Aunt Karen's Secret Faery Garden

Since we're on our way out the door. I thought I'd throw up a few pictures of the faery houses that Aunt Karen has stashed away in her yard! Enjoy!

Family, Berries, and Marshmallows

Yesterday was kind of an off and on breezy, sprinkly day. So we started out with sweatshirts. Joli discovered that she could pull her sleeves up and down.

Later in the afternoon it warmed up just in time for Joli and my cousin's little boy, Joseph, to run around in the backyard and get in to all kinds of mischief. First there were the marionberries.

There were several lessons on picking the black ones, one the red ones. Leslie is gently reminding them, and Joseph seems to think it's a pretty funny.

Then they got to stand around and pick their own, all the while checking to make sure it was okay. After awhile I brought out a bucket that they helped me fill, and I later turned it into a pie.
Once we felt confident that they could be supervised from the window, we went inside so I could start on the pie. Before too long we noticed that Joli and Joseph had moved on to strawberries, and Joli had climbed inside the netting that was meant to keep creatures out. We have a feeling that Joseph held it up while Joli climbed in and then started passing out the strawberries.

So then Aunt Karen went out and just lifted up the netting before they ripped it, and they both crawled around the strawberry patch covering themselves in strawberries!
After awhile berries became boring they ran off to dig in the rock pile.
Aunt Karen also has a little battery powered four wheeler. Although Joli refused to ride on it, she did have a great time following Joseph around while he rode it.

Later all my family arrived for dinner and we finally got that four generation picture. There's Joli and I, my dad, and his mom Grandma Betty!
Leslie's son Eli was also there, but being a big four year old, decided he didn't want to play with the babies, and stayed inside and made his own little pie out of play-doh. Right now he is very into his cowboy boots, and showed up with cut-off shorts, cowboy boots, and a pirate bandana. I guess it wasn't too comfortable though, because eventually Joli ended up wearing the cowboy boots.
Once it started to get darker, Aunt Karen and her brother, Uncle Mike, built a nice fire in the new firepit! Joli was all set to roast marshmallows.

So with a little help we got a marshmallow on her stick and she and I toasted it up. She was a little confussed about why I was putting it on a cracker with chocolate (because she had just been eating them directly out of the bag), but once she tasted it she decided she was okay with it!
This last picture is one of the few I was able to catch of Joseph lookind at the camera. He was just as excited about making smores as Joli except he was eating the chocolate right out of the bag!

Romeo Remembered

Up until now I have been unable to write anything about Romeo without crying, and since I now finally have pictures, I can put up a proper post.

On Saturday as Joli and I were getting ready to fly to Oregon, I noticed that our first baby, Romeo, was having a really hard time breathing. I thought maybe he had been running around outside and needed some water. When that didn't work I asked Joe to give him some love. As soon as Joe looked at him he thought maybe Romeo had a punctured lung. So I ran down and got the cat carrier and Joe rushed him to the Vet. Once they got him stabalized, they ran some tests only to discover that Romeo had a serious condition in which his lung were filling up with fluid. They said they could drain his lungs but it would only be a matter of time before they would fill up again and it was a very expensive procedure, one in which we did not have the money for. So sadly Joe called us as we were getting on our plane to tell us that he had said goodbye to Romeo and they were putting him down.

Romeo was an amazing first pet. He was so loyal, and I often thought of him as our little dog. He would follow us around and come get petted when Joe came home. Since we moved into our new house he had begun keeping me company while I hung laundry in the backyard, and I had started to enjoy having him run down the stairs behind me. Romeo was only five years old. Joe brought him home from the pet store shortly after we had got together, because someone had dumped him on the front steps of the store. At the time Romeo was definitely too small to be away from his mommy, and enjoyed sleeping in Joe's armpit because it was just his size! Before too long he had grown into this giant cat that wouldn't stop eating!

About four months later Sampson showed up on our doorstep, and although it took a few days, once they got used to each other Sampson and Romeo were like long lost brothers. We often joked about them being gay because they would curl up together so close that if they weren't black and white we would never have been able to tell who was who!
We love our kitties so much and we are so sad to have lost one of them. We no longer have the pepper for the salt or the peanut butter for the jelly, and there just seems to be a hole there. My heart is also breaking for Sampson, who I know whole heartedly loved his brother and I can only guess is at a loss without him. I remind Joe every time I talk to him to hug Sampson, and although we are having a good time, I still can't help but be anxious to go home and hug him myself.

I am not sure how Joli is going to do when she discovers that Romeo is no longer there either. Although we all love Sampson, Romeo was the kitty that truely loved Joli even though he tried to pretend he didn't. Romeo would let Joli crawl all over him, and just hug him and kiss him and when he had had enough would get up and go somewhere else. Even now when Joli sees a picture of Romeo she says "My Kitty" and kisses the screen, which of course makes the tears well up all over again to think of how Joli will miss him too. Our whole family has a pain in our hearts where Romeo once was.

Romeo was my first baby, and I can only hope that he's looking down and knows that even though I wasn't there in those last few moments I still loved him so much!

I love you Romeo!! Rest in Peace! June 1, 2003 - July 26, 2008

Papa Paul's

So in an effort to help Joli distinguish between her grandfathers, we now call Joe's Dad "Papa", my Stepdad "Grandpa", and my Dad "Papa Paul". It's been very confusing to figure out, but it has basically come down to what she can say. I still think we should call my stepdad "GP", as we call my mom "GG" because she is Grandma Gaye, and my stepdad is Grandpa Pat, but we're still working on his name so we'll see.

Last night we had dinner at Papa Paul's, and even though Joli did not have much of a nap, she still was her usual sweet self and made everyone laugh. Much to Papa Paul's dismay, Joli insisted that the rocks belonged on the deck, and continuously scooped handfuls on the deck until something else distracted her. Then she would wander off and Papa Paul would brush the rocks back onto the ground. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Every once in while my Stepsister Holly would wander through and Joli would give her wonderful presents of rocks as well.

After awhile we convinced Joli to come inside so we could talk with Lori (my stepmom) while she made dinner. Joli was fine with it, as long as there were "colors".
After dinner Joli convinced Papa Paul to come outside and turn the hose on for her. I think they both really enjoyed it! Papa Paul would hold the hose, and Joli would hold the bucket, and once there was what she felt was too much water in the bucket, she would dump in out and then put it back under the hose.
Joli really seemed to enjoy this game, and didn't seem to mind that most of her "dumps" were aimed at her shorts.

" Look what I'm doing Mommy! Isn't it great!!"
Then she dumped one last time to make sure she was mostly soaked through, and quickly lost interest in the "fun" game.
I didn't mind that she was wet as we drove back to Aunt Karen's, but we were driving my cousing Paige's car, and the rear passenger window was broken so I couldn't roll it back up. So I put Joli's sweatshirt on her and covered her with her blankie. It was okay for awhile, but as we got closer I could hear her saying "It's cold, it's cold", only to look back and see that she has pulled the blanket up over her head to completely block the wind!What a silly girl!

Why We Love Aunt Karen's!

We are often asked why we stay with my Aunt Karen when we come up to visit family in Oregon, well I took a few pictures today that show why we love it here!

This is the bedroom we sleep in while we are here. Joli loves it! And so do I!
Toy boxes are the perfect place to hang out, don't you think?!

Joli also learned how to swing by herself after many promises that if she let go she would hit her head!
She really seemed to love it though!
Then we went over to explore the rock pile. It was a wonderful attraction and Joli spent most of the morning here. At first she was putting one rock at a time in the back of each dump truck.

Then she decided to see how the other machines worked. It kept her so busy I wandered around and just relaxed for a while!
Then Joli decided to start exploring and headed up to the orchard. I tried to explain that the old fruit that had fallen off the trees was not any good, but she insisted on trying it anyway.
After all of our exploring, we headed inside for a nutritional snack of marshmellows!

Later in the day after lots of visiting, we couldn't think of any better way to wind down then a nice dip in the hot tub.
Joli had such a good time swimming. Then after a few minutes I decided that I'd had enough and Joli reluctantly joined me in getting out.

Snow Time!! ... No?

So as I was going through Joli's closet trying to find something that I hadn't already packed, yet didn't look ridiculous, Joli found her new favorite shoes!!!
Yes they are the snow boots that I bought her back in December that didn't fit until now! So yipee for snow!! (And Bras)
Once I did finally manage to get something besides a onesie on her, I of course then had to put the boots back on.

I don't think anyone was in trouble at this point, yet Joli and Romeo both look very ashamed of something. Hmmm, maybe I should go check.

Paint, Furniture and Animals!

After spending several days being down with food poisening, I was finally able to do more than feed Joli and myself. So I did all of the laundry, packed for Oregon, washed all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Joli was perfectly happy the enitire time because I finally dug out the "washable" paint. I no longer fully believe the term "washable" after having to use a hose, a scrubber and a large about of soap to get it off my front porch. But I set her up out there anyway, and she LOVED it. I searched for awhile and finally decided to use the paint lids for her to dip her paint brush. This way she only has a little bit of paint at a time, but can still control where the paint goes, plus she learns a new skill of holding the lid to get the paint out! It lasted for hours!
Eventually Joli decided it was easier to use the paint if it was not actually on the table. This is the point where I started to learn how "washable" things really are.

One thing I was able to do yesterday, even with an upset stomach, was put together the new furniture for our front porch! It looks so pretty!!! I'm planning on staining it and putting a protective finish on it once we get back from vacation, but it looks nice right now!
This is the porch swing. As you can see it is put together, now Joe just has to go to Home Depot and get the things he needs to hang it! I can't wait!!
Another thing I did today was to clean out the turtle tank and create some kind of makeshift pond area. It's not perfect but it'll work for now. Meanwhile Henry got to run around the yard and feel like a free man for a while!

Romeo felt it was vitally important that he hang out and make sure Henry stayed out of trouble.
Sampson was hiding blissfully in the air conditioning most of the day, but once evening came he decided he bounce around outside with his daddy!