New Highchair

It took about a month and a half of sneaking baby food into Eva's mouth before she decided she liked it. After about a month of trying on my part, and gagging on Eva's part, I was beginning to get concerned. I called my Mom. She assured me Eva would not go to college still nursing. Eventually she would get the hang of this solid food thing... if you can call baby food solid. So we kept trying and then one day, all of the sudden, she figured it out, and now she eats that baby food like a pro. She makes so many faces while she's eating it is hard to tell if she likes it or not, but I take the recurring open mouth to mean she's giving it a thumbs up. When she is done, she still opens her mouth, but instead of swallowing, she tries to blow bubbles in it. Still, she is so adorable, she makes even this cute. Here's our little cutie munching away on some pears in her munchkin mesh bag sitting in her brand new highchair.





Oh, I'm such a proud mom!

Choteau The Incorrigible

Choteau (pronounced show-toe) is our pup.

And maybe instead of getting mad at him, I should have taken a picture of him standing, all four legs, on our KITCHEN TABLE!!

... but since I didn't, take a picture that is, you'll just have to try to imagine it. Here is a picture of the mischievous pup to help encourage an accurate visualization.

Silly, very bad, goofy pup!

He cries currently from his crate... "what did I do??.... what did I do???" He acts so innocent!

Grandma Dot and Grandpa Jim

This last week my parents, Grandma Dot and Grandpa Jim, made the long trek up here to Montana to see our new home and little Eva. I suppose they came to see us too, though we are really that exciting! You know, there is something special about grandparents. Somehow little ones just know who loves them. Eva gave Grandpa a kiss right off and smiles all round for Grandma. It was wonderful for me to have them visit also. We spent most of one day painting our bookshelves (when they are all done I'll post a picture) and the next day we went for a long walk by the river. Grandma made a new sweater for Eva, which she looks cute as a bug in. What a wonderful gift. And we recorded Grandpa singing to Eva on tape - that will be a treasure too. So thank you, Mom and Dad, for coming up. We sure do love you.

A little Pic-a-nic

We found this great place for pictures - a little amphitheater in a park down town. It's perfect for a cloudy day.

Mother's Day

Well. This is my first Mother's Day as a tried and true Mom. You'll have to ask Eva how I'm doing so far. Too bad she can't talk yet - by the time she can, her review might not be as stunning... :) Weston had to work today, so we had Mother's day yesterday. My gift from him was an extra hour in bed - he took Eva when she woke up - and breakfast in bed after that. I think I'm beginning to like this holiday!

So Happy Mother's day to you all. I hope it treated you equally as fair - or better!

The Rhodora by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Rhodora

On Being Asked, Whence Is the Flower?
In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bathroom Remodel - Complete

I don't know if any of you remember the first photos we posted of our upstairs bath - that bathroom a friend here kindly referred to as a wall paper disaster. Well, after many hours of toil, labor, and exasperation (mostly on the part of Weston and Helen) the bathroom is finally done. Here are some before, during, and after photos. We sure did learn a lot in this process and are very happy with the results. I figure, if we can make the rest of the house look this nice, come time to sell, it shouldn't be to difficult - we can all keep our fingers crossed. In the mean time, we are just enjoying our new bathroom.

Here is what is looked like when we moved in. Notice there is no shower.




To begin, Weston had to cut out all the tile covered parts of the walls. You can see this means that he cut out a lot of wall. We found the walls were made of this stuff called rock lath. They were quite thick - much thicker than dry wall, so then he had to shim out the walls to make the new dry wall and the old rock lath wall even.... it was a big and frustrating job. Included in the list of frustrating jobs, was all the plumbing work Weston had to do. Here is a photo him trying to capture these not rare enough moments.


Here is our project instigator. Helen come out for her Spring Break to help us tile. If she hadn't done this, who knows if we would have even started on this project yet. Thanks Helen!!!





The baby and I tried our best to help. Mostly we just worked the peanut gallery.






Here is the shower, pre gout, and Weston finishing the dry wall work. Helen did some good work on that tile job! And Weston, well, I take my hat off to him!





And here is the final product. Drum roll please......








Here is a before and after. We have a hard time believing it is the same place. hmm... now what should be do? Don't worry. Weston has already started on the hall way. One room at a time.

Introducing.....

As we speak, our newest addition is in the kitchen begging me to join him.... so here is your preview. We don't have a name for his yet - just think he is adorable. We are accepting any name contributions you might have.

We got him from a farmer out of Belt. Our pup is pure bred, unpapered Border Collie. He and Eva have hit it off. He and Loca are in a state of mild toleration - well, almost. But he and Mowgli - well, let's just say they haven't been in the same room long enough to even practice toleration. We hope Mowgli comes around soon. The pup sure wants to be friends with both of them! Isn't he a cutie!

I better go rescue him....

Spring Break Anybody?

On April 20th, this is what the Spring brought to us... Weston has rewritten the words to "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree".... use your imagination. Enjoy the warm weather where ever you are! As a side note - you should see the country side here when covered in a fresh blanket of snow. It doesn't matter what season it is - it is always beautiful.

Mowgli still has to explore - it's his nature. He is an arctic panther!


Weston measuring the snow depth. 12" folks!


You've got to be snuggled in weather like this!


You can see what Loca thinks of it all.

Let the Good Times Roll.....

I promised Helen a look see at the baby book I made for Eppi. It's a good thing Weston has gone on a couple of three day alerts, or I may have never gotten it done. It is a journal/photo album. I wrote the first entries while I was still pregnant. Now it is time to let the good times roll and keep it going. Lindsey, I have to tell you, your mother was my inspiration for this book. At your wedding lunch she read from the childhood journal she kept about you. I thought that was a pretty neat thing. I hope Eppi gives me a many wonderful things to write about as you gave your Mom!.... or then again.. do I?... :) The thing I am most proud of about this book is the binding. I'm sure it has been done before by many others, but it was a new idea to me and is the perfect solution to my photo album binding dilemma. I'm going to have to re-make my wedding photo album now!

Thumb Sucking

Since this child was born, I've been saying... "oh, if only she'd find her thumb, maybe then she would learn the wonderful art of self soothe". Well, today it happened. It didn't last long, but she got it in there and she sure did find it good for sucking on. Let us all hope that she will find it a wonderful sleep aid and then,when the appropriate time comes, she'll leave the practice all together. Is that really asking too much? We're ready for you Mr. Sandman.

More than just a pretty face

Baby Face and the Marsh

Sounds like a good title to a new song to me! But really it was just my day yesterday. Eva came up with this new adorable expression and then we went out to Lake Benton Wildlife preserve. Here are the picts that prove what I say is true. It was cold and windy, a combination that Eva doesn't like much, so most of these are taken from the car.

Here's our adorable baby!


And here's the marsh.