Happy Birthday Mom!

It's my mom's birthday and my cousin Emily made her the coolest coffee mug. Well, actually, it could be cooler. It has cats on it and it doesn't have ME on it (thanks Emily!). Mom loves it and it is really BIG too.

YAY, my car seat's back!

My mom put my car seat up for the winter because she was covering me up with my heated car blankie and it wouldn't work in the seat. I like, no LOVE my heated car blankie, but I really LOVE my car seat too. Now I can see out the windows again. Squirrels. They're everywhere.

SPRING is coming!

I know, I know, I said this before! But today when Mom and I got home, it was 73 out and there were crocuses blooming in the yard. Purple ones. They matched the light-weight hoodie I wore today. Mom insisted on taking a picture for me to blog. Sadly, it is supposed to rain the next FIVE days. Darnit. We are supposed to haul our purple Scotty out to be weighed, but can't do it when its wet since we live on a dirt road and Mom doesn't want mud splashed up under it, and the yard has to be firm so we don't put trenches in it with the car. But the sun was shining, the sky was blue and SEVENTY-THREE and flowers in the yard! Can Spring be far away now?

The Ice is GONE!

It was in the 60s today so Mom and I decided to check out the bogwalk again. We discovered the walk was floating on top of the water but when Mom walked on it, it sank way way down - sorry Mom, but I think *someone* has some weight to lose, besides ME! Most of it was underwater all the way out to the lake. Mom says she has NEVER seen the water this high before. EVER. Our zen bench, halfway out went through the winter fine. It was nice to take a little break on it and soak up some sun. Then we waded the rest of the way out to our lakeside deck. My lounge chair was a great place to sit and soak up some more sun while Mom waded out to the end of the walkway to get a picture of the lake. While we were sitting out there, we heard two pileated woodpeckers. We started back and stopped at the zen bench for a while, hoping we could get a picture of them, but they were flying deeper into the swamp and we didn't see them. We listened to them for a long long time. They are noisy birds! We just got back to the house when Aunt Lana dropped by and we talked to her for a while. This was a wonderful weekend, but Mom didn't get very much done on the Rear Door. Shame on her, I guess I better put on my work belt and get her back in gear.

Shipshewana, part II

Aunt Julie sat in the car with me when Mom and cousins Em & Jer went into the giant red barn antique mall (Mom bought some bears!). She just e-mailed these pictures to Mom. In the first ones, I'm resting while waiting for mom. Then, I think I hear her coming, but nope, it wasn't her.

Wish I had some more of that BACON!

Shipshewana and I went too!

Today Mom took cousin Emily, cousin Jeremie and Aunt Julie from work to Shipshewana. Since Grandpa and Grandma are in South Carolina, I got to go too! YAY. Mom goes a lot and I never get to go with her. She always comes back with really cool stuff too so I really was looking forward to this trip. The first picture is me in the car. I got to ride on top of my heated car bankie so I stayed warm and comfy even though it was pouring rain all the way down. 3" of rain today! Then I found out why Mom doesn't usually let me come. Shopping is really boring. I got to sit on this bench in front of the store while we were waiting for everyone to come back so we could drive to the next store. Shipshewana is an Amish town in Indiana. We saw lots and lots of horses and buggys and wagons. Pretty neat but horses scare me. A LOT! It was all worth it though, because I got BACON. BACON BACON BACON! Yum-O - Amish bacon is the BEST! Next time I hope Grandpa and Grandma are home so I can hang out with them.

I love my mom!

Today it is supposed to be really warm here in SW Michigan (it was still 56 when we got up) so Mom took the day off to work on the Rear Door. I got up and made my mom pancakes and sausage for breakfast. I LOVE my mom! She always makes sure I have the latest fashions to wear. She bought me the heated blanket so I can stay warm in the car and she even repurposed the really cool chest my great-great-great-grandfather built for my great-great-grandmother when she was a little girl, to keep her doll clothes in. We LOVE that chest, because, as woodworkers, we really appreciate fine woods and g-g-g-grandpa used all kinds of cool woods - tiger maple, birdseye maple, quilted maple, etc. and then he really had an eye for putting them together. See what you think - I took a picture of it. As soon as we finish our pancakes and sausage, we're off to the shop to work on RD. Mom's got lots of oak boards to plane so no time to waste on the computer (ahem, MOM)!

Now this is embarassing!

We're going to do the US12 Heritage Trail Garage Sale this summer with Aunt Gail and Grandpa and Grandma Kroes and cousin Sophie. Probably the two-legged gals will head out to the sales and the 4-legged gals (me and Sophie) will stay back at the campground with Grandpa. My mom didn't want me and Sophie roaming off if Grandpa snoozed so she bought a pen! A DOG PEN! It came today and she had me model it. It is pretty nice and it all folds flat and fits in its own carry case. It will be very handy for camping trips when Sophie comes along. She's the one who needs to be penned, NOT me!

As if I didn't have enough to do!

Sheesh, my mom ran out at lunch with Uncle Ben and looked at granite and stuff for countertops. She picked out a piece of travertine for a new island countertop. And guess who gets to make the island to go under the travertine? Yup. ME! And she isn't even giving me creative license. I have to make it to match the cabinets mom made when she built our kitchen before I was even born! I do have to say, the travertine is very pretty, and the new island is where my special food and treats will be kept (oh, and my cat sisters' and brother's treats and special food too). And, I think the new island will be much nicer than the old one, but I'm not going to tell Mom that!