Liam is not much of a cuddler. He is really too busy to take the time for that. But when he does it is normally daddy he cuddles with. I just had to take a picture of them. I can't say he never cuddles with me. Yesterday I asked him if he would like to sit with me on the sofa and he did...then I asked if he would sit up against me and he did. Then he let me stroke his head and neck for a while. I take what I can get!!!
Liam loves legos! I am sure I have mentioned that before. Well...Craig was searching on line for used legos last week and discovered a really good deal! E-mailed about it and found out that yes, they were still available! A family had been planning on buying them but backed out because their son did something to lose out. Craig rode the motorcycle to work that day assuming he could pick up what was supposedly a half a grocery bag full of legos...........but this is what he brought home!
Liam loves legos! I am sure I have mentioned that before. Well...Craig was searching on line for used legos last week and discovered a really good deal! E-mailed about it and found out that yes, they were still available! A family had been planning on buying them but backed out because their son did something to lose out. Craig rode the motorcycle to work that day assuming he could pick up what was supposedly a half a grocery bag full of legos...........but this is what he brought home!
The legos to the right of the yellow box are not the new ones...BUT...the new legos half way filled the almost three foot long tub he is laying in front of! Plus 23 matchbox cars! Plus a working and complete K-NEX set! All this for $23! The matchbox cars alone cost that much! And, Craig somehow managed to get all that home in his motorcycle's two saddle bags! This was one happy little boy!
I took some pictures around the yard two days ago. Before the torrential rain and hail started!
I took some pictures around the yard two days ago. Before the torrential rain and hail started!
This is Liam's rose bush. His sister Grace brought it two summers ago when they visited from California. It is doing very well as you can see.
Craig fixed the bird bath. He patched up the two large cracks and now it holds water again. That makes the birds happy! I just love these orange flowers. I planted one plant from some garden center very soon after we moved in. It has spread and grown and just done beautifully. It is one of those plants that appears to not be very picky about the dirt or location. The name of it is long gone. You can see one of the two blueberry bushes I kept....Oh...did I mention that I had Craig dig out 5 blueberry bushes. They had just never grown or thrived. Makes room for the fire pit that Liam loves to roast marshmallows over. These two I can care for better as they are not covered by gravel. And the Lupine is also looking good. The short plant below the blueberry is a Shasta Daisy. It seems that quite a bit of both of them died off over our no-show winter. Not sure what happened there.
Raspberries. They seem to be doing pretty good so far. We are looking forward to munching on fresh raspberries right off the bush.
Rhubarb....Originally I planted three. But the one in the middle died after the first year. I have already shared some with a friend wanting to make Rhubarb bread. In the lower left corner is a little of the rosemary plant. Because of our no-show winter it did very good and has already given me quite a bit for cooking with.
We are not going to have as many blueberries as last year. But there will be enough for some yummy munching!
This is the honeycrisp apple tree. It is only going to have a handful of apples. Only two branches got any blossoms this spring. It was very strange.
This is the Braeburn apple tree. Like usual it was covered with blossoms and now is covered with tiny apples. But in years past it loses all but a dozen apples or so and then the leaves begin to curl and turn black. But for now it looks happy and healthy.
Here is the Rainier cherry tree. The light sort of affected the picture but it is loaded with little green cherries! The Bing doesn't have quite as many as last year.
This is the plum tree. As you can see it is in horrible shape. There is not one single leaf on it that is not curled. Part of me wants to just pull lit out while it is still a manageable size. The other part wants to fight for it because it has grown so fast and is already such a nice shade tree for the front porch which gets the hot afternoon sun. I have got to get a sample leaf to a nursery and see what can be done!
If you have been reading this blog for long you know that last summer we had a heck of a time with umbrellas. Our dear friend Susan brought us one and the wind picked it up and tossed it around, breaking it soon after. She found and brought us another but as we were putting it away for winter the fabric began shredding...it had been in the sun and weather too long. And our patio NEEDS something until about three in the afternoon! It is blazing hot out there! So while at Walmart on Monday we ventured into the garden section and what should we spy!!!???But a very small section of umbrellas! We could not find these the last two summers, and with a price tag of only $50 we grabbed it up! And we are being careful to close it up at night......we got out and washed the chairs and set up the patio. Only thing missing are some flowers. With the truck sort of messing up our budget in a huge way, I may not have many flowers this year. I was very excited to discover that Winco sells tomato plants for .98 cents! Everywhere else is $2.98!!! I got 10 and after I plant them will know if I have room for any more. They did have a limited variety to choose from but all the plants were very healthy looking.
I will leave you with a Liamsim: Last night when I went to bed Liam was still awake in his room. That is not unusual. He was watching minecraft on his fire. That is not unusual. And he complained when I said in 5 more minutes he needed to shut it off and go to sleep. That is not unusual. This time though he asked if he could put himself to bed when he was ready. That has only happened about two other times. And both times he was still awake when Craig got up for work at 5:00 in the morning! And of course you can only imagine what the day was like! So I said to him 'no' he could not put himself to bed. Past experience proved that he didn't do a good job of that. He responded "But mom....please...I promise that I will go to sleep at 2." I won.
Please continue praying for Pastor Abedinni and the four other Americans being held in Iranian prisons. I confess. I do not pray for Mr. Obama. But I am willing to pray that he will connect somehow with the tiny fragment of compassion and rightness I am not convinced he possesses and remember these 5 men being held illegally in Iran. All American citizens and all depending on America for their release.
Parting shot:
I will leave you with a Liamsim: Last night when I went to bed Liam was still awake in his room. That is not unusual. He was watching minecraft on his fire. That is not unusual. And he complained when I said in 5 more minutes he needed to shut it off and go to sleep. That is not unusual. This time though he asked if he could put himself to bed when he was ready. That has only happened about two other times. And both times he was still awake when Craig got up for work at 5:00 in the morning! And of course you can only imagine what the day was like! So I said to him 'no' he could not put himself to bed. Past experience proved that he didn't do a good job of that. He responded "But mom....please...I promise that I will go to sleep at 2." I won.
Please continue praying for Pastor Abedinni and the four other Americans being held in Iranian prisons. I confess. I do not pray for Mr. Obama. But I am willing to pray that he will connect somehow with the tiny fragment of compassion and rightness I am not convinced he possesses and remember these 5 men being held illegally in Iran. All American citizens and all depending on America for their release.
Parting shot: