4-14-12

I guess the reason I couldn't locate my camera, and Easter pictures, is because I left it at the ranch. Warren and Cole rescued it. Steve posted this one of me on Facebook with the caption, "While the rest of us were fishing, Andrea unwittingly became a Jeep commercial."  He's a pretty good brother-in-law.

4-13-12

Grass for Grandpa.

4-13-12

A smile for Grandma.

4-1-12

Last night we went for ice cream. Zach got a choc-o-late cone.  On the way home, he said look I'm a lion. He had chocolate ice cream all around his mouth and face, like a lion mane.  He did that a bunch of times, and through in a look I'm a ghost, oooOOOOoooo. Mike said it is because ghosts have those big circular mouths.

Last night, I taught Zach how to find frogs in the pond and make them jump in.  It was fun, but now I sort of think I opened the door to pond fun. It would be nice if it wasn't green.

I have mowed now for the second time. I'm not mowing the neighbors portion of the yard anymore, and it does go a bit faster. I am actually excited to get our new drive. Shane has a really nice slightly curvy plan for it. We'll disconnect from that guy next door, who is a loose canon. And, I will be able to buy a cute new mailbox. Someday I wouldn't mind dividing the pond. It would be fun to have a little land bridge and maybe making it slightly smaller would make it easier to maintain. Mike says the problems are all on their side, and I believe it with all the cattails and weird septic work.

Speaking of the neighbors, they have hired a woman to to their spring yard work. She shows up in an old minivan and works her tail off all day. Yesterday she was shoveling gravel into a wheelbarrow and unloading it somewhere all day.  That is hard work.  Probably got a deal on some lady from their church.

Mike found a great shelter at Jacomo that has a nice playground and overlooks the lake. We wen there this morning. After 30 minutes, it felt like we were getting a little over-exposed even with sunblock. So we ran to Ace Hardware. Mike got some fertilizer to put in the compost heap. We came home and turned on the air. Record highs forecasted today in the upper 80's.

3-27-12 #2

Zach has a new ball cap, and some Cheerios in the secret compartment of his plane.

3-27-12

Zach fixed my boo boo with a kiss, bandaid, and a couple stickers.

3-19-12

Milk at the secret picnic table under the playground equipment. 

Third shift at St. Mary's. Things coming together.  It is fun to be at a community hospital, because patients treat you like a neighbor, for the most part.  I have a cold, got worse throughout the day.  Now I have no voice.  I am off tomorrow. May be able to move Wednesday shift if needed.

Mike is jogging every other day. He is up to over 3 miles already.

Last weekend we went to Manhattan for a surprise 75th birthday party for Mike's aunt Bobbie. Her whole family came. It was really neat. Zach did great. He fell asleep on Mike's shoulder during dinner.

Zach had to take his new Easter Eggs on the trip.

We went with Warren's family to the former site of, what was at one time, the largest oak tree in the world. It had died from storm damage and vandalism. It was a beautiful place. Except for the graves of the 5 unnamed soldiers (above), the fact that the tree was dead and down the road was a cemetery for pioneer victims of a cholera epidemic. 

Zach liked running in the cornfield.  Mommy could see him for a country mile with nothing for him to get into. Yeah.

And here you see the fence around the charred remains of the dead tree. 

Zach wanted Mommie's attention.

We planted the garden last Wednesday and things are already sprouting!

Zach got the closest thing to a buzz cut he has ever had. It looks super cute. Not seen in these photos though.