.

Chris went on a little hike with his Mommy and Daddy today. He came home all smiles.

Here he is looking up at his Mommy in such an adoring manner. He is probably wondering when he gets to eat again!!!

Chloe and her new pom-poms, taking a little chance to get outside after Claire had fallen asleep.

After over two hours of trying to upload a video of Claire telling a story today, I have given up. This blog site can be so frustrating! So if you would like to hear her story, click here, I uploaded it to YouTube instead. Keep smiling Grandma Sharon!