events

Hans is mobile and Jeremiah had a birthday! These are the events of this week. Hans can now creep anywhere he wants to go. Nothing is safe! 

Yesterday was Jeremiah's birthday. We had a nice meal here at home last night and tonight we are going "down town" to the Friends and Family restaurant for some time out. Jeremiah Ethan that he could choose how we decorated his cake. Thus, we had a combine cake (yes, that is what that is, a combine, I do not want to hear any snickering from the gallery!). A combine was the most attempt-able of all the suggestions he gave me:) oh, and that is a John Deer combine! A very important point. 

Hans getting into the drawers. 

Father's Day

On Father's Day we spent the afternoon with Jeremiah's family at the lake. His aunt and uncle have a cottage on a lake and we all gathered there for hamburgers and a picnic. Ethan loved the water! It was a little chilly for swimming, but he managed to get quite wet any way. It was very pleasant and relaxing. It IS nice to be near family and be able to participate in events like this again. 

Aunt Susie, Hans and Jeremiah

Rachel, Susie, Henry, Jeremiah's Grandpa and his wife, Sonya

Ethan and Earon

Uncle Al, Jake, and Henry

Ethan and Daniel (a second cousin)

Rachel, Hannah and Hans

the wilderness where we live

The area we are living in, while isolated, is quite beautiful. There aren't so many people so there are lots of open spaces. I went exploring the other Saturday and this is what I found. Enjoy! 

the boys

Hans and Ethan were playing together last week when it was so hot out. We were all hanging out in the coolest room. There are a couple of pictures of Hans enjoying the park yesterday. He has such a happy smile. 

Sunny days

We had some very hot days last week, as I think everyone on the east coast had. It was great! It finally felt like summer. We spent lots of time outside. 

The house purchase is still in process. The owners found a house and have been working on getting their offer accepted. It looks like we will be closing some time in July. Sometimes all of this waiting and uncertainty makes me feel like I am going to explode!! 

We haven't had to many major adventures recently. Ethan fell down the stairs at my in-laws apartment (the one they are moving to) yesterday. That was kind of startling and not very fun. He is fine. Hans is now working on a fourth tooth, so I am still dealing with a slightly more fussy baby. He seems to be doing better today. I think his tooth will pop thru any day now, and than we will be thru another fussy season. 

I took some pictures of the animals the other day. I think the goat should be named Amos. He looks Amish to me. speaking of Amish, there is a large community of Amish in this area. It feels very comfortable and nice to hear the buggies going up and down the road. This morning there was a steady stream of buggies going past and everyone was all dressed up. There must be  a wedding or something a little ways up the road. Watching them go past made me want to join them. I couldn't really think of anyway to attend inconspicuously. A white minivan, jean shorts and two little boys completely blot out inconspicuous. I guess it shows just how isolated I feel at times if I am inclined to go join the Amish:)

I used to always dream of having a ranch in the middle of no-where Montana or something. Well, I am changing my mind. The ranch would still be nice, to visit, or in a more populated area. I am not so keen on the "middle of no where" aspect. It certainly has its drawbacks:) 

Ethan playing in his house/garage. He had most of his trucks in there:)

the Lonely cow

the Lonely cow and Amos the goat, who is partially hidden by the fence. Amos has an appetite for lupines and ate off an entire bush the other day. Stupid goat. 

life goes on . .

Waiting is the name of the game right now. The owners of the house we are purchasing have not yet found a house. We check email a dozen times during the day, just in case, maybe they found one and there is an email that will generate some sort of time frame for our life to move on. 

Otherwise, all is good and we are staying out of trouble:) That's easy enough, right?? The boys are doing good. Hans is working on his third tooth (first one on the top) so he has been a bit more fussy, but still quite good. Ethan is growing in stature and creativity. I am always amazed by what comes out of his mouth next! Today we were outside picking spinach in the garden and he had to continually check the asparagus. That is one of the latest things; checking the asparagus to see if we can cut it yet! Yesterday he helped me pick some and HE informed me which ones we should cut and which ones were not yet big enough.

 Tractors and farm equipment have replaced diggers (construction equipment) as the source of fascination. We see more tractors than diggers up here:) He is quickly learning all of the names and uses. Now it is "Mommy, you drive the corn planter tractor and I will drive the tractor with the disk." Yes, yes we will raise him to be a farmer yet. He's got the genes!