Furry Friends In Saturday's Sun

Making friends with a fuzzy cat
Clear beautiful skies, full of Canada geese & a Mr. Moon hanging out to enjoy the daylightBest buddies
Seriously, folks, that's one tall horse giving Devon a hug. And he's only 2!Eye to eye for Avery

Fickle

This April weather just cannot decide what it wants to do! Saturday was 83'F, today didn't get to 50'F -- that's 30'F difference in 3 days!

Friday was glorious -- Devon & I had happy hour on the deck of a favorite restaurant along the Columbia River (gazing over into Oregon).

After a hot, sunny day we had our first dinner on the deck.

Devon was pretty excited about his jumbo-sized strawberry yoghurt smoothie. A little bird has moved into the gourd-house hanging in the lilac tree beside the front deck, and Avery is thrilled. We love to watch the birds come & go and rattle around in the gourd when they are home.Avery picked up my camera and snapped this pic of me, without even looking in the eyepiece. I was smiling because she didn't drop & break it. Sunday was a little cooler, a good day for dirt! Devon & Avery moved ~1.8 tons of soil around our yard and nana Noma's garden. Poor little Toyota truck. . . . (Yes, as usual, Avery dressed herself!)Yes, those are flip-flops on her feet, over socks! Good thing she doesn't have "mommy eyes" yet (eyes in the back of her head). She kept bragging about how clean her jeans were, considering all the dirt work she'd been doing all day. Later we changed to go out for dinner -- yep, those are mucky cow-girl boots. . . .
Dinner was on Avery, or so she thoughtThen Monday showed up. . . . (it's hail, not snow, but brrrrrr, I want Saturday weather back!)Jordan is a bit homebound, and has been spending her time on the deck and around the house. She isn't easily moved in the spica car seat, so it's been team Jordan & Robin or Jordan & Lisa for 4+ weeks now. Poor Jordan. Only 15 days until the cast comes off (then we start a 1 to 3 month stint in a brace, ugh!). "My parents are exhausted"
What more can we say . . . .

Bowling 'Em Over

On Sunday we decided to go bowling. Avery did think it was fun, but it certainly took along time to get the hang of it. Luckily the lanes are set up with automatic bumpers for kids, so we didn't have to worry about that, but once she got the ball rolling, it did take aaallllooooonnnnggggg time for the ball to roll all the way down to the pins. I mean along time. (Wait until I get around to downloading the Flip Video)

I was feeling a little too competitive and had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't in Junior Bowling League when I was a kid (yes, Devon won both games, but hey, it wasn't about winning or losing, it was how much fun we had watching balls roll for 3 minutes down a lane).

Hmmmm, this isn't too heavy (6 pounds), perhaps I should pass it down the lane like a basketball (yes, she did "throw" it once, yikes!).
Nope, I'll kick it (Devon stopped her)
Okay, I'll do it the boring way and roll it like this
There it goes. . .
. . . and goes . . .
. . . and goes . . .
. . . finally! She ended up scoring 66 on the first game, and 54 on the second -- not bad for her first time, I thought

at home she got more snuggles from Mojave -- they're really getting to be good friends these days, and we're still so amazed we keep grabbing the camera every time we see them together

Cast Days, Continued

Life in a cast hasn't been too bad on us. It'll be four weeks tomorrow since she ad her surgery, and 2 weeks yesterday until it comes off (that's 29 April - woohoo). But Jordan has been a trooper about it all. And since putting the duct tape on, at least the cast is staying dry (not the moleskin, but we can pull it off & replace it frequently). So, yeah, there's a bit of an odor thing, but nothing like it was during the first week before we taped it up.

Hangin' out in the living room
I'd rather play with my balloon, please!
And of course, there are hours and hours of banana-bag eating. We're trying to do "biter bisquits" now, and I did buy a mango on Sunday at the supermarket, but we're waiting for it to ripen. However, she wasn't too happy about the sweet potatoes the other day, so I'm not sure how she'll go for the mango. She isn't a huge fan of avocado, either, but there are only so many foods that don't get juicy when you chew on them.
I think she's going through a growth spurt, great timing, eh? We're just hoping that when we go in on the 29th to get the cast off, it hasn't been too loose around her hip. . . . I've talked to the orthopedists nurse a few times about this, and she thinks, based on my phone description, that everything will be fine! I hope so! Ahhhhh, time for a mini-bath. She seems to like this, but it does take a few hands. Avery was thrilled tonight to help Robin & especially to get to run the nozzle. . . .

Slow Goin' Downstairs

Oh, there's so much to do, and I'm so uninspired. . . . I usually love painting, but I just can't get into the groove. I got the priming & first coat done in my office area about 10 days ago, but can't get inspired to get the second coat on. And within a day or so the shower will be done, and the bathroom will need to be painted, too. Then there are all the other walls & ceiling downstairs -- ugh. I need inspiration!
Building the shower from the bottom up

The main floor (same as the main part of the shower walls)
The glass tile highlights -- "urban camouflage"

Same Old, Same Old

I guess life is just plodding along, normal as can be. I have some great Easter pictures and cherry blossom pictures to share, but I haven't had time to sort through them -- what with raking, yard work, duck barn organizing, painting my new office area, swim lessons, screaming at the insurance company, going to Jordan therapy, etc, etc, etc. I have to say, I am LOVING the long daylight hours, and not hanging out with the computer too much these days. It's spring around here!

But watch out -- my new Flip video just arrived today -- so I'm sure I'll be wasting hours and hours on that quite soon! I just got it out of the box at dinner time tonight -- so give me a couple of days. . . .

Jordan is doing well with the cast and the balloon therapy, and is an absolute maniac for bananas. She wakes up asking for her banana mesh bag (and crying when she doesn't have it), and got mad today when we tried to fake her out with a mesh bag full of sweet potatoes for the speech therapist. We are working on getting her vision therapy now that she is using her eyes, and now I'm starting to wonder if we're not headed down the road of orthodontia due to the 20 degree rotation downward of her lower jaw (when she bites down, her back teeth touch, but her front teeth have about a 1/2-inch gap -- so she can't bit down on anything smaller than that with her front teeth). Hmmmmm, she's been doing so well getting her hip fixed, her ear tubes in, and her adnoids out, that maybe she should have more "elective" surgery & treatments. . . . [just kidding!]