Jennifer's Birthday

Sunday, April 19, 2009
(click on photo to enlarge)

Jennifer turned 35 years old on Saturday, April 18!

Happy Birthday to Jennifer!

This is a picture at Jennifer's baptism (6 weeks old) with her Grandma and Grandpa Burr.


Events on Saturday...my mother was outside (trying to fertilize the yard while I was mowing...what can I say) and fell on the sidewalk. When I came from the side of the house I saw her sitting on the cement. I immediately called the paramedics...I am unable to lift her up. She was alert and talking to me. What she had done was as she was turning around on the cement her toe caught the lip on the cement and down she went...her balance is not too good so it doesn't take much to flip her.

The paramedics came, checked her out and got her into a chair. Of course, she did not want to go to Emergency with the paramedics or even have me take her (those tuff ole farm girls). They checked her vitals, she appeared fine and off they went. She got up to walk and was in pain and thought she should go to the Emergency.

Once we got to Emergency and checked in she had an Xray of her pelvis and her hip. The good news is there are no breaks or fractures. The doctor assumes she hurt/twisted her groin muscle. A radiologist will read the Xrays on Monday (I am hoping he sees nothing also). So they sent her home with pain meds and told her to take it easy.

She is in a lot of pain and moving very, very slow, very gingerly AND using her walker. She needs that for balance...can't walk without it. I am now doing the cooking...God help us!...for a few days. She was awake a lot of Saturday night and up only once. I have to help her in and out of bed, etc. It is very difficult for her to get out of a chair but we manage.

Sunday we were to go to the Cities to have a birthday party for Jennifer...she insisted we go to the Cities...she has less pain if she sits or rides in a car...but...any movement causes a lot of pain for her.


Granny B will be 84 years old on Monday, April 20. We have always celebrated both birthdays together. The children made birthday cards for Granny.


Meggie's card.



Matthew's card.



Jennifer opening some of her presents.


Necklace from Silver Feather.


Hugs for Matthew.


The video isn't the greatest but you can hear the children singing happy birthday to their Mom.

Pat and Terry joined the party. Both are retired and just returned from a Washington DC trip. (Three weeks ago Terry?)



Auntie Julie came to the party.


Jennifer braided Meggie's hair. It was so darn cute!


I love Matthew's smile! He is so darn handsome with those blue eyes!


Big smile for Grandma Deb.


Julie, Granny, and Jennifer


Matthew, Granny, and Meggie.


Chris, Meggie, Jennifer, and Matthew.


Ashes and Meggie.



Meggie, Grandma Deb (32 lbs lighter!), and Matthew. My two favorite children!!!


Once again Spiderman came to the party.



Right down to the Spiderman socks.



We had a great day...enjoyed every minute! It is raining and 44 degrees.

Easter 2009

Sunday, April 12, 2009
(click to enlarge photo)

We were in the Cities this weekend to celebrate Easter. We went summer clothes shopping for the children and went to early afternoon church.


The bunny made an early stop at Grandma Deb's house. He left cards with, of course, some pocket money, each a Webkinz (Matthew got a turtle and Megan got a pig) and each got a solid chocolate bunny...sugar, sugar, sugar.






Megan wrote a note to the bunny and left him some chocolate.


The bunny responded to Megan's note.


The children were up early this morning to go on their egg hunt in the back yard...I believe it was 7:15 am.

And the hunt begins...




Megan's eggs...


Matthew's eggs...


Matthew bursting with excitement and cold.


The hunt has ended.



Easter is done for another year. It was fun watching the excitement of the children. We got home in the morning and spent most of the day outside. It was sooooo nice!

March in the Cities

March 30, 2009

Spring is around the corner...I can just feel it. The trees are budding (ah-choo) and I am waiting for the grass to green.

We spent the weekend in the Cities.

Meggie got a guinea pig...this is Ashes.

In Ashes' cage is this little wooden house where Ashes spends a lot of time. He actually moves the little wooden house around inside the cage.

About Guinea pigs...
Latin name: Cavia porcellus
Also called cavies (singular is cavy).
Females are called sows, males called boars, and babies called pups.
Hairless varieties also available, sometimes called "skinny" pigs.

Approximately 10 inches long, and 2-3 pounds.
Rounded stout body, no visible tail (a few tail vertebrae can be felt under the skin).
Variety of breeds with different coat types and color patterns. The most commonly found breeds are the American (short smooth hair coat), Abyssinian (short coat with "swirls" called rosettes) and the Peruvian (long haired). A wide variety of colors are seen.

Matthew has a hermit crab.

The hermit crab is in a shell and if you blow on the shell
the crab will come out.

You can see the crab is starting to come out of the shell.

Matthew has the cage in his bedroom.

About Hermit Crabs...
Hermit crabs are decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea [1]. They are not closely related to true crabs. Hermit crabs are quite commonly seen in the intertidal zone, for example in tide pools.

Most -Species- of hermit crabs have long soft abdomens which are protected from predators by the adaptation of carrying around a salvaged empty seashell, into which the whole crab's body can retract. Most frequently hermit crabs utilize the shells of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. The tip of the hermit crab's abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the columella of the snail shell. As the hermit crab grows in size, it has to find a larger shell and abandon the previous one.

This habit of living in a second hand shell is what gave rise to the popular name "hermit crab", which is a reference to the idea of a hermit living alone in a small cave.
There are about five hundred known species of hermit crabs in the world, most of which are aquatic and live in saltwater at depths ranging from shallow coral reefs and shorelines to deep sea bottoms. However in the tropics, a number of species are terrestrial, and some of these are quite large, for example, Petrochirus diogenes.

A number of other species, most notably king crabs, have abandoned seashells for a free-living life; these species have forms which are more similar to true crabs, and are known as carcinised hermit crabs.

I am not sure Lucy is real excited about the new housemates.

About 4-5 years ago Chris and Jennifer decided that Spankey needed a new home. So Chris gave Spankey to Matt...he stopped over on Saturday with Spankey. He also has aged a little since the last time I have seen him...little white hairs around the face and top of his head.

The cooks made dinner while we played.

Matthew had a new parachute.

Then Mom read a book to Matthew.

Julie and Meggie colored.
The outfit Meggie is wearing was Julie's when she was that age.

After dinner Meggie helped with the dishes.

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Meggie had "crazy hair" day at school...she did her own hair.

Yes, that a note in her hair...crazy hair day.

Next trip to the Cities will be Easter weekend...hope for warm weather!