Alanna Can Crawl!! Fourth of July 2011

Mike, Meagan and Alanna joined us for 4th of July meal and swim time and what entertainment she is. We also invited our good friend Susie who came prepared for the pool. The temp was hovering around 100...we ate and stayed inside when we were not in the pool.

The swimsuit is a darling little thing. She wore a diaper underneath it and when she was lifted out at the end of pool time, she must have weighed 30 lbs. Those "super absorbancy" claims are true.

She is  officially crawling. It is a slow process, and she doesn't go directly to the toy she was looking at but there is motion and she can no longer be  left alone on the floor, bed or anywhere without restraints! Momma...you have just entered into a new era of motherhood..."baby dashing"!! Isn;t she just darling?



Day at the Beach with Yetti!

One Saturday in June, Dave suggested we go to the beach, and take Yettie. The car he had rented for the weekend was just right for transporting a dog. We loaded up beach stuff,  the dog and took off. Katherine and Yetti enjoyed the AC all the way in the back seat and we arrived at Stewart Beach at about 11.

Yetti did not like the water and spent most of the time under the towel tent that we improvised. Katherine of course want to go "farther and farther" into the water and loves the time battling the waves. Dave was with her most while I sat with the dog. Poor Yetti. He was anxious to get home. We left the beach about 1pm.  We stopped at a McDonald's drive-through on the way home. Of course couldn''t leave the dog in the car to eat at a restaurant.  I believe we learned that Yetti is NOT a beach dog....only yard sprinklers and ponds! But the humans had a good time. I sprayed well with sunblock, but had on clogs and missed the tops of my feet. Three weeks later I am just getting over that two hour burn period. Smile.

Katherine's new hair cut

We all know the story of the duckling and the swan...don't think we had a bona fide duckling here, but we certainly have a swan as the finished product. We took a picture from an album cover for the beautician to work from. We think she did a good job.

Alanna at 7 mos and darling

Alanna is the kind of baby you think should be on a Gerber commercial. She is just too cute for words. You want o hold her, squeeze her and kiss her all over. Here are a couple short videos of her on JUne 15th, 2011.

She is getting ready to crawl. But right now, she is at the "swinging stage".

Meagan told me that Alanna polished off almost two full jars of baby food for dinner and that she was more fond of vegetables than of fruit. She is her grandmother's grandaughter.

Alanna's Got the giggles

Alanna is coming up on 7 months pretty soon. What fun to be around her. Here, listen to a little of the giggles that she has!

I don't know if I like this new thing, swimming! Grampa. Are you sure you have a good hold on me?

Just gotta find the hole in this thing!

Alanna's On the Move

We visited Alanna this last weekend and got a few shots of her as she ate green peas (She loves them Big D) and then in her breast stroke stage. Thought you might enjoy some stills and one quick video.  Carol and Katherine

French Award for WWII American Pilot

Between 1944 and 1946, Dave's dad, CF Kelley served in the military as a pilot over Europe. On May 11,  2011 the French Government is awarding him a medal for that service.

Here is a plaque displaying four of the eight awards he was given as he was discharged. The unseen four awards came in the way of "patches" and are no longer recreated.

Bees. Life on the farm with swarms

Last year, about this time, we were visited by a wandering swarm of bees. They landed on the upper floor of the house and found a little niche to get into the attic. However, after one day, they left and formed a ball in the nearby tree. We were relieved, thinking they were headed to another part of the world. Silly us.

They returned to the house and began to set up house keeping. Knowing that we didn't want bees in the attic, we sprayed  and killed them. Hard thing for a gardener to do, but the cost of having them professionally taken out of the wall was high...and the keeper told us there are too many Africanized bees hives here in the south. That no self-respecting keeper would take on wild swarms. He would kill them also.

Well...fast forward 12 months. This lovely swarm landed in our front pine tree. It was there for five days before the exterminator could come and take it away. He wrapped the entire ball in a bag and then gassed them. Again...sorry fate for the bees, but our house and the lingering smell of last year's honey was too tempting to hope they would move  the woods. 

The keeper thinks there must be a huge bee tree somewhere nearby that is "throwing these swarms" off. I will buy my honey in a jar thank you. I am thankful also for zoom lens!

New Bunny, Phil

After working toprove that she was reliable, dependable and trustworthy to feed and care for animals....Katherine go to go to the feed store and pick out a bunny. We didn't know whether it was a boy or a girl so the name had to be gender-unspecific. "Phil" filled the bill.

"Sleeping is what I do Best" Alanna

At 5 months, give or take, I am a great sleeper. I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I do some of my best sleeping in the car, in the high chair or in Mommy and Daddy's bed. Here I am at Grama's doing what I do best, sleeping and being loveable.

Band Class in the Spring

We are windng down the year of Beginner Band. This partiular practice fell on Friday, April Fool Day. Kathrine, being the cut-up that she is, put ona fake musache  and went to band. Of course the kids had comments and the teacher was appropriately amused.

Later in the lesson the director told the kids to turn to page 47. They all dutifully tuned to the back of their books. They were confued. The last pae was 39.  He said,"No...I want you to go to page 47." But he had his back to them and hey couldn't see his smile.

"Gotcha!" He called as he turned around quickly. It was a good trick!

New Cows arrive

This is Rainbow. The grand Dame'



Here is Katherine with petitie Rainbow




Here is most curious Mocha



I wish I could figure out how to wrap text aound pictures. I can't. So here goes.

These are our wonderful, new, fostered cows. There are 5 of them: 3 mammas and two calves. The all have wonderful names. Rainbow (the Grand Dame'), Mocha and DeCalf, the two moms and Java and Frappucino the two calves.

Katherine is in charge of them and is good to feed them treats and keep their water trough filled. This morning, at 6:30, she was up to go out and check to see if the waking calves were actually nursing. (We have not seen them nurse and so don;tknow for sure if the cows are "fresh" or not) We know that calves are particularly hungry in the morning when they wake.

She went outside in the near dark, dressed in her purple robe and miners headlight. (See the picture above) She did not have the light turnedon, but none the less I imagine the cows thought they were being visited by an alien. It id not bother them...they ate treats greedily.

She was supposed to fill the water trough, watching out for the close by electric fence. She came back in to the house, to my bedroom (I am still drowsily waking up) and said: "Carol. We have a problem that needs your attention. I hear the water running, but nothing is coming out the end." We decided there must be a kink in the hose. She was back out in a flash and the cows got their needed drink!!!

Science Experiment...Lung Model

Here we have two views showing the expansion and contraction of the lung. It is a pretty cool experiment. Very interactive. We did have to polish off a two-liter bottle of lemondade to have the supplies to make it work.

Katherine's Sience book has 16 units and we are on Unit 14. The end is in sight.





Katherine and Alanna at 4months

We had such fun with Alanna at our house. Katherine and the baby played with Club Penguin toys. Alanna seemed to really like the green one. I think both girls are espcecially beautiful. Don;t you agree??Our Katherine had her 13th birthday in January. She is becoming quite the young lady!

Baby Alanna learns to smile

Meagan and Mike came down with the flu and baby Alanna was under the weather also. Katherine and I spent a day at their house with her, then brought her home for two nights so that the kids could sleep through the night and hopefully recover quicker. While she was with us, she really perfected the "smile on cue" trick. We of course loved the results. Here they are.

Katherine in charge of Gatorade

Katherine, along with Lexi and Rob, were chosen to douse the youth leader, Russ Walje , with Gatorade in celebration of getting 90 kids in church one single Sunday Service. The emphasis was designed to culminate on Super Bowl Sunday, and it did. Poor Russ. The temp was chilly and the wind was blowing. The thermos container was filled with ice. I'll bet he had a roaring headache.

Alanna's Snow Day

Alanna's school closed early on Thursday, as did most of the city and suburbs around Houston. Meagan called in the morning to say that although Alanna's school was out early, hers was not and could Katherine and I collect Alanna and bring her home to their house. What self respecting Grama could say "No" tp that request.

We picked up sleeping Alannna at school, she slept on the way home, slept as we put her in her crib and slept for another few hours. Katherine and I kept checking on her to be sure  she didn;t need picking up or cuddling or anything. Nope, she was fine.

 As the evening progressed, the school district made the decision to close school on Friday and so there was no need for Katherine and me to stay the night and be with Alanna the next day. (Katherine was anixious to get home and be with Grace and neighborhood for the Big Snow Extravaganza.) We left at about 5:30 and made it home before any precipitation started.

Thought you might like to see a shot and a video. She is such a cutey!!

Snow Day in Houston

The anticipation was high, maybe even more than Christmas morning. The weather man said there was going to be snow. The school, libraries, government offices and such were all closed down for the day. Surely this waws going to be the most wonderful day. Plans were made for neighborhood snow ball fights, forts, snowmen and fozen sculptures. Alas, when 6am arrived and the girls danced dow3n the stairs and out the back door, expecting to see a winter wonderland, all the saw was frozen grass.

Not to be daunted, the came inside and dressed for a snow day. Layers upon layers of tights, leggings, sweatpants and jeans. T shirts covered with sweaters and sweatshirs, then jackets. They  topped out the outfits with scarves, hats, mittens and boots before the headed outside.

The ground was icy. They made cardboard sleds and slid down the yard. They formed tiny little snowballs and wrote their names in the skiff of flakes that stayed in the coldest spots. The dogs had the best of time trying to figure out what the girls were up to.

We have finished the day by making brownies and watching some good TV shows. I suspect mom will be looking for a nap this afternoon.  Smile

Science Experiment using Turgor Pressure



This is a picture of one of Katherine's three experiments this week. She is learning about turgor pressure that swells the cell walls and causes the liquid to move up the stem of the plant. By the end of the week this celery should be quite blue! Then, we plan to eat it. Ha.

13th Birthday Milestone

Sunday after church we gathered friends and took them to all-you-can-eat pizza and then to a 3D movie: Yogi Bear. There was one boy in the group, but he didn't seem to mind at all.

We are celebrating at Benihanna's with 10 million other people on Saturday night. We invited a good family friend, Lou Jullien to join us. We sat 9 to a table and shouted to be heard. But the food was good. It always is. Katherine got to wear the honorary chef hat and have her picture taken.

Baby Alanna Goes Hunting

You wouldn't know this baby was supposed to be sick until you see her with the breathing treatment appliance.  She really did not like having that thing over her face. I had to put it on mine to make sure it wasn't too hot, too cold, to strong, to weak...I sound like Goldilocks and the Three Bears!!

In the Hunting scene, Katherine and I wanted to include the pink 22 rifle that Grampa Ed gave to her, but we were too skittish to have it out. Silly gooses we are.